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VIEWPOINT

General Plan Should Embrace 21st Century Opportunities

February 2008

Updating Emeryville’s General Plan is not exactly the kind of issue that gets a lot of folks excited. Most members of the public, and perhaps many readers of this paper, probably don’t even know what a “General Plan” is, and may not care. But for local governments and businesses in California, a City’s General Plan, and the process of updating it, can dictate the City’s economic health for decades.

State law requires all cities have a General Plan and that these plans be updated every 20 years. Each plan must contain certain “elements”, including traffic, housing, open space, noise, air quality and public safety, among others, and cities can add additional elements at their discretion. The specific update process can vary widely, but typically involves an update task force, with Planning Staff assistance and an outside consultant, followed by approval by the Planning Commission and ultimate adoption by the City Council. The General Plan determines residential and commercial development, traffic, and the heights and sizes of buildings.

Emeryville has been in the process of updating its General Plan, and now, after almost three years of study, reports, hearings and deliberations, the General Plan Update Task Force is getting ready to approve a draft General Plan revision that will go to the Planning Commission and ultimately to the City Council for final review and approval.

We propose a new vision for Emeryville’s General plan to the Planning Commission members, City Council members, City staff and the public at large. Emeryville of the 21st Century doesn’t operate in 20 year economic and land use cycles. For example: decades ago few could have foreseen the rise of the biotechnology or biofuels industries. Ten years ago no one could have predicted that the voters of California would approve a $3 billion stem cell program, or that U.C. – Berkeley would receive a $500 million grant to develop alternative fuel technology. Emeryville has been especially successful in recruiting these new industries, and other new fields, such as nanotechnology, which present much promise as the next growth industries. Rethinking the General Plan as a vehicle for facilitating economic growth provides Emeryville decision-makers the flexibility they need to capture cutting-edge businesses and technologies that cannot be anticipated today.

The private sector stopped long-term strategic planning years ago. Today, 20-year plans no longer make sense; “long-term” planning now means 6-9 month cycles. A flexible, streamlined General Plan must be thought of in the same way to provide Emeryville the flexibility to capture new industries and realize the benefits of modern economic trends that are impossible to predict now, but for which we need to be prepared to capture in the future.

There are those who are still locked into a 1950’s mentality and treat the General Plan as if it were a sacred document. But some visionary government and business leaders, like those we have in Emeryville, understand that in the 21st Century world it’s not the big who eat the little, it’s the fast who eat the slow. Hopefully, they will adopt a General Plan that is just that – a “General” plan for future economic diversity and strength which allows for the capture of yet-unvisioned business opportunities, including strategically located Planned Unit Developments. By adopting this approach, an entrepreneurial, fast-acting city like Emeryville will reap the benefits of new economic growth, and our residents will realize the improved quality of life that comes with it.