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Staff to continue joint planning‑commission and council work on Highland general plan after public feedback
Summary
City staff and planning commissioners will hold additional joint work sessions with council to refine Highland’s draft general plan after a recent joint meeting generated public concern about treatment of the Longhorn property and other land‑use questions.
Highland City staff told the council on Tuesday they will continue iterative joint work with the planning commission and the council to refine the city’s draft general plan after public feedback and a contentious joint meeting last week.
Community Development Director Jay (first name used on record) said the draft materials presented at a recent joint session were an early, rough synthesis of months of public input and not the finished general plan. The draft included tradeoffs—such as whether certain larger parcels like the Longhorn property might be suitable for commercial use as the city grows—that some attendees found surprising. Jay said the Longhorn topic became a focal point in the joint meeting and prompted a strong reaction; staff intends to better sequence outreach and make the plan’s options and tradeoffs clearer.
Staff proposed a process of element‑by‑element review (transportation, water, land use, public services, environment) in additional joint work sessions so council and planning commissioners can consider focused questions, including accessory dwelling units (ADUs), where state law imposes some constraints. Staff said it will use advance resident surveys (Yapify or similar) on specific elements to generate more focused public feedback ahead of the joint sessions.
Council members praised staff for the volume of engagement to date and asked for more opportunities for structured public input, clearer materials, and more predictable joint work sessions to avoid surprises. Staff and the mayor observed that general plans must meet some state required elements and that some proposals are bound by those grant or statutory requirements (the city has a state grant to assist with the water element, staff said).
Next steps: Staff will schedule additional joint sessions between planning commission and council on discrete general plan elements, distribute targeted surveys in advance of those sessions, and return to the council with a revised timeline and outreach schedule.
