County opens 20,000 acres to growth - Sacramento Business Journal:

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That acreage is about one-third larger than the city of Rancho But alongside those acres ofnew development, the General Plan 2030 also callw for 21st century-style growth by reroutinh some development to infill sites as well as to decayinv and underutilized commercial corridors. The plan anticipatex the unincorporated portions of the county willneed 99,700 new homesx over the next 20 years, about 50,0000 more than can be accommodated within its existing urban The proposed general plan was first presented Monday to officialsa at Sacramento County’s Planning Commission. It ultimatelyu must be approved by the Boardof Supervisors. The plan has been sevenb years inthe making.
Much has changeed during that period, including the proliferation of sustainable the region’s blueprint for “smart and the rise and devastating fall of the housiny bubble. It may be an onerous task for staff to mull decadesx of population and economic growth at a time when no one is buildinhgnew homes, shopping centers or offices. But just as landowner s have been using the downtime to plan for a retur n of theconstruction market, planners have been anticipating growth patterns over the long “One thing we’re trying to championj is complete communities with a mix of development and (to) integrates uses as much as possible,” planner Davic DeFanti said.
“That means a diversithy of housing, transportation, retail.” The proposed generak plan followsthe region’s blueprint for smart growth that values infill and eschewas leapfrog development. Principal planneer Leighann Moffitt said it does not ask officialsx to expandthe county’s urban services which is a near-sacrosanct border established in 1993 between urbamn and rural land. But it does envision expandingthe county’s urbanb policy area, a line that marks the existing urban-rural divide and occasionall y shifts farther out from the urban core. There are two main new growthh areas underthis plan, both with multiple landowners.
The firs t comprises 12,000 acres of industria l and agricultural land along the Jackson Highwayg corridor between Sacramento andRancho Cordova. It includes mining propertyt owned by the Teicherty group ofcompanies that’s envisioned to be developed into new communitiexs as mining operations wind down. The seconde area of growth consistsof 8,000 acre s of primarily grazing land east of Grantr Line Road bordering Rancho Cordova. Prominenyt land developer controlsabout 2,400 acres of that propertuy and was the first to propose a new communitt there.
Last year, Conwy submittedx an application for an expansive set of villages and other development that includesa full-scale residential campus for the . “There was an initiapl concern this isleapfrog development, but we are contiguousa to existing development,” said Michelle Smira, a spokeswomanj for Conwy, noting that the project borderd Rancho Cordova’s Sunrise-Douglas Community A groundbreaking for the university was originallu expected next year but that has been pushed to Smira said.
In accordance with the county’s blueprinty for smart growth, General Plan 2030 directsx some growth to infill These include parcels near the forme McClellan Air Baseand under-used sites in the county’s 14 commercial corridors. Moffitt said the transformationm of McClellan into a business park has opened up areazs of development that previously had been restrictec due to noise andsafety concerns. The areae being considered near the base are west ofWatt Avenue. Befores the real estate downturn, developers had been proposingh projects inthat area, she said.
Perhapse the most unconventional aspect of the proposedx General Plan is the decision to revitalize commercial such as stretches of Watt Avenus andFolsom Boulevard. County staff estimatedx the plan could allow anadditional 19,000 homes alongt those corridors. That would eliminate the need to put thosre homes onagricultural land. Smaller parcel s scattered throughout the county could accommodat e thousandsmore homes. Planning for four of the commercial corridors alreadyhas started, principal planner Triciaa Stevens said. The idea is to revamo restrictive zoning and allowmixed uses, including homes and in areas that previously were limited to stri centers.
The county also plans to make the corridords more attractive by buryingutility lines, planting vegetatio n and enhancing the streetscapes. Although cash is tight at the county, Stevens said funding will come from grantxs and redevelopment money generated through taxes inredevelopmenty zones. The process of writing a general plan has takejn so long that one major new growth projectg originally envisioned as part of the plan is alreadtyunder way. applied to rezone a portion of 6,00 acres it owns for redevelopmentlast year.
The aerospace companyu wants todevelop 4,800 residential lots as well as commercia l and office space on 1,391 acres soutg of Highway 50 betweehn Rancho Cordova and Folsomk in the Easton planning area. General Plan 2030 is next due beford the county Planning Commission onJune 22. Othe workshops could follow. It could be the fall beford it is formally adopted by the Boardof “The purpose of the plan is to set DeFanti said.
“The details will