The County of San Diego General Plan
The San Diego County General Plan applies to the unincorporated area of the county and is the County’s long-term blueprint for the vision of the future. It reflects an environmentally sustainable approach to planning that balances the need for adequate infrastructure, housing, and economic vitality while maintaining and preserving existing communities, agricultural areas, and open spaces.
San Diego County is approximately 2.9 million acres of which 2.2 million acres are unincorporated areas. Within the unincorporated area, the County’s land-use jurisdiction is limited by Tribal lands, and State and Federally owned lands, and military installations including Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. As a result, the County has land use jurisdiction over 772,239 acres or 35% of the unincorporated area.
Is a General Plan Required?
California state law requires each city and county to adopt a general plan that consist of seven plan elements. The General Plan is a living document, and the State recognizes that from time to time, it must be amended to update information and policies or comply with State regulations.
In 2011, the Board of Supervisors approved the update to the County’s General Plan. Changes to the General Plan:
- Reduced Land Use Capacity by 46,363 units (15%) to 239,984 units,
- Focused development in village cores to retain the county’s rural character,
- Shifted 20% of the remaining Dwelling unit capacity to the most western portions of the unincorporated area, and
- Located 80% of the Dwelling Unit Capacity where water can be imported and distributed by the County Water Authority.
To track the progress towards implementing the General Plan, visit the Housing Production and Capacity Portal which illustrates housing production and land use capacity since the General Plan update in 2011.
General Plan Update - Final Program EIR
The County of San Diego Board of Supervisors certified the Final Program Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the General Plan Update and adopted
the update to the General Plan on August 3, 2011.
The Board of Supervisors adopted the alternative titled "The Recommended Project" as described in Volume IV of the Final Program EIR.
Please use the following links to access the Final Certified Program EIR.
Current GPU EIR Mitigation Measures & GPU EIR
Summary/15183 Reference
· Note: The link above was updated following 9/11/24 adoption of the 2024 Climate Action Plan Update General Plan Amendment (GPA20-004) and certification of the accompanying Supplemental EIR (ER 20-00-002), which included revisions to three General Plan Update EIR mitigation measures. The document linked above provides a list of currently applicable General Plan Update EIR mitigation measures, followed by the General Plan Update EIR Summary/15183 Reference from 2011.
General Plan Update – Draft EIR
Public Review of the Draft Program EIR for the General Plan Update took place from July 1, 2009 through August 31, 2009 and consisted of
Volumes 1 and 2. Please use the following links to access the Draft public-review version of the EIR.
Public review version as circulated on July 1, 2009
Popular Services
