The city of San Antonio has begun a two-year process where Stone Oak residents and merchants are asked to chime in on the far North Side neighborhood’s long-term future.
About 20 people attended a May 17 open house at Wayside Chapel to provide feedback on the city’s Stone Oak Area Regional Center Plan.
Stone Oak’s plan, like others covering different parts of San Antonio, is being developed as a means to implement the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, which was adopted by City Council in 2016.
According to a news release, the planning process will include future public meetings and surveys for community members.
City representatives said the Stone Oak regional plan will encompass stakeholders’ recommendations and strategies that could be used by city departments, partner agencies, private entities and community partners to further enhance the Stone Oak area as a regional center filled with various housing, job, retail, recreation and transit options.
Residents are urged to answer an online survey at www.saspeakup.com/stoneoak-plan-survey by June 5. Information on the Stone Oak Area Regional Center Plan can be found at https://stoneoak.sacompplan.com.
“We are looking forward to engaging conversations and continued collaboration with the Stone Oak community to develop a plan that will build on the area’s existing assets,” city Planning Director Bridgett White said.
Planning Administrator Chris Ryerson said splitting up the city into regional areas allows municipal planners to better manage more detailed long-range planning.
“In these plans, we can get further down into more detailed planning [and] look at each community more specifically,” Ryerson said.
Ryerson also said that, in the past, planning was done by a neighborhood level, but with more than 300 official neighborhoods, the city sought to simplify the planning process but still retain the community engagement aspect.
“By covering the city with these areas, it allows us to do planning for everyone who lives here,” Ryerson said.
Several people who attended the May 17 open house posted short written ideas about what they like and do not like about Stone Oak as well as what they would like to see changed about the neighborhood.
Senior Planner Channary Gould said many visitors who offered input voiced eagerness about Classen-Steubing Ranch Park, the third city public park for Stone Oak.
According to the city, Phase 1 of Classen-Steubing Ranch Park will open later this summer or in early fall across from Las Lomas Elementary School.
“Everyone that I’ve spoken with—and others who’ve provided input by phone calls and emails—have expressed excitement about Classen-Steubing Ranch Park because that’s a fairly new park,” Gould said.
Other attendees said they enjoy the overall Stone Oak neighborhood, but they want more parks, trails, recreational opportunities, public transportation improvements and walkable retail developments that double as gathering spaces and destinations for entertainment.
Ryerson and Gould said there are some vacant tracts of land within the defined Stone Oak Area Regional Center Plan boundaries, but that area regional plan reflects elements of the original Stone Oak master plan.
“There are undeveloped parcels of land that are already master-planned. ... We incorporate all of that as part of our planning process,” Gould said.
