Mention a "community plan update" most places, and you'll draw blank stares. But in one Placer County community, those are fighting words.

What the county is calling a routine review of Granite Bay's plan for growth has quickly become a hot topic in the community.

"It's a 20-year-old plan that had as its growth horizon the year 2000," said Supervisor Kirk Uhler, who represents the community of approximately 17,500 people.

But many residents fear revisions to the plan would threaten the cherished character of a community that made Money Magazine's list of the top 100 places to live in 2007. More than 400 people turned out for an informational meeting on the update in February, with a majority vehemently opposing any efforts to change the plan.

"What's at stake are our homes and our community, a place over 30 years that I have grown to totally love," said Bob Schulke, who lives in one of Granite Bay's older neighborhoods near Folsom Lake.

Initially a draw for people seeking horse property in the 1960s and '70s, the community still has plenty of rural acreage, riding stables and equestrian centers. But over the years, it also has acquired golf courses, tennis clubs and numerous upscale, gated neighborhoods.

Residents boast that the community supports a variety of lifestyles.

Sandy Harris is a founding member of the Granite Bay Community Association, which formed when work on the first community plan began in 1987. She lives on 2.5 acres, where she has raised goats and horses.

"But my son lives in Treelake Village on a postage-stamp lot. … That's what he wants," Harris said.

In some areas, small aging farmhouses sit across the road from Mediterranean-style mansions, both set amid pastures, oaks and granite outcroppings.

Harris said the question is whether updating the community plan means minor tweaking or, as many suspect, a push for higher housing densities and more intense commercial development.

Of particular concern is a 300-foot setback required on the south side of Douglas Boulevard, the community's major east-west thoroughfare. The setback provides for open space and walking paths. It is seen as key to preserving a scenic corridor and preventing Douglas from being transformed into strip commercial centers.

The setback has been challenged and zealously defended over the years, but its supporters fear Uhler seeks to undo that.

Not so, says the supervisor, who acknowledged that he opposed the setback during his previous tenure on the board in the 1990s. But most commercially zoned property along Douglas has been developed and lands in the setback have been acquired as open space.

Uhler, who grew up in Granite Bay, said he would not seek an increase in commercially zoned land but rather revitalization and redevelopment of existing commercial sites. Among those on his radar is a center just east of Sierra College Boulevard anchored by a discount store.

"It's the gateway to Granite Bay, and the first thing you see is 'Stupid Prices,' " he said.

Uhler cited the Quarry Ponds center as an example of what redevelopment could do for the community. The complex, featuring restaurants, a wine shop, boutiques and a specialty food shop replaced a boat sales and storage business.

Uhler also favors reducing the 29,000 population cap that the plan envisions when the community is fully developed. The 1989 plan, he said, didn't anticipate the rapid growth in Roseville, Rocklin, Folsom and El Dorado Hills, which has significantly increased traffic on Granite Bay's roads.

He recommends reducing the build-out population to 23,000.

Although residents say they distrust the update process, Uhler said he has sought to make it transparent. Instead of appointing a steering committee to oversee the work, notices were sent to more than 8,500 parcel owners in Granite Bay, inviting their participation.

Progress reports will be presented at monthly meetings of the Granite Bay Municipal Advisory Council, and public comments and requests for plan changes will be posted on the county's Web site.

Michael Johnson, planning director, sought to quell fears during an advisory council meeting Wednesday, saying that the plan may not be revised at all if the review finds that its original assumptions remain valid.

Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 608-7451.