Title
[POSTPONED] To receive public comment and consider an ordinance amending the City of Pflugerville Code of Ordinances Title XV Land Usage, Chapter 153 Planning, by amending the Future Land Use Map from Mixed- Use Neighborhood to Mixed-Use Commercial for the following Travis County Property Ids: 506149, 363069, 363072, 275719, and 277262; to be known as the Pecan District Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA2026-00278)
Summary
LOCATION: The subject properties are all located at the southwest corner of South Heatherwilde Boulevard and West Pecan Street. The properties lie north of Old Austin Pflugerville Road, west of South Heatherwilde Boulevard and south of West Pecan Street.
PROPOSED REQUEST
The Future Land Use Map (FLUM) in the Aspire 2040 Comprehensive Plan identifies the properties as Mixed-Use Neighborhood. This future land use category is meant to create mixed-use developments that promote pedestrian friendly development rather than vehicle centered development. The mixed-use component of the development can be either horizontal (separate uses in separate structures) or vertical mixed-use (separate uses within one structure). There are a variety of low intense residential uses identified as appropriate primary uses as well as neighborhood scale commercial uses.
The applicant is requesting to change the Future Land Use from Mixed Use Neighborhood to Mixed-Use Commercial. The Mixed-Use Commercial future land use category identifies areas that are designated for significant development or redevelopment. More intense vertical mixed-use activities are appropriate in this area. The area has walkable scale blocks with pedestrian focused access to buildings. This future land use is clustered along aerial roads and corridors where denser and more intense commercial is appropriate.
The future land use amendment does not change any zoning and does not affect the current use of any property.
ZONING
The affected properties are all located within the Pecan District Planned Unit District (PUD). The PUD is intended to create a vertical mixed-use development that is comprised of residential, office, retail and restaurant. Residential is permitted with conditions associated with it being integrated into a vertical mixed-use building where there is ground floor restaurant, retail and office. The PUD creates a walkable and pedestrian network of public and private streets throughout the development. The PUD conditionally allows for a variety housing types that are for rent or sale, as well as permits a variety of commercial that is intended to serve the surrounding residential. The area provides for living, working, shopping and recreation in close proximity to each other.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The Aspire Pflugerville 2040 Comprehensive Plan has multiple components, Land Use Growth and Development, which includes the Future Land Use Map (FLUM), as well as chapters related to the City’s vision with guiding principles and goals, economic development and fiscal resilience, transportation and mobility, and healthy communities and neighborhood vitality. The FLUM currently designates the identified properties as Mixed-Use Neighborhood which is described as follows:
Existing: Mixed-Use Neighborhood
According to the Comprehensive Plan, the Mixed-Use Neighborhood land use category is intended to create a development pattern that incorporates different uses such as office, retail, commercial and residential in one area. Mixed-use development can be either vertical or horizontal. Vertical mixed-use describes a single structure with multiple uses within the structure where typically retail or office is located on the ground floor while residential or office utilizes the upper floors. Horizontal mixed-use describes multiple uses next to each other in a single development or in proximity. Uses can be located within a single structure, or in separate buildings adjacent to each other. The mixed-use neighborhood developments are intended to encourage users to not rely on vehicles and promote a pedestrian friendly experience. By mixing uses and having them in proximity, developments are more walkable than traditional suburban commercial development. These types of developments generally incorporate amenities like plazas, public seating, and pedestrian features. The Mixed-Use Neighborhood land use category identifies a variety of housing options including bungalow/cottage court, triplex/fourplex, duplex, and townhomes to be appropriate residential building types. It also finds mixed-use neighborhood scale as an appropriate building type for commercial land uses and single-family small lot, accessory dwelling units, mixed-use community scale, neighborhood office and commercial, and neighborhood shopping center are listed as conditional as a primary use.
Proposed: Mixed- Use Commercial
According to the Comprehensive Plan, the Mixed-Use Commercial land use category is intended to include a range of residential and commercial uses including courtyard/garden apartments, urban apartment, mixed-use community scale, mixed-use regional scale. Developments in this land use category include high intensity mixed-use activity that is vertically integrated, has compact block lengths and is pedestrian scale. Design should create a highly walkable urban form. Connections to surrounding residential should be thoughtfully integrated to provide safe and convenient connections to commercial provided within the land use category. Regional Office & Commercial and Regional Shopping Center are listed as conditional primary uses.
Additional Land Use Goals, Policy Statements, and Action Items: The Aspire Pflugerville 2040 Comprehensive Plan also makes recommendations through Goals, Policy Statements, and Action Items, among which include the following which remain applicable to both designations:
Land Use, Development and Growth:
- Diversify the housing supply, types, and locations to meet community needs through each phase of life.
