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Fortuna council approves Plan West Partners contract for general plan and housing element update
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Summary
The Fortuna City Council approved a professional services agreement with Plan West Partners to update the city's general plan and housing element; staff estimates about $250,000 in CDBG funds will offset consultant costs and aims to complete the update by late 2027.
The Fortuna City Council on April 20 approved a professional services agreement with Plan West Partners to lead a comprehensive update of the city's general plan and its housing element.
Mayor Pro Tem Trent moved to approve the contract and Council member Stevens seconded; the motion passed by voice vote with no opposition. City Manager (speaker S5) told the council the city issued a request for proposals in January and received a responsive proposal from Plan West Partners, a firm the city has worked with previously.
City Manager (S5) said the state of California requires jurisdictions to adopt a comprehensive general plan and a housing element and warned the city could lose local land-use authority if it fails to comply. He added senior planner Katie Schmidt applied for Community Development Block Grant funding and staff estimates roughly $250,000 in CDBG dollars will help offset the consultant cost.
Plan West Partners' representative Vanessa Blodgett (S8) told the council the firm looks forward to working with Fortuna and said the proposal includes a focus on zoning-code updates "where the rubber hits the road," to encourage development and support housing outcomes.
S5 outlined a preliminary project timeline: staff and consultant work will begin immediately with data collection and community outreach, move through environmental justice and CEQA work, and proceed to land-use and economic-development elements; the aim is to complete the work by November'December 2027, subject to necessary environmental review and community engagement milestones.
The agreement is expected to fund citywide outreach, zoning-code revisions, environmental compliance work and preparation of the housing element. The council did not specify detailed contract amounts in the oral discussion; several members thanked staff for seeking outside funding to reduce impacts on the general fund.
The contract approval authorizes staff to proceed with the Plan West scope of work and start the public-engagement and environmental-review phases of the general plan update. Staff said additional updates and schedule refinements will return to council as the project advances.
