John Gunderson Salida Facebook post #2 and my reply

Read first: John Gunderson Salida Facebook post #1 and my reply

John Gunderson Hey, just thought of something... there's a signature drive for a measure on urban limits that would apply to Modesto. No new development/annexations west of 99 and limitations north of Kiernan. Is there a similar measure planned for Salida? Running out of time. When Catherine Borges spearheads a signature drive on urban limits for Salida, then I will believe she is pure. Probably have to be incorporated for it take hold. Remember reading an email where Ms. Borges said that County was going to fund Salida at 34%. Guess that means 34% of the County's share of property tax which by my calculations is about 9.13% of the pie. The bulk of it goes to education. Still have that email Ms. Borges sent out to BOS and Council.... a real doozy....

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Katherine Borges

Date: Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 9:14 PM

Subject: Gunderson Facebook Post

To: John Gunderson

Mr. Gunderson, 

Here's what I replied to you on Facebook which I'm sending via e-mail since you've blocked me on Facebook:

Salida is an unincorporated community of interest overseen by the county, we are not autonomous. What applies to the County applies to us and we already have an urban limits measure in place, its called Measure E which was co-authored by Denny Jackman and Garrad Marsh back in 2007. 

Also, if you're going to quote me, you should go back and read my e-mail so you get your facts straight because this is what I wrote to you:

"If you read the 1996 Master Property Tax Sharing Agreement and its later amendments you will find that when a city annexes an island in, the property tax the city will receive is 34%. However, Salida is excluded in that agreement and thus, would be negotiated separately."

Read next: John Gunderson Salida Facebook post #3 and my reply

John Gunderson Salida Facebook post #1 and my reply

John Gunderson shared a note.

April 20 near Modesto, CA

Constantly learning stuff, comes with the job. Learned that County doesn't have to go through a LAFCO process when it comes to land use issues. Think that's how Salida got screwed with developers having free reign for another 20 years or so. They will move when economic conditions allow and Salidans will have no say. A big problem with that is that when development does not occur within a City's limits, the property tax revenues for the City does not happen. It's gone forever and can never manifest under the current property tax distribution formulas that the State mandates. Then we have this problem that a City will not want to annex because no revenue accompanies the annexation. Prime example for this is the County islands within the City of Modesto. It is a serious drag on our quality of life. Also learned that Modesto has a tolling agreement with County to provide sewer and water to any development near City boundaries. I have a problem with that if the development is not annexed to some municipality. Figuratively speaking we all lose because the City portion of property tax does not happen, hence less revenue coming into our County, less services, less quality of life. What County did to Salida was short sighted and was just catering to developers without thought for the rest of us. In the best interest of all I would like to see the tolling agreement vacated as it is harmful. If County were to decide to allow development in Wood Colony, City would be required to service it under the current agreement. I knew there was a good reason for designating Wood Colony as "green" on the map. Also for your reading pleasure I have provided a link to a 3 county comparison of property tax distribution. It's a mess and makes solving the County island issue difficult to deal with: https://www.facebook.com/notes/john-gunderson/property-taxes-for-2011-2012-a-comparison-of-3-counties/475337735869490

_______________________________________________________________________

My reply to Councilman Gunderson's Facebook post sent via e-mail:

Dear Councilman Gunderson,

You may have blocked me on Facebook for using the 'R' word (Recall) but that doesn't stop others from sending your Facebook posts to me.  First off, Salida is NOT "screwed with developers having free reign" - we do have a voice, its called the Salida Municipal Advisory Council.  The County DOES listen to us, (unlike the Modesto City Council) so when the economic conditions do allow, then believe you me, we will have a say!  And all FIVE County Supervisors support the people of Salida and Wood Colony. 

As for the property tax revenues, they are not "gone forever" - we are county and so our property taxes go to the County. You postulate that "...a City will not want to annex because no revenue accompanies the annexation" and that's just not true. 

If you read the 1996 Master Property Tax Sharing Agreement and its later amendments you will find that when a city annexes an island in, the property tax the city will receive is 34%.  However, Salida is excluded in that agreement and thus, would be negotiated separately.  

What the County did when it passed the Salida Now in 2007 was they replaced the 2000 version of the Salida Community Plan with a better plan.  The new plan calls for money to be set aside for the incorporation of Salida as a city, which is not a new idea, it is something that previous Salidans have wanted to do.  To be quite honest, you sound greedy by saying "without thought to the rest of us' because why should the County give a thought about the Salida Community Plan for Modesto?  Both Salida and Wood Colony were able to successfully fight off annexation by Modesto in 1996 and its quite obvious that we do not want to be annexed now; why can't you understand that we prefer to be county than being annexed into your city?  

