SLO County News BlogGolf, Wine, Real Estate, Business & Travel NewsHelp Design SLO CountySaturday, January 22, 2005Designing the county of the futureCitizens have a chance to help plan for future growth at a series Stephanie Finucane, The Tribune In 2050, planners predict, San Luis Obispo County could be home to 400,000 people -- a gain of around 150,000 residents -- and they'll need jobs, schools, homes, hospitals and a host of shops and services. Residents will have a chance to plan for that growth by attending one of three "Community 2050" workshops. The first will be Saturday morning at Nipomo High School. Using computers, participants will have a chance to plot where they think growth should -- and should not -- occur. "If L.A. could have done this 50 years ago, it could be a whole different place," said Steve Devencenzi, deputy director of San Luis Obispo Council of Governments. The organization -- a regional planning agency that represents all seven cities plus the unincorporated areas -- is one of several sponsors of the workshops. Organizers expect planning professionals and civic leaders to attend. But they're hoping to also see parents and grandparents, teachers and students, employees and small business owners -- anyone with a stake in the county's future. Working in teams, participants will be given a set of growth projections and will then plan for that growth by designating where different types of developments should occur. The process is similar to "Sim City," a popular computer game that allows players to be urban designers. The teams will plan for roughly 65,000 additional housing units -- the number needed to accommodate the population growth that council of government planners are projecting. Participants won't plan on a street-by-street, or even neighborhood-by-neighborhood level. Rather, they'll look at regions and will even have the chance to create new cities. As they design the county of the future, a traffic model will show the impacts on major streets and highways. "One of the biggest goals of the program is to help people really recognize what the future holds if we keep proceeding with business as usual," said Devencenzi. That business-as-usual-future, he said, would likely include clogged highways, even higher housing prices and a continued exodus of young families unable to afford the cost of living. All three workshops will be filmed by AGP Video and shown on public access cable television. A summary video and written report will be prepared at the end of the sessions. Those will be distributed to local agencies. The workshops will cost around $15,000, Devencenzi estimated -- money that's coming from a state transportation planning grant and from the county Air Pollution Control District. The district, Action for Healthy Communities and the Local Agency Formation Commission are also among the workshops' sponsors. The commission decides the boundaries of local governments in the county. Read More
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