Council conditionally approves updates to comprehensive plan and future land-use map
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Summary
After a nine-month update process and public hearings, the council gave conditional approval to a revised future land-use map, instructing staff to retain a conservation designation for the hill behind Buc-ee’s and to adjust downtown to neighborhood residential with pockets of neighborhood commercial.
The Bastrop City Council on May 20 acted on an updated comprehensive plan chapter and a new future land-use map prepared following public engagement and Planning & Zoning review.
Consultant Ilda Capricioso of HAP Associates summarized a nine-month public process that included surveys and open houses and recommended revisions to the city’s growth principles and the land-use map to better reflect preservation of small‑town character, tree and water‑resource protection, and targeted corridor development. The consultant’s recommended future land-use map identifies commercial corridors along State Highway 71, mixed-use corridors, mixed-density residential areas, and downtown areas combining residential and limited commercial uses.
Council members and residents raised several clarifying points during the public hearing. Multiple residents urged that the area behind the Buc-ee’s site and Lost Pines Avenue be designated as “residential conservation/estate” to protect tree cover and the nearby state park. Others sought clarity about how the downtown designation would protect single‑family character while allowing pedestrian‑oriented commercial uses. After questions and a public hearing, the council voted unanimously to approve the plan update with two conditions: keep the Buc-ee’s‑adjacent hill as the residential conservation/estate category and change the downtown band to neighborhood residential, retaining targeted pockets of neighborhood commercial where currently appropriate. Council asked staff to place the revised map for individual consideration and final reading at the May 27 meeting.
Why it matters: the future land-use map guides where the city will encourage growth, where infrastructure and parks should be prioritized, and where zoning and future code changes may follow. The update is intended to align development with community values — protecting tree cover, preserving lower‑density neighborhoods and targeting commercial growth to corridors.
Discussion vs. decision: the council used the hearing to request specific edits rather than reject or adopt the consultant’s map wholesale; the motion adopted conditions and referred the revised map for formal reading on May 27. Any subsequent zoning or regulatory changes will follow separate code‑change processes and would require public notice and, where applicable, P&Z and council action.
