Annexation Uproar Takes Over 'Study Session'

Several Watsonville residents expressed alarm at the city Council meeting Tuesday over Council Member Daniel Dodge's to annex an 80-acre parcel outside the current city limits.

A recent editorial in the Santa Cruz Sentinel by Dodge which claimed that annexing the land could draw a Costco to Watsonville was the source of the sudden outrage. He assured attendees and other council members that the article was simply a conversation starter, and that no major changes had begun rolling without a public process.

“We're years away from development on that property but we need to have this discussion,” said Dodge. “We are in dire need of jobs and we have to look at all options.”

The move is currently impossible without either a California Environmental Quality (CEQA) review or voter approval. These requirements stem from Measure U—passed by 60 percent of city voters in 2002—intended to slow growth of the city's jurisdiction. Environmentalists and farmers pushed the measure to curb expansion of city territory which grew 42 percent in the 1990s, according to the California Development And Planning Report.

“I am asking you to reaffirm an unmodified commitment to Measure U,” said Watsonville resident Amy Newell. “You can imagine the feeling of betrayal and enmity you will see if this plan goes forward.”

Councilmember Nancy Bilicich said his editorial caught both herself and her constituents off guard. She asked whether the Costco possibility was wishful thinking or there had been talks with the retail giant.

“The reason I said that is that Costco has expressed interest in coming to the community, but there were space restrictions [within current city limits],” said Dodge.

He supports a citizen driven initiative to approve the annexation, because the estimated cost of a CEQA review are above $250,000. That would require the signature of 10 percent city voters, which he thinks he can garner. The plan would then go to the Local Agency Formation Commission for approval.

Mayor Pro Tempore Oscar Rios agreed that growth must be regulated, and is sensitive the image of Watsonville as an agricultural community. But there are other people other than farmers that need jobs as well.

“Give us ideas. Maybe say no to this but give us some ideas,” said Rios.

Other groups including Wetlands Watch spoke out against any development involving big box stores which are defined as anything larger than 20,000 square feet, or changes to rules of Measure U.

Those limits on city expansion stay in effect through 2030, but that doesn't mean that anything goes after that point, one resident pointed out.

“When 2030 comes that doesn't mean development goes [unchecked, then the public process starts all over again,” he said.

Dodge said the city has to adjust to the bad economy which has held the unemployment rate in south county hovering around 25 percent since 2008.

Newell countered that drastic changes to the area landscape by building large retail don't offer a sure way out of the current mess.

“The economic problems we are going through right now are national and global,” she said. “they were caused by shuckster bankers in New York, and towns that are papered over with big box stores have the same problems we see here.”

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