SPI Vision Plan Provides 30-Year Roadmap by R. Daniel Cavazos |
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An open house at City Hall on Feb. 28 gave residents a last chance to look at The Island Way plan before it went to City Council for subsequent review and approval. (Courtesy) |
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The South Padre Island City Council has approved a comprehensive plan which is designed to provide a roadmap for community life over the next 30 years.
The goals and aims of The Island Way are broad and meant to be benchmarks for city staff as they put together budgets for projects and improvements in taking proposals before the City Council. The plan’s chief attribute is that the recommendations listed came from the grassroots level and on up to committees that approved the separate pieces of The Island Way. It’s a document of hundreds of pages that includes seven key components of community life. Those aspects of community life include: - land use,
- tourism and business development,
-
thoroughfare development,
- parks,
- city facilities,
- shoreline development, and
- drainage
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| Each grouping had its own committee made up of community members from all walks of life as they met over the last five years to devise recommendations for their topic area.
Plans from each group were then taken to a steering committee overseeing the project for its consideration and approval. It was this finished product that was taken before the City Council during a regular meeting on March 2, where it was unanimously approved. The executive summary of The Island Way describes it as combining “a series of component master plans into one, seamless document that will guide the growth and evolution of the City between the writing of this plan and its horizon of 2050.”
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The Island Way examined the need for SPI infrastructure improvements. (R. Daniel Cavazos) |
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This vision plan, as its supporters see it, is a living document that is rooted in realism as to what can be achieved and applied to city budgets in the years ahead.
“It’s a planning tool for the City Council, staff, and the community, so we are on the same page as to where the city is trying to go,” said Wendi Delgado, the director of operations for SPI’s municipal government. “Everything we do going into budget should be tied into the goals of the comprehensive plan. It will keep us on the same path, so we don’t go off into left field.’’ |
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The Island Way looks ahead in providing a visionary plan of community life for the next 30 years. (Cavazos) |
| Telling The Island Story The Island Way, if nothing else, provides a wealth of data and information. By reading its many pages as posted on the city’s website and Facebook page, residents and others interested in the Island can learn a wide array of facts and figures about SPI. One of its lengthier components is the Business, Economy, and Tourism Plan. Just this part of the Island Way is 52 pages. It breaks down the characteristics of SPI visitors by age, where they come from, and how long they typically stay. Texans make up 62 percent of SPI’s visitors. |
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Nearly 20 percent of those visitors are from neighboring Rio Grande Valley communities, with residents from San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth following as the next most frequent sources of tourists. The average length of a visitor’s stay on the Island is 2.64 days.
This part of the plan, like the others, lists strengths and weaknesses that SPI presents. The recreational outlets of surfing, kayaking, and other waters sports are listed on the plus side. Drawbacks listed include insufficient access to broadband and internet services and infrastructure needing attention. The recommendations listed are many. They include creating an innovation center and business incubator to promote local entrepreneurship. The Island, the plan states, should pursue building a deep-water marina to lift the local economy, especially during off-peak months.
The intention is for a city department and its advisory committees to study what the Island Way recommends in its subject area and use the recommendations to propose meaningful projects for the City Council to consider during budget deliberations. “It’s not a generic plan,” Delgado said. “It’s unique to South Padre Island and it will be a good tool for us to use. Each one of our departments will use it in the planning process.” |
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Doing What’s Right For SPI The Island Way looks far out ahead to 2050, but city leaders and managers will not wait that long before going back to it for revisions.
Delgado sees the big plan likely being updated in five years, with 10 years being the longest timeframe before a necessary revision. Looking back over the last five years when meetings and surveys for the 2050 plan began, Delgado lauded the hours given by community members during their many meetings in arriving at their recommendations after sometimes spirited discussion. It all demonstrated, she said, the commitment and care local residents have for the Island.
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The Island Way plan identifies the Birding & Nature Center as a positive element among the city's tourism attractions. (Cavazos) | |
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“People were vocal and opinionated,” Delgado said. “The steering committee was extremely passionate about their work. In the end, everyone had to pull down from all of the ideas and suggestions to doing what was right for the city.”
Details of the plan can be found at https://theislandway.myspi.org |
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