Ovilla aproves CLU plan

OVILLA – The City of Ovilla Comprehensive Land Use Plan update was approved in May, 2022 by the Ovilla city council.

According to Ovilla City Manager Pam Woodall, the Local Government Code Chapter 213 advises the update of a Comprehensive Land Use Plan to be conducted every five years for a city’s long-range planning and development of the municipality.

Overall, the plan is used as a guide to shape and control the physical development of the community with an eye toward promoting the strong development of municipalities regarding public health, safety, and welfare.

“The city council appointed a Comprehensive Land Use Planning Committee last year to review and update our current plan,” said Ovilla Mayor Richard Dormier. 

“The committee strengthened our goals of low density and controlled growth and the city council approved their recommendations. This will be the plan we follow for the next five years until the next update.”

The last CLUP review, amendment, and adoption occurred in 2016. In 2021, the thoroughfare section of the CLUP was updated according to Woodall.

It has been a little over a year since the Ovilla city council appointed seven applicants on the CLUP review committee with an additional member appointed in February 2022.

The committee held multiple meetings, which according to Woodall resulted in several recommended updates to the current plan including undeveloped land, municipal facilities, parks and open spaces, collector streets (Red Oak Creek), all the charts and data information, and all city maps.

The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the new updated plan at their May 2, 2022, regular meeting.  

“We appreciate the work and commitment of the committee members in preparing this update, and City Manager Pam Woodall for coordinating preparation of the final report,” Dormier concluded.