Zoning case at Planning Commission highlights ‘broken’ Land Development Code, prompts fixes from Council
Friday, March 17, 2023 by
Jonathan Lee A zoning case heard by the Planning Commission on Tuesday called attention to what commissioners called the city’s “broken” Land Development Code, which they said in effect forced them to recommend industrial zoning on an East Austin property in order to allow housing.
“The code is broken,” Commissioner João Paulo Connolly said. “We’re given broken tools and told to work with them.”
On its face, zoning a property industrial to allow housing makes little sense. But due to a tangled web of land use regulations, the commission decided it had little choice but to recommend City Council approve Limited Industrial-Planned Development Area (LI-PDA-NP) zoning on a property along Interstate 35.
Despite its name, LI-PDA zoning would allow the 1.3-acre site at 1601 N. I-35 Service Road Northbound, currently home to a Denny’s restaurant, to be developed with a 200-foot tall tower with 250 condominium units, at least 10 percent of those set aside as affordable. The request would also prohibit dozens of uses typically allowed in industrial zoning.
Land use consultant Alice Glasco, representing Ledgestone Development, said that the decision to apply for LI-PDA was a last resort.
City staffers rejected Ledgestone’s original request for Commercial Highway-Vertical-Mixed Use-Planned Development Area (CH-V-PDA-NP) zoning due to a provision in city code prohibiting the combination of CH and PDA zoning on sites smaller than 10 acres.
When Ledgestone changed its request to Limited Industrial zoning, city staffers opposed that too. They argued that industrial zoning does not belong on the site, and that using industrial zoning for housing goes against the zoning’s intent.
While the developer could have applied for a Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning instead, Glasco said the elaborate PUD process would prove too costly and time consuming.
Glasco blamed the city’s four-decade-old Land Development Code for the predicament.
“As our needs have evolved, our code has not evolved accordingly,” she said. “So we find ourselves using tools that don’t appear to be normal.”
Though all commissioners supported the proposed condo tower, some worried about the optics of recommending industrial zoning on the site.
“I don’t want this commission to be on record reintroducing light industrial or any industrial zoning to East Austin,” Commissioner Grayson Cox said, alluding to the city’s troubled history of forcing industrial zones next to residential areas in East Austin.
“I know there’s a perception issue here,” Chair Todd Shaw responded. “But we’re kind of in a tough situation here. We have a housing crisis and we have a very poor toolkit.”
Cox made a motion to forward the zoning case to Council without a recommendation from the commission. Commissioner Awais Azhar made an alternative motion to recommend LI-PDA-NP with a laundry list of prohibited uses. Azhar’s motion prevailed on a 7-1-1 vote, with Cox voting against and Commissioner Robert Schneider abstaining.
The case has gotten the attention of City Council, which has responded by moving to scrap additional restrictions for sites that combine CH and PDA zoning. As soon as Council approves the proposed code changes, Glasco said she will revert to the original request of CH-V-PDA-NP. City staffers said Council could approve the code changes by May.
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