Yolo County is Updating its General Plan.

Yolo County initiated its General Plan update process in 2004. Beginning with a series of public workshops and publication of an extensive background report, a set of draft land use alternatives was developed and presented for public review in early 2005. Following publication of those alternatives, and additional input from the Board of Supervisors, County Staff , and the community, the County decided to allow time for further consideration of the draft alternatives. In particular, the County was interested in further deliberation regarding whether the alternatives represented a desirable set of options for the future of the county, and whether they were in keeping with the broader vision for the county's future. The General Plan update process has now resumed, building upon the valuable insights gained from the public outreach process and technical studies to date, and the first step will be to answer those important questions.

The General Plan update process will result in a plan that fulfills the county-wide vision for its desired future. It will establish a land use and policy framework to preserve the county's unique character, protect its agricultural, scenic and natural resources, promote a healthy and sustainable economy, and provide quality services and infrastructure to residents for decades to come.

The General Plan Vision is described in greater detail here . More information about the contents of the General Plan, and the issues that will be addressed in the General Plan update can be found here .

The General Plan Process

This section outlines the work undertaken so far in the General Plan Update process and provides an outline of the tasks that will be undertaken, over the coming months, to create and adopt the Yolo County General Plan.

Process to Date
Following initiation of the General Plan update in Spring 2004, the consultant team began the process to gather information and seek input to guide the development of the General Plan. An initial round of public outreach, held in July and August 2004, introduced county citizens and property owners to the General Plan process and received broad input on issues facing the county. This first set of five workshops was followed by a series of four “regional workshops,” held in October and November 2004. More information on these meetings can be found here .

An extensive background report on existing environmental conditions was developed and published following the workshops. On the basis of input at these meetings, and the results of the existing conditions report, County staff and the consultant team developed an initial set of three draft land use alternatives, to which a fourth alternative was subsequently added. These alternatives were presented to the public at a third series of workshops held in February and March 2005.

The General Plan update process was re-initiated in early 2006, with the selection of a modified consultant team . The consultant team prepared three additional technical studies, to supplement the Existing Conditions work previously completed. The reports address agricultural preservation, infrastructure, and market conditions. The four land use alternatives that were developed in Phase I were re-evaluated, and refined. The revised land use alternatives were reviewed at two meetings of the Yolo County Planning Commission, who recommended a preferred alternative land use scenario. The revised land use alternative was presented to the Board of Supervisors, who chose a preferred alternative for the purposes of moving forward with preparation of the draft General Plan document.

Links to project documents and meeting information from work completed to date can be found in the menu bar on the left hand side of this page.

Current and Future Steps
Upcoming work will include:

1. Draft General Plan. The preferred land use alternative will be used as the basis for the Draft General Plan.
2. Draft Environmental Impact Report. In tandem with development of the Draft General Plan, a Draft Program EIR will be developed. The Draft General Plan and Draft EIR will be released simultaneously for public review, including public hearings before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

Publication of the Draft General Plan is expected in the winter of 2007/2008, with General Plan adoption in the summer of 2008.

Meeting notices and project documents for future work on the project will be posted to this website as they become available.