CodeNEXT has a way of inspiring drama, even over as something as mundane as the approval of working groups. Case in point: Planning Commissioner Patricia Seeger attempted to make a motion on May 9 to approve breaking into three committees to tackle the different components of the draft land-use code: one to analyze the draft […]
Joseph Caterine
Posted inWhispers
Planning Commission recommends capital improvement strategy
At its May 9 meeting, the Planning Commission adopted a letter drafted by a joint comprehensive plan committee that recommends long-term strategies regarding the city’s Capital Improvement Program to the city manager for the coming year. “We would like (the letter adopted tonight) to have the long-range CIP strategic plan feed into the bond development […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Commission on Immigrant Affairs responds to SB 4
As the sky crumbled above them, the city’s Commission on Immigrant Affairs scrambled to pick up the pieces Monday night in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s signing of Senate Bill 4 over the weekend. Slated to become law September 1, the bill seeks to impose more responsibility on local law enforcement to pursue state and […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Zoning and Platting looks to pinpoint gentrification
As the only major growth city in the U.S. with a declining African-American population, Austin knows it has a gentrification problem, and the Zoning and Platting Commission took a step toward addressing it on May 2. Commissioners unanimously passed a motion asking staff to develop criteria for what makes an area at risk of displacement […]
Posted inWhispers
Some land-use commissioners still want to scrap CodeNEXT and start over
A few months after the CodeNEXT draft text release is still not too late to do the whole thing over for some Zoning and Platting commissioners. At the May 2 meeting, Commissioner Bruce Evans said that the examples given by the CodeNEXT team of the ideal street corners and neighborhoods in the city were developed […]
Posted inWhispers
Planning Commission denies rezone in East Riverside Corridor
Against staff’s recommendation, the Planning Commission on April 25 denied an application to rezone 5201 E. Riverside Drive as outside of the East Riverside Corridor. According to Andrew Moore, who is a senior planner with the city’s Planning and Zoning Department, he was prompted by another Riverside resident to look at staff records to see […]
Posted inLand Development Code
CodeNEXT review process to get makeover
With only a few months left to provide its recommendations on CodeNEXT, the Planning Commission is talking about scrapping staff’s prescribed review process for one of its own making. “I don’t think we’re going to get where we want to get with reviewing the code if we keep doing the status quo,” Chair Stephen Oliver […]
Posted inAISD
Teacher health care surfaces as key issue in AISD budget conversations
As the Austin Independent School District braces for a tough financial year, even by district standards, staff presented preliminary budget plans to the Board of Trustees at its regular meeting April 24. The rough waters are courtesy of Austin’s growth. Significant increases in the appraisal values of the city’s properties means that the district owes […]
Posted inAISD
No special election: AISD Board votes to appoint District 6 rep
In an emotional ceremony Monday night, the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees honored outgoing Vice President Paul Saldaña at his last official meeting as a board trustee. His colleagues made personal statements expressing their gratitude for Saldaña’s service and admiration for him as an individual, and AISD students performed musical numbers, giving his […]
Posted inThe Code
Land-use commissions unimpressed with CodeNEXT mapping
Ending a bit rougher than it began, the CodeNEXT map’s first day in the sun experienced some cloudiness in the evening when, during a joint work session, some of the land-use commissioners made cutting observations about the effort’s potential impact on neighborhood character, the city’s housing stock and economic segregation. On Tuesday, April 18, CodeNEXT […]
Posted inWhispers
Where’s T6?
At the joint work session of the land use commissions on April 18, agent Victoria Haase with Thrower Design spoke for developers everywhere when she raised concerns that the T6 transect, the highest-density category in CodeNEXT, did not appear in the current iteration of the map. “We were led to believe that T6 is what […]
Posted inPlanning
Convention center skybridge postponed by Planning Commission
A request seeking permission to construct a pedestrian skybridge connecting the Austin Convention Center and the Hilton Austin hotel downtown was postponed by the Planning Commission last week. The case, which the commission came close to denying altogether, will now be reviewed by the Downtown, Design and Urban Transportation commissions before returning to the Planning […]