Save Our County is not a PROPONENT of aligning El Dorado county with SB 375 Land use planning policy.  The creation of ‘Community regions’ (urban limit lines) undermines our quality of life by imposing high density growth in existing rural neighborhoods.

2004 El Dorado County General Plan says:

The urban limit line establishes a line on the General Plan land use maps demarcating where the urban and suburban land uses will be developed. Community Regions and Rural Centers shall be the established urban limit line. All lands not contained within the boundaries of a Community Region or a Rural Center are classified as Rural Regions.

Policy 2.1.1.2 Establish Community Regions to define those areas which are appropriate for the highest intensity of self-sustaining compact urban-type development or suburban type development within the County based on the municipal spheres of influence, availability of infrastructure, public services, major transportation corridors and travel patterns, the location of major topographic patterns and features, and the ability to provide and maintain appropriate transitions at Community Region boundaries.

Policy 2.1.1.1 The Communities within the County are identified as: Camino/Pollock Pines, El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, El Dorado, Diamond Springs, Shingle Springs, and the City of Placerville and immediate surroundings.

Policy 2.1.2.2 Rural Center boundaries establish areas of higher intensity development throughout the rural areas of the County based on the availability of infrastructure, public services, existing uses, parcelization, impact on natural resources, etc. These boundaries shall be shown on the General Plan land use map. Recognize existing defined places as centers within the Rural Regions which provide a focus of activity and provides goods and services to the surrounding areas.

Policy 2.1.2.1 The Rural Centers within the County are identified as: Coloma, Cool, Fairplay, Garden Valley, Greenwood, Georgetown, Grey\’s Corner, Grizzly Flat, Kelsey, Kyburz, Latrobe, Little Norway, Lotus, Mosquito, Mount Ralston, Mt. Aukum, Nashville, Oak Hill, Phillips, Pilot Hill, Pleasant Valley, Quintette, Rescue, Somerset, Strawberry, and Chrome Ridge. ENTIRE DOC HERE

SB 375

Sustainable Communities

Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008 (Sustainable Communities, SB 375, Steinberg, Statutes of 2008) enhances California’s ability to reach its AB 32 goals by promoting good planning with the goal of more sustainable communities.

Sustainable Communities requires ARB to develop regional greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for passenger vehicles.  ARB is to establish targets for 2020 and 2035 for each region covered by one of the State’s 18 metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs).

Each of California’s MPOs then prepare a “sustainable communities strategy (SCS)” that demonstrates how the region will meet its greenhouse gas reduction target through integrated land use, housing and transportation planning.  Once adopted by the MPO, the SCS will be incorporated into that region’s federally enforceable regional transportation plan (RTP).  ARB is also required to review each final SCS to determine whether it would, if implemented, achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction target for its region.  If the combination of measures in the SCS will not meet the region’s target, the MPO must prepare a separate “alternative planning strategy (APS)” to meet the target.  The APS is not a part of the RTP.

Sustainable Communities also establishes incentives to encourage implementation of the SCS and APS.  Developers can get relief from certain environmental review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) if their new residential and mixed-use projects are consistent with a region’s SCS (or APS) that meets the target (see Cal. Public Resources Code §§ 21155, 21155.1, 21155.2, 21159.28.). Read more here

The Blueprint Vision (El Dorado County)

SACRAMENTO AREA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS

The SACOG Board of Directors adopted the Preferred Blueprint Scenario in December 2004, a bold vision for growth that promotes compact, mixed-use development and more transit choices as an alternative to low density development.