Megan Navarro
WIMBERLEY — The city of Wimberley is working to update its comprehensive plan with the help of resident feedback and what they want to see for the future of their community.
This comes after the city received a $300,000 General Land Office (GLO) grant to do a 20-year master outlook for the community and the city of Wimberley not having amended its comprehensive plan since February 2016.
“It's also about creating a clear, thoughtful framework to guide decisions through 2045, so it's basically like a roadmap for Wimberley,” said city administrator Tim Patek. “Here's what you have, here's our roadmap and how we are going to get there and [it] doesn't mean that you always have to go by that, but it gives you guidance of which way to go.”
Another key element is that the plan is digitized or through electronic delivery, allowing it to not be just a PDF file sitting on a shelf, according to Jerri Conrado of Langford Community Management Services, the consultant on the project.
The draft of the plan — titled Resilient Communities Comprehensive Plan — consists of different sections, with the first being a community profile. This explores the people, culture, housing and services that define Wimberley, with strategies to strengthen social resilience and quality of life. It focuses on the people who live, work and engage in Wimberley to ensure that all residents have access to opportunities and resources.
A component of this is a Jan. 29 town hall open house, where there were more than 70 participants in attendance: “We wanted people to come there and give us their feedback of what they want Wimberley to look like, what direction they want to go in and so forth. [It’s] kind of like where we are at now,” Patek said.
There have been other community engagement activities, including an online portal with surveys and different avenues to get feedback.
According to the community responses, the number one concern that was brought up amongst residents was drought and water, as well as the aging infrastructure and flood risk needs and responsible growth and land use decisions that come along with that.
“Smart growth and guidance versus random development, utilizing all the water. That was a big concern. Overdevelopment was an issue that people are just concerned about. It's not like that is the problem, but that was what they didn't want to happen,” Conrado said. “Back to water infrastructure, to support any sustained growth — commercial and residential — they want balance, just not unchecked expansion, which is normal. That's what we heard over and over again.”
Other concerns that city officials and Langford have received include preserving the community identity — keeping the small-town charm of Wimberley — and trails and connectivity, which also means integrating art and elements of the town’s character throughout the trail systems.
The rest of the plan focuses on land use, infrastructure, transportation and implementation strategy.
Along with the other sections, a large component of the plan is a special “One Water” study, which takes a comprehensive look at water quality, supply, stormwater management and long-term resilience. This will be incorporated into all relevant sections — land use, infrastructure, environmental protection and resilience strategies — of the plan.
“One Water is about trying to be sustainable from where you're at. We like people to use rainwater, especially when they're using it for flushing commodes and so forth like that. It may not be fully that way, but if we can reduce the amount of water that we use in the area, that's a bonus and that's a plus to save as much as we can and just having opportunities and options of what you can and what you can't do for One Water,” Patek explained.
Designing the plan officially started in October 2024 when the GLO grant was awarded, so it’s been years in the making.
While city officials have until October for the closeout of the grant period, they are hoping to have the finalized comprehensive plan in May, after going to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further review and comments and then, to city council for adoption.
Residents still have an opportunity to provide input on the online portal. To look at the draft of the plan, or send in comments, visit www.langfordplanning.com/wimberley-rcp.
