Memorandum
Date: March 26, 2024
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Mireya G. Turner, Community Development Director
Shannon Walker-Smith, Deputy Community Development Administrator
Michelle Irace, Principal Planner
Laura Hall, Senior Planner
Subject: Presentation of Overview of “Lake County 2050” General Plan and Local Area Plans Updates
Executive Summary: Lake County is preparing a comprehensive update to the 2008 General Plan and all eight of the County’s Local Area Plans (i.e., “Lake County 2050”), which were adopted at various times between 1989 and 2010. Often described as each jurisdiction’s “constitution,” general plans are required by State law to guide land use and development, typically over a 20-30-year period. General plans must be updated periodically to respond to new State laws, changing conditions, and emerging issues and opportunities. State law requires that the General Plan contain eight elements: land use, circulation, housing, open space, noise, safety, conservation, and environmental justice.
The County’s eight Local Area Plans comprehensively cover the entire unincorporated county (see Figure 1, Local Area Plans) and provide more detailed guidance specific to the local planning area. The General Plan and Local Area Plans Update will build off the current General Plan and Local Area Plans and provide a framework for land use, transportation, and conservation decisions, and direct future growth in unincorporated Lake County through the year 2050. The existing General Plan and Local Area Plans may be accessed online at: <https://www.lakecountyca.gov/459/Planning>.
To inform the update to the Health and Safety Element, the project will also include a countywide climate vulnerability analysis and evacuation study. The County is also beginning a concurrent effort to prepare the County’s first Climate Adaptation Plan, which is funded by the State’s Adaptation Planning Grant program and will include the development of a framework for the county to adapt to climate change.
The Community Development Department and the planning consultant obtained by the County (PlaceWorks) to complete Lake County 2050 will provide the Board of Supervisors with an overview of the components of the General Plan and Local Area Plans, the update process, environmental review, the Climate Adaptation Plan, community engagement efforts, and next steps. Staff welcomes input from the Board and public and will be available to answer questions that may arise. However, this item is informational and no formal action by the Board requested. The PowerPoint presentation prepared for this item is included in Attachment 1. The Community Engagement Plan for the General Plan and Local Area Plans Update is included in Attachment 2.
Recommended Action: This item is informational only.