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 PCL isn’t called the “Planning” and Conservation League for nothing. PCL and its partner organizations are fighting for better land use planning at the local level every day. In terms of reforming our state land use planning system, our greatest success has been the Coastal Act, enacted by the State Legislature in 1976, after the people first took action by initiative in 1972. The Coastal Act sets up some definite standards, so that proposed projects are required to follow specific criteria, as a matter of state law.
PCL helped draft the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which is California’s premier environmental law, and is a powerful tool for public participation. It allows public agencies to make informed decisions about activities that could degrade public health and damage the environment. It also provides California residents with the legal framework to hold their public agencies accountable for decisions that may substantially alter the quality of their lives.
Specific state standards for new development don’t really exist outside the Coastal Zone. Everywhere else, project proponents make whatever proposals they want, and local decision-makers say “yes” or “no.” If you can get your three votes from the Board of Supervisors, you can get your project. That’s the process that’s causing us the problems we face: patterns of sprawl that undermine our long term economic health, even as they degrade the natural environment.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA)
CEQA is a very dynamic law, used essentially by every California public agency in its planning and decision-making activities. Learn about CEQA and the public’s role in the environmental review process.
HIGH SPEED RAIL
High Speed Rail offers the potential for fast, comfortable intercity travel in California with less air pollution and energy use and better planning and land use. But it must be carefully planned or sprawl type developments will happen throughout the Central Valley.
For more information please contact Gary Patton.
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