DEPARTMENT: Planning Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Bridgett White, AICP
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT: Briefing on proposed UDC Amendments relating to future land use categories.
SUMMARY:
This is a briefing item relating to upcoming proposed UDC amendments for future land use categories to implement the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
As part of the implementation of the City’s SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, 30 sub-area plans will be completed throughout the City over the next decade, including 13 regional center plans and 17 community plans. One of the primary goals of this planning process is to develop a complete future land use plan for the City while developing strategies to accommodate the projected 1.1 million new residents by the year 2040. To absorb and leverage this growth successfully, and provide strategic approaches for transitions between incompatible land uses and densities, coordinated land use plans are needed for each sub-area-plan. As a part of this process, the City’s Planning Department has been working with the community’s many stakeholders to update and streamline the land use categories in the Unified Development Code (UDC). This approach is intended to provide the necessary uniformity in land use vernacular for City employees, developers, and residents. Specifically, with input from external and internal groups, residents, and other community partners, the City is revising the existing 16 adopted UDC land use categories to create consistent land use categories that are applicable to all regional center and community plans moving forward.
ISSUE:
Future land use is important because it helps determine where people will live, work, and play in the City of San Antonio and is the basis for zoning and other land use and development decisions. However, for the entire City of San Antonio, there is currently no single governing regulatory future land use palette. Currently, there are over 40 community and neighborhood plans that have been adopted by City Council between 1988 and 2013. Of those plans, only 12 have been updated since adoption. Some neighborhood and community plans do not include future land use, and there are remaining neighborhoods and areas in the City that are not covered by a neighborhood or community plan and thus lack designations to regulate zoning and development patterns. The lack of a consistent land use map for the entire city does not create a favorable environment for future development in San Antonio.
The 16 adopted UDC land use categories are intended to be the designated comprehensive land use categories for neighborhood, community, sector, and perimeter plans and any other element of the comprehensive plan. However, collectively, there are a total of 39 future land use categories within the adopted neighborhood and community plans. Many plans have land use categories that are inconsistent with each other and have variations in description, density, and intensity allowances, development requirements, and permitted zoning districts. This has led to inconsistencies of development throughout the City.
During the revision process, the Planning Department hosted a series of five focus groups to get expert technical input on land use challenges and opportunities from a variety of stakeholders. Input from these meetings has been incorporated into the draft land use category revisions.
This process included:
o Series of focus group meetings
• Community and non-profit groups
• City departments
• External governmental agencies (AAMPO, VIA, SAWS, CPA, etc.)
• Neighborhood associations and alliances
• Private sector (developers, engineers, architects)
o Meetings with City Council offices
o Future land use website which includes the draft land use categories for online feedback
o Citywide land use meeting held January 30, 2018, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
Proposed revisions include expansion of the Mixed-use land use category into five categories to allow more flexibility and varying intensities of mixed development; the addition of Urban Low Density Residential and State and Federal land uses and the removal of Office, Business/office park, and Very high density residential and uses. With the exclusion of Very high density residential, the revisions to the High density residential category would include densities as high as 50 dwelling units per acre. Higher density residential zoning districts would be permitted in the Regional center mixed-use category ensuring that new residents in very dense developments have access to necessary goods and services nearby. With the existing commercial land use categories, the Office land use is redundant and recommended for removal. Further the Business/office park would be replaced with Business/innovation mixed-use and would include live/work housing options. Remaining land-use categories may include minor revisions and description or the addition, or removal, of permitted zoning districts. Additionally, in the Planning Department’s proposed UDC amendment package to be submitted during the next UDC amendment cycle, additional tools will be proposed to better implement these land use categories.
Next steps in this update process will include incorporation of any additional comments and recommendations and finalization of land use categories, followed by future TAC consideration and public hearings by the Planning Commission, Zoning Commission, and City Council considerations.
ALTERNATIVES:
This item is for briefing only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None.
RECOMMENDATION:
This item is for briefing only.