Long Range Planning

About Us

The City prepares and maintains long-range plans. These plans forecast future conditions and needs, identify community concerns, and provide strategies to meet adopted goals. They also establish policies and standards for day-to-day decision making. These plans guide the City's physical development and how the City plays its roles within the region, state, and nation. The Long-Range Planning Division helps prepare, maintain, and implement long-range plans. It also oversees the City's Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) and staffs the City's Cultural Heritage Committee.

The General Plan, because of its comprehensive scope and status under State law, is the City's primary long-range plan. the City also adopts and maintains other long-range plans for particular land areas or topics, such as specific plans and physical design plans. These plans, like the General Plan, guide decision-making.

We are updating the City's Housing Element!

For more information click here.

Key Long Range Planning Information

Plans in Process:

Orcutt Area Specific Plan Information

South Broad Street Corridor Plan and Updated Traffic Analysis Report

Sustainability:

The City of San Luis Obispo has many programs in place that support sustainability.  On June 10, 2009, the Planning Commission will review the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory that was recently completed.  This report highlights where most of the emissions are generated by the community and municipal government operations and will provide information that will be used during development of the Climate Action Plan, a goal set by the City Council for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.  See the Emissions Inventory by clicking on the link below:

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

Environmental Stewardship Report - 2008

The document above summarizes the various ways the City of San Luis Obispo protects its natural resources and highlights the many policies and programs the City Council, Advisory Bodies, and City staff have implemented over the years.

General Plan:

General Plan

The General Plan is a comprehensive statement of the City's goals and how those goals will be achieved over the long-run.  Policies and programs in the General Plan provide guidance to the public, staff, and decision-makers on development related issues.  State law requires each city and county to adopt a general plan that addresses at least seven topics, typically referred to as "elements".   The City's elements include Land Use, Housing, Circulation, Noise, Conservation and Open Space, Safety, Parks & Recreation, and Water & Wastewater Management.

Each year, the City publishes an Annual Report on the status of its General Plan and provides an overview of actions taken to implement the Plan during the previous year.  For the most recent annual report, click the link that follows:

2008 Annual Report on the General Plan

2008 General Plan Program Status List

Historic Preservation:

Cultural Heritage Committee

The Cultural Heritage Committee is responsible for researching, identifying, and protecting historic buildings, archaeological sites and cultural features.  The Committee meets on the fourth Monday of each month, at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Hearing Room, San Luis Obispo City Hall, 990 Palm Street.  For more information on these and other CHC projects and programs, contact Jeff Hook, Senior Planner, at (805) 781-7176, or jhook@slocity.org, or Kim Murry, Deputy Director, at kmurry@slocity.org.

Historic Preservation Ordinance and updated Guidelines Proposed

We want your views....

At the November 23, 2009 meeting, the CHC approved a historic district study work program and methodology, including five selected sample cities, and approved a tentative work program for the preparation of a historic preservation ordinance.  Based on this recent direction and on previous Committee guidance, staff prepared a Draft Historic Preservation Ordinance and Draft Historic Preservation Program Guidelines Update.  The two documents work in concert to establish the CHC and historic preservation program as part of the San Luis Obispo Municipal Code and to establish preservation duties, procedures, standards, incentives enforcement measures.  The drafts were introduced at the Committee's January 25, 2010 meeting and Committee members began their preliminary review at their February 22, 2010 regular meeting.  As noted above, the CHC is holding a special meeting on March 8th, 2010 to solicit public comments and ideas on the draft documents.

 Adoption of a historic preservation ordinance meets a City Council goal.  In the 2009-2011 Financial Plan and Budget, the City Council included the preparation of a historic preservation ordinance in the CHC’s work program.  Program 3.30.10 of the General Plan Conservation and Open Space Element calls for implementation of the Cultural Heritage Committee’s White Paper, a 2000 report on the status of the City’s historic resources.  A key recommendation of the report was City adoption of a Historic Preservation Ordinance. 

The historic preservation ordinance will provide the statutory basis for historic preservation and allow the City to qualify (if it so chooses) for Certified Local Government (CLG) status through the State Office of Historic Resources.  CLG status would make the City eligible for historic survey funding through the State Historic Preservation Office, and provide added flexibility in implementing environmental review of historic resources as part of the CEQA and Community Development Block Grant process.

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Annexation Information - Airport and Margarita Areas

The Cultural Heritage Committee and Architectural Review Commission  heldg an Architectural Compatibility and Historic Preservation Workshop on August 17th and 18th, 2009 in the City-County Library Community Room.  For information on guest lecturers, agenda, handouts, and powerpoint presentation, click the links below.

Architectural Compatibility and Historic Preservation Workshop agenda

Historic Preservation Training - Powerpoint Presentation on Architectural Compatibility and Historic Districts, by Winter and Company.

Documents:

We've updated the Archaeological Resource Preservation Guidelines!

At its October 20, 2009 meeting, the City Council adopted updated Archaeological Resource Preservation Program Guidelines. The revised Guidelines,  originally adopted in 1995, establish the City's policies and procedures for protecting archaeological sites and artifacts, and were developed with input from Native American tribal representatives, local cultural resource professionals and the Cultural Heritage Committee (CHC), and are now available for use. To review the updated Archaeological Guidelines, click here. 

The update closely follows the intent of the original guidelines to strengthen archaeological preservation standards and incorporates new guidelines to address changes in State law requiring Native American consultation on certain planning actions (SB 18). As with the previous guidelines, the updated guidelines clarify how archaeological resources are identified, evaluated and preserved, pursuant to State law.  They will be used by applicants, staff, and decision-makers to help determine whether a project complies with City standards and with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 

If you have questions, contact Jeff Hook at 805.781.7176, or Kim Murry, Deputy Director of Long-Range Planning, kmurry@slocity.org (805) 781-7170.  

Historic Preservation Guidelines

Mills Act Preservation Program

Master List of Historic Resources - Updated February 2009

Contributing Properties List of Historic Resources - Updated March 2010