INTRODUCTION

A local government often faces one or more of the following tasks in its general plan program:(1) preparing an entire general plan for the rst time; (2) preparing or revising one or more elements; (3) amending the general plan to eliminate specic deciencies; or, (4) completely revising the general plan to reect new values, conditions, and needs.

This chapter presents an eightstep model for preparing or completely revising a general plan. These steps are:

1. Identifying Issues, Opportunities, and Assumptions

2. Formulating Goals

3. Collecting and Analyzing Data

4. Revising Goals and Determining Objectives

5. Developing and Evaluating Alternative Plans, Including Alternative Policies and Implementation Measures

6. Selecting and Adopting the Preferred Plan

7. Implementing the General Plan

8. Monitoring Implementation and Amending the General Plan

There are several caveats to bear in mind regarding this eightstep process. First, it is conceptual; in reality the eight steps are not necessarily distinct or sequential. Second, there are other models for the planning process that achieve the same results. Each local government should select the process that best suits its particular needs. And third, the eight steps focus only on process, omitting other considerations, such as general plan format, discussed in detail in Chapter I.

Several components of the general plan process are found at more than one planning stage. Two of these, citizen participation and inter-governmental coordination, are addressed in this chapter separately from the eightstep model to avoid repetition. The California Environmental Quality Act, the third factor, is discussed in Chapter IV to distinguish its provisions from the eightstep process.

INTERIM PLANNING AND

REGULATORY MEASURES

Preparing or comprehensively updating a general plan is difcult in the face of rapid land use changes. In order to create a stable theater for comprehensive planning, a city or county may need to temporarily limit the approval of some kinds of development projects. Certain projects, if approved while the general plan is being prepared or revised, may substantially interfere with the new plan's provisions before they have a chance to take effect. The planning effort could become a waste of time and money.

Restrictions

Taking Aspect One way of imposing interim development restrictions is to add special planning policies to the old general plan. Such provisions would apply to discretionary projects and may also provide the basis for ordinances that, for example, would temporarily impose downzoning, holding zones or building permit limitations.

When adopting interim planning policies, cities and counties should be wary of creating internal inconsistencies within their old general plans. Furthermore, if such policies limit the number of housing units built per year, local legislative bodies are required to make ndings pursuant to Government Code Section 65302.8. If these policies are implemented with zoning that similarly restricts new housing construction, local legislatures must also make ndings pursuant to Government Code Section 65863.6.

As an alternative to special planning policies and implementing ordinances, a city council or county board of supervisors may, pursuant to Government Code Section 65858, ". . . adopt as an urgency measure an interim ordinance prohibiting any uses which may be in conict with a contemplated general plan . . . ." An interim ordinance may impose land use control measures for up to two years.

There are, however, restrictions on the use of interim ordinances. First, they may only be enacted if they are adopted by a fourfths vote of the local legislature. Second, an interim ordinance must contain "...a nding that there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare, and that the approval of additional subdivisions, use permits, variances, building permits, or any other applicable entitlement for use which is required in order to comply with a zoning ordinance would result in a threat to public health, safety, or welfare."

There is yet another consideration related to interim measures. Local governments should be cautious when imposing land use controls, including moratoriums, even on a temporary basis. The U.S. Supreme Court in First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. County of Los Angeles (1987) 55 USLW 4781, held that a landowner is entitled to just compensation when his or her property is subjected to an excessively restrictive land use regulation, i.e., a regulatory taking. City and county ofcials should consult with their legal counsel to determine which types of development controls require compensation. Just because a regulation restricts land uses may not mean it is a taking.

The following sections discuss a suggested eightstep process for preparing and adopting a general plan or general plan revision. The eightstep process is merely a simplied model, one of a number of valid planning methodologies.

The chart on the next page illustrates the relationships among the eight steps. It also shows how the planning process is linked to environmental review, citizen participation and intergovernmental coordination.

Considerations

IDENTIFYING ISSUES, OPPORTUNITIES AND ASSUMPTIONS

Issues, opportunities and assumptions dene the general scope of the work the planners must undertake and the course of action they must follow in the planning process. Citizen participation and intergovernmental coordination are essential in the identication process. Whether such participation involves one or more public meetings, workshops or study sessions depends on the general plan project's complexity. The following discussion should assist in the identication process.

Issues

Issues are important unsettled community matters or problems that are identied in a community's general plan and dealt with by the plan's goals, objectives, policies, plan proposals, and implementation measures. Issues or problems must be well dened at this stage of the planning process so that the general plan can resolve them effectively. It may be necessary to rene the issues as more information becomes available in subsequent planning steps.

StateMandated Issues and the "Shoe Fits" Doctrine

Government Code Section 65302 and other statutes establish the basic list of issues that a general plan must cover. While the general plan must meet the minimum requirements of the law, Government Code Section 65301(c) indicates that each statemandated element need be addressed only to the extent it is relevant to the city's or county's planning area. This is commonly referred to as the "shoets" doctrine (from the old saying "If the shoe ts, wear it").

For example, a discussion of agricultural land uses is likely to be irrelevant to a completely urbanized area. For communities almost exclusively residential and completely developed, industrial development may not be possible and, hence, not an issue. In instances where it is not clear at the outset whether a statemandated issue is relevant, it will take some investigation to settle the question. In all cases, the housing element must meet the specic requirements of Government Code Sections 65580 et seq. (Government Code Section 65301(c)).

In assessing the relevance of the statemandated issues, several points should be kept in mind:

· The elimination of a statemandated issue from further consideration should be based on a reasonable effort to assess the issue's relevance. For example, a particular geologic hazard may be eliminated as irrelevant, if the local government has carefully examined the available information and consulted local, state, and federal agencies which are likely to have information on geologic hazards and found no hazard to exist. As another example, before a wildland re hazard is eliminated as irrelevant, the local government should examine available information and consult local re departments or re districts, the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or State Lands Commission, and the U.S. Forest Service or National Parks Service. When an issue is found to be irrelevant, the basis of this judgment should be documented in the general plan.

· An issue which seems irrelevant in the short term, but which may be important in the long term, should be addressed in the general plan. For instance, this might include a major project, such as a ood control system, that is in a preliminary stage of planning.

· When new information becomes available indicating that a previously excluded issue is now relevant, the general plan must be revised to address the issue. The discovery of a previously unknown earthquake fault is an example. Another example is the discovery of a potential re hazard due to growth in foothill and mountainous areas.

Regional Issues

Local governments are assuming increasing responsibility for addressing regional issues in the general plan. Therefore, an important step in identifying issues is to review regional plans for their relevance to the city or county. The more important regional plans are those addressing air quality, transportation, water quality, health systems, and land use. (See this chapter for a discussion of regional plans).

Still another regional consideration involves the housing element. State law mandates that cities and counties assess their share of their region's existing and projected housing needs (Government Code Sections 65583(a)(1) and 65584).

Local Issues

Each community possesses unique characteristics that determine the issues that should be addressed in the general plan and to what extent. Among the most important character istics are whether the jurisdiction is a city or county, rural or urban, mature or growing.

Traditionally, counties have been concerned with the management of natural resources, a role that will continue to be important as a growing population places increasing pressure on agricultural lands, watersheds, forests, and other open space resources. Counties also have an important role in coordinating the plans and programs of cities and special districts and in directing urban development to areas with available services. The county plan should also provide information for city planning through studies of areawide concerns such as population and economic trends, seismic hazards, agricultural lands, natural resources, and environmental conditions.

Cities incorporate for a variety of reasons:to control land use; to provide urban services; to gain control of statedistributed tax monies; to create a responsive government; or to promote some special community interests. Because of this, each city whether newly incorporated or old has reasons for its existence, all of which should be reected in the issues addressed in the general plan.

Differences also exist between rural and urban jurisdictions. The economies of rural jurisdictions generally rest on the use and development of natural resources, while the economies of urban jurisdictions normally revolve around industry, commerce, and services. Rural jurisdictions deal extensively with the federal government on matters relating to federal lands, while urban jurisdictions tend to work closely with regional planning agencies, particularly concerning air and water quality programs.

As communities pass through different stages of development, they must contend with different kinds of problems. Growing communities are particularly concerned with how to regulate new development, what kind to accept, and where to place it. Mature communities must focus on maintaining and rehabilitating existing housing stock, capital facilities, commercial and industrial development, and the provision of services.

Counties

Cities

When a community examines such planning issues or problems, it is important for local government ofcials to determine and address the views of area residents. Townhall meetings, workshops, and surveys can help highlight community concerns, including those of the community's minorities (e.g., the elderly, lowincome, and ethnic groups).

The protection of the public from exposure to hazardous materials is a good example of a local planning issue. The general plan is a very useful document for this task. It can include development policies that provide a basis for safety regulations. Examples of these regulations are zoning controls over permitted uses, performance standards, performance zoning, and conditions of approval for conditional use permits and site plan reviews. The plans and inventories required by Health and Safety Code Sections 25500 et seq. should be useful sources of information for preparing hazardous materials general plan policies and imple menting regulations.

Hazardous waste management planning is a related local government concern. For a discussion of hazardous waste management plans, see Chapter VI and the InterGovernmental Coordination section of this chapter.

