DEPARTMENT: Planning Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Bridgett White, AICP
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT: UDC Land Use Category Amendments
SUMMARY:
Make recommendations on amendments to Chapter 35, Unified Development Code, of the City Code of San Antonio, Texas, Section 35-420 (e) (5) Comprehensive Land Use Categories, and Section Sec. 35-A101. - Definitions and Rules of Interpretation: Comprehensive land use category.
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
The proposed land use category updates/revisions include:
1. Expansion of the Mixed-Use land use category into five discrete categories to allow more flexibility and varying intensities of mixed-use development.
2. Addition of a City/State/Federal Government category, which will replace Public/Institutional and is intended for properties owned and operated by municipal, state, or federal agencies.
3. Replacement of the Office, Business/office park, and Very high density residential land use categories. These categories are proposed to be replaced with new categories that better address the desired types of development as recommended by the Comprehensive Plan.
a. The exclusive Office category is redundant; said uses would continue to be permitted in commercial and mixed-use categories.
b. Update to the High Density Residential category includes additional flexibility in the recommended density (up to 50 d/u per acre). Higher densities would be permitted in the Regional Mixed-Use category to ensure that residents of dense residential developments have access to necessary goods and services within walking distance.
c. Business/office park would be replaced with Business/Innovation Mixed-Use and would include live/work housing options.
4. The balance of land use category revisions include minor updates to the description or the addition, or removal, of permitted zoning districts.
The table below highlights the proposed changes to the land use categories:
|
Existing UDC Land Use Categories |
PROPOSED Comprehensive Land Use Categories |
|
Low Density Residential Estate |
Residential Estate |
|
Low Density Residential |
Low Density Residential |
|
|
Urban Low Density Residential |
|
Medium Density Residential |
Medium Density Residential |
|
High Density Residential |
High Density Residential |
|
Very high density residential |
|
|
Office |
|
|
Neighborhood Commercial |
Neighborhood Commercial |
|
Community Commercial |
Community Commercial |
|
Regional Commercial |
Regional Commercial |
|
Mixed use |
Neighborhood Mixed-Use |
|
|
Urban Center Mixed-Use |
|
|
Regional Center Mixed-Use |
|
|
Employment/Flex Mixed-Use |
|
Business/office park |
Business/Innovation Mixed-Use |
|
Light Industrial |
Light Industrial |
|
Heavy Industrial |
Heavy Industrial |
|
Agricultural |
Agricultural |
|
Public/Institutional |
City/State/Federal Government |
|
Parks/Open Space |
Parks/Open Space |
ALTERNATIVES:
As an alternative, the Technical Advisory Committee may choose not to move forward with approving actions needed to amend the Unified Development Code.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval.