Subject: Climate Element of GP
Date: April 4, 2014 8:02:04 PM PDT
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The re-zoning of 12 different districts in St. Helena on the Planning Commission's agenda, Tues., April 1, was postponed. It may have been a good thing in order to make the current Housing Element legit or it may have been a bad thing if it did not support the principles of housing equity in the General Plan. I was hoping to find out. The City Council will probably deal with changes to the Climate Element of the General Plan on Tuesday's agenda and this is no small item in an ag/tourist area. The Working Group of the UN's most recent climate report (issued last week) has 2 areas key to our near future. One is the impact of climate change on rural areas (relevant highlights only) and the other is the full report for North America . It is 88 pages but if you have an ag business or are interested in local threats it would be good to skim it. It will give you the scope of the problem for the country. The 3 key focus areas are Risk, Vulnerability and Adaptation. We need a committee report for our City that assesses our situation in those areas and recommends City policy, beginning soon. For context, we are not in a leading County -- after several years, it still has not completed its Climate Action Plan yet has a lot to lose. Such inertia lulls people into thinking there is no problem, therefore no need for adaptation measures. And then here is a perfectly proper meeting with perfectly ridiculous conclusions -- it happens, as we know! Enjoy. Sandy |