TipSheet: Austin City Council, 6.1.23

City Council will once again convene for a meeting today. We’ve done our best to predict what might be of interest, based on the posted agenda. However, our best can vary, so anyone looking for the whole of possibility offered by today’s meeting might want to check out the agenda in full online.

In somewhat major news, Council is set to move forward with a Project Connect map following a comprehensive briefing at Tuesday’s work session, just shy of a month from the close of public feedback on the proposed line.

Today’s biggest discussion will likely center around license plate readers for police. While some on the dais said they were more than ready to vote at the previous meeting, and it has been discussed for months, the issue was ultimately postponed once again. So we’re thinking it’s likely that the readers will get a vote today, along with a resolution extending a pilot program intended to address concerns about privacy and data retention raised by critics of the devices. Work session sparked a scuffle over how long data should be retained, so there’s a bit more to work out for sure. 

It’s also possible that tweaks to meeting procedures could cause some consternation. It looks like the most recent draft of the changes eliminates the practice of “donating time” to public speakers in order to let a representative speaker talk longer (or play a video). This alone would be a big change that we haven’t heard much about, though we have heard this may be postponed today.

In terms of Land Development Code reform – which Council is approving at a faster clip than we’ve seen before – today’s agenda includes a proposal to reverse a 2014 change to occupancy limits that mandates only four to six unrelated adults can live together in single-family homes. (Here’s our rundown of the recent Planning Commission discussion on the topic.) In addition, a resolution from Council Member Chito Vela would eliminate the current process that only allows changes to a future land use map (FLUM) once a year or with the permission of a neighborhood contact team. If codified, the change would allow changes to a FLUM at any time. Though a public process would still be required, it would be less circuitous. 

Along adjacent lines, Council will also consider a grant program aimed at helping those who cannot afford the sometimes expensive process of asking for variances or special exceptions from the Land Development Code (at a cost to the city that is estimated to be only $10,000).

Though we’ve left winter far behind, practically speaking, the city is still dealing with the aftermath of this year’s ice storm (Winter Storm Mara). There are a number of items on today’s agenda that deal with storm cleanup and electric issues as well as a contract that will bulk up vegetation management around power lines. 

A push to put data from the recent Austin Music Census on the city website appears on the verge of being successful, despite some early resistance from city staff. 

In terms of zoning, it’s always a little unclear which cases will be picked up. However, we recognize a few of the cases that have been hanging around on the agenda for the past few weeks. Those include a proposed massive development on the site of the East Austin Borden plant that has now garnered opposition from a coalition of groups; a proposed redevelopment of a frontage-road Denny’s that had some members of the Planning Commission bemoaning the Land Development Code; a Montopolis downzoning; a northwest rezoning that was shot down by the Zoning and Platting Commission; and a Dessau Road project that now has a valid petition against it.

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