Large margin of support for city's General Plan

The city of Yuma's one issue on Tuesday's ballot was ahead in early vote totals, officials reported.

Proposition 402, which would ratify the city's 2012 General Plan, was ahead 64 percent to 36 percent in the preliminary results released shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday.

With 9,118 votes counted Tuesday evening, 5,853 yes votes for 64.19 percent were cast, compared with 3,265 no votes for 35.81 percent.

The city expects to release updated totals for Proposition 402 this morning.

City Administrator Greg Wilkinson was pleased with the support so far for the General Plan, noting that city staff put a lot of time into the document.

They also did a lot of outreach to the community to gather input on the document and to raise awareness of it among voters, he said.

“We're very happy with the results,” Wilkinson said. “I thank the residents of the city for their support. Now we have a plan that will help us work through important planning and zoning issues for years to come.”

The General Plan provides an overall guide for what the community will become over the next 10 to 20 years, Jennifer Albers, principal planner for the city's Community Development Department, said earlier.

“It's a blueprint for the community as it grows and the infrastructure that will be needed,” she said. “We can't build the community's infrastructure if we don't know what we need to serve it.”

The plan simply serves as a guide and policy document, identifying land available for residential, commercial, industrial and other types of uses while also seeking to protect important sources of jobs such as agriculture and the military and preserving the community's quality of life.

It also sets the stage for the city's Capital Improvement Program that prioritizes and funds such projects as roadways improvements, new fire stations and parks.

State statute mandates that the city have a general plan and update it every 10 years.

The entire plan is available for review on the City Bookshelf page of the city's website.

Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853. Find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/YSJoyceLobeck or on Twitter at @YSJoyceLobeck.