I don't know where you are getting your information, but I think you need to do more research because you say that "If the County were to decide to allow development in Wood Colony, City would be required to service it under the current agreement" and that's just not true unless the land was annexed to Modesto. Because if that were the case, then Salida wouldn't have the water extortion issue by Modesto that prevents any new development from occuring in Salida. Wood Colony is on wells and Modesto would have to agree to an out-of-boundary service agreement among other things to bring water out there. Its not benevolent to designate Wood Colony as "green", its paternalistic and imperialistic.  Salida and Wood Colony were NOT FOUNDED FOR MODESTO'S FUTURE BENEFIT!  WE JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!!  WHY CAN'T ANY OF MODESTO'S CITY LEADERS DO THAT?!? 

Sincerely,

Katherine Borges

Read next: John Gunderson Salida Facebook post #2 and my reply

LAFCO fires a warning shot over Modesto's bow

Last week was not a good week for the City of Modesto (COM) as they soldiered on towards their hostile land grabs upon Salida and Wood Colony. Their General Plan Notice of Preparation for the Master Environmental Impact Report (MEIR) public comment period closed on May 30, 2014 and two of the responses submitted were shared with the Salida Municipal Advisory Council because they include comments about Salida. The first one received, which had been submitted by the Stanislaus Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO, the deciding body for land annexations) clearly contains shades of things to come.
LAFCO begins their response by informing the city that their NOP is "inadequate in its description of the project." It details the inconsistencies between the MEIR that COM adopted in 2008 to the current proposed scope.

But the real fun begins on page 3 with LAFCO firing a warning shot over COM's bow:

"In order to expand these areas, the Commission must determine that insufficient land is available within the current sphere of influence, that growth has been directed away from prime agricultural lands, and that the additional territory will not exceed the twenty-year period for probable growth and development (or ten years for a primary area.)" 

This raises many questions and issues for the COM. First off, does COM have an insufficient amount of land already within its inventory? COM "removed" 1,254 acres that had already been approved by LAFCO without anyone publicly asking them to. Why would they do that? Well because they know that it may pose even more of an uphill battle to develop that land since most of it belongs to a very prominent family. So the first million-dollar question is whether LAFCO will agree that Modesto truly has "insufficient" land in their inventory for development when their total portfolio contains over 11,000 acres in their current sphere of influence outside of the city limits?

What may prove even more tough for them is justifying expansion into prime agricultural land when LAFCO clearly states that growth should be "directed away from prime agricultural lands". One of the Modesto City Council's favorite talking points is, "Well no one is going to make you sell your land." If that's the case, then why should LAFCO approve territory for Modesto when it may not be available in ten or even twenty years? Unfortunately, there are a few landowners in Wood Colony who do want to sell and view their land there as more than just an agricultural investment. And once one sells and their land is developed, this creates a domino effect because who wants to farm next to a commercial development or office park?

Noted next in the LAFCO NOP response is one of the best items for both Salida and Wood Colony:

"There are two communities of interest that the City's proposed Sphere of Influence would encroach upon--Salida and Wood Colony.  Each of these should be discussed relative to LAFCO's adopted policy that states, "sphere of influence boundaries shall, to the extent possible, maintain a separation between existing communities to protect open space and agricultural lands and the identity of an individual community."

Modesto is already nipping at Salida's heels at Pelandale. And Modesto has already received three large land annexations from Salida's tax base (Costco, Kaiser, and Kiernan Business Park East) in the last fifteen years. How much more of Salida's municipal lifeblood will Modesto be allowed to drain? The COM is asking for another large scale land grab with its inclusion of land that's designated for Salida in the Salida Community Plan to COM's Sphere of Influence. If this is allowed, this is just one more nail in the coffin for Salida to ever be its own city and preserve its identity as an individual community. Additionally, if Modesto takes Salida's land north of Kiernan, this would be a major geographical movement towards turning Salida into an unincorporated county island.

"Wood Colony Plaza"
at Sisk & Pelandale

The LAFCO paragraph looks even better for Wood Colony with its reference to protecting "open space and agricultural lands" along with their identity. How would a commercial business park or industrial section protect Wood Colony's identity? Modesto has already named a shopping center "Wood Colony Plaza" and I can vouch for many Wood Colony neighbors in saying they don't view that center as "preserving their identity".

