Author: Staff

April Vargas of the CGF Board of Directors submitted these comments to the Board of Supervisors concerning what method the Board uses to seek approval of the Amendments by the Coastal Commission, who needs to provide the final approval. Committee for Green Foothills Comments onMidcoast LCP Update ProjectCounty Counsel Memo November 14, 2006 County Counsel...

Below is a Letter to the Editor we sent in to the Mercury News and Palo Alto Weekly about Stanford University’s recent announcement they are halting work on the Page Mill/S1 Trail. — Holly Van Houten, Executive Director ——————————————–Dear Editor, As the former director of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, it was my great...

(Below is a guest posting by CGF Summer Intern Annie Ryan.) On June 14th, Los Gatos-based Gabilan Ranch owners announced the sale of development rights to the Nature Conservancy for the “stunning” 11,190-acre ranch, located just south of the Santa Clara-San Benito boundary. In one of the largest land preservation arrangements ever to be completed...

(guest posting by Chris Montague-Breakwell) The Institute Golf Course, built illegally without permits from the city of Morgan Hill, has destroyed endangered species’ habitat and threatens to pollute local groundwater with fertilizer and pesticide run-off. And still, the city has not taken the golf course’s owners to task for their violations. The Institute Golf Course...

(Guest posting by Chris Montague-Breakwell) The endangered California red-legged frog’s proposed critical habitat has been slashed by more than 80 percent. A lawsuit by a group of developers brought a court order reducing the frog’s designated critical habitat. Under the new proposal, large areas along the Half Moon Bay and Montara coastlines will lose Federal...

(Below is a guest posting by CGF volunteer Chris Montague-Breakwell. Guest postings reflect the author’s viewpoints, which may or may not be shared by Committee for Green Foothills. -Brian) Last Thursday (9/22) the House Resources Committee approved the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005 (TESRA). The bill, crafted by Richard Pombo (R-CA), ostensibly...

The Sierra Club’s Loma Prieta Chapter is hosting a panel discussion in Cupertino this Thursday on the relationship between urban planning, zoning regulations and environmental protection. Moderated by State Senator Joe Simitian, the panel includes a “green developer,” a rep from the Sierra Club’s California Urban Growth Management Committee, and a transportation planner. More info...

The New York Times has a long article on people choosing to live in “exurbs,” converting farmland and open space into isolated, long-distance commuting, bedroom towns. This raises a host of issues, but one interesting aspect of the piece was the polling that said people are willing to increase their commute by 15 minutes if...

It’s not often that the folks in Washington, DC take action on something specific to CGF territory, but this happened yesterday when the Senate passed a bill sponsored by Senator Diane Feinstein that would add the Rancho Corral de Tierra property to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, part of the National Parks Service. CGF...

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the California Coastal Commission is lawful, and that its previous decisions should stand. The Commission was challenged in court by those who wished to end the group’s excellent work to protect our coast and who claimed that the method of appointing commissioners was unconstitutional. The ruling, which was...