LICA

Letters from our community, the RBDA board, and our Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors letter in opposition to the recently introduced State “low-impact”
camping bill AB518 may be having an effect. The bill was not heard in committee on March 13th, as was expected. On March 21st, the RBDA board [DR] had a 30-minute zoom call with Alfonso Gomez, the staff person for Chris Ward (the State Assemblymember who introduced AB518). We listed our numerous objections to the bill detailed in the RBDA report on LICAs and Gomez said they would try to work out a compromise to address our concerns, but he stopped short of specifying how they would change it. We asked him for the date that the Assembly will consider the bill. He thought the Housing Committee would discuss and vote on it in early April, but he wasn’t certain about this; he said he would send us the schedule by email. In the meantime, there is still time to influence the vote. If you haven’t already sent in email opposing AB518, you can find a sample letter and email addresses of the Assembly Housing Committee members here.

Coastal Commission

Our own Supervisor Justin Cummings was unanimously nominated for reappointment to the California Coastal Commission, of which he is presently the chair, by the Board of Supervisors on March 25th (nomination letter).

The CCC is charged with protecting our gorgeous coast so that it remains available to all and as unspoiled as possible despite the many powerful pressures to develop it. Justin is a dedicated environmental scientist with a proven track record of leadership at the city and county levels and has been a strong advocate for our Bonny Doon community. Appointments to the CCC are made by the Speaker of the California Assembly, currently Robert Rivas, who represents our own district. Please send letters in support of Justin’s reappointment. Justin’s qualifications and where to send communications are here.

Please support us!

The RBDA was founded in 1957 after a group of Dooners organized to successfully fight the creation of a trailer park near the corner of Martin and Pine Flat Roads. They realized they needed to have a formal organization to ward off unwanted development in Bonny Doon, including the subdivision of many areas into 1-acre parcels by a local realtor. In the years since, we’ve continued to actively advocate for Bonny Doon on many different issues. It’s time to renew your membership. Please support the RBDA…or join us if you’re not a member!

Our year in advocacy:

In 2024 we had great success reaching out to residents when the community was threatened by the Low- Impact Camping Ordinance legislation, generating many emails of protest from our active and concerned members. Over 100 residents showed up at the Supervisors meeting to condemn and ultimately kill the county ordinance!

The RBDA also hosted an incredibly popular public meeting on the escalating crisis in home insurance that drew an audience of over 150 concerned citizens. Joining that meeting were many important stakeholders including California’s Insurance Commissioner. This crisis has now been underscored ten times by the devastation our neighbors in Southern California are going through.

We were also active on many other issues of concern to our Bonny Doon community such as the UCSC expansion, Cotoni-Coast Dairies, cell and internet communications, the new Rail Trail and much more.