Salinas staff outline Vision 2040 general plan update; public review draft due late July

City planning staff on June 10 outlined the timeline and main policy directions for Salinas’ Vision 2040 general plan update, telling the City Council and Planning Commission that a public review draft will be released in late July and will be followed by public workshops, a climate action plan and an environmental impact report.

The update — the city’s first comprehensive general plan overhaul since 2002 — is intended to align local land use, housing and circulation policies with recent state law changes, incorporate decades of neighborhood- and topic-specific planning and set the policy framework for a multi-year zoning code rewrite.

At the joint special meeting, planning staff member Jonathan Moore summarized the work to date, saying the effort launched in 2021 and draws on more than 30 prior local planning documents and extensive bilingual community engagement. “We’re coming up on the release of a public review draft,” Moore said, and staff plan a roughly 30-day comment period on that draft followed later by a 45-day public-comment period for the environmental impact report.

Why it matters: The general plan is the city’s long-range policy guide for land use and capital investments; changes to its land-use map and policies will steer where housing, parks, commercial development and major infrastructure can go over the next two decades. Staff told elected officials the update responds to recent state requirements on climate, safety and environmental justice and creates a new “place types” land-use classification intended to provide more flexibility for infill and mixed-use development.

Key elements and schedule - Three pillars: built environment (land use, circulation, infrastructure), environment and sustainability (conservation, safety, open space) and socioeconomic systems (health, economic development, environmental justice, plus optional elements for public safety and arts/culture/youth). - Climate action plan (CAP): being developed alongside the general plan and intended to set emissions targets, mitigation strategies and measures that could streamline future CEQA review for consistent projects. - Environmental review: staff completed a notice of preparation in fall 2023; the full draft EIR will accompany later releases and will open a 45-day comment window. - Zoning code update: staff proposed a three-phase approach so short-term “fixes” can be implemented before a full rewrite. A resolution authorizing work with a selected consultant for the zoning update will go to council on June 17. - Public engagement: staff said they will schedule major public workshops, online events and topic-specific outreach once the public review draft is posted.

What staff presented as policy shifts - Place types: a new land-use classification that emphasizes the desired character of locations (for example, corridors, neighborhood centers or mixed-use hubs) and is intended to make the zoning update more flexible and predictable. - Revisit target areas: staff flagged potential designation changes around Allison Marketplace, parts of the northeast city and some areas in the city’s sphere of influence tied to the East Area specific plan and other growth-area work. - Housing: staff noted Salinas adopted a housing element in December 2023 and highlighted the need to align general-plan land-use designations and zoning with housing goals. - Parks and open space: staff said the open-space element would prioritize implementing the Parks, Recreation and Libraries master plan and called out backlog maintenance as a constraint.

Questions and concerns raised Council members, commissioners and members of the public asked about staffing, permitting delays and how the city will finance and maintain new infrastructure: - Permitting and staffing: multiple speakers, including a representative of the Central Coast Builders Association, said permit processing has been chronically understaffed and urged faster hiring and clearer workflows. Staff acknowledged vacancies, said a consultant review begun in 2023 identified understaffing, and said additional positions and workflow improvements are in the budget process. - Tentative maps and housing delivery: staff reported the city has received tentative-map applications covering about 5,400 homes and in summer 2024 approved a tentative map for about 1,600 units in the central area; staff said final maps and model-home applications are expected in the coming months. - Circulation and bypasses: commissioners pressed whether the update would reintroduce large road projects such as an eastern bypass; staff said state guidance on vehicle miles traveled (SB 743) and fiscal and environmental feasibility make new bypasses costly and likely to increase VMT, so they were not recommended as primary solutions. - Water and seawater intrusion: council members asked whether seawater intrusion and regional groundwater solutions are addressed; staff said the topic appears in the conservation and safety elements and noted it requires regional coordination (for example, with the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Authority). - Parks and maintenance: commissioners and public commenters repeatedly urged stronger commitments to park maintenance and more urban-tree plantings; staff said the CAP and an urban-forest plan intersect with those goals and that maintenance funding is a budgetary issue.

Stakeholder input Public commenters included property and development stakeholders who urged clearer, more implementable code language and more expedited permitting, as well as residents who urged stronger environmental justice, pesticide monitoring and park improvements. Peter Casavan of Casavan Architects and others asked the council to endorse continued engagement by existing stakeholder groups, including the economic-development stakeholders who helped shape the 2017 economic development element (EDE).

Next steps Staff said they will post a public review draft in late July with an initial 30-day comment period, hold summer workshops and then return a second draft accompanied by the draft EIR and the CAP, which will trigger the 45-day EIR comment period. The full zoning-code update will proceed in phases after the general plan is adopted.

Staff cautioned that adopting and implementing the plan will be multi-year work that requires coordinated budget decisions, consultant work (for the CAP and EIR) and likely additional staff to manage increased project volume.

Closing: No formal vote was taken at the meeting; council and commission members provided direction and asked staff to proceed with outreach and the public-draft schedule.