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County Planners Seek Vision For 2030
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A handful of residents turned out for Thursday night's 'Community Workshop' hosted as part of the San Joaquin County General Plan Update. Senior Planner Ray Hoo said seven people attended the meeting, which was the second community workshop offered in Escalon,

"We talked about issues and opportunities that came out of our background report," Hoo said of looking for direction for the future. "We want to 'pick the brains' of citizens, what they think would be the vision for the county ... where they see the county going and what they want the county to be in 2030."

It may seem like a long way off, but that 2030 date only gives the county a 20-year plan.

"Land use, transportation, air quality, agriculture," Hoo said of the various topics covered in the workshop. "Our current general plan goes through 2010 and this new one, we started the process last year and it should be adopted by 2011."

The current general plan was adopted in 1992, noted Hoo.

"Times have changed and we need a plan that reflects those changes," he said.

The Thursday, Aug. 13 meeting was at the Escalon Library and was one of 14 scheduled meetings being hosted throughout the county during August and September.

Meetings have already been held in Ripon, Manteca and Lockeford in addition to Escalon. Upcoming sessions will be in Lodi on Aug. 24, Stockton on Aug. 26, Lathrop on Aug. 31, Woodbridge, Aug. 31; Morada, Sept. 1; Acampo, Sept. 9; Linden, Sept. 10; Tracy, Sept. 21; and Stockton, at the Robert J. Cabral Agricultural Center to wrap up the series on Wednesday, Sept. 23.

All meetings begin at 7 p.m. and are open to the public. Escalon residents that didn't get the chance to attend the local session can attend any of the upcoming meetings to offer their input.

"All the up to date information is on the website," Hoo said, noting that residents can also keep updated on the general plan progress that way.

The general plan update website is www.sjcgpu.com.