The Flower Mound SMARTGrowth Program is a comprehensive, community-based growth management strategy that translates the vision and values embodied in the Town's Master Plan into constitutive development criteria. The SMARTGrowth Program was adopted on January 11, 1999 and the SMARTGrowth Management Plan was adopted on February 17, 2000. Amendments and updates were adopted on July 15, 2002. The goals of SMARTGrowth are to:

• Mitigate the ill effects of rapid and intense urbanization. Flower Mound was the nation's tenth fastest growing community during the 1990s - growing by 226.54%, from 15,527 to 50,702 residents.
• Ensure growth is served with adequate public infrastructure, services, and facilities.
• Ensure growth contributes to the attainment of the community character and quality of life objectives established in the Town's Master Plan.
• Preserve open lands, natural landscapes, farmland, sensitive ecological resources, and scenic vistas on the urban fringe.
• Integrate the built and natural environments and contribute to a sense of place.
• Ensure growth does not occur at the expense of environmental quality, community character, or quality of life.

Twenty-nine SMARTGrowth criteria were adopted and are grouped into six categories (adequate public infrastructure, adequate public facilities, adequate public services, economic development, environmental quality, and community character). Constituting a development checklist for all development applications, they foster smart growth as follows:

• Economic development and specific plan criteria encourage a mix of non-residential land uses.
• Conservation development and specific plan criteria encourage compact building and land use design for the respective purposes of preserving open space and encouraging a village retail environment.
• The residential density criterion ensures residential development complies with the Town's Master Plan, providing a wide range of housing opportunities.
• Criteria related to park land and trails create walkable neighborhoods and connectivity between schools, neighborhoods and retail areas.
• Criteria related to the design of commercial buildings, urban design, visual impact, conservation development, rural development, and park land have created a distinctive, attractive community with a strong sense of place, despite being surrounded by urban sprawl.
• Preservation of open space, farmland, natural beauty, and sensitive environmental areas is achieved by criteria pertaining to watershed protection, wetlands, water body protection, topographical slope protection, environmental surveys, environmental protection plans, conservation development, rural development, visual impact, and agricultural resource protection easements.
• Criteria related to adequate utility and transportation infrastructure, public school capacity, and minimum public safety response times serve to strengthen the existing community fabric and ensure continued reinvestment in community infrastructure.
• Criteria related to trail mobility and connectivity between neighborhoods, schools and retail opportunities provide a variety of transportation choices.
• Use of SMARTGrowth criteria has enhanced the predictability and fairness of development decisions, and, as the Town has developed the capacity to perform many of the environmental and engineering studies in-house, the cost-effectiveness of these decisions has been improved.
• Creation of the SMARTGrowth Commission, including representation from the development community, has encouraged citizen and stakeholder participation.

        To view the complete SMARTGrowth Manual, please click here.

SMARTGrowth Commission

Meetings

• Meets on an as needed basis

 
Agendas, Packets, and Minutes
Agendas and packets are available prior to the meetings. Minutes are also available following approval. Both are available in the Agenda Center and the Archive Center.

Members

• The SMARTGrowth Commission consists of all Planning and Zoning members plus one representative from the real estate community and one representative from the development community

Overview

• Conducts a review of the effectiveness of the SMARTGrowth Program in achieving its stated objectives
• Conducts public hearings and meetings as necessary to obtain the requisite public comment and input to perform the powers and duties
• Created in February 2000
• Determines whether compliance with the SMARTGrowth Criteria has been maintained by all development applications and projects previously approved
• Determines whether compliance with the SMARTGrowth Criteria is likely to be maintained in the future, based on short-range (one-to-two years) and mid-range (three-to-five years) forecasts
• Performs all other powers and duties as may be conferred by the Town Council
• Performs the duties and responsibilities of the capital improvements advisory committee required by Chapter 395 of the Texas Local Government Code pertaining to the assessment and collection of impact fees