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Council debates larger booklet-style postcard and timeline as city advances UDC update
Summary
City staff proposed a larger bilingual postcard (about $42,000) or a mailed letter (about $105,000) to accompany the Unified Development Code update; council debated cost versus the need to clarify a state-required legal statement and agreed to extended testing and an earlier joint workshop.
City of Georgetown staff presented communication and adoption options for the Unified Development Code (UDC) update, prompting council debate over the size and cost of mailed notices and the schedule for testing and hearings.
Kelly (city staff) and Zane (planning staff) described a communications strategy centered on an FAQ page, Ask GTX ticketing support and social media, then presented two mailed-notice options: an enlarged bilingual postcard with more explanatory text (staff estimate roughly $42,000) and a mailed single-page letter option estimated at about $105,000 to start. Zane said the larger postcard would include a clarifying statement that "state law is requiring the state law required statement" and specify which zoning districts and future development types would be most affected.
Several council members questioned the added cost. One member said the $17,000 difference was hard to justify for "three sentences," while others argued the clarified language would avoid unnecessarily frightening residents. The debate centered on whether the brief explanatory text justifying the state notice language warranted the extra cost or whether clearer website messaging could accomplish the same objective.
Staff also presented two adoption timelines: an "immediate adoption" schedule that would mail notice in mid-March and aim for hearings and a Sept. 1 effective date (after a 90-day delay), and an "extended testing" schedule that would push notices to May and adoption to late summer/fall with a Nov. 1 effective date. Council favored extended stakeholder testing and asked to insert a joint workshop before testing so council could confirm the version to be tested.
Staff said the larger postcard is intended to drive residents to the FAQ and Ask GTX channels and that the mailed notice would emphasize who is most impacted (business park, industrial, office, neighborhood commercial and multifamily districts) and that adoption would not automatically change existing uses or HOA covenants. No final decision on mailing format or the notice budget was recorded; staff will return with refined materials and a joint-workshop plan.
