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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPetty and Associates Comprehensive Plan Overview P& ,- Town of Westlake Town Council Comprehensive Plan Review- Policy Guidance Workshop Introduction: The Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) is the community's vision for its future. The Comprehensive Plan describes a process that determines community goals and aspirations in terms of community development. The outcome of comprehensive planning is the Comprehensive Plan which dictates public policy in terms of transportation, utilities, land use, recreation, and housing.The Comprehensive Plan is not a Zoning Ordinance to enforce, rather a recommending guide to convey the broad policy goals of the community. As such, the plan guides future growth in a responsible manner resulting in quality developments consistent with the character of Westlake while supporting the healthy and responsible growth of Westlake Academy. The Town's Comprehensive Plan is the source of strategic policies and objectives that are more specifically described in enforceable Ordinances, Development and Design Standards, Subdivision Regulations and Engineering Guidelines. The purpose of this workshop is to obtain high level policy guidance from the Town Council that will be conveyed to the selected professional planning firm retained to revise the Town's Comp Plan in order to communicate to the planning consultant the high level expectations and broad planning parameters that are foundational to the comprehensive planning review process. This high level policy guidance falls into five (5) areas: growth policy, land use policy, transportation/mobility policy, design standards policy, and infrastructure policy. Fallowing each question, each Town Council member is asked to express their answer to the particular question according to these answer options: Strongly Agree Agree Neutral, No Preference Disagree Strongly Disagree L. Growth Policy Questions The Comp Plan revision needs to take into account the relationship between land use, population, service demand and economic viability all while weighing each of these elements against what is best for Westlake Academy. The following series of statements are designed to provide feedback to the professional planning firm that will attempt to integrate the Board's feelings about these topics into the Comprehensive Plan where appropriate. Page 1 of 7 G.I. Westlake should offer a variety of high quality upper end housing choices to its residents including single family residential estate housing, villas on smaller lots, lofts, high rise condos, low rise condos, multi-family, age-restricted, duplexes, etc. provided, however, that all such housing types reflect the high standards to which Westlake has become accustomed. G.2. In order to limit residential uses that will impact school enrollment growth, commercial and retail land uses that produce new ad valorem tax base and sales taxes should be considered for some areas that are currently zoned residential, even it means negotiating for utilities and infrastructure assistance or other incentives to offset the currently entitled uses. G.3. Raising taxes to pay for school expansion is preferable to amending the Comprehensive Plan to allow regional commercial and retail centers not contemplated in the '92 Comp Plan. G.4. The Comp Plan revision should be prepared in a way that will establish a system by which land uses are analyzed in light of their impact on Westlake Academy, population levels, tax tolerance and their impact on the cost effectiveness of Town services. 2 Land Use Policy Questions L. 1. The creation and regulation of land uses not only establishes allowable land uses, but also stresses the limitation of such uses based on geographic area and proximity to other uses. in that regard, even with high development standards, uses appropriate for one area of Town may not be appropriate for other areas of the Town. Should the Comp Plan review: a. reflect the belief that the review and regulation of land uses should be a tool to not only convey high quality design and development standards, but also help create economic sustainability for the Town government and the services it offers its residents and businesses? L.2. The current comprehensive Pion designates significant areas in Westlake as "Office Campus"and or "Office Park"uses. Since Office development opportunities are relatively rare in the current and foreseeable market, should a revision to the Comp Plan: a. analyze replacing some Office uses with high quality retail uses? b. analyze replacing some Office uses with high quality mixed uses (retail and commercial combined with higher density residential) C. analyze replacing some Office uses with high end single family residential uses? d. analyze replacing some Office uses with retail in combination with