The next requirement outlined by LAFCO is the "City/County Meeting Requirement". Since all five Stanislaus County Supervisors have expressed support for Salida and Wood Colony, they'll hopefully tell the COM to get lost. Then this would revert to the COM proceeding with submitting their application without agreement and the LAFCO Commission will consider their application in line with adopted LAFCO policies.

And speaking of "adopted LAFCO policies", the next gauntlet that LAFCO throws down in the city's path is a section titled, "Agricultural Resources" which reiterates the reason for LAFCO's existence is "to protect and promote agriculture". This includes a policy requirement instituted in 2012 that requires applicants to prepare a "Plan for Agricultural Preservation". Seems like an oxymoron when you consider COM's plans for Wood Colony!

The LAFCO NOP response also requests information on lands in the Williamson Act, public services and a municipal service review requirement. Click here to view LAFCO's NOP response.

To sell or not to sell? That's the Wood Colony question

What do the landowners in Wood Colony think about the City of Modesto's plans to bulldoze their farms and homes for commercial and industrial development? Wood Colony residents canvassed their neighbors in January 2014 and found that 92% of those who responded were against it. Since that time, the potential annexation zone was reduced by the Modesto City Council in March to 1,152 acres. So what do the landowners in the remaining annexation zone think?

BLICKENSTAFF
Descended from early Wood Colony settlers, David Blickenstaff owns 9.96 acres along Beckwith and has been vocal about wanting to

David L. Blickenstaff Sr.
Source: Beyer High yearbook

sell. He spoke before LAFCO at the 1996 annexation attempt and also submitted a four-page essay entitled, "The Wood Colony Myth" in January 2014 to the Modesto City Council and city planning department. Two ironies of Mr. Blickenstaff referring to his community as a "myth" is that he drives an El Camino which says "Wood Colony" on the side and his father patented the "Wood Colony" almond varietal. Mr. Blickenstaff has already sold a large tract of land to the Diocese of Stockton for a new Catholic cemetery on Dakota near Beckwith. If he's successful in selling for development, what

could follow is the dreaded "domino effect" where when one sells, the others will follow as they don't want to farm next to a commercial development or office park. 

GROVER
Also from a founding German Baptist Brethren family, several Grover family members own three large parcels along Dakota. Many of their neighbors think one or more Grovers would sell their lands for development, and while this may be true, there's at least one Grover family who owns land on Dakota and wrote to the Modesto City Council requesting to NOT be annexed into the city and to preserve Wood Colony as it is.

LYONS

One of Bill Lyons Jr.'s subsidiaries,
Beckwith-Dakota LLC

The largest landowner in the Beckwith Triangle, former California Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Lyons Jr. is widely believed to want to sell his land there for development. However, when posed with that question by a Modesto Bee reporter, Mr. Lyons replied that he was, "...not aware of any talks between his family and the city" regarding developing his land in Wood Colony. As I pointed out in, "And The Rest of the Open Mic Story is..." can we take that to mean he is counting himself among "his family"? A Beckwith Road resident who would be adversely impacted if he did sell his land for development wrote him a letter in late April inquiring about that very topic but has yet to hear from him. Hopefully, the former Secretary of Ag will keep his land in ag. 

Further landowners and updates may be posted here, stay tuned...

Dave Lopez: The truth behind his spin

Modesto City Councilman Dave Lopez, who is running for Stanislaus County Supervisor Dick Monteith's seat in District 4, is the latest to join the political spin club with talking points on why Modesto should annex Salida. 

He first revealed his three supposed annexation-justified talking points in an April 22, 2014 interview on The Dave Bowman Show. The second public forum where he used the three again nearly verbatim was the League of Women Voters candidate debate as reported in the Modesto Bee.  

At 9:56 on the Dave Bowman Show recording, Dave Lopez says, "We essentially subsidize their fire department" and he proceeds to quote figures on what he thinks it takes to run the fire authority. First off, all Salidans and any other property owners that are within the boundaries of the Salida Fire District pay a yearly assessment for fire coverage on our property tax bills. Salida brought equipment and several trucks into the Modesto Regional Fire Authority (MRFA) along with the fact that Modesto is underfunding their employee benefits and workers comp contributions while Salida is not. AND, if that isn't bad enough, Modesto cut half a million dollars and with the goal of cutting one million from MRFA. So who is subsidizing who here?

Source: City of Modesto Water Department

At 10:14 in the interview, Lopez resorts to outright lying with, "We're subsidizing their water and Modestoans are paying more for their water than Salidans are." This was quite an easy one to disprove by paying a trip down to the City of Modesto Water Department. The chart at the right was provided by the department showing that Modestoans and Salidans pay EXACTLY THE SAME RATES for water!

