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Below
please find the Community Plan history and SGB's concern with
the Update:
(Note:
In response to pressure and corrections from residents, Uhler
and the County Staff have recently begun calling the "Update"
a "Review." However, the process (focusing largely
on re-zone requests from developers) has not changed.
Granite
Bay may soon change. Last year our County Supervisor convinced
the Placer County Board of Supervisors that the Granite
Bay Community Plan
needs to be “updated.” The first step in that
process was a January 9, 2009 letter
and a February 11, 2009 Community meeting. Since that time
County Staff has focused on re-zone requests including some
large scale projects with large density increases, all but one
requested by developers from outside of Granite Bay.
The update "process" is
deemed to be "open" because all residents are
individually asked to provide input directly to the County
Planning Department staff. Previously, updates were conducted
by large committees that gathered input from residents and
home owners associations. It is SGB's opinion that asking 8500
households to independently study the existing Community Plan
and develop sufficient expertise to recommend changes is
inefficient and likely to leave the process and results
largely up to the Planning Department and our Supervisor. This
approach is essentially a “divide and conquer” in
that Uhler knows that most of us do not have the time and
experience to make sense of the planning process and
contribute meaningfully. Groups such as Save Granite Bay that
have volunteered to conduct surveys and lead committees as was
done in the past have been labeled “special interest
groups” and been summarily rejected by both the MAC and
Uhler.
The current community plan was
developed by a committee of the residents over a period of two
years starting in 1987. The result was an award winning
Community Plan that has been upheld time after time as
developers have tried to violate it. Various updates have been
minor because the original plan was well done. The most
significant update was in the circulation element (roads and
trails) in 2005. It was prompted by the large increase in
“through” traffic between Folsom and Roseville.
The circulation element update was conducted by a committee of
the residents with guidance from a professional planner from
the County Planning Dept. That effort, with only insignificant
changes by the Planning Department, was approved by the Placer
Board of Supervisors.
So,
why is the Granite Bay Community Plan being updated at this
time? Our Supervisor has come up with multiple reasons, each
soon proven to be untrue or irrelevant and fall by the
wayside. One claim is that the State requires it and Uhler
produced a letter he claimed proves that. In reality the
letter only addresses a review of the County General Plan. The
Granite Bay Community Plan must conform to the County General
Plan but is being updated even before the County General Plan
is updated, so any updates are premature. Also, that letter
gives no hint that re-zones to increase density should be
entertained. In our opinion, no plausible reasons for the
Update have been presented. Here
you will find a paraphrase of what we have been told and our
reaction.
We do know that our supervisor is
a politcian and has long depended on developers to fund his
campaigns for County Supervisor (starting in 1991) and for the
California Legislature. He has admitted to collecting $48,000
in campaign contributions from developers in 2008, a year in
which he was not even campaigning for any office. The old
adage "Follow the Money" appears to apply. We also
know that the County Planning Staff was likely to be hit hard
by the layoffs due to the County budget shortfall and this
project has given them an excuse to avoid that.
On
February 11th, the County Planning staff hosted a community
meeting to explain the Update process. Over 400 residents
attended and nearly all spoke against the update or voted to
stop it. Others explained ways in which the process was flawed
in that developer requests were being entertained before the
policies and guidelines had been reviewed (that continues to
be true today, one year later. The overall consensus was DO
NOT CHANGE THE PLAN. The letter
inviting residents to that meeting stated that the update
would go forward only if the residents wished it to. Against
the residents wishes, the “update” is in high gear
and in March of 2010, the developers that requested re-zones
are each meeting in private with County Planning Staff even
though the Plan goals and policies have yet to be reviewed.
The cart is still before the horse. Supervisor Uhler and the
County Staff ignored the message from the large Feb. 11 group,
now saying the meeting was simply for them to provide
information. Following the Feb. 11 meeting, hundreds of forms
filled out by residents confirmed that the residents do not
want a community plan update, but it continues in high gear
nonetheless.
SGB is working to change the
process by insisting that the Community have an effective role
in the process. Normally the Municipal Advisory Council would
form a subcommittee for this purpose as was done for the 2005
Update. However, our Supervisor controls the MAC agenda and
has refused to allow a MAC agenda item to discuss this
possibility.
While our Supervisor and the
County Planning Staff have stated that there will be time for
community input after the June 30, 2009 Forms deadline, the
only thing that has occurred is a massive 80 page survey was
submitted by 244 residents. Developers are meeting with County
staff even though those surveys have not been processed. The
cart continues before the horse. Residents complain about this
at MAC meetings, but those cries have fallen on deaf ears.
We are particularly concerned
about this process because just last year, the MAC, Planning
Commission, and Board of Supervisors voted to remove the 300
foot setback from 700 feet of Douglas Blvd frontage and rezone
the land from residential to commercial over a very large and
vocal objection from the community. Included is a car wash and
office buildings adjacent to Granite Bay quality residential
areas. There is much more Douglas Blvd frontage that could
become strip malls or gas stations or commercial buildings as
a result of this Community Plan update. While we do not know
that will be the outcome, the recent Douglas Blvd zoning
change suggests that it will. Indeed, the precedent has been
set.
There is also the issue of the
population cap, set at 29,000 in the current Community Plan.
The large increases in density proposed by developers under
the Update, and the potential for more such re-zones under a
revised Community Plan that is re-written to support similar
ones, can only greatly increase that population. Indeed, if
the population cap were taken seriously, no increases in
density could occur. One project is proposed at 16 times the
currently zoned density and Supervisor Uhler is actively
supporting that rezone. This involves the “Special
Planning Area” south of Douglas and east of Greyhawk.
Incidentally, a Special Planning Area is one that is
designated for a zoning change.
Even before goals and policies have been visited, a large area
has been designated for re-zone. Follow the Money.
For more information or to
discuss the above, please send us an email
with your phone number and we will give you a call.
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