The most current planning period began in 1990 with the formation of the Growth Management Steering Committee. Thirty individuals were appointed by the City Council of Ukiah and charged with the task of envisioning the next 20 years for the Ukiah Valley. This was a joint effort of the county and the city and involved a budget of $250,000 and more than 300 people who gave feedback at dozens of meetings.

The Steering Committee met twice a month for four years. In August of 1994 they finished writing the Ukiah Valley General Plan. The entire document was over 330 pages with 14 elements. The plan then went to the City Council and Planning Commission of Ukiah for adoption in December 1995.

Although the original text had very few revisions, as it went through the public review process held the Ukiah City Council, changes in the wording reduced its strength by changing many of the notations of "shall" to "should". This difference in wording changed the specified actions from mandated actions to policy guidelines.

The County of Mendocino then took this General Plan and deleted all goals, policies, and implementation measures which pertained to the city and retained all language which related to the county's jurisdiction and joint city and county interface. This document worked its way very slowly through the County's Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. The Ukiah Valley General Plan became the Ukiah Valley Area Plan (UVAP) with numerous changes from the original documents. The UVAP was tentatively adopted in 2003. The program Environmental Impact Report (UVAP/EIR) was released for review in 2005.