SUBJECT: Amendments to the 2013 Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan (MTFP)
SPECIFIC EXPLANATION:
The city of Houston Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan (MTFP) identifies corridor alignments and establishes the required right-of-way for major roadways in the City and its extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). Chapter 33-25 of the Code of Ordinances requires that the Planning Commission prepare and submit annually to the City Council the MTFP. In developing the annual amendments to the MTFP, the Commission may consider amendments to any portion of the previous MTFP for deleting, realigning or reclassifying streets designated on the plan or adding one or more streets to the plan. An amendment approved by the Commission is no effective until approved by City Council.
The Planning & Development (P&D) is responsible for administering the amendment review process. This process includes: accepting and reviewing applications for amendments, notifying the public about the amendments, conducting an Open House at which concerned property owners may review the applications, and presenting recommendations on the applications to the Planning Commission at a Public Hearing.
This year, applications for amendments to the plan were accepted from February 1, 2014 through March 14, 2014. An Open House was held on July 8, 2014 and the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the amendments on July 31, 2014. On September 4, 2014, the Planning Commission voted to recommend that City Council approve amendments to the 2013 MTFP.
Attachment 1 identifies all amendments approved by the Planning Commission with one exception. P&D has withdrawn the amendment for Dunlavy Street between Allen Parkway and US-59 due to concern about the public notification process. The public was not afforded adequate opportunity to review and comment on the action taken by the Commission for this item. The amendment may be resubmitted next year and reconsidered with appropriate public input.
P&D recommends that Council approve the list of amendments to the 2013 Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan as submitted.