Environmental Plans, General Plans and Strategic Plans

Plans, plans, plans – We got ’em!

Attempting to ferret out the various and sundry environmental programs & policies, initiatives, plans and regulations is like unraveling a densely knitted sweater: many interconnected threads, with numerous knots and intertanglements, and a propensity to stretch when worn.

Santa Cruz County Plans

2024 General Plan & Appendices

• The purpose of the Santa Cruz County General Plan/Local Coastal Program (LCP) is to guide and regulate land use and development in unincorporated Santa Cruz County.

• Town Plans:
  • — 2010 Aptos Village Plan  
  • — Ben Lomond Town Plan
  • — 1992 Boulder Creek Specific Plan  
  • — 1987 Felton Town Plan  
  • — 2003 Seacliff Village Plan  
  • —1990 Soquel Village Plan  
• Community Plans:
  • — Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan (Chapters 1-4)  
  • — Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan (Chapters 5-8)  
  • — Pleasure Point Community Plan and Implementing Ordinances  

Climate Action and Adaptation Plan

• The 2022 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (2022 CAAP) includes the most current data on climate impacts in unincorporated Santa Cruz County that inform a strategic framework with actionable to steps towards reducing the causes of global warming, adapting our communities to climate hazards and ensuring the safety and well- being of those most vulnerable to climate change.

Local Hazard Mitigation Plan 2021-2026

• The County of Santa Cruz developed this Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) to create a safer community. The LHMP represents the County’s commitment to reduce risks from natural and other hazards and serves as a guide for decision-makers as they commit resources to reducing the effects of potential hazards. The LHMP serves as a basis for the State Office of Emergency Services (OES) to provide technical assistance and to prioritize project funding. (Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §201.6.)

2024 Sustainability Update

• The Sustainability Policy and Regulatory Update is a comprehensive update to the County’s General Plan/Local Coastal Program and modernization of the County Code. The project also includes new County Design Guidelines and rezoning of certain properties. The goal of this update is to implement new policies and code regulations that support more sustainable communities in Santa Cruz County.

County Code

• Environmental and Resource Protection
• Chapters:
  • 16.01    Procedures for Compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the State CEQA Guidelines
  • 16.10    Geologic Hazards (Effective Within Coastal Zone)
  • 16.10    Geologic Hazards (Effective Outside Coastal Zone)
  • 16.13    Floodplain Management Regulations
  • 16.20    Grading Regulations (Effective Within Coastal Zone)
  • 16.20    Grading Regulations (Effective Outside Coastal Zone)
  • 16.22    Erosion Control (Effective Within Coastal Zone)
  • 16.22    Erosion Control (Effective Outside Coastal Zone)
  • 16.24    Water Quality Control
  • 16.30    Riparian Corridor and Wetlands Protection
  • 16.32    Sensitive Habitat Protection
  • 16.34    Significant Trees Protection
  • 16.40    Native American Cultural Sites
  • 16.42    Historic Preservation
  • 16.44    Paleontological Resource Protection
  • 16.50    Agricultural Land Preservation and Protection
  • 16.52    Timber Harvesting Regulations
  • 16.54    Mining Regulations
  • 16.55    Onshore Facilities Supporting Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration and Development
  • 16.90    Environmental Principles and Policies to Guide County Government During the Decade of the 1990s
  • 16.92    Environmental Principles and Policies to Guide County Government

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City of Santa Cruz

General Plan 2030 and Local Coastal Program

• A general plan is a comprehensive, long range and internally consistent statement of a city’s development and preservation policies. It sums up the City’s philosophy of growth and preservation, highlights what is important to the community, and prescribes where different kinds of development should go. State law requires that cities prepare general plans and regularly review and update them. The preparation of the draft GP 2030 was a community based process led by a 17 member General Plan Advisory Committee.

Area Plans and City Zoning Code

1. Title 24: Zoning Code
2. Title 24.10: Land Use Districts Code
3. ARANA GULCH MASTER PLAN
4. ARTS MASTER PLAN
5. BEACH SOUTH OF LAUREL PLAN
6. CITY-WIDE CREEKS AND WETLANDS MANAGEMENT PLAN
7. DELAWARE ADDITION PLANNED DEVELOPMENT DESIGN GUIDELINES
8. DOWNTOWN PLAN – FINAL 2023
9. EASTSIDE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT PLAN
10. GENERAL PLAN 2030 – AS AMENDED
11. HISTORIC CONTEXT STATEMENT
12. HOUSING ELEMENT 2015-2023
13. JESSIE STREET MARSH PLAN
14. LOCAL COASTAL PROGRAM AND COASTAL LAND USE POLICIES AND MAPS
15. LOCAL HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN
16. MISSION STREET URBAN DESIGN PLAN
17. MOORE CREEK CORRIDOR ACCESS & MANAGEMENT PLAN
18. OCEAN STREET AREA PLAN
19. RIVERFRONT AND LOWER PACIFIC STUDY-DESIGN GUIDLINE
20. SAN LORENZO URBAN RIVER PLAN
21. SEABRIGHT AREA PLAN
22. SPHERE OF INFLUENCE AMENDMENT – DRAFT EIR
23. SPHERE OF INFLUENCE AMENDMENT FINAL EIR
24. WESTERN DRIVE MASTER PLAN

City of Scotts Valley

• Scotts Valley General Plan

City of Capitola

• 1981 Land Use Plan – Local Coastal Program

City of Watsonville

• 2030 General Plan

And that’s not all, folks! Many of these plans are Chinese boxes, with plans within plans, cited plans from other agencies, old plans moldering away in some warehouse, never to see the light of day, and yet more plans being hatched even as we read these lines.

Take a moment to tiptoe through the plan field, and make note of those plans that have to do with protection, preservation and restoration of the the natural world, and those plans which have to do with “resource” management, aka, managing stuff for human use. Count the few of these plans that protect the natural world from human destruction, and compare that with the majority of the plans that regulate (aka, allow) human use and consumption of the natural world for human benefit.

Coming up next – What are the natural environmental, ecological and physical laws by which all life must live, or take that long trip down the porcelain parkway to extinction oblivion?

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