For development projects involving a proposed subdivision, Government Code section 66473.5 prohibits a local agency, including a city or county, from approving a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required, unless the agency's legislative body "finds that the proposed subdivision, together with the provisions for its design and improvement, is consistent with the general plan . . . or any specific plan . . . ." ( 66473.5.) The Subdivision Map Act defines "local agency" as including "a city, county or city and county." ( 66420.) The statute further provides: "A proposed subdivision shall be consistent with a general plan or a specific plan only if . . . the proposed subdivision or land use is compatible with the objectives, policies, general land uses, and programs specified in such an officially adopted plan." (Ibid.) "'Every county and city must adopt a "comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city . . . ." (Gov. Code, 65300.) "The general plan has been aptly described as the 'constitution for all future developments' within the city or county. . . . 'The propriety of virtually any local decision affecting land use and development depends upon consistency with the applicable general plan and its elements' . . . ." . "The consistency doctrine has been described as 'the linchpin of California's land use and development laws; it is the principle which infuses the concept of planned growth with the force of law.' . . ."' ." (California Native Plant Society v. City of Rancho Cordova (2009) 172 Cal.App.4th 603, 636.)