Cedar Park city leaders unveil new Comprehensive Plan draft

After months of public meetings and planning sessions, Cedar Park city leaders unveiled a draft of the city’s 2014 Comprehensive Plan to a packed room at Casa de mi Padre restaurant Thursday, July 17.

“This is not a document that just sits on a shelf,” said City Manager Brenda Eivens. “It is integrated into how things work in Cedar Park. It helps decide how to direct growth and the physical development in the community.”

The 162-page plan is broken down into sections for future land use, transportation, infrastructure, public facilities, livability and implementation.

With single-family residential development comprising 57 percent of the city’s developed land, only about 28 percent of the land in Cedar Park’s planning area is currently vacant, excluding land used for drainage or right-of-ways.

“To me, it’s about supply and demand,” said Assistant City Manager Josh Selleck. “We’re at a point where the city’s vacant land becomes higher and higher in demand. We must be even more thoughtful about what we do with each tract.”

According to the plan, the city has identified six planning areas that are intended to address the community’s overall vision. These planning areas comprise much of the remaining 28 percent of vacant land within Cedar Park. Although no specific land use is planned for each area, the following four types of developments (or a combination thereof) are envisioned in these areas:

• Entertainment District

• Educational Campus

• Walkable Mixed-Use

• Business Park

The plan states that the Bell Boulevard/US 183 Corridor is also identified as a special area for consideration; however, a redevelopment strategy is appropriate for this area (compared to the other planning areas, which are located in largely vacant areas).

The visioning process for the new Comprehensive Plan started with the creation of a Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC). The CPAC consisted of 16 members who represent various parts of the community. In addition to this, an interactive website, www.ImagineCedarPark.com, was created to gather input from the community. Over an eight month period, the website attracted over 5,500 individual viewers, nearly 500 registered participants, and over 2,000 comments, ideas, and suggestions.

The second part of the visioning process collected information from the community — residents, business owners, elected and appointed officials, and other stakeholders and community representatives. This input helped to shape and direct growth and development for the next 20 years and beyond.

Fifteen meetings were held during this public process that began in February 2013 including eight CPAC meetings, three City Council work sessions, two Town Hall public meetings, two focus group interviews with local developers and property owners, and two public meetings for adoption.

Eivens said there were some common elements between the community feedback this year and feedback that was incorporated into the 1998 Comprehensive Plan.

“People wanted an attractive place to raise their family,” she said. “They also wanted a place you could be entertained, where you could work and a place where you could get around easy.”

She said achievements such as the Cedar Park Regional Medical Center, Cedar Park Center and 1890 Ranch can all be traced back to visions in the city’s previous Comprehensive Plan.

Cedar Park resident Bill Moore attended the meeting and said while he appreciated hearing the overall vision, he had hoped to hear more specifics about future development.

“I was hoping for some more specifics,” Moore said. “The different areas that they showed, specifically what are they planning for those areas is what I was hoping to hear.”

The city will host two more public meetings where residents can hear more about the plan and ask questions. Meetings will be from 6-8 p.m. on July 29 at the Cedar Park Recreation Center and July 30 at Henry Middle School.

Residents can download a copy of the draft plan and get more information at www.imaginecedarpark.com.