Watsonville Voters Sink Measure T

Preliminary election results show Watsonville's controversial Measure T failing, according to the Santa Cruz County Elections website.  

The initiative, which proposed changes to Watsonville's urban limit line, was failing 77 percent to 23 percent in unofficial results released Tuesday night. 

The special election drew 3,600 voters. Of them, 2,785 voted against measure and 815 were for the amendment. 

Measure T would move 95 arces of agriculture land into the city's commercial land reserves. Proponents have said the area could draw large retailers to Watsonville, creating much-needed jobs and filling long-depleted city coffers with sales tax revenue.

But the "No on T" camp argued that converting farmland that currently provides jobs and revenue into storefronts would be a damaging and irreversible move to Watsonville's farming-based economy.

"The community doesn't want to pave over ag land," Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau President Chris Enright said. "I hope that the City Council hears the wake-up call: 'Change your vision of Watsonville and realize that agriculture is your biggest asset.' The community has spoken."

The Farm Bureau, along with the Santa Cruz County Land Trust, the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and some longtime local activists were against Measure T. 

Supporters of the measure, which was put forth by City Councilman Daniel Dodge, included Monterey/Santa Cruz Counties Building and Construction Trades Council Political Action, and Orosco & Associates, Inc., a Monterey-based developer tied to the Overlook Shopping Center and Home Depot on Green Valley Road, according to the Register Pajaronian newspaper.

Enright said he hopes city leaders will now take a second look at Measure U, the 2002 agreement on Watsonville's urban limit line, to pursue developments. 

"Urban sprawl is not the answer," Enright said. "There's still a lot of parcels that they could do stuff with."

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