During the development of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan, hundreds of Victoria residents made it clear that they want to see big changes in this community. How do we make those changes happen?
The City develops an action agenda every three to four years to identify concrete steps we should take to implement the vision of the comprehensive plan. While the comprehensive plan is a collection of big-picture desires like “fix the roads” and “bring more entertainment to Victoria,” the action agenda lists specific projects that will help to fulfill those goals.
Action agendas are drafted by Development Services based on the 2035 Comprehensive Plan and approved by the City Council. Our current action agenda spans fiscal years 2021 through 2023.
In addition to the action agenda, some departments are guided by master plans that include more specific goals and project timelines for those departments. The master plans and the action agenda complement each other since both draw from the comprehensive plan.
Because the comprehensive plan was such a community-driven project, we want to help residents keep track of what the City is doing to make it a reality. To that end, we publish quarterly updates showing our progress on the current action agenda. The most recent update was published last month and covers the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2022.
Because action agenda items are completed by different departments, my department has the job of checking in with each department to learn about the progress they’ve made. From there, we update the status of each project and also compile a list of highlights. These updates are available online at www.victoriatx.gov/comprehensiveplan.
You might notice that some items are marked as “in progress,” while others are considered to be “completed, with ongoing work.” What’s the difference?
Items that are “completed, with ongoing work,” also described as “completed ongoing policies, plans, or initiatives,” are ongoing by nature and will never be fully finished; however, they can still be considered completed if we have achieved a set of short-range goals that were outlined for that project. For example, we completed the most recent update of the capital improvement plan (a document that outlines street repairs and other infrastructure projects), but that document needs to be updated on a yearly basis, so it is “completed, with ongoing work.”
As you read the latest update, you’ll see how our progress aligns with the goals of the comprehensive plan. Residents want the streets to be fixed; in the last two quarters, we’ve completed projects on Airline Road, on Mockingbird Lane and in the North Heights and Woodway subdivisions (and we’re working on many others). Residents want to see beautification along corridors; our Keep Victoria Beautiful cleanups and our partnership with TxDOT are helping to beautify these highly visible spaces.
With 71% of the projects in the current action agenda “completed” or “completed, with work ongoing,” we’re looking forward to wrapping up our remaining in-progress items. To learn more about projects in the works, you can view our master plans at www.victoriatx.gov/masterplans or the capital improvement plan at www.victoriatx.gov/engineering, or follow us on Facebook at City of Victoria, Texas – Government.
Julie Fulgham is the director of Development Services for the City of Victoria.