Under California law, each city and county must have a Comprehensive Plan (also known as a General Plan) to guide its future growth and development.  A Comprehensive Plan is a long-range document that includes goals, policies and programs for how a community will manage its land use, housing, circulation, natural resources, economics and public services.

The City of Palo Alto currently is undertaking a Comprehensive Plan Amendment that will cover the period through 2020.  The purpose of the Amendment is to extend the horizon year of the existing Comprehensive Plan adopted in 1998 from 2010 to 2020, revise base conditions and growth projections, modify policies and programs, update the land use map and revise the Housing Element.  An environmental impact report (EIR) will be prepared to analyze the Comprehensive Plan Amendment.

Once complete, the amended Comprehensive Plan will serve as the guide for Palo Alto’s future development.  The City Council and Planning Commission will use the Comprehensive Plan to evaluate land use changes and make funding and budget decisions, and City staff will use it to regulate building and development and to inform its recommendations on projects.

   The City has identified the following priorities for this Comprehensive Plan Amendment:

• Economic, environmental and social sustainability
• Provision of sufficient public services to serve new residential development
• Preservation of adequate land for neighborhood-serving retail uses

The Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan includes the following elements:

• Land Use and Design: the location and concentration of housing, businesses, public facilities, open space and other land uses.
• Housing Element: existing housing stock and additional units necessary to meet the State-designated allocation of affordable housing.
• Transportation: existing and planned roads and transit and pedestrian systems in Palo Alto.
• Natural Environment: open space, water supply, air quality, urban forest, special-status species, hazardous materials and noise.
• Community Services and Facilities: existing public facilities and planned infrastructure expansions and improvements.
• Business and Economics:  future business development and industry.

Each of the elements will be reviewed and amended as needed to respond to the City’s priorities for the Comprehensive Plan as well as to ensure it extends to 2020.

Public participation is a critical component of the Comprehensive Plan Amendment process.  There will be a variety of public workshops during the development of the Amendment to solicit input from Palo Alto residents.