If they can dream New Mexico, can we dream Washington?

10-17-10

http://www.dreamingnewmexico.org/

notes from a presentation by Peter Warshall on Dreaming New Mexico, a program to integrate the entire state for sustainability.

1. they have mapped agro-eco regions statewide

2. they have mapped food seasonal cycles in each agro-eco region, breaking down the foods into those which are:

grown

hunted

raised

to do this they consulted with the 22 native nations in the state

3. they convinced the governor to declare a traditional food/harvest day

4. they mapped the state's geo-thermal resources and presented the possibilities opened up by those resources to communities near them

5. they mapped 'food-sheds'

6. they identified missing pieces of infrastructure which could/would lead to more locally available foods

~ he said that at present New Mexico imports 95% of its food. he acknowledges the need for trade (chocolate, coffee, etc) but wants to keep food sources as close to home as possible. the goal is 15% of the state's food being local by 2020.

7. they're bringing in the land trusts. rather than just putting land which is to remain wild into a trust, they're using a new model. Old people are giving up on farming and their children are for the most part not interested. The land trust is taking ownership of the land and then matching eager young farmers with the retiring old ones, who teach the young, and eventually work a sale to the young new farmers.

8. they're addressing transportation from farm to table, what he calls the value chain.

9. they are working toward declaring New Mexico a 'fair trade' state, and are developing standards for what that means. currently this is still part of the dream.

10. they're working toward 'full service' groceries

~ he is working toward making farmers ecosystem managers providing ecosystem services

11. he's working on convincing colleges to grant academic credit and completion certificates for people who learn some of the skills described above

12. he's working on having business schools estimate the value of the ecosystem services so that farmers can be appropriately compensated.

13. he talked about climate change and food security zones.

14. and finally, as he was being dragged off stage, he talked about governance and how government could help make all this happen. NM Food and Farming is now being considered for 'green job' designation, which would make their products eligible for state purchase, which would increase demand enormously.

See also: http://www.greenforall.org/splash

Oak Harbor Urban Growth Area expansion 10-11-10

A quick report on the Oak Harbor Urban Growth Area expansion hearing, 10-11-10

Here’s the short and sweet of it: the commissioners voted to revise the Oak Harbor UGA expansion proposal to include only 16 acres along Goldie Road just outside the Navy base which is currently zoned for light industry. In a nutshell, Swan Lake, wildlife, and just plain good planning won.

It took 2.5 hours of testimony and discussion to reach that point. Present were the mayor, city manager, city attorney, and city planning official for Oak Harbor, along with the Fakkema clan, who had asked for the UGA expansion to include, eventually, their entire 377 acre farm. Also present was a whole roomful of people who considered this an unwise proposal.

The tally from my notes: 3 people spoke in favor of the expansion: Oak Harbor’s planning director, the mayor, and Hap Fakkema, who wants to build a city on his land.

By contrast, 10 people spoke against the proposal, and the chair mentioned receiving a large number of letters and emails in opposition.

The next step is for the modified proposal, with a report from the county planning director, to be referred to the Planning Commission for a hearing. That hearing is scheduled for November 9. At the same time the proposal will undergo environmental review.

One of the important lynchpins of this proposal was the city’s claim that they needed to expand to accommodate their projected 2025 population. Our counter was that the city has plenty of undeveloped land and adding more would only contribute to sprawl. GayLynn Beighton, one of WEAN’s board members, is a commercial realtor with extensive background in estimating development capacity. With the help of Jerry and Vera Pitsch, who did an unbelievable amount of gruntwork searching through legal notices, GayLynn produced a Land Capacity Analysis demonstrating that Oak Harbor had severely underestimated its development capacity. GayLynn created a powerpoint presentation showing Oak Harbor’s map of what it considered developable land. She then showed photos of parcels in the downtown area not mapped as developable. All of them were growing trees and grass and “for sale” signs - except for one parcel that was being permitted for a development of 115 units at the same time the City’s map showed it as having a development potential for only 40 residential units. GayLynn asked why these parcels were not included as having development potential. She got no answer. The county planning director accepted GayLynn’s study as valid and used it as one basis for his recommendation to deny the city’s proposal.

But of course its never really over. As we left the hearing we overheard Mayor Slowik tell one of the Fakkema brothers “two more years . . .”

We’ll celebrate, and then we’ll buckle down for the next round, because there is always a next round.