Ione – The Ione City Council voted 5-0 Wednesday to approve its General Plan Update, ending 18 months of work on time and under budget. City Planner Christopher Jordan said the update began in March of 2008 and he and his team and city staff, plus public officials, finished before its August 31st deadline, today’s date. He said it was “on time and on budget,” with consultant fees of about $580,000. City Manager Kim Kerr was asked by the council to determine the total cost of the General Plan Update, and she will try to report that at the council’s next meeting. Jordan said last week’s approval included some work on the General Plan maps, and discussion and work on “property concerns, with regard to the area downtown, where the commercial designations weren’t quite what everybody expected.” Corrections and clarifications were made, including changes to the General Plan and text amendments to go with it. The update began last year with public meetings and scoping, with a well-attended series of meetings at the Evalynn Bishop Hall in Howard Park. Community questionnaires included public comments by about 250 people, hosted by Pacific Municipal Consultants. Up next for the Planning Commission is zoning, which will be the subject at the Commission’s next meeting, September 8th. Jordan said if everything goes well, staff will try to get zoning decisions to the city council for consideration by the first of October. Zoning will be based on the general plan land usage elements, but will be working in a lot more detail. Story by Jim Reece This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it