DEPARTMENT: Planning Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Bridgett White, AICP
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Briefing on the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan implementation strategy including review of Plan policies and policy related actions necessary for plan implementation.
SUMMARY:
A briefing and discussion on the implementation of the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan and its policies.
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 in developing 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 provides policy guidance on where and how to grow. The major “building blocks” of the Plan include:
• Regional Centers;
• Urban Centers;
• Corridors; and
• Neighborhoods.
Each building block has a role within the greater San Antonio landscape.
San Antonio will build upon its pattern of regional development, which has resulted in the formation of 13 Regional Centers that are home to roughly 50% of all existing jobs in San Antonio. These regional centers present our best chance for accommodating the projected population and employment growth while minimizing unchecked urban sprawl and its impact on city services and character.
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:
The Comprehensive Plan includes 63 Goals, 367 Policies, and 168 recommended Actions to take to achieve the vision expressed in the Plan. These are broken into the following 10 Plan Elements:
• Growth and City Form
• Transportation and Connectivity
• Housing
• Jobs and Economic Competitiveness
• Community Health and Wellness
• Facilities and Community Safety
• Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability
• Historic Preservation and Cultural Heritage
• Military
Goals are the broadest statements of the community’s desired long term direction. Goals describe ideal end-state conditions in 2040 that would result if the Plan is successfully implemented. Policies are statements that identify the community’s preferred strategies in relation to the Plan Element Goals while the Actions speak to key items for implementing policies and achieving goals over a period of time. An example of a recommended action is updating the Unified Development Code to allow for higher density development in Regional Centers and along high-capacity transit corridors and to reduce barriers to mixed-use, mixed-income development. An action that is already underway is the development of transit supportive land use plans, known as SA Corridors.
In addition to Goals, Policies, and Actions to implement the Comprehensive Plan’s vision, the City also adopted a new Comprehensive Planning Program that identifies sub-area plan types: Regional Center Plans, Corridor Plans, and Community Plans. Regional Centers are one of the key building blocks of our City’s future. The Community Plan areas include the existing neighborhoods, corridors, and urban centers that complete the fabric of our City. 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.
In FY 2017, the City with its consultant MIG has begun the development of 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
• Westside Community Plan
Recommendations and implementation strategies will developed for each sub-area and will include projects, programs and policies such as investment priorities and development policy recommendations.
ALTERNATIVES:
This briefing is for informational purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
This briefing is for informational purposes only.