General Plan Update

In the spring of 2005, the Oxnard City Council approved a work program to prepare an update of the City’s General Plan. This update program, scheduled to conclude in winter of 2009, 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 1990 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 Oxnard;

• 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 Chris Williamson 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.

Chris Williamson, AICP
Senior Planner, City of Oxnard
305 W. Third St., Oxnard, CA 93030
Ph: 805-385-8156 Fax: 805-385-7417 chris.williamson@ci.oxnard.ca.us

What is Covered in the General Plan?

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

• Sustainability. This element is an optional addition to the General Plan. Its purpose is to educate and promote sustainable growth and energy practices that will help the City of Oxnard to flourish and be preserved for current and future generations.

• Community Development. 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.

• Infrastructure and Community Services. This element provides guidance on the movement of people and goods in and through the City, the adequacy of existing public facilities, and plans and measures for preserving open space and enhancing recreational opportunities. This element addresses all modes of travel (e.g. vehicular, transit, rail, pedestrian), utilities (e.g. water, wastewater, storm drainage, solid waste), and public facilities and services (e.g. public safety, education, civic institutions, libraries, human services, government).

• Environmental Resources. This element addresses the conservation, development, and use of natural resources. This 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.

• Safety and Hazards. This element will address a number of public safety issues, including seismic and geologic hazards (e.g. landslides); flooding, tsunami, and other marine hazards; hazardous materials and wastes, terrorism, and transportation related hazards. Safety overlaps with other mandated elements such as land use, conservation, and open space. 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.

• Military Compatibility. The purpose of the Military Compatibility Element is to demonstrate the City’s commitment to and support of current and future missions at the Naval Base Ventura County.  This optional element considers the impact of new growth on military readiness activities.  In particular, the ability to balance the protection of the Navy’s current and future missions with the ability for the community to grow and sustain its economic development objectives.

• Housing.  The purpose of this Housing Element is to establish housing goals, policies, and programs that respond to local housing conditions and needs. The unique housing requirements of lower-income households and identified special needs groups are given particular attention. Once housing needs are identified, resources and constraints are developed to meet those needs, while also striving to preserve, conserve, and rehabilitate existing and future housing.

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 Oxnard hired a consulting team led by the 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:

Matrix Design Group
Planning, Infrastructure, GIS, Project management

ESA
Environmental analysis (EIR)

URS
Transportation and circulation

UCSB Economic Forecast Project
Economic development and fiscal assessment