Learn more about Granite Bay; the Granite Bay Community Association, the Granite Bay Alert, the Granite Bay Community Plan and much more.
Learn more about the Granite Bay Community Plan, which was originally adopted in 1989 and the updates put in place in 2012.
On February 28, 2012, the Board of Supervisors held a public hearing to consider a recommendation by the Planning Commission for the adoption of a General Plan Amendment to update the Granite Bay Community Plan originally adopted in 1989. Previously, in order to limit the scope of the Community Plan Update, the Supervisors directed that the existing land use and zoning designations not be modified. In addition, the Supervisors also directed that the Circulation Element not be revised since it was updated in 2005.
After a shaky start several years ago when over 400 residents attended a contentious public meeting to hear County staff discuss how and why the Plan needed to be updated, the final hearing was in stark contrast. By taking land use changes off the table and concentrating on only updating the goals and policies, the concerns of the community were greatly reduced as residents showed overwhelming support for maintaining the low density residential Community as is. According to the 2010 census, Granite Bay’s population is 20,825.
A volunteer MAC sub-committee was formed and a core group worked with County staff for almost two years to arrive at the document adopted by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors.
The Granite Bay Community Association Board of Directors met with Supervisor Uhler on many occasions during the update process, and when the Supervisor noted he did not support any new commercial zoning, he supported maintaining the 300 foot setback on the south side of Douglas Boulevard, and he supported capping the population at 26,000 from 29,000 residents, the Board felt updating the goals and policies at this time to bring them into conformance with new state mandates made sense.
The updated Plan protects and preserves the rural character, conserves the natural resources, strengthens design guidelines, has no land use changes, allows for revitalizing aging commercial sites, maintains the 300 foot setback on the south side of Douglas Boulevard, and clarifies gated subdivision policies. Basically, the Plan puts the finishing touches on the development of Granite Bay which has about 12% left to develop.
The Granite Bay Community Plan area is generally bounded by Dick Cook Road to the north, Sierra College Boulevard to the west, Folsom Lake to the east, and the Sacramento County line to the south.
Written by Sandy Harris, Editor of the Granite Bay Alert.
**JUST IN**: The Board of Supervisors adopted the updated Granite Bay Community Plan yesterday, February 28, 2012.
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 2/19/12: The final step in this long process will be the hearing before the Board of Supervisors on February 28, 2012 for action/adoption. The meeting starts at at 11:00 AM at 175 Fulweiler Avenue, Auburn.
Earlier, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the Granite Bay Community Plan Update on January 12 to consider a request from the Placer County Planning Services Division for approval of a General Plan Amendment to update the Granite Bay Community Plan. The update included the review of existing conditions (population holding capacity, infrastructure, change in environmental conditions, etc., revision of goals, policies, and programs in the Plan to address constraints and new opportunities; amending the wording of the goals and policies to provide better clarity and readability; and new discussions on topical issues that have arisen (i.e. Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Placer County Conservation Plan, Complete Streets and Low-impact Design) since the Plan was originally prepared in 1989. Primarily the Goals and Policies of the Plan were reviewed/revised to recognize population holding capacity, infrastructure, change in environmental conditions, etc. since the Plan was written in 1989.
In order to limit the scope of the Community Plan Update, the Board of Supervisors directed that the existing land use and zoning designations not be modified. In addition, the Board of Supervisors also directed that the Circulation Element not be revised since it was updated in 2005.
After input from staff and a number of community members who served on the MAC sub-committee, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the updated Plan by the Board of Supervisors.
The Granite Bay Community Plan area is generally bounded by Dick Cook Road to the north, Sierra College Boulevard to the west, Folsom Lake to the east, and the Sacramento County line to the south.
At the December MAC meeting, County staff presented the Draft Granite Bay Community Plan which was crafted by the MAC volunteer subcommittee and County staff over the past year. After input from the audience and comments from MAC members, a motion was made and passed recommending that the Planning Commission and Board of Superiors adopt the Granite Bay Community Plan as written with the addition of a footnote to the Circulation Tables that some data is dated and should be revised.
The Planning Commission will conduct a public workshop on December 8, 2011 at 1:00 PM at 3091 County Center Drive, Auburn to review the GBCP draft update. Primarily the Goals and Policies of the Plan were reviewed/revised to recognize population holding capacity, infrastructure, change in environmental conditions, etc. since the Plan was written in 1989. In order to limit the scope of the Community Plan Update, the Board of Supervisors directed that the existing land use and zoning designations not be modified. In addition, the Board of Supervisors also directed that the Circulation Element not be revised since it was updated in 2005.
