Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008

Letter: Set higher standards

Editor: It was just about two years ago on Oct. 12, 2006, that Riverside Motorsports Park released the final environmental impact report for their project north of Castle Airport after five years of hype and propaganda.

It was substantially different from the draft EIR especially in regard to traffic routes that would greatly impact a valuable agricultural region through Delhi, Livingston, Cressey, Ballico, Winton and Atwater.

We asked for more time to review and have community meetings in northern Merced County where the impacts would have been huge. More time was not granted. Two months later, the Board of Supervisors approved the project with a 3-2 vote and altered the general plan.

In the last two years we have learned a great deal about the proponents of this project. We have also learned that there are big flaws in our county approval process.

On Aug. 5, the Board of Supervisors rescinded those certifications and general plan amendments because Merced County Farm Bureau, the San Joaquin Valley Raptor Rescue Center and the Citizens Group won their lawsuit against Merced County and RMP and the court ordered them to do it.

Merced County should take the lessons learned for the last few years in failed and bankrupted projects during the general plan update process and be proactive.

Set high standards for development. We cannot be so desperate that we literally give away the farm and suffer the consequences down the road.

Diana Westmoreland Pedrozo

Executive director,

Merced County Farm Bureau