A General Plan is the basis for all planning decisions that are made in a county. One that minimizes protection for agriculture, open space, and oak woodlands can lead over time to significant losses of those important values. That is the case with the Tuolumne County General Plan that has just been revised.
For years CSERC staff and other concerned citizen activists attended one-sided county committee meetings - where Tuolumne County supervisors joined with developers and pro-use business interests to discuss ways to weaken environmental regulations and to produce a revised, pro-development General Plan for the County.
Valley oaks and old growth oaks have lost former County requirements for protection in the newly revised version of the General Plan.
A first version of a revised General Plan was released years ago for public review, but after concerned citizens and CSERC provided negative comments, county planning and legal staff pulled it back due to legal flaws.
Then last fall, county residents were given only 45 days to attempt to review more than 700 pages of complex planning text in a new version of the General Plan and its associated, extremely lengthy Environmental Impact Report. The hearing was held just three days before Christmas. The majority of those who spoke at that hearing called for a delay in the planning process in order to allow citizens more time to review the Plan. But the Planning Commission ignored those public concerns and unanimously endorsed the General Plan for final approval by the Board of Supervisors.
That final approval came on January 3rd when County supervisors insisted on holding a final vote in order to give two outgoing supervisors their chance to join in approving the Plan. Outgoing supervisor Evan Royce made the motion to approve the Plan, and outgoing supervisor Randy Hanvelt seconded the motion. All five supervisors not only voted to approve the highly-biased, pro-development General Plan revision, but they also dismissed public concerns that had been raised by citizens at the two hearings.
If allowed to go unchallenged, the new Plan will result in thousands of acres of agricultural land being designated for residential and commercial development. New incentives will speed up development approvals, and not a single mandated mitigation measure is currently required by the new Plan for GHG emissions that contribute toward climate change. General Plan policies that up to this time have required “no net loss” of Valley Oaks or old growth oaks and other rare habitats are now eliminated in the new Plan.
The new Plan also encourages the approval of new development in rural areas that do not have any public water or sewer (under Special Commercial designation). Previous policies to protect the environment have almost all been severely weakened by wording such as “encourage,” “consider,” or “support” instead of having General Plan policies with clear, effective wording that actually “requires” protection.
During breaks at the final General Plan hearing, County supervisors openly talked and laughed with representatives of the building industry and with development promoters – those who will benefit the most from this anti-environmental new Plan.
Three supervisors each admitted in their discussions that “the Plan isn’t perfect…” But instead of proposing changes to correct the flaws, they shrugged off its defects and simply approved it as is. Accordingly, if this this new General Plan moves forward as legal policy for the County, it will set planning direction for at least the next 20 years.