The General Plan is the basic planning document for all cities and counties in California. Every jurisdiction in the State must adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of both the city and any land outside the city's boundaries that the city judges to be relevant to its long-range planning. All land use approvals in the city must be consistent with the General Plan. The Plan should be clearly written, available to all those concerned with the community's development, and easy to administer.

Envision Chino - General Plan 2025 will be the guiding force for the City's development and conservation efforts. It provides a forum for Chino to identify and preserve its unique and special qualities – its identity and history, strong neighborhoods, vibrant commercial areas, and high level of civic participation – while also addressing common concerns like traffic congestion and public health.

Chino's General Plan is about 25 years old and, since its adoption in 1980, there has been no comprehensive update to the Plan. The General Plan needs to be updated periodically to reflect current community values, updated technical information and new development.

General Plans are required by law to address seven topics, or “elements.” These are land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and public safety. It should be noted that although cities are required to address all issues specified in State law, the General Plan may be organized in a way that best suits the City. Therefore, some of these elements may be combined, while other optional elements may be added.

Given Chino's unique characteristics and needs, the following elements will be included in its General Plan Update:

Land Use – The Land Use Element identifies the proposed general distribution and intensity of land uses for housing, business, industry, open space, natural resources, public facilities and other categories of public and private uses.

Community Character – The Community Character Element will address qualities that contribute to Chino's unique character including policies that address Chino's small town character, design quality, historic resources, entryways, views and cultural arts.

Transportation – The Circulation Element identifies existing and proposed roadways, transit facilities, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities and sets policy priorities for these facilities .

Healthy Chino – The Healthy Chino Element will include goals and policies that ensure that Chino residents live in a safe and healthy environment. Topics to be addressed include physical activity, nutrition, walkability, public safety, and civic participation.

Economic Development – This Element will include goals, objectives, policies and actions that the City can implement to support a vital local economy and finance community needs.

Housing – The Housing Element identifies and analyzes existing and projected housing needs and includes a statement of goals, policies, quantified objectives and scheduled programs for the preservation, improvement, and development of housing.

Parks & Recreation – This element will address the provision of parks & recreational facilities throughout the City.

Conservation & Open Space – The Conservation and Open Space Element addresses conservation of natural resources, including plant and animal wildlife; rivers, creeks and watersheds; soils and agricultural resources; and mineral resources. The Element will also address water conservation, energy conservation, and “green” buildings.

Public Facilities and Services – The Public Facilities and Services Element addresses schools, public safety, libraries, solid waste, water supply and quality, wastewater, and storm drainage. This Element's purpose is to assess the current status of these services in terms of system capacity and demand, and to evaluate future capacity in relation to projected growth.

Noise – The Noise Element addresses noise problems in the community, and analyzes and quantifies current and projected noise levels from a variety of sources.

Air Quality – The Air Quality Element will address regional and local sources of air pollution and identify policies to reduce the emissions of pollutants.

Safety – The Safety Element is intended to protect the community from risks associated with the effects of seismic hazards, other geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires.

Implementation and Evaluation – This Element will identify major projects for the first five years after the plan is adopted and develop a process for how the City should evaluate its General Plan in the future.