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APPENDIX FOUR
Development of the Intensity Map
The Intensity Map was developed by the citizen members of the Century Plan
Working Group in order to depict their vision of how this community should grow
during the planning period. This map will be used to evaluate and approve
development proposals, as well as to allocate resources necessary to provide the
water, wastewater, and traffic systems needed to support new development. It is
important, therefore, to understand how the map was developed and what the
intensities mean in terms of allowable development.
The Intensity Map was drawn, and intensities assigned to specific areas on the
Map, by categorizing existing and programmed development activities in three
different ways. First, all land was classified on the basis of whether or not change
to any individual parcel of land is expected or should be programmed during the
planning period. Secondly, the magnitude of any expected or programmed change
was quantified in terms of its impact on the infrastructure systems - water,
wastewater, and transportation. Finally, individual land parcels and their uses
were grouped based upon some common feature or set of features, including
nodes/activity centers, districts/sectors, corridors/paths, and special
features /landmarks. These land use features are often indicative of potential
intensity. These three elements - classification of land, magnitude of expected
change, and land use features - are described in this section.
CLASSIFICATION OF LAND USE ACTTVITIES
The Planning Area has been divided into three distinct classes of land use:
Non -Urban, Urbanizing, or Urbanized. In general, these classes describe a range
of existing and programmed development extending from minimal development
(Non - Urban) to maximum development (Urbanized). There is a tendency for the
geographic distribution of these classes to be in the general form of rings around
the original City of Georgetown. The Urbanizing areas have the greatest potential
for change during the planning horizon. The three land use classes are generally
characterized as follows:
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TEXAS
Non -Urban: - minimal development currently
- no urban service existing or programmed in the Plan
- lowest property values and population density per acre
- farthest from the core of the City
Urbanizing: - moderate level of existing development or high potential for
development during the planning horizon
- some urban services currently exist, or are programmed during
the planning horizon
- relatively high property values per acre
- relatively close to existing City water and wastewater systems
Urbanized: - high level of development
- most, if not all, urban services exist or are programmed by the
Plan
- highest property values per acre
- inside City limits
Within these general land use classes there are distinct sub - classes. These are
described below and the manner in which they tend to fall into one of the intensity
levels is shown in Exhibit 17.
NON -URBAN AREAS
Conservation Areas. land not suitable for development due to health, safety,
and welfare concerns (steep slopes, geological hazards, flood plains, high
pressure gas lines, transmission lines, airport clear zones, road noise), or
special environmental concerns (wetlands /lakes, unique vegetation, unique
wildlife, unique landform /vista, recharge feature, agricultural). Examples
include the Lake Georgetown Recreation Area and the South San Gabriel River
flood plain.
Productive Land Areas. Land suitable for non -urban production uses such as
mining, farming, ranching, and timbering. Examples include the stone
quarries, breeding farms, feed lots, farms, and ranches.
Sub -Urban Developed Areas. Land not used or suitable for "productive"
activities primarily due to the small size and relatively large number of
individual ownerships and where no urban services are provided or
programmed. This land is typically subdivided into parcels ranging from 40
acres to one acre and used for residential or service commercial uses, or it is
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held for investment purposes. It can be further distinguished from Urbanizing
land by the fact that it is generally more than one -half mile from the existing
utility systems. Examples include the Whitetail, Middle Gabriel, Northlake
Estates, and Pennington Place subdivisions.
URBANIZING AREAS
Conservation Areas. The only difference from Non -Urban Areas is that some
infrastructure improvements may exist or be programmed, although at a very
low level, commensurate with limited recreational use.
Service Upgrade Areas. Land which has already undergone "sub -urban
development" and for which the upgrading to Plan standards is programmed for
water, sewer, and/or transportation. Examples include the Serenada, Brangus
Ranch, and Sanaloma subdivisions.
New Development Areas. Land which is currently vacant or undeveloped and
which will be programmed for urban services in the Plan. Examples include
the Wood Ranch, Edenparc, Georgetown Gateway, and Crystal Knoll
subdivisions.
URBANIZED AREAS
Preservation - Conservation Areas. These are Conservation Areas as previously
described which are surrounded by Urbanized Arms. Higher levels of service
may be expected in these areas depending upon the specific use. Examples
include the City parks, flood plain inside the City, designated open space, and
private parks.
