How will the new
These were the main questions asked during a joint panel of the Board of
Supervisors and Planning Commission.
Updating the current Calaveras County General Plan, which is about 30 years
old, is a colossal task, but no one at the meeting wanted to see community
plans get left in the dust.
Community plans are blank spaces in the existing general plan. They represent
developed areas of the unincorporated county, such as Valley Springs and
Murphys. Some community plans are just as old, if not older, than the current
General Plan.
Several Valley Springs residents joked that their community plan contains
sections devoted to railroad tracks running through the city. The problem is
that there has not been any railroad in Valley Springs "for some time
now."
Larry Mintier of Mintier
and Associates, the
The question of how to
include community plans sparked debate between several supervisors and
Community Development Agency Director Stephanie Moreno.
"Our hope is to include it all into one main document,"
"If you put all these community plans into the general (plan) I'm worried
it'll be 20 years before we get anything adopted," Supervisor Tom Tryon
said.
Community plans for Valley
Springs and San Andreas were given priority as they are the oldest. Supervisor
Bill Claudino said that the main issue now is a lack of funding.
"I want to clarify that we're not talking about adopting isolated
community plans separate from the general plan update. We're talking about
taking community input and implementing site specific community ideas in the
general plan at the same time we're doing the update,"
The issue resulted in a great deal of confusion and disagreement between the
supervisors and
One attendee was concerned that current projects will impact how the general
plan is implemented.
"Every project that goes forward that requires a general plan amendment
and requires zoning changes on subdivisions forecloses options in terms of the
future. I don't see how you can get around that," Steve Elias said.
John Buckley, executive director of the
"The consultant very
clearly talked about an upcoming baseline report .... Based on what was shown
... it is not clear that the report will actually answer some of the important
questions as to what this board and the Planning Commission have already
approved in recent years," Buckley said.
"We will be documenting most all of that in the background report,
(although) I don't know we'll hit on every point," Mintier
said.
"We continue to talk about how cumulative impact is something we must, by
law, consider. But we haven't defined it, we haven't studied it, and we still
can't tell people exactly what the total that's in front of us already
is," Supervisor Steve Wilensky said.
Wilensky recommended that cumulative impact studies be
included in the timeline for the first two phases of the update process.
A number of people worried about Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping. They
felt that the GIS maps being used so far were not taking key priorities into
consideration. Certain geographical features had been listed as medium or low
priority, but community members felt they deserved higher.
"Transportation right of ways, emergency evacuation routes, parking
facilities, drainage systems, public utility facilities, schools, community
centers, parks, fire stations, law enforcement stations and hospitals were all
considered low priority for incorporation into the GIS system," Tom Infusino said.
Other issues that were addressed included global warming considerations,
additional elements that could be added to the general plan, child care
considerations, and public input in the process.
Not all the specific conerns were directly addressed
by county officials.
Larry Mintier assured that global warming issues
would be considered during the environmental review process.
Stephanie Moreno also noted
that public input will be a vital part of the process. Many more similar public
meetings will take place throughout the county over the next six weeks.
Contact Colin Rigley at crigley@calaverasenterprise.com.