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SACRAMENTO 2040 GENERAL PLAN

PART 1

Introduction to the 2040 General Plan and Sustainability and Equity

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Prepared for: City of SACRAMENTO

Prepared by: DYETT & BHATIA Urban and Regional Planners

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PART 1: Introduction to the 2040 General Plan and Sustainability and Equity

Table of Contents

1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 1-1

Sacramento Profile .................................................................................................................................................. 1-2 Scope and Purpose of the General Plan ............................................................................................................ 1-3 Planning Area ............................................................................................................................................................ 1-6 Planning Context ...................................................................................................................................................... 1-9 General Plan Update Process ...............................................................................................................................1-11 Vision ......................................................................................................................................................................... 1-14 General Plan Organization.................................................................................................................................... 1-15 How to Use the General Plan............................................................................................................................... 1-18

2 Sustainability and Equity...................................................................................................................2-1

Recent City Initiatives.............................................................................................................................................. 2-2 Indicators.................................................................................................................................................................... 2-2

List of Maps

Map 1-1: Regional Location............................................................................................................................................... 1-7 Map 1-2: Planning Area..................................................................................................................................................... 1-8

List of Figures

Figure 1-1: General Plan Pyramid ................................................................................................................................... 1-3

List of Tables

Table 1-1: Correspondence Between State-Mandated Elements and General Plan Chapters .......................... 1-5 Table 1-2: Policy Index..................................................................................................................................................... 1-19 Table 2-1: Indicators ........................................................................................................................................................... 2-3

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1

INTRODUCTION

Sacramento is a diverse and welcoming city with a rich history, strategic location within the Central Valley, and a bright future. The city is a historic community deeply rooted in the story of California and a dynamic modern destination that is a regional hub for business, arts, culture, and innovation. Sacramento is one of the fastest growing cities in California, located in one of the most livable regions in the U.S.

Looking to the future, Sacramento is projected to add 69,000 new homes and 77,000 new jobs by 2040. For the community to continue to flourish, Sacramento will need to ensure that this growth happens in ways that are both sustainable and equitable. This will mean promoting a compact development pattern with new growth strategically concentrated to support efficient delivery of public services and infrastructure and to reduce vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions. Equally, it will require a focus on fostering complete neighborhoods that provide for residents' daily needs within easy walking or biking distance from home and that offer a range of housing types to suit the needs of people of all ages and at all stages of life. It will also mean building community resilience in the face of climate change, forging inclusive economic development, and taking action to address the inequities of past practices so that everyone has an opportunity to achieve their full potential in Sacramento. In rising to meet these challenges and turning them into opportunities for an even brighter future, the Sacramento 2040 General Plan seeks to foster a more sustainable, equitable, and prosperous city for all.

Sacramento Profile

The capital of California since 1854, Sacramento is a modern city and the metropolis of a region that encompasses El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties. Its location in the fertile Central Valley at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers allowed farming, food processing, and transportation to play a pivotal role in the early development of the community. Today, food and agriculture continue to be important drivers of the local economy. Increasingly, innovation and technology are shaping economic and community development in Sacramento and there is a growing number of companies involved in high-tech manufacturing, software development, biotechnology, and medical research. The city is home to numerous top-ranked post-secondary educational institutions that are valuable contributors of ideas and talent, and it is an important regional transportation hub, served by an international airport, a deep-water shipping port, two major interstate freeways, freight and passenger rail lines, and an extensive regional commuter bus and light rail system.

Sacramento has a diverse and growing population. The city has seen sustained population growth over decades, and between 2010 and 2020, Sacramento added 44,000 new residents, a robust increase over a period that includes the Great Recession years. This growth has been fueled in large part by an out-migration from the San Francisco Bay Area spurred by rapidly rising housing costs and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Immigration from overseas also contributes, with new residents arriving from Asia, Central America, and Europe, with Mexico, the Philippines, India, China, Ukraine, and Russia chief among them. In 2020, nearly 55 percent of the population identified as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), non-white. Between 2010 and 2020, population increased to approximately 500,000, but the age composition stayed roughly the same. Sacramento boasts a rich cultural offering too, home to an active and historic Downtown, numerous world-class performing arts venues and professional sports teams, and a burgeoning creative arts scene. The walkable streets and historic homes of Midtown attract visitors to Sacramento, and riverfront open spaces offer an array of recreational activities and amenities.

