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Saturday, 2007-04-14 -
Agenda
HERE
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Development
Services Guiding Principles Presentation |
DC&E
Presentation |
Landfill Presentation)
Butte County General Plan
2030 Community Meeting Summary
The Butte County General Plan
2030 Community Workshop for the Central Buttes
Area was held on Saturday, April 14th,
2007 at 10:00 am at the main Butte College campus.
This meeting is one of 20 community meetings
scheduled to take place in locations covering all of
the unincorporated parts of Butte County. The
meetings are designed to take input directly from
community members about their area’s assets, issues,
and consideration of land use changes during the
General Plan 2030 process.
About 25 people attended the
Central Buttes meeting. Also in attendance were six
members of Butte County's Citizens Advisory
Committee. David Early, Founding Principal of
Design, Community & Environment (DC&E), the lead
General Plan consultant, introduced the workshop and
gave an overview of the meeting content and format.
Butte County Department of Development Services
staff Dan Breedon then provided an overview of the
Butte County General Plan 2030 process and General
Plan 2030’s Guiding Principles, which were approved
by the Butte County Board of Supervisors on February
13, 2007. Ellen Clark, Senior Associate of DC&E
then presented a summary of existing conditions in
the Central Buttes Area, followed by a presentation
by Steve Rodowick on the Neal Road Landfill. For
the next 45 minutes, County and DC&E staff
facilitated four breakout discussion groups about
the area's assets, issues, and areas for potential
future change. The following summarizes the assets
and issues discussed at this meeting:
There was a general desire to
maintain the rural character of the region, and
participants expressed the need to recognize the
cultural differences between the rural and urban
residents in Butte County. Many of the workshop
participants felt that growth in the region should
be directed to the existing urban areas in order to
preserve agricultural uses and the open space
character of the Central Buttes. Other growth
management strategies were discussed, including
clustered development patterns and transfer of
development right programs. Many were concerned
about impacts of growth on agricultural lands,
environmentally sensitive lands, flooding,
wastewater and traffic. There were also concerns
raised about infrastructure improvements and changes
to septic regulations and technology facilitating
future growth.
Participants felt that master
planning is needed for those areas that are
undergoing development. Many suggested the
development of design standards for key development
locations, such as community gateways, major
corridors and intersections. Some specific
development proposals and areas anticipated for
development were discussed, including the area
southeast of Cherokee, the area along the edge of
Lake Oroville, the Schwartz and Horning properties,
as well as along the section of Highway 99 south of
Chico. There was considerable discussion regarding
a possible casino at the intersection of Highway 99
and 149; generally, the participants expressed
concerns about the impacts of a casino on their
community.
Many participants emphasized the
need to preserve agricultural lands and uses,
including the active grazing uses that are present
in the area. These participants discussed possible
zoning modifications to lot sizes and the use of the
Williamson Act. Lot sizes in general were
discussed, including inconsistent zoning that allows
5-acre and 20-acre parcels, requests for larger lot
sizes, and other requests to allow smaller lot sizes
on less suitable agricultural lands.
There were concerns raised about
Butte College and its impacts on traffic and
possible growth inducement. Participants requested
improved public transit options for Butte College
specifically, as well as for the area in general.
Participants also expressed the need for road and
highway improvements.
Workshop participants expressed a
desire for additional highway designations on major
arterials. They also suggested natural resource
interpretation and education along the scenic
highways and expressed a desire to preserve historic
sites. In addition, participants emphasized the
need to protect water resources, especially
groundwater and groundwater recharge areas.
The information obtained from
this meeting will be provided to the Butte County
2030 Citizens Advisory Committee, the Planning
Commission, and the Board of Supervisors. The
information will be used to help create the Butte
County General Plan 2030 land use alternatives that
will be discussed in Workshop Series #2, which
begins with a Public Workshop on May 17, 2007 at
6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Oroville Municipal
Auditorium. This Public Workshop will follow with
additional meetings with the Citizens Advisory
Committee, Planning Commission, and Board of
Supervisors. |