- Provide homeownership opportunities that encourage residents of diverse backgrounds and housing preferences to make Pflugerville home.
- Foster transit-ready development patterns and combinations of land use that support walkable access to goods, services, entertainment, opportunity, and quality of life while also providing appropriate transitions of intensity and scale between uses.
- Support resilient development patterns that encourage non-residential and residential developments to adapt and change with market needs and consumer preferences, avoiding future obsolescence.
Transportation and Mobility:
- Develop 10-minute neighborhoods.
- Invest in designated areas to create an urban mixed-use environment to attract people and create a sense of place.
Economic Development and Fiscal Resilience:
- Diversify the tax base to create a sustainable revenue stream to provide high-quality public sector services to residents and businesses.
o Support commercial and industrial development that result in at least 30 percent of the property tax base coming from non-residential land uses.
o Encourage and promote sales tax generating businesses to locate in Pflugerville to increase taxable retail sales per capita. Partner with large landowners to increase the supply of shovel-ready sites within Pflugerville.
- Develop offices and other environments that are attractive to innovative, growing companies that have demonstrated agility in responding to market needs and that provide job opportunities aligned to Pflugerville residents.
o Increase inventory of nonresidential sites that are shovel-ready to be responsive to business recruitment opportunities. Use utility infrastructure to incentivize where appropriate.
Neighborhood Districts:
The Comprehensive Plan also includes subdistricts within the plan that identify aspirational actions for each neighborhood area. The subject properties are located within Western Gilleland District. Among the Western Gilleland District aspirational actions are emphasis on supporting intense, dense mixed-use at the Heatherwilde Boulevard and Pecan Street intersection. That creates a walkable hub of activity for the surrounding neighborhoods. There is opportunity for redevelopment to more dense and intense uses along the Pecan Street corridor and to seek opportunities for aesthetic improvements of older commercial centers. The proposed amendment will continue to support the identified aspirational actions of the Central District subdistrict.
APPROVAL CRITERIA AND STAFF ANALYSIS
Per Section 3.4, Comprehensive Plan Amendment Process, in the Unified Development Code, the following is the approval criteria regarding proposed comprehensive plan amendments.
A. The City Council shall consider the following approval criteria in an analysis of immediate needs and consideration of the long-term effects.
1. The application is complete and the information contained within the application is sufficient and correct enough to allow adequate review and final action;
Staff has found the application complete, and applicant has provided adequate information for the proposed amendment.
2. The amendment promotes the health, safety or general welfare of the City and the safe orderly, and healthful development of the City.
The request will provide a conforming land use category to the property that is consistent with the current zoning as per the Unified Development Code.
B. In considering amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, the City Council should be guided by the following:
1. The need for the proposed change;
The request will provide a conforming future land use for an intended rezoning of the property to create a mixed-use development.
2. The effect of the proposed change on the need for City services and facilities;
The properties are already annexed into the city and a part of a PUD that envisions a mixed-use dense urban form development. Contemplation of City resources were allocated with original zoning of the PUD and the development will be required to construct improvements that are needed to serve the development. This includes water & wastewater facilities as well traffic improvements needed to serve the density.
3. The compatibility of the proposed change with the existing uses and development patterns of nearby property and with the character of the neighborhood;
The properties are adjacent to other properties along the West Pecan Street and South Heatherwilde Boulevard corridors that are identified as Mixed-Use Commercial on the Future Land Use Map. The properties are also located at the intersection of two aerial level roads that support higher intensity commercial and denser residential developments. The properties have direct access to both West Pecan Street and South Heatherwilde Boulevard.
4. The implications, if any, that the amendment may have for other parts of the Plan.
The proposed amendments do not have implications to other parts of the plan. Both future land use designations allow for mixed-use with in a walkable, pedestrian oriented development. The amendments also maintain the Land Use Goals, Policy Statements, and Action Items of the Comprehensive Plan as identified above.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The proposed amendment will ensure the land use categories included in the Future Land Use Map in the Aspire Pflugerville 2040 Comprehensive Plan are consistent with the current zoning and allow for flexibility in rezoning the property. The amendments do not change any zoning and do not affect the current use of any property. Based on the above analysis, staff recommends approval of the Future Land Use Map Comprehensive Plan Amendment.
NOTIFICATION:
Notification was published in the newspaper in accordance with state law.
Drafter
Kristin Gummelt, AICP
Planner II
ATTACHMENTS:
Location Map
Future Land Use Map
Mixed-Use Neighborhood Details
Mixed-Use Commercial Details
Neighborhood District: Western Gilleland District