DEPARTMENT: Department of Planning & Community Development
DEPARTMENT HEAD: John Dugan, AICP
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
A briefing on the SA Tomorrow Draft Innovative Policies.
SUMMARY:
SA Tomorrow contains innovative policies in each of its planning elements; Growth and City Form, Transportation and Connectivity, Housing, Jobs and Economic Competitiveness, Public Facilities and Community Safety, Military, Community Health and Wellness, Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, and Historic and Cultural Preservation. These goals and policies will allow San Antonio to enjoy a higher quality of life by increasing choice in inclusivity.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
SA Tomorrow represents an innovative, three-pronged planning effort to guide the city toward smart, sustainable growth. In order to create new innovative policies, thorough public outreach has been done to include the public as well as key stake holders. The Plan Element Working Groups are comprised of the key institutions subject matter experts, corresponding to each of the nine plan elements. These subject matter experts are the core of identifying new goals and policies that need to be achieved in order to increase the quality of life in San Antonio through 2040.
ISSUE:
SA Tomorrow contains innovative themes for addressing the population increases in the future. These over arching themes are the focus of the plan and the basis for our innovative policies in each plan element.
Unique Citywide Activity Centers
San Antonio will build upon its significant polycentric asset, which is the 13 Regional Centers. By using this approach, San Antonio can preserve and protect existing neighborhoods, parks, open space, and trails by concentrating a large portion of future growth and development (housing and employment) in these centers, as well as, smaller scale activity centers, and along attractive muti-modal corridors with enhanced transit services.
Well-Designed Community Spaces
Many comprehensive plans stop at the development of written goals and policies. However, the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan has developed draft place types that build upon existing community assets, such as the San Antonio River Authority’s Westside Creeks Restoration Project and VIA’s 2040 plan. These place types aim to create great spaces within neighborhoods by enhancing neighborhood character and focusing on needed amenities.
Diversified Economy
Eighty percent of jobs created since 2000 were in the City’s four pillars of economic development: Tourism/Hospitality, Healthcare, Education, and Military. The SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan articulates the need to focus on the regional centers as a means to reinvent themselves into amenity-based, well-connected, higher-density neighborhoods that attract and support a more diverse portfolio of jobs and residents.
Multi-modal Transportation Network
The City of San Antonio cannot continue to pave itself out of a roadway-congested future. It is anticipated that by the year 2040, the City of San Antonio will experience system-wide failures across the region if we don’t take action today. New and innovative approaches to transportation will be required, to include a more robust transit system, expansion of the City’s bike and trail system, and re-engaging the community about the topic of rail
Each plan element within SA Tomorrow contains many innovative policies that will continue to increase the quality of life in San Antonio through the year 2040. The estimated population increase over the next decades will stress existing infrastructure, housing, jobs, and the environment unless new innovative growth policies can direct that growth in a sustainable way. Some key innovative policies are listed:
Growth and City Form
• Incentivize the development of housing and employment uses in the City’s priority growth areas.
Transportation and Connectivity
• Prioritize transportation improvements that will incorporate multiple modes of travel, to include light rail, and will provide connections between those modes.
Housing
• Develop specific land use and action plans for regional centers and transit corridors that support housing, a mix of uses and higher density development, and that discourage lower density uses.
Jobs and Economic Competitiveness
• Target and incent job growth within the City’s target industries, including: Healthcare, biosciences, life sciences and scientific R&D;
o Information technology and cyber security;
o Aerospace;
o Advanced manufacturing;
o Energy; and
o Cultural and Creative Industries.
Public Facilities and Community Safety
• Orient new neighborhoods and new development around parks, schools, and public facilities including libraries.
Military
• Develop strategies that apply land use and development tools to mitigate encroachment and compatibility issues that pre-date the JLUS.
Community Health and Wellness
• Develop a system of safe routes to schools and other public activity areas; create partnerships with businesses, schools, and other organizations to establish the system and to promote the program.
Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability
• Require or incentivize new development to manage storm water using best practices and green techniques such as clustered and low-impact development (LID).
Historic and Cultural Preservation
• Enhance the effectiveness of existing historic preservation incentives and create additional programs that encourage reinvestment in historic resources.
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ALTERNATIVES:
N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this briefing.
RECOMMENDATION:
This is a briefing for informational purposes only.