When the city passed the Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure Ordinance in 2008, Austin became the first city in the United States to require the seller of a home older than 10 years within the Austin Energy service area to disclose the energy consumption of the structure to potential buyers. Seeing it as a useful […]
Jessi Devenyns
Posted inDevelopment
Tree protection outweighs density concerns for Environmental Commission
There are only four reasons a heritage tree can be removed in the city of Austin: it must be dead, diseased, an imminent hazard, or prevent reasonable use of a property. Even if a tree meets one or more of these criteria, it is often with a heavy heart that the city allows for its […]
Posted inPlanning
City working to align development standards on East 11th Street corridor
Development in Austin is anything but straightforward. That’s especially true on East 11th Street, where efforts to transform blighted neighborhoods into a vibrant downtown gateway are governed both by the Urban Renewal Plan and the Neighborhood Conservation Combining District. According to Jana McCann, a principal at McCann Adams Studio who spoke to the Urban Renewal […]
Posted inPreservation
City may initiate demolition-by-neglect case in effort to save I.Q. Hurdle House
For several years, one North Texas company has been stealthily purchasing properties along East 12th Street and now owns nearly four dozen properties between Interstate 35 and Walnut Avenue, according to Travis County property records. One of those properties happens to be the I.Q. Hurdle House at 1416 E. 12th St. Just over three years […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Board of Adjustment grants unpermitted carport permission to stay parked
After a bitter neighborhood battle took place last month over a carport, the owner of the unpermitted car shelter was given a verdict to take down the structure that had stood for 16 years. However, the owner gave it one more fighting chance, presenting the Board of Adjustment with new evidence at its April 8 […]
Posted inZoning
Despite neighborhood objections Planning Commission approves increasing density for East Austin project
On the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Tillery Street, single-family homes meet higher-density residential developments. Although this tenuous balance between property usage has been negotiated for decades, there remains a line between the two districts. Finding that fine line was the challenge at the April 8 meeting of the Planning Commission. City […]
Posted inWhispers
Board of Adjustment recommends new, reduced fees
After more than two years of discussion and drafting, the Board of Adjustment has officially recommended a new set of application fees for families in the Austin area. When fees to bring a variance before the board nearly doubled from 2017, board members took it into their own hands to make sure that families were not […]
Posted inWhispers
Planning commissioners focus on Dougherty Center’s parking plans
The city is deep into developing the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, which calls for limiting parking, encouraging alternative forms of transportation and reducing the number of Austinites driving solo in their vehicles from 74 percent to 50 percent by 2039. So commissioners at the April 8 meeting of the Planning Commission were hyper-aware of the […]
Posted inWhispers
Texas Senate approves anti-sick-leave bills
In February 2018, City Council passed an ordinance requiring businesses to provide sick leave to employees. Almost as soon as it passed, Texas Republican lawmakers went to work overturning the law. Now, after a year and a half of work, SB 2485 and SB 2487 passed in the Texas Senate in a party-line vote for […]
Posted inPreservation
Family dispute over historic zoning comes to Planning Commission for mediation
Five years ago, the property at 1119 East 11th St. was zoned historic in an effort to preserve both the legacy of the Thomas family and their involvement in the East Austin music scene, and an emblematic example of 20th-century East Austin bungalow architecture. Now several members of the Thomas family are asking for the […]
Posted inWhispers
Planning Commission has new officer lineup
The beginning of April is that magical time when officer elections take place at the Planning Commission. After a year of service, most of which occurred during the all-consuming discussions of CodeNEXT, the commission’s executive team decided to really change things up this year. Chair James Shieh’s experience with CodeNEXT gave him the epiphany that […]
Posted inWhispers
Austin Energy’s EVs for Schools program wins two awards
This week, Austin’s EVs for Schools program made headlines for providing electric vehicle charging stations to Akins, Lanier and Travis high schools and Kealing Middle School. Fast Company recognized the initiative in its 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards and the program received a 2019 Smart 50 Award at the Smart Cities Connect Gala in Denver. […]