WESTMINSTER : Criticisms Stall City’s General Plan

Approval of the city’s general plan has been delayed because of objections from property owners and local church leaders.

Some property owners are objecting to limits on traffic that future developments will be allowed to generate. And church leaders are against a new zoning designation for churches that they say could reduce the value of church properties.

City planners and consultants have been working on the document for the past 18 months.

After two hours of public hearings last week, the City Council postponed approval of the general plan and directed city staff to try to resolve the problems with the property owners and church leaders.

Michael Bouvier, the city’s building and planning manager, said the matter could come back to the council in April.

The general plan would create “planned development areas,” which would allow mixed land uses, such as residences within commercial zones, to give developers more flexibility, Bouvier said.

Twenty-six such sites have been identified, including existing mobile-home parks, which could be converted to other uses in the future, he said.

But city planners are placing limits on the amount of traffic that each development could generate to control congestion and comply with state pollution, noise and other requirements.