Planning & Zoning Commission to meet
The city of San Marcos Planning and Zoning Commission holds a special meeting today to hear updates regarding the progress of the Vision SMTX Comprehensive Plan. The meeting gets under way at 5 p.m. in Meeting Room A at the San Marcos Public Library.
This will be a hybrid (in-person/virtual meeting) meeting and the public may view it by going to http://www. sanmarcostx.gov/541/ PZ-Video-Archives or watch the proceedings on Grande channel 16 or Spectrum channel 10.
Members of the commission are expected to receive a presentation and hold discussion on the plan that includes what is called a Preferred Scenario Map.
The city’s Vision SMTX Comprehensive Plan is designed to shepherd the development and growth of the city over the next 20 to 30 years.
The proposed plan was developed with community suggestions collected by city staff over the past two years. It is scheduled to be an agenda item for the July 27 meeting of the commission.
The proposed plan’s programs, projects and policies will impact residents’ work, living and recreational spaces by directing investments and community preservation in one of the fastest growing cities in the innovation corridor.
The plan includes goals for transportation, arts and culture, housing, land use, economic development, parks and community character.
“The City of San Marcos has always been good at planning for the future, especially noting the population growth predicted in the next few years. We want to ensure that we continue to address arts, culture, parks, use of public spaces, how and where we grow, and what housing options will be available, all while continuing to address economic development to also grow our tax base and jobs,”city of San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson said, just after members of the city council had returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., to advance the concerns and needs of the city with federal officials including Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
“We will rely on the private sector to provide much of this, but the Comprehensive Plan should guide them into the types and locations of improvements they may offer for San Marcans,” Hughson said.
Currently, 68% of residents commute out of town for work, doubling the rate from 20 years prior, and one in five residents commute to Austin–the closest metropolitan area. The fastest growing industries in town are hotel/ restaurant, retail, education, construction and healthcare.
The new proposed plan will replace the plan adopted April 16, 2013– The Vision San Marcos: A River Runs Through Us Comprehensive Plan. Generally, the plans will guide city planning for longer than 10 years, but the population, land area and number of university students have all increased here, necessitating the design of a revised plan that takes into account that growth.
The adoption of a new comprehensive plan is six-fold.
The steps in the planning process are: vision and goals, guiding principles and existing conditions, citywide growth scenario, planning elements and recommendations, area plans and implementation strategies and plan drafting and finalization.
Plan has five guiding principles
The plan was drafted using five guiding principles established by community input. The first principle is sustainability and resiliency–a balance of economic and environmental resiliency for current and future residents.
The second principle is to be equitable, diverse and inclusive–create opportunity, choice and a sense of belonging for all community members.
The third principle is to be unique and complete– improve access to essential goods and services and employment throughout the city while protecting the characteristics that make San Marcos unique.
The fourth principle is to be supported and connected–ensure that existing and new development has sufficient access to critical amenities through multiple modes of transportation.
The fifth principle is to be strategic and complementary– ensure new development contributes to the greater good of the community and long-term implications are considered.
Arts and culture
In addition, the plan has several goals and policies to influence the arts and culture.
One goal is to provide enrichment and education opportunities for all residents to impact arts and culture citywide.
City staff said they plan to give support to existing creative establishments and create a visual and performing arts and cultural center or district.
This will include identifying needs and opportunities for new arts and culture facilities such as libraries, museums and community theater and to update the Art in Public Places program.
City staff said they especially plan to focus on helping under-served communities with funding for arts and culture programming and to leverage current art and cultural assets to positively impact local businesses and economy by increasing tourism.
Another goal is to create a dedicated funding stream to strengthen local arts and culture organizations. City staff plan to implement the recommendations for the 2022 Arts Master Plan and update the Arts Master Plan Implementation Strategy every three years. The city looks to develop a strategy for arts and culture funding and plans to improve collaboration among public agencies and local arts and culture organizations to support efficient programming, funding and promotion. This will likely include the creation of new staff positions for arts and culture administration, outreach and programming.
The first economic development goal involves leveraging local assets like natural resources, the university, historic places, business and arts and cultural attractions to increase access to economic opportunities for those in all income and education levels.
The city plans to support local businesses which will foster job creation and capital investment and to create opportunities for local businesses to obtain contracts with governmental agencies and educational institutions.
City staff wish to increase opportunities for students graduating here to be able to stay and to work and live in San Marcos, thereby expanding the talent pool for growing industries.
The second economic development goal involves strategic growth of the economy with investments that attract talent and support local businesses.
The promotion and protection of land uses that support target industries, increase diversification of the city’s tax base, enhance economic development and create incentives packages for entrepreneurs, growing industry sectors and target industries is part of the changes sought by staff.
The city plans to support job creation for all income and education levels, consider incentive policies as conditions change and address childcare as an essential component of economic development. The final economic development goal outlined in the plan is to ensure strategies and programs are aligned with local priorities and policies and competitive with other regional towns. The city plans to regularly assess and update target industries and work with all educational institutions to support specific industry needs and to leverage the Texas Innovation Corridor identity to attract investment and new employment opportunities. The city plans to develop partnerships between the community and major airports in nearby cities to create transit connections.
