What is the General Plan?
The General Plan is a strategic document that will guide the physical development of the City over the next ten years. Among other things, the General Plan sets out the pattern of land uses, including residential, commercial and industrial. It also establishes the system of streets, bikeways and trails. The General Plan addresses a wide variety of subject areas, including housing, traffic, natural resources, land uses, economic development, noise and public safety.

Every city and county in California is required by state law to prepare and maintain a General Plan. The State provides guidelines for the preparation of General Plans.

The General Plan functions as a valuable decision-making tool to providing the policy framework for all land use decisions made by the City. City staff, the Planning Commission and the City Council use it to evaluate every development project that is submitted for review and consideration within the City.

The City’s current General Plan was adopted in May 1993. Although the City is largely built out, quality of life and land use issues continue to be of interest to residents as the City contends with the development of remaining parcels. This General Plan Update will focus on two elements: Land Use and Circulation.

Process
The General Plan Update is a three-phase process. The first phase included mailing out a written survey to each City residence, preparing a survey analysis report, conducting stakeholder interviews, preparing a market trends report, and preparing baseline data and maps. The second phase, to begin Fall 2006, will include preparing technical analyses and reports on traffic, housing/population, open space/conservation/parks/recreation, public safety, infrastructure, and community services. It will also include updating the goals, policies, objectives and programs of the General Plan, and preparing the Draft Land Use Element and Draft Circulation Element of the General Plan. The third phase would include refining and finalizing the Land Use Element and Circulation Element, and analyzing the potential environmental consequences of the General Plan Update per the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The update of the General Plan will be subject to Planning Commission and City Council public hearings prior to final acceptance.

How can you participate?
We encourage members of the community to attend meetings on the General Plan Update. Please continue to check back to this site for information about upcoming meetings. We also welcome verbal and written questions, suggestions, and feedback. Please contact Allison Cook, Senior Planner, at (818) 597-7310. Written comments can also be submitted to Allison Cook at acook@ci.agoura-hills.ca.us or at: City Hall, 30001 Ladyface Court, Agoura Hills, CA 91301.

What’s New?
In 2005, a General Plan survey questionnaire was sent to all households in the City (approximately 7,300) in order to receive feedback from the community on various land use, circulation and other public service issues. The City received approximately 954 completed surveys. The City then commissioned an independent firm, True North Research, to review, analyze, and summarize the data and to ensure that the study demographics reflect those of the adult resident population as a whole. The survey findings represent statistically reliable measures of resident’s opinions on a number of key issues to be addressed in the General Plan. The results of the survey are included in a report entitled Survey of Residents Regarding General Plan Topics, which can be downloaded here. A copy of the report is also available for purchase for $65 from the City Planning and Community Development Department.

Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents.
They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.

Acrobat Reader Windows Media Player Word Viewer Excel Viewer PowerPoint Viewer