Agenda - 11-27-1995 - C-1-b - Laserfiche WebLink

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09,7 PROPOSED ORDINANCE/PLAN AMENDMENT ORDINANCE/PLAN: Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan ORIGIN OF AMENDMENT: X Staff Planning Board BOCC Citizen X_Other: Agricultural Districts Advisory Board STAFF PRIORITY RECOMMENDATION: X High_Middle Low PUBLIC HEARING DATE: November 27, 1995 PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT: To update the current Section 2.2, Natural Environment, to include the results of inventories of historic and environmental resources, and provide a basis for prioritizing such features for conservation. Changes to Sections 3.3 - Land Use Plan Categories, 3.4 - Locational Criteria, and 3.5 - Land Use Goals & Draft Policies are also proposed through which to designate and encourage the conservation of important resources. E%IPACT/ISSUES: The current Section 2.2, Natural Environment, of the Land Use Element was initially adopted in September, 1981. Only two amendments have been made to that section since then. The first amendment occurred in August, 1989, following completion of a staff-generated Inventory of Sites of Cultural- IfistodcaL Recreational.Biological„ and Geological Significance in the Uninco1yorated Portions of Orange Countv. The second amendment occurred in December, 1993, and included changes to the "Water Resources" section through which to implement, in part, the State's Water Sup&Watershed Protection Act of 1989. Revisions to the above mentioned sections of the Land Use Element are proposed for the following reasons: • Inventories for historic sites (1992-93), archaeological sites (1993-1994), and natural areas and wildlife habitats (1987-1988) have been prepared but have not been incorporated into the Land Use Element. • With the adoption of the Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan in 1986, and updates of various Township components in 1988, a new Land Use Plan category, Resource Protection Area, was introduced. The Land Use Plan is a composite of Township Plans, but the application of the Resource Protection Area category to the county-wide plan has not been accomplished. • As part of its recommendations, the Rural Character Study Committee (1993) advocated the preparation of a Comprehensive Resources Map to identify and overlay critical environmental, natural, wildlife, cultural, historic, archaeological, biological, and geologic resources to show land owners and developers the location of such sites, and encourage the voluntary use of conservation easements. • Recent initiatives by the Agricultural Districts Advisory Board have focused on the use of conservation easements as a means of voluntarily preserving agricultural lands, including