Michael Kanin

The west campus neighborhood group fighting to stop a huge “remodeling” project in their neighborhood has won another round. Their victory came in front of the Board of Adjustment, which upheld much of their appeal against a redevelopment project on David Street Monday night.   That decision, which came in four separate motions, found that […]

Development in southwest Austin would proceed without the benefit (or curse) of State Highway 45 (SH45) if the Travis County Commissioners Court prevails. With a 3-1 vote, commissioners voted Tuesday to approve asking for removal of that stretch of road from both the 2035 CAMPO transportation plan and “all proposed funding from the CAMPO transportation […]

The Building and Fire Code Board of Appeals took two separate actions this week that may well have an effect on how Austin defines the term remodel. In the first, they upheld a stop work order that had been issued for a property at 1915 David Street. The board also voted in favor of an […]

The City of Austin continues to wrestle with how to approach development in the areas covered by the 1992 Save Our Springs (SOS) ordinance. The most recent pertinent case came before a subcommittee of the Environmental Board on Tuesday. Though officials there were able to narrow their options down to a list of three, no […]

The Public Safety Commission took its turn on the budget merry-go-round Monday when it received initial requests from all three of the city’s emergency services departments. The police offered up a wish list that amounted to $13 million in hoped for increases, EMS sought $2 million in additional funds, and the fire department set their […]

The Council moved closer Thursday to extending the franchise agreements for Austin’s taxi cab firms, voting on second reading to renew them, with a third reading still to come. However, Council Member Bill Spelman remained a holdout, concerned about locking the city into a long-term agreement during which problems with the cab companies could not […]

The approval of a construction deal for Austin Energy’s new System Control Center has been put on hold thanks to Council concerns about minority business enterprise (MBE/WBE) involvement. The delay came as representatives of Hispanic and African-American contractors told the body that they’d been left out of the process.   The project, which will be […]

As anticipated, both of the city’s major utilities need to raise more money as a result of rising costs and projected budget shortfalls.   Under a scenario discussed at yesterday’s special called meeting of the City Council, Austin Energy customers can expect to pay less than a dollar a month more in the coming year […]

Three City Council members expressed doubts Tuesday about whether the city should be moving at full steam toward a November 2010 bond election. Council Members Sheryl Cole, Laura Morrison, and Bill Spelman took the opportunity to air their concerns about the pace of things at yesterday’s meeting of the Audit and Finance Committee.   The […]

The city’s Transportation Department has unveiled what it would like to see adopted as the process for setting priorities for a proposed November transportation bond election. The plan, a five-step offering that would use a weighted matrix to arrive at its final determinations, is scheduled to go before the Council on Thursday.   If adopted, […]

In a move that signaled its willingness to use its power to encourage business development, the Zoning and Platting Commission last week voted to approve a change in the conditional overlay for a piece of property located close to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The new rules will allow for many more types of commercial use, reducing […]

The inability of Capital Metro to pay the City of Austin in full for a host of infrastructure improvements is going to leave taxpayers with yet another ancillary cost. As part of its approval of a gradual repayment deal between the transportation organization and the city, the City Council heard Thursday that Austin would likely […]