Comprehensive Master Plan - City of Alvin

Growth StrategiesSprawl has many costs. In addition to its fiscal consequences, it encouragesthe degradation of natural resources by prematurely committing vast areas tothe impacts of urban development. Phased, orderly growth mitigates thissituation by comprehensively addressing the impacts of development on thenatural systems. Leap‐frog development – recognized by the large‐lot, ruralsubdivisions developing around the periphery of Alvin – is piecemeal innature, which is detrimental to any type of comprehensive framework.Sprawl also has long term costs to the residents of special districts or Citytaxpayers, as special districts are formed to pay for the costs of development,and if those areas are annexed into the City over time, then the taxpayers ofthe City may have additional significant costs in maintaining or upgradinginfrastructure that was not built in conformance with the City standards,particularly where it was in the ETJ, and approved only under the Countyregulations.Another significant aspect of sprawl is the tendency toward strip commercialdevelopment, such as that seen along S.H. 6, S.H. 35 Bypass, and S.H. 35, andincreasingly along other arterial roadways. This pattern of commercialdevelopment occurs as infill between sporadically placed residentialdevelopments. As an example, depending on the final alignment of the GrandParkway, development would likely follow such a major public investmentdue to the market formed simply by traffic volumes. A typical pattern ofcommercial development would stretch along the major arterials andhighways from the current edge of development to the parkway. This form ofdevelopment has a multitude of negative impacts, including traffic safety andcommunity aesthetics associated with advertising signs, etc. While many ofthese impacts are commonly handled by single‐issue regulatory means, acoordinated and unified set of land development regulations offer anapproach to prevent, rather than remedy, the problem.INFRASTRUCTURE Provision • • •An effective approach for managing the type, pattern, and density of thecommunity’s future growth is allowing development to occur only asadequate municipal facilities are available. One means of ensuring thatgrowth occurs in areas where infrastructure is either present or desiredincludes the creation of an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO). Alsoknown as concurrency requirements, this mechanism ensures thatPage 5-23