The San Joaquin Valley Blueprint Planning Process is a unique opportunity to work together to convey a regional vision of land use and transportation that will be used to guide growth in the San Joaquin Valley over the next 50 years.

It is an joint initiative of the San Jouquin Valley Councils of Governments representing each of the region's eight counties, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the Great Valley Center.

Since 2006, the COGs conducted hundreds of meetings and outreach events that reached thousands of individuals. 

Major accomplishments to date include:

1. Determining the community’s values related to quality of life issues,
2. Developing a vision that reflects those values,
3. Engaging member agencies (the 62 cities and 8 counties in the Valley) and the community-at-large in scenario planning exercises that ultimately led to the endorsement of a preferred growth scenario in each county, and
4. The creation of Valleywide scenarios by UC Davis that were considered by the Regional Policy Council (2 elected officials from each of the 8 counties) to endorse one of the four scenaries.
5. The adoption of the 12 Smart Growth Principles and Preferred Growth Scenario

The San Joaquin Valley is a special place. It has a rich, diverse population, communities that blend rural calm with urban amenities, and an unrivaled agricultural economy.  These qualities also mean the region will grow.  In the next 40 years, it is expected that we will more than double in population from 3.3 million to more than 7 million.  But with growth comes challenges.

Where will the roads go?

What type of housing should be built and where?

How will this growth affect our environment?

The Councils of Govenment from each of the San Joaquin Valley's counties jointly applied for a grant to begin this effort. The motivation for the project was to determine if there are alternatives to current transportation investment priorities that would make improvements to the region's travel patterns and air quality, while being consistent with local attitudes and values.

Funding for this effort is being provided by grants received from the California Department of Business, Transportation and Housing and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District .

E-mail us at bjsteck@fresnocog.org with your information and we’re happy to add it.