After overseeing more than 60 hours of deliberation on CodeNEXT, Planning Commission Chair Stephen Oliver is stepping down from the panel next month. While he was lauded by his colleagues for his management of a complicated, contentious process, Oliver was also the target of anti-CodeNEXT activists, who accused him of having a conflict of interest […]
Jack Craver
Posted inHousing
City wants to put the word out about affordable housing
What is an “affordable unit”? Who qualifies for one? And above all else, where are these units, and how do you get one? A resolution approved unanimously on Thursday by the City Council Housing and Planning Committee asks city staff to develop a program to connect low-income tenants to available income-restricted units. The resolution suggests […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Planning commissioners feeling (relatively) good about CodeNEXT
Despite their own differences in opinion on development and the fever-pitch rhetoric surrounding CodeNEXT at City Hall, members of the Planning Commission generally have a positive outlook on the controversial overhaul of the Land Development Code. “I’m not going to say I’m happy with it, but it’s much better than (the draft) we got from […]
Posted inAustin
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 a chain of parks and civic spaces. The other $275 million is supposed to come […]
Posted inAustin
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 in emergency shelters or transitional housing, those who are about to leave jail or a […]
Posted inWhispers
Council discusses police accountability, union contract
Austin police officers have now been working without a union contract for nearly six months, ever since City Council declined to approve a new contract in December over concerns that it did not include strong enough accountability measures for police misconduct. In the meantime, Council is trying to figure out what kind of accountability system […]
Posted inLand Development Code
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 the proposed overhaul of the city’s Land Development Code. The tentative schedule unveiled by Planning […]
Posted inLand Development Code
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 of making recommendations about what the different zoning categories available under the new code should […]
Posted inLand Development Code
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 use panel, the Zoning and Platting Commission, whose final recommendation last week was simply […]
Posted inLand Development Code
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 at City Hall Monday before kicking off yet another marathon meeting of the Planning Commission […]
Posted inWhispers
Council members express concerns about Planning Commission membership
In a message posted to the City Council Message Board, Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo and Council members Alison Alter, Ora Houston and Leslie Pool reiterated their belief that the Planning Commission’s current membership violates the city charter because too many of the members have “direct or indirect” links to the real estate or land […]
Posted inLand Development Code
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 cause. On Wednesday, the Zoning and Platting Commission voted 7-4 in favor of a recommendation […]