One minute later, Lopez claims, "We are also subsidizing the bus transportation system" and this is perhaps the biggest whopper of a lie of them all! NO GENERAL FUND monies from the City of Modesto goes into providing bus service to Salida. Transit funding is provided via a highly complex assortment of taxes and grants with some of that being part of the Transportation Development Act. Because the funding goes through the County and NOT Modesto, even when Salida incorporates into its own city, absolutely nothing will change about the bus service.

Now you might be wondering why Mr. Lopez would go and throw Salida under a figurative MAX bus like that, but he says why in his concluding statement, "I live on a two-way street, and they want no part of us. I'm sorry, but that's where development needs to go, up on the Kiernan corridor." And all you need to do is follow the money. Two of the largest landowners on the Kiernan Corridor who are within the Salida Community Plan area were contributors to Dave Lopez's campaign: Stephen Endsley (pg 7) and Dave Romano (pg 19). They are among a plethora of other developers and development related businesses who donated to Lopez's campaign and who would stand to benefit by a potential Modesto land grab on Salida.

Just browse his campaign statement and you'll see that Dave Lopez is a bought man. If he wins the District 4 supervisor seat, it could end up not only being highly detrimental for Salida, but also for Wood Colony. As it stands right now, all five Stanislaus County Supervisors support Salida against being annexed to Modesto. But if for some reason, Modesto were to triumph from Lopez's posturing, then its just a matter of time until Wood Colony will fall. 

"If Salida falls, Wood Colony will follow. And if Wood Colony falls, Salida will follow" 

-Jake Wenger in 2013

Help to save Salida and Wood Colony! Ask your friends in District 4 to vote for Dick Monteith

And The Rest of the Open Mic Story is...

THE MODESTO BEE - March 30, 2014
"Was microphone left on after Modesto City Council meeting?"

"Is this thing on?" (Photo credit: Fly'n Dutchman Signs)

Why yes, yes it was...
I listened to Greg Nyhoff talk for just over an hour, the streaming conversation being broadcast over the internet ended at 1:05:53. The most concerning part of the conversation was Mr. Nyhoff's comments regarding Salida and Wood Colony which I quoted during the public comment period at the Modesto City Council meeting on March 25, 2014:

"Now there's a very good reason why I feel that further abuses could be forthcoming and that's because after the last council meeting, I had left after public comment, but then regretted not staying for another one of the agenda items so I turned the meeting on at home. The screen said the meeting was over, but I could still hear streaming audio come through from about an hour long conversation between Greg Nyhoff, Jenny Kenoyer, and Stephanie Lopez. Mr. Nyhoff was giving Ms. Kenoyer sort of a history lesson on Wood Colony and Salida. He said that Bill Lyons had come to the city asking for his land in Wood Colony to be annexed and that Salida wasn't going anywhere, “...because we have their fire department, their water, and their sewer.” Pretty much saying that Modesto has Salida over a barrel."

My mouth was agape listening to this and when I snapped out of my shock, I started contacting friends in Salida and Wood Colony to turn on their computers and listen. At least one person in Wood Colony also heard it along with the Spyksmas who taped it. While I wasn't able to tape it myself, I did take notes.

Mr. Nyhoff was quite the Chatty Cathy. He lamented how Modesto, "Can't get off the Top 10 lists, heck, we can't even fix the sidewalks!" He spoke about the unions and the failure of Measure X, saying, "We have no cops, we watch the criminals zip through."

But another jaw-dropper was his comments regarding city planners, Brent Sinclair and Josh Bridegroom: "Brent won't bring anything to us and Josh is following in his footsteps. This isn't the Josh Show."

I didn't seek out the Bee to do an article on the open mic, but I'm glad they decided to do one because of the revealing interviews Kevin Valine conducted. First off, Mr. Nyhoff claims temporary amnesia for an hour-long conversation. Perhaps reading my blog post will refresh his memory. That, or he can listen to the recording.  And Bill Lyons is, "...not aware of any talks between his family and the city" regarding developing his land in Wood Colony. Can we take that to mean he is counting himself among "his family"?  Bill Lyons owns the largest parcel of land in the proposed annexation zone under the name "Beckwith-Dakota LLC" so that's GREAT news for Wood Colony if he and his family have NOT been talking to the City of Modesto about developing their land there. Guess Mr. Nyhoff was mistaken when he named him.