Opportunities

Planners should identify any development or conservation opportunities. The plans of other governmental agencies should be examined to determine the potential benets of planned improvements. For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may be proposing a ood plain management program that will allow an expansion of urban uses within the jurisdic tion. With regard to conservation, local governments should take note of offers to lease, sell or donate property. Opportunities could have a major effect on the development and selection of a general plan's goals, objectives, policies and proposals.

Assumptions

In preparing a general plan, a city or county will make certain assumptions about its future. For example, a city near a winter skiing resort might assume that tourism will continue to be important to its economy. Certain Bay Area cities might assume continued population growth. These suppositions strongly inuence a local government's selection of its planning goals and its preferred general plan alternative.

Assumptions therefore should be listed and examined as part of the general planning process. It is best to do this in the initial planning stage since assumptions, along with issues and opportunities, inuence the shaping of a general plan.

To help ensure that the assumptions list will be comprehensive and representative of the community, cities and counties should promote public participation in the enumeration process. Naturally, at this stage, the list will be preliminary. It may be rened at a later stage once general plan background data have been collected and analyzed.

FORMULATING GOALS

As noted in the denition of policy statements in Chapter I, general plan goals provide the direction for a community's physical development. Everything in a general plan relates back to these goals and they help dene the range and types of data necessary for preparing the plan.

Consequently, cities and counties should develop their general plan goals in the early stages of plan preparation once the issues, opportunities and assumptions have been determined.

State law mandates citizen involvement in general plan preparation "through public hearings and any other means the city or county deems appropriate" (Government Code Section 65351). In particular, cities and counties should involve their citizens in goal formulation because of the ultimate effect of planning goals on the public's quality of life.

The City of Santa Barbara, for example, used community surveys, newsletters, and an intensive program of community workshops to get the public involved in its general plan update. Other cities have created planning committees charged with developing goal recommendations. The committees consist of members of the public who are appointed by the city council or board of supervisors. The members often represent a crosssection of the community and serve as a link between the public and local government planning ofcials.

Goal making may not be easy. Goals tend to be general and futuristic and their direct effects on individual citizens often are not readily apparent. Public interest in goal making therefore may be difcult to arouse and maintain. Nevertheless, a plan that is formulated without some type of community consensus will be headed for an early major revision. Ample publicity about the formulation process along with some specic examples of the potential effects of goals may help stimulate public interest.

Even with good citizen participation, though, goal making can be formidable. Problems arise when:

· Goals are not held in common by all community members.

· There are conicts between the goals of individuals and those of the community.

· There is disagreement about whether certain goals are intermediate or ultimate in nature.

· There is disagreement about what ends the goals serve.

· Goals conict with one another.

· There is disagreement about the relative value of goals.

These problems were noted by Robert C. Young in his 1965 Journal of the American Institute of Planners article entitled, "Goals and Goal-Setting." In the same article, Young proposed a goalmaking process that helps resolve such conicts. The following is a modied version of Young's methodology.

(1) Establish the Perimeter of Concern

The jurisdiction's governing body should decide the types of issues to be addressed by the general plan's goals. In the absence of this "perimeter of concern," local governments might become involved in determining goals for every potential benet of the plan a forbiddingly complex and timeconsuming task.

(2) Establish the Range of Choice

Within the perimeter of concern there could be a wide choice of goals. The city or county should select the major desirable goals that have a chance of being realized.

Citizen Involvement

Potential Problems

(3) Examine Goal Relationships

Relationships will exist among the selected goals. For example, some may be means to higher goals. Others may be mutually exclusive. The directing of planning toward certain goals may draw resources from the work toward others. These relationships should be identied at this and subsequent planning stages.

(4) Assign Relative Values to the Goals or Sets of Goals

At this step the goals should be assigned values relative to each other. This evaluation can in part be carried out with the preceding step to eliminate unwanted goals.

(5) Establish the Goals as Policy

When step ve is reached, the city or county should be able to prepare a tentative set of goals and the legislative body should conceptually approve them. These will guide subsequent work on the general plan. Since the goals will probably be revised at later steps in the process, they should not be approved in nal form until the general plan is adopted.

COLLECTING AND ANALYZING DATA

Topical data are the basis for all informed decision making. The general plan must be based on hard data if it is to serve as the primary source of community planning policy. The issues, opportunities, assumptions, and goals identied during the rst stages of the general plan process will set the direction for studies and help to establish the range of information and the level of detail that will be needed to complete the plan.

Background information for all of the elements should be formally adopted, at least by reference, or summarized in the plan. Adopting technical appendices as part of the general plan is a popular method of including these data. Collecting and analyzing data can be expensive and the capacity of any government agency to process and use information is limited. Local governments must consider their general plan goals and use their best judgment when determining the types and amount of information they need for policy making.

The importance of information collection and analysis during the early stages of general plan preparation is no greater than the need to continue collecting and analyzing pertinent data throughout the planning process. For example, additional information regarding the state of the community may be needed during the formulation of planning policies.

By the same token, evaluating the success of the general plan and making course corrections relies upon the ability of the local agency to continue collecting and analyzing information after the plan has been adopted.

The general plan is a longterm document. It must be regularly refreshed by new data, as available, in order that its longterm outlook is not compromised by obsolete, outdated information.

Ofce and Library Research

The planning agency ofce or the local library usually contains information that can contribute to the general plan. This may include books on planning theory, land use maps, previous planning studies, and other materials. Following are suggestions for identifying sources and compiling this information.

As a rst step, inventory the data already on le at the local agency. Land use maps, assessor's records, and other pertinent information should be identied and a preliminary evaluation made of their adequacy.

Collect plans from other jurisdictions of similar size in order to get a different angle on directions for approaching local issues. Throughout California, communities are adopting new general plans and plan elements and revising existing plans. One or more of these may have similarities to the local plan. There is no single source of information about the subject of content of recently adopted plans. However, the Ofce of Planning and Research's Book of Lists can help to locate recently adopted elements. In addition, the yearly awards presented by the California Chapter of the American Planning Association honor uptodate examples of "good" plans.

Similarly, the planning agency should collect and review the plans of adjoining cities, counties and affected regional agencies. The information in these plans, as well as the objectives, policies and programs will be important when evaluating the regional impacts of the proposed general plan.

Obtain and review books on planning theory or technical subjects pertinent to the general plan. The local library may not contain an extensive collection of planningrelated books, however, these may often be obtained at the library of the nearby university campus or through interlibrary loan. Also, the American Planning Association's Planner's Book store and the Urban Land Institute sell a variety of books on subjects ranging from economic analysis to urban design.

Identify and review court cases that may affect the general plan. There are several publications that track and analyze planningrelated litigation. One is the "Partnership Newsletter" published bimonthly by the Ofce of Planning and Research. Another is Daniel J. Curtin, Jr.'s California Landuse and Planning Law published by the Solano Press. This manual, updated yearly, examines the California codes relative to land use planning in the context of applicable court cases. A third source is James Longtin's California Land Use Regulations. It is a detailed look at California's development codes and related litigation. A new edition of this book was published in 1987. California Zoning Practice, published by the University of California Regents and California Continuing Education of the Bar, and supplemented yearly is similar to the latter two books.

State planning and development laws are another subject for ofce research. Each year, the Legislature enacts laws affecting local government planning activities. The Ofce of Planning and Research annually publishes an uptodate compilation of these statutes under the title of Planning, Zoning and Development Laws .

Sample Plans

Case Law

State Law

State and Federal Information

Existing Land Use

When preparing or revising a general plan, planners must have an accurate picture of planning area land uses. There are a number of sources of land use information. Field surveys are useful both for identifying generalized land use distributions and to catalog uses parcelby-parcel. Low altitude aerial photography provides an overhead view that can be translated to land use categories. High altitude photography and satellite imagery are more exotic methods used to identify land uses at a broader scale. Satellite imagery, including LANDSAT and infrared photos, is available from the U.S. Geologic Service's National Cartographic Information Center in Menlo Park. Subdivision and assessor's maps provide information on existing lot sizes, an indicator of land use intensity.

The California Department of Conservation's "Important Farmlands Series" maps identify existing farmland in various areas of the state. These maps provide information that can be integrated into local land use surveys. The California Department of Water Resources maintains land use maps and aerial photos that can be of use to local planning agencies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recently published a set of maps which inventory wetlands. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection maintains wildland re hazard severity maps and the Ofce of Emergency Services has maps showing the potential for inundation from dam failure.

Additionally, federal agencies have developed a number of systems for classifying land use and land cover. The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Land Use and Land Cover Classi cation System employs nine primary categories with more detailed secondary ones. The USGS is compiling land use and land cover maps based on 1:240,000 scale quadrangle maps. The Standard Industrial Classication Manual (1987) used and developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce (available from the U.S. Government Printing Ofce Bookstore, 450 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102 - call (415) 252-5334 for ordering information) focuses on urban land uses. Both of these systems can be adapted to local needs by the inclusion of appropriately detailed secondary categories.

Environmental Conditions

Evaluation of the jurisdiction's environment is the classic rst step in preparing or revising a plan for the distribution of land uses. Information collected on environmental hazards (such as wildland res, oods and landslides), resources (such as mineral deposits), and natural phenomena (such as deer migration routes or critical habitats), tells much about the amount and types of possible development and where growth should and should not take place. Written as text or, preferably, compiled as a series of maps and overlays, this information will aid in determining the relative suitability of lands for development. Data gathered during this stage will be used during the concurrent preparation of the general plan's environmental document.

