Bending the Rules in the Foothills—County General Planning in Exurban Northern California

Abstract

The article directs attention to county planning in exurbia. Through a case study of a small, unincorporated community in the foothills of northern California, the research examines county planning as a flexible process that revisited zoning several times in its general plan update, eventually redefining and recodifying this exurban space as a working landscape. Using the concept of “creative law breaking,” the study shows that by publicly threatening to defy unreasonable land-use restrictions, activists in the community provided useful information to planners about the diversity and hybrid nature of exurban communities.

Keywords:

• case studies
• community involvement
• land use planning
• policy reform

Acknowledgments

Thanks to community members and planners who were involved in the county general plan update and to my colleague, Pam Figge, for her useful comments. I am grateful to the helpful feedback I received from anonymous reviewers.