Quarterly Amendments to General Plan Land Use Maps

Several individual owner-initiated amendments to the County’s land use maps were recently adopted by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. Approval was granted to adjust the land use classifications for three properties and initiating the amendment process for a fourth. A change to the General Plan land use maps begins with a petition. Under Section 1452.2 of the General Plan, the Board will accept a petition to amend the General Plan land use maps where it can be shown that one of more of the following findings can be made: 1) base information or physical conditions have changed; or 2) community values and assumptions have changed; or 3) there is an error in the plan; or 4) to maintain established uses otherwise consistent with a comprehensive view of the plan. Once accepted, each plan amendment is subjected to review as to conformance with other plan provisions and brought before the Planning Commission for a public hearing.

The Planning Commission will recommend that the Board adopt the amendment where it can be demonstrated that the amendment is in the public interest and consistent with other general plan provisions. The Board’s action approved map changes in the communities of Freshwater (removing development restrictions in light of the closure of the former Cummings Road Landfill), Orleans (allowing rural residential development in an area of similarly sized parcels and uses), and Fruitland (providing for a transition between the nearby Rural Community Center and surrounding resource lands). In addition, the Board accepted a petition in the Trinidad area which would reclassify 27 acres of timberland into rural residential use east of Patrick’s Point Drive with a corresponding reclassification of the balance of the property (66 acres) along the coastline for open space and public access.

This is the first step involving many months of work on behalf of our Department, the applicant and decision makers. Amendments to the land use maps in the Coastal Zone must not only receive approval from the Board of Supervisors but also require review and certification by the California Coastal Commission. The outcome of the three recently adopted amendments is that a very real obstacle to further rural residential uses on these properties under the former land use designations and associated density limits has been lifted. Now, with a clear path forward, we can anticipate that these owners will begin readying their plans for future development of their property.