The updated Granite Bay Community Plan will be brought back to the Board for adoptions. Soon, the county will release the draft community plan for public comment. On November 2, 2011, people will have a chance to comment on the draft plan at the regular meeting of the Granite Bay MAC. Other opportunities for public input are on the horizon. Both the Granite Bay MAC and Planning Commission will formally review the draft plan and send their recommendations to the Board of Supervisors before action is taken.
The draft Granite Bay Community Plan may be reviewed at the Granite Bay Public Library, 6475 Douglas Boulevard, or click here to see it online.
The update of the GBCP began in August, 2008, when the Board of Supervisors directed Planning staff to begin review of the document originally adopted in 1989. The Plan’s primary purpose is to direct future land use and development in a manner that preserves the character and identity of the community.
A series of public meetings began in 2009 and ultimately through community input, it was determined that there was overwhelming support to not change the Land Use Element of the Plan. In August, 2010, the Board of Supervisors voted to update only the Goals and Policies section of the Plan with no changes to the Land Use Element.
A volunteer MAC sub-committee began working with Placer County staff in December, 2010, to update the Goals and Policies of the Plan. A draft document will be released to the subcommittee for review in early August. The draft document will probably be available to the public in early September after which a special MAC meeting will be held in mid-September to hear comments.
If everything proceeds on schedule, the proposed GBCP will be scheduled for a public workshop before the Planning Commission on October, 13, followed by a Public Hearing on November 10 for action by the Planning Commission. At the conclusion of this procedure there will be a Public Hearing before the Board of Supervisors to take action on the updated Granite Bay Community Plan. This is tentatively scheduled for December.
The Sub-committee, which consists of two MAC members (a Chair and Vice-Chair) and is open to any and all community members/property owners who are interested in providing input to staff on the policy items, will begin meeting in December. Ultimately, the intent of the sub-committee is to provide MAC with input on all recommendations by July 2011.
Planning staff will help coordinate and facilitate the meetings, which will be held at the Eureka Union School District Office at 6:00 p.m., one-hour prior to the regularly scheduled monthly MAC meetings. Additional sub-committee meetings may be convened as needed/required.
The Sub-committee’s Chair and Vice-Chair will provide monthly updates to the general MAC.
In addition to providing an overview of next year’s budget for Planning Department, a recommendation concerning the Community Plan was also given.
At the Board of Supervisors budget hearings on August 19, Planning Director Michael Johnson stated that they will proceed with Option 4 to complete the Granite Bay Community Plan update. That option is to keep the Land Use Element of the Plan as already adopted and only update the Policy portion of the Plan.
This is the Option that the Granite Bay Community Association supported at the April meeting of the Supervisors when staff reviewed five possible scenarios for moving forward with the GBCP update. It makes sense both logically and economically as some policies need updating and there wasn’t a push from the community to change the land use portion of the Plan.
All community members who have followed this issue for the past 18 or so months should try to attend this meeting. Even though it is not a Public Hearing and not usually open for Public Comment, the understanding is that Public Comment will be allowed.
"The Placer County Planning Department will be providing the Board of Supervisors with an update on the Granite Bay Community Plan Review at their next regular meeting on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. The meeting will take place at the Placer County Administrative Offices (Domes) at 175 Fulweiler Avenue in Auburn ."
The full staff report and hearing agenda for the meeting is available on the website http://www.placer.ca.gov/Bos/Agenda.aspx. Click on Upcoming Meeting Agenda for 4-27-10. Scroll down to Item 8 – Community Development Resources Agency Planning/Update to review the staff report that will be presented. On pages 129 and 130 of the report, staff presents 5 options for consideration and the possible fiscal impacts of each for the Board to consider when giving direction to staff on how to proceed.
This item will probably be heard shortly after the 9:00 starting time of the meeting.
In an effort to keep residents informed about the process and recent developments surrounding the Update of Granite Bay's Community Plan, here are some links that may be useful.
- For background information on the Community Plan, Minutes for the special February 11th meeting, etc, please click here.
- To see specifics on the Requested Land Use Changes, please click here.
- The lighting plan for the Quarry Pond commercial center south of Douglas Blvd. near Berg St. was recommended for approval.
- Then, to view the actual location of the parcels of land mentioned on the Requested Land Use Changes page, take the APN numbers of each request, and this map will provide the information.
