The Turlock City Planning Commission, City of Turlock staff, Dyett & Bhatia Urban and Regional Planners, and most importantly, the Turlock community began collecting and contributing ideas towards developing Turlock’s future.
The first public General Plan Update Workshop took place Thursday night at the Turlock Senior Center. About 80 to 90 people attended the meeting while around 80 people participated in the process. Besides the Turlock City Planning Commissioners that were present, Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors’ District 2 elected official (Turlock’s representative) Vito Chiesa and Turlock City Councilwoman Mary Jackson were in attendance.
Planning Commission Chairman Mike Brem explained that the workshop was officially a Turlock City Planning Commission so that all the commissioners could attend without violating the Brown Act.
Brem explained that these workshops and process is to start planning the vision of Turlock for the next 20 years and that the process will try to get public input.
“We’re here tonight to start visioning this great city,” said Brem.
The approximate 80 people were split up and sat at 12 tables. The workshop was to include table discussion to come up with answers to two major questions. The top 5 from every table were to be selected and shared with the entire group.
The workshop lasted approximately 2 hours, from 6pm to 8pm.
Question #1:
Part 1 – What you love about Turlock?
Part 2 – What would you like to change, what are your concerns?
After about 15 minutes, the 12 table groups came up with:
Likes/Successes
– CSUS, Older Neighborhoods with character, regional parks and sports facilities
– CSUS, small town feel, ag buffer, character of downtown older neighborhood, traffic city is ok
– Preservation of farm land/smart growth, Monte Vista Crossings, downtown preservation/small town feel
– Traffic circulation, landscaping, urban lines, small town feel with modern amenities, WISP
– Downtown revitalization, bike paths in north area, small town atmosphere, landscaping and maintenance, mixed housing types
– Downtown area, school district choices, Crane Park area cityscape, Community participation, CSUS, development pays its way
– TID/affordable utilities, regionalized wastewater treatment plant, CSUS, unique parks system, interactive works with recreation program, old neighborhood/small town feel including downtown
– Hometown feel, industrial/commercial direction, shopping, good traffic flow, lots of parks, ag based
– Friendliness of Turlock, CSUS, size, defined urban/ag boundary, cross section of people in Turlock
– CSUS, downtown, centralized shopping, small town feel/nice place to live/nice home
– Small town atmosphere, old nice parks, good inter-agency relationship, downtown revitalization look, CSUS
– Small old town community values, CSUS, downtown, well planned, jobs in town
Dislikes/Concerns/Improvements Needed
– Need more higher paying jobs, poor traffic roads, county islands needed to be addressed, failed at developing bike lanes, west side
– blight and crime associated with west/south side, lack of activities and entertainment facilities to make Turlock regional attraction, well paying jobs increased
– More walkable city, no speed bumps on residential roads, maintenance of roads, lack of affordable/low income housing
– Golden State Blvd. beautification, incorporate county islands, no more round-a-abouts, more entertainment venues, more infill,
– Expanding downtown’s revitalization, regionalize fairgrounds, city public transportation as alternative transportation, improvements made to streets, improve traffic
– More housing types & sizes, more infill (especially downtown), infrastructure in old neighborhoods improved, homeless shelter, retail in downtown and enticing business downtown with tax credits, more community wide facilities to bring people together
– Improve gateways’ to be more appealing, more activities, revitalize business downtown, road repair improved, improve and create consistent bike paths with fitness station to promote walkable community.
– Road maintenance, leap frog development/improve infill, lack of homeless amenities, recreation facilities for youth, redefinition of public safety boundaries (especially with fire department stations), losing green belt
– Concern with growth/quality planned growth, public safety staffed according to population, housing as a whole, entertainment increased, don’t want to create slums and want infill development
– Road improvement, bike paths, increased water conservation, too much sprawling/more infill development, define green belt between Denair/Turlock
– Bike paths’ continuity, homelessness solutions, entertainment options, senior housing, mineralizing suburbanization
– Solve homeless issue comprehensively, more activities for teenagers, more entertainment amenities, improve transportation, communication between city government and citizens
Question #2
Part 1 – What top five accomplishments do you want to see in Turlock in 2030?
Part 2 – What would be the deadline for a feature about Turlock in 20 years from now?
