An overhaul of Buda’s Unified Development Code (UDC), according to Assistant City Manager Chance Sparks, is “long overdue” could be implemented later this year.
Sparks introduced the agenda item to council members in late 2016 and said Buda’s current UDC, which was adopted in 2002, did not reflect the changing needs in the city in the last 15 years.
Sparks said changes in Buda include a tripling of the population, new development expectations, and a general shift in housing needs made a change to the UDC necessary.
Another important change since the current UDC was adopted is a change from a General Law City to a Home Rule City, which gives the city “more tools for growth management.”
Sparks said the proposed new UDC is approximately 470 pages long with 50 of those pages consisting of definitions.
“It’s in the normal range for a city the size of Buda,” Sparks said referencing UDCs from towns like Austin and San Antonio that could be up to 1,000 pages long.
Sparks said that the main reason the UDC needed to be updated was to better reflect the wishes of Buda residents as to what the future of Buda would look like – for instance, what kinds of houses and businesses would call Buda home.
“The current UDC is a little confusing,” Sparks said, “The new UDC will keep everything from being so vague.”
Sparks said some of the differences in the new UDC would be administrative, such as having a stronger reliance on the planning and zoning commission, and an emphasis on city staff recommendations, instead of outsourcing for certain duties that could be performed in-house.
As Sparks said the new UDC will lay out specifically “who does what, when and how.”
Sparks also said the new UDC is concentrated on duplicating Buda’s “signature small town character” into the development of mixed use properties through a form based code.
“A form-based code looks at not only the use of the building which is a regular code, but also the design of the structure, as well as the neighboring structures to see if development is compatible overall,” Sparks said.
According to Sparks, residents don’t want to see Buda turn into another Austin.
“A form-based code will drive developers to the city’s desired outcome,” Sparks said.
In addition to mixed-use properties, Sparks also mentioned that the proposed new UDC encourages alternatives for multifamily housing like townhomes and garden homes.
If the proposed new UDC is adopted, it will also include more lighting restrictions going toward true “Dark Skies” regulations.
Sparks said the Dark Skies objective is to promote downward shining lights that do not emit as much of a glare, use a less bright light bulb, and reduce light pollution in the area.
Sparks said the proposed UDC is unique as the city referenced 30 to 40 different cities UDCs to tailor a code unique to Buda.
“The goal behind this new UDC is to allow people to spend their whole lives in Buda no matter what stage of life they are in,” Sparks said. “It’s about meeting the needs of all ages of a Buda resident.”
Sparks said the city plans to host UDC workshops for P&Z and the city council over the next two months prior to going to council for adoption.
The city is also planning to gather resident feedback on the update as well.