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Scope and Purpose of the General Plan

WHAT IS A GENERAL PLAN

The 2040 General Plan was adopted in compliance with the requirements of California Government Code Section 65300. The General Plan is a legal document and much of its content is established by statutory requirements relating to background data, analysis, maps, and exhibits. The legal adequacy of the General Plan is critical, since many City actions and programs are required to be consistent with the General Plan.

California Government Code section 65300 requires each city and county to adopt a General Plan “for the physical development of the county or city, and any land outside its boundaries which... bears relation to its planning.” The Sacramento General Plan can be considered a blueprint for development and conservation — a set of policies that guide the City’s land use and capital investment decisions for the next two decades. The Sacramento General Plan serves to:

• Establish a long-range vision that reflects the aspirations of the community and outlines steps to achieve it;
• Guide decision-making related to development, housing, transportation, environmental quality, public services, parks, open space, and agricultural conservation;
• Help Sacramento achieve compliance with applicable State and regional policies, including housing production and environmental regulations
• Allow City departments, other public agencies, and private developers to design projects that will enhance the community, preserve environmental resources, and minimize hazards; and
• Provide the basis for establishing and setting priorities for detailed programs, such as the Planning and Development Code and future specific plans.

Due to the broad and long-range nature of the General Plan, there will be instances where more detailed studies will be necessary to implement the General Plan’s policies, as illustrated in Figure I-1.

Figure I-1

General Plan Pyramid

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GENERAL PLAN REQUIREMENTS

California grants local authorities power over land use decisions. As a result, cities have considerable flexibility in preparing their general plans so long as State requirements are met. The California Government Code establishes both the content of general plans and rules for their adoption and subsequent amendment. Together, state law and judicial decisions establish three overall guidelines for general plans. General plans should be:

• Comprehensive. The general plan must be geographically comprehensive, applying throughout the entire incorporated area and the Sphere of Influence. The general plan must also address the full range of issues that affect the city’s physical development.
• Internally Consistent. The general plan must fully integrate its separate parts and relate them to each other without conflict. “Horizontal” consistency applies as much to figures and diagrams as to the general plan text. It also applies to data and analysis as well as policies. All adopted portions of the general plan, whether required by state law or not, have equal legal weight. None may supersede another, so the general plan must resolve conflicts among the provisions of each element.
• Long Range. Because anticipated development will affect the city and the people who live, work, and study here for years to come, state law requires every general plan to take a long-term perspective. This General Plan uses the year 2040 as its planning horizon.

The Sacramento General Plan contains four parts: Part 1: Introduction to the 2040 General Plan and Sustainability and Equity; Part 2: Citywide Goals and Policies; Part 3: Community Plans and Special Study Areas; and Part 4: Administration and Implementation. As shown on Table I-1, the General Plan covers all eight “elements” required under state law — land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, safety, and environmental justice — in addition to several optional elements of local importance to the community, including economic development, and historic and cultural resources. All elements, regardless of whether they are mandatory or optional, carry equal weight.

Housing Elements are required by state law to be updated more frequently than the General Plan, and to facilitate that, the City publishes its Housing Element under a separate cover. The City of Sacramento Housing Element was most recently adopted in 2021, and will be next updated in 2029, consistent with the State-defined cycle. State law also requires that implementation of the General Plan be “vertically” consistent, meaning all actions related to zoning, subdivision approval, housing allocations, and capital improvements must be consistent with the General Plan.

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Table 1-1: Correspondence Between State-Mandated Elements and General Plan Chapters

Planning Area

REGIONAL LOCATION

Sacramento is located in the northern part of the Central Valley, roughly halfway between San Francisco to the west and Lake Tahoe to the east. Major highways providing regional access to and through Sacramento include Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 50 (east/west), and Interstate 5 and U.S. Highway 99 (north/south). Amtrak serves Sacramento’s passenger rail needs, while Sacramento International Airport provides domestic and international flights through most major airlines. Within the city and surrounding region, Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) is the primary transit provider of bus and light rail service. The regional location of the planning area is shown on Map I-1.

