Land Use

League of Women Voters^®
of San Jose/Santa Clara

LWV SJSC may advocate using this position

General Principles and Policies. Supplement to Position. Zoning.

Land Use General Principles and Policies

1. Master Plans: Support the principle that a community should have a master or general plan which is a written policy statement of community goals. An effective master plan should be general, comprehensive and long range; based on current economic and land use studies; state goals agreed upon by citizens and the legislative body; clear, concise, readily available and meaningful to the ordinary citizen; used as an educational document as well as guide to the city's growth; and periodically reviewed. Citizens with diverse interests and backgrounds should play an active role in developing the plan. The general plan must be the adopted policy statement of the elected legislators. Once adopted, it must have strict adherence.
2. The Planning Director: Should be a professional planner, qualified by a degree in planning and experienced in this field. Particularly important are abilities as an administrator and in public relations.
3. The Planning Commission: Should be composed of qualified persons of diverse occupations and interests who represent a cross-section of the community. As an advisory group to the legislative body, the commission has responsibility for both the mechanics of zoning and public education, with emphasis on working with citizens' groups and public education.
4. The Planning Department: Should have more power in zoning matters, with final appeal of decisions with the legislative body. An architect and/or landscape architect should be on the department staff.
5. Citizen Advisory Committees: Should be appointed by the Planning Commission, broadly based, and established on an ad hoc basis for a specific planning issue. Citizen Advisory Committees are desirable to inform the commissioners of diverse citizen views and to involve more citizens in the planning process and should reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the community.
6. County-Wide Planning: Is essential to be done by an effective governmental planning agency. Such a county-wide agency should be set up, preferably by county ordinance, but if voluntary cooperation fails to be effective, the State of California should create the agency. San Mateo County's Regional Planning Committee could serve as a model for this agency. Membership could be a combination of legislators, planning commissioners, planning directors and citizens. Effective use should be made of planning staffs from city and county planning departments, community experts, and particularly the wealth of academic persons in the county.
7. Architectural Control: Is strongly favored in some form. A program of architectural control could be implemented in a variety of ways.
8. General Plan: Support an Urban Service Area Boundary as a mechanism to phase growth and outline the urban container.

A. Support Level of Service policies which require accurate records of service delivery and service potential as determined by scheduled improvement. Support the adoption of a Level of Service Standard for city service delivery. Service levels cannot be allowed to fall below the minimum standard adopted. New development which would cause the delivery of city services to fall below the minimum standard should be strictly curtailed in the affected areas until services can be provided at the proper levels.

B. Exceptions to General Plan policies which are made for reasons on "overriding considerations" must be based on supportable fact and be able to stand up to judicial review.

C. A specific EIR must be prepared for major expansions of the Urban Service Area Boundary or for significant exceptions to adopted General Plan policies.

D. Urban development should not be permitted on hillsides above the 15% slope line because of safety considerations, service delivery difficulty and expense, and the value of hillsides as scenic and environmental resources.

E. Sewage treatment capacity should be a major factor in determining land use in the General Plan. Responsible planned growth includes responsible planning for sewage capacity.

Adopted: 1965
Updated 1983, 2002

Supplement to Land Use Position

Support cooperation by the County of Santa Clara and the cities within its boundaries in zoning decisions affecting land use adjacent to or within city boundaries. Such decisions should be compatible with a city's long range plans for land use in its sphere of influence.
2. Support land use policies that control, direct, and limit growth.
3. Support the need for a strong diversified economy, providing employment, services, and tax base for the cities and the county. In order to attain and maintain a sound economic base, support city and county commercial and industrial development polcies that will promote local employment oppotunities and protect environmental quality. Such policies should:

A. Encourage the location here of firms that employ local residents primarily.

B. Encourage the location here of firms that use non- polluting processes.

C. Require industries to meet official local and other jurisdictional environmental quality standards.

D. Provide aid in job placement, job training and job retraining as a proper function of government.

E. Insure that plans for industrial and commercial zones are compatible with adjoining community land use, transportation facilities and public services.

F. Discourage the location here of firms that do not employ local residents primarily, whose processes do not meet environmental quality standards and/or that are in other ways detrimental to the policies of promoting a quality environment and controlling growth.

4. Support resolution of conflicts between economic, social and environmental goals through public, objective evaluation of complete information of the proposal's impact on the community or communities involved.
Adopted: 1973

Zoning

Support the principle of zoning as a means of implementing the policies stated in the general plan. The zoning ordinance should be periodically reviewed and revised, with a major revision at least every five years; include a section on sign and billboard control; allow Planned Unit Development for residential, commercial and industrial uses (a mixture of these uses and/or density increase could be allowed if desired); require utilities to be underground when replaced. Citizens must be notified of rezoning hearings, preferably by letter, but also by newspaper publication. Grouping hearings by planning area and holding a meeting every two or three months would facilitate citizen participation and notification of hearings would also enable the county to work more effectively with different citizens and areas within cities. A county-wide zoning language is desirable.
Zoning is ncessary in our society to protect individual rights as well as to promote the common good. The zoning ordinances should implement the policies stated in the general plan, but the ordinance itself should not be incorporated into the general plan.
Citizens should be notified of hearings on zoning not only by posting but also by publication in local newspapers and by mail to immediate area residents. Zoning hearings should be grouped according to area to facilitate citizen awareness and participation in the planning process.
Periodic review and revision of the zoning ordinance is necessary, no less than every five years. Zoning ordinances should reflect actual zoning practices and incorporate new ideas in planning. Maps and texts should be readily available in City Hall.
Support a county-wide zoning language based on the Santa Clara County Planning Department proposal but with each city using only those symbols that are relevant to it.
Support a sign and billboard control ordinance.
Support Planned Unit Development for residential, commercial and industrial uses. Such PUD's could have mixed uses and increased densities as long as controls were strictly applied and densities were related to the servicing facilites such as roads, schools, and sewers.
Support undergrounding of utilities in new construction areas, particularly in subdivisions. Worn out utilities in all types of developments should be replaced by underground utilities when feasible.
Adopted: 1965

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