Environmental and resource protection goals There are several goals to promote environmental and resource protection listed in the proposed plan. The city has a goal to restore, protect and conserve open spaces and natural systems in the midst of growth and development, and there are several policies to support this goal.
The city wants to create an incentive for development in targeted areas on the Preferred Scenario Map that have adequate drainage, water quality and green infrastructure to accommodate an influx in population and infrastructure and plan to establish best practices for resource protection and preservation.
City staff plan to establish riparian buffer zones for resource protection of rivers, creeks, retention ponds and flood mitigation areas and enforce the preservation of trees and native habitats.
The city plans to develop new greenways and trail systems within new developments and to further develop the Habitat Conservation Plan.
The city has a goal of ensuring adaptability and resilience to climate, natural and other unexpected events to protect natural resources and human life.
City staff plan to develop a regional water detention, quality, flood mitigation and stormwater strategy that includes a fee structure for developers and to implement Climate Action, Safety and Hazard Master Plan Strategies to alleviate impacts of natural disasters and climate change.
The city plans to establish resilient and sustainable approaches to ensure a supply of safe surface water and groundwater.
The city has a goal to facilitate a reduction in energy use, water consumption and waste production and encourage green building practices. The city plans to promote the use of reclaimed water for new developments and create opportunities for education about benefits of recycling, water conservation and energy conservation. City staff plan to establish green building standards with a rating system and promote the fiscal benefits of conservation and green building for property owners, residents and developers.
Housing and neighborhoods
The plan has several goals for housing and neighborhoods. The city plans to ensure that local neighborhoods provide affordable, healthy and safe homes and environments for its residents. The city plans to achieve this by adopting a Housing Action Plan and partnering with community and business organizations to educate residents about resources that facilitate homeownership. City staff would also address the housing needs for the homeless as well as those transitioning out of homelessness or at risk of it.
Another housing goal from the plan is to promote diverse housing choices and attainability at all levels of affordability. City staff plan to achieve this by implementing tools to encourage affordable housing and varied housing types and to support programs that prevent displacement of existing neighborhood residents.
A housing goal from the plan is to protect and enhance the cultural, natural and historic resources of all local communities through stabilization, tactful growth and compatible development. City staff plan to achieve this by maintaining the quality of existing neighborhoods by encouraging reinvestment and conservation and adopt a Preservation Plan.
The city plans to encourage tools and strategies to promote longterm affordability by using community trusts, land banks, shared equity models and developer agreements.
The city has a housing goal to create walkable neighborhoods that provide easy access to amenities and essential services in new and previously existing neighborhoods. The city plans to do this by implementing housing in mixed use centers with close proximity to community resources and evaluating parking standards for multifamily housing.
The plan has goals related to land use and community design and character which refers to the way in which different types of uses, amenities, location and design can contribute to the look of the city.
The city has a goal to accommodate future growth throughout the community and have higher densities in mixed-use, compact and connected neighborhoods consistent with the Preferred Scenario Map. City staff plan to achieve this by updating the Land Development Code to follow the map and a plan for a large mixed-use center east of Interstate 35 and other mixed-use centers to ensure that there are services and businesses near residences.
Another land use and community design goal is that new developments should provide convenient and safe access to nearby goods and services.
The city plans to achieve this by requiring all new developments to provide adequate public right-of-way or access easements and provide multimodal connectivity to and within new neighborhoods and developments.
City staff will encourage health care facilities, medical offices, clinics and pharmacies to locate in city and neighborhood centers.
The plan has a land use and community design goal to establish a set of tools and programs to keep growth consistent with community goals. City staff plan to do this by conducting character studies for priority areas, evaluating fiscal impacts of various development types and encouraging a variety of diverse housing types.
The city plans to require new development to have building forms and site features that complement existing neighborhoods.
The city has a land use and community design goal to incentivize land use policies, development practices and conservation design elements that enhance or protect the natural environment.
The city plans to adopt standards for impervious cover limits and for the city and extraterritorial jurisdictions to minimize flooding and develop a Green Infrastructure Master Plan for the city and ETJ.
Parks, public spaces and health The plan proposes several goals related to parks, public space, health safety and wellness. The city has a goal to provide an accessible connected network of open spaces, parks and recreation facilities. City staff plan to achieve this by creating a Greenways Master Plan to improve bicycle and pedestrian access between open spaces, parks and recreation facilities and add adequate heat relief features and access to water.
The city plans to update online information about recreation facilities and parks programs and bond spending and increase community input in relation to new park connections.
The city has a goal of increasing stewardship of the aquifers, rivers and other sensitive areas while maintaining and building upon outdoor recreation sites.
City staff plan to achieve this by prioritizing native plants and low-maintenance materials and design of parks and facilities and creating an Urban Forest Management Plan to protect the tree canopy in the community.
The city plans to locate open spaces and parks in areas that benefit the aquifer and make it a priority to attain land in the recharge zone.
City staff have a parks and open space goal of balancing investments while obtaining new land and facilities with conservation and maintenance of existing spaces and facilities.
The city will do this by implementing a policy that funnels adequate resources to develop and maintain parks and update park impact fees to ensure a sustainable revenue source for parks.
The city plans to create and keep up with a fire and police station location plan to identify appropriate locations based on response times.
The plan also contains several goals related to transportation.
