Our Issue: Minimum parcel size required in order to rezone to the timber production zone.

What’s the deal?
In order to implement the decisions of the CA Court of Appeals and Supreme Court regarding zoning requirements for the location of timber harvests, the County of Santa Cruz must make ordinance amendments to Section 13.10 and repeal 13.10.395 of the Santa Cruz County and General Plan/Local Coastal Program amendments to policies 5.12.8 and 5.12.9. The Planning Commission has already conducted the hearing about the wording of the ordinance changes; we caught several clerical errors which we have communicated to them, but nothing of substance that was not in line with the judgment.

The one remaining issue of discussion will be the minimum parcel size required in order to rezone to the Timber Production Zone.  Currently the minimum size for rezoning is 5 acres.  State law enables County governments to determine the minimum acreage size for rezoning to TPZ, and 80 acres is the largest that can be required.  This will be the size acreage that those who wish to end timber harvesting will be requesting of the Commission.

Several lobbyists for “environmental” groups testified before the Board of Supervisors recently, misleading the Supervisors with false claims. There will be another hearing sometime in April, we don’t yet know when, where the issue of minimum parcel size will be addressed.  From the news reports we have heard describing the hearings for rezoning petitions, we already know at least two supervisors are displeased with the Supreme Court judgment and are willing to use any influence they can.  It is critical for large numbers of forestland owners to stand up for their rights through attendance and letters submitted at or prior to the hearing.
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Why do I care?
As a result of the Court decisions, Santa Cruz County has the ability to determine under which of its zonings timber management and harvesting can occur and the County has elected to allow timber harvesting only under the TP (Timber Production), PR (Parks and Recreation, and Open Space)), and M-3(Mineral Extraction Industrial).  All other zones, including rural and agricultural zones are now excluded from timber harvesting. (There is another ordinance, 4578, not yet adopted, that may open the door for CA zoning also some time in the future.)

Those landowners in excluded zones who wish to regain their ability to harvest timber must now rezone their land; many people had rezoning requests hanging in limbo for years while this was resolved and many others have begun the process.  As it stands, landowners with parcels as small as five acres can currently rezone.

We feel there is good reason for people with smaller parcels to want to rezone to TPZ.  Consider the case of a landowner who owns several adjoining parcels that are managed as one, or perhaps a conglomerate of cooperative owners who want to thin their lands for fire safety issues.  If the County chooses to be a stickler when these owners try to rezone, these people will be cut out.  Unfortunately, the County has a reputation for doing things like this.

If these lands cannot be rezoned to TPZ, the financial pressure to change their usage to other forms increases.  This has a large potential impact on the local environment as this land ceases to be forest and becomes vineyards, housing or other usages with the attendant increased erosion profiles, removal of tree cover, increased traffic, septic and pollution in cases of housing or industrial developments.

If the County truly wants to keep their forested lands forests or open space, the most effective way to do this is to make it financially viable for the owners to use their land in that state.  It has shown instead a tendency to want to acquire the land and make “parks” out of it. Publicly acquiring land removes it from the tax base and puts the onus of the land’s maintenance on public agencies and our tax dollars.  The land becomes it a public drain instead of an asset.  On top of that, our public agencies have a poor track record for land maintenance; these lands are typically overrun with exotics which damaging habitat and have far too much vegetation on the land, greatly increasing the fire hazard and causing the conditions that foster disease like Sudden Oak Death.  Surely we have better uses for our tax dollars.
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Where do I find more?
A copy of the County staff report will be available three days prior to the hearing and can be accessed online at:  http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/ under the “Agendas and Minutes” link of the Board of Supervisors section at the bottom right of the page in the green square, or available for purchase by phoning the Clerk of the Board at 831-454-2323. 

Track the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Agendas
To track the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors agendas yourself, check the following link: http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/archive/ArchiveIndex.asp

What can I do?
Write a letter:   Send the letter to:

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors
5th floor, 701 Ocean Street
Santa Cruz, CA  95060.  

Letters need to be in before the hearing.  We currently do no know exactly when that will be.

Any letter written at this stage will be included in the public record and copied into the next staff report which will then go to the County Supervisors for final approval.
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Talking Points :

Rezoning does not mean that the owner is immediately going to file for timber harvests; he is merely ensuring his right to do so in the future.  

All harvests are still subject to timber harvest rules, including a minimum ten year entry cycle and a requirement for selective harvests; rezoning has changed none of that.

Owners should be allowed to rezone small parcels into TP for land management purposes.

Many lands that are not in TP are in categories that allow for more intensive development.  If these lands cannot be rezoned to TP, the financial pressure to change their usage to other forms (subdivisions, housing, commercial, vineyards) increases.  This has a large potential impact on the local environment and as such requires an Environmental Impact Report before it can be allowed.

TP zonings of even small parcels retains open space in a way other zones do not, since the tax structure and development capabilities are designed to encourage open space.
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