State and federal agencies collect much of the information on environmental conditions needed in the general plan. For example, regional air quality agencies and air quality management plans have information on air quality trends, growth assumptions, meteorol ogy, and land use/transportation control measures. The U.S. Soil Conservation Service, for instance, has compiled detailed information on soil types and erosion control.

Councils of governments and other regional agencies may also have information on environmental conditions. Environmental data may often be found in the special studies and plans that these agencies produce.

EIRs prepared for past projects are another source of environmental and resource data. Although this information is usually pertinent to a relatively small site, when taken together the EIRs can provide valuable resource and environmental data that is applicable region-wide.

Population and Social Characteristics

Knowledge of the current population's composition and its changes over the years will help in assessing how the population may grow or decline in the future. Identifying population trends is necessary to the development of realistic community goals. Popula tion statistics will be particularly important when preparing the land use, circulation, and housing elements.

The State Department of Finance's Economic and Demographic Research Unit collects countylevel information that is pertinent to local population projections. In addition to current information, a local government should analyze historic population trends documenting changes in total population composition (e.g., age structure and ethnic composition). Most of the information on current population and historical trends is available from the federal census. A local government can update the latest federal census information using birth and death records, building permit and school enrollment records, and a special census or survey. To aid this effort, the local government may wish to maintain an annual count of mobilehomes in mobilehome parks and farm labor housing residents.

Before working on the development or revision of local population projections, local agencies should also contact the council of governments (COG) for their region. COGs frequently prepare population projections for regional trafc and housing studies.

Population projection involves making assumptions about demographic characteristics, housing, jobs, land use, environment, and infrastructure, using current conditions and past trends. Some conditions and trends are only temporary (such as a water shortage affecting housing starts), some trends depend on local policies (such as zoning), and some are not subject to local control (such as fertility rates). Projections help evaluate alternatives by quantifying the potential effects of the alternatives. Comparing current trends to projections relating to alternative plans is one method of analyzing alternative futures.

The basic assumptions that underlie population projections must be internally consistent, as well as practical. They should be clearly identied prior to their use and should not engage in speculation unsupported by empirical evidence.

Projections may require adjustment as assumptions change during the planning process and vice versa. For instance, if the nal land use plan substantially alters the amount of land reserved for residential use, the original assumptions will be similarly changed. When this occurs, projections should be revised accordingly. Conversely, if growth projections will exceed assumptions used in the Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP), the impact on regional air quality should be evaluated and additional measures developed to maintain consistency with the AQMP.

Census Information

Projections

Housing Stock and Needs

Under the housing element requirements, local governments must identify and analyze existing and projected housing needs and inventory the resources and constraints relevant to meeting those needs. The contents of the element must include the following:

· Population and employment trends, documentation of projections, and qualication of the existing and projected housing needs for all income levels. This needs analysis must include the locality's share of the regional housing need.

· Household characteristics, including level of housing costs compared to ability to pay, housing characteristics, including overcrowding, and housing stock conditions.

· Land suitable for residential development, including vacant sites and those with redevel opment potential; and the relationship of zoning and public facilities and services to these sites.

· Governmental constraints upon the maintenance, improvement, or development of housing for all income levels, including land use controls, building codes and their enforcement, site improvements, fees and other exactions required of developers, and local processing and permit procedures.

· Nongovernmental constraints upon the maintenance, improvement, or development of housing for all income levels, including the availability of nancing, the price of land, and the cost of construction.

· Special housing needs, such as those of the handicapped, elderly, large families, persons in need of emergency shelter, farmworkers, and families with female heads of households.

· Opportunities for energy conservation in residential development.

Projection of the city's or county's housing needs must, with certain exceptions, be consistent with the regional housing needs assessment prepared by the COG or the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for the region within which the jurisdiction is located. Information and assistance in preparing the analyses and projections may be obtained from HCD or the local COG. In large measure, the information and data evaluation methods used will be the same as those described in the preceding section.

Economic Conditions

Knowing the past, current, and projected state of the local economy is fundamental to preparing a realistic general plan. Along this line, local governments may undertake one or more economic studies on such subjects as employment, market demand, and the benetcost ratio of development. The projections that result from these studies will form the basis for planning assumptions. The Economic Practices Manual prepared by OPR and cited in the Bibliography explains methods for conducting economic studies.

The following categories of information may be needed in the course of preparing an economic assessment:

· Growth trends in U.S. and California by industrial sector;

· National, state, and local unemployment rates;

· Labor force participation rates;

· Regional and local per capita income;

· Employment by industry (e.g., agricultural, manufacturing, trade, service, and govern ment);

· Basic and localserving industries and employment;

· Number of people commuting to jobs;

· Housing starts and building permit valuations; and,

· Infrastructure constraints and costs.

The Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau collect much of the national and state data. State information is also available from the State Departments of Commerce (Ofce of Economic Research), Employment Development, and Finance, and the State Board of Equalization. Data for small areas may be available from local special censuses or surveys.

In a general plan program, local governments often undertake one or more formal economic studies. These may include studies of the local economy based on an inputoutput model or an economic base model, employment studies, market studies, and costbenet studies.

Information from Other Governmental Agencies

The general plan is a wideranging document that requires collecting information on a variety of topics. Local planners will nd that other governmental agencies are often excellent sources of data.

The following list pairs agencies with the types of information that they may have. This is not a complete list and there may be additional agencies with information of value to the general plan preparer.

Local

Public Works Department roads, drainage, water supply, capital improvements, liquid and solid waste disposal, trafc counts

Fire Department re hazard assessment, re ows, hazardous materials

Building Department construction permit activity, permit valuation

Health Department water quality, septic tank usage, housing conditions

Assessor's Ofce base maps, assessed valuation data

Police/Sheriff's Ofce crime statistics, automobile accident rates

Parks Department park use, projected park needs, park design

Regional

Adjoining cities and counties general plans, special studies

Council of Governments transportation models and projections, population projec tions, housing need allocations, special studies

Local Agency Formation Commission spheres of inuence

Regional Air Quality Management District air quality plans, air quality monitoring

Regional Transportation Planning Agency (RTPA) - road funding sources, trafc and transportation models, trafc projections, trip reduction ordinances, regional transportation improvement lists, congestion management plans, and transit statistics

School District enrollment data, school facilities projections, population information

Special District infrastructure, service consumption rates, demand projections, planned expansions of services, service limits

State

Air Resources Board air quality

Attorney General's Ofce (Department of Justice) legal interpretations, crime statistics

California Coastal Commission local coastal program

Department of Commerce economic conditions, economic development

California Energy Commission - power plant and transmission line siting, energy conservation, environmental impacts and mitigation

California Highway Patrol trafc accident statistics, hazardous materials transport

Department of Conservation geologic hazards (including the State Geologist's land slide hazard maps), seismic hazards, Important Farmlands Inventory, Williamson Act, recycling (Div. of Recycling)

Department of Education school attendance, district expenditures, school assistance programs

Ofce of Emergency Services emergency services planning, dam failure inundation maps, earthquake preparedness

Department of Employment Development labor force statistics, employment/unem ployment statistics

Department of Finance census information, population projections and special censuses, school enrollment projections

Department of Fish and Game game and nongame species habitat, riparian areas, wildlife topics

Department of Forestry and Fire Protection wildre hazard assessment and control, regional soil and vegetation maps, watershed and resource management

Department of General Services state lands inventory

Department of Health Services water system licensing, wastewater reclamation, hazardous materials, noise element and noise insulation assistance

Department of Housing and Community Development housing element assistance, mobilehomes, mobilehome parks, lowmoderate income housing, density bonuses, CDBG's, housing related issues

Department of Industrial Relations labor statistics, employment information

Integrated Waste Management Board solid waste disposal

Mining and Geology Board mineral resources, Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA)

Department of Parks and Recreation historic preservation, park use statistics, archeo logical resources

Regional Water Quality Control Board wastewater management, waste discharge, surface and groundwater aquifer protection

State Lands Commission state lands inventory, boundary changes

Department of Transportation trafc counts and projections, transportation system design and management, road funding sources, freeway noise mitigation programs, freeway noise information, scenic highways, district system management plans, the Interregional Road System Plan, transportation corridor preservation plans, and the California Aviation System Plan

Department of Water Resources ood plains and ood plain management, urban and agricultural land use data

Federal

Bureau of Land Management federal land inventory, resource information

Bureau of Reclamation ood control and management, water projects

Corps of Engineers (Department of Defense) ood control, ood plain manage ment, special ood studies, wetlands

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants and permits affecting air, water, solid waste, toxic and hazardous materials, wetlands

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ood hazard mapping, ood insurance

Fish and Wildlife Service wetland survey

Forest Service biota and resource information, land inventory, national forest plans

Park Service biota and resource information, national park plans

Soil Conservation Service soils maps, soils and erosion control information

US Geological Survey maps, remote sensing data, special studies and monographs (the USGS National Cartographic Information Center has maps from numerous federal agencies)

Infrastructure Constraints

One determinant of the amount and location of future development is the capacity of the physical "infrastructure." This general term is used to describe capital facilities such as schools, re stations, roads, sewer trunk lines, drainage systems, water and gas transmission lines, and other utilities. The current and projected capacities of these systems should be evaluated and compared to current levels of use, the levels projected by the existing plan, and the levels projected by the draft plan alternatives. The resulting analysis will identify available opportunities for development as well as potential constraints.

