Comp Plan Framework Goes to Council

The Austin Comprehensive Plan comes to City Council this week, clearing another hurdle in its long-running development. A 4pm time-certain public hearing is scheduled Thursday, March 17, on endorsing the Imagine Austin plan framework, encompassing seven "building blocks" providing direction in the following areas: land use and transportation, housing and neighborhoods, economy, conservation and environmental resources, city facilities and services, society, and culture. So far, the plan framework has largely steered clear of the controversy that enveloped the previous step of the process, selection of a "preferred growth scenario"; neighborhood associations complained that such a process could steamroller their neighborhood plans, while naysayers countered that neighborhoods were just afraid of absorbing meaningful density. If approved, the framework, along with the preferred growth scenario, would then be forwarded to working groups for further refinement to be used in crafting the final plan, which should be ready some time before Austin's bicentennial in 2039. (Or maybe even a little sooner.)