Greenfield staff previews citywide general plan update, seeks short-term steering committees and consultants

Chair Paul Newman, speaking for the Community Development Department at a Planning Commission meeting, previewed an update to Greenfield’s general plan and described how staff intends to manage the multi-element rewrite.

The proposal centers on short-lived, topic-specific steering committees and outside consultants for technical work, including an environmental impact report (EIR). “We hear repeatedly about what the general plan is. It's, the constitution of your city,” Paul Newman said. He told commissioners that some parts of the existing plan are ambiguous or repetitive and that staff intends to bring the commission focused element-by-element packages for review.

The update matters because the general plan guides land use, zoning and public facilities for decades. Newman reminded the commission that Greenfield’s plan…