As expected, on a 3-to-2 vote, the Redding City Council passed a weak general plan that failed to get a majority vote on the Planning Commission. While several speakers spoke against the General Plan and the Shasta Birding Society had an attorney criticizing many aspects of the Plan, it passed anyway, following a 3-hour meeting. The major problem with it is that considerable language of the plan was weakened by putting language words such as “strive to” in front of the same language of the 2020 general plan that was directed towards protecting our natural areas. Council Members Dacquisto and Mezzano voted no.
Below is just one example of a weakness in the 2045 General Plan. It took the same language from the 2020 General Plan and added “work to” the sentence as noted in bold:
“ Work to preserve natural corridors and linkages between habitat types through project design, including, but not limited to key open-space acquisitions, floodplain and slope dedications, conservation easements, and similar mechanisms.” (CCD3C)
The Plan also included this sentence in the introduction which appears to allow the city to ignore the general plan at will:
As such, terms used in this document such as “require”, “shall”, “prohibit”, “protect” and similar words are not intended, for purposes of policy implementation or general plan consistency determinations, to provide absolute certainty, direction, urgency, or otherwise dictate precise and immediate actions.
One good aspect of the plan was that it reduced the area for future growth with an emphasis on infill development which will reduce urban sprawl.