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San Antonio Planning Director Dugan Has Accepted A New Job

City of San Antonio
John Dugan, San Antonio's Director of Planning and Community Development, has accepted a job in Arlington, Texas.

San Antonio Planning and Community Development Director John Dugan says he isn't being forced out of his job and he's not leaving in protest.  

"I'm not leaving in protest.  It's a family health situation," he told Texas Public Radio Wednesday, saying he's resigning his current position after four years  to be closer to an ill parent and family in Oklahoma.

In a statement the city said Dugan's last day will be April 15. City Manager Sheryl Sculley will appoint an interim director  before his departure. 

Dugan says he has accepted a position as city planner in Arlington,  a North Texas community of 380,000 residents that is home to the Texas Rangers, the Dallas Cowboys, the University of Texas at Arlington and a large General Motors assembly plant.

Sculley, in a memo to Mayor Ivy Taylor and the City Council,  said Dugan was instrumental in creating the ReNewSA inner-city renewal program and several community and Tax Increment Redevelopment Zone plans. He also was responsible for overseeing the city's comprehensive planning effort, SA Tomorrow, which will guide the Alamo City's growth and development. 

Dugan is known for an ambitious plan presented to City Council in late 2014 that would have added millions of dollars in tax revenue, tens of thousands of residents and 66 square miles by annexing five areas around the city. It would have been the largest addition to the city in 20 years, according to TPR's The Source, that featured an interview with Dugan in September. 

The plans to annex all that land were unpopular in the some of the proposed locations. Efforts later made to push legislative efforts to make the annexation process more difficult failed. The city then proposed additional communities to annex and sped up the process for approval. 

According to Dugan's proposal, areas identified for annexation included:

  • Scenic Loop, off I-10 north and Loop 1604.
  • An area on the far West Side around Culebra and Shaenfield roads, outside Loop 1604. 
  • West of loop 1604 and north of U.S. 90 near Potranco and Tally roads.
  • An Area near Old Corpus Christi Highway and U.S. 181 on the Southeast Side.
  • An area south of I-10 and in the Crestway area to the East.
  • An area that borders Camp Bullis off U.S. 281 North.

In September, Mayor Ivy Taylor said she could not support how quickly the process was moving and she called for annexation plans to be reevaluated.
Dugan says he's staying in San Antonio long enough to give input into the first draft of a plan that addresses annexation.  

Shelley Kofler is Texas Public Radio’s news director. She joined the San Antonio station in December 2014 and leads a growing staff that produces two weekly programs; a daily talk show, news features, reports and online content. Prior to TPR, Shelley served as the managing editor and news director at KERA in Dallas-Fort Worth, and the Austin bureau chief and legislative reporter for North Texas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV.
Tricia Schwennesen is the Web Producer/News Editor for Texas Public Radio where she manages the station’s web site and social media accounts.