What is a General Plan?

The County government of Sonoma County is responsible for regulating development within the unincorporated areas of the County. The County's principal means for accomplishing this is the General Plan, which prescribes the policies and guidelines for making land use decisions.

The first paragraph of the State General Plan Guidelines states:

California State law requires each city and county to adopt a general plan "for the physical development of the county or city, and any land outside its boundaries which bears relation to planning. The role of a community's general plan is to act as a "constitution;" a basis for rational decisions regarding a city's or county's long-term physical development. The general plan expresses the community's development goals and embodies public policy relative to the distribution of future land uses, both public and private.