Council discusses housing action plan

The San Marcos City Council will continue to look at a strategic action plan aimed to address housing needs in San Marcos.

Council discussed a proposed Workforce Housing Task Force Strategic Housing Action Plan on Wednesday evening, and ultimately concluded that a work session will be needed to examine and discuss the plan further.

The action plan, which was created over the course of a year by a group of 19 community members along with staff, includes four goals, six strategies and 23 actions that will address San Marcos’ housing needs.

The plan’s four primary goals are as follows: Expand opportunities for housing, preserve and enhance existing housing stock, leverage community and regional partners and quantity and meet the housing needs of current and future residents.

On Sept. 24, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the plan, but struck down three actions and amended two actions items in the housing action plan.

The three action items removed from the plan relate to zoning changes:

Action B1. Development Codes and Zoning: Support diverse and vibrant neighborhoods by expanding the types of zoning districts and building types allowed within existing neighborhoods. Use a community driven process with a focus on accommodating residents through all stages of life; Action B3. Infill Housing Assistance: Assist builders with fee waivers, clear-path permitting, and regulatory incentives like reduced parking or additional units in exchange for permanently affordable housing in pre-identified infill sites; Action D2. Accommodate Growth through Appropriate Zoning: The city should proactively zone both undeveloped and infill areas in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan to ensure that the capacity for residential growth is in excess of the anticipated population growth instead of relying on each individual project to request zoning.

During discussion on the plan, councilmember Mark Rockeymoore asked staff to further explain Action D2, which says “the city should proactively zone both undeveloped and infill areas in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan.”

Abby Gillfillan, city planning manager. responded and said that zoning and development regulations are two of the biggest things the city is able to do.

“Those are the biggest tools the city has to regulate the type of housing and where it goes,” Gillfillan said. “... the proactively zoning, that’s about areas in intensity zones and growth areas in our comprehensive plan. So the idea there is that the city needs to look at those areas comprehensively and be the ones to put regulations in place to ensure that we get the type of housing and enough housing in those areas to meet our needs as a city.”

Gillfillan said that the action item would occur through a robust planning process that includes all individuals that would be affected by it.

“And in terms of identifying where those areas are, that’s really what you use a comprehensive plan for so that the city as a whole through that planning process identifies where those areas are,” she said. “Our comprehensive plan identified areas based on those intensity zones and those growth areas. In terms of this one in the action plan, what the task force was talking about is that as we start doing neighborhood plans and small area plans, affordability needs to be a top priority in those plans. A lot of times particularly as you move down to smaller geographic areas it’s easy to lose sight of those overarching community goals and so the task force wanted to make sure that as you move down to smaller levels and neighborhood areas that affordability is really something that needs to be taken into consideration in planning for those areas.”

Several members of council expressed concern with the action item.

“A lot of people talked to me about having city government initiated zoning and they were very very uncomfortable with that and I share that concern and I support removing this from the plan,” councilmember Ed Mihalkanin said.

Mayor Jane Hughson said this aspect of the plan was the one thing that concerned her the most.

“I’ve seen large scale rezonings and some of them haven’t worked out so well,” Hughson said. “I agree with removing it in that format, I think that I could support something replacing it but to just say we’re going to come in and rezone somebody’s property, I just can’t do that, not without the landowner being part of the conversation.”

After considerable discussion, Council concluded with a decision to hold a work session in the future to continue discussing the plan.

Workforce Housing Task Force Chair Laura Dupont said that she is glad council did not decide to vote on P&Z’s amended plan but is disappointed “because this is a pattern in our city where our elected officials will not, do not, refuse to move forward with the good work of people in the community.”

“It’s just so disappointing that a few loud voices that are well connected to council can override the needs of an entire community,” Dupont said.

Workforce Housing Task Force Co-Chair Gloria Salazar spoke during public comment in favor of the draft created by the task force and said that this decision is one that has been kicked forward from previous City Councils.

“I feel that if you choose not to support the housing action plan put together by a diverse group of citizens from nonprofits, to home healthcare, to public housing to Gary Job Corps, Texas State, the San Marcos School District representatives, then please stop misleading the citizens of San Marcos and remove the housing initiative from the ‘top five’ strategic initiatives that are top priorities for San Marcos,” Salazar said. “Housing has been on it for three years. If you’re not willing to make that tough decision today, then remove it. Don’t continue to mislead us. Our crisis, it will continue.”