Yorba Linda City Council schedules historic vote on a new General Plan, updating 1993 document

Tuesday's scheduled City Council vote on a revised General Plan to guide Yorba Linda's future development will be historic, since only two past councils have cast votes on such documents in the city's near 50-year history.

But the upcoming vote ranks third in importance behind the earlier balloting because the new plan is presented as an update of the second plan adopted in 1993, a document that had key changes from the city's original plan written in 1971.

The 1971 plan, which was so controversial it was placed on the ballot in a 1972 election, put the fledgling city on a clear course as a low-density residential community, after the 2,317 to 1,902 “yes” vote. Thereafter, successful council candidates ran as “low-density advocates.”

The 2016 plan doesn't trigger a Measure B public vote, since the plan incorporates no major modifications in the city's current land use documents. The substantial changes contained in the 1993 plan didn't require a public vote because Measure B wasn't adopted until 2006.

The “planning area” for the updated document includes all properties within the city limits and land in the city's “sphere of influence,” including the Fairlynn and Country Club county islands and the Cielo and Esperanza projects on county territory northeast of the city.

My Aug. 5 column noted the document's “build-out” residential numbers in terms of how many housing units could be added in each of the city's five residential zones, which range from low density (one unit per acre) to high density (four to 30 units per acre).

This column pictures a Yorba Linda 20 years into the future, through 2035, according to the extensive data compiled for some of the document's state-required categories by city-hired consultants.

Population will jump 10,752 persons – nearly 16 percent – from the current 67,637 to 78,389, while the housing stock will add 3,913 dwelling units – close to 18 percent – from the existing 21,958 to 25,871. No change is expected in the number of persons-per-household at 3.03.

Of the planning area's total 14,753 acres, 2,587 are currently vacant. Existing non-residential square footage is about 3.8 million, which could grow another 2 million square feet into 2035.

Of course, with more people, homes and commercial space, the infrastructure will deal with more traffic, wastewater and solid waste. An added 43,137 vehicle trips, 3 million gallons of wastewater and 60,000 pounds of solid waste will be generated daily.

While the county Sanitation District and Olinda landfill will easily manage the increases, future build-out “could result in a considerable increase” in pollutants, mostly from “mobile sources,” the plan notes.

Another significant jump will be in train traffic. Today's 60 freight and 27 passenger trains will increase to 99 freight and 42 passenger trains and “exposure to railroad traffic noise levels is considered a potentially significant impact.”