General Plan Approval Drags On

Efforts to complete the Watsonville Vista 2030 General Plan likely will stretch into November, if the Watsonville City Council takes city staff's advice on how to deal with an 11th-hour letter that identified some inadequacies in the final Environmental Impact Report.

Watsonville Vista, the city's vision for job creation, housing development and infrastructure improvements for the next two decades, has been six years in the making. The council intended to approve the plan in September, but a nine-page letter from an attorney representing Friends of Buena Vista, one of the organizations who originally opposed the general plan, stalled approval.

The General Plan has already been litigated and the current version before the city council has been redrafted to address issues identified by a judge.

Now, city staff is recommending one final look at the Final EIR—a single component of the General Plan—to make minor modifications to the document that would why the existing analysis is consistent with the judge’s orders.

To do so would open also mean opening a short window for the public to comment on that sole aspect of the General Plan.

If approved, the Watsonville Vista 2030 General Plan would be up for certification and approval at the city council's Nov. 13 meeting.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chambers, fourth floor of the Civic Plaza, 275 Main St.