FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Hearing Is Tonight on General Plan

The Planning Commission will hold a special hearing tonight on a revision of the city’s General Plan, the road map that will guide Fountain Valley’s future development.

“What this does is give us a blueprint for the next 20 years--but there’s not a lot of development that can occur,” City Manager Ray Kromer said.

Kromer said the city has little land left for new development. However, he said the new General Plan addresses redevelopment and alternate uses of properties.

The General Plan has not been revised since the city incorporated in the early 1960s.

“This is the first major rewrite of the General Plan,” Kromer said.

Possible controversial changes in the General Plan include a proposal to extend Newhope Street to connect to the San Diego Freeway and widen Euclid Street one lane in each direction from the San Diego Freeway to the northern city limits.

Businesses would be affected if Newhope Street is extended because property would need to be acquired to complete the project.

“The reason we’re considering this is to improve traffic circulation at Euclid Street and Talbert Avenue,” said Andrew Perea, planning services manager.

In addition, residents have raised concerns about increased noise and additional traffic if Euclid Street is widened.

“We have a vision of Fountain Valley as it was originally planned--as a bedroom community with good schools, strong residential neighborhoods, tree-lined streets and neighborhood businesses,” said Gus Ayer, president of Green Valley Homeowners Assn. “The city plan forecasts a highly urbanized environment with an intensification of uses in commercial areas and traffic noise in our back yards, which is incompatible with residential use.”

Mayor Laurann Cook emphasized that the proposals in the General Plan are only suggestions. If they are adopted as part of the General Plan, separate studies on each proposal would be conducted to assess the environmental effects.

The Planning Commission hearing will begin at 7 p.m. in City Council chambers, 10200 Slater Ave.