A profound NIMBY attitude has coalesced in opposition to certain elements of the Envision Taylor comprehensive plan. That opposition is starting to show up on Taylor City Council agendas (just look at item 13 on the current agenda — then consider how this might play out in next week’s joint meeting between the P&Z and the council — right, there’s nothing at that link because the city hasn’t posted anything yet).
I encourage everyone — especially our new council members and candidates — to recall that more than 150 people engaged with the process that wrote a plan that specifically protects the character of this town while also encouraging a conservative, fiscally responsible approach to development. It took more than two years. That’s a lot of work.
Let’s not forget that it’s primary purpose of this effort was to introduce fiscal responsibility into our land development code, while also letting let folks do what they want with their property within reason. It also helps protect our community from out-of-town, corporate developers who are just looking to make a quick buck before scurrying back to Austin or Houston or Dallas.
As far as I can tell, few if any of our neighbors who most vocally oppose the plan cared enough about the future of our community to participate in those workshops. That includes at least one current member of the council and at least two candidates. Hell, I’m not sure any of our current council candidates attended more than one of those workshops.
I do understand that the NIMBY-ites are loud. And many are active in electoral politics — at least, they are in the background, and likely contribute to local campaigns. But they didn’t care enough to help shape the plan in a way that might have addressed their objections to building condos or townhouses, or breaking up large lots to build smaller homes in the core of our town. Further, they won’t show up to future land use public meetings because they never have and they never will. They just need to wield torches and pitchforks.
Now, while I understand the concerns being raised, it’s not controversial to say that a residential home never pays enough property tax to account for the public services it consumes — and, the larger the lot it sits on, the larger that gap is. A single family home is a tax liability forever. In other words, if we truly care about taxpayers, the city needs to encourage “high density” housing as described above. Not discourage it.
Another quick, but related comment. I’ve heard that a driving force behind trashing our comp plan is that “we’re behind on housing,” and developers say Taylor is difficult to work with and blame the comprehensive plan for this.
Huh.
During his State of the City address to the Greater Taylor Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Mayor Ariola told us that more than 900 residential housing units involving at least three developers are currently under construction in Taylor. Further, more than 6,000 units from 15 different developers have already been permitted and are in the pipeline, presumably waiting for interest rates to moderate. Apparently, some developers are just fine with Taylor’s land use code.
Perhaps the real situation is that corporate developers who plow up farmland to throw up 2x4s and drywall in cookie-cutter neighborhoods, like those we see in Hutto and elsewhere, don’t want to alter their plans to fit our needs. And some of those developers have the ear of some of our candidates, and some on our city council.
We, as a community, invested a lot of resources into the current plan, a plan that ensures that our development efforts will stretch our tax dollars as far as possible and not saddle us with future tax liabilities. The comp plan — and the land use code it enables — is a conservative, fiscally responsible document. Yes, it is a living document but like all guiding charters, we should approach changes to it with a scalpel, not a chainsaw.
I, for one, am damned proud of the work we did to see that our city gets the biggest possible bang for our tax dollars while protecting the unique character of our town.
• For additional reading on why our current plan is good for Taylor, our economy, our tax base and our overall standard of living, read this.
• Also, I addressed the issue of participation last summer. You will find that commentary here.
The Ragged Edge 