Source: Salida MAC Facebook page

I've been told that there's a backroom behind the dais where the council can have private conversations so perhaps they'll make an effort to use this room next time instead of risk having their conversation streamed over the internet via a live mic. Marco Moreno posted that its happened before and he's tried reporting it but to no avail. The upside if they choose to ignore the issue further is potentially more "what do they really think" streaming conversations.

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2014/03/29/3266418/was-microphone-left-on-after-council.html#storylink=cpy

The People's Republic of Modesto?

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014, the Modesto City Council voted against their Planning Commission's recommendation (September 16, 2013) that Salida be removed from Modesto's General Plan update.  Additionally, the council voted to add in approximately 2,300 acres in Wood Colony to the General Plan.

These two votes have resulted in a backlash the likes that Stanislaus County has never before seen. 

And now the back-pedaling begins...

On Tuesday, February 25, 2014, Coucilwoman Jenny Kenoyer motioned that the General Plan be brought back before the city council on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. Behind the scenes, the council are meeting with people in Wood Colony. For what reason? A compromise? The residents of Wood Colony don't want a "compromise". Like Salida, they just want Modesto to leave them alone and stop trying to take their land. But as far as Modesto goes, they will use whatever underhanded tactics they have in their arsenal to accomplish their means to an end, and that includes gerrymandering, revisionist history, and just flat out ignoring the wishes of the people who live in Salida and Wood Colony.

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandered Beckwith Map

The first blantant exhibit of gerrymandering occurred with the approval of the "Mayor's Alternative" map for Wood Colony which contains a "notch" that cuts out 34 homes along Beckwith Road. When questioned about the gerrymander notch at the February 15th Hart-Ransom meeting, Mayor Marsh replied that the houses were cut out to "prevent eminent domain". Audience members were quick to point out that there wasn't anything that would stop eminent domain from being declared on Beckwith to run needed infrastucture or widen the road for commercial development.

Furthermore at the Hart-Ransom meeting, Marsh indicated that the City may remove the 1,254 acres designated as "ag". This move will also gerrymander out more votes from having the ability to vote down any land annexations in the Beckwith-Dakota area.

Salida does not escape Modesto's gerrymandering swath unscathed either. Modesto City Councilman, John Gunderson, contacted a member of Salida's Municipal Advisory Council on February 18th saying a "surprise" is in store for Salida. He did not reveal just what the "surprise" is but other sources have confirmed that the city council is planning to remove the existing town of Salida from the General Plan update and just keep in the Salida Community Plan land that is north and south of Kiernan Avenue. AKA "The land around Gregori" as Marsh refers to it in trying to negate Stanislaus County's designation of that land for Salida. By removing the existing residents' from the General Plan update, this gerrymanders out Salida's votes from the Salida Community Plan land grab. If this comes to pass, it will be up to Salida residents to make the case to LAFCO to preserve this land for Salida as its now designated.

Revisionist History
Talk Radio Commentator, Dave Bowman, was the first to call it like it is when Marsh tried to say that the area north of Beckwith and east of Dakota "isn't part of Wood Colony" as a justification for leaving in the red "commercial" area on the general plan. This same view was expressed

Wood Colony Cemetery entrance

by Councilman Bill Zoslocki as reported by Wood Colony residents who attended the meeting at Kristin Olsen's office. Modesto is adamant about leaving the area in the plan update and Wood Colony residents are adamant about it coming it out; because IT IS a part of Wood Colony. How ludicrous a thing to try and promote that THE LAND DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE WOOD COLONY CEMETERY IS NOT A PART OF WOOD COLONY?!? 

Socialism
Some of the comments that have been coming out of city council and from Modesto Chamber of Commerce members are: "Modesto needs a win", "There has to be a compromise", "Modesto needs to save face", "the intention is to come up with viable solutions". Now why they feel that Salida and Wood Colony residents should and would agree to a compromise that sacrifices the futures of our communities for Modesto to "save face" is unfathomable! This isn't the "People's Republic of Modesto" where socialism reigns and our communities must sacrifice for Modesto's greater good! Or is it? By virtue of our location along 99, does Salida have to pay yet another price of losing our tax base to Modesto because of 144 years of Modesto's bad planning? Salida has already lost the land that Kaiser is on, along with Costco, Lowe's, Save Mart, etc. How much more municipal lifeblood does Salida have to lose to quench Modesto's thirst? And why does Salida have to even talk about losing it in the first place? Is it because its the status quo in Stanislaus County? Modesto's status quo is that they are used to always getting what they want.