Why Bother With The General Plan?

Why bother with the silly (and unfunded) mandate to update Sacramento's General Plan, which is roundly ignored by everyone, asks Mark Dempsey.

1 minute read

September 23, 2003, 9:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"Sacramento County has begun soliciting citizen input to update the 1993 General Plan -- the document that supposedly guides land use and "zoning." State law mandates this review, but what it produces is so roundly ignored throughout the region that this review is just silly... Whether inadvertently or by design, such "plans" produce little real civic guidance and less good development. What we get, by default, is more sprawl, increasing congestion, nonworking transit, and, not incidentally, increased dependence on imported oil."

Thanks to Congress for the New Urbanism Listserv

Monday, September 22, 2003 in Sacramento Business Journal

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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