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PlaceWorks presents San Bernardino 2050 General Plan; EIR expected for summer 2026
Summary
Consultant PlaceWorks presented key features of the 2050 General Plan—land‑use consolidation, three mixed‑use districts, expanded circulation and environmental justice chapters—and outlined a program EIR scheduled for public release in June 2026 with final EIR and public hearings later in 2026.
City planning staff and PlaceWorks consultant Mark Hoffman presented a high‑level overview of the City of San Bernardino’s 2050 General Plan update, describing major structural changes, implementation programs and the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) schedule for environmental review.
Hoffman said the update reduces and consolidates land‑use categories, adds three mixed‑use designations to spur corridor reinvestment, raises residential density modestly to reduce nonconformities, and projects a buildout that could accommodate roughly 36,000 new homes and 60,000 jobs over the plan horizon. The plan contains mandatory statutory elements (land use, circulation, housing, public safety) and elective elements the city added (parks and recreation, economic development, utilities and infrastructure), plus a new Health and Environmental Justice chapter required by recent state law.
The consultant described significant proposed circulation and public‑realm changes including prioritizing pedestrian infrastructure, adding about 40 lane‑miles of bicycle routes, and updated policies for transit and goods movement. The implementation chapter will include roughly 225–250 programs, with assigned departments, funding sources and short/medium/long timeframes; staff said not all programs are fully funded and the implementation plan serves as a manual for prioritization.
The city manager and PlaceWorks noted the draft program EIR will cover the general plan, the downtown specific plan and the development code, and that a public review draft would be posted in early June 2026 with a likely final EIR and hearings in the fall (September–November) depending on comment resolution and EIR scope. Council members asked about the possibility and limits for revisions at this stage, how the zoning/development code will phase in after adoption (staff estimated about a three‑month transition), and the total cost to date (staff cited about $4.7 million, including prior outside funding and change orders due to personnel delays). Staff said smaller tweaks that do not change analyzed assumptions can likely be accommodated without redoing the EIR, while structural map changes could require further environmental analysis and delay adoption.
The presentation closes the engagement phase before public release of the draft EIR; the council received the update for information and the city will proceed to the public review period and formal hearings.