The location of infrastructure elements such as sewer and water trunk lines should be mapped as part of this study. Public utilities and special districts, if any, should be consulted for information on the location and capacity of their facilities. The local school districts should be contacted for information regarding school capacities, projected needs, and surplus properties, if any. The cost of extending services should be projected for each of the plan alternatives.

The following questions should be addressed during this phase: Is capacity sufcient to serve current planned demand? Are there any areas with acute shortages of service? Are there areas with excess capacity? Will additional infrastructure be necessary to accommo date the planned level of development? Where will expansion be needed and how soon? How will infrastructure improvements and expansions be funded? Which of the plan alternatives is best suited to the anticipated location, level, and cost of services? Will the preferred alternative be cost effective?

Reviewing regional and state transportation, air quality, and water quality plans and regulations is an important part of the infrastructure constraint evaluation. Will any of these plans affect the future operation and expansion of public and private facilities?

Location

Issues

Compromise

Public Meetings

Existing Commitments and Policy Constraints

Past decisions by the local government such as approval of a vesting tentative subdivision map, approval of development agreements, agricultural preserve adoption or a commitment to provide certain services inuence future actions. The local government must carefully analyze previous commitments to determine which are irreversible. Equally important are the constraints imposed by other units of government such as the adjoining cities and counties, the Air Resources Board, Regional Water Control Board, CALTRANS, local school districts, and utilities.

Those commitments which have been determined to be irreversible will generally be among the "givens" that are included in the plan. These will be in the draft plan as a matter of course or carried over from the previous plan and probably will not be altered. Commitments must be consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the proposed general plan if they are to be included as part of that plan.

Current land use policies must be examined in similar fashion. Are there longstanding policies which would be altered by the proposed plan? If so, would this affect projects which have been previously approved and not completed? The general plan should provide a smooth transition between new policies and those under which projects were previously considered.

Political Considerations

Politics:"The science or art of government or of the administration and manage ment of public or state affairs." (Funk and Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary )

Planning is a political process. The players in this game are the decision makers, the professional staff, and those individuals or groups that have a stake in the future of the community. The eld is the decision making process of democratic representative govern ment. The prize is a wellplanned, successful community.

Planning is also a process of compromise. It is seldom possible to write a general plan that is all things to all people. However, the plan that emerges from the meetings and hearings should attempt to reconcile the interests of all the players. It is important that the process be open to all segments of the community and that all opinions be given consideration during the development of the plan. Hearings should be conducted in an open, professional, and fair-minded manner that channels discussion toward the resolution of issues. Meetings should not be allowed to address personalities or digress from the issues at hand.

Local agencies should encourage public input by scheduling an adequate number of meetings. Meeting times should be convenient to the public, the agenda should be written in jargonfree language, and an outline of the issues to be addressed should be prepared before the meeting. Both the draft and nal draft plans, supporting studies, and environmental documents should be available for public review at the planning ofces before the meeting, at the meeting, and afterward. If the jurisdiction is large, or if the plan is constructed of regional parts, it can be helpful to schedule meetings within outlying communities.

An open and equitable approach is crucial to maintaining popular support for the plan. The aura of "back room politics" must be avoided and in fact, is prohibited by the Ralph M. Brown Act (Government Code Sections 54950 et seq.). The ultimate success of the general plan will depend upon public perceptions of its fairness and trust in the actions of the decision making body and the professional staff. The general plan will be the community's basis for decision making, and as such, should accurately reect the views of the community as a whole.

Other Basic Information and Studies

In addition to analyzing broad issues and identifying general constraints on development, local governments may need to prepare studies analyzing a number of more specic planning issues. These might cover public services, noise, hazardous buildings, trafc, downtown viability, market feasibility, historic preservation, or energy. Such additional studies may be integrated into one of the seven mandatory elements or may form the basis for an optional element. Specic information needs will be identied during the course of the general analysis. In some cases, studies may already be available from other agencies.

Importance of the Field Trip

Planners should not become desk bound. Familiarity with the planning area is necessary for identifying issues, constraints, and opportunities. In addition, it expedites the dialogue between the staff, decision makers, and the public by creating a set of shared impressions about the project area. A eld trip is one of the best ways to learn about the territory.

Local residents are usually quite familiar with their neighborhood and its history. The planner cannot realistically hope to achieve this level of knowledge, but should strive to know something about the attributes of each of the neighborhoods in the planning area. The staff's credibility and effectiveness may rest upon his/her knowledge of the local area.

Field trips may be formal expeditions to collect hard data in the form of photographs (or video tape), land use surveys, noise measurements or maps. Or, they may be informal visits for the purpose of gathering general impressions of the area. In either case, planners making the eld trip should make written notes of their ndings to enable other staff members to gain from their experiences.

Decision makers can also benet from eld trips. This will be especially true as issues arise and discussion turns to some particular aspect of the planning area. Decision makers must be careful, however, to abide by the open meeting rules of the Brown Act and avoid any group visits to the area that have not been advertised in advance.

Importance of Informal Conversations with Planning Area Residents

In the process of visiting the planning area the planner should be receptive to informal contacts with local residents. Chatting with the regulars at the local coffee shop or the neighborhood convenience market can reveal matters of local importance or controversy that are not obvious from a eld trip or land use survey alone. In the long run, these may help to avoid embarrassing ignorance of issues that have local signicance. It may also dispel the impression of planners as faceless bureaucrats, removed from the community's everyday life.

CEQA

Coordination

Analysis

This consists of processing the information that has been collected during the early stages of plan preparation. The planning staff must distill the mass of raw data into a usable form. The analysis of data serves as the bridge of logic from raw data to policy.

The staff's methods and information base should be available for review by both the decision makers and the public. As part of the hearing process, it will be the task of the planning commission or the planning advisory body and city council or board of supervisors to make further renements to the preliminary work done by the staff. The staff's analysis should be able to withstand the scrutiny of both the legislative body and the public.

At the conclusion of the analysis phase, the planning staff should have gathered not only enough information to complete the plan in accordance with the work schedule, but also to answer the pertinent questions of both the public and decision makers. Ideally, the planners will act as a central source of information about the community's history, environment, infrastructure, economy, and social characteristics. Data without analysis are seldom useful.

Data collection, data analysis, and special studies should be coordinated with the needs of the CEQA document being written for the plan. The CEQA process should take place concurrently with the preparation of the general plan. In the interests of efciency, data collection and analysis should be comprehensive enough to satisfy the needs of both the CEQA document and the general plan. For instance, the trafc analysis prepared for the land use and circulation elements must be complete enough to allow the evaluation of alternative plans, the nal plan, and the project alternatives discussed in the general plan's nal EIR.

Data Presentation

Staff should present a summary of the data to the community and decision makers through "townhall" meetings, workshops, study sessions or mail-outs. Graphic presentations such as maps and diagrams are useful for making information easier to understand and to elicit comments from both decision makers and the public. Audiovisual, video, and photographic presentations can be used effectively to portray a sense of place, illustrate development constraints and opportunities, and to dene the issues to be addressed in the general plan. It is often possible to use meetings as a source of additional planning data by providing attendees the opportunity to submit data or comments.

The staff must try to anticipate the questions that will be asked at meetings and prepare their presentation accordingly. Displays should be easy to read and informative. "Handouts" and information packets should be available in sufcient supply. Displays should be composed in a manner that is straightforward, informative, and unbiased. The meeting room itself should be accessible, suitable for the planned presentation, and large enough to accommo date the anticipated crowd.

REVISING GOALS AND DETERMINING OBJECTIVES

After the data collected in Step 3 have been analyzed, the list of planning goals developed in Step 2 may need modication. For example, in analyzing housing data, city ofcials may identify a need for additional goals that direct planning toward correcting deciencies in housing availability. Renements of the goals list may be necessary at various points throughout the planning process. Consequently, nal approval of the goals should await the adoption of the general plan.

Once a city or county has established a tentative set of planning goals, the local government should develop the general plan's objectives. Since objectives are attainable and specic as to their effects, they should be developed with regard to the analysis of data in the preceding step. Objectives by denition are also based on the general plan's goals and should be amended as necessary along with any changes to the goals list. Final approval of the objectives should await the local government's adoption of the general plan.

DEVELOPING AND EVALUATING ALTERNATIVE PLANS,

INCLUDING ALTERNATIVE POLICIES AND

IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES

For any set of goals and objectives, there will be a number of possible courses of action a community may pursue. Alternative plan proposals should be developed and tested at this stage to enable a community to examine its possible planning scenarios. Besides the goals and objectives, the varying plans should consist of alternative sets of principles, policies, standards and plan proposals.

The nature and detail of the alternatives will depend upon the extent of the planning program. For new general plans and comprehensive general plan revisions, the alternatives will often focus on population levels and on the scale, location, and type of development. The alternatives in a more limited planning program, such as for a single element, will deal with a narrower range of options. To the extent possible, the alternatives should be developed with implementation measures in mind. This will ensure the feasibility of the basic policies.

