Desoto's Comprehensive Plan

Visit our website for the City of DeSoto Comprehensive Plan: www.desototexas.gov/CompPlan

In September 2015, the City of DeSoto adopted a new comprehensive plan, which was developed as an update to the City’s 2003 plan. The purpose of the comprehensive plan is to establish goals and guidelines for future development decisions in DeSoto.

This plan provides a unified vision of what DeSoto should become and a long-range statement of the City’s public policies. It is important to note that this plan is not a mandate; it is a flexible guide for City Staff and City decision-makers to determine the future of DeSoto. It contains ideas, graphics, and actions that were identified by residents and molded into a cohesive vision for the future.

The Comprehensive Plan was created by the people who know it best – its residents – through a Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. This committee was created to guide the plan’s development and recommend a draft plan to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council.

Major sections of the 2015 Plan include the following:

• Community Snapshot
• Vision, Goals, and Objectives
• Future Land Use
• Transportation Plan
• Streetscape Guidelines
• Housing Strategies
• Urban Design
• Implementation Strategies

View the Comprehensive Plan (19MB)

What is a Comprehensive Plan?

The Comprehensive Plan is the official document that guides decisions for future growth and development in DeSoto. The Texas Local Government Code establishes the legal basis for the comprehensive plan, and it is used as the basis of subsequent zoning amendments. The Comprehensive Plan consists of a series of interrelated chapters, or elements, analyzing the community's future land use, transportation, urban design, and other infrastructure and environmental issues, needs, challenges, and opportunities.

The Comprehensive Plan is important because it sets the overall policy context for future growth and development for DeSoto. The Comprehensive Plan addresses growth pressures in the city, future public facilities needs, preservation of community character and natural resources, urban design and architectural standards, economic growth and quality of life initiatives, the fiscal impacts and responsibilities of new development, and other important issues affecting the quality of life and character of the city. Specifically, the Comprehensive Plan will include goals, objectives, and policies to:

• Guide future growth and development within the city (such as general location and allowable densities and intensities of land uses)
• Protect vital natural resources
• Enhance community character through architectural and design standards
• Identify needed public services and revenues based on projected population and employment growth
• Meet community expectations regarding other important issues, such as sidewalks, streetlights, housing types, traffic and transportation, and other issues.

How does the City use the Comprehensive Plan?

• Ties in with functional plans such as the Parks and Open Space Master Plan
• City business plan
• Budget priorities
• Capital improvement program
• Development standards
• Zoning and subdivision cases