County seeks input on land-use plan

Sonora and Tuolumne County planners are still looking for public input on a document that they hope will be a blueprint for long-term land planning.

Representatives have been presenting the latest draft of the Regional Blueprint project, known now as “Tuolumne Tomorrow,” around the community in hopes of receiving formal feedback before it is finalized. 

Darin Grossi, director of the Tuolumne County Transportation Council, said he and others have discussed the blueprint with local real estate professionals, the Chamber of Commerce and service organization meetings to discuss the blueprint.

“We’re open to other groups who want to have us come out and talk,” said Grossi, whose council is working on the document with other county staff. “We’re hoping to finish up the public input process by late June or early July.”

When completed, the document is expected to give city and county lawmakers a tool to guide future county growth. Though it will not set land-use policies, the blueprint would make recommendations on issues like population density, transportation planning and carbon emissions that could eventually lead to revisions in the city’s and county’s general plans — which more-formally set the ground rules for land-use decisions.

The Regional Blueprint will lay out a plan for growth based on population projections for the coming decades and will offer guidelines for how the county and city should improve transportation systems, change or keep land-use policies, protect natural resources, control pollution and plan for commercial, residential and industrial developments.

Once all the public input is gathered, a committee of county and city representatives will decide on which of three growth patterns the plan should recommend. One would continue growth patterns dating back to 1996, one would focus growth around public transit and facilities and a third emphasizes growth around high-density communities.

Plan architects held a series of public meetings in February and another in May seeking public input on the project. And Grossi said any member of the public can still review the plan and submit formal comments before the committee makes a final recommendation.

“We’ll be accepting input through the remainder of the month,” he said.

A final blueprint will go to the Board of Supervisors and City Council.

For more information, visit the Tuolumne Tommorow website at tuolumnecountytransportationcouncil.org/TuolumneTomorrow.html.