A document spelling out Guadalupe’s future envisions a city with 900 additional housing units, 520 new jobs and a total of 10,700 residents.
The Guadalupe City Council recently approved the 2042 General Plan after a 3-year effort tp update the 2002 General Plan.
“By adopting this 2042 General Plan, the city is taking a major step forward in providing goals, policies and programs to improve and grow the city, not only with new homes but also with commercial and industrial development,” said Larry Appel, the city’s contract planning director.
State-mandated General Plans serve as the blueprint for future land uses and development within a city’s or county’s jurisdiction.
Guadalupe contracted with EMC Planning Group to prepare the documents related to updating the plan.
Council members previously chose a moderate growth scenario for the updated General Plan, envisioning a 31% increase to 10,700 residents by 2042.
That would add about 900 additional housing units and 520 new jobs, he said.
The document’s Land Use Element includes a number of substantial changes from the 2002 plan, including increasing density from single-family to high-density uses, something encouraged by the state, Appel said.
The state’s newest Regional Housing Needs Allocation has required Guadalupe to provide a combination of zoning and land to support 431 new units. The previous RHNA cycle only required 50 units in Guadalupe.
“It’s a crazy number, but working with EMC,I think we’ve come up with sufficient land and combination land and density to be able to meet that requirement,” Appel said.
Previously, Guadalupe allowed 6 units per acre, but the new plan allows 1-12 units per acre for neighborhood residential.
For medium-density, the city has allowed 7 to 10 units per acre, but the new plan will allow 13-20 units.
High-density use, once 11-20 units per acre, will allow 21-30 units.
The new General Plan has redesigned the central business district from general commercial zoning to downtown mixed-use zoning for the 18 acres in the downtown area.
This will allow people to develop commercial or residential units up to 30 units per acre without the need for a conditional-use permit.
“So we’re really encouraging the beefing up of housing in the downtown area, which hopefully then will support the retail businesses that are down there,” Appel said.
Elements covered in this update are land use, circulation, conservation and open space, safety, noise, environmental justice, community design and historic preservation, public services and facilities, and economic development.
The economic development element calls for expanding food and beverage sales, creating a program to demolish dilapidated buildings and more.
Efforts to update the city’s housing element will start early next year, officials said.
Council members unanimously adopted the 2042 General Plan.
“I think this actually started right when I first started six years ago,” Coucnilman Tony Ramirez said at his last meeting serving on the panel. “It’s kind of nice to have this culminating event happening right now.”
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
