Group recognizes town/gown plan

August 05, 2008 12:39 pm

— The Central Texas Section American Planning Association awarded the Current Plan of the Year for the city of San Marcos/Texas State Town Gown Compilation Plan. The award recognizes the joint efforts of the city of San Marcos, Texas State University-San Marcos, and Broaddus & Associates over a course of four years that combines the University’s Campus Master Plan with the city’s Campus Edge District and Downtown Master Plans.
All entities approached their respective plans as a way to cultivate a greater city/university or “town-gown” relationship. The city and the university retained Broaddus & Associates as their master planner, resulting in a compilation plan that has received the Current Plan of the Year award.
Stephen Coulston, vice president of Broaddus Planning, believes that good planning is characterized by an inclusive and participatory approach. The planners brought together university representatives, city officials, and more than 400 community members in meetings and open forums to include all stakeholders. This resulted in plans that were accepted by the public at large as their input was considered and implemented.
In 2004, Texas State University’s Master Plan was launched to address a projected 30,000 student enrollment increase and their need for additional academic facilities. Several sites were identified for additional academic buildings and residence halls, and implementation of the plan has started to take place. The initial phase of landscaping is improving the city streets near the campus edge. In the final phase, Texas State campus will seamlessly connect to San Marcos Courthouse Square, with a pedestrian-friendly public plaza for students and residents, creating a vibrant college town district.
Collaboration produced an effective master plan; after presenting the Campus Master Plan to the Texas State Board of Regents they gave an ovation, a first in the university regents’ meeting history.
Texas State President Denise Trauth remarked, “In all my years in higher education, I have never been involved with such a collaborative process as this.”
In 2006, the Campus Edge Strategic Plan was born out of efforts by the city of San Marcos and Texas State University-San Marcos reaching out to each other during development of the University Master Plan. The Campus Edge Plan recommended a Downtown Master Plan for the purposes of revitalizing its downtown for current and future residents of San Marcos.
In 2007, Broaddus & Associates began the Downtown Master Plan with the notion to rejuvenate the local community and area businesses by creating both concrete and social connections into the downtown area.
City of San Marcos Chief Planner Chance Sparks mentioned, “The downtown master plan sets the course to reinvigorate the downtown area.”
Some of the recommendations include: Decreasing number of street lanes while increasing sidewalk width, creating landscapes for on-street cafes and gatherings, and creating two-way streets to ease driving navigation and increase visibility of businesses. The city has currently integrated key components of the master plan into its Capital Improvement Plan.
Using town-gown relations as planning pillars, the award-winning compilation plan strives to create greater community relations, an improved built environment, and a better quality of life.