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City planner outlines Vision Salinas 2040 update, highlights outreach and new public‑safety goals
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Summary
Jonathan Moore, senior planner, said the Vision Salinas 2040 general plan — the city's first comprehensive update since 2002 — aims to align land use, climate and public‑safety policies and will undergo further public review including a draft EIR and a formal comment period.
Jonathan Moore, senior planner in Salinas’ Community Development Department, told the Police Community Advisory Committee that the city released a public review draft of Vision Salinas 2040 in December and is seeking broader community feedback before formal environmental review and adoption.
"The general plan is a document required for cities and counties by state law," Moore said, describing the update as the first comprehensive revision since 2002 that bundles a climate action plan and an environmental‑justice element into the city’s guiding long‑range policies. He said the update is organized around three pillars — the built environment, environmental sustainability and socioeconomic systems — and includes a new, more flexible land‑use system.
Moore said outreach for the plan began in 2021 and has included more than 20 workshops, topic‑specific working groups, pop‑up events and district land‑use listening sessions. "We do an email blast to something like over 8,000 contacts," he said, and noted that the city has held workshops in each district and at community venues such as firehouses and community centers. Moore estimated that larger public events have drawn 90 to more than 100 attendees and that cumulative participation across activities runs in the hundreds.
Residents at the meeting asked how steering‑committee and working‑group members were selected and where past planning initiatives fit into the new plan. Moore said the steering committee was appointed by council members and supplemented by representatives from local organizations; working groups focused on topic‑specific elements such as housing and conservation.
The committee was told the update will return for additional review when the draft environmental impact report is released, at which point a formal 45‑day comment period will begin and the plan will move through planning‑commission and city‑council review. Moore emphasized that the document is a policy framework that must be implemented through ordinances, development review and specific projects.
The meeting’s public‑comment period included residents urging clearer, lower‑barrier communications so neighbors know how to get involved. The committee did not take action on the plan at the meeting; Moore said staff will continue outreach and return with the draft EIR.
