The plan, approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 2, became effective on Oct. 2, said Community Development Director Rick Coel.
The plan essentially lays out a vision for how the county will develop over the coming 20 years.
Following its approval by the board, the document went through some final updates by the plan consultant, Rick Rust, Coel explained. Coel planned to have a planning staff workshop with help phase the plan into use, which features new policies that will keep county staff busy.
With the final updates and the document itself in place, the plan can be found on the Lake County government Web site, www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/DepartmentDirectory/Community_Development/2008_General_Plan.htm.
The new Lake County General Plan took six years to complete, longer than originally anticipated, said Coel.
“I didn't expect it was going to take six years,” Coel said.
Supervisor Ed Robey added, “We thought we could do it in three or four,” but noted that some additions – like the agriculture, water resources and geothermal elements, plus updated land use policies – took longer but ultimately will be beneficial to the county.
The effort included hundreds of hours of staff time, along with hundreds of hours Coel – who became community development director in early 2007 – also has put into it.
The monumental process of creating the document included an environmental impact report, addressing public comments on that report, developing new policies to move the county forward, and holding meetings and workshops for both the committees that participated and the general public, said Coel. Then they corresponded with Rick Rust, the county's consultant on the plan, who helped put the document together.
The Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission both contributed work to the plan's creation, said Coel.
Each member offered something unique. Coel said Supervisor Anthony Farrington focused on water resources, while Robey helped on economic development issues. Supervisors Rob Brown and Denise Rushing offered their own efforts to create an energy policy; Coel said Rushing has suggested forming a commission that will take that work to form a sustainability policy that includes energy and agriculture.
From the Planning Commission, which also held public hearings on the plan and certified the environmental impact report, came feedback and assistance. In particular, Coel named Monica Rosenthal and Clelia Baur for digging in and assisting with the certification for the environmental impact report, which is about 400 pages in length.
Besides those county officials, Coel said there were various committees – for housing, agriculture and geothermal elements, among others – that contributed to the effort. He estimated those committees accounted for more than 70 community members who participated in the process.
Then there was community development and planning staff that reviewed different versions of the policies, and groups like the Sierra Club that offered their own input, he said.
“There's just so many people that have done so much to make this such a thorough, concise document,” Coel said.
A notable aspect of the new plan, said Robey, is greater restrictions on residential developments in flood plains.
He said in the past the county has allowed development to push into those areas and, when something goes wrong, community members have looked back at the county to ask why they let it happen.
“We really don't want to do that anymore,” he said.
Coel said, overall, the process was very positive. And, of course, very long.
The length of time it took to complete is due partly to thoroughness, with new aspects to the plan and the inevitable delays in any big project mixed in.
“The delays certainly added value,” Coel said.
Coel said the plan's environmental impact report got behind with the original consulting firm hired to work on the plan. Rick Rust, who was with that firm, then moved on to another employer, and the plan moved with him. Rust has been an excellent resource, said Coel.
Elements for water resources and agriculture were part of the delays, too, said Coel. In the end, however, they were important in creating a truly comprehensive document.
In terms of significant controversy, the main one that arose during the final hearing involved community growth boundaries for Middletown, where an area plan is still under way.
Coel said the controversy arose as a direct result of his position on the boundary, which Coel wanted to keep at its current size, which was established in 1989.
The Middletown Area Plan Committee, however, voted that they wanted to make it larger by a few hundred acres, and community members spoke out on the issue at length on Sept. 2.
Robey said the disparity in boundaries arose because several large landowners wanted their property to be included inside that growth boundary moving forward.
Ultimately, the Board of Supervisors decided to accept the plan with the 1989 boundaries, and directed that the area plan committee work to resolve the issue as part of the Middletown Area Plan update, which ultimately will link with the county general plan.
Coel said the disagreements can be worked out through the area plan update process.
Area plans like Middletown's are important aspects of the county's overall planning process, said Coel. The new general plan should dial in well with the existing plans, he said, which is important.
“It has to correlate or else we're going to have problems,” he said.
The various plans seek to protect local resources and address specific concerns, said Coel, setting design review guidelines, considering ridgeline development, scenic corridors and development along the lakeside.
Issues related to development can be constantly shifting, with new concerns arising. Recent hot buttons have included carports, signage and animals in residential zoning districts, he said.
Besides the Middletown plan, there the Shoreline Area Plan, which stretched along the Northshore. That plan also is pending, and is currently the highest in priority. Coel said a few meeting of the committee are left before the plan should be ready for consideration by county officials.
Next in priority is the Middletown plan, along with updates of the county's zoning ordinance, said Coel.
Coel anticipates the zoning ordinance updates, which should take about a year, will be started by winter. An advisory committee has been assembled to review it.
The Lakeport area plan needs some work as well. The plan has issues including too much density in some areas, such as along the west side of Lakeshore Boulevard, where there are steep hills and serpentine soils.
The Board of Supervisors must give approval to start that plan, which Coel hopes will get under way next year.
In terms of continuity between the old and new plans, how it will impact projects is fairly straightforward. Coel said that, for applicants with development projects that are pending, as long as their application has been deemed complete, they fall under the rules of the old plan. The new document applies to every project that isn't complete or not yet submitted.
Robey commended Coel and all of his staff for the work they put in on the document.
He said the general plan update process – which has spanned across half of his tenure on the board – was a long haul and, at times, proved very frustrating.
“But we did it,” he said.
For Coel, finishing the general plan update is a once-in-a-career mountain to climb.
His young son, who just started kindergarten, should be out of college by the time another plan needs to be drafted.
“I definitely plan to be retired by then,” said Coel.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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