Destination COLLEYVILLEThe two-year-long process to update the city of Colleyville’s comprehensive plan—a document meant to guide city development for the next 20 years—is coming to a close.

Although the plan has been open for public comment since early 2014 and public hearings were held at the past three Colleyville City Council meetings, because of resident concern about two issues in the plan, the approval of the plan was expected to be made Dec. 15.

Council Member Mike Taylor said he believes the updated plan will help Colleyville continue to thrive.[polldaddy poll=9235060]

“I feel good about this plan,” he said. “The vision in this plan remains the same since the first one that was done in 1998. So if it isn’t broke, then why try to fix it? I think [the City Council] has been very successful with the previous plans and I think we will continue to be.”

Throughout the next 20 years, Colleyville is expected to grow in population as both residential and commercial developments swell in numbers.

To ensure the change in growth is planned and implemented within the city’s vision, Colleyville Community Development Director Abra Nusser said city staff has drafted Destination Colleyville, an update to the 2004 comprehensive plan that focuses on making the city a destination.

“A comprehensive plan guides development and provides a vision for the city’s future,” Nusser said. “This comprehensive plan has a vision to 2035, and it guides all sorts of things, from our growing population and demographics to how we are going to accommodate for the growth to appropriate uses of land. It’s meant to cover every topic in terms of what we want to see by 2035.”

Destination Colleyville is laid out in 10 chapters that discuss the background for the plan, lay out the vision for the city, and detail recommendations for implementing key actions for moving forward. Key topics include: economic stability, transportation, housing and neighborhoods, city services and facilities, future land use, and character and placemaking.

Each topic includes goals, policies, actions and benchmarks. Nusser said these were crafted not only through recommendations from city staff but from public input as well.

Mayor David Kelly said although the plan outlines what the city wishes to see in terms of economic development, housing and transportation, all proposed developments are still required to go through the city’s zoning process and other city guidelines.

“So an example would be if a new developer came to town or a new business—either commercial or residential—we would first go to the comprehensive plan to see if it is something within the community vision. And after that we would work within that framework and the land development code and other codes to move the process forward,” he said.

The plan does, however, have a potential ripple effect as it can cause city staff to change the land development code or other codes to coincide with the plan.

“[The land development code] may possibly change,” Kelly said. “[When the plan is approved,] staff will then look at [the land development code] and see what is now the vision of the city, and what’s maybe different or new and may need some adjustment. And if it needs to be updated within the land development code or other plans, we will look at that and make recommendations. So [the land development code] will go through a review process.”

COLLEYVILLE BOULEVARD CORRIDORPublic input

Over the past two years Nusser said there were several focus groups and public meetings held to gain public input. Additionally, a 15-member Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee was formed.

Nusser said through talking to the public, staff realized that residents are not wanting drastic changes for the city but are focused on preserving what they have.

“We learned that people want to protect what we have, and they aren’t really interested in a whole lot of change,” she said. “There’s overwhelming sentiment to protect the city’s country feel. It’s in a lot of places in the city, and we are trying to make sure we keep it where it’s present and maybe create it in areas where it’s not.”

Some of the feedback included preserving existing trees, improving traffic congestion, and attracting more restaurants and retail.

“People would like to protect their neighborhoods—they want to make sure that when new development comes in that it’s sensitive to that neighborhood,” Nusser said. “And they want to be able to get from point A to point B a little bit better. We talk a lot about making additional pedestrian and bicycle connections and improving traffic flow in general. In general, community feedback shows there is a high level of satisfaction of services that the city provides.”

Opposition to part of the plan

During the public hearings that were held in November and December, residents packed the council chambers to voice their concerns about the plan.

In particular residents were concerned about a part in the plan that suggests a change in residential density. The current comprehensive plan states that new residential projects should have a density of 1.8 dwelling units or less per acre, unless they are located in a transitional area or located near a major intersection.

However, at the Nov. 17 meeting the proposed comprehensive plan suggested changing the plan’s wording to say the city as a whole must maintain an average of 1.8 dwelling units or less per acre.

Council Member Chris Putnam said he is happy that residents are paying attention as the document was changed after the first public hearing.

“The previous versions [of the plan] —all of them, including the ones that were reviewed at all of the public hearings—absolutely, 100 percent, advocated for more higher-density developments in Colleyville, such as small-lot developments, townhomes and condos,” he said. “And then, once the public got engaged [at the public hearing] and it was clear that the public was super concerned about it and very much opposed, magically the document changes, and all of that language is completely stripped out to make it as non-offensive as possible.”

Putnam said although all of the language in the plan that pertained to townhomes and increasing density was taken out, he believes the council’s intent has not changed when it comes to approving projects that are higher than 1.8 units per acre in density.

“I believe we will continue to increase density in Colleyville and add more of these developments in town,” he said.

Taylor said it is  likely the council will approve more high-density projects.

“I am not a high-density person myself, but we are elected officials and we are elected to solve problems and protect property rights,” he said. “There are some areas where some projects that are considered high-density would be great. The problem is what is considered high-density in Colleyville isn’t considered high-density in other areas. I think we need a reference point for what density is. I think we will continue to fight for quality projects in Colleyville like we always have.”

COLLEYVILLE BOULEVARD CORRIDORColleyville Boulevard corridor

Nusser said one of the new sections included in the update is the section dedicated to developing Colleyville Boulevard as its own corridor.

“The focus on Colleyville Boulevard is a new concept,” she said. “We plan on making that one cohesive area that we can guide development and make it look consistent and really just contribute to it being a special place.”

Although staff wants the corridor to have a cohesive sense of place that will allow visitors to visually recognize they are in Colleyville, Nusser said staff also recognizes that the land along the boulevard has distinct land uses.

“We’ve divided the Colleyville Boulevard corridor into four sectors—one is northern gateway, the next one is upper sector, then central sector and southern gateway. We broke it up because we feel like each sector has a distinct character.”

Kelly said the plan will look at each sector and detail what type of land uses and what type of unique development characteristics will be there.

“I’m pretty excited about it because Colleyville Boulevard is our main commercial area,” he said. “So it will be good to have something in place that gives it a guiding framework of what our community wants.”

Putnam said although Colleyville Boulevard is one of the good parts of the plan, it is easily overshadowed by all of the controversy surrounding other parts of the plan.

“There’s a lot of good work, but the problem is a lot of that good work gets lost because there’s this larger intent associated with this plan, and when that intent changes so dramatically from version to version it is like you can’t even focus on the good parts of the plan because you have to call a timeout to deal with these issues that are of larger concern, like the density issue.”