General Plan

[Magick]

Dear Friends, This document was presented at the Friday night meeting and I am posting it here as a reference to use in considering objectives, goals, and criteria for the N E Plan.
The General Plan is our "constitution" and 3 years of intensive City Council, Planning Commission, and public meetings, as well as surveys of the public, went into creating it.
You can find the General plan in its entirety on the City Webpage under Planning Dept, or go to the Library, or you can purchase a copy at the Planning Dept on Morris St. for $20.
The meeting last night was very productive! Best regards, Magick

ELEVEN POINTS FROM GENERAL PLAN May 19th
prepared by Magick

Mixed use
Encourage mixed-use development in the Downtown, maintain non-residential uses on the ground floor. Develop live-work and incubator business space in Downtown.



Local retail
Encourage Local serving Retail uses. Small scale developments, compatible with immediately surrounding areas. For example “mom and pop” pedestrian oriented stores would be encouraged, larger scale auto-oriented enterprises would be discouraged.
Increase the City’s retail tax base.

Industrial Uses
Industrial land needed to sustain Local economy. Diversifying and strengthening local economy is a priority.
Increase industrial employment while maintaining the quality of the environment.
Designate sufficient land for industrial uses.
Note: Much of Northeast area is already designated as Light Industrial.

Laguna
Laguna is critical to the essence of Sebastopol.
Restore and enhance Laguna habitats
Sebastopol is constrained by the physical and environmental features- agriculture, wetlands, vernal pools, the flood plain, riparian corridors, the Laguna de Santa Rosa, Atascadero Creek and other critical and watershed areas.
Strong environmental protection regulations are required to protect and enhance these sensitive areas and adjacent eco-systems.
Preclude development that would adversely affect natural vegetation, wildlife habitat or rare and endangered species in designated wetlands and riparian zones.
Footnote from GP::94% of vernal pool habitat has been lost. 92% of riparian woodland has been lost, and 57% of seasonal and perennial freshwater marsh has been lost.
Use conservation easements wherever possible to protect, in perpetuity, environmentally sensitive areas.
Revise zoning to protect these areas.

Open Space
Secure Permanent Open Space as Condition of Development.
Ensure the maintenance of wetlands areas adjacent to the City Boundaries as permanent open space.



Reduce Flood Hazards
Support strong local and countywide measures to protect and INCREASE the floodwater storage capacity of the Laguna De Santa Rosa. Prohibit all development in 100 year flood plain unless mitigation measures are met.

Waste Issues
Discourage wastewater discharge into the Laguna.
(Our wastewater overflowed and millions of gallons of untreated sewage flowed into the Laguna during the New Year’s Floods.)
Reduce volume of solid waste

Transportation

Support Regional transport that will increase public transit, carpools, bicycles and limit growth of single occupant vehicle traffic. . This is essential but alone will not solve the problems.
Decisions regarding traffic and land use must be considered together.
Note: The largest increase is expected to occur at Highway 12 on the east City limits.



Full service Community
Goal: City hopes to regain its place as a full service community , not necessarily by becoming bigger but by doing a better job in what it offers.
Encourage Local serving Retail uses. Small scale developments, compatible with immediately surrounding areas. For example “mom and pop” pedestrian oriented stores would be encouraged, larger scale auto-oriented enterprises would be discouraged.


Support Public art and Sculpture
Promote public art and sculpture that reflects the cultural life of the community. Create program that requires a % of costs not new public and commercial buildings to be spent on public art.

Water
At present wells are the only source of the city water supplies, thus maintaining ground water supplies is of paramount importance.

Approximately 70 percent of the overall water used by the City of Sebastopol is consistently pumped from wells No. 6 and No. 7.

ADDENDUM: SWIG INFORMATION
SWIG is the Sebastopol Water Information Group that was created by citizens to help the City measure and understand its water resources.
Well # 7 has dropped from 89 feet to 130 feet and Well #6 from 39 feet to about 96 feet. This is a drop of about 40 feet for each.
The survey of the Cooper Road corridor indicated that at least 24 properties have either had to lower the pump in the existing well or replace a water supply well.

SWIG has repeatedly made the point that we do not know what are water supply is and that we need to know this before we risk the loss of a sustainable supply for existing residents and businesses.

SWIG hopes that Sebastopol will act to avoid a deepening water crisis - leading to the need for a building moratorium - by immediately developing sustainable groundwater management strategies, including enhancing recharge, and seeking funding for the groundwater studies that it has needed for so long. Sebastopol's groundwater management planning must be integrated with surrounding well owners to be effective, and SWIG remains committed to addressing the important unknown of private well pumping in collaboration with the city.

[Barry]

Here's a link to the General Plan