Off Beat: Generalizing about the General Plan

OK, admit it. You've never read a General Plan. You don't know what a General Plan is. You could care less.

Well, congratulations. You are among the vast majority of Californians who are pretty clueless about the whole process.

Don't worry, though. You're not missing much.

They're going through this exercise right now in Yuba County, where there's not much to plan at the moment. Development is dead in the water.

No matter. The state requires that cities and counties periodically update their general plans, those lofty and weighty documents that really have little to do with what really happens on the ground. It affords the decisionmakers the opportunity for some deep thinking about the future, assuming they're paying attention.

As Madera County cogently explains: "California law requires that each county and city in the state develop and adopt a General Plan ... It is a comprehensive, long-term plan for the physical development of the county or city. In this sense, it is a 'blueprint' for development."

It appears that most Yuba County residents, like their fellow Californians, are blissfully unaware of how general plans are developed or how important they are.

But then there are the folks in the foothills.

Yup, they want more time to really study — really, really study — those hundreds of pages of planning minutiae, because something buried deep within the document might actually affect the foothills, where long-term development will probably be next to nothing.

The actual importance of the General Plan in guiding development is up for some debate.

Developers can always seeks variances or zoning changes. They can even ask that the county amend the General Plan, but those opportunities are usually limited.

Army Corps on the march

Your friends at the Army Corps of Engineers released some reports last week about levees around Marysville and Sutter County.

Not surprisingly, the Army Corps said the levees weren't up to snuff, or whatever snuff is to the Army Corps in 2010. In 2014, snuff may be different. It's always a moving target.

The corps received $4.6 million in federal stimulus money, so it doled it out to some contractors to do the inspection.

The point of all this seemed kind of unclear, other than spending stimulus money.

Keep in mind that the sudden concern about levees stemmed from Hurricane Katrina. And who was most responsible for the damage in New Orleans?

The Army Corps of Engineers.

Last November, a federal judge ruled that the Army Corps displayed "gross negligence" in failing to maintain a navigation channel — resulting in levee breaches that flooded large swaths of greater New Orleans.

Not up to snuff, you might say.