Salinas To Hold A Series of General Plan Workshops

The Salinas City Council is planning to update the Salinas General Plan. A series of three General Plan workshops will be held in January. Here is the workshop schedule:

• Wednesday, January 17, 2001, 7pm to 9pm, at Salinas High School, 726 South Main Street, Salinas.
  
  
• Thursday, January 18, 2001, 7pm to 9pm, at Oscar F. Loya School, 1505 Cougar Drive, Salinas.
  
  
• Tuesday, January 30, 2001, 7pm to 9pm, at the Salinas Community Center, 940 North Main Street, Salinas.

The purpose of these General Plan workshops is to give Salinas residents an opportunity to provide input about the issues of greatest concern to them. We encourage you to attend, and if you do, we hope you will tell the Salinas City Council that you think the General Plan should:

1. 1. Encourage the efficient use of land and the conservation of valuable natural resources through the designation of urban growth boundaries.
   
   
2. 2. Improve the economic vitality of our local communities by directing new growth within urban growth boundaries and away from open space and productive farmlands.
   
   
3. 3. Ensure social and economic opportunities through the integration of affordable housing within mixed-income neighborhoods.
   
   
4. 4. Require that adequate public facilities and services&emdash;including police, fire, schools, parks, transportation facilities, and reliable water supplies&emdash;be in place prior to, or concurrently with, new development.
   
   
5. 5. Improve the regulatory system by making it more effective, efficient and accountable, providing increased certainty for developers, landowners and the public, and eliminating unnecessary regulations and delay.

This is the LandWatch "Five Point Program" for land use reform. LandWatch thinks that these basic principles should be the foundation for each General Plan adopted in Monterey County. If you agree, please let the Salinas City Council know!

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at 759-2824.