Preservation - Maintenance Areas. These are areas of existing development
with full urban service for which no significant change is programmed.
Examples include the Reata Trails, Country Club Acres, Williams Addition,
and San Gabriel Heights subdivisions, and the Town Square Historic District.
Redevelopment Areas. Land which currently has full urban service but for
which a significant change in the intensity of this service is programmed. The
change will usually be to a higher level of intensity but changes to lower levels
may occur. Examples include portions of Williams Drive, Leander Road,
University Avenue, and Austin Avenue.
In/W Areas. This is vacant land, suitable for development, and surrounded by
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DEVELOPMENT PL ,v
fully urbanized areas, but for some reason it has not been developed to the
extent that the availability of services would allow. Examples include the
District 8A area (northwest of the intersection of Leander Road and Austin
Avenue) and portions of Williams Drive.
MAGNITUDE OF CHANGE
Land use activities are also characterized by the intensity or density of
development which exists or is proposed. This largely determines a development's
impact on the infrastructure systems, and therefore is the most important element
in the determination of allowed development intensity. This section describes the
methodology for relating quantities of various land use activities to the demand
those activities create on the three basic infrastructure systems, and for converting
this demand into a measurable density /intensity of each land use that will be
allowed. Referenced exhibits can be found in the Land Intensity Element of the Plan.
The determination of intensity for a given development is based on the number
of service units (measured in gallons per day or peak hour trip ends) per acre that
are generated by the land use activity. This is computed by the equation which
follows:
Ind rc„_ use units x service units = service units
acres land use unit acre
In order to compute this equation for any given development, it is necessary to
know the impact that one unit of land use (expressed as one dwelling unit or one
thousand square feet of space) has on each system. This is shown in the Land Use
Activity to Demand Conversion Chart (Exhibit 3). For example, one average,
single family detached home generates the demand for 0.886 peak hour trip ends,
998 gallons per day (gpd) of water, and 250 gpd of wastewater. The data in
Exhibit 3 were developed from a combination of industry standards and actual use
records in Georgetown. The equation above must be computed for water,
wastewater, and transportation and the results compared to pre - determined,
maximum allowable system intensities, measured in service units per acre (Exhibit 4).
LAND USE FEATURES
The physical form of a city is made up of many small groupings of land use
activities that tend to locate in proximity to each other. In a general sense, these
groupings tend to develop to similar intensity levels. It was in this broad sense that
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Georgetown
these land use features were used as an indicator of intensity. For the most part,
a more detailed definition and treatment of these land use groupings is left to other
Functional Plan Elements to consider. However, in order to have some sense of
what they are and how they contributed to development of the Future Intensity
Map, a description of each of these groupings follows.
Nodes are concentrated districts of activity, usually in the form of either
transportation intersections or areas where high density development occurs.
Examples of nodes in Georgetown include the intersection of Williams Drive with
LH35, as well as the downtown area. The Rivery and the intersection of the
MoKan Roadway with State Highway 29 are examples of areas that have been
programmed to become nodes.
Districts are distinct, identifiable sectors of the city that are generally larger
than nodes. The most clearly recognizable district in Georgetown is the
downtown. In fact, the downtown has been treated as a special element of concern
by this Plan with the End that specifies that it "shall be strengthened as the
symbolic focus of the total community by increasing the range and diversity of
activities while maintaining the historic character and pedestrian scale of place."
Corridors are the pathways along which an individual moves. They are
generally in the form of roadways, trails, railroad rights -of -way or other routes.
In Georgetown, Austin Avenue, Williams Drive, and IH35 are all corridors; the
San Gabriel River is also a corridor which has a great deal of potential for future
development. For the most part, corridors are treated specifically in the
Transportation Functional Plan Element or are deferred to the Urban Design and
Parks Plans.
Special features are landmarks and other unique physical features which are
identifiable due to their visual or symbolic character, rather than their ability to
generate activity. The special features most clearly identified by this Plan are the
conservation areas, those areas with hazardous or special environmental
characteristics. Development in proximity to some of these special features is
addressed by the location and compatibility standards discussed in the Land
Intensity Element.
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