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City of Santa Ana General Plan Status Update <br />April 19, 2016 <br />Page 2 <br />Further, one -on -one interviews with City Councilmembers have been initiated to solicit input from <br />the City's elected officials. Updates will be provided to various boards, commissions and general <br />public at community outreach events such as Celebrate Santa Ana which occurred in early April <br />2016 and future events scheduled through summer 2016. <br />In November 2015 the Planning Division initiated the recruitment for additional City staff who <br />would be specifically assigned to the General Plan update. It was anticipated that these new <br />staff members would be hired by January 2016. However, the first full -time new hire joined City <br />staff on April 1, 2016. As shown on the schedule, with some adjustments to the work schedule, <br />staff is committed to meeting the original February 2018 deadline and completing the General <br />Plan draft (Exhibit 2). <br />Staff has initiated review of existing General Plan documents and identified the resources needed <br />by specialized consulting services to successfully update the General Plan. Key consultants <br />have been identified with expertise in the areas of web design, outreach for the creation of a <br />smartphone- compatible website and marketing materials specific to the General Plan Update. In <br />addition, consultants selected will provide technical assistance to develop computerized mapping <br />systems and demographic analysis. Future consulting services will also be necessary to perform <br />specialized work related to water conservation and sustainability, noise, seismic safety. <br />Following the workshops and initial community feedback, the City will extract key principles from <br />existing documents and work towards the preparation of the first working draft of the General <br />Plan framework. In the next six to nine months, staff will be preparing the first detailed draft <br />General Plan along with corresponding graphics, maps, charts and other supporting <br />documentation to will be discussed with the Advisory Group, Planning Commission, Development <br />and Transportation Committee before the City Council for further direction. Staff is working <br />diligently towards completion of the General Plan to be consistent with the goals established as <br />part of the City's Strategic Plan. <br />STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT <br />Approval of this item supports the City's efforts to meet Goal #3 — Economic Development, <br />Objective #2 (Create new opportunities for business /job growth and encourage private <br />development through new General Plan and Zoning Ordinance Policies), Strategy A (Complete a <br />comprehensive update of the City's General Plan including the development of policies and <br />implementation measures that directly relate to equitable economic development). <br />19D-2 <br />