The Second kick-off meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee took place on December 7, 2006. This meeting was focused specifically on reviewing and commenting on the Draft Framework of Guiding Principles and receiving input from the Committee on their photo homework assignment showing individual Butte County photos of areas that are valued, as well as areas that needed to be improved or changed. Butte County District 5 Planning Commissioner Fernando Marin, Resource Conservation District President D. C. Jones, and Agriculture Commissioner Richard Price also attended the meeting.

Development Services Director Tim Snellings opened the evening’s agenda with a recap of the November 16th Kick-off meeting and introduced Design, Community & Environment Associate Project Manager Michael Brilliot who led the first exercise. The first exercise involved breaking into 6 groups and reviewing approximately 200 photos taken by Committee members. Each group narrowed the selection down to 10 photos apiece resulting in approximately 60 photos that showed each group’s likes and dislikes. Design, Community & Environment Planner Tanya Higgins then arranged each group’s selection into a slide show for later viewing. Butte County Development Services Principal Planner Dan Breedon then provided an overview of the Draft Framework of Guiding Principles that the Board of Supervisors approved and transmitted to the Citizens Advisory Committee on July 25, 2006. After this overview, another exercise began during which each group selected a spokesperson that provided a narrative description of the 10 photos selected earlier. The Committee heard narratives from each of the six groups about many varied aspects of Butte County.

In the last part of the meeting, Development Services Director Tim Snellings held a workshop on the Draft Framework of Guiding Principles. Committee members were asked to draw upon their likes and dislikes, discussed during the previous exercises, in commenting on the Draft Framework of Guiding Principles. Mr. Snellings reviewed each of the 12 Guiding Principles with the Committee and edited input from members directly into existing text. This information was displayed for all Committee members to view. The Committee made changes to 8 out of the 12 Principles and added a 13th Principle regarding Water Resources. The full text of the Principles may be accessed here.

The changes and all the recommendations of the Committee will be transmitted to the Butte County Planning Commission for discussion at their January 11, 2007 meeting. The Planning Commission’s recommendations will then be transmitted to the Board of Supervisors on February 13, 2007 for final consideration and approval. The final set of Guiding Principles will be provided to the Citizens Advisory Committee at the first scheduled Butte County General Plan 2030 Public Workshop, to be held at the Southside Community Center, 2959 Wyandotte Avenue, Oroville CA. This Public Workshop is the first in a series of eight workshops and will focus on “Existing Conditions and Issue Identification”. Stay tuned for more updates on this first and very important Public Workshop.

For more information about the tasks and timelines of the Butte County General Plan 2030 process, please visit http://www.buttegeneralplan.net today.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call Dan Breedon at 530-538-7629 or Tim Snellings at 530-538-6821.