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Montaña de Oro

Montana de Oro This is an e-mail written by John Krueger from Montana de Oro Coast Mounted Assistance regarding the potential closure of the beach areas at MDO state Park. A non- horse loving new district Supervisor, Greg Smith, is proposing to close the beach to equestrians. Please read it carefully and take any action you think is appropriate. This man also has power and jurisdiction over Pismo State Beach. Personal letters (snail mail) really gets attention over e-mails; however e-mails are better than no mail. It will take all of us to turn this potential closure around! Email: johnkrue@aol.com

Hello everyone!

I have received numerous calls and emails over the past several weeks regarding the potential beach closure at Montana De Oro State Park. All of you have voiced support for our effort to keep the beach open to equestrians.

Below, I have put together a partial list of persons that should be contacted regarding this potential closure of the sand spit area of Montana De Oro State Park. Officially, this area is referred to as the Morro Dunes Nature Preserve, as established in the Montana De Oro General Plan established in 1988.

At the beginning of February, the Coast Mounted Assistance chapter for Montana De Oro State Park received a personal overview of the situation by Greg Smith, our district supervisor for MDO. He did confirm that a potential closure of the nature preserve at the beach is being considered. This would affect all non-pedestrian users of this expanse of beach.

Please let your feelings be known to all of the following individuals:

  • Ruth Coleman, Acting Director of State Parks rcole@parks.ca.gov Ruth is the top of the food chain on all issues regarding state parks
  • Keith Demetrak, State Parks Keith works for Ruth. kdeme@parks.ca.gov
  • Ken McKowen, State Trails Administrator Ken works for Ruth; Statewide Park Trail Manager Ken McKowen California State Parks P.O. Box 942896; Sacremento, CA 94296-0001 kmcko@parks.ca.gov
  • Abel Maldonado *State Assemblyman for our district. Abel is a good contact and would probably be sympathetic to our cause. State Capitol; Room 4015 Sacramento, Ca. 95814; Tel: 916-319-2033 Assemblymember. Maldonado@assembly.ca.gov
  • Kirk Sturm, District Superintendent for State Parks Kirk is Greg Smith's boss. (Not sure of his exact title.) ksturm@hearst-castle.org
  • Greg Smith, District Supervisor for MDO gsmith@hearst-castle.org Greg is spearheading the potential beach closure
  • Hanabeth Jackson, State Assembly. She is a member of Natural Resources Commission; State Capitol; P.O. Box 942849; Sacramento, Ca. 94249; Tel: 916-3192035 Assemblymember. Jackson@assembly.ca.gov

Please contact me for a copy of a Coast Mounted Assistance document that was forwarded to Greg Smith and Kirk Sturm regarding the beach closure. This document will give you a clear understanding of all details that Greg Smith provided to the CMA during our February meeting, and it will also give you an overview of the actions that our group has proposed that could help improve the protection of endangered species within the Nature Preserve.

Thanks and best regards,
John Krueger;
Coast Mounted Assistance Montana De Oro State Park

Chatsworth Needs Your Help

Hal Bernson and Ted Stein Conspire to Change the Rules

Proposed changes to Chatsworth/Porter Ranch Community Plan: underlines are new text, strikethroughs are text that is to be eliminated! Strikeouts are the foundation of CLPA's winning case - by removing them, the horsekeeping protection clauses are gutted.

The following is the text of the proposed Chatsworth General Plan amendment:

Several horsekeeping areas are designated proposed in the northerly and westerly sections of the Community. The Plan encourages the preservation of these land uses, especially north of Devonshire Chatsworth Street and west of De Soto Avenue (Including the east side of De Soto Avenue) to the City/County Line. Provisions shall be made for equestrian access via Brown's Canyon Wash. Horsekeeping facilities with appropriate restrictions could be provided westerly and northerly to the City/County line.

Chatsworth-Porter Ranch includes large areas of open space and natural land forms. It is one of the more rural areas of the City and Supports a substantial equestrian-oriented populations. It is a policy of the Plan to place a higher priority on the preservation of designated horsekeeping areas than on other uses found in the RA Zone category. Toward this end, the Plan supports the establishment of "K" Horsekeeping Supplemental use Districts in appropriate areas in order to ensure the preservation of this equestrian lifestyle and cautions against possible precedent-setting variance, conditional use, or subdivision that might endanger the preservation of horsekeeping uses within the Community. Efforts should be made to insure compatibility between the equestrian and other uses found in the RA Zone. In all instances, the RA Zone should be encouraged to emulate the existing rural landscape, whether horsekeeping is present or not.

Comments: If you read the above two paragraphs carefully - there now is NO DESIGNATED HORSEKEEPING AREA IN CHATSWORTH. There is, per the first paragraph, a proposed area; however, in the second paragraph, the ONLY PROTECTED AREA IS A DESIGNATED AREA...and now there are none!

Last update: Oct 02, 2002 13:07
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