Council accepts general‑plan annual progress report; staff outlines Vision Salinas update and schedule

The Salinas City Council on Tuesday adopted the city’s 2024 general‑plan annual progress report and heard a status update on Vision Salinas, the comprehensive general‑plan update that will guide growth, transportation and land‑use policy into the coming decades.

Grant Leonard, planning manager, summarized accomplishments for 2024 and described the next steps for the Vision Salinas update. Leonard highlighted recent transportation and public‑space investments — including new protected bicycle lanes on East Market Street, lighting and traffic‑calming work, completed park work at Cesar Chavez Park and ongoing construction at the Hebbron Family Center — and said the general‑plan update includes a circulation element and a climate‑action plan.

“Here are some of the marquee projects we—re working on,” Leonard told the council, pointing to completed beautification, new walking paths and the Ensign Park restoration effort. He said staff has completed two administrative drafts and a legal review of the draft general plan and plans to release a public draft of the general plan and a draft Climate Action Plan in the spring, followed by an environmental impact report in the summer.

Leonard reviewed recent outreach: targeted workshops on land use and transportation, about 3,000 mailed notices for a land‑use month, online sessions at different times of day and an economic‑development working group. He said the public‑draft materials would be followed by additional community engagement and the multi‑step approval process through commissions and council hearings.

Councilmembers asked detailed follow‑ups: questions ranged from broadband and potential blanket permitting for fiber infrastructure, to how small business grant programs were being distributed and the status of the city’s Mills Act historic‑property pilot (staff said outreach on Mills Act enrollment would follow in June). Grant Leonard and other staff said citywide micro‑grant and façade‑improvement programs were being finalized and staff would return with details on program design and barriers identified during early implementation.

After questions, council voted unanimously to adopt the general‑plan annual progress report and authorize its submittal consistent with the housing report; staff said the Vision Salinas public draft and environmental review schedule would continue through the calendar year.