Last summer, the City of San Marcos released a draft of Code SMTX for public comment. Colorspace provided feedback as part of this process and then in January an updated draft was published in January 2017. The City then held a series of workshops to fine-tune this feedback and finally published a final Amendment Report in May 2017. (This report can be found here http://sanmarcostx.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=22502)
To be expected, the City has received continuous, fearful protests against anything that appears to reduce parking minimums from the existing LDC and this last round of proposed amendments include revisions that would completely eliminate the mixed-use parking requirements that are integral to multi-modal form-based development.
Typical anti-student and anti-multi-family sentiment expressed in the workshops, with all effort focused on increasing parking requirements, not minimizing car usage. This effort by vocal workshop participants got City staff to include a proposed revision to completely revert the entirety of all character districts to the existing land development code parking standards - which have remained largely unchanged since the 1980s.
Below is my feedback to the City on this proposed change. If anyone invested in San Marcos' future as a less car-dependent city, I encourage you to also voice support to reject this change.