The alternatives need not be mutually exclusive. Ultimately, the decision makers may select an amalgamation of two or more alternatives as the best choice.

Each alternative should be evaluated for its short and longterm effects on the commu nity. Three major areas should be examined environmental, economic and social.

CEQA Guidelines Section 15126 specically requires that an EIR, such as that prepared for a general plan, address project alternatives, including the "no project" alternative. The EIR's analysis should help local legislators select the most appropriate general plan alternative to adopt. Additional environmental assessment may be required for substantial changes to an alternative.

In recent years, the assessment of the economic effects of general plan proposals as well as of specic projects has become increasingly important. Economic impact assessment, focusing on both scal impacts and broader economic effects, tries to quantify the relative economic efciency of alternative proposals.

Social impact assessment has also become fairly common in recent years. Unlike environmental and economic impact assessments, which focus primarily on the effects on systems and institutions, social impact assessment focuses on individuals and groups of people within the community. It attempts to identify and assess changes in people's wellbeing or quality of life.

CEQA Analysis

Economic Analysis

Social Analysis

Obviously, these three areas of assessment overlap. The level of detail in the analysis of the alternatives should correspond to the specicity of the planning document. Planners will nd books such as The Fiscal Impact Handbook (1978) by Robert W. Burchell and David Listokin and The New Practitioner's Guide to Fiscal Impact Analysis (1985) by Robert W. Burchell, et al. (both available from the American Planning Association's Planners Book store) helpful in calculating scal impacts. The CEQA Guidelines is invaluable for environmental assessments.

Keep in mind that each alternative plan's policies and implementation measures must be internally consistent. They must also be realistic to ensure that the alternative is viable. In some cases, alternative plans may differ only in their treatment of a particular region or issue. In these instances as well, take care that the alternative policies and implementation measures are consistent with other parts of the plan.

SELECTING AND ADOPTING THE PREFERRED PLAN

Selecting the Plan

After the community thoroughly reviews the planning alternatives, decision makers should be able to select a preferred course of action, either one of the alternatives examined or a synthesis of parts of several alternatives. Whatever the decision, the basic direction must be set as clearly as possible.

The preferred alternative at this point may lack sufcient detail to meet all state requirements and community needs. This will be particularly true when preparing a new general plan or thoroughly revising an old one. Consequently, the goals, objectives, and policies will need adjustment and renement, while standards, plan proposals, and implementation measures will require more detail. The result of this process will be a draft general plan that can be submitted to the public and to decision makers for formal review.

Reviewing and Adopting the Plan

To the extent possible, formal public review of the draft plan and the draft environmental impact report should take place together. All general plan proposals new plans or elements, revisions, and amendments must be considered by the planning commission before the board or council takes formal action on them. State law requires that the planning commission hold at least one public hearing before it takes formal action on a general plan or general plan amendment (Government Code Section 65353). The legislative body city council or board of supervisors must likewise hold at least one public hearing on the general plan before taking formal action (Government Code Section 65355). At least 10 days prior to each of these hearings, the local government must give public notice of the time and place in the manner prescribed by state law (Government Code Sections 65353, 65355 and 65090).

If a proposed general plan or amendment would affect the "permitted uses or intensity of uses of real property," notice of the hearing must also be mailed directly to the affected property owner, local agencies expected to provide water, sewer, street, school, or other essential facilities or services to the project, and the owners of property which is within 300 feet of the project boundaries. If the number of landowners to whom notice must be provided exceeds 1,000 the agency has the option of placing a 1/8 page sized advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation at least ten days before the hearing. (Government Code Section 65353)

The formal public review inevitably leads to changes in the draft. If the community and the decision makers, particularly the legislative body, have been actively involved from the beginning, there should be few major changes. If the legislative body makes substantial changes in the proposal not previously considered by the planning commission, such changes must be referred back to the planning commission for its consideration prior to nal action by the legislative body (Government Code Section 65356). The change also should be subjected to environmental review.

Citizens may also act directly to adopt or change a general plan. Because the adoption of a general plan is a legislative act, the courts have held it to be subject to the initiative and referendum processes. (See Yost v. Thomas (1984) 36 Cal.3d 561 and DeBottari v. City Council (1985) 171 Cal.App.3d 1204.)

IMPLEMENTING THE GENERAL PLAN

A citizen can determine a city's or county's commitment to its general plan by the manner in which local ofcials implement the plan's goals and policies. The most successful plans are those which were written from the start with a concern for realistic and properly timed implementation measures.

Adopting infeasible planning policies or implementation measures can prove to be a waste of time and a costly error. To avoid this, planners who implement the plan should be involved in its preparation. In addition, the general plan should identify, where appropri ate, the local agencies responsible for carrying out implementation actions (e.g., the current planning division of the planning department or the trafc engineering division of the public works department).

This reinforces the requirements of CEQA which call for employing mitigation measures to reduce or eliminate the signicant environmental effects identied in the plan's environmental document. The mitigation measures must be reected in the general plan's implementation program.

While existing law specically requires an identication of implementation actions in the open space, housing, and noise elements, the general plan should identify such measures relative to the issues addressed by the other plan elements. For example, the land use element might indicate that its provisions will be carried out by particular zoning measures, subdivision procedures, specic plans, development agreements, or the local building code. Chapter V contains a more detailed discussion of general plan implemen tation measures.

Citizen participation is another key requisite to a general plan's successful implementa tion. Government Code Section 65033 states that planning law encourages public participation at every level of the planning process. Naturally, citizen involvement during the selection of implementation measures is important since the public is likely to be affected by any actions taken to effectuate the plan. Citizen participation also strengthens a community's commitment to the realization of general planning proposals.

Changes

Periodic Plan Revisions

Mitigation

Monitoring Program

MONITORING IMPLEMENTATION AND AMENDING

THE GENERAL PLAN

The general plan should be a dynamic document. It is based on a snapshot of community values, politics, and conditions at a particular moment in time - i.e., upon plan adoption. Since these factors are continually in ux, local governments must continually monitor the relevance of their plans to ensure that they remain in touch with their evolving communities.

In other words, each city and county should establish formal procedures for regularly monitoring the effectiveness of their general plans. When a monitoring program reveals a plan inadequacy, the city or county should amend or, if necessary, totally revise the general plan to bring it up-to-date.

A city or county should annually review and amend, as necessary, those portions of the plan having a short-term focus, such as the implementation program. The review should take into account the availability of new implementation tools, changes in funding sources, and the feedback from the plan monitoring activities. Indeed, Government Code Section 65400(b) requires the planning agency to "[P]rovide an annual report to the legislative body on the status of the plan and progress in its implementation."

At least once every ve years, each local planning agency should thoroughly review its entire general plan and revise the document as necessary. State law actually requires every city and county to evaluate its housing element as frequently as necessary and to revise the element, as appropriate, no less than every ve years. Government Code Section 65588 sets forth the housing element revision schedule.

Since cities and counties often adopt planning policies to mitigate signicant environmental effects identied in a general plan environmental document, the plan monitoring program should also serve as an environmental protection measure. State law specically requires every planning agency to establish a program for monitoring or reporting on environmental mitigation activities.

More specically, AB 3180 (Ch. 1232, Stats. 1988), which amended the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), requires every city and county to develop a monitoring or reporting program that keeps tabs on changes to the general plan which the city or county has adopted or made a condition of plan approval in order to mitigate or avoid signicant environmental effects. The planning agency must design the program to ensure compliance when the plan is put into effect.

A city or county must adopt such a mitigation monitoring or reporting program whenever it either:

(1) adopts a mitigated negative declaration for a general plan, or

(2) completes an environmental impact report (EIR) for a general plan and makes the CEQA ndings denoted by subdivision (a) of Public Resources Code Section 21081.

Section 21081(a) ndings indicate that a city or county has required changes or alterations in a project, such as a general plan, which mitigate or avoid the project's signicant environmental effects identied in the EIR.

In sum, a local government must establish a mitigation monitoring or reporting program for its general plan whenever the plan involves either the adoption of a mitigated negative declaration or specied EIR-related CEQA ndings. Logically, the mitigation program should be part of the plan monitoring activities identied here in step eight.

Generally, local governments may not amend any one of the mandatory elements of the general plan more than four times in one calendar year (Government Code Section 65358(b)). However, this limitation does not apply to:

(1) optional elements;

(2) amendments requested and necessary for affordable housing (Government Code Section 65358(c));

(3) any amendment necessary to comply with a court decision in a case involving the legal adequacy of the general plan (Government Code Section 65358(d)(1));

(4) amendments after January 1, 1984, to bring a general plan into compliance with an airport land use plan (Government Code Section 65302.3);

(5) amendments needed in connection with adoption of a comprehensive development plan under the Urban Development Incentive Act (Health and Safety Code Section 56032(d)); or

(6) any amendments for the purpose of developing a certied Local Coastal Program (Public Resources Code 30500(b)).

Government Code Section 65358(b) provides that each amendment may include more than one change to the general plan. Earlier case law has established that each of the permitted amendments within a calendar year can encompass several different changes (Karlson v. City of Camarillo (1980) 100 Cal.App.3d 789). See also, 66 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 258 (1983).

Many local governments have established regular procedures for periodically amending their general plans. At times during the year, they group several proposals for change, review them individually, and analyze their cumulative effects. They act upon these packages four times per year. Any one proposal in a package can be altered or deleted up until the time of adoption.

