After a nine-month process, Leander City Council approved the city’s updated comprehensive plan on Oct. 15. The plan, called “Destination Leander,” is a document that outlines a vision for future development and is required by the city charter to help shape future zoning decisions. The plan includes a land use-map that displays desired types of development across the city, such as businesses districts as well as activity centers at the intersections of major roads. The plan also includes city mission statements and development goals and comments from residents about their preferences. Kate Pearce, senior associate with city-hired consulting firm LandDesign, said the plan should serve as a single unifying document that helps city leaders anticipate Leander’s growth. “You are about to experience a lot of different change,” Pearce told council members. “You’re going to be on the radar of national retailers because of your [population] going to hit the 50,000 mark, and your income levels are going to hit a certain level. … This plan does a good job of addressing those issues that are existing today but also preparing you to accept and accommodate some of that growth that’s going to come over the next five and ten years.” Pearce said the plan’s vision could seem overwhelming. But the document is intended to plan for long-term development that happens throughout five years or longer, such as large retailers that build at major intersections or business parks that move in near residential areas, she said. The city can work to implement the plan within a five-year period, Pearce said. The plan update process included three public meetings and conversations with stakeholders such as business owners, neighborhood association representatives and developers. At the Oct. 15 meeting, developer Blake Magee said he supports the plan. But he asked council members to exercise flexibility if developers propose uses that differ from the plan’s details. “Just be flexible and listen to the market in the future,” Magee said. Bill Shea, owner of Shea’s Place, said the plan could do more to address lower-income housing. “It’s necessary to accommodate people from all backgrounds and all economic strata if the city is to succeed and be vital in the economic sense,” Shea said. “There’s no accommodation for the labor class in this town. … I think it would be a mistake to neglect them.” Shea said he has difficulty finding employees to work at his restaurant because Leander lacks new affordable housing where lower-income earners can live. “So in your master planning, please allow [affordable housing] to occur,” Shea said. Council members questioned some aspects of the initial plan as approved by the Leander Planning and Zoning Commission. The original version recommended a new citizens’ task force to support aspects of the plan by finding funding mechanisms outside the city, such as state or federal grants or new partnerships with private businesses. But council members said that job could be done by the city’s economic development director, Mark Willis, and motioned to approve the updated plan without the recommended task force. Willis said his department is researching new tax-increment zones that could attract businesses. “Because we don’t have 4A and 4B [boards], we have to … use the tools that have been in place in Texas for a hundred years,” Willis said. Council’s vote to approve the plan was 6-1. Place 6 Council Member Troy Hill was the dissenting vote.