PLANNING AREA

The planning area is defined as the land area addressed by the General Plan, including land within City limits, the Sphere of Influence (SOI) outside City limits, and Special Study Areas; all of which are subsequently discussed. The planning area comprises approximately 113,572 acres (197 square miles) of incorporated and unincorporated land, encompassing land within City limits, the SOI, and five special study areas as shown on Map I-2. The planning area boundary was determined in response to state law, which requires each city to include all territory within the boundaries of the incorporated area as well as “any land outside its boundaries which in the planning agency’s judgement bears relation to its planning,”¹ within the general plan planning area. While the City only has jurisdiction within City limits, it can establish future land use and zoning in the SOI to indicate desired uses and intensity in the event of future annexation.

City Limits

The City limits encompasses approximately 64,425 acres (101 square miles) of incorporated land within the legal jurisdiction of the City of Sacramento. The existing uses within the City limits include residential, commercial, and industrial developments, as well as public facilities including parks, schools, and hospitals.

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Sphere of Influence (SOI)

The SOI is an area outside of Sacramento’s jurisdictional boundary, or City limits, that designates the City’s probable future boundary and service area. Sacramento’s SOI encompasses 14,018 acres (22 square miles) outside of City limits. The Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) has jurisdiction over defining Sacramento’s SOI and acts on annexations and the approval of service contracts outside City limits. The purpose of the SOI is to coordinate and shape logical and orderly development while discouraging urban sprawl and the premature conversion of agricultural and open space lands by preventing overlapping jurisdictions and duplication of services. While the LAFCo cannot tell agencies what their planning goals should be, on a regional level, the LAFCo for each California county helps coordinate efficient provision of services for the benefit of area residents and property owners.

Special Study Areas

The planning area also includes five special study areas: the Natomas Basin Study Area, the Arden Arcade Study Area, the East Study Area, the Fruitridge/Florin Study Area, and the Town of Freeport Study Area. These are unincorporated locations adjacent to City limits where careful coordination between the City and the County is required to plan for natural resource protection and the efficient delivery of services. Collectively, the special study areas total approximately 47,610 acres (74 square miles), approximately 74 percent of which lies outside City limits and the SOI.

Map I-1

Regional Location

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Map I-2

Planning Area

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Source: City of Sacramento GIS, 2023; Dyett & Bhatia, 2023

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Aerial view of Southern Pacific Railroad passenger station, ca. 1925-1926

Planning Context

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT PATTERN

Sacramento’s early and modern settlements were shaped by its geographic features, including the Sacramento and American rivers, and its verdant flora and fauna. The Sacramento Valley was first settled by Nisenan (Southern Maidu) and Plains Miwok Native Americans. Archaeological and linguistic studies show that the region’s earliest inhabitants were hunter-gatherers who subsisted on acorns, seeds, and other plants, as well as land animals and fish; they practiced religion, built villages with distinct architecture, and manufactured a wide variety of tools and crafts.

European exploration into the Sacramento Valley began in the early 1800s via colonization and the establishment of missions. One of these explorers, a Spaniard name Gabriel Moraga is responsible for naming the valley region “Sacramento,” which means “the Holy Sacrament.” In 1839, John Sutter established Sutter’s Fort on a land grant from the Mexican government, in what was, at the time, Nisenan territory.

After the discovery of gold in the Sierras, Sacramento quickly became a transportation hub for prospectors and supplies on their way to the gold fields. Sutter had an official plan for the city prepared and the citizens of Sacramento adopted a City charter in 1849. In 1850, Sacramento became the first incorporated city in California. During the California Gold Rush and through the 1800s, the city’s location along the river ports, and later the railroad, played a prominent role in making Sacramento a major distribution point; a commercial and agricultural center; a terminus for wagon trains, stagecoaches, riverboats, the telegraph, the Pony Express, and the First Transcontinental Railroad; and in 1854, the state capital of California. Rail expansion continued in the late 19th century and early 20th century, facilitating local as well as regional travel. Battery operated streetcars were introduced in 1891, and in an era before the automobile, development of the city’s first suburbs followed streetcar lines. By 1911, Sacramento had eight streetcar lines. The “streetcar suburbs” to the east and south, including Land Park, Curtis Park, Oak Park, Tahoe Park and East Sacramento, had an estimated population of 15,000 and were annexed into the City, thereby tripling the city’s land area.

