Aliso Viejo is an exceptional southern California town located a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. Within the Aliso Viejo community, there is the provision of proper recreational opportunities, a wide range of housing, and shipping among others. In addition, the community provides an excellent environment for business with many national and international corporations, including a liberal arts college calling it home. The residents of the town are heavily active both in terms of giving back to the community and in other recreational pursuits. In Aliso Viejo, given that the first development act within the community occurred merely 20 years ago, the achievement of the aforementioned milestones is quite a fete. July 1, 2001, marked a pinnacle in the city’s population, which was about 42,000, and was required by the law of California to prepare its General Plan to address future development and growth. The plan represents a blueprint that describes its resident’s vision for the next 20 years. As such, the various programs and plans within the various chapters of the General Plan give guidance for the City Council and others through the process of addressing challenging circumstances and the implementation of specific actions that optimize community potential and resources.
The General Plan of Aliso Viejo hinges on the identification of the community’s future vision and the establishment of frameworks that guide decisions regarding transportation, housing, development, public safety, the management of resources, the overall well-being of the community, and public services. In the creation process of the General Plan for Aliso Viejo, the community came together and crafted a methodology of achieving this vision expressed through illustrations and text. Generally, the plan reflects the values and desires of Aliso Viejo residents, businesses, public officials, and the development community. Essentially, the plan describes how the city works to retain both aesthetic and natural qualities that result in uniqueness, while at the same time responds to the dynamic nature of the region’s growth resultantly meeting the ever-changing needs. As such, the General Plan acts as a guide in policy, which balances various inter-related factors against the vision of the Aliso Viejo community. Moreover, the preparation of the General Plan involved the establishment of programs and policies focused on the management of development and growth, the achievement of sustainability, and the enhancement of quality life and livability within the community. Fundamentally, the active roles taken by community leaders have incorporated both post and pre-incorporation planning.
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As mentioned above, under the law of California, each city has to adopt a General Plan that is both long-term and comprehensive, whose sole mandate is to guide physical development within the incorporated area as well as other land parcels beyond the boundaries of the municipality. As such, within the General Plan of Aliso Viejo, numerous issues that are directly related and influence decisions on land use, circulation, housing, the conservation of natural resources, the noise environment, the protection of public safety, and the preservation of open space are addressed. While these elements are state-mandated, the provisions of Orange County accord other pertinent elements such as measure. For Aliso Viejo, a focus on the measure directed towards the incorporation of the Growth Management Element addresses the timely provision of capital facilities and public services associated with novel developmental projects. The growth management element remains highly essential for the development of the town and in measuring growth gradients for future references. As such, for a missing element, Aliso Viejo needs to incorporate it in its General Plan. For the city, the General Plan’s structure has six elements each of which are organized according to a format that precedes with the introduction, then goals and policies, policy map, and finally the plan for the element.
Under the land use element, the City of Aliso Viejo focuses on the diversity of use. According to the plan, it is evident that successful communities have the characteristic of diverse land uses. Essentially, residential uses provide housing for the population of the city, commercial and industrial use accord jobs to residents and valuable revenue for the city while institutional and public use brings about cultural and educational benefits as well as much-needed utility services. Finally, the recreational and open space use encourages leisure activities, which ultimately improve life quality. As a master planned community that is diverse, Aliso Viejo boasts of having all these significant uses as factors for land diversity within the community. Since the city’s land use element is comprehensive, it also accommodates subsections that deal with water supply, treatment, and distribution; sewer and wastewater treatment; and solid waste management among others as they relate to land use.
Under the General Plan of Aliso Viejo, the housing element serves as an important guide for future residential growth and the establishment of strategies that meet community-housing needs. Essentially, the housing element within the city of Aliso Viejo achieves objectives such as the identification of housing opportunities, the development of adequate and affordable housing, the conservation or improvement of housing conditions, and the promotion of equal housing opportunities. This housing element within the city’s plan is consistent with other General Plan elements particularly those embodied in the land use element and are responsible for the establishment of locations, type, and distribution of land uses among others. While the General Plan of Aliso Viejo is exemplary, it deviates from both State and County mandated elements in ways that are non-substantive. Nonetheless, this General Plan ultimately achieves its mandates fully.
