Chapter 16.92
ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES TO GUIDE COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Sections:
16.92.030 Principles and policies.
16.92.050 Recodification, amendment and review.
16.92.060 Consistency with State law requirements.
16.92.010 Purposes.
This chapter has the following purposes:
(A) To state the determination of the people of Santa Cruz County relative to environmental principles and policies;
(B) To direct County government to utilize its powers and resources to endeavor to accomplish all of the following:
(1) To provide for the more efficient use of renewable energy and recycled resources;
(2) To protect biological diversity and human health, through protection and restoration of the environment;
(3) To encourage agricultural practices which are protective of the natural environment and human health;
(4) To promote and encourage economic development strategies in Santa Cruz County which are consistent with both environmental protection and environmental restoration, and which will help create a local economy based on the use of renewable resources;
(5) To ensure that future growth and development in Santa Cruz County recognizes and respects the natural limits and carrying capacity of the Santa Cruz County environment; and
(6) To instruct Santa Cruz County government to take actions, locally, which can help reverse, reduce and eliminate those actions and practices which are contributing to environmental crises which are global in scope.
(C) To urge all the elected officials who represent the people of Santa Cruz County, at the city, State and Federal levels of government, to take any and all actions in their power which can assist in the protection and restoration of the environment of Santa Cruz County, and which can help reverse, reduce and eliminate those actions and practices which are contributing to environmental crises which are global in scope.
(D) To make concerted efforts to carry out the will of the voters, pursuant to Measure C and the ordinance codified in this chapter, through programs and initiatives which are undertaken from the period January 2000 through December 2009. [Ord. 4604 § 1, 2000].
16.92.020 Findings.
The people of Santa Cruz County make the following findings:
(A) We live in a time in which environmentally damaging human activities throughout the world are rapidly undermining the fragile, global environment which sustains all life.
(B) Assaults on the atmosphere of the earth, by the introduction of human-made chemicals into the atmosphere, are putting at risk the ozone layer that protects all life on the planet.
(C) The escalating rate of combustion of fossil fuels, world-wide, is significantly contributing to a “greenhouse effect,” and to a global warming, which is predicted to have dramatically adverse consequences for human life.
(D) The rapid destruction of the forests of the planet, which have properly been called the “lungs of the world,” is putting the future of the planet in peril.
(E) The introduction of toxic chemicals into all parts of the environment, in increasing quantities, has led to the presence of toxic chemicals in the tissues of virtually every living thing, and is placing the future of life on this planet in jeopardy.
(F) Despite the magnitude of the environmental crises which confront us and which are global in scope, it is possible to reverse the trends which are threatening the environment, and to protect and restore the environment of the planet, while meeting the needs of all human beings for a just, decent and desirable life.
(G) Local actions to protect and restore the environment in Santa Cruz County can help both directly, and indirectly, by providing a model for new ways of living, to reverse the patterns of activity which are destroying the environment on a global basis, and to assist in achieving a transition to an economic order respectful of the environment and based on the sustainable use of recycled and renewable resources, which is both necessary and possible.
(H) The people of Santa Cruz County must devote their energies, individually and collectively, to protecting and restoring the environment that sustains us all. [Ord. 4604 § 1, 2000].
16.92.030 Principles and policies.
In order to carry out the purposes of this chapter, the following principles and policies are hereby established:
(A) Offshore Oil Drilling. Because proposals to produce oil from areas offshore central California place the environment of Santa Cruz County at critical risk, and because the production of such offshore oil would contribute to energy strategies based on the consumption of nonrenewable fossil fuel sources, and would further contribute to the problems of global warming, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to take all actions possible to oppose exploration for and development of offshore oil, off the California coast, and to establish a permanent ocean sanctuary for all portions of the California coast in which offshore oil drilling is not already proceeding.
(B) Global Warming and Renewable Energy Sources. Because the continued and accelerating use of nonrenewable fossil fuels is leading to a significant warming of the entire plant, which is predicted to cause significant adverse effects to human populations around the globe, and because the use of nonrenewable fossil fuel energy sources is also leading to air pollution, toxic contamination, and long-term detrimental effects to the economy and the environment of Santa Cruz County, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to implement, to the greatest degree possible, transportation strategies which increase energy efficiency and energy conservation in all sectors of energy usage, and which increase the production and use of renewable energy resources, to substitute for nonrenewable energy sources, within Santa Cruz County.
(C) Protection of the Ozone Layer. Because the emission of human-created chemicals is leading to the depletion of the ozone layer that protects all life on this planet from the damaging and destructive effects of ultraviolet light, it shall be a policy of Santa Cruz County government to support the most rapid possible international, national, State, and local elimination of the emission of ozone-depleting chemicals to the atmosphere; local actions to reduce or eliminate the emission of ozone-depleting chemicals to the atmosphere shall be implemented within Santa Cruz County.
(D) Forest Protection and Restoration. Because the rapid destruction of the forests of this planet is having a significant adverse effect on the atmosphere of the planet, on a global basis, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to support international, national, State, and local programs to protect existing forestlands, and to ensure that timber harvesting proceeds only on the basis of sustained harvesting techniques that will allow the harvesting of timber only at that rate at which new timber is regenerated and restored, and that will permanently protect old growth redwood stands in the State of California; and it shall further be a policy of Santa Cruz County government to support and encourage significant tree planting programs within Santa Cruz County.
