PLANNING AWARDS:

The California Chapter American Planning Association Awards Program encourages quality in planning and increases the public’s awareness of the planning profession by recognizing outstanding achievement in the planning field.  The program honors innovative plans and projects, distinguished APA members, lay contributors to planning and achievements of local CCAPA Sections.

The 2007 Awards Program has recognized two important projects for the County of Sacramento.

The American River Parkway Plan Update has been selected as the winner for the Focused Issues Planning Award. This award is given to a document of unusually high merit completed or published in the past three years dealing with a specific aspect of the planning process.  Congratulations to the American River Parkway Plan Update Advisory Committee for their Process and Draft Plan. The Jury noted that the plan’s outreach and committee work were effective.  The project is controversial and involves a myriad of agencies and stakeholder groups.  The process was able to bring those groups together and arrive at consensus so that the resulting plan will be useful in addressing future concerns and interests in the American River Parkway. 

The General Plan Update has been selected for Planning Implementation – Large Jurisdiction.

To receive this award, a program must be in the process of being implemented or have been implemented within the past 3 years in a jurisdiction of 100,000 or more.  The jury chose the public outreach program conducted by Sacramento County staff for their General Plan update process.  The Sacramento County staff embraced the outreach process with great enthusiasm and were able to effectively introduce community members to concepts of the SACOG Blueprint.  Community members that participated were engaged and excited about planning and have made it possible for Blueprint principles to be incorporated into the ongoing County General Plan Update.