San Carlos Wins Outstanding Planning Award!

The City of San Carlos announced that the San Carlos General Plan 2030 and its integrated Climate Action Plan will receive an Award of Merit for Outstanding Planning in the Comprehensive Planning, Small Jurisdiction category of the 2010 American Planning Association (APA) Northern California Awards Program. The integrated General Plan and Climate Action Plan documents provide the road map for the city's future to guide and manage long term environmental sustainability, focused growth, community identity, housing, economic development and parks and open space. The APA award will be presented to the City at an awards ceremony later this week on Friday, May 14, 2010. Andrea J. Ouse, the Co-Chair of the 2010 APA Northern California Awards Program said "There were numerous excellent submittals received by the Awards Committee this year. We want to recognize the great efforts that you and your City have taken to create a product that is worthy of a 2010 APA Northern California Award." The General Plan 2030 Process The San Carlos General Plan 2030 was developed over a 2 year period by a team led by Community Development Director Al Savay and Planning Manager Deborah Nelson. It included numerous workshops with the community and input from a 14 member citizen General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) and planning firm DC&E. The new General Plan includes a significant update and upgrade of the City’s earlier General Plan. In addition, it is linked to the City’s new Climate Action Plan through language in the General Plan. The Climate Action Plan was developed by a team led by Planning Manager Deborah Nelson and Assistant City Manager Brian Moura with input from a three member Climate Action Plan Subcommittee of the GPAC and green planning experts from PMC. In addition to reaching out to San Carlos residents and businesses, the 2030 General Plan Update process also included input and participation from a wide variety of groups in the region. This included SamTrans, San Mateo County Housing, the Grand Boulevard Initiative, San Carlos Green, Sustainable San Mateo County, Public Health Law and Policy, Bay Conservation and Development Commission, FOCUS Initiative, ULI 2008 TOD Marketplace, Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Office of the Attorney General. After two years of study and over 70 public meetings, the San Carlos 2030 General Plan and its companion documents were adopted by the City Council on October 12, 2010. Implementation of the General Plan 2030 is well underway and was documented in the Implementation Plan approved by the City Council on February 22, 2010. An Innovative Model Together, these documents represent an innovative General Plan model to integrate mandated greenhouse emission reduction standards with Smart Growth and economic sustainability. The plans are of high merit and are a readily transferable model for other communities planning for the next 20 years of growth and development. Evidence of interest in the General Plan 2030 and Climate Action Plan has come from a number of agency requests for information. It also includes presentations of the General Plan 2030 and Climate Action Plan at the Annual League of California Cities Conference, the National American Planning Association Conference and an Earth Day event in Monterey County, among others. "Our community put forth a tremendous and thoughtful two year effort on these important plans for our future. It was a collaborative effort involving San Carlos youth, residents and businesses. The process also involved many partnerships and resources throughout the region. This recognition from the Northern California Chapter of the APA further validates our city’s outstanding planning efforts. We are now seeing that our approach is providing a model for future General Plans and Climate Action Plans in the region and the State and perhaps the country" notes Al Savay, the Community Development Director for the City of San Carlos.