Housing and Planning Committee discusses sustainable building design, Land Development Code amendments, and Northeast Planning District

City Council’s Housing and Planning Committee held its final meeting of the year on Tuesday, when members heard updates from city staff on proposed amendments to the Land Development Code, the Northeast Planning District, the city’s Comprehensive Density Bonus analysis and the Planning Department’s long-range planning efforts. Committee Chair Natasha Harper-Madison also invited several local experts to discuss sustainable design practices as well as how the city can incentivize such efforts. The committee also heard from the Development Services Department on its response to a Council resolution to minimize barriers to relocating residential structures.

Stevie Greathouse, division manager with the Planning Department, discussed the updated timeline for proposed amendments to the Land Development Code. Since the last committee briefing on this topic, City Council adopted code amendments related to providing a density bonus supporting creative spaces. Greathouse previewed several additional code amendments slated for the December and January Council agendas. These items include recommendations related to the creation of a Planned Development Area 2 combining district and a density bonus for commercial highway industrial zones, which were postponed on Nov. 21, as well as items related to “site plan lite” phase two and infill lots, safety bollards and Colorado River protections.

Greathouse added that department staffers have also been working with a consultant team to finalize a comprehensive analysis of density bonus programs and anticipate releasing the study around the end of the year. She highlighted code reforms coming to Council in 2025, including amendments related to short-term rentals and an update to the Preservation Bonus for HOME phase one, both anticipated in February.

Next, Shanisha Johnson, planner principal and project lead for the Collaborative Northeast District Plan, and Christy Moffett, director for economic development and strategic investments with Travis County, delivered updates on the Northeast District Plan. This city-county collaboration aims to address historic inequity and support inclusive strategies for development in Northeast Austin. In March, the Travis County Commissioners Court approved an interlocal agreement for the plan, and a working group began meeting in May. The city has begun the process to engage a consultant, and the boundary area for the district will be finalized this spring.

“I’m really excited to be able to say that a part of my legacy and the time spent here at the city of Austin was … being a part of this process with this collaborative effort between the city and the county to … do this large-scale consideration of such a huge swath of our fair city,” Chair Harper-Madison said. “And I’m really looking forward to hearing about the expansion of y’all’s boundaries, just recognizing there’s so much potential there.”

Alan Pani, planner principal with the Planning Department, updated the committee on an ongoing comprehensive analysis of density bonuses. In June, Council approved a recommendation from the Housing and Planning Committee regarding prioritizing initiated amendments to the Land Development Code. Later that month, the committee approved a departmental effort to address density bonuses through a more comprehensive analysis.

“The study will include a program to compare and contrast between our density bonus programs. … It will have some program performance analysis,” Pani said. “We’ll include all the stakeholder feedback we received, as well as peer city case studies. And then finally, the most important section will be the recommendations that are coming out of the study.”

Pani added that the study would provide both broad and individual program recommendations based on stakeholder feedback and case studies.

“Our study will be incorporated into the programs we already have in our schedule,” he said, referencing plans for the East Riverside Corridor in April, the University Neighborhood Overlay in May and the Crestview and North Burnet neighborhoods.

Erica Leak, a development officer with the Housing and Planning Department, discussed the department’s long-range initiatives anticipated through 2026. These included the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan update, a downtown historic resources survey, a Downtown Austin Plan update and other district planning, potentially including Del Valle.

Next, the department heard from several local experts on efforts to implement sustainable building practices around Austin.

“I requested this topic to be on our agenda today so we can really start a conversation around building design that supports … our sustainability goals, including green rooftops and solar panels,” Harper-Madison said.

Speakers included Pliny Fisk, co-founder and co-director of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems; Chris Gannon with the American Institute of Architects; Timothy Harvey, customer renewable solutions manager at Austin Energy; Rachel Stone, assistant director of the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation; and Zach Baumer, the city’s chief sustainability officer. Each speaker shared concepts and ideas they’d been exploring involving disaster resilience, green rooftops, solar panel programs and more.

Finally, Brenda de la Garza, assistant director with the the Development Services Department, discussed the response to a 2023 Council resolution to minimize barriers to relocating residential structures. The department has since initiated a stakeholder engagement process and identified four key priorities: increasing public awareness about home relocation, workforce training, streamlining the permitting process and identifying areas for improvement within the department. Updated information can be found at AustinTexas.gov/Relocation.

As the meeting concluded, committee members identified potential future discussion topics, including rooftop gardens and the utilization of abandoned office space for housing.

Photo by Kenneth Allen: Housing under construction at Killyclogher, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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.