Nevada City, CA – The Nevada County Community Development Agency has released the final draft of the Nevada County Recreation and Resiliency Master Plan (Master Plan) which will be presented with a recommendation for adoption at the May 28 Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting.
View the final draft of the Master Plan by visiting www.nevadacountyca.gov/RRMP.
Three rounds of community outreach and public surveys have helped inform Master Plan development, in addition to ongoing focus groups, stakeholder meetings, interviews, engagement activities and workshops over the past 18 months. The Master Plan is a summary of ideas and information provided by community and agency stakeholders, residents and visitors along with recommendations that may enhance recreation access, support health and safety, preserve natural resources, and increase economic vitality.
The Master Plan identifies eight focus areas, or initiatives, to address and improve recreation throughout Nevada County. The focus areas include:
- Community & Regional Park System
- Recreation Outposts
- Towns to Towns Trail System
- Recreation & Resiliency Hub Network
- River Access Management
- Destination Donner Summit
- Sustainable Recreation & Communications
- One Centralized Hub for Recreation Resources & Programming
Background
The County’s role in recreation has traditionally been to support independent Recreation and Park Districts formed by local constituents and independent recreation providers through the AB1600 program, to pass-through State Per Capita grant funds to qualifying projects, and to apply for other grants. These independent districts, along with the cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City, assume responsibility for providing park and recreation facilities and services within their boundaries. The County does not own and operate park and recreation facilities outside of the Grass Valley Veteran’s Hall and Tobiassen Park. Past recreation planning efforts have been completed through the General Plan process and updates, individual park district plans, the Western Nevada County Non-Motorized Trails Master Plan, the Park and Recreation Facilities Fee Nexus Study, the Nevada County Active Transportation Plan, the South Yuba River Comprehensive Management Plan, and various other documents.
On February 8, 2022, the Board of Supervisors adopted recreation as a board objective and the development of the Master Plan was identified as a priority initiative. Thereafter, the Board of Supervisors approved up to $450,000 for developing the Master Plan through a combination of $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and $200,000 from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy Vibrant Recreation & Tourism grant program. Consulting services were approved on September 27, 2022, with Design Workshop, Inc. for a contract term through June 30, 2024. Subcontractors for the project have included Dudek, Sierra Business Council, Quantified Ventures, and Steve Randall.
In late 2022, the County of Nevada began developing its first comprehensive master plan for recreation, in support of Goal 5.1 in the Nevada County 1995 General Plan. Unique to this effort has been the incorporation of strategies that leverage parks and recreation resources to reduce the risk and impacts of wildfire, support response activities, and address the impacts of visitation and a changing climate on the landscape.
Environmental Review Considerations
Within each of the Master Plan focus areas, there are a series of projects and recommendations for possible future actions which the County has not approved, adopted, or funded. The Master Plan does not have a legally binding effect on later activities. As such, the statutory exemption pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Section 15262 Feasibility and Planning Studies is applicable. The exemption states that a project involving only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which the agency has not approved or funded does not require preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) or Negative Declaration but does require consideration of environmental factors.
Consistent with this exemption, the Master Plan provides data and recommendations for future policy decisions but does not commit the County to later activities or any specific project. Future work to implement projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment will require environmental permitting and compliance with the CEQA. Should funding be pursued and obtained for projects, site specific environmental review would be required to develop detailed designs which would at that time require complete environmental review pursuant to CEQA. Plans involving federal lands or federal funding would also require National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review.
For more information, visit www.nevadacountyca.gov/Recreation.