February 2017 | Business View Magazine

144 145 and ‘60s that don’t make sense in today’s economy or population density; manufacturing type uses that were around during and post-war time that are no longer sustainable today in terms of jobs creation, tax revenues, or economic development.” In addition, the city’s former plan had little input from its residents. “The 1992 General Plan adopted goals and policies, but it was driven by the elected officials and the city employees who worked on it,”Allen says. “Today, our Gener- al Plan has truly been driven by the community as a whole.We have held countless workshops, seminars, and study sessions with stakeholder groups. Instead of only holding meetings in town hall style sessions, where you’d find more traditional workshops and seminars, we’ve ac- velopment Manager. His current task is updating the city’s General Plan, Cuda- hy 2040– the umbrella document that outlines the City’s goals for future devel- opment and sets its path for an improved quality of life for its residents over the next twenty years. “We’re about two years into the process and close to wrapping up the update; all the elements are in draft form, and ready for administrative review,” Allen explains. “We’re in the process of taking each element before our elected bodies, including the Planning Commis- sion and the City Council, to review those drafts to ensure that we took everything into consideration from the multitude of workshops, study sessions, and communi- ty intercepts with the community for final adoption. This has been one of the most comprehensive processes for the City of Cudahy in updating its general plan or adopting a plan of this size and magni- tude in its entirety.” The last time that Cudahy adopted a General Plan was in 1992. “A lot of the goals and policies of the old plan are relatively outdated,” says Allen.“And that transcends into our development code- our zoning code which regulates our built environment,what the density is,what the height is,what it looks like, and what the land uses are. It’s an outdated model; we’re talking about land uses and development standards that were born prior to the ‘50s Cudahy, California