This page collects the history of creating a new Comprehensive Plan for Austin. This includes a record of public meetings and a collection of documents.

Before the plan began

Austin Tomorrow & the Interim Update

The current general plan for Austin is the Austin Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 1979. In 2006, the City Auditor called attention to the lack of coordination in the City's policies for growth and development. The first result of the auditor's report was an interim update to Austin Tomorrow, recognizing all of the city policies on growth and development adopted since 1979.

Finding a consultant

In September 2008, the Austin City Council initiated the creation of a new Comprehensive Plan by approving the release of a Request for Qualifications, seeking a consultant to assist the City in creating the new plan. After a slate of applicants were whittled down to three finalists, the process was opened to the public. In April, City Council selected a team of consultants led by Wallace, Roberts, and Todd (WRT).

Designing the process: The Scope Framework

Following the selection of the consultant, the City & WRT developed a "scope framework," a tool for guiding WRT's contract with the City. The Scope Framework outlines steps in the process to create the new Comprehensive Plan, but does not assign who is responsible for them.

The Scope Framework lays out a three-phase process for creating the plan: phase 1 (Designing the process), phase 2 (Vision & Plan Framework), and phase 3 (The Comprehensive Plan). Click here to read an overview of the phases of the process.

Phase I: Designing the process

Click here for background on the first phase of the process.

The Participation Plan

On August 5, more than 70 Austinites attended a Participation Workshop, to help City staff and the consultants develop a Participation Plan. Our "Who's Here?" posters were given a trial run, as well as their first big test: based on the results, the Participation Workshop was followed by two focus groups, scientifically selected to engage groups who were not involved at the Workshop.

The Participation Plan was developed based on the results of the Workshop and focus groups, as well as comments from the public from earlier in the process. The Participation Plan laid out, first, the overall structure for taking public input in creating Imagine Austin. Second, the Participation Plan expressed community expectations for the process. Last, the Plan detailed the range of tools to be used in engaging the public, both for outreach and involvement.

The Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Task Force

On August 27, the City Council created the Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Task Force, with the following roles:

• work with the consultant team and City staff to help all members of the community articulate the common values that will guide Austin into the future;
• champion the planning process as an ongoing venue for reaching out to Austin and bringing its many perspectives together where they can amicably engage one another;
• assess how well all parts of the community are participating;
• provide community contact to bring concerns about the plan direction and content to the consultant team and City staff; and
• collaborate with the consultant team and City staff in assessing common ground based on community input.

Out of more than 230 applicants, 33 were appointed by Council. The Council also invited Travis County Commissioners to appoint four members, which they did in October. Click here for a list of current Task Force members and information on their ongoing meetings.

The Kick-Off Open House (October 12)

Imagine Austin formally launched the public process at the Kick-Off Open House. Austinites who attended browsed through 10 booths' worth of information and input activities, while listening to great music.

Phase II: Vision & Plan Framework

Click here for background on the second phase of the process.

Community Forum Series #1

The first task in Phase 2 was the first Community Forum Series, six public meetings held across the City the week of November 9. The input gathered at these meetings, as well as the first citizen survey and Meeting-in-a-Box, will serve as the foundation for the Vision, which will be created in Spring 2010, and which will guide the development of the rest of the plan.

Creating the Vision statement

The second task in Phase 2 is creating a Vision for the future of Austin. The consultant team produced several products to guide the creation of the Vision:

• Susceptibility to Change analysis -- an assessment of what parts of the planning area are most likely to change, based on infrastructure, market, and other factors.
• Common Ground Working Paper -- a compilation and organization of public input from the first Community Forum Series, including the surveys and Meetings-in-a-Box that accompanied it.
• Strategic Issues Report -- an overview of key issues facing Austin, based on the Community Inventory and the consultant team's stakeholder interviews.
• Statistically valid survey -- a statistically valid survey of Austin, based on the issues identified in the Common Ground Working Paper

At their March 9, 2010, meeting, the Citizens Advisory Task Force worked with drafts of the Common Ground Working Paper, Strategic Issues Report, and statistically-valid survey to the big ideas that should form the core of the Vision statement.

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