Stories by Jack Craver
Council approves $110M for Waller Creek chain of parks
City Council voted Thursday to pump another $110 million into the Waller Creek chain of parks. The money committed by the city is part of a long-term $375 million project to turn 35 acres of land along the creek into…
Austin • By Jack Craver • May 25, 2018
Audit says city needs better data on homeless population
What does it mean to be homeless? It depends who you ask. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development applies the term to a variety of living situations, including people living in places “not meant for human habitation,” those…
Austin • By Jack Craver • May 24, 2018
Adler tries to find consensus on CodeNEXT
As City Council prepares to begin deliberations on CodeNEXT next month, Mayor Steve Adler acknowledged Tuesday that no other issue that he has confronted during his three and a half years in office has divided the community as much as…
Land Development Code • By Jack Craver • May 23, 2018
CodeNEXT: What's the plan, here?
After seeing the city spend five years and $8.5 million on CodeNEXT, some members of the Planning Commission are worried that the final product will be little more than a “plan to plan.” Currently, the commission is in the process…
Land Development Code • By Jack Craver • May 21, 2018
Planning commissioners spar over reduced lot sizes in CodeNEXT
The 13 volunteer citizens appointed to the city Planning Commission spent eight grueling hours Monday night proposing and debating changes to CodeNEXT. It was a stark contrast to the the treatment the proposed code overhaul received from the city’s other…
Land Development Code • By Jack Craver • May 16, 2018
Planning commissioners propose 'anti-McMansion ordinance' for CodeNEXT
Three members of the Planning Commission have proposed a series of “anti-displacement” measures in CodeNEXT that they say will discourage demolitions of existing low-cost housing and incentivize the construction of smaller units that middle-income people can afford. Speaking to reporters…
Land Development Code • By Jack Craver • May 15, 2018
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Zoning and Platting Commission recommends scrapping CodeNEXT entirely
One of the city’s two citizen land use commissions has decided that CodeNEXT, the overhaul of the city’s Land Development Code that has been in the works for five years and has cost the city $8.5 million, is a lost…
Land Development Code • By Jack Craver • May 14, 2018
Council rejects attempt to remove Planning commissioners
Following an occasionally heated debate, City Council voted down a proposal Thursday that would have declared the current membership of the Planning Commission to be in violation of the city charter. At issue is a provision of the charter, approved…
City Council • By Jack Craver • May 11, 2018
Who has a 'direct or indirect interest' in real estate? It depends who you ask
City Council appears divided over what do about a provision of the city charter that requires two-thirds of the members of the Planning Commission to be “lay members” who are not “directly or indirectly connected with real estate or land…
City Council • By Jack Craver • May 10, 2018
Council members: APD should not be allowed to sell guns
In 2016, City Council approved a contract that allowed the Austin Police Department to trade more than 1,700 handguns to an arms dealer as part of a deal to acquire new weapons for police officers. Council Member Alison Alter doesn’t…
Police • By Jack Craver • May 9, 2018
Garbage companies fight over landfill standards
Over the past two years, City Council has faced challenges in deciding who to pay to haul and dispose of the large amount of trash generated by city facilities. One of the big local trash players, Texas Disposal Systems, has…
Resources • By Jack Craver • May 7, 2018
Divisions over city's future on display at CodeNEXT forum
After a similarly lengthy forum on Saturday, members of the city’s two land use commissions – the Planning Commission and the Zoning and Platting Commission – endured four hours of public testimony Tuesday night over CodeNEXT, the proposed overhaul of…
