Housing strategy urges 2,500 downtown units and land‑use rebalancing to revive corridors

Becky King, Managing Director of Community & Neighborhood Development, briefed the Plan Commission on the Garland Housing Strategy on July 13, emphasizing that land use is the foundation of the housing and corridor revitalization effort. King said the study identifies two interrelated problems — an affordability gap (cost to produce and maintain housing outpacing income growth) and a market gap (willingness to pay and to invest) — and recommends a deliberate program of land‑use changes, incentives and placemaking.

King said downtown needs roughly 2,500 more housing units within the next decade to sustain retail and restaurants and to stabilize the area. She described the strategy’s preferred development types as medium‑ and high‑density infill, mixed‑income housing, and 'missing middle' housing types near corridors, paired with walkable form, street‑facing buildings, and parking located to the side or rear. King told commissioners that staff will flag whether an application falls inside an economic focus area and will evaluate whether a case delivers the housing types, unit counts, and form that the strategy calls for.

The presentation tied housing goals to the strategic plan’s fiscal imperative: greater sales tax and commercial activity could reduce reliance on residential property tax. King and staff urged commissioners to consider whether proposed uses increase value per acre or lock the corridor into low‑value uses for decades. "The housing strategy you implement, not 1 you fund," King said, adding that the planning commission’s land‑use decisions are central to implementation.