Download the fell text version of measure U: Part 1, Part 2

Measure U is Watsonville’s “Orderly Growth and Agricultural Protection” Initiative <link to come> passed in November 2002. It calls for annexation and development of nearly 400 rural acres in the Buena Vista area.  Ironically, only registered voters within Watsonville’s existing city boundaries were allowed to vote on the Initiative. Individuals most affected by this proposal – those living in the target annexation areas - were specifically excluded from voting on this Measure. It is interesting to note that although the Measure passed with 60% of the vote, in actuality only 3,550 of Watsonville’s approximately 48,000 residents voted for the passage of Measure U, representing fewer than 10% of city residents. 

Measure U was crafted based on Action Pajaro Valley’s (APV) Growth Management Strategy published in March 2002 and endorsed by the City of Watsonville shortly thereafter. The APV document adheres to a limited-growth model that claims to bridge the concerns of “open space” environmentalists and area farmers with those of residential and commercial developers.

Measure U establishes an Urban Limit Line (ULL) for the City of Watsonville, encompassing the Buena Vista area, and provides timelines dictating development of each of 3 designated Buena Vista Growth Areas as follows:

AI: development to begin as soon as annexation is approved.

AII: development cannot begin until 2016 or until at least 50% of AII has been mapped, but not before 2010

AIII: development cannot begin until 2016 or until at least 50% of AIII has been mapped, but not before 2012

Urban Limit Lines (ULL), or growth boundaries, are usually established to prevent sprawl and protect natural resources. In this case however, the proposed ULL includes sprawl into prime agricultural land. 

At face value, Measure U appears noble, calling for preservation of agricultural lands and limiting expansion of the City’s boundaries to accommodate housing and business development over a 20-25 year period.  However, in reality, FBV believes that passage of the Initiative actually promotes urban sprawl into existing prime agricultural areas and may place a significant strain on the resources of the Pajaro Valley. It is ironic that passage of this Initiative actually defeats its stated intention  -- protection and preservation of agricultural lands. 

While the Initiative allows for the creation of additional housing, FBV believes that most of the new homes will not be affordable to the typical Watsonville resident, attracting instead people from outside the area. In addition, the service improvements needed for development of the annexed areas will probably create additional costs for city residents.  Who really benefits from this Initiative?

Measure U will not address the critical housing needs described in the Housing Element of the City of Watsonville’s General Plan.  Instead it will likely entice people to relocate from outside the area, thereby increasing the local population and exacerbating issues that plague the Pajaro Valley and its residents, including:

• Increased traffic on already congested roadways
• Continued over-drafting of water resources
• Greater burden on already overcrowded schools
• Destruction of open space, agricultural land, and sensitive environmental areas.

FBV advocates that unmet housing needs should be mitigated within current city boundaries, through infill and neighborhood redevelopment. Services and resources need to be addressed and prioritized for existing residents. While extending the ULL is unnecessary; improving existing conditions is imperative.

Development Density Increases at the Expense of Environmental Preservation and Personal and Public Safety

Despite its actual alliance with large-scale developers and its pursuit of rapacious development entailing urban sprawl, overcrowding, and congestion, as well as destroying the rural integrity and beauty of the area, FBV believes that the City of Watsonville has presented annexation not as an urban development Initiative, but as an effort to preserve agricultural land by establishing 25-year growth boundaries and allot space for future city growth. Unfortunately, to date, the City of Watsonville has chosen to act unilaterally and without responsibility in their interpretation and application of Measure U.   

