Tulare County board adopts Allensworth Community Plan update after years of community outreach

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors on March 31 adopted a negative declaration and approved an updated Allensworth Community Plan, marking the end of a multi-year effort to set land-use, design and resilience policies for the unincorporated hamlet.

The plan, presented by Aaron Bock, Assistant Director with the county Resource Management Agency, would modify the existing development boundary by adding about 2,794 acres and convert it to a proposed community plan development boundary totaling roughly 3,845 acres. The county would also change some Valley agriculture land-use designations to mixed use and create a specific plan with design guidelines and community districts to guide future development. County staff filed a CEQA negative declaration on the basis that the plan itself does not immediately authorize development and that any future project would require project-level environmental review.

The update follows an extensive outreach process that county staff and community groups described as bilingual and participatory. "We used our existing land use designations and married those to the ideas and principles, mostly design related, to come up with the policies," Aaron Bock told the board during his presentation. He also explained the proposed boundary and acreage changes and the intent to form a land-use and design-review commission to consult on new projects.

Community leaders and residents who worked on the plan urged the board to approve it. "The Allensworth community plan has been a six-year endeavor of remembrance, a weaving together of practices that have sustained our peoples," said Desaray Begaus, co-associate executive director of the Allensworth Progressive Association, thanking county staff, USC partners and local volunteers for their work. Denise Kadara, an Allensworth organizer, told the board the community has leveraged the planning effort into substantial funding for projects, saying the effort has "obtained over $50 million" for related work.

Board members from across the county praised the collaboration between residents, nonprofit partners and university partners. Supervisor Pete Vanderpool moved for approval; Supervisor McCarty seconded. The resolution recommending adoption from the Planning Commission (resolution number 10442) carried on a 5-0 vote.

With the plan adopted, county staff said the next steps will involve implementing the community plan's policy framework, standing up the proposed design-review commission and ensuring that any future development proposals undergo project-level environmental review under CEQA. Supporters said they expect the plan to help unlock additional funding for infrastructure, cultural tourism and resilience projects that they say will benefit Allensworth and southwest Tulare County.

The board closed the public hearing on the item after hearing several public commenters and community leaders who described the plan as a model for rural, disadvantaged communities.