Preface Executive Summary 1 - Introduction 2 - Project Description 3 - Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures 4 - Alternatives to the Project 5 - List of Persons Preparing this EIR 6 - Bibliography Appendices A - Notice of Preparation B - Responses to Notice of Preparation C - Goals, Objectives, Policies, Implementation Actions and Strategies D - General Plan Update Opinion Surveys  PREFACE This Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been prepared under the auspices of the City of Grass Valley to analyze the potential effects of updating the City of Grass Valley General Plan. The "project" encompasses the entire 9,875.23 acre Planning Area of the City of Grass Valley, an increase of 544 acres over the existing 1982 General Plan. The project involves establishing land use designations, as well as goals, objective, policies and implementation actions and strategies to shape development in Grass Valley for a 20-year period, or through the year 2020. All direct impacts associated with the project are assumed for this 20-year planning period. The project "build-out" assumes that this General Plan extends beyond the year 2020, and is assessed as the cumulative impact of the project. This EIR conforms to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970 (CEQA), as amended, the State CEQA Guidelines, as well as the administrative procedures established by City of Grass Valley for the preparation and processing of EIRs. In accordance with Sections 15050 and 15367 of the State Guidelines, the City of Grass Valley is designated as the lead agency for this EIR. An EIR is an informational document to provide the general public and appropriate governmental decision-makers with a full understanding of the potential environmental effects of a proposed project. The EIR process is intended to enable public agencies to evaluate a project for determination of the significance of its effect(s) on the environment, to examine and institute methods of reducing and/or eliminating the severity of adverse impacts, and to consider alternatives to the project as proposed. CEQA requires that major consideration be given to preventing environmental damage. At the same time, it is recognized in CEQA that public agencies have obligations to balance other public objectives, including economic and social factors, in determining whether and how a project should be approved. Quad Knopf, a professional planning firm with offices in Sacramento, Visalia, Bakersfield and Fresno, California and Reno, Nevada, prepared this EIR.