General Plan Update

In the summer of 2005, the Tulare City Council approved a work program to prepare an update of the City’s General Plan.  This update program, scheduled to conclude in the Fall of 2006, will provide many opportunities for public input in the shaping of the final plan.  

What is a General Plan?

Every city and county in California is required by state law to prepare and maintain a planning document called a general plan. A general plan is designed to serve as the jurisdiction’s “constitution” or “blueprint” for future decisions concerning land use, infrastructure, public services, and resource conservation. All specific plans, subdivisions, public works projects, and zoning decisions made by the City must be consistent with the General Plan. The current program is designed to update the City’s 1993 General Plan. The General Plan update program will:

• Provide the public opportunities for meaningful participation in the planning and decision-making process;

• Provide a description of current conditions and trends shaping the City of Tulare;

• Identify planning issues, opportunities, and challenges that should be addressed in the General Plan;

• Explore land use and policy alternatives;

• Ensure that the General Plan is current, internally consistent, and easy to use;

• Provide guidance in the planning and evaluation of future land and resource decisions; and

• Provide a vision and framework for the future growth of the City.

A general plan typically has three defining features:

• General. As the name implies, a general plan provides general guidance that will be used to direct future land use and resource decisions.

• Comprehensive. A general plan covers a wide range of social, economic, infrastructure, and natural resource factors. These include topics such as land use, housing, circulation, utilities, public services, recreation, agriculture, biological resources, and many other topics.

• Long-range. General plans provide guidance on reaching a future envisioned 20 or more years in the future (the proposed General Plan will look out 25 years to the year 2030). To reach this envisioned future, the General Plan will include policies and actions that address both immediate and long-term needs.

For More Information 

During the General Plan update, questions and comments can be forwarded to Mark Kielty at the location shown below. An easy way to send a message to the General Plan team is to click on the "Public Comments" button on the top of this page.

Mark S. Kielty
Planning & Building Director
City of Tulare
411 East Kern Ave.
Tulare, CA 963274
Phone: (559) 684-4217
Fax: (559) 685-2339
e-mail: MKielty@ci.tulare.ca.us

What is Covered in the General Plan?

The City of Tulare General Plan will be organized into the following three topic areas, called “elements.”

• Land Use/Urban Growth Strategy. This element will cover land use types, distribution, and intensity; population and building density; existing specific plans; public land ownership; and future growth areas. This element will also provide a land use diagram that will direct future land uses within the Planning Area. The focus of this element will be on the future growth and physical development of the community.

• Circulation/Transportation. This element provides guidance on the movement of people and goods in and through the City. This element addresses roads and highways, transit, bicycles, and pedestrians.

• Conservation and Open Space. This element addresses the conservation, development, and use of natural resources. This includes plans and measures for preserving open space and enhancing outdoor recreational opportunities (e.g. parkland). The element will also explore the managed production of resources, significant buildings and historic sites, water resources, and biological resources. Agricultural resources will be examined in conjunction with the City’s farmland preservation programs and Williamson Act policies.

In addition to these elements, relevant information on the following topic areas will be examined for the background document: demographics, economic conditions, and air quality. Information collected from these areas will incorporated into the General Plan elements presented above.

General Plan Consultants 

To help prepare a comprehensive General Plan update, the City of Tulare hired a consulting team led by Mintier & Associates and Matrix Design Group.  The team dedicated to updating the General Plan includes expertise in general plan updates, planning and land use law, housing, transportation, infrastructure, environmental resources, economic development and fiscal assessment, and project management.

The firms making up the consulting team are:

Mintier & Associates
     Planning, project management

Matrix Design Group
     Planning, GIS, project management

URS
      Environmental analysis (EIR)

Omni Means
     Infrastructure

EPS
     Economic development and fiscal