Because of a reported clog of information between EMC Planning Group Inc. and regional agencies, San Benito County learned this week that it will take another four months, at least, for the next revision to the General Plan, which had been scheduled for completion in 2011. On the county’s website, a draft proposes long-term goals in vital areas including public services, health and safety, and economic growth. The county had expected the final, along with an accompanying environmental review, in the next weeks.
EMC Planning Group, the lead project consultant, confirmed an extended delay Tuesday, Feb. 3, to the Board of Supervisors — now targeting June 15 for completion of the 2035 General Plan.
“It’s not just our staff, it’s our consultants,” said Supervisor Anthony Botelho. “I truly expect no more hiccups in the process. If there is one, our staff, our consultants better work it out, because this has gone on way too long.”
Supervisors on Tuesday directed queries over some of the setbacks to EMC Planning Group President Michael Groves, who said a number of complications and disappointments factored into the delay. The company had contributed to a previous delay that spanned more than a month, according to Groves. He connected the latest sluggishness to a draft of the general plan’s accompanying environmental impact report.
“We don’t have a document that we can put out on the street,” said Groves in a statement to the board. “The timeline just keeps getting expanded. I told you that we would get this document ready by December, and we did. It needs to be reviewed but we need to get it out.”
The county has the responsibility to ensure that the EIR is legally defensible, according to County Counsel Matthew Granger, who noted that no attorney with the county reviewed drafted documents during the time of EMC’s possession of them.
“The first time that your county counsel has had time to review the EIR, which the county has the responsibility to make sure that it’s a legally defensible document, is right now,” said the county’s counsel to supervisors.
Groves noted that he had anticipated that EMC Planning Group would have released the draft EIR “at the end of the first week of January.”
“That was our anticipation, too,” replied Supervisor Margie Barrios, who chairs the board.
Later, Groves addressed other matters, including style and money.
“I want to be really clear that if this is going to be reviewed over the next 30 days, substantive issues are all that I want to get back as comments,” Groves told the board. “I don’t want to see style changes. I don’t want to see editing, unless it’s an obvious typo or something like that. I don’t want to spend the next two months trying to fix a document in some style because somebody else wants a different style.”
During the board’s meeting, the county counsel said that the 2035 General Plan likely will rank among the most important documents ever issued by the county.
The next piece of EMC Planning Group’s puzzle, according to Groves, was its budget.
“These are the conversations you don’t like to have, because they have to do with making sure we’re on track,” Groves told the board for the record. “We have about $19,000 left in our budget. That’s not a lot of money.”
In a statement to BenitoLink outside the meeting, Groves confirmed EMC Planning Group’s responsibility, called causes of the delay “complicated” and put no blame on the board. He also addressed a question of whether the county should be financially responsible for a delay apparently tied to other parties.
“You want to have an adequate and a legally defensible general plan and EIR for that plan,” replied Groves. “The best way to do that is to use the latest and most updated transportation information.”