Lori Wolf: Beekman did right thing, should stay on LAFCO board
Re “Beekman should resign from LAFCO” (Letters, April 26): Why Matthew Beekman should not resign.
After carefully reading the materials presented at the LAFCO meeting, I think the only choice would have been to vote yes for this clarification of existing Policy 22. As Supervisor Jim De Martini pointed out, this is only one method of meeting the farmland mitigation compliance issue. Developers should be delighted that they can get away with paying 35 percent of average land value instead of having to identify and purchase development rights of existing farm land.
The city of Hughson did its homework and had already adopted a 2-to-1 acre ratio to preserve the rich farmland around the city. Mayor Beekman was very familiar with this methodology. This policy only applies to residential projects and discourages sprawl – which is LAFCO’s directive from the state of California. Sitting on this board shouldn’t be the result of a popularity contest. Rather it is a service to all our citizens, and should be valued as such.
Lori Wolf, Modesto
This story was originally published April 30, 2015 at 11:11 AM with the headline "Lori Wolf: Beekman did right thing, should stay on LAFCO board."