General plan takes a big step forward

By Kristine Williams | Posted: Friday, March 22, 2013 8:29 am

http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_8400561e-9303-11e2-a6af-001a4bcf887a.html

 As promised,  Calaveras  County’s emerging general plan  envisions more open space on the outskirts of larger, core  communities.

 It continues to be a work in progress,  however.

A special joint meeting between the Board of Supervisors  and the county’s Planning Commission Tuesday drew an audience of nearly 50.  Supervisors and commissioners found agreement with the new map’s vision that  reverses “a sea of yellow” that mostly dominated the current general plan’s land  use map.

Yellow was the designated color of rural housing tracts  that largely lay outside existing town centers. Instead, the new map transformed  these lands to green and they are now labeled “resource production”  lands.

Resource production lands are intended to be preserved,  used for crop production, vineyards, livestock, timber and mineral production. A  proposed 40-acre minimum lot size, advocated by supervisors in a 2007 vote, was  supported to keep resource production lands rural, but John Buckley,  representing the Central Sierra Environment Resource Center, pointed out that  the staff report showed a roughly “50-50 split,” allowing nearly as many new  housing units to be accommodated in the new sea of green – through the parcel  splits and existing lots – as in community centers.

He recommended that planning staff provide some different  methods on how to reduce development outside community centers.

Former District 4 supervisor Tom Tryon, though now an  audience member, also voiced his support for the philosophy of focused  development.

“Sprawl can be very damaging,” said Tryon. “We need  community plans that accommodate growth, everyone agrees on that.” But, he said,  when it comes to getting residents to agree to accommodate growth in their  respective communities a “not in my backyard” attitude pops up.

“Sensible economic policy has to start and end in  community centers,” Tryon continued. He characterized the process of getting  residents to support development within their communities as “the hardest part  and greatest political challenge because that’s where most of the people live  who elect you.”

Other concerns voiced were in regards to “carrying  capacity” numbers provided in an accompanying staff report. Some numbers – which  represent an estimate of the potential number of units and population that could  be accommodated if every parcel were buildable – translated to sticker shock for  audience members.

Numbers that showed an additional 16,654 persons in  Copperopolis and more than 9,000 persons added to  Arnold – the two communities with  the highest unit and population estimates – proved unpalatable for  most.

“Copperopolis’ potential would eliminate the rural  atmosphere,” said Buckley. “Where would those (3,900 additional  Arnold units) go in a feasible way?  It’s not right for the people of  Arnold to have that.”

Planning staff members sought to alleviate concerns by  reminding the audience that such extreme growth rates would eventually translate  to “background numbers” and were highly unlikely to occur and that the state  Department of Finance projects only a modest 10,000 additional persons living in  Calaveras County by 2035, the end date for the general plan – far less than the  proposed general plan’s accommodation of 80,539 additional residents.

“The carrying capacity is not a solvent number,” said  General Plan Coordinator Brenda Gillarde. “It’s not etched in concrete. … We  want a number we can hang our hat on.”

Approval from both the board and commission now allows  for a 30-day public review period of the land use map. Once closed, the Planning  Department can move forward with the county’s general plan update process –  specifically beginning environmental studies to complete a CEQA required  environmental impact report. A public scoping meeting regarding the  EIR is next on the general plan update  agenda. A formal date has not yet been selected but will be announced “soon”  according to Gillarde.

Anyone who would like more information on the general  plan update process is encouraged to visit the county’s general plan update  website, viewable on the county website: co.calaveras.ca.us. Navigate to the  “Departments” tab and select “Planning.”

Those with questions can email  gpupdate@co.calaveras.ca.us or call the Planning Department at  754-6394.