Growth Among Issues In County's Proposed General Plan

Growth Among Issues In County's Proposed General Plan
By Barry Eberling | Daily Republic | April 07, 2008



FAIRFIELD - Solano County is ready to put the final touches on a proposed vision that could shape its rural landscapes into 2030 and touch the lives of all its residents.

But making this vision a reality is no sure thing in a county that has long had periodic and sometimes bitter growth wars.

The two-year effort to update the General Plan has been both exhaustive and exhausting. Various bodies have held more than 50 meetings. The results can be seen in several hundred pages of polished prose describing Solano's future.

Much of the proposed General Plan calls for more of the same: rural areas dominated by farming between the cities. Yet several thousand acres of farmland could become rural residential, commercial and industrial areas.

Now the county is taking its General Plan proposals on the road. Several workshops this month will allow citizens to learn what's going on and offer opinions. That's in preparation for a series of July public hearings that could culminate with the county Board of Supervisors adopting the new plan.

Here is a primer on the revised General Plan.

What is a General Plan?

California cities and counties in pioneer days grew with little, if any, government oversight. Pioneer-era Solano County landowners didn't need county permission when they drew maps for new communities they billed as rivaling San Francisco. Proposed places such as Solano City and Newport died in their imaginations.

By the 1920s, the state moved toward more rigorous planning, with rules such as public hearings on land use decisions. In 1937, it required all cities and counties to have master plans, later called General Plans.

As time went on, the General Plans have done more than just look at growth and transportation. Solano County's revised General Plan has nine sections: agriculture, land use, resources, public health and safety, economic development, circulation, public facilities and services, housing and parks and recreation.

See the complete story at the Daily Republic Online.