|
HISTORY OF GROWTH MANAGEMENT Why did the City create a Growth Management Plan? Rapid Growth Spurs Citizen Concerns. In 1985 and 1986 the nation was hitting a high point of the economic cycle. In California this meant that development activity was very intense. In 1985 Carlsbad grew 11% through the completion of 2,036 new homes. During 1986 the city grew another 12% by completing construction on 2,565 more new homes. Citizens worried that the pace of development would outstrip the city's ability to provide adequate public facilities. In addition, the then adopted general plan would have allowed up to 108,300 homes, five times the then existing number of 20,700 homes. Consequently, citizens worried about the loss of open space and the loss of the city's small-town character. Citizen concern in late 1984 and early 1985 led to the City Council taking action by convening a 25-member "Citizens' Committee to Review the Land Use Element of the General Plan". Citizen's Committee Review. In July 1985, the citizens' committee completed its study and published its findings. The report discussed: the build-out capacity of the city, open space protection, density, rates of growth, and the provision of facilities. Disagreement among the committee members resulted in the report not having unanimous recommendations, instead containing both majority and minority proposals. Reduction in Capacity of the General Plan. Following its review of the citizens' committee report, on January 7, 1986, the City Council adopted resolution 8307, amending the General Plan to reduce the density ranges of the residential land use classifications. For example, the highest density class was reduced from a maximum of 40 dwelling units per acre down to 23 dwelling units per acre. The result was a reduction in the residential capacity of the entire general plan from 108,000 homes to approximately 54,600. The City then began work on an ordinance to address the linkage of development to public facilities. Proposition G. Some citizens thought that the actions of the City Council did not go far enough. They succeeded in qualifying an initiative petition for the November ballot. The measure, Proposition G, called for limiting the number of residential building permits that the city could allow on an annual basis (in 1987: 1,000 units; in 1988: 750 units; in 1989 and following years: 500 dwelling units). Adoption of Growth Management Ordinance/Proposition E. On July 1, 1986, the City Council adopted an ordinance (9808) that created the key components of a new Growth Management Plan: public facility standards, a citywide facilities plan, and sub-area facilities plans. Simultaneously, the city placed its own measure, Proposition E, on the November ballot. Proposition E called for ratifying the Growth Management Plan and requiring adequate public facilities to be provided concurrent with new growth. To assure adequate facilities the measure called for establishing the mid-point of the density range of each general plan land use category as a "growth management control point". No development could exceed this level unless it could be demonstrated that adequate facilities would be provided. In addition, it called for a limit on the total number of future residential building permits that could be approved in each of four sub-areas of the city, based upon the amount of development provided by the growth management control points. Thus, it established the principle that no project could exceed the growth management control point for a site unless another site had first underutilized development and the "excess" units could be transferred to the first site. This principal became the basis for the creation of an Excess Dwelling Unit Bank accounting system. Last, the ballot measure provided that if both Proposition G and E were approved, the one with the greater number of "yes" votes would prevail. Prop. E Wins. At the general election on November 4, 1986, the voters approved both Propositions E and G. Because Proposition E got the greater number of votes, its provisions prevailed. The result was that Carlsbad had created a new Growth Management Plan, major portions of which could not be changed without a vote of the people. Subsequently, all of the approved provisions were written into the Municipal Code, the city's General Plan, and various City Council Policies. This plan remains in place today. |
 |
For more detailed information see the related links.
|
