Now that Pat Loe has become chairwoman of the County Board of
Supervisors, we want to issue a challenge: Make overhauling the
county’s General Plan a top priority of your tenure as leader of
the board supervisors. Use your bully pulpit to ensure the county
embarks on this important piece of work in the coming year.
Now that Pat Loe has become chairwoman of the County Board of Supervisors, we want to issue a challenge: Make overhauling the county’s General Plan a top priority of your tenure as leader of the board supervisors. Use your bully pulpit to ensure the county embarks on this important piece of work in the coming year.
The Free Lance has been advocating for a complete overhaul of the general plan for more than a year. So far, there has been some talk of revising it soon, some delays because of staff turnover in county departments, but no vote to get it started.
Loe is known for her concern for carefully-planned growth, so this is a perfect project for her to advocate. After all, what better place to plan development than in the General Plan – the county’s 20-year blueprint for growth?
The county is operating on an antiquated General Plan that doesn’t consider the sweeping changes San Benito County has undergone over the last few decades. Only two of the General Plan’s eight elements have been updated in the last 10 years, and several haven’t been updated since the early 1980’s.
A General Plan guides development, growth, transportation, population centers and even the economy. And, as shown by the DMB Inc. proposal to develop a minicity near the northern county line and the proposal to build an Indian casino near Hollister, pressure to grow will likely continue to mount. We must be prepared with a forward-thinking document that will mold San Benito County according to the community’s vision.
In crafting that document, supervisors, with ample public input, can address such hot button issues as ag land preservation and hillside and hilltop construction in a comprehensive fashion. And they can plan how the county will work with the city of Hollister as it grows. A comprehensive overhaul of the entire General Plan will set the course for the future and assure a cohesive plan that operates as a whole cooperatively with its individual elements.
Already, Loe has shown some interest in the General Plan. One of her first acts as board chair was to create a subcommittee charged with drafting a new economic development component for the plan. Please, Ms. Loe, build on that excellent start and see to it that a comprehensive overhaul of the county General Plan begins during your tenure as board chair.
