Santa Cruz Action To Protect Our Forest

Photo by Ken Duret

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
The state’s Court of Appeals tossed out the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared by the City of Santa Cruz for the extension of water for UCSC expansion into the Nature Reserve. LAFCO cannot approve the University’s application for water service without a valid EIR. See the Sentinel article for details.

This represents a second large success in efforts being made to protect the forest; Passage of Measure P, allowing citizens to vote on desalination, and the current court ruling. Friends of the forest, thank you for your efforts.
This is truly a cause for celebration!
People Power Is Making A Difference!

Please note the LAFCO meeting date change below.

Take Action Today!

Your actions will help preserve the natural environment located in the upper UCSC campus which is under imminent threat.

1) Please Sign the Petition Letter Below, become a signatory opposing unsustainable infrastructure at the expense of education, sensitive ecosystems, and regional water sustainability.

2) UPDATE
LAFCO has CANCELLED its December 5th meeting (Wednesday, 9:30 am, City Hall, Room-525, 701 Ocean Street) in the wake of the state Court of Appeals rejection of the Environmental Impact Report on water service for campus expansion. LAFCO will meet on January 9th to decide whether to schedule a public hearing about the UCSC application, or whether to put that off until some future time.

3) Share this article with your social networks!

4) Email the City Council at citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com We need to advocate that the City Council not approve the funds to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court!

Sample letter:
Dear Mayor Lane and City Council Members,
Before you is a decision on whether to appeal the state Appeals Court ruling on the EIR for expanding water service to UCSC. I urge you not to make this decision in closed session. Rather, please consider this decision in open session, allowing the public to have input. In 2006, 80% of Santa Cruz voters approved Measure J, which called for a vote of the people before water service was extended for UCSC growth. A University lawsuit invalidated Measure J, based on a technicality. In the spirit of Measure J, please allow the public to weigh in on this important issue.

The upcoming LAFCO vote will determine the fate of the campus redwoods, chaparrals and wildlife. Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) needs to be reminded, development which destroys the university’s greatest asset (a natural environment with unique flora and fauna) is not in the long term interest of the university, the community, and most importantly, the nature which sustains us.

LAFCO has been told that an aggressive LRDP (Long Range Development Plan), requiring the costly construction of a desalination plant, is what “the university” wants, it is up to us to tell them otherwise.

“We Are The University!”

Dear caring members of the Santa Cruz community and all UCSC students, staff, and faculty:

Despite the University of California’s fiscal crisis, UCSC administrators are proceeding with the Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), an initiative that would fund unsustainable infrastructure at the expense of education, sensitive ecosystems, and regional water sustainability.

Since 2005, the UCSC administration has been planning for expansion into the redwood and chaparral landscapes of upper campus. In order to enact this plan, UCSC needs LAFCO – a governmental body tasked with curbing urban sprawl – to approve the extension of water service to that area. At the January 9 meeting, LAFCO has the authority to force the University to rethink its plans for expansion and to seriously consider ways to live within the region’s natural limits to growth.

The proposed LRDP would develop 240 acres and construct 3,000,000 square feet of new buildings in what is now the campus natural reserve. This development would destroy fragile ecosystems and local hydrology, stress an already taxed city water supply, and threaten endangered species including federally listed salmon and steelhead trout. Water scarcity is already critical in Santa Cruz County. Current water usage is depleting our aquifers, creating salt water intrusion, depriving the San Lorenzo River of its natural flows, and leading the City to pursue the construction of an energy-intensive, costly desalination plant. Proposed UCSC campus development would only add to these burdens.

Your presence at the January 9 LAFCO public hearing will help change the direction of this plan.

We hope to see you there at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, 701 Ocean Street, Room 525.

Respectfully,
Teach the Forest

Be a Voice for the Voiceless

Please take action today!

Become an active steward of the land by signing this petition.

A copy of our signatures will be hand delivered to LAFCO.

We collect over 2,700 signatures in a previous petition. Thank you and keep them coming!

Thank you for being one of the powerful!
People power can change the world!

Please help spread the word.