Temple Planning for the Future!!!

The Temple CPAC or Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee has made it through its first wave of meetings.  The meetings were designed to give this representative panel an opportunity to consider the thoughts of the community in regard to shaping the future of our city. 

It is the role of the CPAC to act as an advisor to the City of Temple Planning and Zoning Commission, City Staff, and consultant team and as the recommending body to the Planning and Zoning Commission for the City’s Comprehensive Plan.  The March meetings were the first of many that will be designed to confront the issues revolving around the city’s growth in the coming years.

As is common when a community takes an introspective and critical look at itself some of the meeting got a little uncomfortable (at least to me).  Issues such as blight, challenges facing our schools, landscape, overlays, etc made me hold my breath more than a couple of times.  The meetings never got ugly or out of hand and the consultants did a good job of keeping the committee and the focus groups on point.

The Comprehensive Plan project is very significant for Temple.  The result will be a document that will “guide the growth and enhancement of our community through 2025,” according to Temple Mayor Bill Jones.

The informal group forums presented the consultants on this project, Kendig Keast Collaborative, with an opportunity to hear from the community about our perceived needs and desires for the city.  Items covered during the forums included Land Use, Transportation, Urban Design & Community Appearance, Housing & Neighborhoods, and Economic Development.  All are important facets of a comprehensive plan, but it was stated more than once during the meeting that the key focus of the project will be land use and growth management.

From my perspective, the development community was very well represented at these meetings.  The recent meetings were by no means the only opportunities that the public will be able to comment about this project as a number of outreach activities are planned throughout the year and into March 2008 when the final document is tentatively expected to be presented to the City Council at a public hearing.

Some important dates interested members might want to add to your calendar include:

  • April 30th and May 1st – Temple City Council Districts 1 (Jeter) & 2 (Luna) will have an opportunity to meet with the consultants on the project to identify issues, improvement needs, and priorities
  • May 14th and May 15th – Temple City Council Districts 3 (Tyroch) & 4 (Schneider) will have the same opportunity listed above
  • May 22nd – the committee (CPAC) will meet to discuss draft plan elements and receive comments
  • May 23rd – community design workshop
  • TBA – growth management workshop
  • June 26th – the committee will meet to discuss plan elements and receive comments
  • September 25th – the committee will meet to discuss plan elements and receive comments
  • September 27th – City Council mid-point briefing
  • November 13th – the committee will meet to discuss draft plan elements and receive comments
  • January 22nd – the committee will meet to discuss draft plan elements and receive comments
  • March 2008 – Council public hearing on final draft
As you can see there will be plenty of meetings, and in-between the meetings there will be much time spent reviewing the drafts that come from the consultants.  TABA intends to keep our members as in the loop as is possible while this project develops.  Look for frequent comprehensive plan updates in future editions of  On the Level.

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