SAN ANTONIO – It's a plan for the future, for the year 2040 to be exact.
The planning commission on Wednesday recommended approval for the plan, SA Tomorrow, a comprehensive plan and continuation of SA 2020, which outlines how the city will grow.
District 8 City Councilman Ron Nirenberg said they are expecting San Antonio's population to double by the year 2040.
"What we do in planning for that growth will have a huge impact on quality life," said Nirenberg. "We expect, over the next 25 years, to be producing another 500,000 housing units."
And while the SA Tomorrow plan has a long way to go, on Wednesday, at a public hearing, dozens of neighborhood association leaders asked planning commissioners to delay the adoption of the three-part plan.
"We ask that you not adopt the San Antonio comprehensive plan as it currently stands," said Monte Vista Historical Association president Paula Dawson Bondurant.
Bondurant's concern is over the proposed Midtown Regional Zone. She said would take away part of the current Monte Vista Historical District.
"I think they need to cool their jets and slow down," said Frank Garcia, who lives in the Monte Vista neighborhood. "I personally was not involved in the planning sessions, nobody from Monte Vista was included."
Frederica Kushner, who lives in Tobin Hill, said one of her concerns is that the SA Tomorrow draft states the current neighborhood plans will disappear.
"We are very concerned about it," Kushner said "because we have had holes punched in our existing neighborhood plans for years now."
However, Nirenberg said SA Tomorrow, for now, is just a work in progress.
"The SA Tomorrow plan supports those neighborhoods, and it's so wonderful to see the turnout," said Nirenberg. "We're listening. The neighborhood voices are being heard. They are being incorporated into the plan."
City Council is set to talk about the plans next week on Aug. 3, and they are scheduled to take a vote on Aug. 11.
