02-B Comprehensive Plan - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

_ Comprehensive Plan, City of Paris, Texas Planning Principles CHAPTER 3 PLANNING PRINCIPLES - LAND USE AND PLANNING PRINCIPLES The City of Paris has been applying incremental public policy in response to growth-in the public interest-but not in a comprehensive way. Commercial development, for example, has been developed responsibly on a site-by-site basis, but not on the basis of a comprehensive land use policy. In order for the entire Paris community to attain the objectives of the new Paris Comprehensive Plan, it is helpful to restate the dynamics of urban development. Without such an understanding, local efforts cannot promote community goals as effectively. The Comprehensive Plan has been developed with the land planning principles presented in this section. Land Use Externalities Certain basic planning issues are relevant to sound public policy. Externalities, or the impact of a given parcel of land on its neighboring properties, must be considered. For example, a residential district that abuts expanding commercial districts-whether on Clarksville or Bonham Streets, or on the newly extended Collegiate Drive--can experience negative externalities if the business uses are not carefully planned. The residential district has less value than a similar district integrated within a residential neighborhood, buffered from the neighboring mixed-use district. In effect, the land use incompatibility creates a cost imposed by the commercial owners on the residential owners. The best way to minimize these external costs is to a) interrelate the multiple land uses in a planned mixed-use development and screen it from residential districts or b) separate incompatible land uses with more extensive buffers and similar details of effective urban design. These planning principles help create compatible transitions between residential and commercial areas. Areas of Paris that are vulnerable to the "externalities" of change and need careful land-use planning include existing single-family residential areas near vacant, commercial land. Redevelopment of mixed-use commercial uses at the edges of commercial districts, for example, must be carefully considered. Characteristics that most people seek in a residential area--quiet, serenity, stability-can be protected by implementing site plan review recommendations as part of the plan update implementation. Commercial districts can be made compatible with sensitive screening and other mitigating design features. Positive externalities can develop, as well, by clustering commercial uses as well-designed centers. A concentrated shopping district east of the loop, at the Wal-Mart Center on Pine Mill Road, will be more successful and attract customers from a wider market area than would a string of commercial uses dispersed along the local roadway in commercial strips. It would fit with the adjacent residential neighborhood better; and would create fewer curb cuts and traffic conflicts with the future Paris Fire Station, as well. 5A98288\WPOfmal rcport 2-0l.duc 17 B WR