Strategic Growth Council Meeting Synopsis - March 17, 2010

The Strategic Growth Council (SGC) met on March 17, 2010. The following is a synopsis of the meeting. Additional materials were provided at the meeting and are available at http://www.sgc.ca.gov/meetings/20100317/, with the exception of the DRAFT Annual Progress Report.

Executive Report

Annual Progress Report

Staff presented an draft Annual Report on the SGC, which is due to the Legislature later this year. Staff reminded the Council and audience that the SGC has met 15 times over the last 13 months and accomplished a great deal. SGC does not have any dedicated staff, and the agency staff that have been assigned to the SGC are stretched thin. Staff indicated that as the SGC has more time between meetings, they would like to hold public workshops in advance of Council Meetings in the future to hear from stakeholders on items for the upcoming SGC meeting agenda. Staff will then consider stakeholder input and made any revisions pertaining to stakeholder input to materials prior to the Council considering them.

Urban Greening Guidelines Update

Chairwoman Cynthia Bryant asked staff if there had been any feedback on the Urban Greening guidelines and public workshops. Staff reported that there was a lot of interest and good turnout at the workshops. There was some confusion on the definition of an urban area and how that was being interpreted. Staff suggested that a supplemental guidance piece be developed to provide constituents with a clear understanding of how the definition of an urban area will be interpreted by staff.

Planning Grant Guidelines

Staff presented an overview of the high-level changes made to the draft guidelines which were represented in the proposed final guidelines. Staff also indicated there were additional issues raised by stakeholders. A number of stakeholders provided public comment. There was a great deal of discussion amongst the Council members as well as stakeholders. In the end, the SGC voted to adopt the guidelines with a series of amendments, including:

• Raised the amount of funding going to SB 375-related planning (Focus Area #2), from 20% of the funds to a minimum of 25%.
• Reduced the amount going to Focus Area #1, in which local governments submit applications on their own, from 70% to a minimum of 25%.
• Added local-regional collaboration to the scoring criteria
• Made explicit that SB 375 regional planning (SCS/APS) is an eligible use of funds
• Added “greenprints” and Natural Community Conservation Plans as explicitly eligible activities
• Created a twenty percent for set-aside economically disadvantaged communities
• Listed changes to zoning prominently among the scoring criteria

It is not clear when the final guidelines will be released, nor when the SGC will be accepting applications for these grants, although they it is anticipated to be late March.

SGC Activities for Budget Authorization

Staff presented to the Council a series of proposals for budget authorization, including activities in support of the Proposition 84 grants and a number of data proposals. There was a healthy debate and discussion around these topics, and ultimately the SGC voted to approve (in concept) activities in support of the grants, as well as funding for data collection for parcel data, protected lands, and healthy communities. Additional data needs that were not funded include vegetation mapping and a household travel survey.

The next Council meeting is scheduled for June 16, 2010, 1-5 pm in Sacramento.