Jake Wenger probably uttered the wisest words at Saturday’s town hall meeting in Wood Colony when he said, “It’s much easier to have a discussion with a clean slate.”
Unfortunately for Garrad Marsh, he entered the Hart-Ransom school gymnasium with plenty of history on the “slate.” Many in the audience were still steaming from Marsh’s attempt to annex Salida, and others were furious that he and the Modesto City Council seemed to ignore them at previous meetings.
The invocation included the advice, “Speak, but speak with love,” and many took it to heart. Others did not. Nonetheless, after a rough start, Marsh seemed to win over at least a few of his former critics.
Marsh was obviously heartened by the presence of long-time farmland advocate Denny Jackman, who lent credibility to Marsh’s constant reminders of his own long history of work to preserve farmland and the difficulty involved in “getting to four” votes on a City Council historically controlled by developers.
Marsh called on Jackman several times for corroboration of claims about the intentions of developers to pave over farmland and their historic dominance of local politics. Most of the audience seemed to believe the Mayor when he said one developer-favored scenario had Modesto as a “Two-River Town,” with urban buildout from the Tuolumne to the Stanislaus Rivers.
But people’s real concerns were about development west of Highway 99. Despite Marsh’s predictions that once Highway 132 was improved, development is inevitable, no one in the audience wanted to hear about future possibilities.
Alan Cover, a Wood Colony icon whose family planted the famous Wood Colony walnut tree, told Marsh, “I think you are closer to being a hero than you know. What you need to do is meet with your colleagues and take Wood Colony out” [of the General Plan].
Marsh said several times that he was willing to remove Wood Colony altogether from the City plan, but argued that leaving it green on the map gave it more protection than leaving it out altogether. The argument never gained traction.
Jake Wenger, who clearly has a political future far beyond his current position on the Modesto Irrigation District Board of Directors, received thunderous applause when he said, “We all want Wood Colony out.” He also offered a plan that makes Highway 120 the preferred thoroughfare to Modesto, with development along Kiernan Avenue rather than along Highway 132.
Wenger’s ideas were hugely popular, and overshadowed Marsh’s attempts to warn the crowd that developers will continue to pursue farmland while trying to avoid mitigation, fees, or urban limits.
While Marsh probably left Hart-Ransom School with a better impression than when he entered, he had little success convincing the audience he was their ally, even with Denny Jackman in a supporting role.
It was also worthy of note that City Councilpersons Jenny Kenoyer and John Gunderson attended the meeting. Both have been demonized for recent actions on the Council, and both were praised by Marsh as staunch supporters of farmland preservation. Skeptics of Marsh, Kenoyer and Gunderson should read Bruce Frohman’s recent analysis of City Council actions here.
And those who think Marsh and company should be recalled should ponder two enduring truths about our region: (1) Developers have always had favorable treatment from local mainstream media, and (2) Those who favor farmland conservation always have had trouble getting the word out.
Marsh tried to drive those points home when he reminded the audience that developers of Modesto’s “Tivoli” project ignored the recommendations of a review under the California Environmental Quality Act to mitigate on an acre to acre basis. It’s no coincidence that those on the City Council who favor such policies were not in attendance at Saturday’s meeting.
Marsh said that much of what is happening on the City Council now is part of a political strategy aimed at putting developers in control of Modesto’s next elections. Veteran observers of local politics will not be surprised when the next race for mayor is flooded with candidates, including a very well-funded Bill, “Village One,” Zoslocki.
As the California economy recovers, the Modesto Chamber of Commerce and its political allies couldn’t be happier about the political woes of Garrad Marsh, John Gunderson, and Jenny Kenoyer. Everything’s going according to plan. All they really need now is a successful road tax proposal.
Before Mr. Marsh let the city council vote, he should have fully explained his position during the meeting when the vote was taken and obtained the blessing of the citizens. His explanation for why he voted the way he did has a major flaw: when he leaves the City Council, his inclusion of Wood Colony in the General Plan map will leave the area more vulnerable to development because the Council has historically been pro-developer. While the County has also been pro-developer, the County representatives are also accountable to the farming community. The best protection for Wood Colony is to keep it off of any urban development map and to elect candidates who genuinely desire to protect farm land. These are not easy tasks, which is why Stanislaus County will probably end up with little to no farm land 40-50 years from now. This writer sure hopes he is wrong about this as future generation will suffer the consequences.
