A vision for the future of Grass Valley
By Mark Johnson
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12:01 a.m. PT May 3, 2008
Grass Valley is a special place. Our historic community needs to be respected and preserved while our community evolves and changes to address the needs of our children and our grandchildren. The guiding document as to how we plan for change is our 2020 General Plan.
A "Managed Growth Initiative" now is being proposed and seeks to lock in our current land uses not just to 2020, (the time frame of our current General Plan) but for the next 30 years, until 2038.
Properties or projects, large or small, that propose any level of land-use change to the 2020 General Plan from now until 2038 would be subject to the provisions of this initiative.
Our General Plan is a sound document, but also a living document that needs the ability to adjust to our economic, social and market conditions. Loss of this flexibility is not beneficial to our community.
Our current General Plan was originally adopted by the City Council in 1999. As with any long-range plan, the 2020 General Plan was based on certain assumptions and expectations about prevailing social and economic trends.
The General Plan contains 10 basic elements that collectively define a quality of life standard for our community on everything from land use to circulation to parks to public safety and historic protection.
The part of the General Plan that is the subject of the proposed initiative is the Land Use Element. The Land Use Element designates the general distribution and location of land for housing, business, industry, open space, public buildings, etc. The projections for future population growth, levels of density and building intensity are also a part of the Land Use Element.
While the Land Use Element defines the essential building blocks for our community, it serves only as a guide that needs to be evaluated and adjusted depending on how our community evolves and changes.
For example, our city's previous General Plan adopted in 1982 contained levels of development much more intensive than what is currently found in the 2020 General Plan.
Looking toward the future, our 2020 General Plan recognizes the following about us and our community:
• Expansion is nothing new to Grass Valley. Since its incorporation in 1872, our town has grown from the original townsite of 360 acres to its present size of about five square miles. To date there have been approximately 100 annexations or changes to the city boundaries, each one debated and discussed by the community. The General Plan recognizes that future expansion will occur, while stopping short of dictating a specific schedule.
• One of the central themes of the Nevada County General Plan is to direct new development to existing urban areas or cities, such as Grass Valley, in order to reduce sprawl. New development is to be directed into areas that have urban services such as sewer and water.
After Nevada County adopted their General Plan in 1995 and the city adopted the 2020 General Plan in 1999, a significant shift of land-use policy was established, as much of the future growth projected for Western Nevada County would be directed to Grass Valley. This philosophy was embedded in both Grass Valley's and the county's general plans.
• Grass Valley has become the "economic hub" of western Nevada County. Shopping, jobs, schools (including Sierra College), a hospital, medical services, recreation, entertainment and a vibrant downtown draw people from across the county and beyond to Grass Valley.
Some of the challenges that face our city and its role of being the "economic hub" are providing an inventory of usable land for future uses while providing the needed infrastructure such as roads, sewer and water.
• Our 2020 General Plan projects 2,820 new residential units be built from 2000 to 2020, or about 141 new residential units per year. Since the adoption of the 2020 General Plan, approximately 815 housing units have been built - around 100 new residential units per year and far below the original projections.
This leaves about 2,000 new residential units projected to be built by 2020. The General Plan assumes about a third of these new residential units would be constructed within the city through infill and the rest accommodated through future annexations.
• As for future population growth, the General Plan projects a population for the year 2020 of around 21,861 within city limits. Our present population is approximately 13,000. The added 8,861 residents or so are planned to come from the addition of existing neighborhoods (about 5,000 existing residents) into the city limits and the balance from new residential units.
Our growth since 1999 is below projections for housing units and the population anticipated in the 2020 General Plan for the year 2008. This is partly due to the economic downturn and it should be noted the city has been deliberate and cautious in its review of development proposals within the city limits and our sphere of influence.
Annexations of land within the city's sphere of influence were deferred for several years while the city conducted various studies and obtained more public input on the consequences of developing these properties.
While a General Plan is viewed as a community's blueprint for the future, it is not intended to be rigid and must retain the capability to respond to changing conditions and community needs.
Since the 2020 General Plan was adopted in 1999, the city has approved only five General Plan amendments. One amendment was to allow the construction of the Briar Patch Food Co-op and another for the proposed Wolf Creek Co-Housing project.
The city has been very careful in amending its General Plan, each one carefully considered and undertaken by a very public process.
I believe, along with my fellow council members there is a critical need to maintain this level of flexibility so our overall goals and community needs can be met.
Setting new, restrictive limits on how and when our General Plan can be amended and requiring an election each time for the next 30 years would greatly constrain the ability of our community to respond to changes in local conditions and meet the changing needs of our community.
Mark Johnson is the mayor of Grass Valley.
