Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Friday, May 30, 2003

Contact:  Phyllis Miller   916-733-3224

Blueprint Workshops Set for June

In the next 30 years the Sacramento region will add another one million people. Where will they live, what type of housing will they need, how will they travel and how do we ensure that we preserve the region's high quality of life in the face of this growth?

The Blueprint is the first-ever comprehensive examination of growth patterns in the six-county Sacramento Region, which includes El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. Workshops already have been held in Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks in unincorporated Sacramento County, the city and county of Sacramento - north, West Sacramento, Folsom, Sutter County/Yuba City, the city and county of Sacramento - south, Colfax, Davis, Placer County, Sacramento County - Carmichael, Yuba County, Loomis, Galt and Rocklin. In June Blueprint workshops are coming to the following communities:

• Roseville
  June 2, 6:15 p.m. - 9 p.m.
  Roseville City Corporation Yard
  2005 Hilltop Circle
  Roseville, CA
  
  
• Lincoln
  June 3, 6:15 p.m.-9 p.m.
  McBean Park Pavilion<
  65 McBean Park Drive
  Lincoln, CA
  
  
• June 11, 6:15 p.m.-9 p.m.
  Marysville
  Marysville Recreation Center
  904 'B' St.
  Marysville, CA
  
  
• Auburn
  June 16, 6:15 p.m.- 9 p.m.
  City Hall Rose Room
  1225 Lincoln Way
  Auburn, CA
  
  
• Woodland
  June 18, 6:15 p.m.-9 p.m.
  Woodland Public Library
  250 First St.
  Woodland, CA
  
  
• Elk Grove
  June 24, 6:15 p.m.-9 p.m.
  Laguna Creek High School
  9050 Vicino Drive
  Elk Grove, CA
  
  

The workshops are intended primarily for residents and business owners in these communities. Participants should RSVP by contacting Valley Vision, at 916-925-0130, or by e-mail at mail@valleyvision.org. The RSVP form is also available at the Blueprint Web site: http://www.sacregionblueprint.org. The series of neighborhood workshops will give local residents the opportunity to sit down with elected officials, business representatives and civic and community leaders, to envision how they would like their communities to grow.

Blueprint is a collaboration of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), Valley Vision and numerous other partners. Its first phase was the "base case future scenario" unveiled at the October 18, 2002 TALL Order Regional Forum. It gave a projection of what the region's future might be like if current development trends, government policies, and transportation investment priorities were to continue through 2050.

The base case shows that the region will grow at faster than national averages because it will remain an attractive place to live. It also suggests that it would be difficult to continue to maintain the quality of life that residents want and the region can offer unless we plan now. Otherwise, traffic congestion created by pressure on our roads and transit, for example, will mean longer commutes and poorer air quality.

Working collaboratively with elected and planning officials from throughout the region, the project will eventually hold approximately 50 workshops where participants will use state-of-the-art, real-time, and interactive geographic information systems technology to envision potential future "scenarios" for specific neighborhoods. At the workshops, a group of eight to 10 participants sit together at tables with maps, menus of land use and transportation choices and a laptop computer linked to the Internet. Metrics within the software instantly show participants how their choices could affect their communities.

Photos of past workshops currently are available at http://www.sacog.org/media/photos.htm

The Blueprint project grew out of the SACOG Board of Directors' decision in 2001 to pursue resources to prepare a land use alternative for the next (2005) Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP), which is the transportation infrastructure plan for the region for the next 20 years. The purpose is to determine whether there are land use choices local governments can make that could benefit the region's transportation system as well as local communities and ultimately the quality of life for the region as a whole.

The Blueprint project is made possible by funding and support from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), Valley Vision, the Sacramento Metropolitan Development (HCD), the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, California State Treasurer Phil Angelides' Office, Caltrans, Bringing Regional Issues for Discussion and Group Effort (BRIDGE), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the Great Valley Center, the James Irvine Foundation and KVIE6, among others. For further information, please contact Phyllis Miller, Communication Manager, Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), at 733-3224 or pmiller@sacog.org.