Measure U does not mandate the number of homes to be built in the proposed growth areas. It also does not require modification to the Watsonville airport. However, despite this, the City is inappropriately using Measure U as a tool to push high-density housing into the Buena Vista area without regard for (1) the input of current residents of the Buena Vista community, (2) the economic significance of the airport, and (3) the safety airport users and those who live in the areas surrounding the airport.  It appears that the process is being driven by developers who are dissatisfied with restrictions imposed by the airport rather than by the intent of Measure U as illustrated by the following observations:

1. Measure U’s was based on 1,687 projected new housing units in the Buena Vista area as specified in APV’s Growth Management Strategy document, but it does not mandate specific housing densities or numbers. Since its passage in 2002, the City of Watsonville has supported developer interests, using the Measure as a mandate to proceed with high-density development, significantly increasing the target number of homes from an initial 1,687 units in 2002 to 2,250 in 2005. This violates its promise to APV “stakeholders” and city voters who supported the Measure U’s “contained growth” plan. Additionally, to date, the City of Watsonville has not only blatantly disregarded resident and community input throughout the planning process, but it has also ignored input, even when solicited.
   
   The evolution of a projected housing density in Buena Vista from an initial 400 homes (existing Watsonville General Plan) to the current year 2005 development target would allow developers to build almost 2,300 homes.  This current figure is nearly 33% greater than the 1,687 homes initially proposed by APV’s Growth Management Strategy just 2 years earlier.
   
   
2. Except for 35 acres of city-owned land within the annexation area that are scheduled for park use, even the parks and “open space” that were guaranteed prominence in the initial APV/Measure U proposal, are now jeopardized as consideration is being given to move park space to areas outside the annexation area in order to free up land for even greater housing density. FBV belies that this is a violation of Measure U and deceives those who voted to support the Measure.
   
   
3. Airport flight safety zones would appear to limit the feasible numbers of homes in the Buena Vista area to between 1,200 and 1,600, based upon a consultant report commissioned by the City. These numbers are in close agreement with the APV target for the area. However, the City is now considering significant modification to the airport functionality in an effort to increase the number of new homes in the Buena Vista area to 2,250. Altering the airport will have grave impact on its usability and economic contribution to the City and County.  Altering or ignoring the FAA-mandated safety zones surrounding the airport’s runways has safety ramifications for both airport users and contiguous neighbors. 

It is highly unlikely that those who voted to support Measure U thought the airport would need to be modified, or that the City planned clusters of high-density housing in close proximity to the airport, possibly in violation of airport safety zones. It is also doubtful that people who voted for this Measure thought the City would propose going outside of the Urban Limit Lines so early in the process, even before the proposed growth areas actually became a part of the City. 

In the view of FBV, Measure U and its promise to preserve agricultural land by building in agricultural areas was misleading to begin with. However, the City has gone even further and unilaterally increased development density, proposing to ignore the Urban Limit Lines, and potentially requiring changes that compromise safety to the existing airport configuration.

The fact that the City has unilaterally undertaken these three efforts even before the proposed annexation area becomes part of the City flags its utter disregard of community input. Clearly, the planning process has undemocratically excluded those who will be most affected by large-scale development—residents of the affected proposed growth area who were not given the opportunity to vote on Measure U.  

Where Are We Now?

Measure U’s passage was the gateway political event that allowed the City to proceed with its unilateral development plans, ignoring the very people who would be most affected by annexation and development—the current residents. Measure U and the proposed annexation of Buena Vista is viewed by many residents who live in the targeted annexation area as a hostile action by the City of Watsonville.

FBV believes that the City of Watsonville has violated the spirit of APV’s document calling for “controlled growth” in instance after instance of its advocacy of maximum high-density development with no regard for either community input or devastating environmental or safety consequences.

Its proposed out-of-control growth would expand the quantity of housing in proportion to the diminution of Buena Vista’s open space and environmental resources and beauty. The City has misconstrued its mandate from the passage of Measure U to advocate for urban sprawl by proposing the construction of 2,300 homes, almost four times the number allowed for in the 1997 amended General Plan. The resultant overdevelopment and urban sprawl will most likely devistate Buena Vista’s delicate environmental balance for future use and recreation.

Fortunately, Measure U does not guarantee annexation, nor does it give the City of Watsonville the authority to approve this annexation request. Despite its ignoring community-based process and being impervious to managed-growth input from both annexation area residents as well as other City groups and paid consultants, the Watsonville Office of Community Development remains accountable to the voters, residents, and to the democratic process.

Join Friends of Buena Vista and make your voice heard.