MAXWELL, CA (MPG) – Photographs published in Colusa County’s preliminary Maxwell Community Plan reflect the quaintness of the quiet hamlet, despite the vast needs of the community.
The Colusa County Community Development Department presented the preliminary plan to the Board of Supervisors in mid-December, after working with De Novo Planning Group on the document since early spring.
“The purpose of the Maxwell Community Plan is to provide guidance and strategies to help guide and shape the future of the Maxwell community,” said Ben Ritchie, principal consultant, at the board’s Dec. 17 meeting. “It’s intended to respond to challenges and opportunities presented by the Site’s Reservoir project.”
De Nova hosted four well-attended community meetings over the summer in which the public helped identify prominent concerns associated with the influx of construction workers and tourists during and after the reservoir’s construction, particularly traffic, limited housing, inadequate water and sewer infrastructure, the need for more commercial establishments, few public services, and limited employment opportunities.
According to the plan, Maxwell has the capacity to build out commercial and industrial developments, including five vacant parcels already zoned commercial; 15 vacant parcels zoned for highway commercial development; eight vacant parcels zoned light industrial, and 10 vacant parcels zoned heaving industrial.
“If you look at your land use and zoning maps for Maxwell, there are a tremendous amount of acres and parcels that are designated for urban type uses that are still vacant,” Ritchie said. “So, when we’re looking at opportunities for economic development expansion or new housing resources, what we don’t have is a shortage of land that would need to be converted from an ag zone to, say, residential or commercial or industrial. That effort really was done in detail back in 2010 as part of the general plan update, and you obviously haven’t seen significant development in Maxwell since 2010.”
Ritchie said the Maxwell Community Plan details design guidelines and requirements for implementation countywide, not just in Maxwell but in other unincorporated areas of Williams and Arbuckle.
Concerning housing, the Community Plan encourages the county to amend zoning codes to allow landowners to establish temporary workforce housing utilizing recreational vehicles; allow residential properties that were rezoned as commercial in the 2014 zoning update to be treated as residential for the purpose of constructing accessory dwelling units; and allow rental housing on commercial zones in downtown Maxwell and other unincorporated communities.
The plan recommends the county to amend light industrial areas to allow mobile home parks, as well as streamline the ADU permitting process.
Regarding community facilities, the plan recommends the county support Maxwell Park and Recreation District in acquiring land and constructing an entry park west of Interstate 5, along Old Highway 99W, and to support efforts to expand recreational opportunities.
The plan also calls for the county to support Maxwell Unified School District campus beautification and maintenance of joint-use recreational facilities, encourage new development proposals to include a balanced mix of jobs and housing, facilitate the rehabilitation and beautification of historic properties, and support the downtown area as the central hub of the community.
While the Maxwell Community Plan does not name funding to carry out the recommendations, Ritchie said the document will position the county well for future and subsequent grant applications.
“The strategies that are identified in the plan will have dollars attached to them in the future as you implement this over the years,” Ritchie said. “There are over 30 strategies and implementation actions in the Maxwell Community Plan.”
The county may host one more community meeting before presenting a final plan to the Board of Supervisors for adoption.