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MCALLEN, Texas – The City of McAllen is to host six town hall meetings so residents can learn about and comment on proposed changes to the city’s development codes.
The town hall meetings will all begin at 6:00 p.m. and run through 7:00 p.m. The six meetings will be held throughout McAllen. The schedule of meetings is:
- Mon., Nov. 4, Palmview Community Center, 3401 Jordan Rd. W
- Wed., Nov. 6, Firemen’s Park, 201 N 1st St.
- Tues., Nov. 12, Las Palmas Community Center, 1921 N 25th St.
- Thurs., Nov. 14, Lark Community Center, 2601 Lark Ave.
- Tues., Nov. 19, Lark Community Center, 2601 Lark Ave.
- Thurs., Nov. 21, Lark Community Center, 2601 Lark Ave.
“The Unified Development Code is a critical step forward in ensuring that McAllen continues to grow in a smart, sustainable, and efficient way,” said Edgar Garcia, Director of Planning & Zoning for the City of McAllen.
“These town hall meetings give our community an opportunity to shape the future of development in our city, and we encourage everyone to participate and provide their feedback on the proposed changes.”
Comments and suggestions can also be submitted via email to planning@mcallen.net. The draft code is available both at the McAllen Planning & Zoning Department office, located at the McAllen Development Center, 311 N. 15th St. and on the City of McAllen’s website, at www.mcallent.net. The comment period will run through November 20, 2024.
For further inquiries or more information, contact the McAllen Planning & Zoning Department at (956) 681-1251.
McAllen Metroplex
McAllen’s new city manager, Isaac “Ike” Tawil discussed the UDC in depth at a recent luncheon hosted by the McAllen Citizens League. The luncheon was held at Rio Bank’s headquarters.
“McAllen is at a period of transition. Our codes were written in the 1970s and they are not reflective today of what modern development looks like,” Tawil said, in his remarks.
“One of the biggest areas of feedback that I receive is the challenges to development. And so the Unified Development Code, which is based on Envision McAllen, is in the process of being out for public comment. I encourage you to look at it. It’s online, come to the town halls that we’re hosting, listen to the planning department talk about it.”
Tawil said the UDC is designed not only to streamline and expedite the development process but also to modernize the development process.
“With our growth pattern in McAllen, we as we reinvest in the core, we’ve got to start thinking about the McAllen Metroplex and developing us as a walkable community, right? So what does that mean? That means multi-use developments, that means rethinking parking requirements, that means rethinking public transportation, that means rethinking what zones make sense and is a mixed use zone, something that’s right for McAllen.”
Tawil said in his view mixed use zones are right for McAllen.
“I think the time is now for us to start thinking about that, so we look more like Manhattan, because that’s who we are, that’s what our economy reflects.”
Once the town hall meetings are over the city commission will take a vote on the draft UDC towards the end of the year, or more likely the beginning of 2025, Tawil said.
For now, though, he encouraged McAllen residents to attend the town hall meetings.
“There are a series of town halls that are going to occur starting now and through November. I encourage you to get out. We’re going to have at least one in each district commissioners will be there, get out. Talk about it, hear about it, learn about it. There is ample opportunity for you to absorb where McAllen can go.”
In answer to an audience member’s question about development codes, Tawil said the UDC is going to require a rezoning of the entire city.
“And so, what we will be looking at is potential for multi-use development in the downtown area, and as we look at the heart of the city; how that may function as as a walkable community, with combined retail, residential in a very metropolitan way.”
Another question came from Julianne “Juli” Rankin, a city planner who worked for the City of McAllen for 38 years. She retired in 2019.
Rankin urged McAllen leaders to get the word out about the town hall meetings. She said very few people showed up at the city’s planning and zoning committee discussions on revamping the development codes.
“It’s wonderful that that (UDC) is being done. The (current) codes are old. The skeleton of the codes is old: 1945 zoning ordinance; 1979 zoning ordinance; 1975 parking ordinance. I worked on a lot of updates to those codes and iterations to try to create a unified development code. And I’m glad that this has come about. I am concerned with a few of the things that are in it, 408 pages. But in general, it’s good. I am concerned about the overall rezoning of the city. That’s been done twice, and there’s got to be more publicity.”
Tawil responded that with any major changes there are going to be challenges.
“This (UDC) was years in the making. This is a project that planning and the city manager’s office has worked on for more than three years. It had been worked on for probably ten years before that. It comes out of Envision McAllen. So a lot of thought went into it.
“Is it going to be perfect? I’m hoping it’s going to be really, really close. Will there be something that just doesn’t work right? Well… no code is perfect, and we will take amendments to it as we look at it, as the Commission decides what works or what doesn’t work,” Tawil said.
“We make changes to the code all the time based on trends, based on current needs, based on where community has gone. But it is time for us to take a real look at what modern development looks like in a city like McAllen and modernize that.”
The post Tawil: New Unified Development Code will help McAllen look more like Manhattan appeared first on Rio Grande Guardian.
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