TipSheet: Austin City Council, 3.21.24

Today, City Council will convene again for a regular meeting. We’ve taken a look at the reasonably sized agenda and picked a few things that might be of interest. As usual, the entire agenda is also online and can be read in its entirety here.

A couple of high-dollar items on today’s agenda have definitely attracted our attention. First is a bid for $191 million from the state to help finance a plan to partially cover the expanded I-35 downtown. That money would be in addition to a $105 million federal grant that is already on the books and a potential bond election that was discussed at Tuesday’s work session.

Council will also consider the purchase of the near-Southeast Tokyo Electron Campus for $87 million. The campus, which is just south of Montopolis, is already being touted as a new Mueller-style development that, as we saw during the Dougherty Arts discussion, already has Council members daydreaming.

At their last meeting, Council approved new regulations that require reclaimed water for new development. Today, they will strengthen those regulations with a fee-in-lieu that can be paid instead of participating in the water-saving rules. Here’s a handy little chart of what the proposal looks like at the moment:

A resolution from Council Member José Velásquez looks to reform a strange pilgrimage requirement that is in the code for food trucks. The law currently requires mobile food vendors to prove their mobility by closing up and driving to a central inspection facility. Citing the burden this imposes and the fact that the majority of employees of such establishments are people of color, the resolution looks to eliminate the requirement and make it easier to operate food trucks in the city.

Velásquez also has a resolution on today’s agenda that would clarify the city’s current policy for employees during emergency closures and bad weather. To wit: The resolution seeks to define “essential employees,” which is a concept that appears to be a backbone of the policy but does not appear to have a super-clear definition. 

In another measure aimed at city employees, Council Member Vanessa Fuentes has sponsored a resolution that would help them build families through benefits like “infertility treatment services such as artificial insemination and assisted reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization and cryopreservation services.”

Council Member Alison Alter reconfirms her dedication to wildfire safety with a resolution that works to strengthen an update of (and funding for) the Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

And Council will consider a name change for Kellam Road to “Circuit of the Americas Boulevard.” The road, as you probably correctly guessed, is near Circuit of the Americas, and the name change is a request, as you probably guessed, from Circuit of the Americas, who will pay about $2,500 for it. The change appears to be pretty uncontroversial: It has the support of the Austin Fire Department, Austin Police Department, Austin Transportation and Public Works Department, Communications and Technology Department, Emergency Medical Services and Travis County, and response forms were returned from only three of the 25 property owners abutting the road, all of whom supported the renaming.

In terms of zoning, we’re keeping our eyes on the “Bolm West” Planned Development Agreement that would pave the way for the development of more than 71 acres on the Colorado River, just east of the Montopolis bridge. The development would be massive, according to the meeting documents: “2,219 multifamily units, 385 room hotel, 1,499,358 sq. ft. of office, 20,556 sq. ft of retail, 127,099 shopping plaza, 134,754 sq. ft. of a high turnover restaurant, 27,000 sq. ft. arts theater, 8,500 sq. ft. music venue, and 37,390 sq. ft. Civic Center.” Neighbors across the river are perturbed, and given the recent lawsuit opposing the redevelopment of the nearby Borden tract, we’re guessing they aren’t the only ones.

In other zoning news, we continue to stay tuned for a bunch of St. Elmo-area rezonings that have been lingering on the agenda, a medical expansion on Ben White and the historic zoning of Deep Eddy Cabaret.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.