“General Plan: A way to guide growth, preserve open space - San Diego Union-Tribune” plus 1 more |
| General Plan: A way to guide growth, preserve open space - San Diego Union-Tribune Posted: 20 Nov 2010 11:59 PM PST Sunday, November 21, 2010 at midnight San Diego County needs a new General Plan, the document that governs land use, development, public safety, environmental protection, transportation and public facilities. The current General Plan, adopted over 30 years ago and amended scores of times, is an outdated patchwork that cries out for updating. After a dozen years of effort by county staff, and hundreds of meetings with citizen groups and community representatives, a new General Plan is under consideration by the Board of Supervisors. Its overarching goal is to concentrate future development close to already urbanized areas, while providing for enough development to meet future needs, preserving open space, minimizing new infrastructure needs, and reducing exposure to wildfire and other hazards. The General Plan is often referred to as the constitution of land-use regulation, and nearly all controversy surrounding the proposed new plan revolves around the land-use element, which will provide long-term guidance for development. To do that effectively, and in a way that preserves the integrity of the planning process, the board needs to ensure that the version of the General Plan that is adopted addresses several key issues. The land-use element must be based on solid planning principles. The land-use map originally presented to the Planning Commission represented extensive compromise among many interest groups, and the version recommended by the commission to the board is a further compromise. It should be further modified only where good planning justifies it. The board must reject the so-called "referral map," which contains scores of land-use changes aimed solely at benefiting influential land owners and which would impose huge costs on the county for infrastructure to serve far-flung development. The county plan should govern. Local plans and projects always should be consistent with it and subordinate to it. The current version needs to be strengthened by eliminating opportunities for individual community plans and planning groups to override key land-use goals. The county has absolute authority to change land-use designations in the interest of good planning. Some rural landowners are upset over proposed "downzoning" of their property, but the current designations were established arbitrarily 30 years ago and did not create any legal rights. It is important, however, to protect farmland, and the best way to do that is by paying landowners for conservation easements, which will prevent the land from being developed in the future. Funding for that should come from moneys already intended for acquisition of rural habitat land. Appropriate development in the backcountry will best occur through the provision for conservation subdivisions. By clustering development, this will ensure that most rural open space will be preserved, that a reasonable amount of growth can be accommodated in those areas, and that new development will be well-planned and environmentally sensitive. Here too, the resulting open space needs to be protected permanently by conservation easements. As with any complex program, some details of implementation remain to be worked out. Right now, however, the board needs to act decisively to bring planning in San Diego County up to 21st-century standards. Lowe is a San Diego land-use lawyer who has been an adviser to state and local governments. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Let e-books be your guide - Boston Globe Posted: 20 Nov 2010 11:16 PM PST All iPad users: Leave that hefty travel tome at home and download an interactive electronic guidebook for your next adventure. Lonely Planet has released e-books for three cities and a dozen countries, including Japan, Britain, Thailand, Italy, and New Zealand. Each e-book features thousands of hyperlinks that direct you to hotels, restaurants, and attraction websites and detailed maps with imbedded points of interest. You can bookmark pages, take notes on travel highlights, and search for specific information. The only catch: You need to be online to access all links. You can download the e-books through iTunes. Prices from $12.99 to $17.99. www.lonelyplanet.com/ebooks CheapCaribbean.com has launched its new Bazaarvoice Ratings and Reviews feature to benefit the beach-bound. Travelers looking for feedback on a resort can visit its main page at CheapCaribbean.com and find an overall "palm tree'' rating (from one to five), a detailed ratings summary, and a link to reviews by fellow travelers. People booking a CheapCaribbean.com vacation are asked to rate their trip when they return, offering feedback on value, service, beaches/pools, dining options, and room comfort. They can even share photos and videos. The reviews cover hotels and resorts only in Mexico and the Caribbean. To date, travelers have provided more than 10,000 posts. www.cheapcaribbean.com For a winter getaway, head to Camelback Inn in Arizona's Sonoran Desert, where the daily highs average 75 degrees. Located on 125 acres in Paradise Valley, the inn offers private hiking trails and meditation areas and 453 guest rooms and suites. The Scottsdale property, a JW Marriott Resort & Spa, also has six all-weather lighted tennis courts, two 18-hole golf courses designed by Arthur Hills, and a spa offering loofah treatments, an adobe clay purification wrap, or a traditional massage. Five restaurants serve everything from Southwestern fare with a Mexican twist to American steakhouse cuisine with a French influence. Children can hang out at the kids' pool or playground. Rates from $279. 800-242-2635, www.camelbackinn.com KARI BODNARCHUK © Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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