If the board or council nds itself making frequent piecemeal amendments, major defects may exist in the general plan because values and needs may have altered or the plan may be too inexible and precise. In these cases, the jurisdiction should not further erode the plan through amendments. Instead, it should undertake a major revision.

When reviewing proposals for general plan amendments, local ofcials should remember that the general plan is a policy document for the entire community and that it may only be amended "in the public interest" (Government Code Section 65358(a)). In other words, the plan should only be amended when the city or county, with the support of a broad consensus, determines a change is necessary. Every general plan amendment must be consistent with the rest of the general plan and appropriate changes must be made to maintain consistency.

With all amendments, local governments must follow the notice and hearing procedures outlined in Government Code Sections 65350 et seq. The procedure is the same as for enactment of a general plan and actual adoption is by resolution. Existing law also requires cities and counties to establish procedures for any interested party to appeal a planning commission decision (Government Code Section 65354.5(a)). Furthermore, since an amendment to a general plan constitutes a project under the California Environmental Quality Act, it must be evaluated for any environmental effects.

In addition to these requirements, a proposed general plan or amendment must be referred to the planning agency of the county in which it is located, every county and city which it abuts, the local agency formation commission, any affected regional planning agency and affected federal agencies (Government Code Section 65352). These agencies have 45 days to comment unless a longer period is specied by the planning agency.

Additional referral provisions can be found under Government Code Section 65919 et seq. These provisions set forth a procedure for referral by the county to the city or by the city to the county of any proposal to adopt or amend a general plan, specic plan or zoning ordinance affecting territory within the city or county planning area.

Additionally, case law indirectly addresses general plan amendments and their relation to the Permit Streamlining Act (Government Code Sections 65920 et seq.). In 1983, the Appellate Court determined that a project requiring approval of a legislative act such as a general plan amendment, is not subject to the strict time limits set forth in the Permit Streamlining Act (Landi v. County of Monterey (1983) 139 Cal.App.3d 934). According to the court the Act "was not meant to impose a rigorous timetable on a local government's exercise of its policy making legislative functions."

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

Citizen participation plays an important role in formulating a general plan. State law species that "During the preparation or amendment of the general plan, the planning agency shall provide opportunities for the involvement of citizens, public agencies, public utility companies, and civic, education, and other community groups, through public hearings and any other means the city or county deems appropriate" (Government Code Section 65351). Constitutional principles of due process also require that land owners be apprised of regulations which may affect their property rights ( Herrington v. County of Sonoma (1987) 857 F2d 567).

In preparing the housing element, the law requires local governments to ". . . make a diligent effort to achieve public participation of all economic segments of the community . . . ." (Government Code Section 65583). Following the adoption of the general plan, the planning agency must also ". . . Consult and advise with public ofcials and agencies, public utility companies, civic, educational, professional, and other organizations, and citizens generally concerning implementation of the general plan" (Government Code Section 65103(e)).

All of these are minimum requirements. As a practical matter, the general plan will be an effective guide for future development only if it has been prepared with the active involvement of the public and adopted with the support of broad public consensus. Because citizen participation is so central to the plan's successful development and implementation, cities and counties should consider going well beyond the minimum requirements.

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

Examples Of Techniques For Involving The Public

Surveys:

Opinion polls

Direct, mass mailings with response coupons

Mailings with local utility bills

Advisory elections

Committees:

Task forces

Planning advisory committees

Technical review committees

Meetings:

Public hearings

Town-hall meetings and forums

Neighborhood and community meetings

Presentations to community Groups

Panel discussions

Slide shows

Workshops and design "charrettes"

Media:

Press releases

Public meeting newsletters

Topical newspaper articles

TV documentaries

Public service announcements

Interviews and talk shows

Newspaper supplements

Informational displays in public buildings,

shopping centers, and places of assembly

In designing a program to secure citizen participation, public ofcials must be clear on what is to be accomplished. In general, the program should have at least four objectives:

· Identify the major issues and opportunities in the plan.

· Obtain public input regarding the community goals that will serve as the foundation of the plan.

· Provide public opportunities to evaluate alternative plans and to participate in choosing the preferred alternative.

· Create an atmosphere in which conicting demands for limited community resources can be resolved.

Local ofcials use a long list of techniques for informing citizens about planning programs and involving them in making decisions. Some techniques are useful only in getting information to the public, while others allow for twoway communication. No single technique will, of course, satisfy all four objectives identied above. It takes a creative package of different approaches tailored to the needs of the community to satisfy the various objectives, always keeping in mind the following:

· Citizens should be involved throughout the planning process, but particularly during formulation of alternatives and nal approval of the plan.

· Work items and publications need to be scheduled carefully to maintain public interest.

· People will only participate to the extent they feel they will be affected. In small communities, citizen participation can usually be organized on a communitywide basis. In larger or more populous jurisdictions, participation should be geared to smaller geographic areas, as well as to the entire jurisdiction.

Program Objectives

Participation Techniques

INTER-GOVERNMENTAL COORDINATION · The Ralph M. Brown Act (Gov. Code Section 54950 et seq.) requires the hearings of appointed advisory committees, the planning commission, and the local legislative body to be open to the public. See:Your Guide to Open Meetings, The Ralph M. Brown Act ; available for $5.33 from Joint Publications, State Capitol, Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0001, (916) 445-4874 (Report No. 392-S).

· The extent of citizen involvement should reect both the scale of the work undertaken and the amount of interest or controversy expected. Larger projects, such as preparing an entire general plan, call for more participation than smaller ones, for which only public hearings may be necessary.

· The city council or board of supervisors has to make its expectations clear in its charge to committees and must give the committees' recommendations careful consideration.

· Citizen input is also integral to the CEQA process. Since CEQA review should be concurrent with the process of preparing a general plan or plan element, opportunities for responding to the environmental document may be combined with hearings on the plan. Hearings on draft plan and draft EIR are good candidates for this consolidation.

· Because the public is not homogeneous, it is important to identify early those groups expected to be most affected by the general plan - various income and ethnic groups, the handicapped, the elderly, and business and to select the mix of techniques that will be most effective in involving them all. Resource directories prepared by county welfare departments are particularly useful for identifying organizations representing many of these groups.

· Once the general plan or element is adopted, the city or county should maintain a program of public participation to monitor and evaluate the progress in implementing it.

State law requires local governments to work not only with citizens, but also with other governmental agencies and public utility companies in preparing and implementing their general plans (Government Code Sections 65103(e)(f), 65351, and 65352). Intergovern mental coordination involves more than a formal exchange of information and plans. In the planning process, legitimate conicts crop up between agencies with different responsibili ties, constituencies, and viewpoints. To resolve these conicts, cities and counties should vigorously pursue a full understanding of the other agencies' positions and be prepared to negotiate on the issues. In addition, CEQA requires that the agency preparing the general plan consult with responsible agencies over the environmental document.

CITIES AND COUNTIES

City and County Referrals

Because many planning issues transcend political boundaries, state law promotes coopera tion among neighboring cities and counties. Prior to nal action by a city council or board of supervisors to adopt or substantially amend a general plan, the planning agency must refer

the proposed action to any city or county within or abutting the affected planning area (Government Code Section 65352(a)). The same must be done once the plan or amendment is adopted (Government Code Section 65357(a)).

Similarly, a city must refer a proposal to amend or adopt a general plan or zoning ordinance to a county whose planning review area would be affected by the action. A county must do the same for an affected city (Government Code Sections 65919 and 65919.3).

The affected county or city must be notied not later than the date upon which the city or county provides notice of the planning commission's hearing on the proposal. The hearing notice must be delivered by mail or hand, contain the information provided in general hearing notices, and must state the earliest date upon which the city council or county board of supervisors will act on the proposal (Government Code Section 65919.4).

A city or county desiring referrals of this type must le a map or other documentation as specied in Government Code Section 65919.2 Alternatively, a city and county may agree on a referral procedure.

A local government that receives a referral has 45 days to review, comment and make recommendations regarding the plan proposal's consistency with the affected city's or county's general and specic plans and zoning ordinance. Before a city or county adopts or amends a plan, it must consider the affected jurisdiction's comments and recommen dations. If a local legislative body modies and sends the proposed action back to its planning commission, it must also refer the change to the affected city or county.

There is yet another intergovernmental notice requirement. A local planning agency is entitled to review, for consistency with its general plan, actions and projects specied by Government Code Section 65402(b)(c). These are actions and projects undertaken by another city, county or local agency within the reviewing agency's jurisdiction. They include real property acquisitions for public works, real property dispositions, and proposed public buildings or structures.

Countywide Integrated Waste Management Plans

Each county and its constituent cities cooperate in preparing a Countywide Integrated Waste Management Plan (CoIWMP). The CoIWMP consists of a countywide siting element as well as the source reduction and recycling elements prepared by each city and the county (for unincorporated areas). The CoIWMP must be submitted to the California Integrated Waste Management Board for review and approval. Updates of these plans must be completed and submitted to the state board every 5 years.

