Search
Polls
Latest Forum Posts
| Taking a Knee unclebuck 15-11-08 13:51 |
| Re:Football unclebuck 07-10-08 15:24 |
| Re:Football unclebuck 02-10-08 12:59 |
Login Form
| Blueprint for county future under discussion |
|
|
| Written by Jonathan Partridge | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Friday, 20 June 2008 | |
|
At a glance
WHAT: San Joaquin Valley Blueprint workshopsWHEN: English-language workshop, 7 to 9 p.m. Monday; Spanish-language workshop, 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday WHERE: Patterson City Council chambers, 1 Plaza INFO: 525-4600 Some people express shock when they hear that the state predicts 1.2 million people will live in Stanislaus County by 2050, says Stanislaus Council of Governments senior planner Lark Downs. Others, he said, argue the population should be higher. Local residents will have a chance to voice their own opinions about regional planning next week at a couple of Patterson workshops on the San Joaquin Valley Blueprint process. “We’re welcoming everyone to come and jump into the process now,” said Kristen Pickus, director of planning services for consultant MIG Inc., which will help coordinate the workshops. The blueprint, a joint document created by the state, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and regional planning agencies, will outline regional goals for the entire valley, from Kern County to San Joaquin County. Stanislaus Council of Governments plans to use information from a series of meetings to create an advisory document of its own based on residents’ desires, to be used by city councils and boards of supervisors. StanCOG will host two meetings at Patterson City Hall — one in English on Monday evening and one in Spanish on Wednesday. Next week’s workshops are a follow-up to a series of meetings StanCOG hosted throughout the county last year. At that time, 439 attendees discussed regional priorities for the county. About 25 people showed up in Patterson. Overall, attendees throughout the county favored the following priorities:
Now, StanCOG staff has come up with four growth scenarios for 2050, based on the input from the earlier meetings. Attendees will evaluate those scenarios next week, discuss a vision statement and evaluate “guiding principles” for the blueprint process. The meetings come at a time when legislators are considering a state Senate bill that would mandate blueprint processes throughout the state. As a result, some city leaders seemed wary when StanCOG officials talked about the blueprint at the June 3 City Council meeting. Mayor Becky Campo said at the time she was worried by the rumor that the state might withhold money from cities if they do not participate. Patterson City Councilwoman Annette Smith said this week that she is all for regional planning, but she does not want the state to dictate it or have the desires of larger cities trump the needs of smaller ones. She said she fears cities might lose their autonomy. In fact, many cities have expressed the desire that the blueprint not be used by the state to take land-use authority away from them, Downs said. He said no such thing is happening at this time. Results from the workshops will go before the county’s various city councils before the StanCOG policy board votes on a plan. That plan eventually will be melded into the regional eight-county San Joaquin Valley plan. Downs said the entire process could be complete as soon as March 2009 following a valley-wide summit in Fresno. To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 150 Comments
(0)
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed