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.
