This community opinion was contributed by Jessica Wohlander, Environmental Associate with Green Foothills. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. BenitoLink invites all community members to share their ideas and opinions. By registering as a BenitoLink user in the top right corner of our home page and agreeing to follow our Terms of Use, you can write counter opinions or share your insights on current issues. Lea este articulo en español aquí.
San Benito County’s natural beauty and rich agricultural heritage, coupled with its proximity to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, make it distinct. But development pressures from our neighbors to the north are ever present. Silicon Valley’s explosive growth and housing shortage makes our county a tempting target for developers. County residents are increasingly called on to make decisions about development that will determine everything about our future. Will we continue to protect the farmland that sustains productive agriculture and the open space and natural resources that make our county a haven for outdoor enthusiasts and wildlife? Or will we allow some of California’s most productive farmland and critical wildlife corridors to be destroyed by sprawl development?
There are ways to accommodate an increased population and development pressures, and
bring in more revenue for needed services and infrastructure, without erasing what makes our county idyllic and distinct. Infill development – building on vacant or underused lands in and around existing urban areas – is the key to ensuring that our region can grow without encroaching on farmers’ and ranchers’ livelihoods or harming the environment.
Unfortunately, many of the development proposals currently being brought forward are ill-advised schemes for environmentally destructive projects of questionable economic benefit.
Developers have proposed a slew of projects that they promise will bring in needed funds.
However, many of these, such as truck stops, warehouses, and quarries, would destroy critical landscapes and the natural beauty that makes this area exceptional. Development in key wildlife corridors and sensitive habitats would harm wildlife already struggling to survive. Proposed projects would pave over valuable farmland and rangeland, making it increasingly difficult for the few young farmers entering the profession to access land on which to grow our food. Increased traffic would congest already deteriorating roads, pollute our air, and drastically degrade the uniquely peaceful feeling of leaving city bustle behind.
A prime example is the proposal for the expansion of the John Smith Road Landfill to five times its current size, creating a mega-dump to receive 2,300 tons of other counties’ garbage every day. If this landfill expansion is approved, it could contaminate the groundwater with toxic chemicals, cause significant air pollution from the hundreds of heavy trucks driving through our neighborhoods to the landfill, cost the county money from wear and tear on local roads, and turn a beautiful landscape into a mountain of garbage.
Because of the need to find alternatives to destructive proposals like these, I recently joined the staff of Green Foothills, an environmental organization founded in 1962 to help communities protect open space and agriculture. Green Foothills helps communities champion conservation, local nature, and local agriculture. We engage early in land use proposals and planning processes to help local communities and elected officials make decisions that consider farms and the environment and find alternatives to sprawl. I encourage everyone who cares about our county to learn more about Green Foothills, and subscribe to our newsletter, at www.greenfoothills.org.
This region is special and the people who live here care deeply about it. Working together, we can take care of each other and our communities and provide for local needs without sacrificing farmland and wildlife habitat or encouraging the type of sprawl development that ends up being more costly to residents than compact infill growth. We should work together to build a resilient region where wildlife thrives, everyone has natural beauty to enjoy, and communities live in balance with nature.