Changing the Growth Paradigm

This session will highlight policies and strategies for communities on the cusp of growth that will help them achieve financial resiliency, maintain community character and provide housing that is affordable for all residents.

Changing the Growth Paradigm -- 

Cities throughout Texas are experiencing unprecedented growth as more businesses relocate and more people choose to retire here.  The pace of this growth can be overwhelming, and many times local planning departments struggle just to keep up with the processing of plats and building permits. It is no surprise that in this environment growth seems to “just happen” before you know what hit you. For many communities, this growth forever changes their character and has the potential to cause the community to lose the very qualities that made people choose it in the first place. When this sentiment occurs communities scramble to put protective regulations in place that strictly regulate growth or stifle it all together. This can push prices up and development further from the core towards jurisdictions with less regulation. When growth leapfrogs over potential infill sites, infrastructure replacement costs become overly burdensome on communities. Despite a community’s desire to do things differently from others, each decision leads them further down the same path and puts fiscal sustainability and resiliency further out of reach. Is there another way to manage growth short of getting run over by it? What if growth were encouraged from the beginning of the growth cycle instead of stifled, but only in areas where there is already infrastructure?  That is the goal of the Envision Taylor Comprehensive Plan. In this session, Rebecca Leonard, CEO of Lionheart Places, and Tom Yantis, Assistant City Manager for the City of Taylor, will share with you the approach that Taylor is taking to help shape its future into one that builds on the key characteristics that have made Taylor a lovable small town as the city prepares for explosive growth.

The session will explore how the City has made financial resiliency a cornerstone of the comprehensive plan and how that decision is shaping the City’s approach to evaluating new development. Using the principles of Strong Towns, the City has facilitated a conversation about the financial risks of sprawling development patterns and low densities. The fear of the negative impacts of density (i.e., traffic or impacts on schools) have been replaced with the fear of shouldering infrastructure maintenance and replacement costs without density. The common knee-jerk responses to growth pressure (i.e., moratoriums or unsurmountable standards) are replaced with strategies to support and streamline infill development.   

We will also discuss how to identify the characteristics that citizens love about their town and how to ensure those characteristics are carried forward as the community grows. Infill development has the potential of changing the character of stable neighborhoods. But many stable neighborhoods were once home to higher densities of people than reside there today and can be a wonderful place to focus growth with minimal impacts. Once an understanding of the historic character of the neighborhoods in Taylor were understood, the community was more supportive of strategies like accessory dwelling units, smaller lots, and increased densities. Most of the projected growth for Taylor could occur with infill in existing neighborhoods and centers. This will support the ongoing maintenance and replacement costs of infrastructure in these areas.

Finally, we will share some of the strategies that have been developed to ensure that all members of the community, regardless of income, will be able to benefit from growth and have housing choices that are affordable. Taylor is a remarkably diverse community and has a much lower median income than surrounding communities. Seeing and supporting the growth that is marching towards Taylor allows the City to make sure no one is left behind and that all benefit from that growth. A variety of housing types and sizes will be required by future developers, which will result in market-rate options attainable by nearly everyone in the community. Emergency and supportive housing will be a focus of community investments to ensure those that cannot find market rate housing have options as well.

We hope this session will provide ideas on how to change the growth paradigm to one that makes for stronger more financially resilient and more lovable communities.