DEPARTMENT: Department of Planning & Community Development
DEPARTMENT HEAD: John Dugan, AICP
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Progress and next steps associated with developing and completing the three SA Tomorrow plans.
SUMMARY:
This item includes briefing on the status of the City of San Antonio’s three growth-related plans including the Comprehensive Plan, the Strategic Multimodal Transportation Plan and the Sustainability Plan, collectively named “SA Tomorrow.”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Significant milestones for the three SA Tomorrow plans have been completed during the fourth quarter of 2015 and will continue into the first quarter of 2016. Significant milestones include:
• Plan Element Working Group Meetings and Summit
• Comprehensive Plan Advisory Group Meeting
• Neighborhood Leadership Workshops
• Virtual Town Hall
• Online Bicycle Survey
• Transportation Plan Focus Groups
• Greenhouse Gas Inventory
• Vulnerability Assessment
It is projected that the plans will be completed in the Spring of 2016.
Plan Element Working Groups
The Plan Element Working Groups are comprised of representatives of industry and community leaders nominated by the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Group member organizations, and supplemented by subject matter experts identified by the City of San Antonio. In collaboration with these working groups and City staff, MIG (the Comprehensive Plan lead consultant) has been developing specific goal and policy recommendations that are the foundation of the comprehensive plan.
Plan Element Working Group Education Summit
All the Plan Element Working Groups met together to address larger, cross cutting issues being discussed in the individual Plan Element Working Groups that required technical expertise, and to provide baseline information for future discussion. The first Plan Element Working Group Education Summit was conducted on December 4, 2015 at the Pre-K 4 SA East Education Center. Subject matter experts presented on the topics of water and annexation and how those issues could affect the comprehensive planning effort.
Citizens Planning Institute
The Citizens Planning Institute (CPI) is comprised of residents appointed by the City Council (two per Council District) and the Mayor. The roles of the CPI members are to be both citizen-representatives in the development of the SA Tomorrow plans and to be ambassadors to their communities. The Institute is administered and staffed by the City’s Department of Planning & Community Development, with support from staff of other City departments.
Comprehensive Plan Advisory Group
The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Group is a stakeholder group representing government, community and non-profit entities that have significant interest in the prosperity of San Antonio, and serves as a platform for the exchange of information and alignment of existing and future planning efforts. The role of the Advisory Group is to support the comprehensive planning process by providing their respective organization’s long-range plans and to nominate technical experts to the Plan Element Working Groups.
Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee
The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee is comprised of the Chairs from each of the nine Technical Working Groups, one board member from VIA Metropolitan Transit, three City of San Antonio Planning Commissioners, and the SA Tomorrow Tri-Chairs: Councilman Ron Nirenberg, Darryl Byrd, and Dr. Afamia Elnakat. The purpose of the Steering Committee is to serve as the tenth working group for the Comprehensive Plan with focus on the Implementation Strategy of the Comprehensive Plan. In this capacity, the Steering Committee will assist the planning team in reconciling the proposed policies and recommending the Comprehensive Plan for City Council consideration.
ISSUE:
Comprehensive Plan
Plan Element Working Groups
The Plan Element Working Groups met on November 10, 2015 at the Pre-K 4 SA East Education Center. The purpose of this meeting was to review draft goals and policies as prioritized by Working Group participants via an online survey. The chair of each working group presented their respective group’s goals and policies and answered questions. In addition, the working groups were introduced to neighborhood and district development types that support the draft goal and policy objectives.
The next Plan Element Working Group meetings are scheduled for January 26 through January 28, 2016.
Plan Element Working Group Education Summit
The next Education Summit is scheduled for early February and will focus on the City’s role in supporting educational performance and the pivotal role of school districts in shaping San Antonio’s future development patterns.
Annexation Working Group Meetings
To expand dialogue and analysis of the annexation proposal and 2013 annexation policies 5 of the Plan Element Working Groups (Growth & City Form, Transportation, Public Facilities & Community Safety, Military, and Jobs & Economic Competitiveness) will constitute an Annexation Working Group. Three annexation working group meetings are scheduled for the first quarter of 2016. These meetings will engage Plan Element Working Group members in a more detailed discussion and analysis regarding current annexation policies and how the SA Tomorrow planning program could inform the City’s future annexation program.
Citizens Planning Institute
The fifth and sixth CPI meetings were conducted on October 23 and December 11, 2015 at the offices of the Department of Planning & Community Development. The sessions introduced the members to the Sustainability Plan and the current Annexation Program. Both sessions had opportunities for members to provide feedback through activities and discussion. The next CPI meeting is tentatively scheduled for January 22, 2016 and will cover neighborhood and district types.
