SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio city meeting that often garners little attention got a lot of notice Tuesday night. The hot topic? The Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) policy.
TOD is a city planning approach to support growth near public transportation. On Tuesday night, the framework was presented to the San Antonio Zoning Commission for approval, and hundreds of people showed up to give public comment.
“I think it’s indicative of people who are still questioning the process and still have concerns,” resident Bianca Maldonado said.
In San Antonio, TOD is an existing zoning classification tailored to support housing and mixed-use development along the new VIA Advanced Rapid Transit.
In October 2023, District One Councilwoman Sukh Kaur co-signed a Council Consideration Request asking to create a TOD plan in connection with the VIA Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) North/South and East/West lines. Through the request, a task force was made.
This policy is separate from VIA’s Rapid Green Line. The Green Line is a $446 million effort to make faster bus routes between the airport and Brooks Transit Center. Construction on this project is set to start next year.
The San Antonio Zoning Commission heard hours of public comment on both sides of the proposal on Tuesday.
“It’s really important to give people different options for how they want to get around,” Yamini Karandikar, a Strong Town San Antonio community leader, said.
The city presented its recommendations for three updated zoning classifications: transition district, mixed-use district, and hybrid-industrial districts. The most significant point of discussion was parking in the mixed-use district.
“There’s not enough parking in all areas today,” Maldonado said.
The TOD proposal dropped parking requirements 100% from the current Unified Development Code in San Antonio for mixed-use districts near these rapid transit sites. Neighbors called for a 50% drop.
“Everybody wants better transit,” resident Mary Johnson said. “It is a very harsh denial of reality to think that we’re just going to magically give up our cars overnight.”
During the discussion, some residents said parking requirements shouldn’t matter considering this development is near public transportation.
“We need a strong vision for our future,” Joey Pawlik, executive director of ActivateSA, said. “There’s a lot of folks, especially young folks, who want to see a more resilient and sustainable future for San Antonio.”
Ultimately, the agreement the commission reached was a 75% reduction from the current UDC for this new TOD framework.
The commission did not approve neighborhood-submitted maps for rezoning boundaries.
The Tuesday meeting was not the first to discuss this TOD framework — and it’s also not the last. To see other opportunities for public comment, click here.