SAN MARTIN
– Pleasing members of the community’s neighborhood alliance,
District 1 County Supervisor Don Gage has agreed to revisit and
refine certain land-use regulations that govern industrial and
commercial development in San Martin.
SAN MARTIN – Pleasing members of the community’s neighborhood alliance, District 1 County Supervisor Don Gage has agreed to revisit and refine certain land-use regulations that govern industrial and commercial development in San Martin.
How much leeway there will be in the review and how it will change what happens in the unincorporated hamlet remains to be seen. The issue will likely boil down to complicated and somewhat tedious zoning provisions and legalese.
But when it comes to the types of development that happens in San Martin – frequently a source of controversy – the devil is in such details, as the old saying goes.
“This is very exciting,” said Sylvia Hamilton, president of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance. “This is something we’ve needed in San Martin for a long time, and I can’t believe this is a goal.”
Many alliance members and residents have voiced concerns that San Martin is becoming a “dumping ground” for projects that don’t fit the community’s rural atmosphere. Projects that have drawn criticism include an RV storage lot, a hazardous waste storage facility, expanded waste transfer stations and junkyards and a proposed fish cleaning and packing plant.
The alliance is not opposed to all industrial businesses, but wants them to be of a size, type and density appropriate with surrounding neighbors and the vision of a San Martin village core already laid out in county plans.
The county’s interpretations of industrial and commercial classifications were a hot issue with the so-called “Durham project,” a controversial proposal for a 10-acre modular home storage lot for sales, lease and repair on Monterey Highway that was one of the sparks that helped spur formation of the alliance.
The group has lobbied for an updated regulations in order to revise the area’s land-use regulations. However, Gage has rejected the idea of revising the county’s main land-use blueprint or general plan, calling it a major undertaking that’s too expensive to pursue, especially during a time when the county is making budget cutbacks.
“We’re not going to do a general plan update, but there is room to strengthen the criteria for development in industrial and commercial areas” of San Martin, Gage said in an interview about the new effort. “We can tweak it and add some more specificity to it so people don’t get confused as to what is and isn’t allowed to be in those zones.
“That’s the big issue, is what can and can’t you do.”
So far, members of the alliance and San Martin Planning Advisory Committee see the goal as determining appropriate changes to the regulations so that future industrial and commercial projects are more appropriate to the surrounding rural residential neighborhood.
In the past, some committee members have called for a set of special “rural industrial” regulations that would be tailored more specifically to the San Martin area and not to dissimilar, urban places in North County.
“It’s fantastic the supervisor has approved this task force to look into reviewing the rules and making them more appropriate for a rural environment,” Hamilton said.
The 15-member committee envisioned to review and make recommendations on the regulations will include up to:
• three members of the San Martin Planning Advisory Committee
• four members of the neighborhood alliance or other community organizations
• four San Martin business representatives, and
• four San Martin residents at large
Representation from businesses will be key, Hamilton said.
“They’re the ones who will be affected the most,” she said.
County officials are expected to lend support from time to time so the process does not occur in a vacuum.
The alliance is still going full-steam ahead on an effort to study the feasibility of incorporating the community into a legal township.
While revisiting the zoning regulations is seen as a positive step, members say it still doesn’t provide the community with the “viable voice” or direct self-governance that technical status as a township could.
The alliance has commissioned a study from an independent firm and expects the results later this summer.
Members have raised over $21,000 so far to help cover the cost.
