In March of 2004, the Blanco City Council voted to enter into a contract with LCRA to develop a Blanco Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP) and at the same time to make application for the Visionaries in Preservation program (VIP) with Texas Historical Commission. The VIP plan would work along side the CMP.

The Blanco Historic Preservation Action Plan (BHPAP) is the product of three years of work on the application for the VIP, plus the seven months of meetings by many volunteers who worked together to vision how to preserve Blanco’s history and heritage. The BHPAP was updated in 2009 and short, medium, and long term goals were set.

Blanco’s goals are the foundation of the preservation action plan. The preservation goals provide the basis for specific actions carried out by a variety of individuals who were actively involved in each task force. Many stayed to chair or work with a task force for the three goals. New volunteers are encouraged to work with the Blanco Historic Commission to achieve all of the goals of the plan.

After four years of hard work by the volunteers who stayed on, and a lot of work by the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) on signage, the following tasks are close to being completed and will go to the P&Z for public hearings and then to the Blanco City Council:

Develop and Implement Signage Standards

Preserving The Night Sky and Controlling Light Pollution

Develop and Implement Design Standards

A workshop is planned for the Blanco Historic Preservation Commission, the P&Z, and the Blanco City Council on July 18 at the Blanco Library at 6pm for the Signage Ordinance, The Night Sky Ordinance, and the Design Guidelines.

If you have any questions, please send them to BCN at editor@blanconews.com or mail them to PO Box 429, Blanco, TX 78606. The phone number is 830-833-4812.

To read the Preservation Action Plan and the Comprehensive Master Plan, visit cityofblanco.com. For the Design Guidelines draft, visit blancoguide.com.