Following World War II, Sacramento began a period of unprecedented growth aided by the growing post-war economy, strong housing demand, and the national trend toward suburbanization. From 1946 to 1970, the City of Sacramento added nearly 60,000 acres of land in the Natomas, Northgate, Gardenland, and North Sacramento areas, expanding almost seven times its 1945 size of just over 9,000 acres. This massive post-war expansion was made possible by the dramatic growth in automobile ownership and the development of freeways, such as Interstates 80 and 5 and U.S. 50, which allowed

quick travel to once outlying areas. The freeways, however, also disrupted existing neighborhoods and displaced residents, as land was cleared for this new infrastructure and new barriers were created between historically connected neighborhoods. With the advent of the automobile, neighborhoods became less dense and blocks grew larger, scaled to the speed of a car rather than the pedestrian. Land uses became more segregated, increasing Sacramento’s car dependence. As many residents moved out to the new suburbs, retailers followed them and built a new kind of development suited to the suburban lifestyle: the shopping mall. In 1954, Sacramento’s first large shopping mall, Country Club Shopping Center, opened. This was soon followed by others such as Southgate and Florin Center and then by smaller strip malls along commercial corridors in subsequent decades.

Annexation of the Pocket and the Natomas areas led to significant population growth throughout the 1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s and into the early 2000s. In tandem with post-war suburban development, redevelopment in Downtown Sacramento resulted in a dramatic decrease in population. Urban renewal projects saw properties condemned as “blighted.” These properties were expropriated from homeowners and tenants in order to facilitate demolition, which effectively removed entire non-White communities from the downtown area, particularly the West End (an area west of the State Capitol redeveloped in the 1950s/60s). However, revisions to the Capitol Area Plan in 1977 and 1997 ushered in new mixed-use and residential developments that have helped revitalize the central city. The expansion of the light rail system in the mid-2000s has also created new opportunities for transit-oriented development along extensions of the SacRT Blue and Gold Lines. More recently, the advent of online shopping and e-commerce have resulted in a reduced demand for physical retail space, and there are opportunities to reimagine some older shopping centers.

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GENERAL PLAN EVOLUTION

Smart growth principles have long been central to long-range planning in Sacramento. In 1988, the City adopted a General Plan that laid out a set of smart growth principles to guide sustainable and balanced development that makes efficient and effective use of land resources and existing infrastructure. In 2009, a comprehensive update (2030 General Plan) carried these principles forward with a focus on promoting infill development and reuse of underutilized properties, as well as on intensifying development near transit and mixed-use activity centers. An important theme of the 2030 General Plan was “Living Lightly” and it incorporated strategies to reduce Sacramento’s carbon footprint as well as a program calling for the City to prepare and adopt a climate action plan, which was subsequently adopted in two phases in 2010 and 2012. A technical update to the General Plan was adopted in 2015 (the 2035 General Plan), which incorporated the Climate Action Plan into the General Plan and refreshed the Technical Background Report. The 2040 General Plan is the most current iteration of this comprehensive planning document.

General Plan Update Process

In 2019, the City embarked on a comprehensive update of the General Plan to guide Sacramento in its next era of growth and development in a sustainable and equitable manner. The General Plan Update focused on updating policies and programs to reflect changed conditions and priorities and to address new state laws. Important cornerstones of the 2040 General Plan Update include a focus on Sacramento’s neighborhoods, a new environmental justice element as required by California Government Code 65302(h), and bold action to address an accelerating climate crisis. In parallel, a new Climate Action and Adaptation Plan was prepared to establish Sacramento as a leader in climate action.

