By Charlotte-Anne Lucas for NOWCastSA, June 30, 2019

San Antonio is, without question, the most backward city of any of the major urban Texas municipalities when it comes to making public records available. Opacity seems to be the rule.

By Charlotte-Anne Lucas and Jolene Almendarez This morning, District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño will continue to fight a land use category that community leaders say will destroy San Antonio neighborhoods by allowing incompatible, high-density, four-story apartment buildings next to single-family homes.

Under the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, the City of San Antonio will be asking residents to help define the land use and zoning in their neighborhoods and communities. To help neighborhood residents prepare to participate, this hands-on workshop was created by Chrissy Q McCain, Director of Land Use and Neighborhood Planning for City Council District 1. “We want to empower people with as much information as possible,” explained District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño. “We’ll be working with you, not around you."

The Tier 1 Neighborhood Coalition sponsored a seminar on the proposed zoning ordinance that would govern so-called "infill development" or projects built on vacant or abandoned lots. Scroll down to watch complete video of the event. Representatives from 22 neighborhoods across six council districts attended the event. The seminar on June 16, 2018 at Lift Fund, was the first preview of the proposed Infill Development Zoning (IDZ) ordinance by the IDZ Taskforce.

Updated: District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño said the San Antonio Planning Department is “not going to take another step forward” on the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan without including the neighborhoods as true partners in the process.

Representatives of 22 neighborhoods gathered at the April 14 Tier One Neighborhood Coalition meeting to prepare to get involved and speak up as San Antonio rewrites community plans under the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan. Under SA Tomorrow, the city discarded long-standing neighborhood plans that were years in the making. To protect the neighborhoods' future, representatives are gearing up to participate in the planning process.

Neighbors heard about a victory for the Neighborhood Conservation District plan, got a preview of the Midtown Master Plan Process and heard about the Brackenridge Park Community Cat Project at the June 20, 2017 meeting of the Mahncke Park Neighborhood Association. MNPA Board Secretary Camis Milam said she attended the June 19 meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and testified against three of the five variances sought by the DSW Construction Co., which proposed building 45 two- and three-story town homes near the southeast corner of East Mulberry and Tendick.

San Antonio hosted its first Sustainability Forum on June 23, 2015, part of the SA Tomorrow comprehensive planning process. SA Tomorrow is addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with adding one million people to the region by 2040, through a Comprehensive Plan update, a Sustainability Plan and a Multi-modal Transportation Plan.

Want to be a part of shaping San Antonio's future? Join the 2013 Budget Group on NOWCastSA to connect with others passionate about similar issues. Group members will receive reminders of meeting dates and times, can post their own links and messages to the City, and will receive free access to related content from NOWCastSA partner Plaza de Armas.