Calaveras Board of Supervisors Approves “Next Steps” for the General Plan

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors approved all of the recommendations that new Planning Director Rebecca Willis made for moving the General Plan Update forward during the study session on November 22, 2011.  Many of her recommendations stemmed from the public comment letters sent in by the CPC and others during the review of the General Plan Alternatives in spring of 2010. Thank you to all the CAP/CPC people who spoke at the study session, who sent in emails supporting the staff recommendations, and who sent in those comments back in the spring of 2010.

The newly approved planning tasks include:

1)      Re-evaluating the build-out capacity of the General Plan Update maps.  In 2010 the Board of Supervisors selected a preferred map that took the major step of directing future development to the existing community centers, and reducing the residential development potential of agricultural lands.  However, under that map, maximum build-out of the residential designations alone would still accommodate over 125,000 homes and a population of over 250,000 people.  This is far in excess of what the County needs through the year 2035.  Also, this is far more development than the County anticipates being able to provide with public services in the long run.  Therefore, adjustments will be made to the map to make the population capacity of the map closer to the growth projected through the year 2035.

2)     Reconsidering residential development densities where they are exaggerated. As part of the effort described above, the Planning Department will refine the map to remove residential densities from areas unlikely to support future residential development, such as the watershed lands of East Bay MUD.

3)      Accounting of the existing unimproved lots. Current County data suggests that there are over 24,000 unimproved parcels that could be developed.  The next step for Planning is to identify the sizes, locations, and uses that can be made of these parcels.  This will help us determine where our parcel inventories are too high, where parcel inventories are too low, and where they are just right.

4)      Clustering of the development potential on Agricultural Lands. The Planning Department is going to explore ways to allow the existing residential development potential on agricultural land to be clustered onto a smaller portion of the holding.  This allows the bulk of the acreage to remain in agricultural and open space uses, while still provide for some development income to the farmer/rancher.  This is an important tool to preserve agricultural lands.  This is an important tool for maintaining open space and wildlife habitat.

5)      Integrating the land use maps from the Community Plans into the General Plan Update Land Use Maps. During the General Plan Update, communities all over Calaveras County have been drafting and updating the land use plans for their community centers.  The next step for Planning is to integrate those maps into the land use map for the rest of the County.  This will ensure that the county-wide land use maps will include an up-to-date land use designation for all the private land in Calaveras County.  This will help these maps to reflect the confluence of the input from private landowners and from concerned members of the public.  This will give us the blueprint for community-centered growth.  This will help us to focus public and private investment into the economic recovery of our existing communities.

The next General Plan Study Session is scheduled for December 13, 2011. It will review the special focus elements: Water, Resource Production, and Economic Development.  The draft Water Element was developed through public meetings of an advisory group of water purveyors and concerned citizens, including CPC member group representatives.  The Resource Production Element is the latest version of the Agriculture and Forestry Element that was originally drafted by the Agricultural Coalition, and circulated for public review.  It has more recently been amended to include policies and maps regarding mining issues.  The Economic Development Element was to be privately produced with consultant assistance, and has yet to receive public review and comment.

At the General Plan Study Session scheduled for the Board of Supervisors on January 10, 2012, the Planning Department will bring back the results of all this work.