The siting element of the CoIWMP must be approved by the county board of supervisors and by the councils of a majority of the cities containing a majority of the county's incorporated population. Source reduction and recycling elements must be reviewed and approved/disapproved by the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

The countywide siting element shall include a resolution from each affected city and the county stating that the areas identied for the locations of new or expanded solid waste transformation or disposal facilities is consistent with the applicable local agency's general plan.

See Chapter VI for a detailed review of the CoIWMP statutes.

Review Deadline

Hazardous Waste Management Plans

Legislation adopted in 1986 (AB 2948, Chap. 1504) encourages countycity cooperation in the preparation of hazardous waste management plans (Health and Safety Code Sections 25135 et seq.). Counties may prepare and adopt such plans in lieu of the hazardous waste provisions of a solid waste management plan. Final adoption of the plan requires the approval of the county supervisors as well as a majority of the councils of the cities containing a majority of the county's population.

A hazardous waste management plan is a county's primary planning document for hazardous waste management. Among other things, it must include a statement of goals, objectives and policies for both the siting of hazardous waste facilities and the general management of hazardous wastes.

It must also contain a schedule of plan implementation actions. "Within 180 days after the . . . [State Department of Health Services] approves a county hazardous waste management plan, the county shall either incorporate the plan, by reference, into the county's general plan or enact an ordinance which requires that all applicable zoning, subdivision, conditional use permit, and variance decisions are consistent with the county hazardous waste management plan" (Health and Safety Code Section 25135.7(b)). Cities must take similar actions within the 180 day period (Health and Safety Code Section 25135.7 (b)).

For more information about Hazardous Waste Management Plans, see Chapter VI.

LOCAL AGENCIES

Special Districts

Special districts offer a range of services similar to those provided by cities and counties. No special district may acquire land for public works projects, dispose of land or construct or authorize a public building or structure until the affected city or county planning agency has reviewed the project's conformity to the general plan (Government Code Section 65402(c)). Public works projects proposed by special districts must be included in a city's or county's annually prepared public works program (Government Code Section 65401). The city or county planning department must review the program for consistency with its general plan.

Public Utility Companies

In addition to special districts, privately owned companies under the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission including gas, electric, water, sewer, transit companies, and railroads make services available and carry out public works directly bearing on the general plan. The law specically requires cities and counties to provide opportunities for the involvement of public utility companies in preparing and implement ing the general plan (Government Code Sections 65103(e) and 65351).

Local Agency Formation Commissions

State law directs cities and counties to refer their proposals for general plan adoptions and substantial amendments to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) (Govern ment Code Section 65352(b)). The LAFCO has 45 days (from the date the proposal is mailed or delivered) to comment on the project.

The CorteseKnox Local Government Reorganization Act establishes a LAFCO in each county (Government Code Section 56000 et seq.). LAFCOs are important to the planning process because they have the power to review and approve or disapprove boundary change proposals. These include city incorporations or disincorporations, special district formations or dissolutions, city or special district annexations, detachments or consolidations, or combinations of two or more of these (Government Code Sections 56021, 56073 and 56375). LAFCOs are responsible for adopting "spheres of inuence" that describe "the probable ultimate physical boundaries and service area," of cities and special districts (Government Code Section 56076).

Other Local Agencies

Special purpose agencies, such as redevelopment agencies, housing authorities, and parking authorities also affect community development. Even where the city council or board of supervisors acts as the governing body of the special purpose agency, it will have its own plans, programs, and staff which need to be consulted with regard to the general plan.

When a county has an airport land use commission, that commission must prepare a comprehensive airport land use plan for the anticipated growth of each public use airport and its environs (Public Utilities Code Section 21675). These plans must be completed and adopted by most county airport land use commissions by June 30, 1991 (Public Utilities Code Section 21675.1). As part of the plan, the commission may develop building height restrictions, specify allowable land uses, and determine building standards within the planning area of each airport.

City and county general and specic plans must be consistent with the airport land use plan, unless specic ndings are made by the city's or county's legislative body (Public Utilities Code Section 21676). Prior to amending a general plan or specic plan, the involved city or county must submit the proposal to the airport land use commission for review. The commission must notify the city or county of any inconsistencies with the airport land use plan within 60 days (Public Utilities Code Section 21676). The city's or county's legislative body may overrule the ndings of the commission by 2/3 vote.

A 1989 revision of the Airport Land Use Law temporarily enlarges the responsibilities of airport land use commissions. Public Utilities Code Section 21675.1 provides that until a commission adopts a comprehensive land use plan, a city or county shall rst submit "all actions, regulations, and permits within the vicinity of a public airport to the commission for review and approval."

In effect, the commission is making land use decisions in place of the city or county during this period. The commission must provide public notice prior to consideration of individual projects. Projects may only be approved when the commission nds that (1) it is making progress toward completing its plan; (2) the action will probably be consistent with that plan; and (3) there is little possibility that the project will interfere with the future plan if the action is ultimately inconsistent with that plan (Public Utilities Code Section 21675.1). If a project is denied by the commission, the city's or county's legislative body may overrule that decision by 2/3 vote.

Airport Land Use Commission

INDIAN TRUST LANDS

Indian tribes retain certain inherent powers of selfgovernment derived from their quasisovereign status since the beginning of the Republic. Thus, Indian tribes and federally owned lands in trust for California Indians are not subject to the planning and land use regulations of cities and counties. Nevertheless, cities and counties containing Indian lands need to work closely with local tribes so that the general plan reects the tribal governments' development plans for these areas. Close coordination is also important in arriving at compatible land use proposals for the areas adjacent to Indian trust lands.

REGIONAL AGENCIES

As in the case of LAFCOs, state law directs cities and counties to refer their proposals for general plan adoptions and substantial amendments to "[a]ny areawide planning agency whose operations may be signicantly affected by the proposed action, as determined by the planning agency" (Government Code Section 65352(c)). Some of these agencies actually carry out their own planning and regulatory activities. There are four basic types of areawide agencies that affect the local general plan:

(1) Councils of governments (COGs) created under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act (Government Code Sections 6500 et seq.). COGs carry out a range of planning programs affecting land use, housing, transportation, air and water quality, economic development, health systems, and criminal justice. There are both singlecounty COGs and multicounty COGs. Many are designated as areawide clearinghouses for local grant applications for federal funds.

(2) Eight regional agencies created by the Legislature. The California Coastal Commission has planning and regulatory authority over land use within the coastal zone. The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) exercises plan ning and regulatory authority over all development in the Bay and, to a lesser extent, over land use along the shoreline. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), a bistate commission, has planning and regulatory authority over land use in the Lake Tahoe region. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) carries out comprehensive transportation planning for the ninecounty, San Francisco Bay area. In southern California, the Legislature has created four county transportation commis sions Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties that carry out transportation planning in conjunction with the Southern California Association of Governments.

(3) State agencies operating at the regional level, such as the regional water quality control boards.

(4) Singlepurpose regional agencies created or authorized by state legislation, such as health systems agencies, and county transportation commissions, and special districts such as air pollution control and regional openspace districts.

Because regional agencies take so many different forms, it is easier to discuss regional regulatory and planning programs by functional areas rather than by agency. What follows is a description of some of the functional areas that are of particular interest to planners.

Air Quality

Local air pollution control districts (APCDs), which consist of one or more counties and are governed by locally elected ofcials, have regulatory control over stationary sources of air pollutants such as reneries, factories, quarries, and pulp mills. The 1988 California Clean Air Act specically gives APCDs the authority to regulate indirect sources of air pollution. The Federal Clean Air Act denes indirect sources as facilities, buildings, structures, installations, real property, roads or highways which may attract mobile sources of pollution.

In some areas, COGs carry out certain components of air quality planning. COGs may identify land use and transportation controls that local governments must undertake to meet federal and state air quality standards for the region.

The California Clean Air Act requires APCDs to prepare air quality plans designed to reduce air pollutant emissions as quickly as possible in order to attain and maintain state ambient air quality standards (SAAQS). COGs and APCDs may jointly participate in preparing and implementing these air quality plans.

In addition, the Federal Clean Air Act requires those COGs designated as metropolitan planning agencies to withhold approval of projects, plans or programs that do not conform to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for attaining national ambient air quality standards.

Transportation

The state is divided into 43 regional transportation planning agency (RTPA) areas. Each such agency must adopt a regional transportation plan. All street, highway, and mass transit projects supported by state and federal transportation grants must be consistent with these plans. The plans must be revised every two years.

Special legislation has named the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency as the RTPA's for the ninecounty San Francisco Bay Area and the Lake Tahoe region, respectively. All other RTPA's are either councils of governments or local transportation commissions.

Water Quality

California is divided into nine water quality regions, each under the regulatory authority of a regional water quality control board. Under Section 208 of the Federal Clean Water Act Amendments of 1982, councils of governments or other regional agencies carry out water quality planning in metropolitan areas. In all other areas, the state has assumed these responsibilities. Section 208 plans include control measures for improving water quality and institutional and nancial mechanisms to implement the control measures for municipal and industrial wastewater, storm runoff, and similar sources. All permits for liquid waste discharge must be consistent with the plan. Only those water pollution control facilities consistent with the plan may receive federal grants.

Besides the federal plan, there are state water quality planning requirements. Each regional water quality control board must prepare a "regional water quality control plan" for its jurisdiction (Water Code Section 13240 et seq.). The plan is similar in function to the Section 208 document.

