Overview

What is a General Plan?

A General Plan is a State-required policy document that establishes a vision for a community’s long-term growth. It articulates a shared vision for the future and a set of goals, policies, and concrete actions that can be pursued to help achieve it.

The overall goals are to maintain the wonderful and unique character of Ventura, while creating opportunities for future improvements on just about everything in our City. The General Plan will help the City plan for important issues such as development, housing needs, and environmental protection. It also addresses critical topics that impact the quality of life in the City including housing health, climate change, sustainability, economic development, public safety, and parks and open spaces, among other topics.

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Plan Topics

State law requires that a General Plan address eight core topics formally known as “elements.” Communities have the option to add any additional topic and to organize the General Plan in any way they would like, so long as the core topics are addressed. The Ventura General Plan will address the following topics, at minimum.

(Note that additional topics will likely be added and each topic listed below will not necessarily be a separate chapter.)

 
 

  • Land Use*

  • Urban Design

  • Housing*

  • Circulation (transportation and infrastructure)*

  • Economic Development

  • Sustainability and Climate Change

  • Parks and Recreation

  • Open Space*

  • Conservation*

  • Historic Preservation and Cultural Resources

  • Environmental Justice*

  • Noise*

  • Safety*

*denotes required element

 
 
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Why Update the General Plan?

Today, Ventura faces a very different set of conditions and challenges than when the plan was adopted 15 years ago. Besides the fact that the State encourages communities to update their General Plan every 10 to 15 years, there are many new topics and challenges that must be addressed including:

  • Preserving and enhancing quality of life as the city evolves

  • Guiding economic growth for long-term fiscal sustainability

  • Providing direction for housing decisions to address the State housing shortage

  • Address climate change impacts

  • Creating strategies to address fire safety

  • Developing a shared vision for equitable and inclusive growth

  • Promoting positive changes for our environment, health, and sustainability