Our Mayor came out and said he wasn’t 100% behind preserving prime farmland, not even 90% behind it. And unfortunately Denny’s RUL stops Modesto from building homes on the poor farmland on Modesto’s East side. For land, being included in Modesto’s General Plan, is like a ‘gateway drug.’ It’s the first step towards annexation. We need our leaders to push building business parks on Modesto’s East side too. Until that occurs it doesn’t matter who is in office because a simple vote by another city council could change everything.
Great Posts Eric!
I thoroughly enjoy all the recent activity.
I agree with you on the point of starting a recall election. While it might seem a great way to get back at those City Councilpersons who supported the general plan change, it is probably not the best use of money and time. Even if the recall succeeds, it won’t matter if good people don’t come forward to run. Not only for the current term, but also for future terms. And it is hard to get good common folk to run and stay in office who will support what everyone is after. Common folk have families and work. City council is a big committment with little reward. Plus, those seeking election have to do alot of footwork and/or fundraising. They aren’t going to have developers providing them with the resources to win. Just look at Denny Jackman, the developers and other interests gave his opponent on the city council over $50,000 to run against Denny.
For those in Wood Colony who applaud Bill Zoslocki and Dave Lopez, they are not your friends. They simply want a General Plan update
Bill Zoslocki and Dave Lopez simply wanted a general plan update and during that process I have no doubt will push the City of Modesto through Wood Colony. One thing about Zoslocki, that man is a good politiican. He knows what to say.
In order to save Wood Colony, the residents are best served by organizing as a group and seeking legal help in determining what options they have. If Wood Colony members are really serious about protecting Wood Colony for future generations, there is always the nuclear option of selling easements (or development rights). Doing so would prevent Wood Colony residents from every selling the land but it would also kill any chance Modesto or the developers have of ever developing the land.
Emerson, Jackman’s RUL directs housing to Modesto’s east side. Where are you getting your information?
Follow the Eastern border of RUL and it stops short of the worst of the farmland. Originally a 1000 acres were considered to be set aside and now the border stops the expansion.
If Wood Colony is annexed, I know what will happen. The developers will parcel out the land and sell to the first ones that come calling instead of whats best for our region. Right now there is strong demand for land for distribution centers or warehousing. The developers and their real estate agents like to use cute sounding names like ” logisitic ” centers or ” fulfillment ” centers. The land in the greater Bay Area is too expensive to support building massive warehousing so they seek large parcels of cheap land and cheap labor in our region near freeways. And they hire mostly low skilled labor and the number of employees per the size of the bulding is quite small. The jobs per acre ratio of distribution centers is low and I am surprised if Agriculture has a higher multiplier effect than these warehousing industries since these warehouses manufacture or produce nothing. The other day I drove by the new Amazon bulding in Patterson for the first time. The building was huge, and it was surprising to see how few cars there were in the employee parking lot in comparisan to the massive size of this building. It is no where near what I see in normal commercial campuses. If all this region becomes a region warehousing hub for the West Coast, we are in trouble. It appears the expansion of the West Patterson Business Park will be mostly warehousing and it appears the conversion of the Crows Landing Airbase could become the same. Kamilos was proposing to do just that. Modesto could become the same.
Marsh seemed to offer one solution: put the Wood Colony farmland into the Williamson Act. Kathryn Borges at the first Wood Colony suggested the residents for a MAC.
What do you all think?
Even if Williamson Act contracts are entered into by the current landowners where none existed previously, the City can protest any Williamson Act contracts within a 1/2 mile of existing city limits and those contracts can be dissolved upon annexation. Developers optioning or purchasing land can simply file Notice of Non Renewals on existing contracts and once that happens the City can annex those properties before the contracts are even expired. Williamson Act contracts only have a short term benefit in protecting farmland. Easements are a long term/permanent solution.
Thanks.
What about the Farmland Trust idea?
I believe easments that sell away development rights would work if available. It is permanent but if landowners are really committed long term to keeping Wood Colony rural, it is an option. It would stop the City of Modesto and the developers cold. If enough people sign up, it should stop development. LAFCO is not supposed to approve hop scotch development.