In accordance with Government Code Section 65040.2, the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has prepared and adopted the 1990 General Plan Guidelines to assist local planning agencies in preparing and maintaining their general plans. This edition supersedes all previous versions of the Guidelines.

The General Plan Guidelines constitutes the most comprehensive discussion of California's land use planning statutes available. It has been completely updated for this edition to reflect recent statutory changes, topical case law, and current state and local programs related to planning.

Over the years, cities, counties, regional planning agencies, consultants for these agencies, and all others involved or interested in preparing and implementing general plans have found the Guidelines to be a useful information source. I am pleased to issue this new edition.

John McCarthy

Director