Staff outlines VisionSMtx comprehensive plan; committee begins prioritizing actions and asks staff for follow-ups

City planning staff gave the Comprehensive Plan Oversight Committee an extended overview of VisionSMtx, the city's new 20-year comprehensive plan, and the committee spent the bulk of its meeting discussing the committee's role, implementation methods and early priorities.

JB Lewis delivered a summary of the plan and described it as the community's roadmap for the next two decades: "VisionSMtx... establishes the vision, the goals, and the policy direction in San Marcos over the next 20 years," he said. Staff stressed the plan is intended to be implemented through a range of tools including regulatory changes, incentives, new programs, area plans, capital improvements and interagency collaboration.

Major facts and structure: Staff said the plan contains 23 goals, 59 objectives and 130 actions. It maps preferred future growth and defines place types and mixed-use centers at neighborhood, community and regional scales. Staff noted the plan is not equivalent to zoning; rather,…