DEPARTMENT: Planning Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Bridgett White, AICP
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Districts 1 and 2
SUBJECT:
Consideration of an ordinance adopting the Midtown Area Regional Center Plan as a component of the City’s Comprehensive Master Plan.
SUMMARY:
Consideration of an ordinance adopting the Midtown Area Regional Center Plan as a component of the City’s Comprehensive Master Plan. The Midtown Area Regional Center Plan aims to create a realistic and implementable strategy to address projected growth in the Midtown Area Regional Center, one of thirteen (13) Regional Centers identified in the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan is one of three growth-related plans addressing how the City of San Antonio’s expected population growth will be balanced with social, economic, and environmental resources. The Comprehensive Plan provides strategic direction for decision making and public investment to prepare our communities for anticipated growth at the citywide level. The major “building blocks” of the Comprehensive Plan include:
• Regional Centers
• Urban Centers
• Corridors
• Neighborhoods
The Midtown Area Regional Center Plan aims to create a realistic and implementable strategy to address projected growth in the Midtown Area Regional Center, one of the thirteen (13) Regional Centers identified in the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan. Located between Downtown and the historic neighborhoods to the north, Midtown is the nexus of live, learn, work, and play in central San Antonio. Anchored by Brackenridge Park, San Antonio College, and the Pearl Brewery redevelopment, Midtown increasingly attracts multifamily residential development and businesses in creative industries. Broadway, one of several major arterials connecting Downtown to Midtown and neighborhoods to the north, is slated to become a major cultural corridor in San Antonio. The main topics covered by the Plan include Land Use, Mobility, Amenities and Infrastructure, Focus Areas/Corridors, Catalytic Projects, Economic Development, Housing, and Neighborhood Priorities.
As success of the Regional Center Plan depends on broad participation from area stakeholders, Planning Department staff worked with a wide range of community members throughout the planning process. These included neighborhood associations, business and property owners, residents, employers, educational and cultural institutions, public and nonprofit organizations, and other City departments. In addition, a formal Planning Team was created to provide more frequent, in-depth, and consistent advice and guidance throughout the planning process. The Midtown Area Regional Center Planning Team includes:
• Mike Austin, The Tobin Hill Community Association
• Joe Bravo, Westfort Alliance Neighborhood Association
• Tim Cone, NRP Group
• Richard Farias, San Antonio College
• Lou Fox, At-large
• Homer "Butch" Hayes, Mahncke Park Neighborhood Association
• Rose Hill, Government Hill Alliance Neighborhood Association
• Jeanette Honermann, At-large
• Abe Juarez, Five Points Owners Association
• Mayra Juárez-Denis, At-large (St. Ann's neighborhood area)
• Rebel Mariposa, North St. Mary's Business Owners Association
• Marise McDermott, The Witte Museum
• Richard Moore, Tobin Hill Neighborhood Association
• Timothy Mulry, VIA Metropolitan Transit
• Lynn Osborne Bobbitt, Brackenridge Park Conservancy
• Jason Rodriguez, VIA Metropolitan Transit
• Armando Saliba, University of the Incarnate Word
• Graciela Sanchez, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
• Suzanne Scott, San Antonio River Authority
• Bill Shown, Silver Ventures
• Max Woodward, FRED / Uptown Neighborhood Association
ISSUE:
A Public Draft of the Plan was released to the public for comment on January 16, 2019 and public input was gathered through February 17, 2019. Comments received by February 17th were considered for incorporation in the Administrative Draft for the adoption process, which is currently available online: midtown.sacompplan.com <https://midtown.sacompplan.com/pdf/Midtown-Area-Regional-Center-Plan-Administrative-Draft-March-5-2019-12MB.pdf>.
On March 19, 2019, the Planning Department presented the Midtown Area Regional Center Plan to the Comprehensive Plan Committee of City Council at a specially scheduled meeting where the committee unanimously voted to forward the plan to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission received a briefing on April 24, 2019. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on May 8, 2019 and voted unanimously to forward the document to City Council for approval with staff’s recommended edits, which were made available to the public through the Planning Commission Agenda website, and with the recommendation that the following properties be designated as Regional Mixed-Use in the Future Land Use Map:
• Lots 32, 33, 41, 42 and the South 15 feet of Lot 31, Block 4, NCB 6792 (also known as 1212 East Euclid Avenue); and
• Lots 29, 29, 40, and the North 15 feet of Lot 30, Block 4, NCB 6792 (also known as 1216 and 1218 East Euclid Avenue and 1218 East Locust Street).
The Midtown Area Regional Center Plan is organized around a “Plan Framework” that includes Land Use, Focus Areas, Mobility, Amenities and Infrastructure, Catalytic Projects, Housing, and Economic Development. Each plan framework element includes an overview that provides context and findings, as well as recommendations and implementation strategies. The Midtown Area Regional Center Plan also includes Neighborhood Profiles and Priorities, which were developed to provide special attention to prior planning efforts and to address specific priorities of participating neighborhoods.
If adopted as a component of the City’s Comprehensive Master Plan, the Midtown Area Regional Center Plan shall control over any conflict with the Five Points Neighborhood Plan, Government Hill Neighborhood Plan, Mahncke Park Neighborhood Plan, Midtown Neighborhoods Plan, River Road Neighborhood Plan, Tobin Hill Neighborhood Plan, and the Westfort Alliance Neighborhood Plan, where the plans overlap.
ALTERNATIVES:
City Council can choose not to adopt the Midtown Area Regional Center Plan as a component of the City’s Comprehensive Master Plan. However, this action would delay implementation of the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan and would require staff to develop a new regional center plan for the Midtown Area.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Consideration of an ordinance adopting the Midtown Area Regional Center Plan as a component of the City’s Comprehensive Master Plan. There is no fiscal impact associated with the adoption of the Midtown Area Regional Center Plan.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff and Planning Commission recommend the Midtown Area Regional Center Plan, with all staff and Planning Commission recommended revisions, be adopted as a component of the City’s Comprehensive Master Plan, for a 3.7 square mile area generally bound by Interstate Highway 10 to the west; West Woodlawn Avenue, Fredericksburg Road, North San Marcos Street/Rail Road, Hickman Street, North Flores Street, West Myrtle Street, San Pedro Avenue, Ashby Place, McCullough Avenue, Trail Street, Kings Court, East Huisache Avenue, US Highway 281, East Craig Place, River Road, East Mulberry Avenue, Brackenridge Park, East Olmos Drive, the city limit line, and Burr Road to the north; Fort Sam Houston, East Grayson Street, Austin Street, and North Cherry Street to the east; and Duval, North Alamo Street, US Highway 281, Broadway, and Interstate Highway 35 to the south.