Welcome to the General Plan debate! The League of Women Voters (LWV) recently released a table comparing the General Plan Initiative (Measure A on the June ballot) with the County-adopted 2006 General Plan (Measures B and C). The Refinement Group1 has prepared a response, correcting inaccuracies and misleading statements in the LWV table.  You can find the Refinement Group's response here. Reviewing the Refinement Group's response should help you understand issues raised by both sides in the General Plan debate.  The response provides hyperlinks to primary documents (like the 2006 General Plan, its EIR and other background studies, and the General Plan Initiative/Measure A), so you can see for yourself what these documents say rather than relying on sound-bites and campaign slogans. The response is in the form of a table, based on the table originally prepared by the LWV.  The three left columns were written by the LWV (comment numbers have been added by the RG).  The Refinement Group's response is added as a new right-hand column. If ever there was a time for informed voters, this is it.  Our county's future is in your hands. If you are confused about the meaning of Measures A, B and C on the June 5 ballot, you are not alone.  Here is an explanation.  The Refinement Group recommends NO on A, NO on B and YES on C.
	1     The Refinement Group was initially established by a County resolution, and first met in July, 2003.  The intent was to put together representatives from about 30 organizations that disagreed over the General Plan Update so differences could be resolved.  Many of the groups now advocating for the GPI/Measure A were originally Refinement Group members. The County funded the group for eight weeks.  Most of that time was spent trying to agree on the meaning of the word "consensus."  No-growth groups wanted "consensus" to mean that if even one representative disagreed, there was no consensus.  Only one general plan policy was agreed to under this definition, a 100% affordable housing policy (not included in Measure A). At the end of eight weeks, the no-growth participants walked out.  The rest of the Refinement Group has continued meeting once a week to discuss general plan issues.