Citizens Advisory Committee - Meeting Summary
 

The Citizens Advisory Committee Meeting pertaining to the creation of alternatives (Meeting Series #2/3) was held on Thursday, September 6, 2007 at the Little Chico Creek Elementary School from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.  Approximately 104 members of the public and 20 members of the Citizens Advisory Committee, gathered to finalize input into this process and to study 9 additional change areas received since the August 2^nd meeting. Additional information from the City of Biggs concerning their preferred growth areas was also distributed at the meeting.  The evening started with a presentation from Butte County Air Quality Control District Planner Gail Williams, who discussed the regulation and measurement of the County’s air quality. 

Director of Development Services Tim Snellings provided a brief refresher on the progress of the General Plan 2030 update process to date.  Mr. Snellings also explained the framework by which each of the new change areas would be assessed: 1) is the area of countywide significance? 2) Are the boundaries appropriate? And, 3) does the range of alternatives provide choices for the future?  Mr. Snellings stressed the importance of remaining consistent with the Meeting Series 2/3 objectives, which is to create a variety of land use alternatives for further consideration, and not to eliminate them from consideration at this point in the process.  Mr. Snellings also explained that the selection and elimination process would begin during Meeting Series #4, which is devoted to the selection of a preferred alternative.  Meeting Series 4 is tentatively scheduled to begin with a Public Workshop on January 24, 2008. 

Committee members and the public additionally voiced their concerns about when the alternatives would be analyzed for constraints and other factors that may render a change area unsuitable for development.  Staff members explained that each of the three alternatives would be evaluated for potential impacts to transportation, the environment, agriculture, and economic and fiscal impacts, prior to Meeting Series 4.

The newest member of the consultant team, Design, Community & Environment Senior Associate Joanna Jansen was introduced.  Joanna replaces Ellen Clark who took a job in Mammoth, CA.  Joanna provided an overview of the evening’s activities and introduced Planning Associate Tanya Sundberg who provided an overview of the outcomes and revisions from the August 2^nd CAC meeting.  Tanya Sundberg also concluded the discussion began earlier on the Transportation Alternatives.   Next, the proposed 9 new change areas were introduced during a discussion and presentation facilitated by Tim Snellings.  This discussion clearly elicited the greatest amount of response from Citizen Advisory Committee members and the general public.  Individual comments were transcribed to chart paper as the group reviewed and discussed each of the 9 change areas.

The last exercise was devoted to the discussion of the Policy Alternatives facilitated by Tim Snellings.  The Policy Alternatives includes a set of 24 questions with multiple responses that were formulated from information received during the issue identification phase of the General Plan 2030 update (Meeting Series 1) and from exercises devoted to policy questions performed at the Public Workshop held on May 17, 2007 and at the Citizens Advisory Committee Meeting held on May 31^st (Meeting Series 2/3).  Over an hour of discussion ensued on each of the questions and responses.  Some concern was expressed over how existing polices might be changed under the General Plan 2030 process, such as the Chico Area Greenline.  Mr. Snellings explained that the goal of the exercise was not to debate or create policy, but to provide a framework of questions, with possible responses, that accurately reflects the issues brought up by the process to date. Comments provided were transcribed and will result in a final document that will be provided to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for consideration.  The policy document is intended to be used during subsequent meeting series to build public awareness and gauge opinion on the wide range of policy included in the questions.

Butte County Planning Commission Chair Nina Lambert also spoke at the end of the evening encouraging all present to attend the Planning Commission Study Session scheduled for Friday, September 28, 2007, at 9:00 am, 25 County Center Drive, Oroville.  The information and comments gathered at the September 6, 2007 Citizens Advisory Committee meeting will be organized for the Planning Commission’s review and comment.  The last meeting of Meeting Series 2/3 devoted to the creation of alternatives will take place on October 16, 2007 at the Butte County Board of Supervisors Study Session.