Butte County is currently going through the process to update the General Plan. For those that don’t know, the General Plan is the guideline for development within the unincorporated areas of the County, including Durham. It has been many years since the County General Plan has been updated and this current process is supposed to guide County development to the year 2030. All counties are required by law to have a General Plan.
The County has designated 34 study areas where it has been suggested that development may occur. Durham is Study Area 17 and consists of 1,749 acres in and around the Durham community. Three alternatives for development are being proposed by the County’s consultant:
- Alternative 1 would follow the existing General Plan which is really the Durham-Dayton-Nelson Plan (D2N Plan) that was adopted several years ago. According to County documents this alternative would allow approximately 50 new homes.
- Alternative 2 would increase residential density in the center of Durham, allowing approximately 300 new homes. The remainder of the study area would maintain the designations from the existing General Plan.
- Alternative 3 would change some of the agricultural region to residential uses, in addition to the density increase in the center of Durham, allowing approximately 500 new homes.
It is important that the people in Durham let the County decision makers know how we want our community to grow over the next 22 years. We can choose one of the three alternatives that have been proposed or we can propose a new alternative. But now is the time to start making some noise. On Thursday April 24th the County’s Citizens Advisory Committee will be focusing on the study areas that are near the Chico area, including Study Area 17, Durham. The meeting will be at the Little Chico Creek Elementary School at 2090 Amanda Way from 5 PM to 9 PM. (They typically have sandwiches and drinks for everyone in attendance) There will be a short time period set aside for public input as well as a large group discussion. Please plan to attend.
The newly renamed Durham Area Action Team (FKA Durham, Dayton, Nelson Community Advisory Group Meeting) set aside a meeting this Friday, April 11th @ 4:30 pm in the Durham Library to discuss this plan prior to the County Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on April 24th. ALL DURHAM, DAYTON and NELSON RESIDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND.
There will be other important meetings in the future if you can’t attend this meeting, including the Planning Commission on May 9th and the Board of Supervisors on July 29th. The final decision on General Plan 2030 isn’t expected until September of 2009, after completion of an Environmental Impact Report, but this current series of meetings are very important.
You can find out more at the County General Plan 2030 website:
You can read more about the analysis of all Study Areas at:
Or, you can read about Study Area 17, Durham, at:
