Danville has a plan. The Town Council voted unanimously Wednesday morning to adopt the 2030 General Plan, along with the accompanying Sustainability Action Plan and Environmental Impact Report, following another marathon meeting that began Tuesday night.
The plan adopted by the Council featured changes requested at its previous meeting on March 5.
The changes included:
- The removal of language related to Priority Development Areas (PDAs) from the Draft General Plan.
- The remove of language related to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) from the Draft General Plan and Draft Sustainability Action Plan.
- A decision to retain the minimum 9.6 acres necessary to meet the Regional Housing Needs Allocation shortfall with the Borel Property (Site 24A&B) and Diablo Gateway Part 3 (Site 19).
- A decision to retain the current 2010 General Plan definition of “agriculture” with language to describe how Measure S is implemented, delete a text box describing Measure S and incorporate the full language of Measure S as a part of the Draft 2030 Plan.
- A decision to simplify the language in the draft Sustainability Action Plan and emphasize the voluntary nature of the plan.
Additional syntax and minor language changes were made, many aimed at further excising references to ABAG and related phrasing, though the Council kept Wednesday morning’s changes minor to avoid yet another public hearing.
There was a familiar theme that ran through the noticeably smaller crowd as members of the public voiced their opposition to increased housing density and the influence of regional bodies such as the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission over local land use.
However, there were a number of speakers who indicated their support of the changes made to the plan.
“I like the direction the plan is going at this point,” said Danville resident Brian Cameron, who told the Council that he had been opposed to the original version of the plan.
Just prior to the final 1 a.m. vote approving the plan, council members noted the epic nature of the General Plan process and impressive level of input from months of public hearings before both the Council and the Planning Commission.
“Maybe we haven’t agreed on everything, but we listened,” said Vice Mayor Robert Storer.
