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Scotts Valley
September 30, 2025

ELECTION 2016 UPDATE: Two Scotts Valley races still in doubt

As most Election Day victory margins grew with each day of the counting of mail ballots, two Scotts Valley races remained in doubt – and were likely to stay that way into next week.

Officials ask FAA to move flight path back over Scotts Valley and SLV

The Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals, a body of 12 elected officials convened by Congress members Anna Eshoo, Sam Farr and Jackie Speier to address jet noise, voted 8-4 on Nov. 17 to shift the flight path to SFO from Happy Valley and Los Gatos a few miles west, to fly over the San Lorenzo Valley, Bonny Doon and the cities of Scotts Valley, and Santa Cruz.

New Felton Library site to feature ‘green’ space

What currently looks like and overgrown vacant lot is lovingly being transformed into a nature sanctuary to adjoin the new Felton Library.

Measure D assured of victory

With more than 95 percent of all county ballots finally counted Tuesday afternoon, Measure D – the 30-year half-cent sales tax for transportation – was virtually assured of approval.

In SLV, appointments favored over elections

Kathleen Ritchie, president of the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees, has announced her resignation from the board, effective Dec. 7.

Trash rates to increase in 2017

Trash fees outside of Santa Cruz County cities will be increasing in 2017.The county Board of Supervisors on Nov. 15  adopted an new rate structure for solid waste ratepayers for the unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County.Typical residential customers would see monthly charges for Green Waste refuse and recycling services increase by approximately $2.50 a month for 2017.The suprvisors cited the need to create “a more sustainable solid waste system.” County oficials said the county’s residential rates would still be lower than in many neighboring communities.Contributing factors are increased maintenance costs, new reporting requirements, and more money to combat illegal dumping and graffiti, capture landfill gasses, conduct public outreach and meet new State mandates, among other activities.The commodities market for recycled goods is also down and not expected to recover, limiting the county’s ability to recover costs from recycling operations. “Beginning with the introduction of curbside recycling in the 1970s – one of the first communities in the U.S. to do so – through this year’s adoption of the Zero Waste Plan, Santa Cruz County has long been a leader in environmental protection,” Public Works Director John Presleigh said.“These modest rate increases will help us maintain our leadership position.”Under the plan, commercial rates would also rise. Absent any action, reserves in the County’s Solid Waste Enterprise Fund are expected to be run out by 2019. No General Fund money is used to support solid waste programs. In recent years, the state Legislature has passed several new mandates, including increased recycling, more organic material from commercial and multi-family buildings, and new reporting requirements for recyclables and organics.The new rates take effect Jan. 1, 2017.

Plastic bag ban immediate in Scotts Valley

Californians now face a new grocery-store reality: No more plastic bags.

Pot votes could mean competing cannabis cultivators

The passage of Proposition 64 and Measure E has proved to be a brief high for those supporting recreational marijuana.The state proposition (legalizing recreational pot) doesn’t become effective until January 2018, while the Santa Cruz County measure (a tax on all cannabis activities) has been put on hold by the county Board of Supervisors until at least the end of this year.With mail ballots still uncounted across the state, both issues had comfortable margins, with Proposition 64 at 56-44 percent, and Measure E at 80-20 percent.Meanwhile, a labyrinth of new rules, regulations and permitting processes must be created and then navigated by the public, growers and dispensaries.“We’re going from a black market to a white market,” said Jeff Angell, president of Creekside Collective, a 2-and-one-half-year-old pot dispensary in Boulder Creek. “There will be some hiccups.”Just one week after 7-percent tax bills were mailed to growers, manufacturers and distributors, an uproar before county supervisors on Nov. 15 resulted in a 45-day moratorium on the measure. A public hearing before the board on Tuesday, Dec. 13, may extend the tax moratorium for further study.Newly-hired county Cannabis Licensing Manager Dan Peterson has been charged with overseeing a new, legitimate pot environment that not that long ago was solely used in backrooms and alleys by beatniks and musicians.One of his first duties has been to bring the nascent community of growers into the public fold. Farmers began taking preliminary steps toward going legit in September when they registered online with the county. To date, 950 farmers have paid $500 each and submitted their information. The window closes for applications Nov. 30.“I think it’s safe to say that there are more than 950 cultivators in the county,” said Peterson, who is currently hiring a team of four code-compliance officers. The group represents experts in environmental resource planning, building codes and zoning.After growers pass a background check, there will be a site visit and a $2,500 licensing fee. Peterson let it be known that he’s an expert at ferreting out illegal grows, having learned his craft while enforcing marijuana laws in Yuba City.While a draft environmental impact report (EIR) may take 8 to 10 months to reach completion,  growers only have a year’s grace to come into county compliance.Using Google Earth views, state flyovers and neighbor complaints, the county will not abide by illegal growers. “I’m not going to wait. I’m going to go get ‘em,” Peterson said.Proposition 64 allows adults 21 or older to possess, transport, purchase and use up  to an ounce of dried marijuana and 8 grams of cannabis concentrate, or grow up to six plants indoors.Those with prior marijuana-related convictions can petition the court to have their records cleared to reflect newer laws.There are currently 13 pot dispensaries in the unincorporated areas of the county, one in Santa Cruz and one currently engaged in the permitting process.The City of Scotts Valley adopted an ordinance in 2011 to prohibit pot dispensaries. It is, however, legal to have medical marijuana delivered to Scotts Valley.Small pot boutique dispensary owners are wary that the market may become saturated with huge, out-of-county grows that undercut their ability to make money.“It will be a boom and bust,” said Creekside Collective’s Angell, referring to big growers’ efforts to profit from local customers.“Those (corporate growers) left standing in the mountains won’t be our friends.”Peterson has a more upbeat attitude toward potential competition among cannabis capitalists and collectives.“Local boutiques will be able to compete and exist,” he said, adding that organic grows and strains that target specific illnesses will separate the products.“It’s the difference between Budweiser and a microbrewery.”One unclear aspect of state legalization of pot is federal law, which supersedes local statutes, and how it will be interpreted. President Obama directed the attorney general to take a hands-off approach to state marijuana laws.It is unclear what direction President Trump will pursue after he takes office in January.Peterson predicts that no matter what occurs in the short term, it will take the federal government at least eight years to loosen up its overall policy and remove marijuana from the same category as heroin.This means dispensaries will still have the inability to legally bank their earnings, take credit cards or even get the advice of a certified public accountant regarding weed profits.This means dealing strictly in cash, which is limiting for customers and can be dangerous for owners.“(A change) in the banking situation is long overdue,” said Angell, who has a special, costly arrangement with a local bank to treat his business as a regular merchant.“But there are certain risks that come with the territory.” 

WEEKEND UPDATE: Measure D still in doubt

By the end of the day on Friday, Nov. 18, the counting of mail ballots in Santa Cruz County had passed 90 percent, with no change in the preliminary results announced the morning after the Nov. 8 election.

State bond OK allows new middle school gym project to move forward

Scotts Valley school officials, energized by the approval of a $9 billion school construction bond by state voters last week, expect to begin demolition of the old Middle School gym next summer.

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News Briefs

News Briefs | Published Sept. 26, 2025

Music at Skypark wraps up 16th season this Sunday The free outdoor Music at Skypark concert series concludes its 16th season this Sunday, Sept. 28,...