Bill McCann

A proposal to construct a 120-foot-tall building on vacant land between two existing office buildings on Barton Springs Road across from the Palmer Events Center received backing from the Environmental Board on Wednesday.   The property, owned by Texas American Resources Company, an Austin-based energy firm, is the site of the now-demolished Filling Station Restaurant […]

Austin Energy is seeing the effects of the national recession in its latest forecast of electric power use in Austin and on Austin Energy’s projected future revenues.   The 2009 forecast, issued Tuesday, shows peak power demand by Austin Energy customers dropping 65 megawatts below last year’s forecast for 2009, and 277 gigawatt-hours below previously […]

There are two sure-fire ways to upset local community activists: mess with beloved Barton Springs or cut into the canopy of Austin’s trees. And last week, the city unveiled a plan to cut trees AT Barton Springs. Ouch. Parks and Recreation Department officials last Wednesday announced plans to remove 30 aged or unhealthy trees in […]

When Austin Parks and Recreation Department officials held a news conference Wednesday at the Barton Springs pool, they came braced to face tough media questions about why they planned to cut down 30 trees in Zilker Park along and near the pool.   Instead, they got a flurry of tough media questions, not about why […]

City environmental officials are taking on another job of cleaning up trash from the past – this time in the city-owned Barton Creek greenbelt.   Consultants to the city recently completed an investigation of an abandoned 3.6-acre dump just east of Loop 360 on a steep slope of the Barton Creek greenbelt behind the Toys […]

A proposal by city staff to exempt Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) and Planned Development Areas (PDAs) from a revised Waterfront Overlay District ordinance drafted at the behest of the City Council drew opposition from Environmental Board members last week.   Opponents of the exemption fear, among other things, that it could result in taller buildings […]

The proposed South Shore District Planned Unit Development (PUD) near Lady Bird Lake in southeast Austin successfully cleared the Environmental Board last week after getting support from city staff and opposition from neighborhood leaders concerned about its effect on the community and the lake.   Houston developer, Grayco Partners, is proposing the PUD on 20 […]

The Austin City Council took a significant step Thursday toward the city’s lofty goal of getting 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, including 100 megawatts from solar energy.   The council voted unanimously to award a contract to San Francisco-based Gemini Solar Development Co. to build a 30-megawatt solar power plant […]

Citing complications with billing and the current economic climate, Austin Water Utility officials plan to delay rates designed to curb excess water use by commercial and multi-family customers by at least another two years.   Residential customers already have in place a conservation rate structure, in which the more water that is used over specific […]

Opponents of two private landfills in northeastern Travis County believe a pile of dead vultures will help bolster their case against proposed expansions at the landfills.   Two weeks ago Evan Williams, who co-owns 23 undeveloped acres between the Colonial Place subdivision and the Waste Management Inc. landfill, found 30 to 40 dead and decaying […]

The seemingly endless debate over the maximum height that developers should be allowed to construct buildings near and along Lady Bird Lake is heating up again. Supporters of height limits are being bolstered by a recently released report from a City Council-appointed citizen task force.   Likely to be caught up in that debate is […]

A fast-tracked plan to make public events on city property cleaner and greener hit a speed bump Wednesday at the Environmental Board.   Members of the board raised questions about the plan’s financial impact on event holders, especially nonprofit groups that use events to raise money for charities. So, the board put off a vote […]