The General Plan Update process involved four main phases. Phase 1 focused on identifying issues and opportunities to address in updating the General Plan and culminated in a Vision and Guiding Principles, adopted by City Council in November 2019, that describe Sacramento’s shared values and its aspirations for the future. Phase 2 explored key strategies necessary to achieve the vision. The strategies were refined through input from community members and decision-makers and distilled into a preferred plan concept and key strategies to guide preparation of the 2040 General Plan. Phase 3 saw the creation of draft goals, policies, and implementing actions based on the approved vision and key strategies from prior phases. Phase 4 involved public review of the draft documents, additional community outreach to raise awareness in the community and solicit feedback on the draft documents, and formal hearings before the Planning and Design Commission and the City Council prior to adoption of the plans and certification of the Master Environmental Impact Report (MEIR).

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MILESTONE DOCUMENTS

The update process involved the preparation of several documents: the Policy Document, Technical Background Report, and Master Environmental Impact Report.

Policy Document. The Policy Document is the essence of the General Plan. It contains the goals, policies, and implementing actions that will guide City decision-making and investments for the next two decades. The Policy Document was revised comprehensively to reflect extensive community input on issues, opportunities, and priorities as well as to address new state law.

Technical Background Report. Along with the Policy Document, the Technical Background Report will be part of the General Plan. This document does not represent adopted City policy, but it provides a profile and analysis of existing conditions and trends within Sacramento and the surrounding area as of 2018; it addresses several State planning law requirements for general plans; and it provides a foundation for policy in the Policy Document. It also serves as the environmental setting for the MEIR; however, it is not part of the MEIR. The Technical Background Report was published in November 2020 and is available on the City’s website.

Master Environmental Impact Report

In parallel with the General Plan Update, the City is also preparing a MEIR. The purpose of the MEIR is to identify and evaluate the potentially significant impacts that could occur as a result of the adoption and implementation of the 2040 General Plan, including cumulative effects, growth-inducing effects, and irreversible significant effects on the environment.

The City Council reviews and considers the MEIR during the General Plan Update process to understand the potential environmental implications associated with implementing the General Plan. The MEIR is not part of the General Plan; however, it is intended to streamline project-level California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review for subsequent projects that are consistent with the General Plan.

Additionally, the following supporting documents are incorporated by reference into the 2040 General Plan: the City of Sacramento Annex to the Sacramento County Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP); and the Sacramento Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), including the Vulnerability Assessment it contains. Copies of all referenced materials are available for review at the City of Sacramento Community Development Department and on the City’s website.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Community involvement was an integral and ongoing component of the General Plan Update process; a particular focus was on outreach to disadvantaged and linguistically isolated communities. The ideas and feedback gathered through the community outreach process directly informed the vision set forth in this General Plan and the strategies incorporated to achieve it. Major outreach efforts included:

• Stakeholder Interviews: At the beginning of the project work, a series of interviews was conducted with a variety of local stakeholders, including property owners, advocacy groups, developers, business owners, public agency staff, elected officials, and others. These interviews elicited candid input on planning issues and provided a broad sense of the major issues of concern and desired outcomes for the General Plan Update.
• Phase 1 Citywide Workshops: Broad-based community engagement for the General Plan Update kicked off with a series of citywide workshops in different locations throughout the community. The purpose of these workshops were to build awareness about the project and to solicit input from community members on critical issues and opportunities for Sacramento, especially mobility, land use, climate change, and environmental justice. As part of this outreach, the City also conducted a series of pop-up events in hard-to-reach communities and created a toolkit for community members and neighborhood organizations to host their own self-led “meetings in a box” to share their ideas and proposals for the future of the city. Input from these activities was used to craft the General Plan’s Vision and Guiding Principles and to inform all subsequent planning work.
• Phase 1 Community Plan Workshops: After establishing the Vision and Guiding Principles, the focus shifted to Sacramento’s neighborhoods with a series of workshops held in each of the 10 Community Plan areas. At these workshops, residents participated in small group discussions to identify neighborhood-specific priorities and issues.
• Interest-Based Focus Groups: At the beginning of Phase 2, meetings were held with neighborhood associations, advocacy groups, and other stakeholder groups to assess and refine key strategies for land use, mobility, and climate change; incorporate unique stakeholder perspectives; and build common, collaborative ground.
• Phase 2 Citywide Workshops: Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a virtual citywide workshop ran from May-June 2020 through the City’s website. The virtual workshop presented the key strategies for the 2040 General Plan which were developed based on the adopted Vision and Guiding Principles and community input. Informational videos and interactive online activities in English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese, were used to solicit feedback. Working with local high schools, youth ambassadors from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds were recruited to help their linguistically isolated relatives and neighbors participate in the virtual workshop activities.