adjacent high end single family Residential uses? L. 3. The commercial and retail markets have changed dramatically since the construction of Solana and the adoption of the 1992 Comprehensive Plan which called for relatively low density commercial development at Salona. Since additional commercial and or retail square footage means additional tax revenues without dramatic increases in cost of service, should the new Page 2 of 7 Comprehensive Plan study development and redevelopment options for Solana that maintain strict quality standards while allowing: a. more densely spaced commercial? b. additional retail? C. mixed use (commercial/retail and residential)? L.4. The Comprehensive Plan does not allow certain uses in Westlake and highly restricts other uses. In an effort to increase revenue without raising taxes, should certain areas be studied that would allow: a. office/warehouse distribution facilities b, adjustments in landscape setbacks on major highways to create more developable space. (currently 150'in Comp Plan,100'in Zoning Ords) C. regional/destination Retail d. themed entertainment venues L.S. Most Comprehensive Plans reflect a broad range of uses which are regulated by Special Use Permits and Conditional Use Permits. While Westlake does have land use charts that utilize special and conditionol uses, there are only 6 zoning categories in the Town's current Comp Plan. They are: Low Density Residential Nigh Density Residential Local Retail Planned Office Park Planned Office Park—Hotel Industrial Should a revision to the Camp Plan: a. include recommendations for additional zoning categories that provide additional development options and revenue opportunities that take advantage of current market trends and urban planning best practices? L. 6. Amending the Comprehensive Plan to allow additional residential uses will in most cases result in a higher projected enrollment at Westlake Academy. Assuming that the development and design standards Westlake has become accustomed to could be ensured, should the Comp Plan: a. consider additional residential uses that may cause the anticipated maximum enrollment at Westlake Academy to be exceeded? Page 3 of 7 b. recommend that residential land uses and ultimate population build-out should not exceed student enrollment maximums identified by School District Strategies ("SDS") report presented in August of 2012 3. Transportation/Mobility Policy Questions Mobility refers to the time and costs required for travel. Mobility is higher when average travel times, variations in travel times, and travel costs are low. Indicators of mobility are indicators of travel times and costs and variability in travel times and costs'. Urban planners further define mobility with the prefix inter- meaning between or among and the prefix intro- meaning within. So,for example, an interstate highway is a highway that goes between or among states, while on intrastate highway is one that exists only within a single state. Inter-community mobility reflects the ability to move from one city to another, while intra- community focuses on the ability to move about within a particular community. T. 1. Should the Comp Plan illustrate inter-mobility (the ability to move through Westlake to reach other destinations)for: a. vehicles? b. bicycles? C. pedestrians? T.Z. Should the Comp Plan illustrate intra-mobility (the ability to circulate within Westlake) fo r: a. vehicles? b. bicycles? c. pedestrians? T.3. Should the Transportation component of the Comp Plan: a. reflect the impact of future growth according to land use? b. reflect designated bicycle lanes on future thoroughfares? T.4. TxDOT has made multiple changes to all four state highways and FM roads through and around Westlake since the "92 Comp Plan was approved. Access to and from SH 114 and SH 170 1 October 15,2012 htto://www.nai2.edulopenbook.ph2?record id=10404&page=16 Page 4 of 7 is an important consideration, not only for regional connectivity, but for commercial and retail viability.Should the Comp Plan revision: a. attempt to improve access to and from SH 114 and SH 170 in order to create additional development opportunities for retail corners? T.S. The current Comp Plan includes mandatory developer construction of a significant network of hike and bike trails in Westlake. Under the current Camp Plan, these trails are intended to be provided primarily along floodplain and drainage areas. Should the Comp Plan revision: a. amend the plan to recommend hike and bike trails along roadways rather than mostly in the floodplain? b. amend the plan to recommend a blended system that recommends hike and bike trails along some roadways and some floodplains? C. leave the Camp Plan as is, limiting hike and bike trails only along floodplains? T.6. In addition to trails, the current Comp Plan contemplates open public space along most floodplain and drainage areas. Should the Comp Plan: