DEPARTMENT: Planning
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Bridgett White, AICP
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Update on implementation of the SA Tomorrow Plans
SUMMARY:
A briefing and discussion on the implementation of the SA Tomorrow Plans
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The City of San Antonio is projected to grow significantly over the next two decades and developing a plan to accommodate that growth was the driving objective for the development of the SA Tomorrow Plans. All three SA Tomorrow component plans (Comprehensive Plan, Multimodal Transportation Plan, and Sustainability Plan) were adopted by City Council in August 2016.
The Comprehensive Plan identifies three types of sub-area plans: Regional Center Plans, Corridor Plans, and Community Plans. Regional Centers are one of the key building blocks of our City’s future. In order to leverage their potential to help absorb a significant portion of San Antonio’s projected growth, a clear vision and strategic plan for each is needed. These regional center plans will refine each center’s boundaries, identify areas of change and stability, and develop a detailed land use plan that prioritizes infrastructure, policy, and program improvements. It is important to note that the centers are not homogenous places; each one includes multiple place types, urban forms and land uses.
The Community Plan areas include the existing neighborhoods, corridors, and urban centers that complete the fabric of our City. Our existing neighborhoods are treasured assets that will continue to play a critical role in our future planning efforts. The growth strategies recommended in the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan protect and enhance these valuable parts of our city by focusing many of the new housing units and jobs along corridors and into urban and regional centers. By focusing our planning efforts on neighborhoods, corridors, urban centers, and regional centers, we ensure the ability to create and support complete communities across our City with access to a variety of amenities and daily needs and services.
The Multimodal Transportation Plan lays out a vision for the future that utilizes technology and innovation to transform our existing system into a dynamic, balanced, and forward thinking system. The plan helps us begin to prepare for the inevitability of connected and autonomous vehicles, as well as high speed rail and future transportation innovations. The plan includes five key components:
• Focus on moving people, not cars, by providing transportation mode choices.
• Build a multimodal transportation system
• The City and our internal agencies must partner with TxDOT, MPO, and Bexar County to implement a dynamic “incident management program” to minimize the impact of roadway congestion.
• Continue to use “Smart Cities” technology to make innovative and emerging technology available for all mode users.
• Safety remains a priority. Preserving our infrastructure through regular maintenance promotes and increases roadway safety. Through Vision Zero and School Pedestrian Safety programs, we are designing our roadways for all users and all modes of travel while focusing on safety for our residents and visitors.
The Sustainability Plan articulates the City’s sustainability strategy, serving as a roadmap to make our community and municipal operations more sustainable, improving quality of life for all residents, and building overall community resilience. With an additional one million people coming to Bexar County by the year 2040, the Sustainability Plan aims to balance the growth with our environmental, economic, and social resources. A greenhouse gas inventory, climate vulnerability study, and climate trends analysis guided development of the plan.
ISSUE:
A briefing on the current implementation status of the three SA Tomorrow Plans: the Comprehensive Plan, the Multimodal Transportation Plan and the Sustainability Plan.
On March 30, 2017 City Council approved and awarded the SA Tomorrow Area Planning Consulting Services contract to Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. (MIG) The consultant contract with MIG will provide the City of San Antonio with five Regional Center Plans and one Community Plan:
• UTSA Regional Center Plan
• Medical Center Regional Center Plan
• Midtown Regional Center Plan
• Downtown Regional Center Plan
• Brooks Regional Center Plan
• Near Westside Community Plan
These six master plans will guide future private development, public infrastructure investment, and related public policy. The primary tasks/phases of the contract will apply to each of the planning areas, and will include Project Chartering, Analysis and Visioning, Plan Framework, Recommendations and Implementation Strategies, Documentation and Adoption, and Ongoing Coordination and Engagement.
The six plans will be drafted concurrently; however, due to differences in the size and complexity of the plan areas, some plans will take longer to develop than others. Therefore, the adoption process will be staggered throughout 2018, with the final two plans (Downtown and Medical Center) anticipated to be completed in draft form for City Council consideration by August 2018.
Community input and participation are essential to the planning process. Public engagement strategies will be developed for the overarching planning initiative, as well as for each of the six individual plan areas. MIG will work with City staff and area-specific Planning Teams to identify which outreach and participation options will be most successful for each of the plan areas.
Another essential to the planning process is collaboration and coordination with key institutions and partner agencies. Planning staff is working with groups such as SA 2020, VIA Metropolitan Transit, the Health Collaborative, Metro Health, TCI, Parks and Recreation, among others on various aspects of Comprehensive Plan implementation and coordination on their respective efforts.
Since adoption of the SA Tomorrow Multimodal Transportation Plan in August 2016, TCI has begun implementation of the Plan through various strategies. SA Tomorrow principles were incorporated into the selection of projects with the proposed 2017 Bond and TCI developed a process to review all FY 2017 Infrastructure Management Program (IMP) projects to identify opportunities that support multimodal transportation. TCI also is developing a 5 Year Action Plan to be considered as part of the FY 2018 Budget.
In addition, TCI has continued collaborative efforts with partner agencies to advance pedestrian safety, such as the City’s application to the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (AAMPO) for pedestrian improvements along the upcoming VIA Primo route on Zaramora. As another example, TCI is also working with the Union Pacific Rail Road to purchase an abandoned railroad line between San Pedro Creek and the Blue Star Brewing Company for a new bike trail.
The Office of Sustainability’s implementation of the SA Tomorrow Sustainability Plan in August 2016 has begun in various areas through continued collaboration with partner organizations, community outreach and engagement, identifying potential opportunities for funding, and areas where municipal operations can lead by example. Implementation has focused on several areas including education and awareness, air quality, dark skies, energy, and resilience.
ALTERNATIVES:
This briefing is for informational purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
This briefing is for informational purposes only.