City ordinances prohibiting panhandling in certain areas, criminalizing camping in public places, living in a car or tent, or sitting or lying on the sidewalk in parts of downtown are creating barriers that make it more difficult for people to overcome homelessness. That’s the conclusion of an audit from the Office of the City Auditor […]
The Code
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Alter: Council is letting garbage company rewrite lobbying rules
City Council Member Alison Alter said Tuesday that her colleagues were allowing one company to rewrite city lobbying rules, suggesting that an ongoing rewrite of the Anti-Lobbying Ordinance was largely the result of bullying by Texas Disposal Systems, a waste hauler that has accused city lobbying regulations of infringing on its First Amendment rights. Alter’s […]
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Possible lobbying ordinance changes headed to Council
The Ethics Review Commission approved a series of recommendations for how to amend the city’s Anti-Lobbying Ordinance, portions of which have been criticized as too vague or unfair by solid waste and other contractors who regularly do business with the city. The recommendations on issues such as a no-contact period prior to selection of vendors […]
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BoA denies digital billboard end run
Another attempt to legalize digital billboards in Austin was shot down last week. This time, the Board of Adjustment was the arena for a battle that has been going on in Austin for years. Under current city regulations, billboards are not allowed, though existing billboards can remain in place as nonconforming signs. Over the years, […]
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Council continues to wait on new lobbying rules
On Thursday, Council Member Leslie Pool, who has been leading efforts to make changes to the city’s Anti-Lobbying Ordinance, told her colleagues that stakeholders are close to reaching an agreement over new rules. “We’re achieving really good progress,” she said. City Council voted in April to waive the Anti-Lobbying Ordinance for waste contracts, with the […]
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BoA backs staff on Lake Austin wall
At its most recent meeting, the Board of Adjustment ruled against a Lake Austin homeowner hoping to overturn a staff decision and retain their wall. Though board members expressed sympathy for a frustrating experience with the city and heard testimony that the wall fell under suspicion after complaints by an irritable neighbor, they voted unanimously […]
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Regulation Vacation: City collects taxes from unlawful Airbnbs
Becca Dobberfuhl has a name for her Bouldin Creek home. “It’s all this rusty, rusty, rusty color,” she said. “And the house is a modern house and it has a box-like look to it so we call it the ‘Rusty Box.’” Users of short-term rental company Airbnb can pay to stay in the “Rusty Box” […]
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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,” […]
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Signs fail to point the way at Planning Commission
Though it hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, local sign regulations could drastically change with the implementation of CodeNEXT. While that is still a ways away, that didn’t stop the image of Austin’s homey neighborhoods being overrun by digital billboards from haunting the review of a draft code amendment at last week’s Planning Commission meeting. […]
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Historic Landmark Commission reforms hit a bump
Despite an agreement across sides that the current process is “Kafkaesque,” the Planning Commission did not vote to support an amendment that would change the number of Historic Landmark commissioners it takes to recommend historic zoning over the objections of property owners. Currently, the Historic Landmark Commission must recommend historic zoning in such cases with […]
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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 […]
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Austin Monitor Radio: CodeNEXT consultants John Miki and Peter Park
CodeNEXT consultants John Miki and Peter Park join Monitor publisher Mike Kanin for a chat about the city of Austin’s Land Development Code rewrite. The show is embedded below: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/319106446″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]