02 May Richmond Adopts Innovative General Plan to Promote Community Health and Sustainable Development

News From City Hall

The Richmond City Council adopted a new General Plan 2030 to guide the City’s sustainable growth and development. The General Plan provides a comprehensive framework for developing a healthy city and healthy neighborhoods. While General Plans are required by the State of California to contain seven elements, the City of Richmond’s General Plan contains 15 elements addressing land use, economic development, housing, transportation, climate change, public safety, arts and culture, and open space conservation strategies. Additionally, the City of Richmond is one of the first cities in the country to include a comprehensive element dedicated to community health and wellness.

The General Plan accommodates open space and increased access to public parks as well as growth in mixed-use, high-density infill development around the City’s intermodal transit center and along its key commercial and transit corridors – Priority Development Areas. The General Plan also articulates a vision for revitalizing Richmond’s Southern Gateway area anchored by the Richmond Field Station site, which is the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s preferred site for their second campus.

The new General Plan’s community health and wellness policies are extraordinarily innovative and are being implemented with support from The California Endowment. “Richmond residents deserve recognition for adding a health component to their General Plan,” said Tony Iton, MD, JD, MPH senior vice president of
The California Endowment. “Such an effort can improve community safety and health, which will help build a stronger, more vibrant Richmond.”

“The City of Richmond is proud to have a General Plan that contains innovative policies to improve community health and wellness by increasing access to recreational activities, healthy food, medical services, public transportation, affordable housing, economic opportunities, safe neighborhoods, and improved environmental quality,” said Bill Lindsay, city manager.

Richmond is an important industrial, commercial, transportation, shipping, and government center. Richmond boasts 32 miles of shoreline, the most of any city in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For additional information, please visit:
www.cityofrichmondgeneralplan.org
www.ci.richmond.ca.us/lbnl
www.richmondhealth.org
www.richmondenvironment.org