Butte County General Plan Update

Butte County General Plan Update

The proposed project is a targeted update to the current General Plan and will include the following: • The updated Health and Safety Element will address the life changing impacts of recent disasters like the Camp and North Complex Fires and the Oroville Dam crisis and respond to community needs, values, and priorities that have emerged in their aftermath. The updated element will respond in a locally sensitive way to State-mandated topics such as wildfire mitigation, climate change, and evacuation routes. It will also provide a framework for adaptation and resilience to climate change. • The updated Housing Element will include a plan to ensure that residents of all income levels can find housing, including fire-destroyed units. The new Environmental Justice Element will address the topics of pollution exposure and equitable access to resources and opportunities to advance environmental justice in the county, as required by Senate Bill (SB) 1000. Environmental justice means the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes in decisions about land use and other environmental regulations so that no communities are disproportionately burdened by pollution. • The Land Use Element will be revised to adopt the Upper Ridge Community Plan (URCP) which is an area composed of eight distinct neighborhoods in the Upper Ridge area, as well as open spaces within and adjacent to the neighborhoods. The URCP sets a community-supported, long-term vision promoting a thriving, resilient, and sustainable Upper Ridge region. The URCP provides implementable strategies and design concepts to help guide development in the area. The General Plan Update identifies two locations in the Upper Ridge for land use redesignation to allow multifamily housing to be more easily built on commercial properties. These locations include the Old Magalia neighborhood and the Magalia Center neighborhood and are considered ideal for a limited amount of multifamily housing on the Upper Ridge. The proposed land use changes would occur on 14 parcels in the Old Magalia neighborhood and 14 parcels in the Magalia Center neighborhood. Combined, the 2040 General Plan Update redesignates 28 parcels in the URCP area from Retail Office to Mixed-Use. This allows for either commercial, residential, or both types of development and offers flexibility to develop housing if desired. The proposed project would also expand the Specific Plans and Planned Developments to be Developed Overlay to include an area envisioned as a campus for the Regional Recreation Campus Planned Development, a 264-acre area located east of the Butte Creek Preserve, between the Skyway and Highway 99, southeast of Chico. This overlay applies to areas that are expected to be developed under a planned development and only allows subsequent application. No other land use map changes are proposed as part of this project. • The revised Circulation Element will address how the County evaluates the transportation impacts of new development. It will also respond to new and emerging County priorities, including increased support for active transportation, and changing conditions like new transportation technologies. • The updated Water Resources Element will focus on water conservation opportunities to sustain Butte County’s groundwater, as well as policies to support resilient water supply and infrastructure and coordination between Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in the county. • Other elements of the current General Plan, the Economic Development, Agriculture, Conservation and Open Space, Public Facilities and Services, and Area and Neighborhood Plans Elements, will be revised to ensure consistency with the updates to the Health and Safety, Housing, Land Use, Circulation, and Water Resources Elements and the new Environmental Justice Element. The plan will also account for changing conditions, including updating information regarding equitable access to infrastructure and public services, in compliance with SB 244.

Unincorporated Area

Butte

Northern California

California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Transportation, District 3 (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Transportation Planning (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Energy Commission, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Natural Resources Agency, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Redding Region 5 (RWQCB), California State Lands Commission (SLC), Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Office of Historic Preservation, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality, California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, North Central Region 2 (CDFW)

California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, North Central Region 2 (CDFW)

Other (General Plan Update)

General Plan Update

Aesthetics, Agriculture and Forestry Resources, Air Quality, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Cumulative Effects, Drainage/Absorption, Energy, Flood Plain/Flooding, Geology/Soils, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Growth Inducement, Hazards & Hazardous Materials, Hydrology/Water Quality, Land Use/Planning, Mineral Resources, Noise, Population/Housing, Public Services, Recreation, Schools/Universities, Septic System, Sewer Capacity, Solid Waste, Transportation, Tribal Cultural Resources, Utilities/Service Systems, Vegetation, Wetland/Riparian, Wildfire