Title
Informational Update on the Northwest Sector Study Planning Initiative
Summary
MEETING DATE: February 3, 2014
DEPARTMENT: Development Services - Planning Department
CONTACT: Corey Young, Planner I
Jennifer Arnold, Planning Manager
Michael Quint, Director of Planning
RECOMMENDED CITY COUNCIL ACTION:
· N/A
ITEM SUMMARY:
· Staff is presenting an informational update on the Northwest Sector Study Planning Initiative.
· Since the start of the study in summer 2013, Staff and the consultant team have conducted various analyses and hosted several public outreach activities including small-group meetings, discussions with city leaders, and a public open house with residents and stakeholders.
· Over the last 2 months, Staff and the consultant team have focused on outlining an approach for moving forward that balances anticipated future growth with the interests and goals of stakeholders and city leaders.
· This approach includes taking a macro and micro view of the Northwest Sector in order to establish valuable, guiding recommendations for the study area over all and create land use/development alternatives at key locations that could serve to unlock future development opportunities.
· To do this, the project team has identified 6 sub-areas of the Northwest Sector that have their own defining characteristics. Overarching recommendations for each sub-area will then be established to capture the unique opportunities, challenges and guiding principles that should serve as a policy guide for City Leaders when making land use decisions in the future.
· In tandem with the overarching recommendations, three catalyst locations will also be identified. For each catalyst location, a framework for land use and development alternatives will be conceptualized and then analyzed in terms of market potential, public investment considerations and return on investment. In doing this, the project team expects that the conceptual alternatives could unlock near to mid-term development opportunities and be demonstrative of the development patterns and quality that we hope to achieve over the long-term.
· In order to identify the 3 most suitable catalyst locations, the project team identified 17 areas of opportunity in the Northwest Sector which could potentially support one of three different types of development: residential, mixed-use, or regional commercial.
· From here, the project team will utilize an assessment matrix to evaluate which of the 17 opportunity areas are truly most suitable for serving as a catalyst site. The highest ranking area from each development category (residential, mixed-use, regional commercial) will then be identified as a catalyst site and alternative development patterns and considerations will be explored in detail for each.
NEXT STEPS
· At the onset of this Study, Staff committed to establishing a process where a wide variety of stakeholders would have the opportunity to share their input and provide feedback. This commitment is to ensure that the study process will result in a fully vetted product that is supported by the community.
· As such, Staff is now seeking Council feedback and general impressions of the planning process thus far, as well as the identified opportunity areas and preliminary assessment criteria.
· Based on this feedback, Staff and the consultant team will make refinements as needed and will begin to craft broad recommendations for each sub-area and will start the evaluation of opportunity areas in order to identify the top 3 catalyst sites.
· Staff anticipates presenting the 3 catalyst sites to City Council for review and support in March 2014. Subsequently, the project team will begin to craft conceptual development alternatives for each site and evaluate the market demand/potential, investment needs, and returns for each alternative.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
· The Northwest Sector is approximately 30,000 +/- acres generally located north of US 380 and west of US 75 (including the city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction) and represents the largest portion of undeveloped property with the City's ultimate planning area.
· The Northwest Sector has some of the most beautiful natural features in Collin County and is also anticipated to be the focus of new development over the next several decades. With this in mind, the City initiated the Northwest Sector Study in the summer of 2013 as a proactive means to learn how to best accommodate this future growth while still embracing the natural landscape of the Northwest Sector.
· The purpose of the study is to develop detailed plans to address the issues and priorities that the community deems important. These issues include annexation strategies, infrastructure investment strategies, land use patterns, transportation systems, and economic development opportunities.
· The study kicked off in the summer of 2013 with a project initiation meeting and site tour. Following the kick off meeting, Staff and the consultant team spent several weeks coordinating and conducting various analyses related to existing conditions and market expectations as well as defining opportunities, issues and constraints for future growth in the Northwest Sector.
· In November, Staff and the consultant team conducted the following outreach activities:
o Hosted four small-group discussions with nearly 20 prominent property owners, representatives and developers within the study area;
o Met with members of the City Council in individual or small-group settings; and
o Hosted a public open house to publicly kick-off the Northwest Sector Study for local residents, community leaders and interested stakeholders.
· Public outreach efforts revealed a desire of developers, residents, and the City Council to overcome infrastructure investment hurdles, improve the development process (i.e. zoning entitlements), encourage high-quality development, maintain a diverse tax base, and capitalize on the natural setting of the Northwest Sector.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY:
· n/a
BOARD OR COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
· n/a