The year 2040 may seem like the distant future. But the Ukiah is already making decisions about what the city will look like in 20 years.
Currently, the city of Ukiah is working on it’s 2040 general plan. A general plan is a document that outlines the goals for the cities or towns creating them. The State of California requires local jurisdictions to update or re-write their general plans periodically.
The 2040 general plan has the potential to define Ukiah’s future. It will lay out how land and resources are used for the next two decades and how projects the city takes on will be prioritized. It will create a long term plan that guides decisions about zoning, housing development, infrastructure, and more.
Additionally, the general plan is an important way to plan, long term, for a green future. The plan is required to consider environmental equity and sustainability. It’s supposed to be written considering California’s goals of reaching carbon neutrality by 2045
The city started working on its 2040 general plan over a year ago, in May 2019. On Monday and Tuesday Nights, the general plan committee held two identical meetings, where they consulted ukiah residents about land use. Between the two meetings, around 60 people attended. This was their third round of community meetings since may of 2019.
The meeting was led by Rick Rust, a consultant from the Sacramento based planning and development group Mintier Harnish, which was hired by the city for around 350,000 to write the city’s general plan.
The meeting was informative and filled with passionate Ukiah Residents or people who are otherwise invested in the city's future. Just some of the topics discussed last night were creating evacuation routes, building parks, investing in more low-income housing, incentivizing developers to make their way to Ukiah, and creating a green and sustainable city.
Although the meeting was packed full of information, I wanted to find out more about when the plan will actually be written and implemented and how the city of Ukiah General Plan committee will make sure that community member input is considered when writing and implementing the plan. To hear from Craig Schlatter, director of community development, listen to the full story.