• Home
  • » City Government
    • » City Departments » Community & Economic Development
      • » Planning Division

Concord 2030 Urban Area

2030 Urban Area General Plan

Introduction
The City has reached a major milestone with the General Plan Update project. The City Council on October 2, 2007, adopted the new Concord 2030 Urban Area General Plan. The Concord 2030 Urban Area General Plan articulates a vision for the City over the next 20 years, one that draws its ideas from the many citizens, business owners, elected officials, and City staff who participated in the various meetings and workshops during the update process, which began in 2003. The plan has been designed to provide the framework for the urban area of the City and reflects current planning and economic development efforts.  The plan envisions Concord as a modern and vibrant urban place, infused with a sense of its heritage, a vision that preserves the desirable qualities of the City that makes it an ideal place to live, work, and raise a family. 

The plan establishes a long-range vision that reflects the aspirations of the community, and outlines steps to achieve this vision. It provides a basis for judging whether specific development proposals and public projects are in harmony with community priorities. It allows City departments, other public agencies, and private developers to design projects that will enhance the character of the community, preserve environmental resources, and minimize hazards. Finally, it helps establish priorities for more specialized documents such as the Zoning Ordinance and subdivision regulations that are currently being updated.

Key Initiatives
The Concord 2030 Urban Area General Plan is intended to carry out the following key initiatives:

• Integrating economic development into the General Plan. The new Economic Vitality Element brings the City's Economic Vitality Strategy into the General Plan and underscores the City's goals for fiscal health, a strong regional center, a vibrant Downtown, retail strength, and responsible reuse of the Concord Naval Weapons Station.
• Protecting community assets. The plan renews the City's commitment to protect and enhance its community assets, including quiet communities with distinctive character, a strong sense of community, a diverse population, high quality building design, convenient shopping, broad choice in employment and entertainment, a family atmosphere with excellent recreational activities, and job opportunities close to where people live.
• Supporting mixed use development and transit-supportive land uses around the BART station and in commercial corridors with bus service. The plan promotes mixed use development around the downtown BART station and along arterial streets on underused or abandoned retail sites to create more vitality in these commercial corridors. Adjacent neighborhoods will be protected by buffering standards to avoid adverse impacts.
• Protecting ridgelines, visible hillsides and significant environmental resources. With the extended planning area, plan policies are intended to protect ridgelines, visible hillsides and other significant natural resource areas from development that would have adverse environmental or visual impacts.
• Creating a safe and efficient multi-modal transportation system. The plan establishes a comprehensive set of principles and policies to enhance the existing system and promote a well-integrated and coordinated transit network and safe and convenient pedestrian and bicycle circulation.
• Preserving and enhancing environmental resources. Plan policies call for an interconnected open space system, restoration of degraded resources, protection of creeks and wetlands, and water conservation.
• Providing effective disaster response and planning. A Local Hazards Mitigation Plan was adopted, consistent with the guidelines for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Disaster Act of 2000.
• Planning for environmental justice. The City will plan for the equitable distribution of community facilities and services to meet the needs of all segments of the population and provide services for special needs that increase and enhance the community's quality of life while avoiding over-concentration in any one area.

Parks, Open Space and Conservation

• Provide and maintain park and recreation facilities for the entire community.
• Provide a city-wide, interconnected, multi-use trails system.
• Facilitate community recreational opportunities at public school sites.
• Preserve and protect water quality and wetlands.
• Facilitate water conservation.
• Conserve natural resources.
• Protect historic sites and structures and prehistoric cultural resources.

Safety and Noise

• Support regional air quality strategies through land use planning, site design and development review.
• Encourage land use compatibility for community noise environments.
• Minimize the effects of landslides, ground failure and seismic hazards.
• Protect the community from risks to lives and property posed by flooding and stormwater runoff.
• Promote inter-agency coordination.
• Promote effective fire protection measures for homes adjacent to open space.
• Provide the highest standard of police protection services.
• Coordinate with agencies to plan disaster response.

Schools and Community Facilities

• Provide a safe and reliable water supply.
• Ensure public health and safety through effective wastewater collection and treatment.
• Ensure access to utility systems.
• Facilitate the development of educational programs and facilities that meet the needs of the community.
• Support the provision of library and childcare services.
• Foster arts and entertainment.
• Ensure environmental justice in providing public facilities and services.

To see a copy of the Concord 2030 Urban Area General Plan, visit the Permit Center, 1950 Parkside Drive or the Concord Library, 2900 Salvio Street.

The Concord 2030 Urban Area General Plan is available for purchase.  The cost for the document is $65 plus $5 shipping and handling, or $5 for a CD by contacting Principal Planner Phillip Woods, at 671-3284.

Other General Plan Documents

• Concord Map Atlas
• Concord Map Atlas
• Concord Opportunities and Constraints Working Paper
• Concord Opportunities and Constraints Working Paper in Word format
• Scope of Work for the General Plan Project
• Summary of the 4/29/03 Community Workshop on issues and opportunities
• Scope of Work for the Zoning Ordinance Project
• Summary of 9/25/02 Community Forum, Community Meetings & Preliminary List of Issues
• General Plan Update Preparation Process
• Why the General Plan is Being Updated
• General Plan Objectives
• General Plan Themes and Key Initiatives

Direct comments and questions regarding the General Plan to:

Phillip Woods
Principal Planner
City of Concord
1950 Parkside Drive, MS/53
Concord, CA 94519
(925) 671-3284
E-mail: pwoods@ci.concord.ca.us