DEPARTMENT: Development Services
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Michael Shannon, PE, CBO
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Briefing and discussion of a City Council Consideration Request (CCR) to review City of San Antonio development regulations and their impact on economic development.
SUMMARY:
A CCR was sponsored by Councilman Manny Pelaez on November 14, 2018, which asks staff to conduct a comprehensive review of the Unified Development Code (UDC) update process to determine the feasibility of requiring an economic impact analysis for each UDC amendment.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The UDC establishes regulations and procedures for development in the City of San Antonio. Regulations related to several city departments are found in the UDC including Development Services, Planning, Transportation and Capital Improvements, Office of Historic Preservation, and Solid Waste. It is designed to provide clear rules about what is expected of applicants in order to gain approval to develop land while also streamlining the approval process and removing unnecessary delay and confusing or vague standards from the process.
The UDC is specifically intended to be updated over time in order to modify procedures and standards for workability and administrative efficiency, eliminate unnecessary development costs, and to update the procedures and standards to reflect changes in the law or the state of the art in land use planning and urban design. Section 35-111 of the UDC established the 5-year update process where proposals for updates are solicited from city staff, advocacy groups, and ordinary citizens. These amendment proposals are vetted by city staff, stakeholders, citizen and neighborhood leaders, the Planning Commission Technical Advisory Committee (PCTAC), various city boards and commissions, and ultimately the City Council. The last 5-year update cycle occurred in 2015 when over 260 amendments covering 670 pages of the UDC were updated.
Since 2015, eleven out...
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