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• Scientific Survey: As part of Phase 2 outreach activities, a scientific survey was conducted by a professional polling firm to gauge support for the key strategies from a statistically valid sample of the population.

• Phase 2 Community Plan Workshops: The second round of meetings on the Community Plan Areas were conducted virtually, given COVID-19 safety protocols. These meetings included an online interactive workshop series focused on neighborhood-specific strategies for each of the 10 Community Plan Areas.

• Youth Engagement Program: Through a three-month long summer program, youth representatives developed an informational video and online questionnaire about Sacramento’s future approach to climate change issues, collecting more than 300 responses from local residents and helping to inform the early direction of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.

• Environmental Justice Working Group: An Environmental Justice Working Group met throughout the planning process to provide insight on how historic practices have disproportionately impacted low-income and minority communities; share input on strategies for addressing these practices and their outcomes; and help refine policies and implementing actions related to environmental justice and equity for inclusion in the General Plan Update. The group was comprised of more than 25 representatives from community-based organizations, public agencies, and other participants who work to foster equity and inclusion within Sacramento.

• Phase 4 Community Outreach: In Phase 4, the Public Review Draft of the General Plan was released for public review. To support the public review process, additional outreach was conducted to raise awareness in the community, build understanding of the content of the proposed plans, and solicit community feedback to present to City decision-makers. Phase 4 Community Outreach. Community engagement activities included webinars, a several months-long virtual open house, and pop-up events around the community with a focus on harder to reach areas.

• Decision-Maker Meetings: Meetings with both the Planning and Design Commission and the City Council were held at key milestones in the process to report on progress and receive direction for the upcoming phase. Specific input was also sought from various commissions such as the Active Transportation Commission, Parks and Community Enrichment Commission, Preservation Commission, the Sacramento Youth Commission, and the Disabilities Advisory Commission.

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Vision

The guiding Vision of the General Plan, as adopted by City Council in November 2019, was crafted from extensive Phase 1 community input. The accompanying Guiding Principles can be found in Appendix A of the General Plan.

In 2040, the City of Sacramento will be a national model of sustainable, equitable growth and community development.

Sacramento will continue to be a dynamic regional center of culture, diversity, jobs, food, and beautiful parks and trees, and will cultivate inclusive access to opportunity and healthy living. The General Plan seeks to direct growth and change into commercial and transit corridors, building on the city’s existing assets and character. Pedestrian, bicycle and transit options will be prioritized over automobiles.

Every neighborhood will be a desirable place to live, with safe streets, extensive tree canopy, a range of housing choices, mixed-use neighborhood centers, great schools, parks and recreation facilities, and convenient connections to jobs, services, and nature. Every resident will feel the freedom to walk and bike safely and comfortably. Sacramento’s neighborhoods will be affordable and inclusive, and every resident will have the opportunity to thrive.

As California’s capital, Sacramento will continue to be a primary center for government, employment, education, and culture. The city’s economy will continue to strengthen, diversify, and participate in changing global industries.

Sacramento will be a leader in bold, equitable climate action and the green economy, taking steps to cut waste, pollution, and carbon emissions. Through its continued progress toward

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Sacramento’s 2045 climate neutrality goal, the city will also achieve other, interconnected goals: healthy, climate-safe homes, green spaces and tree canopy for all, an efficient zero-emissions transportation system, clean air, and a thriving, sustainable economy. Recognizing the future challenges of climate change, Sacramento will build resilience for all its communities, especially the most vulnerable.

Sacramento will ensure that residents of all ages and abilities have access to a range of reliable, environmentally responsible transportation options. Sacramento will invest in its aging infrastructure and prioritize carbon-neutral transport, and will have clean air, water, and “complete” streets. Sacramento will also invest in its human capital today, prioritizing investment in youth, the adults and leaders of 2040.

