PRESENTER: Presenter
Christopher J. Looney, AICP, Planning & Development Services Director
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SUBJECT: Title
Presentation on the Land Use Fiscal Assessment as part of the update to the City’s Comprehensive Plan
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DEPARTMENT: Planning & Development Services
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COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: All
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
At their workshop on February 6, 2024, City Council heard a presentation on the initiation of a Land Use Fiscal Analysis for the City of New Braunfels.
The City of New Braunfels is in the early stages of updating its Comprehensive Plan Envision New Braunfels which was adopted in 2018. The first step in undertaking the comprehensive plan update is to conduct a Land Use Fiscal Analysis (LUFA).
ISSUE:
Envision New Braunfels includes a future land use map with geographic sub-areas and future centers of anticipated activity. The purpose of the LUFA is to project municipal revenues and corresponding costs to deliver services based on existing development patterns and the Future Centers as identified in Envision New Braunfels. The data in this LUFA will be utilized to help define, clarify, and inform recommended updates to the future land use map and overall comprehensive plan; to implement land use and infrastructure policies that support an approach to growth and development that is more resilient, equitable, sustainable and data-driven; and to build an informed public input process for the comprehensive plan update.
The LUFA goes into detailed explanation regarding:
• The link between development patterns and fiscal dynamics;
• How the city’s approach to development could evolve as the city shifts from a growth context to a maintenance and redevelopment focus;
• How compact development typically generates a higher tax base and positive net return to pay for infrastructure and public services (and how more spread out development increases infrastructure and service costs);
• How wider lanes and roadways impact street maintenance and future reconstruction liabilities;
• How street width and lot size impact per lot/household cost burdens; and
• How well current zoning and development regulations align with fiscally productive development patterns, and ways to adjust those development regulations in the forthcoming Land Development Ordinance to address.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN REFERENCE:
• Action 1.3: Encourage balanced and fiscally responsible land use patterns.
• Action 1.6: Incentivize infill development and redevelopment to take advantage of existing infrastructure.
• Action 1.11: Update policies and codes to achieve development patterns that implement the goals of this plan.
• Adopt a Unified Development Code.
• Action 2.33: Encourage vertical growth and development of key areas to take advantage of infrastructure capacity, maintain the core, and to discourage sprawl.
• Aging in Place.
• Action 3.10: Change zoning/land use and platting rules, and create tax and permit fee incentives in under-utilized neighborhoods, nodes, and corridors to encourage redevelopment.
• Action 3.13: Cultivate an environment where a healthy mix of different housing products at a range of sizes, affordability, densities, amenities and price points can be provided across the community as well as within individual developments.
• Action 3.16: Review and revise regulations that inadvertently inhibit creative housing options or workforce housing alternatives.
• Action 6.1: Coordinate local land use and housing plans with regional transportation investments to ensure the land uses are not inadvertently driving increased congestion without proportionate mitigation and context sensitive solutions.
• Action 7.11: Allow for smaller/narrower streets and lot size variety within individual subdivisions.
• Action 7.22: Adopt a Complete Streets policy to ensure ease of access for all people and all transportation modes.
• Action 7.26: Improve mobility through regular maintenance of infrastructure.
• Action 7.51: Continue to annually increase road repair budget.
• Action 7.59: Address future infrastructure needs when roadways are built by planning for infrastructure not necessarily needed at the present, but what will be needed in the future.
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
☒Economic Mobility ☒Enhanced Connectivity ☒Community Identity
☒Organizational Excellence ☐Community Well-Being ☐N/A
• Incentivize mixed-use developments and redevelopments in targeted locations to create a built environment with integrated housing, commercial centers, and opportunities for improved connectivity.
• To support the development of additional workforce housing units, create an incentive policy to include variances for height restrictions, density limits, parking minimums and other requirements as well as encouraging the use of Public Facility Corporations and Tax Increment Financing.
• Continue to develop a series of policies and programs to encourage the construction of different housing types, such as accessory dwelling units, to increase the diversity of the housing supply, especially in areas of the community that are undergoing changes to current development patterns and where demand is outpacing supply.
• Identify and establish planning, capital, and operating funding to support and maintain a well-connected transportation network serving pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, children, older individuals, individuals with disabilities, motorists, and freight vehicles.
• Initiate the update to Envision New Braunfels, the City’s comprehensive plan, and use the Land Use Fiscal Assessment to bring a data-driven element to the Future Land Use Map.
• Adopt the new Land Development Ordinance that implements goals of our residents identified in Envision New Braunfels, including but not limited to protecting historic structures, preserving and increasing green space and tree canopy, protecting natural resources, and safeguarding the character, integrity, and stability of neighborhoods.
• Considering statutory and market-based factors, continue to diversify revenue streams to support long-term fiscal sustainability of the organization.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This study examines how different development patterns perform in terms of revenue generation to pay for corresponding costs for service. It will offer options of creating a tool that will estimate the fiscal impact of rezoning/development applications to aid in approving sound fiscal development patterns.