Housing department provides update on 2018 affordable housing bond expenditures
As part of its efforts to ease the city’s affordability crisis, Austin’s Housing and Planning Department stopped by the City Council Housing and Planning Committee last Tuesday to brief members on the status of affordable housing programs. The briefing tracked…
Housing • By Kali Bramble • Mar 1, 2022
Planning Commission struggles with rare downzoning request
The Planning Commission, unsatisfied with a requested downzoning in Montopolis, voted Feb. 22 to postpone the case so that the applicant could add more units – including affordable units – to its proposal. The applicant, Alpha Builders Group, plans to…
Zoning • By Jonathan Lee • Mar 1, 2022
Street cut follow-up audit shows progress on repairs
When a team from the Office of the City Auditor examined street cuts in 2017, they found a significant backlog in repairing the damaged areas left behind on streets when utility work is done by the city. Those damaged streets have been…
Roads • By Jo Clifton • Mar 1, 2022
Parks board continues weighing Zilker Park outreach efforts
The fabled adage, “Please all and you will please none,” seems to be an apt description of many of the city’s community engagement endeavors, with the ongoing outreach around the Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan serving as a timely example. …
Parks • By Amy Smith • Feb 28, 2022
Airbnb makes renewed push to reach STR agreement with City Council
Short-term rental platform Airbnb is pushing City Council to change its long-held stance against working with companies that help STRs to operate and, in the process, take business away from area hotels. A representative from Airbnb spoke to the Arts…
Housing • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 28, 2022
Auditors find few faults with utility bill assistance program
Austin Energy, which manages billings for city utility customers, provides reduced utility bills for more than 35,000 electric, water and wastewater customers with low incomes. The Customer Assistance Program offers discounts that average about $650 a year for residential customers…
Energy • By Jo Clifton • Feb 28, 2022
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Creating preapproved ADU plans could take 2-3 years, produce few units
With City Council seeking to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units, city staffers provided an update on Feb. 16 about a key part of Council’s ADU strategy: creating a menu of preapproved, publicly available ADU plans. In a…
Land Development Code • By Jonathan Lee • Feb 25, 2022
Audit finds city slow to move on workforce development recommendations
An updated audit has found the city has yet to implement most of the recommendations made five years ago related to improving workforce development programs within the Economic Development Department and Austin Public Health. The 2022 audit, which was discussed…
City Hall • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 25, 2022
Austin moves to Stage 4 of its risk-based Covid guidelines ahead of SXSW, Austin Rodeo
Austin is no longer at its highest level of Covid risk-based guidelines. Austin Public Health announced Thursday that it’s lowering its guidance to Stage 4. That means fully vaccinated people in the five-county area should wear masks when shopping, dining…
Public Health • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Feb 25, 2022
Zoning for east side brewery wins final approval
City Council gave final approval Thursday for zoning to allow construction of a huge development, including a new brewery and 275-foot-tall building at 6705 and 6501 Regiene Road on the city’s east side. The plan for the 16-acre site includes…
Zoning • By Jo Clifton • Feb 25, 2022
Who will help Austin enforce its traffic laws?
Although Austin continues to address dangerous driving behaviors through engineering and educational efforts, traffic fatalities continue to happen. The issue “remains a critical one for the city to analyze and address moving forward,” according to a follow-up audit presented to…
Transportation • By Jo Clifton • Feb 24, 2022
Industry expert pokes holes in city’s convention center expansion plan
A presentation to the Downtown Commission last week largely refuted the need to expand the Austin Convention Center. Commissioners will revisit the issue at their March meeting. The proposed expansion has been an issue for the commission since last fall…
