Draft General Plan

The City and its consultant team are currently preparing the Draft General Plan. The Draft General Plan will build upon Preferred Land Use Alternative, described below, and the existing 1990 General Plan. The Draft General Plan process is described below.

Draft General Plan
The City and its consultant team are preparing a General Plan that meets State legal requirements, is easily understood by the public and easy to implement, and responds to community needs as identified in community workshops, Steering Committee meetings, City Council meetings, and other outreach efforts.

Each element, or chapter, of the General Plan will include the following:

  • A brief review of background information summarizing current conditions in the city.
  • Clearly articulated goals that the City is attempting to attain.
  • Policies and actions that the City will implement to achieve its goals.
  • Maps, tables, and other graphics to clarify and illustrate key concepts.

Updating a General Plan is a public process that requires significant public input on several key tasks as illustrated in the diagram below. As shown in the two columns of the diagram, the public is asked for input and direction at key milestones.

This input is then incorporated into the General Plan by City staff and the General Plan consultant team.

  • Document existing conditions. This step is complete and set the benchmark for the General Plan Update. The existing conditions technical memoranda can be found under the Documents tab.
  • Identify issues. Using the information identified in the previous step, the public and decision-makers identified issues to be addressed through the General Plan Update at a series of Steering Committee Meetings and public workshops. Videos and information pertaining to past meetings can be viewed under the Workshops and Meetings tab – here, here, and here.
  • Set a vision and goals. This step formulated a framework for the General Plan Update.
  • Evaluate land use alternatives and establish land use designations. This phase is complete, ending with the selection of the Preferred Land Use Alternative. The Preferred Land Use Alternative is now being evaluated in the General Plan Update Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Information regarding the Preferred Land Use Alternative can be found here.
  • Consider policies and actions. The Draft General Plan will include policies and actions to address issues raised during the issues identification and land use alternatives phases.

Once the updated General Plan is drafted, the City and the General Plan consultant team will analyze it under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to identify potential environmental impacts as a result of implementation of the General Plan through the publication of an EIR. The Draft General Plan will be reviewed in conjunction with the Draft Climate Action Plan, which is described further here. Following this environmental review period, the City will hold public hearings to consider the adoption of the updated General Plan.

Draft General Plan Schedule
Key milestones of Draft General Plan include:

  • Summer 2012 – Publish Draft General Plan and EIR
  • Summer and Fall 2012 – Steering Committee Meetings #18, 19, and 20 to review the Draft General Plan and Draft EIR
  • Winter 2012/2013 – Publish Final EIR
  • Late Winter/Spring 2013 – City Council considers Final General Plan for adoption