The outline for guiding Los Ba&#241;os' growth and development through the next two decades will finally go to the City Council for review after nearly four years of planning.</p><p>Wednesday night the Planning Commission recommended approval of the revised version of the city's general plan. </p><p>The general plan was last updated in 1999. The new version will guide nearly every aspect of city development and its impacts through 2030. At that time, according to the plan, Los Ba&#241;os will have 90,400 residents. The plan also predicts that at maximum build out the city will boast 46,400 jobs and 32, 500 employed residents. Today those numbers are 4,540 and 11,100 respectively, according to the revised plan.</p><p>Commissioner Tom Mello asked city staff about some additional plans for industrial parks being included in the document. Mello had a concern that truck traffic using an industrial area near the Rail Trail would create problems as the city grows. </p><p>"You might want to consider moving that nearer to the (Highway) 152 bypass," Mello said. "I think it's a difficult situation for them to get in and out of right now. If you did bring industry into town, which we need desperately, it's not a very accessible area on either end."</p><p>Aside from industrial space near the Rail Trail, the general plan also provides for it at the extreme eastern and western edges of Highway 152 within the city's sphere of influence.</p><p>The plan calls for expanding low and medium density housing in the northern and southern portions of town. Mercey Springs Road will see more commercial development. The area near the western entrance of the Highway 152 bypass and the Merced College Los Ba&#241;os Campus will also see commercial business built around them.</p><p>The eastern Sante Fe Grade portion of the bypass will be surrounded by an agriculture designation, but the Mercey Springs Road exit will be next to commercial development.</p><p>Mixed use designation -- meaning combinations of housing, commercial and civic uses -- are reserved for the city's downtown area and Rail Trail.</p><p>Shirley Napolitano, a commissioner and general plan steering committee member, said she particularly likes the provisions in the general plan dealing with air quality. She said the Central Valley has not achieved anywhere near what it needs to as far as improving air quality.</p><p>Commissioner Ann McCauley said she likes the greenbelts that surround certain areas within the general plan. McCauley also is fond of the commercial development near portions of the bypass.</p><p>Commissioners acknowledged that the general plan will likely undergo additional revisions before 2030.</p><p>"You have to have a plan; a place to start, and that's what this is," Napolitano said.</p><p>Commission Chairman Norm Donovan said he believes the new general plan will work very well.</p><p>The city began work on the general plan in November of 2005.</p><p><i>Enterprise staff writer Corey Pride can be reached at 388-6563 or cpride@losbanosenterprise.com</i>