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Butte County General Plan 2030
Community Meeting Summary
The Butte County General Plan
2030 Community Workshop for the Lake Oroville
Area was held on Wednesday, May 23, 2007, at the
Kelly Ridge Country Club. 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 29 people attended the Lake
Oroville Area-Wide Workshop. Also in attendance
were four members of Butte County's Citizens
Advisory Committee (William Black, Michael Evans,
Bruce McClintock and Sue Seropian). Tim Snellings,
Butte County Development Services Director,
introduced the workshop and staff and consultants.
David Early, Founding Principal of Design, Community
& Environment (DC&E), the lead General Plan
consultant, provided an overview of the meeting
content and format. Paul McIntosh, Butte County
Administrative Officer, provided an overview of the
Oroville Facilities Re-Licensing Project. Butte
County Department of Development Services Principal
Planner 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. Tanya Higgins, Project Planner of DC&E
then presented a summary of existing conditions in
the Lake Oroville Area and of issues that were
raised during prior public workshops and meetings.
For the next 45 minutes, County and DC&E staff
facilitated five 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:
Many of the participants focused
on traffic and transportation issues in the area,
including congestion along Highway 162. There were
suggestions for alternate routes, traffic calming
measures, additional traffic signals, limited access
points, and increased speeding enforcement. There
were also suggestions on how to make this roadway
safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, such as
roadway widening and the provision of sidewalks.
Some participants suggested that new development
should fund traffic and infrastructure improvements.
The groups also discussed the
development activity along Highway 162, and some
suggested that alternative traffic routes be
established before additional development is
approved here. There were concerns about the
traffic that could be caused by the Stringtown
Mountain project. However, other participants
supported the project in general. Some participants
felt that additional tourism, resort and casino
development could add to Oroville’s economy, while
others were opposed to any more casinos in the area.
In general, most participants
supported the tourism and recreation industry,
although many emphasized that there is a need for
increased signage to help tourists access Lake
Oroville. Participants also mentioned the need for
improved road maintenance in general. Several
people expressed a need to extend public services,
like natural gas, water and sewer lines, to areas of
existing and future development. There was also a
general sense that the region is not adequately
compensated for its water allocation to southern
California.
The participants also discussed
possible development of the land adjacent to the
intersection of Highway 162 and Miners Ranch Road,
including several ideas about mixed-use retail,
community services and housing. They also indicated
that new development in general should follow some
development standards, including architectural and
landscape standards. Many participants supported
growth in the Oroville area, subject to development
standards, avoiding airport areas, minimizing
impacts to agriculture, and in conjunction with
employment options.
Some participants raised issues
concerning public safety, including a need for
additional law enforcement, code enforcement, and
fire management. In particular, several
participants suggested a need for brush and fuel
maintenance along roadways and on private
properties.
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 began
with a Public Workshop on May 17, 2007.
Provide
the detailed list of Community Assets, Issues and
Change Areas Here:
(forthcoming) |