After about 15 minutes, the 12 table groups came up with:
- Turlock surrounded by trees
Clean safe neighborhoods with character throughout
Established boundaries maintained
City ends homeless with community involvement
Housing, employment, and entertainment needs met
Recreation activities abound
– Safest City in California, Turlock Central Valley Utopia
Highest rate of employment; jobs, jobs, jobs
Best place for kids; bike park, centers, jobs, activities
Highest school test scores in California
No gangs, no homeless
– After 120 Years Turlock Maintains Small Town Atmosphere
Has all for seniors; housing, activities, care
Entertainment Destination
Most sustainable city in the country
More bicycles than Davis
Fully developed
–
Alternative Transportation
Bike paths everywhere
Go green, smart growth, ag and urban integration
High tech business park, high tech education program as CSUS
Entertainment for all
– 2030 Forbes Votes Turlock Destination USA
Entertainment Destination including fairgrounds expanding to 160 acres
Fully incorporate green building, lots of trees
Bike paths, fitness locations
– Turlock #1 Place to Raise a Family in the World
Good jobs abound
Leads recreation for teens
Solved the homeless problem
Downtown core is center for shopping and recreation living
– Turlock great schools, great jobs, great housing
Turlock education strong
Turlock community that is comfortable with itself
Turlock holds northern boundary at Taylor Rd.
Turlock 2009 General Plan is still guiding development in 2030
Turlock wins statewide award for excellent use of infill, comprehensive plant to help the homeless
– Forbes Ranks Turlock Best City in the Nation
Turlock most state of the art world class transportation system including high speed rail
Turlock draws major entertainment venue, Modesto scooped us
Lowest crime rate in California
Governor Bates visits hometown
– Turlock Mecca of the Valley
Better use of the fairgrounds, amphitheatre built
Turlock achieves better than national average in unemployment, crime, and median income
More activities established for kids and other residents and ways to get to them without using a car
– Turlock Rated Best City to Live In
-Turlock, the city that grew in and up, not out
Maintained green belt
Most alternative energy in the state
Lowest crime
Stay separate from neighboring cities
– Turlock is Stellar Community
Lowest unemployment rate in nation
Lowest crime rate in California
Power and water resources that have been preserved in past and headed future
Save the most energy with well planned bike system and walking trails
– Turlock Voted Best Place to Live in the U.S.
– Need a Job, Move to Turlock
– Turlock, Ca – Model City, Small Country Town is Online Economic Development Capital
Voted for top schools
Expanded health care network
Strong employment base
Utilizing and maintaining CSUS graduates
Having a successful online economic development program
Many points were reiterated and may be the start of prioritizing Turlock’s development.
Planning Commission Chairman Mike Brem began the meeting saying how very, very important these meetings were.
The first Turlock City Planning and Turlock City Council Joint Meeting and this first workshop are just the beginning of the General Plan Update.
People should know that this is an actual process that will help decide Turlock’s future development. There are around 70,000 people in Turlock. Minus the city staff, regional outside interests, and such, there was about 1 out of 1,000 who may have begun to decide our city’s future.
There will be a continuing community outreach program as part of the General Plan Update. There will be more meetings, workshops, newsletters, and updated information on the website.
Continued community input will be compiled and analyzed to present to the Turlock City Planning Commission and the Turlock City Council. This data will be used as both groups start taking action in deciding what, where, when, and how to implement prioritized desires.
The Turlock City Planning Commission and the Turlock City Council have scheduled a joint meeting to be held on April 23 at 6pm at the Turlock Senior Center. There will be more opportunities for community input and discussion with both the commission and the council.
– TurlockCityNews.com video taped the meeting and will be broadcasting the video here while providing it to the City of Turlock to put on the General Plan Update website.
The points listed above were transcript from the video and done the best we could. Please feel free to correct, clarify, or expand on these comments if you were present. If you weren’t present, please add your thoughts here. Please sign your name so the comments are taken into consideration as “real.”
The Turlock community may have ongoing discussion via article comments here on TurlockCityNews.com that may be taken into consideration as public input.
Maybe beginning “polling” questions and discussion points would be addressing the term “small town”:
What does “small town feel” mean to you?
What is it about Turlock that gives the city a “small town” atmosphere (in your opinion)?
