Ten years after a highly publicized corruption scandal, the City of South Gate is implementing a visionary general plan that seeks to develop a healthy, inclusive and economically vibrant community that is rich in community participation and transparency. The city invested almost one million dollars to develop the plan, which included extensive community participation. As a result of the robust public engagement process and the visionary updated general plan, South Gate has received numerous grants to support its implementation and related projects.  

Kern County and the City of Bakersfield have the only coordinated city-county general plan in the state, a tradition dating back to the late 1980’s that originated with a joint plan for the Kern River. For the past three years, city and county officials have worked to engage a broad cross section of residents in an update to this joint general plan, in collaboration with a local nonprofit organization and the San Joaquin Valley Council of Governments.

The compact for a sustainable Ventura County is a partnership of ten cities, the county, and other agencies that have agreed to work together to address the challenges posed by long term growth and to plan a sustainable future for the region. In order to gauge public support for different long range planning options, a committee representing the partnership hired an experienced consulting firm to help them design and implement a public engagement process.