History

Background

In 2010, the Board of Supervisors set out to establish a vision for the future of the county as a whole and subsequently adopted a Countywide Vision in 2011 after two years of input from the community and the county’s 24 cities and towns. Following the adoption of the Countywide Vision, which calls for the creation of a “complete county,” the Board adopted the County paradigm and job statements in 2012.

In 2015, San Bernardino County launched an effort to go further than any county or city has ever gone with a general plan by creating a web-based comprehensive “complete county” plan.

More Than a General Plan

General plans are almost always strictly rule books for guiding development and growth. San Bernardino County’s Countywide Plan goes beyond a traditional general plan by taking into account all services—not just land-use planning—provided by County Government and the unique values and priorities of each unincorporated community.

Series of images showing different aspects of the County: boats on a lake, river through a desert, historic Route 66, skier, aerial view of the valley region, agricultural plots, child leaping on rocks along a lake edge.
Our County Our Future. San Bernardino County is home to a wide variety of landscapes, people, land uses, and recreational opportunities.

Objectives

What Does the Countywide Plan Do?

  • Aligns County planning with the Countywide Vision
  • Provides tools to enable community-driven action in unincorporated communities
  • Increases coordination between County departments
  • Enhances transparency and communication with residents, agencies, and other stakeholders
  • Improves delivery of regional services
  • Utilizes County resources more efficiently
  • Guides decision-making for the Board of Supervisors

Amendments

Policy Plan

California State law requires that all cities and counties have comprehensive general plans that provide a policy statement and guide for the development and conservation of the community. The County’s Policy Plan fulfills the State’s general plan requirement and includes additional policy guidance that goes beyond State mandates.

Before any portion of the Policy Plan can be changed, the requested change must be thoroughly reviewed. Amending the Policy Plan is an important decision. Criteria for approving amendment requests are included in the Policy Plan (Land Use Element, Goal LU-6 and related policies) and the Business Plan (Governance Element, Policy GV-1.3). The process is also subject to state law, which requires each amendment request be evaluated by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors at public hearings before a decision is made.

Any part of the Policy Plan can be changed through the amendment process, provided it meets the criteria set forth in the Policy and Business Plans. This includes changing land use categories on the Land Use Map and changing any portion of the Policy Plan, including text such as element Introductions, Purpose, Principles, and Goals and Policies, as well as Policy Maps, Policy Tables, documents incorporated by reference, and elements adopted separately from the Countywide Plan.

Business Plan

The Business Plan directs the integration of Countywide Plan goals, policies, and actions into the way the County operates and plans its budget.

Communities (Community Action Guides)

Community Action Guides are intended guide community actions and are not “set in stone”. Champions, Action Leaders and Action Teams should be identified by your community or created by organizations, community groups or community members who volunteer to champion, lead or participate. The Action Plan Matrix includes a general set of tasks that can be modified by the Champions, Action Leaders and/or Action Teams to best fit your community needs at the time of action implementation. The Action Teams could include people who were not at the workshops and may have additional input to enhance the Action Statement or action steps. The community should feel free to make changes and find alternatives for completing actions. You may decide to expand the action, modify it or only select to complete a few tasks of the Action Plan.

The Community should consider reviewing its guide annually to celebrate what was accomplished and make changes to the guide, as necessary, to ensure it is a relevant work plan. Communities should report back to the County as they complete actions to ensure their online guide is updated with success stories included on their website and to ensure their Action Plans are updated reflecting completed actions. As communities complete their Action Plans, the County will determine when to revisit the community to expand or modify their Action Plans.

For more information see How to Use the Community Action Guides.

Adopted Amendments

Below is a complete list of adopted amendments.