BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Recommended Position on State Legislation: SB 492 (Beall) Upper Guadalupe and Los Gatos Creek Watersheds.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Adopt a position of "Support" on: SB 492 (Beall) Upper Guadalupe and Los Gatos Creek Watersheds.
Body
SUMMARY:
SB 492 (Beall) Upper Guadalupe and Los Gatos Creek Watersheds (I-02/16/17)
Position Recommendation: Support
Priority Recommendation: 2
The Upper Guadalupe and Los Gatos Creek watersheds are located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) owns and manages over 20,000 acres of public land within these watersheds. Adjacent to these public lands are 96 parcels totaling almost 6,500 acres that are owned by the San Jose Water Company. MROSD would like to acquire these parcels for wildlife conservation, open space, and public access. SB 492 would authorize the San Jose Water Company to sell the 96 parcels to MROSD and would require the water company to invest the net proceeds from the sale in water system infrastructure, plant, facilities, and properties that are necessary or useful in the performance of its public duties, as determined by the California Public Utilities Commission.
In 2008, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) designated a portion of the described lands as a Priority Conservation Area, and in 2013 this and other Priority Conservation Areas were incorporated into Plan Bay Area, a regional, long-range transportation, land use, and housing plan adopted by ABAG and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The Upper Guadalupe and Los Gatos Creek watersheds provide habitat for several species that are listed as threatened or endangered, including the bay checkerspot butterfly and the California red-legged frog. Serpentine derived soils in the area are inhospitable to invasive plant species and support a diversity of native plants adapted to the environment, such as a unique chaparral/shrubland series and...
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