Sacramento will ensure the just and equitable treatment of all neighborhoods and people, address historical inequities, and ensure broad community participation and ownership in public processes, as well as accountability in implementing plans. Sacramento will continue to celebrate its cultural and ethnic diversity and will foster the arts, protect historic, cultural, and natural resources, and cultivate its extensive urban forest, parks and riverways.

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General Plan Organization

The 2040 General Plan addresses the eight state-mandated topics as well as several additional topics of local importance. The 2021-2029 Housing Element, which fulfills the state requirement for a certified housing element, was adopted in 2021 and published separately. The General Plan is organized into four parts, as follows:

PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE 2040 GENERAL PLAN AND SUSTAINABILITY AND EQUITY

• Introduction. The Introduction contains the General Plan’s vision and guiding principles and an overview of its organization, and describes Sacramento’s regional location and planning boundaries, the planning process, how the 2040 General Plan relates to other plans and regulations, and how to use, revise, and amend the plan. This chapter also includes a policy index intended as a navigational aid to help users find policies and actions on key topics and themes quickly and easily.

• Sustainability and Equity. This section discusses two themes that are integral to the 2040 General Plan and are woven throughout the General Plan: sustainability and equity. It includes a summary of key initiatives the City has already undertaken to address these themes. It also identifies a series of indicators that can be used to monitor toward the community wide objectives of the General Plan and help ensure that growth contributes incrementally to a more sustainable and equitable city.

PART 2: CITYWIDE GOALS AND POLICIES

The eight topical elements of the General Plan set out citywide goals and policies are as follows:

• Land Use and Placemaking. This Element combines land use, a required topic by state law, and an additional topic that is a closely related priority for the community: placemaking. This Element describes the existing land use pattern and provides an explanation of the General Plan’s approach to citywide growth, presenting policies and standards for land use designations and development intensities, urban design, green building, arts, culture, and placemaking.

• Historic and Cultural Resources. This Element covers historic and cultural resources, which is a topic of local importance. This Element describes preservation efforts to date, and presents policies for the preservation, adaptation, and reuse of historic and cultural resources.

• Economic Development. This Element addresses a topic of local importance, providing an overview of the population and employment context in Sacramento, and outlining goals and policies to foster a dynamic local economy, innovation, business resilience, and inclusive economic development.

• Environmental Resources and Constraints. This Element satisfies the legal requirements for addressing the topic of noise and identifies noise sources, quantifies future noise levels through a contour map, and establishes measures to address noise issues. It addresses the requirements for the conservation, including water, energy, vegetation, wildlife, and air to improve the environmental well-being of the community. It also addresses Safety Element requirements for community protection from wildfires, flooding, seismic events, dam inundation, and climate change.

• Environmental Justice. This Element satisfies the legal requirements in planning for “disadvantaged communities” identified under Senate Bill (SB) 535 (2012, De Leon). Consistent with SB 1000 (2016), this element addresses the topics of air quality and pollution exposure; safe and sanitary homes; healthy food access; and civic engagement and investment prioritization.

• Mobility. The Element satisfies the statutory requirements for the general plan circulation element in part, providing a circulation diagram that identifies the city’s major transportation routes and thoroughfares as well as a policy framework that seeks to balance walking, bicycling, transit service, and driving within an equitable, sustainable multimodal circulation system. It also addresses the regional movement of people and goods by road, rail, and air.

• Public Facilities and Safety. This Element satisfies legal requirements for public safety related to urban fires as well as the location and extent of public utilities, including water, sewer, stormwater, and electricity. This Element also provides background information and a policy framework related to police and fire services, schools, and libraries.

• Youth, Parks, Recreation, and Open Space. This Element satisfies the legal requirements for addressing open space for environmental and scenic conservation, as well as topics of community importance: youth, parks, and recreation.

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It includes background information and policies relating to youth programs, parks and recreation, and open space conservation and access.

