|
UNINCORPORATED
OROVILLE AREA-WIDE WORKSHOP
Butte County General Plan 2030
Community Meeting Summary
The Butte County General Plan 2030 Community
Workshop for the Unincorporated Oroville Area was
held on Wednesday, June 27, 2007, at the Southside
Community Center. 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 110 people attended the
Unincorporated Oroville Area-Wide Workshop. Also in
attendance were six members of Butte County's
Citizens Advisory Committee (Michael Evans, Bill
Kienzle, Kate Leyden, Bruce McClintock, Tony
Rushing, 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. 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.
DC&E Associate Tanya Sundberg then presented a
summary of existing conditions in the Unincorporated
Oroville Area and of issues that were raised during
prior public workshops and meetings. For the next 45
minutes, County and DC&E staff and several
members of the Citizens Advisory Committee facilitated eleven
breakout discussion groups, each of which focused on
a neighborhood in the Unincorporated Oroville Area,
discussing its assets, issues, and areas for
potential future change. The following summarizes
the assets and issues discussed at this meeting.
Southside/Las Plumas
The Southside/Las Plumas groups were interested in
economic development for the area, including the
redevelopment of existing commercial facilities.
They felt that economic development is especially
important in this area in order to attract equal
opportunity employment with decent wages, which
would in turn bring younger families to the area.
These groups also highlighted the need for low
income housing and to increase public transportation
opportunities. These groups also discussed
alternative power sources.
The Southside/Las Plumas groups discussed
alternative wastewater systems. They also
highlighted the need for increased services in the
area. Specifically, they requested sidewalk
maintenance, street sweeping and increased code
enforcement, as well as services to address drug
problems, mental health and employment assistance.
In addition, participants in the Southside/Las
Plumas groups requested more recreation and medical
facilities for this area. These groups also
discussed the need for increased law enforcement in
this neighborhood in order to combat drugs, underage
drinking, and prostitution. Some in the group also
urged the County to take measures that would
facilitate annexation of the Southside area by the
City of Oroville.
Thermalito
The Thermalito groups characterized the neighborhood
as rural and agricultural, and would like this area
to retain that character. They felt that some
isolated development is appropriate in certain
areas, and that ranchette development can be
appropriate for equestrian purposes. However, they
also directed that traffic issues be addressed
before additional development is approved. The
Thermalito groups also discussed the Oro Bay
proposal near this neighborhood; participants were
generally opposed to this project.
Thermalito participants would like economic
development to bolster employment opportunities in
the Oroville area. They would like the County to
improve neighborhoods through increased code
enforcement. In addition, the groups discussed the
lack of access to the Oroville Wildlife Preserve,
which they felt should be addressed.
North Oroville
The North Oroville group was focused on protecting
Table Mountain and maintaining public access to this
recreational and scenic resource. This group in
general liked the rural character of North Oroville,
and would like this character to be preserved. They
discussed parcel sizes, and felt that the ability to
construct additional dwelling units should be
dictated by the size of the parcels. Some
participants felt that densities should be increased
to 10-acre lot sizes.
Participants also discussed some road improvement
needs, such as the widening of Cherokee Road and
improvements to Oregon Gulch Road. They were
concerned about fire and emergency access, and felt
that the County should limit the number of houses
that are approved on cul-de-sacs because of
emergency access issues.
The North Oroville group was also concerned about
water quality, including impacts from mining on
groundwater and surface water quality. In addition,
this group suggested the use of clustering and
density transfers to protect deer herds.
South Oroville/Palermo
The South Oroville/Palermo groups focused on water
quantity and quality. There were concerns about
water diversions that are to the detriment of
wildlife and habitat, as well as water supply, and
about the impact of adjacent industrial uses on the
water quality in creeks. Participants would like
open space corridors established and maintained in
this area, especially in the hills to the south and
east of Palermo.
Participants would like
additional commercial services in Oroville in
general, as well as additional employment
opportunities. They were concerned about the
imbalance of jobs and housing in the Oroville area,
in which many people live in Oroville and work in
Chico or Sacramento. Participants also were
concerned about a lack of law enforcement in the
South Oroville area. In addition, they felt that the
roads are in need of maintenance and improvement,
and that code enforcement should be improved to,
among other issues, address illegal dumping along
roads.
East Oroville/Hills
The East Oroville/Hills groups discussed infill
development, and were concerned that road
construction in rural areas will promote sprawl.
Participants like the rural setting of the hills,
and felt that denser development should be directed
to the city. There were concerns about overloaded
transportation infrastructure in the area,
recommending traffic lights, bikeways, and a bypass
as possible solutions. The groups also directed that
transportation infrastructure be analyzed for
capacity and adequacy prior to approving new
development. In addition, they requested additional
maintenance of county roads and bike facilities.
These groups recognized the importance of
agriculture, and directed that the General Plan
support agriculture. They felt that agricultural
protection should include protection of the
smaller-scale operations that are found in the
foothills, and that it could include the use of a
greenline similar to that in Chico.
The groups would like incentives to promote green
buildings and alternative energy use. They felt that
development standards are necessary to promote water
conservation, greenbelts and modern standards.
Participants also high-lighted the need to improve
the visual impact of the Highway 70 entrance into
Oroville.
The East Oroville/Hills groups would like additional
public facilities in the area, such as a meeting
hall, as well as additional commercial services.
They highlighted a possible commercial development
location at the intersection of Miners Ranch Road
and Highway 162, supporting the project in order to
reduce the need for residents in that area to drive
into Oroville. These groups were concerned about
water quality, highlighting the need to protect
surface water sources, such as Lake Oroville and the
Feather River, as well as groundwater. Participants
were concerned about old mines located upstream of
the lake that could affect water quality. These
groups also focused on water supply, recommending
that water supply and wastewater infrastructure be
analyzed for capacity prior to new development
approval.
Participants also requested off-leash dog parks and
increased information about recreational facilities
in the county. They felt that tourism should be
promoted, including tourism related to Lake
Oroville. In addition, they felt that there should
be additional educational opportunities in this
area.
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.
|