**UPDATE:Supervisor Uhler and the planning department have extended the deadline for summiting the survey given out at the Granite Bay Community Plan Workshop on October 28th. The new deadline is November 30, 2009. In addition to extending the deadline, they have made the survey available on the web; click here.
Completed surveys can be dropped off at the Granite Bay Library located on 6475 Douglas Boulevard Granite Bay. Or, they can also be mailed to:
- Planning Department
- Attn: EJ Ivaldi
- 3091 County Center Drive, Suite 140
- Auburn, CA 95603
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON NOVEMBER 6th: At the Granite Bay Community Plan Workshop on October 28th, county distributed a community survey of about 40 pages for residents to complete and submit by November 15, 2009. The packet is divided into four sections:
- Goals and Policies
- Proposed Policy Changes
- Suggested Criteria for Evaluating Land Use Requests
- Property Owner Land Use Change Requests
If you were unable to attend the meeting and wish to complete a survey, contact the Placer County Planning Department at 800-488-4308, extension 3000 for information.
At the November 4th MAC meeting, many residents felt the time line to respond was too short and asked to have the deadline to complete the survey extended. Supervisor Uhler said his office would look into the matter.
Placer County Planning Department staff will provide an overview of a community workshop scheduled for the evening of October 28th at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. This workshop’s primary purpose will be to solicit community input on requested changes to the community plan received from property owners.
As the updating of the Granite Bay Community Plan continues to be discussed, those interested in taking part in it, or simply staying informed, can be added to the mailing list to receive notices on upcoming hearings by contacting the Planning Department at (800) 488-4308, Extension 3000.
After being postponed twice the special community meeting to discuss the Granite Bay Plan, and the process for updating it, was finally held on February 11th. The County estimated that approximately 400-450 residents packed the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, where Planning Director Michael Johnson, gave a short presentation. During which he noted that comments regarding the update must be received by June 30, 2009. At that time, staff will review them and then prepare an EIR; a process is estimated to take about two years to complete.
Following Mr. Johnson’s presentation, about 30 residents gave input to the staff; the majority of those people questioned the necessity of updating the Plan, which seems to be working fine as is. For more information about the Plan and the update process as well as forms, please check out the hotline: (530) 745-3098 or click here.
After being rescheduled twice over the past two months, the Special Community Granite Bay Community Plan will take place on February 11th at 7:00 PM and will be held at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection on 6365 Douglas Blvd (Right next door to the Granite Bay Library).
The Special Community Meeting to discuss the Granite Bay Community Plan has once again been changed. At this time, the meeting is now scheduled to take place on February 11 (not January 14) at 7:00 and will be held at the Lutheran Church on Douglas Blvd.
At the request of the community's residents the Special Community Meeting to discuss the Granite Bay Community Plan has been changed from December 17 to January 14. The time and place of the meeting are unknown at this time.
On Wednesday, October 1, 2008, as the last item (Item C) of this month's agenda, an update to the Granite Bay Community Plan will be discussed.
To learn more about this item and how it will affect you, please look below at the MAC Item Summary.
Granite Bay Community Plan Update
The County of Placer will be initiating an update to the Granite Bay Community Plan adopted in 1989. The purpose of the update will be to insure that community's goals, policies and programs are up to date and consistent with the County General Plan. The update will also consider changes in land use.
At this time County staff is developing a work program which will include a six-month opportunity for a property owner to changes in their zoning and land use designation. It is anticipated that this opportunity would begin in January 2009. County staff will provide guidelines for property owners who wish to consider changes.
Once all requests have been submitted and considered, the work program will entail the development of a new policy document, zoning map, land use diagram and an environmental impact report. This process is expected to take at least 2 years.
The Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing 24 June at 1:45 pm to consider approval of an amendment to the Circulation Element of the Granite Bay Community Plan. The hearing will be in the Board Hearing Room in Auburn. No changes to the Community Plan land use designations are being considered. Interested persons are encouraged to attend the hearing or submit written comments prior to the hearing.
A large number of residents addressed the MAC, opposing amending the Community Plan. Past MAC member George Christi pointed out the value and integrity of the existing plan and the awards that it has received. Most residents were opposed to a proposal presented last month by a developer for a 43 unit age restricted development on a 12-acre parcel, next to Oakhills and Ridgeview Schools. The proposal would increase the permitted density on the parcel by about 700 percent.
March/April/12: Granite Bay Alert