PART 3: COMMUNITY PLANS AND SPECIAL STUDY AREAS

Part 3 of the General Plan provides policy direction for ten Community Plan Areas and five Special Study Areas. This part of the General Plan contains policies and procedures for maintaining the Community Plans in a manner consistent with the citywide goals and policies. The introduction to Part 3 is organized as follows:

• Community Plans Overview
• Community Plan Organizing Goal and Policies
• Special Study Areas

The ten Community Plans are as follows:

• Arden Arcade
• Central City
• East Sacramento
• Fruitridge/Broadway
• Greater Land Park
• North Natomas
• North Sacramento
• Pocket/Greenhaven
• South Area
• South Natomas

The five Special Study Areas are as follows:

• Arden Arcade Study Area
• East Study Area
• Fruitridge-Florin Study Area
• Natomas Basin Study Area
• Town of Freeport Study Area

PART 4: ADMINISTRATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

The Administration and Implementation part of the General Plan contains procedures for maintaining and carrying out the General Plan in a systematic and consistent manner. The Administration and Implementation part of the General Plan is organized as follows:

• Introduction
• Implementation Programs
• General Plan Maintenance and Monitoring

POLICY STRUCTURE

Each element of this General Plan includes brief background information to establish the context for the goals and policies in the element. This background material is not a comprehensive statement of existing conditions. Each element also contains the goals, policies, and implementing actions that will be used by the City to guide future land use, development, and environmental protection decisions. Within this structure, Goals describe general desired results that the community seeks to create through the implementation of the General Plan. The Policies and Actions establish the “who,” “how,” and “when” for carrying out the “what” and “where” of Goals. Policies and implementing actions both support the Goals, described on the right.

APPENDICES

The following information is contained in Appendices A–C:

• Vision & Guiding Principles

• Glossary & Acronyms

• Photograph/Illustration Credits

• A goal is statement that describes a desired future condition or “end” state. Goals are intended to be broad statements of community aspirations.

• A policy is a clear and unambiguous statement that guides a specific course of action for decision-makers to achieve a desired goal. General Plan policies guide City staff and decision-makers in their review of land development projects and in decision-making about City actions.

• An implementing action is a measure, procedure, or technique intended to implement one or more policies to help reach a specified goal. Typically, an action is a discrete item done once and completed. For implementing actions, this Plan lists both the timeframe and responsible department/agencies for implementation.

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How to Use the General Plan

The City’s General Plan is intended for use by all members of the community including residents, businesses, developers, City staff, and decision-makers. The organization of the 2040 General Plan allows users to find topics or sections that interest them and to quickly review City policies; although, users should be aware that the policies throughout all elements are interrelated and should be examined comprehensively and must be considered together when making planning decisions.

For Sacramento residents, the General Plan indicates the general types of uses that are permitted throughout the city, the long-range plans and actions that may affect neighborhoods, and the policies the City will use to evaluate development applications. The General Plan indicates how the City will attract businesses that provide goods and services to meet daily needs and new jobs that are closely matched to educational skills and that lessen the need to commute. The General Plan informs residents how the City plans to improve mobility and transportation infrastructure, continue to provide adequate public services, and protect valued open spaces and environmental resources. Cumulatively, the General Plan identifies the actions the City will take to foster a more sustainable, equitable, and prosperous city for all.

For Sacramento businesses, the General Plan outlines the measures the City will take to protect investments and encourage future success. Expectations for the city’s business areas are spelled out, while policies ensure that business operations will be compatible with other businesses and nearby residential areas.

For developers within the city, or those moving homes or businesses to the city, the General Plan introduces the community, provides background information, and outlines development regulations. It is important to review all maps and policies throughout this General Plan and the Sacramento Planning and Development Code to get a complete perspective on how and where development may take place.

The General Plan is also a tool to help City staff, the Planning & Design Commission, other boards and commissions, and the City Council make land use and public investment decisions. Future development decisions must be consistent with the General Plan. Finally, the General Plan is also intended to help other public agencies, from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), to local school districts, as they contemplate future actions in and around Sacramento.

POLICY INDEX

Many of the issues central to the 2040 General Plan cut across topics and, as such, are addressed in more than one Element. To help the user find policies and implementing actions related to these central themes quickly and easily, Table 1-2 summarizes them in an index organized by central themes. Under each topic, the related policy/action number is shown at left, with a short description of the policy/action content at right. Policy/Action numbers are keyed to the Element in which they appear.

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Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

Table 1-2: Policy Index

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