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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
August 6 , 2008 Supervisors OK General Plan Barry EberlingA vision to reshape Solano County rural land use through 2030 will head to the voters Nov. 4 with support from various local environmental, farming and business groups. Supervisors on Tuesday afternoon approved the proposed Solano County General Plan revisions after more than two years of work. Under the county’s Orderly Growth Initiative, the sections involving major land use changes must gain approval in the November election. The plan goes to voters with stated support from such diverse groups as the Solano County Orderly Growth Committee, Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce, Solano County Farm Bureau and Greenbelt Alliance. Only a few months ago, the outlook for such broad-based support looked dim. “I really believe this is a historic event for land use policy in Solano County,” Supervisor Jim Spering said. Supervisors approved the General Plan and its environmental impact report by a 4-1 margin, with Supervisor Barbara Kondylis dissenting. Voters will be asked to approve having 10 farming regions, adding agritourism centers in Suisun Valley and adding industrial areas near Dixon and Vacaville. They will also be asked to shrink the existing Collinsville water-dependent industrial area from about 6,000 acres to about 1,400 acres. Also, the ballot measure would extend the Orderly Growth Initiative through 2028. That means voters, and not supervisors, would continue to have power over major land use changes. The existing initiative expires in 2010. In all -- because of the Collinsville subtractions -- the new General Plan would allow about 1,000 fewer acres of farmland to be developed than under the existing General Plan created two decades ago. Scott Reynolds, executive board president of the Fairfield- Suisun Chamber of Commerce, said his group supported the plan “wholeheartedly.” It will do such things as help Suisun Valley with agritourism, add some highway-commercial opportunities and keep placing most new businesses in the cities, he said. Middle Green Valley had been a sticking point. Growth disputes there have surfaced periodically for two decades. The Green Valley Landowners Association wants to preserve the area’s rural character, and some key property owners want the right to develop some of their land. The GVLA and property owners agreed on having the county form a citizens advisory committee to look at building as many as 400 homes there and preserving open space. Supervisors unanimously approved forming the committee. “It would be nice to have less rancor in that neck of the woods,” GVLA President Craig Gillespie said. “It’s been a long time and I think there’s a lot of bitter feelings that need to be buried.” Nicole Byrd of the Greenbelt Alliance called the General Plan a good compromise. What remains to be seen is how Vacaville will react. City councilmembers have criticized the plan’s commercial and industrial areas near city borders, saying these could cause problems in such areas as groundwater supplies and public safety demands. An Aug. 5 letter from Vacaville asks that the General Plan environmental impact report be recirculated, something the Board of Supervisors declined to do. During a closed session vote, supervisors agreed to enter into a so-called “tolling agreement” with the Solano County Orderly Growth Commission, Greenbelt Alliance, local Sierra Club and Green Valley Landowners Association. These groups will support the General Plan if voters agree in November to extend the Orderly Growth Initiative through 2028, County Counsel Dennis Bunting said. But if voters fail to do so, the groups want to reserve the right to file a lawsuit over the General Plan environmental impact report, he said. Lawsuits usually must be filed within 30 days of the environmental impact report being passed. The agreement will allow the groups to file a lawsuit as late as Dec. 5, if the ballot measure fails. But on Tuesday in the supervisors chamber, thoughts of an unsuccessful ballot initiative and resulting lawsuits were far away. “I’m very, very, very excited that everybody’s going to be on the same side come November,” Byrd said. ### |
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