TipSheet: Austin City Council, 5.2.24

City Council will convene for what looks to be a fairly fun meeting today. For those who would like to judge for themselves, the full agenda is, of course, posted online. We’ve also done some judging and our take on said agenda follows.

Though not everyone is crazy about the drought contingency and water conservation plans on today’s agenda, Council will most likely approve them today in order to meet a deadline from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. However, at work session, water officials indicated the plans still have room to evolve and conversation will continue, with an update to it and the Water Forward plan expected in November. 

Though Council has already OK’d moving forward with a plan to replace the historic Barton Springs Road Bridge, we expect the Save Our Springs Alliance to continue its fight against the plan today over the $9 million added to the construction contract, which is under consideration today. (The change would bring the total contract to $11.8 million.)

As the expansion of Interstate 35 continues to march forward, so do city plans to mitigate its impact with a series of “caps and stitches” that will span the road with activated, usable space. On today’s agenda, Council will consider asking for a $124 million grant, which staff expects will cover costs for the majority of the construction for all caps and stitches between Holly and 12th streets.

Council will also consider endorsing and putting a handful of city charter amendments on the November ballot. Council hasn’t gotten too much into the details on these as a body, so they might take a bit of time and make an official decision on May 30, giving them a little more time to consider the issues.

As usual, there are a number of Council-driven initiatives that caught our eye. 

Council Member Chito Vela has an extensive resolution in line with a recommendation from the LGBTQ Quality of Life Commission that reaffirms the city’s commitment to gender-related health care and support for transgender or nonbinary people, despite whatever the state is doing. Council Member Vanessa Fuentes has a resolution that calls for the city’s first-ever poet laureate program, as was covered by our pals at KUT. Council Member Mackenzie Kelly is looking to support young people who have a caretaking role with her resolution. And Vela also has a resolution that will allow multifamily projects up to six stories to have a single staircase under code. (Here’s an article from Slate about the idea.)

Council is set to update the requirements of Austin Energy’s Medically Vulnerable Registry, which keeps track of those in need of extra assistance during emergencies to make it a much easier (and reasonable) process. The changes loosen the requirements for verifying who is on the list and also reduce the requirement that those registered recertify every two months(!). If approved, those on life support would not need to recertify, critically ill residents would need to recertify every five years and those with serious illness would recertify annually.

As we covered earlier this week, Council will also consider the process that ARR uses to change administrative rules. At work session, it looked like Kelly was inclined to postpone the item for more feedback, though Council Member Leslie Pool seemed ready to support the change.

Council will also take up the “agrihood” concept that could be a new approach to some housing and food system issues. (We reported on it when it was at the Housing and Planning Committee.)

As a housekeeping note, Council will also set the official date for public hearings on the second slate of HOME amendments and the South Central Waterfront Overlay. At this point, both are expected to be taken up on May 30.

There are some parkland-use issues on today’s agenda as well. The first would permanently change about a quarter-acre of  Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park “for right-of-way, drainage, and utility purposes in connection with the East Braker Lane extension project.” The second would temporarily use a bit of the Upper Bull Creek Greenbelt for staging while the Old Lampasas Dam modernization project is underway. During work session, Kelly pointed out the dam mitigation project is very important in that it will mitigate flooding. However, she is bringing forth an amendment “to help make the community more appeased.” Those amendments will require an environmental impact study, a traffic and sound management plan and a creation of a new city park with a dog park and community garden after the staging is complete.

And Council will consider an amendment to the code that essentially enshrines tenant protections in one place while amending the relocation benefit requirements and lowering the median family income from 80 percent to 60 percent for residential redevelopment.

In terms of zoning, we’re probably most interested in two historic preservation cases: East Austin’s Green and White Grocery and a Folk Victorian home that will be zoned historic over the objections of its owner.

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