The City of Austin Planning Commission, a board of seven citizens appointed by Austin City Council, has unanimously approved the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan, a document that would guide growth for the next 30 years as the city's population is expected to double. A public hearing before City Council is scheduled for May 24.
Approval of the plan followed nearly 70 revisions to definitions and targeted growth areas. Among those is a new passage aimed to clarify the relationship between existing neighborhood plans and the comprehensive plan.
In the early 1990s, as the city's current plan, Austin Tomorrow, began to lose relevance, City Council launched a neighborhood-planning program. These plans, created as a partnership between residents, area businesses and city staff, have been the primary source for future land use guidelines, desired zoning changes and aesthetic guidelines.
During the Imagine Austin drafting process, some residents expressed concern over how the new comprehensive plan would coexist with the neighborhood plans, which have been adopted for approximately half of the neighborhoods in the city.
The plan now states:
"The Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan recognizes and embraces all previous master and small area plans The comprehensive plan is an 'umbrella' plan that serves as a guide on citywide, cross-department issues to achieve the vision statement. Imagine Austin is not a plan that supersedes previous plans, but acts as a chaperon to the future projected growth of Austin over the next 30 years As the City of Austin develops new master and small area plans, Imagine Austin will serve as a guide to policy direction. In areas not covered by small area plans, Imagine Austin will serve as an instrument for developing plans and providing planning parameters."
In another revision, the intersection of North Lamar Boulevard and Rundberg Lane was designated as a "neighborhood center." The comprehensive plan contains about 20 neighborhood centers, which are transit-accessible intersections with a 5,000- to 10,000-person population and small and local businesses, such as hair salons, grocery stores and doctors, to name a few.
The North Austin Civic Association and the North Lamar neighborhood planning teams supported the new designation, NACA member Gabriel Rojas said.
City Council will hear a presentation on Imagine Austin on April 26 at 10 a.m. at its regular meeting, held at City Hall, 301 W. Second St.
