KOVATCH WARNS:
'~onoma Co,,:~ty Could Become Slurban'
I opel' who wished to take ad van- s1gned to 'accommodate." . Iyears ago made this an exceed- II
l.1age of a high interest !a~e, in- "The fine agrd,cultul1all land 0'£ I ingly attractive area to live."
r sured mortgage, the built-m op- the Santa Clara Valley is lost," The fault, Mr. Belser conIportunity
for a no risk profit." Mr. Belser concludes. cludes, is laid 'at the door of 10-
~e "bullied local agencies" "About 150,000 acres have cal governmen:ts and spec,ial ininto
'a:ccepting such things , as been put aside for agriculture terests, but, state and fedetal
septic tank sewage disposal sys- (for the time being at least) '1:>vt,go~ernments "must share some
terns, creating a health hazard very little of this land is prime. of the blame."
which had to be corrected later Much of the good land was al- "Other countries," he said, I
at homeowners' expense. ready overrun, and almost all of "where land and its use are all
The Ve,terans Home Adminis~ that which is not yet urban.ized important to the national intertration
was "even more lax," is being held speculatively." est allow none of the wasteful I
Mr. Belser says, and built in "Projections of growth indi- practices followed in our coun- '
"what is historically known to cate that the entire area will be try. If they can do it so can
· be flood plains," where "it was completely urbanized within the we."
a ,certainty they would be flood- next 20 years," he said. It will And Mr. Kovatch in his letter 1
· ed." be "an urban mess" with water urging local agencies and citi
· The federally insured mort- problems, air pollution, "night- zens to study what happened in
'jgage program, Mr. Belser con- mares of traffic," a "monstrous Santa Clara County, warned
: eludes, was "a fine idea"', but debt," and "the steady erosion that "those who learn nothing
, . "misused and abused by a de- of most of the qualities of the from history are condemned to
: I velopm~~t system it was not de- environment which only a few repeat its mistakes. "
