San Marcos City Council Prepares For Final Draft Of CodeSMTX

Code SMTX, the re-write of the City’s Land Development Code, began in 2014 with a two year public conversation about how best to translate the vision, goals and objectives of the City’s Comprehensive Plan into the rules governing future development and re-development in San Marcos.

Staff directly interacted with over 3,000 people during community meetings, workshops, online surveys, and presentations to gather input in preparation of releasing the Public Draft of Code SMTX on May 27, 2016. 

Following its release, a three phase adoption process was initiated to refine the Draft Code and respond to the priority issues identified by the community.  This process, detailed below, has a significant milestone on the horizon:

First Public Hearing on Code SMTX

July 17 City Council Workshop

5:30 PM @ City Hall

During this meeting, the City Council will discuss the proposed amendments to the Final Draft of the Code.  We hope interested residents will attend and share their perspectives about Code SMTX and the issues that are important to them.

Phase I: Public Review Period

During the six month public review period staff received over 1,000 comments from community members, Think Tank members and different stakeholder and interest groups through direct comments and survey responses.

Community members were kept up to date on the process via informational newsletters, the project website, and speaker’s bureau presentations. 

In addition, a joint workshop was held with an expert panel to focus on the issues of housing and affordability.

Phase II: Revisions Period

Between the months of November 2016 and January 2017, policy level issues were identified and technical code edits were made based on the input received during the public review period combined with detailed financial modeling, testing the code on hypothetical projects and review meetings with the Think Tank.  The revised draft of Code SMTX was released January 6, 2017.

Phase III: Two-step Adoption Period

During the adoption phase, between January 2017 and October 2017, the Planning Commission and City Council will consider and provide direction on the policy level issues identified during the revisions period through a two step process detailed below.

The final draft is scheduled for release August 15, 2017.

Step 1: Amendments

Two facilitated public workshops were held on January 30, 2017 and February 8, 2017 to begin exploring amendments for incorporation in the Final Draft.

Additionally eleven informational work sessions were held to further explore the proposed code.

Staff prepared an amendments report compiling the comments received into several proposed amendments for consideration and formal direction as detailed in the timeline below.

Step 2: Final Draft 

After formal direction is received, a Final Draft incorporating these changes is scheduled for completion on August 15, 2017 for consideration and final adoption as detailed in the timeline below.

What’s Next for Code SMTX

In the months ahead, the community will have the opportunity to continue to review and respond to the revised draft during upcoming public hearings or by sending written comments or questions to PlanningInfo@sanmarcostx.gov. 

Following is the detailed schedule for upcoming meetings.  All dates are subject to change and the most current agendas may be found on the City’s Website Here.

• July 17, 5:30 p.m. – Public Hearing and Direction City Council @ City Hall
• July 31, 5:30 p.m. – Final Direction City Council @ City Hall