It is no surprise that Tuolumne County supervisors openly embrace development interests. Over the decades since CSERC was formed, the local board of supervisors has always taken pro-use positions rather than actions to benefit nature, open space, at-risk wildlife, or water resources. But the County’s proposed General Plan Update goes to new extremes.
In every chapter of the General Plan Update, key “vision statements” are repeated. One statement promotes development in the County, while a second aims to minimize the constraints purportedly created by federal and state regulations.
Over weeks of careful review of the General Plan Update and EIR by CSERC staff and attorneys hired by CSERC, the flaws in the proposed new General Plan became obvious. Polices that direct new projects to connect to public water and sewer allow broad exceptions and contain soft wording such as “consider” and “support” that have don’t mandate compliance. Agricultural policies promote non-agricultural commercial uses. Policies to protect valley oaks, old growth oaks, scenic resources, and wildlife are only voluntary, or they have weak wording without any actual requirements. The entire Update is based upon the County’s wildly exaggerated projection for population growth – 9 times higher than the State’s projections.
The bottom line for this General Plan Update is that it fails to mitigate for the huge amount of development it would allow. Many policies are weak or openly aimed at favoring development at the expense of Open Space, oak woodlands, and scenic values. CSERC has submitted detailed comments spelling out why the Plan Update may face a legal challenge.
