Wittwer & Parkin, LLP

Gary A. Patton

Gary Patton is Of Counsel to the firm.

Mr. Patton served as an elected member of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors from 1975 to 1995, and is the author of Santa Cruz County’s successful growth management program, adopted as Measure “J” by the voters of Santa Cruz County in 1978. Many of the principles and methodologies of Measure “J” have since been adopted by other jurisdictions.

Mr. Patton has extensive experience in land use and local government matters, and has served as both the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Planning and Conservation League (PCL), a statewide environmental group founded in 1965. In his role as General Counsel of the Planning and Conservation League, Mr. Patton has also helped coordinate a statewide consortium of environmental litigators.

From 1995 to 2005, Mr. Patton served as the Executive Director of LandWatch Monterey County, a community based nonprofit organization that helps promote and inspire sound land use policies through grassroots community action. He has also taught an introductory course in environmental law at De Anza College, in Cupertino, and provides a weekday “Land Use Report” on Central Coast radio station KUSP. He is recognized as a statewide environmental leader, and frequently speaks on environmental and land use topics around the state.

Mr. Patton graduated with distinction from Stanford University in 1966, with a Bachelor’s degree in United States History, and with Honors in Social Thought and Institutions. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School in 1969, and attended Union Theological Seminary, as a Rockefeller Brothers Fellow. He was admitted to the practice of law in California in 1971.

Mr. Patton’s history of public and community service includes:

Central Coast Regional Coastal Commission, 1975‑1978
California State Air Resources Board, 1982
Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO)
Santa Cruz County Transportation Commission
Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Appeals Commission
Santa Cruz County Hazardous Materials Appeals Commission
Central California Counties Outer Continental Shelf Board of Control
Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, Board of Directors
Statewide Growth Management Consensus Project, Environmental Stakeholder
California Association of LAFCOs, Board of Directors
Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District
Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG), Board of Directors
California State Association of Counties, Board of Directors
Local Government Commission; President, Board of Directors
Californians Against Waste Foundation, Inc., President, Board of Directors
Californians Against Waste, Inc.; Member, Board of Directors
Communities For a Better Environment, Inc., Vice-President, Board of Directors
Planning and Conservation League; President, Board of Directors
California Futures Network; President, Board of Directors
Monterey College of Law, Member, Board of Trustees

PUBLICATIONS (Partial List):

"Land Use and Growth Management: The Transformation of Paradise," California's Threatened Environment, Island Press, 1993
California Superfund: Key Issues For Reform, Planning and Conservation League Foundation, August 1998
New Opportunities for Innovative Transportation Planning: How to Use Senate Bill 45 To Fund More Livable Communities, Local Government Commission, December 1998
Land Use and the General Plan, LandWatch Monterey County, February 2003
“AB 32,” California at the Crossroads: A Critical Reader in Public Policy, scheduled for publication by Heyday Press, 2009.

147 South River Street, Suite 221, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 – Phone: (831) 429-4055 – Fax: (831) 429-4057 – Email