As expected, on a 3-to-2 vote, the Redding City Council passed a weak General Plan that failed to get a majority vote on the Planning Commission. While a number of speakers spoke against the General Plan, and Shasta Birding Society had an attorney criticizing many aspects of the Plan, it passed anyway, following a 3-hour meeting. Council members Michael Dacquisto and Mark Mezzano voted no.
The major problem with the Plan is that the language was weakened by using words such as “strive to” in front of the exact same language that the 2020 General Plan used in passages directed towards protecting our natural areas. Below is just one example of weakness in the 2045 General Plan. It took the same language from the 2020 General Plan, but added “work to” the beginning of the sentence, as noted in bold:
Work to preserve natural corridors and linkages between habitat types through project design, including, but not limited to key open-space acquisitions, floodplain and slope dedications, conservation easements, and similar mechanisms. (CCD3C)
The Plan also included this sentence in the introduction, which appears to allow the City to ignore the General Plan at will:
As such, terms used in this document such as “require,” “shall,” “prohibit,” “protect,” and similar words are not intended, for purposes of policy implementation or general plan consistency determinations, to provide absolute certainty, direction, urgency, or otherwise dictate precise and immediate actions.
One positive aspect of the Plan was that it reduced the area for future growth, with an emphasis on infill development, which will reduce urban sprawl.
For more conservation news, please see Shasta Environmental Alliance’s April 2024 Newsletter. ~David Ledger, Conservation Chair