Coastal Matters

The California Coastal Commission certies local programs prepared by cities and counties lying within the coastal zone. Until the local programs are certied, the Coastal Commission issues permits for coastal development. After certication, the Coastal Commission retains jurisdiction over development on coastal zone tidelands, submerged lands, and public trust lands, and acts on appeals from certain local decisions affecting the coastal zone. The commission also reviews and certies amendments to local coastal programs or implement ing ordinances, regulations and actions. Certain local coastal program amendments, however, are reviewed by the commissions's executive director. (See Chapter VI.)

Health Systems

There are 14 health systems areas in the state, each of which is normally served by a health systems agency. Such agencies are responsible for preparing and adopting plans to guide the orderly development of health facilities. The Ofce of Statewide Health Planning and Development performs the functions of a health systems agency in the absence of the latter.

Land Use

Of all regional agencies, only the Coastal Commission, the Bay Conservation and Develop ment Commission, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency regulate land use directly.

Housing

Each council of governments is responsible for determining existing and projected housing needs within its region, including each city's and county's "share" of the regional housing needs (Government Code Section 65584). This needs assessment is an essential factor in setting the goals, objectives and policies for housing programs as part of the general plan's housing element.

Local Development Conformity to Regional Plans

Federal, state and regional goals and objectives can only be met if local development both capital facilities and land use conforms to regional plans. If the general plan is to be an effective and realistic guide for future development, it must create a framework for local development consistent with regional plans. Preparing any general plan should include a thorough analysis of the effects of regional plans and regulations on local development. Also the plan should discuss how its various proposals relate to regional plans.

STATE AGENCIES

Planning

When preparing the general plan or amendments, it is essential to consult the appropriate state agencies as early as possible to ensure that the plan or amendments will be consistent with state plans, to become aware of pertinent regulations, to coordinate plans with state agencies managing land in the jurisdiction, and to learn of available information and assistance. The discussion of general plan elements in Chapter III includes lists of state agencies which are concerned with or which may have information pertinent to local general plans.

State and federal laws require many state agencies to prepare longrange plans and policies to guide public and private development and to protect community and environmental resources. For the local general plan program, the most important of these plans come from the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Department of Water Resources.

The state exercises direct regulatory authority in a number of areas through the permit procedures of agencies such as the State Water Resources Control Board, the Department of Health Services and the Public Utilities Commission. The regulatory activities of state agencies become important considerations in preparing, amending and implementing general plans. The general plan and its implementing programs should complement and be consistent with state regulations. For more information on this subject, consult the California Permit Handbook, prepared by the Ofce of Planning and Research.

State Lands

State agencies also acquire, develop, and manage land and facilities. Such activities can have a major effect on local development. Some of the more important of these state agencies are the Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Department of Water Resources, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the State Lands Commission, the Department of Developmental Services, the University of California, the Department of General Services, California State Universities and Colleges, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the State Coastal Conservancy. The general plan should identify major existing state facilities and land holdings, take into account plans for the future acquisition and development, and discuss their signicance to local development.

Technical Assistance

Many state agencies can assist local governments by providing information necessary for preparing and implementing general plans. Some state agencies such as the Governor's Ofce of Planning and Research, the California Energy Commission, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development also offer technical assistance.

Environmental Review (CEQA)

Because general plans and amendments are "projects" under the California Environmen tal Quality Act (CEQA), local governments must prepare environmental documents prior to adopting either. State agencies have four roles in the local environmental review process. First, when preparing an initial study, a city or county must consult with all "responsible" or "trustee" agencies to determine whether to prepare a Negative Declaration or an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), as discussed in Chapter IV. Second, if a lead agency decides to prepare an EIR, it must send notices of preparation to these same agencies seeking their views on the document's scope and content. Third, state agencies may review an environmental document when the lead agency sends it to the State Clearinghouse. Finally, state agencies may attend public hearings on the EIR and voice their concerns at that time. FEDERAL AGENCIES

The federal government owns about 45 percent of California's land. In addition, it has jurisdiction over certain activities on nonfederal lands within the state. It is not surprising, therefore, that federal agencies play an important role in land use planning in California. The Departments of Interior (primarily the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service), Agriculture (mainly the U.S. Forest Service), and Defense (with its military bases and weapons ranges), hold immense tracts of land. As with state lands and facilities, local governments should address federal lands and facilities in their general plans.

Federal law and policy attempts to ensure coordination of federal activities with local ofcials and plans. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 requires federal agencies to coordinate the preparation of their land use plans and regulations with local governments. The Act specically states that, "Land use plans of the Secretary [of the Interior] under this section shall be consistent with State and local plans to the maximum extent he nds consistent with Federal law and the purposes of this Act" (43 U.S.C. Section 1712 (1976) and 43 U.S.C.S 1712). Local governments have corresponding responsibilities. State law requires planning agencies to refer proposed general plans and substantial general plan amendments to "Any federal agency if its operations or lands within its jurisdiction may be signicantly affected by the proposed action, as determined by the planning agency" (Government Code Section 65352).

ADOPTION DEADLINES

New cities or counties have 30 months after incorporation to prepare and adopt a complete general plan. During that 30month period, the new jurisdiction is not subject to the requirements that a general plan be adopted or that its decisions be consistent with the general plan as long as it is proceeding to prepare its general plan in a timely fashion. The jurisdiction must make the following ndings for each decision that would otherwise be required to be consistent with the general plan (Government Code Section 65360(b)):

(1) There is a reasonable probability that the land use or action proposed will be consistent with the general plan proposal being considered or studied or which will be studied within a reasonable time.

(2) There is little or no probability of substantial detriment to or interference with the future adopted general plan if the proposed use or action is ultimately inconsistent with the plan.

(3) The proposed use or action complies with all other applicable requirements of state law and local ordinances.

Housing element law establishes deadlines for updating the housing element. The statutory deadlines have passed for local governments to complete the rst revisions to their housing elements (Government Code Section 65588(b)). The deadlines for housing element second revisions are as follows:

· Southern California Association of Governments July 1, 1989;

· Association of Bay Area Governments July 1, 1990;

· San Diego Association of Governments, Council of Fresno County Governments, Kern County Council of Governments, Sacramento Council of Governments and Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments July 1, 1991; and,

· All other local governments July 1, 1992.

The statutes require subsequent revisions of the housing element at least every ve years following the second revision (Government Code Section 65588(b).

In some cases, state laws and regulations require cities and counties to send copies of their general plan documents to state agencies for review. In only one case does a state agency have authority to approve general plans. Under the California Coastal Act, the Coastal Commission certies the adequacy of Local Coastal Programs, which include relevant portions of local general plans for jurisdictions lying in the coastal zone.

Cities and counties must send draft housing elements and proposed amendments to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for review prior to adoption (Government Code Section 65585(b)). State law requires local governments to send the drafts of new housing elements to HCD at least 90 days prior to adoption. When a city or county considers a housing element revision, the planning agency must send a draft of the proposal to HCD 45 days prior to adoption.

State law requires HCD to send its comments on a draft to a city or county planning agency within 90 days (for new housing elements) or 45 days (for a revision). The city council or county board of supervisors must consider those HCD comments which arrive on time. If the comments arrive late, local governments must consider them in conjunction with future housing element amendments. Furthermore, each city and county must send to HCD copies of the adopted housing element and any amendments (Government Code Section 65585(c).

Local governments must also seek and respond to state comments regarding their safety elements. For the details of these consultation mandates, see "Pertinent Government Code Sections" at the beginning of the safety element discussion in Chapter III.

Generally, each city and county must consult with the California Division of Mines and Geology (Department of Conservation) and with the California Ofce of Emergency Services prior to a periodic review of the local general plan and particularly before the preparation or revision a safety element. Local governments must respond to the ndings of these agencies as specied in Government Code section 65302(g).

In addition, state law directs counties containing state responsibility areas to seek and respond to safety element advice from: 1) the State Board of Forestry and 2) every local agency which provides re protection to unincorporated territory in the county. See Government Code Section 65302.5 and Public Resources Code Section 4128.5.

DMG and OES Review

Other Agencies

State

Clearinghouse

Similarly, cities and counties must submit proposed mineral resource management polices to the State Mining and Geology Board for review and comment. The same is true for subsequently proposed policy amendments. (Public Resources Code Section 2762(b) and (c)).

Local governments must also send their open space elements to the Secretary of the Resources Agency. Government Code Section 65563 provides in part that, "On or before December 31, 1973, every city and county shall prepare, adopt and submit to the Secretary of the Resources Agency a local open-space plan . . . ."

In addition, local governments frequently seek planning advice from many other state agencies besides those cited in this section. These agencies often have a major interest in the consequences of local planning. As a matter of intergovernmental coordination, cities and counties should send copies of their adopted general plans to their state contacts.

As a nal requirement, under the State CEQA Guidelines , local jurisdictions must submit draft EIRs for many general plans, elements, and amendments to the State Clearinghouse within the Ofce of Planning and Research to allow review by state agencies (Title 14, California Code of Regulations, Section 15161.6).

While not required by law, planning agencies may send a copy of a newly adopted or revised general plan and element, along with subsequent amendments, to the County Municipal Collection in the State Library's Government Publications Section. The library makes general plans available to the public for reference. Library users may also borrow plan documents through any local library's inter-library loan process.