(E) Greenbelt Protection and Preservation. Because it is critically important to prevent urban growth and development from sprawling into areas of prime agricultural land, onto lands which have value as a timber resource, and onto lands which provide wildlife habitat and open space for the people of the County, it shall continue to be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to prevent significant new incursions of urban development into areas which are now designated rural; and it shall further be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to provide, when possible, permanent protection for lands possessing significant open space, wildlife habitat, timber resource and agricultural value.
(F) Recycling. Because the waste of the natural resources of the earth is causing both local and environmental problems of great significance, including the discharge of toxic leachates into groundwater tables, the depletion of available landfill space, and the long-term impoverishment of the economy, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to increase, to the greatest degree possible, its use of recycled materials, and to eliminate practices which result in the unnecessary waste and disposal of natural resources; to this end, the purchasing practices of County government shall maximize the purchase and use of recycled materials.
(G) Toxic and Radioactive Materials. Because thousands of toxic chemicals have been introduced into the environment, and have created an environmental problem of global proportions, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to use its powers and resources to support programs, such as the integrated pest management program, which seek to reduce the use of toxic compounds to the maximum extent possible. In addition, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to reduce the use of toxic materials rather than permitting their disposal into the air, water or land, where disposal practices are subject to local law or regulation; and it shall be the further policy of Santa Cruz County government to oppose and prevent, to the greatest degree possible, the disposal within Santa Cruz County landfills and sewer treatment plants of any radioactive material, however classified by any Federal government classification system.
(H) Endangered Species and Biological Diversity. Because human activities are destroying the habitats which are necessary for the survival of various plant and animal species, thus causing the rapid extinction on a worldwide basis of numerous forms of life, and because the consequences of this loss of biological diversity are unknown and potentially serious, and because the extinction of any form of life represents, in itself, an impoverishment and diminution of all life, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to continue, and where possible to increase, its protection for endangered species and the habitats which support endangered species within Santa Cruz County.
(I) Development of a Sustainable Local Economy. Because an economy that is not protective of the environment, or which is based on the use of nonrenewable energy sources and other nonrenewable resources, is inherently less stable than an economy that is based on long-term environmental protection, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to promote and encourage economic development activities, and agricultural practices, which recognize and respect the natural limitations of the Santa Cruz County environment, which are protective of human health, and which are based to the greatest degree possible on the use of renewable, rather than nonrenewable, energy sources and other natural resources.
(J) Future Growth and Development. Because pressures for rapidly accelerating growth and development exist within the State of California, and particularly affect desirable coastal areas like Santa Cruz County, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to use its powers and resources to ensure that the future growth and development of Santa Cruz County does not surpass the natural carrying capacity of the Santa Cruz County environment, and that such growth and development does not lead to the overdraft of any water source, the creation of unacceptable levels of air pollution, or the loss of prime agricultural land.
(K) Transportation. Because transportation is a primary concern of Santa Cruz County residents, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to use its powers and resources to continually improve the County’s transportation system in a manner which reduces traffic congestion and preserves the environmental quality of Santa Cruz County. It shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County to support transportation programs, such as transportation demand management, various types of transportation, emissions controls, proper road maintenance, and other programs which may address the transportation needs of County residents.
(L) Education and Outreach. Because ongoing education of and outreach to the population of Santa Cruz County is essential to furthering the foregoing principles and policies in the decades commencing in 1990 and 2000 and beyond, and achieving goals identified during implementation of this chapter, it shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County government to establish and promote education and outreach programs which inform the residents of Santa Cruz County about the environmental principles stated herein and elicit their involvement in achieving the identified goals. [Ord. 4604 § 1, 2000].
16.92.040 Implementation.
(A) The County Administrative Officer shall report annually to the Board of Supervisors concerning the progress made in the previous calendar/fiscal year in carrying out the policy directives contained in this chapter. In addition, a policy review and public meeting shall be held, pursuant to SCCC 16.92.050, to review the progress that County government has made during the decade, in achieving the purposes of this chapter.
(B) Implementation of the policies set out in SCCC 16.92.030 and of the provisions of this section shall be coordinated by the County Administrative Officer and the Planning Director.
(C) As part of the annual County budget process, each department shall identify the specific existing and potential programs and projects within its departmental purview which have been recommended or approved for implementation under this chapter and which require funding in order to commence or continue in the next fiscal year. The County Administrative Officer shall include recommendations on such expenditures in the annual budget report and recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. [Ord. 4604 § 1, 2000].
16.92.050 Recodification, amendment and review.
Nothing shall prevent the Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz County from recodifying the substantive provisions of the ordinance codified in this chapter from time to time, to incorporate the provisions of this chapter into the County Code in the most appropriate location. The Board of Supervisors shall cause a review of the accomplishments of County government, with respect to the directives contained in this chapter, to be presented to the Board at a public meeting to be held at the Board’s first meeting in the month of June 2009. [Ord. 4604 § 1, 2000].
16.92.060 Consistency with State law requirements.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as directing the County of Santa Cruz to violate any requirement of State law. [Ord. 4604 § 1, 2000].
16.92.070 Severability.
If any portion of the ordinance codified in this chapter is hereafter determined to be invalid, all remaining portions of this chapter shall remain in full force and effect, and, to this extent, the provisions of this chapter are severable. [Ord. 4604 § 1, 2000].