Liveable City Board Resolution on Proposed Comprehensive Plan (2009)

WHEREAS, The Board of Liveable City strongly supports the development of a new comprehensive plan for Austin; and

WHEREAS, Many community leaders and residents are committed to creating this important planning tool for our city; and

WHEREAS, The Board of Liveable City recognizes and applauds the efforts of the Planning Commission and citizens for initiating this vital planning effort; and

WHEREAS, The successful development of a comprehensive plan depends on a number of critical factors, including broad community support, a top-tier planning
team that understands and appreciates community values, and sufficient funds to
develop and implement the plan in a timely fashion; and

WHEREAS, In this difficult economic climate, the city’s first responsibility must be to take the time and effort to ensure the full value of every discretionary dollar spent; and

WHEREAS, Many cities significantly engage the community before the formal comprehensive planning effort begins, recognizing that full community buy-in is key to ensuring the momentum needed for the success of such a project; and

WHEREAS, Five days is too brief a time for Austin residents to fully evaluate the
finalist firms to determine the best candidate to lead us in creating this
comprehensive plan that will guide our future as a city; and

WHEREAS, Liveable City believes the proposed comprehensive plan is critical to our future as a community and that Austin deserves the best possible chance of success in this endeavor; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Liveable City calls on the Austin City Council to take the following actions to ensure that the public has adequate access to information and a reasonable time period to properly evaluate and comment on the finalist teams.

1. Make publicly available the following information:
   • Complete proposals by the three finalists as they were submitted to the city in their entirety;
   • Scoring matrix used by city staff to evaluate finalist firms;
   • Further information from the finalist firms as follows:
     • A matrix of team members indicating:
       • Each member’s name and relevant experience to the element of the plan to which he or she will be assigned, including housing, health and human services;
       • Each member’s work, specific role, or advocacy in any local planning, development, or transportation project or organizations in the Austin metropolitan area, including a list of specific major projects;
       • The specific elements of the plan each team member will work on including the approximate number of hours on the anticipated work;
       • The deliverables each team member will have a role in producing.
2. Extend the period for public comment to 14 days after the above information is made publicly available.
3. Require that, by the end of the 14-day period comment period, all questions submitted by the public to city staff in writing will be answered and posted on the city website; and be it further

RESOLVED, That in the event the finalists do not fully furnish the requested information or that further evaluation raises reasonable doubt about the finalists’ ability to bring this project to a successful conclusion, the Board of Liveable City urges the Austin City Council to move forward with the plan by initiating a pre-plan visioning effort and re-bidding the Comprehensive Plan proposal to increase the number and qualifications of potential respondents to address all plan elements; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That, in any case, Liveable City calls on the Austin City Council to take immediate steps to create a Community Task Force for the Comprehensive Plan consisting of members of the Planning Commission, City Staff, and a broad cross-section of community leaders representing all elements of the plan to begin public outreach and build the community infrastructure to guide and support this important effort.