Citizen Panel Gives Its Growth Plan Initial OK

A citizens advisory committee on Thursday approved a tentative plan that could be used to manage growth in the county should a slow-growth initiative be rejected by voters in next week’s primary election.

The committee, appointed by the Board of Supervisors, cautioned that the document--which is almost identical to the slow-growth initiative on Tuesday’s ballot--is only the first phase of the panel’s work.

Former Supervisor Bruce Nestande, committee chairman, said a letter that will accompany the document when it is sent to the supervisors next week will state that it is only “part of a work product.”

Also, the committee will present the supervisors with a list of general policy recommendations that it intends to continue to study.

“The letter will say that the second document (the policy recommendations) is incomplete but that there are items that the committee will continue to work on,” Nestande said.

The letter and the document will be prepared during the weekend and will be sent to the supervisors before their scheduled meeting Tuesday, Nestande said.

Bob Bennyhoff, a member of the 11-person panel, said the County General Master Plan contains many of the elements in the slow-growth initiative.

“But this is Step One of about six steps for a (general) plan,” he said.

One key difference between the committee’s plan and the initiative is that panel members have agreed to recommend a funding source to help pay for improvements that would be needed to offset congestion caused by new development.

However, that aspect of the plan was included in the general policy recommendation statement, meaning the committee will continue to explore ways to find new fund sources.

A major component of the plan would set up separate community planning zones, called growth management areas, throughout the county. Traffic and other factors would be closely monitored to ensure adequate levels of public services for each area.

Last week, the committee had agreed to use the initiative’s standards for fire and paramedic service, which would require responses within five minutes for 80% of all emergency calls in any new development area.

But on Thursday that provision was deleted from the document to be sent to the supervisors because there was disagreement on interpretation of what those figures meant.