San Marcos City Council To Receive Update On Phase 2 Development Code Amendments, Housing Action Plan

Corridor Staff

The San Marcos City Council will receive a staff presentation and hold a discussion on text amendments to the Development Code during their regular work session today.

The presentation will address recommendations from the “Alcohol Conditional Use Permit Committee, the Housing Task Force, the Historic Preservation Commission, Planning and Zoning Commission, and recommendations from City staff concerning application processing and requirements, block perimeter standards, Certificate of Appropriateness appeals, Concept Plat applicability, right-of-way dimensional standards, building type definitions, Neighborhood Density District zoning regulations, Character District zoning regulations, a new Special Events Facility use, multifamily parking standards, accessory dwelling units, neighborhood transitions, durable building materials, detention and water quality requirements for plats of four residential lots or less, detention requirements outside the Urban Stormwater Management District, delineation of water quality and buffer zones, channel design for water quality zone reclamation, sensitive geologic feature protection zones, geological assessment waivers, and Qualified Watershed Protection Plan applicability, and adoption of Appendix Q of the International Residential Code.”

The presentation will include an update on the status of the San Marcos Strategic Housing Action Plan.

According to the agenda, a joint workshop between San Marcos Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council was held in June 2019 to allow the commission and council the opportunity to review the proposed changes and provide staff direction.

The presentation will address the recommendations that the commission and council expressed interest in having analyzed by staff and brought back for potential consideration.

The Phase 2 amendments are proposed by city staff and several city boards and commission.

During their June 9 meeting, P&Z recommended approval of the following amendments:

• Item #1: Require an informational meeting with the Planning & Zoning Commission for Watershed Protection Plans that are 40 acres or more.
• Item #2: Provide standards for exemption including lot size and impervious cover limits, and do not allow an exemption for series of 4 lots or less plat submittals with the intention of creating a development more than 4 lots.
• Item #4: Provide standards for exemption including lot size and impervious cover limits.
• Item #13: Clarify applicability and remove specific single-family specific regulation.
• Item #15: Denial of 6:1 for infill development.

The council is slated to hold a public hearing and consider approving an ordinance to amend the development code as presented at their regular meeting tonight on the first of two readings.

The second reading will be held on September 1.

• View this week’s agenda HERE.
• View this week’s agenda packet HERE.
• View live or previous meetings HERE.
• View previous meeting minutes HERE.
• Watch meeting live on the following cable stations
  1. Grande Communications: Cable Channel 16
  2. Spectrum: Cable Channel 10