The Elements

The Countywide Plan is composed of three sections called elements: the Natural Systems Element, the Built Environment Element, and the Socio-Economic Element. County planning staff and consultants relied on information from the Key Trends, Issues, and Strategies Report, completed in January 2003, to update and revise the Plan. The three elements are organized somewhat differently from the corresponding sections of the Trends, Issues and Strategies Report.

Related Plans

The Local Coastal Program

The Local Coastal Program is a plan for the protection of Marin's coastal resources-the beaches, bluffs, streams, grasslands, and agricultural lands adjacent to the Pacific coast and Tomales Bay-and for the conservation and development of coastal communities. The process to update the Local Coastal Program will begin in 2008.

San Quentin Reuse Plan

The State of California has considered the possibility of moving the prison at San Quentin to another location and selling the San Quentin site. If this unique site was no longer used for a prison and was sold off for private development, the County's land use regulations would apply to any proposal. To try to form a community consensus about the future reuse of San Quentin, the County convened a planning committee to engage in a process of developing a vision for the future of the site. The committee has concluded its deliberations and its recommendations have been incorporated into the San Quentin Vision Plan. A copy of the Vision Plan along with other information about the site and project are available here.

Housing Element

The Housing Element is a component of the Built Environment Element of the Countywide Plan. However, per California state law, the update process is separate than the rest of the general plan. The Board of Supervisors adopted the Housing Element on June 5, 2003. It was certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development in late summer 2003. The next update is in progress. Printed copies of the 2003 Housing Element are available for viewing at County libraries.

You may purchase a printed copy or an Acrobat PDF version on CD-ROM for $5.00 at the Marin County Community Development Agency, Civic Center, Room 308.

For more information about the Housing Element, contact LeeLee Thomas, Principal Planner, at 473-6697 or lthomas@marincounty.org or Stacey Lauman, Planner at 473-2698 or slaumann@marincounty.org.

Sustainability

Sustainability is the overarching theme of the Countywide Plan. Sustainability Guiding Principles are listed in the introduction and again in a chart at the end of each section illustrating how each goal in the Plan relates to the Sustainability Guiding Principles. The concept of sustainability pervades all three elements emphasizing the linkages among equity, the economy, and the environment in a "Why is this Important?" paragraph following each goal. In addition, there are indicators listed at the end of each section that will track progress towards or away form the goals.