The predictions are for one million more people to be living in San Antonio by the year 2040, through a combination of domestic migration, international immigration, and natural growth.
That would make the San Antonio of 2040 the size of Chicago, and San Antonio will probably be larger than Chicago in 23 years, if current population trends continue.
So the question is...where the heck will all those people live?
News Radio 1200 WOAI reports City Planning Director Bridget White gave a City Council work session an update on her plans on Wednesday, and they essentially include identifying 13 'regional centers' around the city, places like the Medical Center, Stone Oak, and the UTSA area, where growth will be focused.
"Urban centers are walkable mixed use destinations that have a mixture of housing and jobs, contain residential and business support services, as well as education and cultural amenities," she said.
City planners point out that the key to managing growth without contributing to urban sprawl, highway gridlock, and increased air pollution is to use the city's various forms of authority, from granting tax breaks to zoning, to encourage people, businesses, as well as amenities like shopping, restaurants, and parks, to focus in specific areas, to allow people to live closer to where they work, shop, and recreate.
"By doing this, we can concentrate growth in desired parts of the city, creating opportunities for more mixed use development, and help preserve and protect our existing neighborhoods from having to absorb too much of our anticipated growth," she said.
The 'urban centers,' White said, would be connected by identified corridors which will be heavy with mass transit options, including light rail.
She says think of the 'urban centers' as mini downtowns.
"A majority of cities in the country and around the world have one key center, and that is typically the downtown of the central business district," she said. "The comprehensive plan calls for direction quite a bit of our planned population and employment growth into these centers."
White says the centers were identified as places where natural growth is already occurring, and are well positioned to handle the managed growth that is expected over the coming decades.