Comprehensive Plan Advisory Group
The Advisory Group met on December 16, 2015 at the Central Library. Advisory Group members were asked to be active partners in the public outreach efforts that will begin January 2016. The next Comprehensive Plan Advisory Group meeting will get to discuss place types in much greater detail and will be conducted in February 2016.
Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee
The Steering Committee met on October 12, 2015 at the San Antonio College's EcoCentro. The meeting allowed for a review of the Comprehensive Plan Schedule, refinement of the draft goals and policies, and a briefing on the Neighborhood Leadership Workshops. The Steering Committee Tri-Chairs met with staff on November 24, 2015 to provide an overview of the upcoming Neighborhood Leadership Workshops as well as the updated prioritized goals and policies, and to brief them on the proposed outreach strategy. Staff will work with the Tri-Chairs to schedule a series of meetings over the first quarter of 2016 to keep the Steering Committee engaged.
Neighborhood Leadership Workshops
The Department of Planning & Community Development and its consultant team conducted a series of Neighborhood Leadership Workshops on December 1 through December 3, 2015, at the Pre-K 4 SA West Education Center, the Phil Hardberger Park Urban Ecology Center, and the Athlos Leadership Academy. The workshops provided an opportunity to collect input from approximately 80 representatives of the numerous neighborhood associations, homeowners associations, and other community organizations in the San Antonio area.
Neighborhood leaders were provided information on the key findings of the Existing Conditions Report; were presented with and discussed the proposed policy framework, including draft policy and goal statements; and reviewed and discussed preliminary neighborhood types as well as overall city form.
Strategic Multimodal Transportation Plan
The Multimodal Transportation Plan wrapped up a year of technical analysis and public outreach with a Virtual Town Hall on November 30th hosted by Councilman Ray Lopez, Chairman of the MPO Transportation Policy Board, and the three SA Tomorrow Tri-Chairs: Councilman Ron Nirenberg, Dr. Afamia Elnakat, and Darryl Byrd. The Virtual Hall was available on the web and staff was on-hand at four satellite viewing stations. Citizens were able to call in with questions about transportation and how multimodal options would work in the future.
Several Focus groups were also held in December with the bicycle community, pedestrian advocacy groups, the various Chambers of Commerce, the development community, and suburban cities. The consultant team used this forum to gain additional insight and input for inclusion in the Multimodal Transportation Plan to help ensure the plan meets the specific needs of these partners in the community.
The Transportation Plan is currently in the drafting stage and one-on-one briefings were held with each Council District. General transportation themes were discussed and drafts of multimodal corridor options in their district were presented. Similar to the focus groups, the meetings allowed for direct input into the plan to ensure that the specific needs of each district are addressed throughout the overall plan.
Sustainability Plan
Sustainability Plan Process Update
The Sustainability Planning process is in the final phase of development. The final phase includes preparing the draft plan developed over the last year with the help of the Sustainability Steering Committee, Municipal Leadership Committee, and input from stakeholders and general public. The draft Sustainability Plan will be presented to the general public in late February for public comment.
Greenhouse Gas Inventory Summary
The SA Tomorrow Sustainability Plan provides a roadmap for the anticipated growth of one million more people by balancing that growth with our social, environmental, and economic resources. As greenhouse gases (GHG) are a commonly used sustainability indicator, a key component of the plan is to understand current GHG emission levels, and their sectors and sources. As part of the sustainability plan, the City has completed its first-ever community-wide GHG emissions inventory and its first government operations inventory since 2008, using 2013 and 2014 as baseline years. A greenhouse gas inventory is a way to assess greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted to or removed from the atmosphere over a period of time, and can be used as a key air quality indicator. Inventories are used to track emission trends, develop mitigation strategies and policies, and assess progress.
Vulnerability Assessment
Another component of the Sustainability Plan is the development of a climate vulnerability assessment. The goal of the assessment is to look beyond the historic climate record using scientifically accepted models to identify the probability of future extreme weather events and changing climate conditions that could affect the city. While the recently completed COSA Hazard Mitigation Action Plan (2014) identifies both natural and human events that could affect the city, it is based solely on an assessment of historical weather patterns and events that are not necessarily adequate predictors of the future, and planning for these past events may not go far enough to prepare the city for the future.
This report used a process that brought together the best available science with a multi-departmental, multi-organizational team of experts from across the community to identify key concerns and evaluate the potential vulnerability of assets, resources, and segments of the community with a focus on these changing climate conditions and extreme weather events.
ALTERNATIVES:
N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this briefing.
RECOMMENDATION:
This is a briefing for informational purposes only.