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Commission recommends City Council pursue unified development code rewrite after Clarion assessment
Summary
Consultant Clarion Associates presented an assessment of Pflugerville’s Unified Development Code; commissioners recommended the City Council proceed with a code rewrite to implement Aspire 2040 goals including housing diversity, mixed use and parking reforms.
The Pflugerville Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend that City Council proceed with a comprehensive rewrite of the Unified Development Code (UDC) after a consultant presentation of an assessment report on May 6.
Matt Goval of Clarion Associates reviewed the assessment, telling the commission Clarion found Pflugerville has a generally strong code framework but needs targeted updates to implement the city’s comprehensive plan, Aspire 2040. "We looked at the issues that y'all have raised in that plan and we compare them to the zoning code," Goval said during his presentation.
Key findings flagged by Clarion include: - Housing diversity: Clarion recommended clearer, affirmative allowances for duplexes, triplexes and other “missing middle” housing types, and suggested lowering minimum lot sizes and creating flexible residential districts or standards to encourage a broader housing mix. - Mixed use and downtown: The assessment recommended expanding corridor and mixed‑use tools, adjusting allowed uses, and creating clearer form and design standards tailored to downtown and neighborhood centers. - Parking and multimodal: Clarion advised revising minimum parking tables, considering maximums or shared‑parking approaches, strengthening bicycle parking requirements, and allowing more flexibility (shared, off‑site, or demand‑based approaches). - Development quality and incentives: The report suggested moving some non‑enforceable design prescriptions into incentive or bonus programs and simplifying user guidance and review procedures to reduce perceived inflexibility.
Commissioners raised several implementation questions at the meeting — including ADU rules, how to incentivize ownership versus build‑to‑rent, and whether homeowners associations and private covenants limit some city tools. Goval noted the assessment focused on plan implementation and that a separate code rewrite effort would translate recommendations into specific code language.
After questions and discussion, a commissioner moved to recommend City Council pursue the code rewrite work that follows from the assessment; the commission approved the motion with no recorded opposition.
What’s next: the assessment report provides a prioritized list of code changes and will feed a request for proposals and the next phase of work: drafting a revised UDC for public review and council consideration.
