What Can You Do?

Here is What You Can Do

2. Learn about Smart Growth issues. (See the links page or do a Google search for “Smart Growth”. The resources available are endless.)

3. Become more involved: follow growth and development issues in the press; write letters to local newspapers, supervisors, planning commissioners and planning staff; talk to neighbors and people in your community about growth issues; watch Supervisors meetings on public access TV.

4. Attend meetings of the County Planning Commission, the County Board of Supervisors and the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). Commend them whenever their decisions conform to Smart Growth principles. Voice your concerns when they don’t.

5. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing.

6. Keep in mind that changing the way a community grows is a gradual process. It requires vision and long-term planning. That’s what a General Plan is all about, using the latest community design ideas to create a blueprint for how the community should evolve over the next ten to twenty years.

7. With us, become a vocal and visible constituency in support of the development of, and future compliance with, a Smart Growth-oriented General Plan and Community Plan.

8. The more the decision makers are aware that the community is paying attention, the less likely they are to approve exceptions and variances to the General Plan. Your letters and your presence at meetings can make a difference.

Effective Commenting on Environmental Documents