Marin County is in the process of updating the County General Plan. The
County General Plan acts as the blueprint for growth and development on
County unincorporated land and is updated about every ten years. The General
Plan Update offers a chance to address one of Marin's most serious issues:
its shortage of affordable housing. The County is proposing to do this
by creating an affordable housing overlay zone. The overlay zone would
designate certain urbanized areas on County land as appropriate for affordable
housing, and would encourage the development of affordable housing in
these areas.
The General Plan will act as the blueprint for growth and development
on County unincorporated land through the year 2020. This update presents
a critical opportunity to advocate for long term protections of open space
throughout the County's some 900,000 acres. Greenbelt Alliance has released
our report, Toward
a Bright Future: Updating Sonoma County's General Plan, analyzing
the critical issues—protections for open space, wildlife habitat,
water resources and agriculture, and the provision of affordable housing
and alternative transportation—to coincide with the Planning Commission
hearings.
Santa Rosa has received funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to create a plan for the next 25 years of development around the anticipated downtown SMART train station. This plan has the potential to create a vibrant downtown core for the city, with more residents, a mix of uses, bike- and pedestrian-friendly streets, and more ridership for the anticipated SMART train.
The City has just begun an update of their General Plan which will act
as the blueprint for growth for the next 20 years. This update presents
a critical opportunity for the City's leaders to adopt an Urban Growth
Boundary (UGB) that will protect the community's rural character and surrounding
hillsides from sprawl development.
