SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY GENERAL PLAN UPDATE August 6, 2009 Planning Commission Study Session Summary
As part of the San Joaquin County General Plan Update, the Planning Commission held a study session on August 6, 2009 to discuss the General Plan Update process, the Background Report and Issues and Opportunities Report, and Community Workshop #2. The General Plan Consultants, Mintier Harnish, made a presentation regarding the overall General Plan Update process followed by a discussion of the reports and an overview of the upcoming series of workshops. After the presentation, the Planning Commissioners and the public asked questions and provided comments related to the information presented. These discussions are summarized here. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Ray Hoo, Senior Planner at 468-3164 or rhoo@sjgov.org.
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
August 6, 2009
PLANNING COMMISSION QUESTIONS/COMMENTS:
• Report is a good representation of the issues and opportunities. Its concise and accurate. • The Community Overview section seems out of place. It doesn’t address any specific issues or opportunities. It seems as more of a background piece. • Will there be a ranking of importance of various issues? ⇒ Staff/Consultant Response: Yes • Will the results of Community Workshop #2 be reported back to the Planning Commission? ⇒ Staff/Consultant Response: Yes • Unemployment and safety (violent crime) is linked. We need higher paying jobs in order to address both. • Good paying jobs require education. • A lot of the County’s problems are not going to be easy to address because of the shortage of funding locally and from State and Federal budget problems. • The new industrial park near Tracy looks like a success or it will be a success. • Need to protect the airport. • Wine industry should focus on marketing.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
• Mountain House has been a failure because there are no jobs. Commercial and industrial development should occur before residential development. • Ag-tourism is a growing industry with opportunity to grow • Agriculture is extremely important for the County’s economy • Vineyards and wine industry is extremely important. Lodi/Woodbridge Economic Impact Report indicates that wineries represent over $5 billion in direct and indirect revenue. This is expected to grow. • People in the Bay Area are willing to pay for local produce. San Joaquin County produce fetches higher prices in the Bay Area (e.g., farmers markets) compared to local venues. • The AG-40 district is very general. A more specific, smaller district would be more supportive of tourism-based agriculture businesses; accelerate value added agricultural industries; and provide more jobs and tax revenue. • The continued success of commodity farming can be supported by ag-tourism. • Need industries that are based on sustainable, renewable energy • Need more solar and wind energy generation
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