In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the land use commissions questioned staff on how CodeNEXT would address local flooding at their Aug. 29 joint meeting. “Austin came real close to having another catastrophe this (past) weekend. Real close,” Zoning and Platting Commissioner Ana Aguirre said at the meeting. The storm event has opened up a […]
Joseph Caterine
Posted inEducation
Trustees cast doubt on success of UT partnership program
At its Aug. 28 meeting, the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees approved an interlocal agreement with the University of Texas at Austin to renew the Literacy First program at 22 Austin schools for the coming school year, but not without a few trustees raising questions about whether the program is delivering a return […]
Posted inPlanning
Limits of land use code exposed in unique zoning case
An application for commercial zoning at the corner of a North Austin neighborhood elicited a tiresome recommendation from the Zoning and Platting Commission at its Aug. 15 meeting. Commissioners had to go item by item through a list of zoning district uses, almost as if they were crafting a new zone, before signing off on […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Commission finds itself at CodeNEXT crossroads
Only a few weeks before the scheduled release of CodeNEXT Draft 2.0, the Planning Commission at its Aug. 22 meeting took a step outside of business as usual and considered the alternatives in proceeding with the revamp of the city’s land use code. After the release of the first CodeNEXT draft, the Planning Commission decided […]
Posted inZoning
Mosaic Sound Collective one step closer to East Austin campus
Tuesday night, the Planning Commission voted to approve recommendations for the rezoning of a property in East Austin that would allow for the expansion of a local music collective’s campus, despite some commissioners’ wariness of how the upzoning might attract development less amenable to Austin’s endangered resident artists. Mosaic Sound Collective, a for-profit/nonprofit hybrid formed […]
Posted inAISD
Crowd demands answers from AISD trustee at east side rally
Austin Independent School District Trustee Jayme Mathias struggled to find common ground with parents, teacher assistants and other community members at the Save East Austin Schools rally Wednesday night. The event was organized by Bertha Delgado and Monica Sanchez, who asked attendees to sign up for a political action committee that would lobby Austinites to […]
Posted inThe Code
Former Code director’s delay put STR renewals in limbo
The former Code Department Director Carl Smart’s decision to pause judgment of several appeals from Type 2 short-term rental owners became clear over the course of the July 26 meeting of the Building and Standards Commission, over a year after many of the appellants’ licenses had expired. “I don’t want to say he was stalling,” […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Commissioners spar on definition of family-friendly housing
With a school district facing cases of severe under-enrollment, it has become clear that the city needs to do more to cater to younger families and especially to provide housing that suits their needs. CodeNEXT, currently being mulled over by the land use commissions, offers a unique opportunity to change direction and ensure that Austin […]
Posted inPlanning
Flag lots could be making a comeback
There’s more to CodeNEXT than zoning, believe it or not, and last week the land use commissions received an update from staff on non-zoning changes that would be part of the rewrite’s second draft, with the hottest item of discussion being the loosening of flag lot regulations. The subdivision tool, intended to facilitate infill and […]
Posted inAustin
Commission asks if curfew ordinance does any good
Austin and the United States at large share a history of law enforcement policy discriminating against non-white people, and Monday night Human Rights commissioners Sukyi McMahon and Kristian Caballero invited Texas Appleseed staff and community members to help them answer whether the city’s curfew ordinance was a step in the direction of fair and just […]
Posted inWhispers
Human Rights Commission adopts goals for 2017-18
Sticking with its goals from last year for the most part, the Human Rights Commission did make some changes for the upcoming year at its July 24 meeting. The objectives for the previous year included community engagement, best practices, disparate access, engagement with the Austin Police Department, and to “address community issues specific to race, […]
Posted inLand Development Code
CodeNEXT divides commission, spurs review of recommendation process
No city commission has been as prolific in its criticism of CodeNEXT than the Zoning and Platting Commission, and the commission fired off another letter of recommendation at its July 18 meeting in an effort to get feedback in before the release of draft 2.0 in September. After half a year of intense scrutiny over […]