LAND USE ELEMENT
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PRINCIPLES The General Plan establishes a land use development pattern that makes the most efficient and feasible use of existing infrastructure and public services.
The General Plan provides guidelines for new and existing development that promotes a sense of community.
The General Plan defines those characteristics which make the County "rural" and provides strategies for preserving these characteristics.
The General Plan provides opportunities for positive economic growth such as increased employment opportunities, greater capture of tourism, increased retail sales, and high technology industries.
The General Plan provides guidelines for new development that maintains or enhances the quality of the County.
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The Land Use Element sets forth specific goals, objectives, and policies to guide the intensity, location, and distribution of land uses. El Dorado County has experienced rapid population growth since the 1970s and is projected to grow at an average annual growth rate of approximately 2.8 percent through the next 20 years. This element and the Plan as a whole determine how and to what degree this projected population growth can be accommodated while meeting other State and Federal mandates.
The General Plan land use map is also a part of this element. The General Plan land use map graphically represents the County's goals, objectives, and policies.
The General Plan land use maps will delineate areas where future higher density growth and urban/suburban like activities are anticipated and/or will be directed. These areas may be reflected as the expansion of existing communities within Community Regions and Rural Centers or the projected locations of New Communities within Community Regions or Rural Centers.
Historically, growth in El Dorado County resulted in compact development patterns. Communities such as Cool, Georgetown, Mt. Aukum, and Placerville were small, mixed-use communities where residents lived, worked, and shopped. Recently, although urban like development has continued in the foothills, large lot, low-density residential development has introduced a more rural lifestyle throughout the County and has slowly transformed rural areas into areas characterized with dispersed residential uses. During the General Plan public participation process, residents generally agreed that compatible infill development and clustered communities are mechanisms to reduce development pressures in rural areas, thus preserving the County's rural character and maintaining a sense of place within communities. It is also recognized that promoting business and industry and having well- balanced communities will afford residents the opportunity to work, shop, and recreate close to where they live and in some instances take advantage of non-automobile oriented transportation methods.
STATE AUTHORIZATION
The Land Use Element is mandated by State law. Specifically, California Government Code Section 65302(a) requires the preparation of:
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". . . a land use element which designates the proposed general distribution and general location and extent of the uses of the land for housing, business, industry, open space, including agriculture, natural resources, recreation, and enjoyment of scenic beauty, education, public buildings and grounds, solid and liquid waste disposal facilities, and other categories of public and private uses of land."
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RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ELEMENTS
The Land Use Element is directly related to all other elements contained within the General Plan and has been correlated with the Circulation Element as required by State law.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ELEMENT
This element sets forth planning strategies to produce a land development pattern that supports the principles specified at the beginning of this chapter. The following outline delineates the content of the policy section.