Overview

The Riverside County General Plan uses are organized into five (5) separate groups, called Foundation Components and include Agriculture, Rural, Rural Community, Open Space, and Community Development. Within each Foundation are the traditional General Plan Land Use types. 

Currently, the Administration section of the Riverside County General Plan sets forth the rules and procedures governing General Plan Amendments and includes special rules related to Land Use Amendments. The existing process for a General Plan Land Use Amendment within the same Foundation, to occur at any time. However, changing a Land Use from one Foundation to a different Foundation, is subject to an eight (8) year Foundation cycle application process, requiring it to first be "initiated" by the Board of Supervisors. An initiation is NOT an approval for a General Plan Amendment. The land use does not change, and no grading or construction is allowed. The Foundation General Plan Amendment (FGPA) along with the implementing project still requires Board of Supervisors.

The existing General Plan Amendment procedures are not sufficiently flexible to quickly respond to State mandates, the project growth of the region, and housing production in general. Furthermore, the process is lengthy, insufficient, and at a much higher cost than other surrounding Counties due to the multiple procedural steps. As a result, the proposed changes to the General Plan Amendment and Foundation change processes will allow applications to be submitted at any time for consideration and initiation, eliminating the eight (8) year cycle application period, eliminate the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) formation and review process, and consolidate and repurpose the multiple somewhat confusing existing General Plan Amendment types.