Merced staff outline two-year comprehensive general plan update; downtown station area plan tied to high-speed rail grant

Johnny Lan, acting planning manager for the City of Merced, briefed the Merced Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission on the city's comprehensive general plan update and an embedded downtown station area plan during the Oct. 28 meeting.

Lan said the city conducts a comprehensive general plan update roughly every 15–20 years; Merced's last comprehensive update was in 2012. "It's required by state law for every jurisdiction," he said, adding the general plan is the community's long-term blueprint for land use, infrastructure and related policy.

The general plan process is expected to take about two years, Lan said. Embedded within that effort is a downtown station area plan focused on roughly a quarter-mile around the planned high-speed rail station. That downtown plan is grant-funded through a high-speed rail grant, Lan said, and is on a faster trajectory: "The downtown station area plan which is focused on really think about the about a quarter mile around where the highspeed rail station is currently planned. That plan is scheduled to be completed in June of 2026 unless we are able to negotiate an extension," he said.

Lan described public engagement completed so far (a citizens advisory focus group, a workshop and a community open house) and encouraged BPAC members to review the draft "existing conditions and trends" workbook and to submit corrections via the project website, imaginemerced.com. "If you see anything wrong with it, please let me know," he said, and asked commissioners to identify missing data or local sources that should be included.

Lan also described next steps: an assets, issues and opportunities report that will translate the draft workbook into policy assumptions, followed by a city council–planning commission joint study session to obtain direction and move toward visioning and policy creation. He said the CFG (citizens advisory group) will meet again on Nov. 10 and the series of public meetings will feed the visioning work.

Why it matters: commissioners and staff framed the update as a foundation for future decisions affecting land use, transportation, housing and active-transportation connections from the planned rail station to the university and other city destinations.

The commission did not take formal action on the plan at the Oct. 28 meeting; staff asked for commissioner input on the draft workbook and signaled further public meetings and study sessions in the coming months. The downtown station area plan and the larger general plan will be opportunities for BPAC to weigh in on active-transportation policies and projects that affect bicyclists and pedestrians.

Provenance: topicintro SEG 096; topfinish SEG 318