a. continue to recommend floodplain be dedicated as public open space? b. continue to recommend floodplain be dedicated as public or private open space? C. recommend public open space in areas that could include flood plain, but not necessarily limited solely to floodplain? d. include a high degree of trail connectivity, including connecting trails to parks, whether the trail is along roadways or floodplain? C. continue to recommend parks to be a minimum of 10 acres in size? 4. Design Policy Questions The '92 Comp Plan states that development should accommodate and preserve the area's special rural character and key prominent natural features of the Town. This desire drove many policies in the Comp Plan that may be subject to revisiting in the Camp Plan revision. D. 1. In order to preserve the hillside views and natural topography, the '92 Comp Plan provides that building heights in excess of 2 % stories should only be allowed in low elevations areas adjacent to Hwys 377, 170 and 114. Commercial buildings up to 7 stories (700 ms1) are allowed as part of a site comprehensive plan, taking into account other development in the area, the preservation of view corridors, and the maintenance of the rural character of the Town. Should the Comp Plan Revision: Page 5 of 7 a. allow buildings to exceed this standard under certain circumstances, subject to Council and P&Z review? b. establish some provision whereby owners of land on higher elevations are not subject to an unfair density standard compared to developers in lower elevations? D.2. The streetscape standards in the '92 Comp Plan call for natural vegetation in streetscape cross-sections that require minimum mowing and maintenance, utilizing natural vegetation and trees. Curb and gutter streets are discouraged. Should the Comp Plan revision: a. continue to recommend that ail medians and streetscapes be designed to appear natural with native plants and vegetation and minimal maintenance? b. allow streetscapes to be more somewhat more manicured with treatments comparable to those recently completed on FM 1938 as per the Town's adopted FM1938 streetscape Plan? C. provide that all residential and collector streets be constructed with curb and gutter with drainage systems placed underground, as opposed to allowing streets that have rural bar ditches with higher maintenance costs and storm drainage utilities being located exclusively in the floodplain? d. require all new streets to be curb and gutter construction. e. limit the recommendation of allowing curb and gutter to residential subdivisions with lots less than 1 acre? D.3. Westlake has been aggressive about regulating light pollution, although few mentions of lighting are included in the `92 Comp Plan, and Westlake has not adoptedthe standards recommended by the International Dark Sky Association. Should the Comp Plan revision: a. establish a policy framework to better articulate desired lighting standards? b. ellow consideration of modified lighting standards in order to accommodate commercial and retail users and mixed use developments located along the highway corridor facing away from single family residential areas? C. avoid integrating lighting recommendations into the Camp Plan? D.4. According to Futurist Carolyn Corbin, "sustainability" is the capacity of a system to maintain its vitality far into the futurez. Language that lends itself to sustainability and building sustainable community systems was not featured in the '92 Comp Plan, but is a focus of many communities today. Should the Comp Plan revision: a. incorporate sustainability as a community objective to be reflected in all aspects of the Comp Plan revision? z Corbin, Carolyn.Community Leadership 4.0: Impacting a World Gone ME CreateSpace. 2011.p.51. Page 6 of 7 b. take a softer approach to sustainability by establishing minimum standards that impact sustainability? C. avoid attempting to introduce sustainability language in the Comp Plan, instead leaving it up to the Town Council's discretion on a case by case basis? 5. infrastructure Policy Questions {.1. Westlake has always maintained a philosophy that the development should pay its own way in terms of infrastructure costs including utility construction and extension, streets, drainage, electric and wastewater. Should the Comp Plan revision: a. continue to recommend that development should always pay for utility extensions and necessary infrastructure regardless of the circumstances and benefits the development may offer? b. avoid language that limits the Town Council to incentivize development deemed worthy of support or assistance including the extension of infrastructure, special taxing districts, sales tax reimbursements, etc.? C. incorporate language that provides for build-out planning in order to avoid incremental funding of utilities that will require future widening or paralleling water and/or sewer utility lines? Page 7 of 7