Austin Monitor

  10   The Lower Colorado River Authority, which has managed and provided water to the Central Texas area for the past 70 years, is preparing to assess the needs of its customers for the next 100 years. New General Manager Tom Mason said water planning is rarely done on a short-term basis.   “Our […]

With the neighborhood’s blessing, the Planning Commission has endorsed a zoning change for a vertical mixed-use project on land owned by the Oak Meadow Baptist Church at 3715 S. 1st Street. Plans call for approximately 5,000 square feet of retail along South 1st with 310 apartments surrounding a structured parking garage. The agreement between the […]

  10   In an effort to meet both expected federal regulation and the city’s own climate change goals, Austin Energy announced last week plans to cap its carbon footprint through a combination of new carbon-neutral generating technology, energy conservation, and shifting 30 percent of its generating capacity to renewable energy sources. However, according to […]

Members of the ROMA Design Group presented an updated study on Thursday of a downtown mass transit circulator system, saying such a system would likely spur economic development along its several routes. However, there was debate among the Council members as to how soon such a system should be put before the city’s voters   […]

Despite a slowing economy and rising inflation, City Manager Marc Ott on Wednesday proposed a balanced $2.8 billion operating budget for 2009 to members of the City Council. Ott and his staff managed to cut $25 million through selected service cuts, higher fees for some services and delaying raises for most of the city’s non-public […]

Jumping on the rail election bandwagon, the Planning Commission has passed a resolution urging the CAMPO Transit Working Group to promptly review options for a downtown, multi-modal transit system so that the possibility of a November election on the matter may also be evaluated “in a timely fashion.”   The resolution is similar to a […]

Residents and business owners in the Windsor Park and University Hills neighborhoods in East Austin held a rally on Manor Road Monday morning in front of the site of a proposed new apartment complex. While the Community Partnership for the Homeless is seeking to build housing for formerly homeless individuals who have graduated from other […]

Members of the Sierra Club, Council members and supporters met at City Hall Thursday evening in a rally designed to put pressure on elected officials to take steps to develop alternative sources of energy. The gathering in Austin was one of about 300 across the country for what was called the Light Bulbs to Leadership […]

According to reports filed with the City Clerk’s office Tuesday, Council Member Randi Shade spent $244,754 to win her Place 3 Council seat, but unlike many Council candidates, she did not finish the race in debt.   Her opponent, Jennifer Kim, who lost her seat after one term, spent nearly as much–$242,249 and the campaign […]

Some Oak Hill residents left last week’s Planning Commission meeting dismayed over the commission’s decision to recommend small single-family lot zoning for one tract within the Oak Hill Neighborhood Plan. The commission is recommending SF-6 zoning for an 11-acre site at 6800 Waters Way near FM 1826 and US 290, with a conditional overlay to […]

Both the Historic Landmark Commission and the Zoning and Platting Commission have recommended historic zoning for the first structure associated with Thomas F. McKinney, a Texas pioneer who helped settle Travis County.   McKinney Falls State Park is named after him and houses the ruins of his homestead and grist mill, which date back to […]

City Manager Marc Ott on Monday predicted the city would be able to make it through the next fiscal year without layoffs. He told KLBJ (590 AM) talk show host Kenny Rahmeyer that, “I’m very confident that we have done what we needed to do to close the budget (gap). And I think that in […]