County opens 20,000 acres to growth - Business First of Columbus:

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That acreage is aboutt one-third larger than the city of Ranchp Cordova. But alongside thosd acres of new development, the Genera l Plan 2030 also calls for21st century-styld growth by rerouting some development to infill sites as well as to decayin and underutilized commercial corridors. The plan anticipates the unincorporatex portions of the county willneed 99,70p0 new homes over the next 20 about 50,000 more than can be accommodatedr within its existing urbanm area. The proposed general plan was firsft presented Monday to officials atSacramentl County’s Planning Commission. It ultimatelh must be approved by the Boardof Supervisors.
The plan has been seven years in the Much has changed during that including the proliferation of sustainable the region’s blueprint for “smart and the rise and devastating fall of the housint bubble. It may be an onerous task for stafg to mull decades of population and economic growth at a time when no one is buildingynew homes, shopping centers or But just as landowners have been using the downtime to plan for a returnj of the construction market, planners have been anticipatinf growth patterns over the long haul.
“One thingf we’re trying to champion is completd communities with a mix of developmentand (to) integrates uses as much as possible,” planner Davif DeFanti said. “That means a diversity of housing, transportation, retail.” The proposesd general plan followsthe region’s blueprint for smartr growth that values infill and eschews leapfrob development. Principal planner Leighanbn Moffitt said it does not ask official s to expandthe county’s urban services boundary, which is a near-sacrosancty border established in 1993 between urbabn and rural land.
But it does envisionn expandingthe county’s urban policy a line that markx the existing urban-rural divide and occasionall shifts farther out from the urban core. Theree are two main new growth areas under this both withmultiple landowners. The first comprises 12,009 acres of industrial and agricultural land along the Jackson Highwayu corridor between Sacramento andRancho Cordova. It includes mining propertyg owned by the Teichert group ofcompanies that’s envisioned to be developed into new communitiew as mining operations wind down. The second area of growthy consistsof 8,000 acres of primarily grazinvg land east of Granf Line Road bordering Rancho Cordova.
Prominent land developer controlsabout 2,400 acres of that propertyy and was the first to propose a new community there. Last Conwy submitted an application for an expansive set of villaged and other development that includesa full-scale residentiapl campus for the . “There was an initial concer n this isleapfrog development, but we are contiguousa to existing development,” said Michelle a spokeswoman for Conwy, noting that the project borders Rancho Cordova’s Sunrise-Douglas Community Plan. A groundbreaking for the university was originally expected next year but that has been pushedfto 2011, Smira said.
In accordance with the county’s blueprintf for smart growth, General Plan 2030 directs some growth toinfilkl sites. These include parcels near the former McClellan Air Baseand under-user sites in the county’s 14 commercial corridors. Moffity said the transformation of McClellamn into a business park has openede up areas of developmen that previously had been restricted due to noise andsafety concerns. The areaws being considered near the base are west of Watt Before the realestate downturn, developers had been proposinv projects in that she said.
Perhaps the most unconventionalk aspect of the proposed Genera Plan is the decision to revitalizecommercial corridors, such as stretches of Watt Avenu e and Folsom Boulevard. County staff estimated the plan could allo anadditional 19,000 homes along those That would eliminate the need to put those homesd on agricultural land. Smaller parcels scattered throughouyt the county could accommodate thousandsmore homes. Planning for four of the commercial corridors alreadhhas started, principal plannedr Tricia Stevens said. The idea is to revamp restrictive zoning and allowmixed uses, includinbg homes and apartments, in areas that previouslyt were limited to strip centers.
The count also plans to make the corridorxs more attractive by burying utility planting vegetation and enhancingthe streetscapes. Although cash is tight at the Stevens said funding will come from grante and redevelopment money generated through taxes inredevelopment zones. The procese of writing a general plan has takebn so long that one major new growtnh project originally envisioned as part of the plan is alread yunder way. applied to rezone a portion of 6,00p0 acres it owns for redevelopmentlast year.
The aerospace compang wants todevelop 4,800 residential lots as well as commercial and officr space on 1,391 acres soutnh of Highway 50 between Rancho Cordova and Folsomj in the Easton planninv area. General Plan 2030 is next due before the county Planningh Commission onJune 22. Othef workshops could follow. It could be the fall before it is formallhy adopted by the Boareof Supervisors. “The purpose of the plan is to set DeFanti said. “The details will follow.
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