General Plan

Purpose & Scope of the General Plan

A general plan is a document required by state law that serves as a guide to the long-term physical development of a community. A city's general plan can be thought of as a blueprint for the future growth and development. 

Per state regulations, a general plan must address at least the following issues: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, safety and noise (California Government Code 65302). However, a jurisdiction can craft its general plan to deal with any issues which decision makers, staff resident, business owners, and other stakeholders deem important to the community. The Monterey Park General Plan discusses these issues through its series of elements as follows:

Table I-1 shows the relationship between the elements and the state-mandated elements. 

Table I-1 Relationship of Monterey Park General Elements to State Mandated Elements 

State Mandated General Plan Elements
Monterey Park General Plan Elements Land UseCirculationHousing ConservationOpen SpaceSafetyNoise Additional 
Land Use and Urban Design ElementX






Circulation Element
X





Housing Element 

X




Resource Element


XX


Safety Element 




XX
Economic Development Element 






X
Sustainable Community Element 






X
Environmental Justice Element






X
Healthy Community Element 






X


In addition to the elements, this General Plan also includes an Implementation Program (see Appendix A). The Implementation Program, adopted separately from the General Plan elements and subject to annual review, identifies the specific actions the city will undertake to implement the goals and policies contained in the elements. Annual review of the Implementation Program allows the city to adjust programs and planned actions to respond to new or refocused priorities, to address annual budget constraints and/or opportunities, and to account for change in any physical condition or circumstance in the community (for example, occurrence of a natural disaster). Several supporting documents were produced during the development of the Monterey Park General Plan, including the General Plan Technical Report and the General Plan Program Environmental Impact Report (Program EIR). The technical report includes background data necessary for issue identification and plan preparation. Due to the length of these reports, they have been compiled separately and are available for review at City Hall. The background information contained in the technical reports is temporal and will become outdated as conditions change.

Because the technical reports are not incorporated into the General Plan policy document, updating the technical report will not require a General Plan amendment, although it may lead to subsequent General Plan amendments.