Plymouth – The Plymouth City Council voted 4-1 Thursday to approve the long-awaited update to it General Plan, and voted 3-2 to approve an accompanying Final Environmental Impact Report. Councilwoman Pat Fordyce and others lauded the work of planners Paula Daneluk and D’Arcy Goulart over the past 3 years. Mayor Jon Colburn said the General Plan sets the city’s path until 2025, or 16 years, but he voted against both items, saying that corrections he wanted should have been made. City Manager Dixon Flynn said the General Plan has cost the city $312,000, with all of the work combined costing nearly $500,000. Flynn said it would never be perfect, but there is an amendment process, which can change the General Plan up to 4 times a year. He said that could be as extensive as replacing the entire General Plan. Flynn said he recognized there are “people in this room and the community that have concerns about it.” He said they should “always pay close attention to the naysayers. A lot of times they have something important to say.” Councilwoman Pat Shackleton also voted against the FEIR, saying she did not think everyone got a chance to comment on it. Colburn said he thought they should have surveyed the city, and the General Plan update has “nothing in there to benefit the current residents of the city.” He said they would be better served by the then existing General Plan. Fordyce said she “put a lot of faith in the Planning Commission,” and the city has the best commission it has had in years. Councilman Mike O’Meara said they “did a good job of trying to protect the land around us.” O’Meara disagreed with Colburn, saying: “I think this is a wonderful document. I want to be a consultant in my next life.” Vice Mayor Greg Baldwin said the “planning area” in the General Plan “tells the county that we want to know if something goes on.” City Attorney Steven Rudolph told the council that the documents were legally defensible, and the minor changes did not justify the need for a continuance of a public hearing because none of the mitigation remedies were changed. Thursday’s meeting was a continuance of a public hearing on the 2 documents, and about a dozen people commented before close of the hearing at about 8 p.m. Story by Jim Reece This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it