City Council took a few hours Tuesday afternoon to respond to the second draft of the revised Land Development Code in light of a new zoning map, a recalibrated density bonus program and reduced overall housing capacity. Last Friday, Jan. 31, the city’s Land Development Code revision team released the draft after consideration of 199 […]
Land Development Code
Posted inLand Development Code
Austin releases reworked land code ahead of second of three votes to finalize
The Austin City Council released the second draft of its Land Development Code Friday, the latest step in the city’s more than half-decade-long attempt to update the rules determining what can be built in the city and where. “The code and map released today reflects changes requested through Council direction from December, with a focus […]
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Planners seeking the ‘missing middle’ in zoning
During the past 10 years, only about 2 percent of housing units built in Austin fell within what planners call the “missing middle,” according to planners rewriting the city’s Land Development Code. Annick Beaudet and Laura Keating, who reported to the Council Housing Committee on Tuesday, said their team had made that discovery while researching […]
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Real Estate Council warns of potential land use code pitfalls
Members of the Real Estate Council of Austin believe their input was largely ignored when the city made its last major attempt at a Land Development Code revision under CodeNEXT. At a Land Development Code luncheon Wednesday, Geoffrey Tahuahua, the organization’s vice president of policy and government affairs, said that’s a big reason CodeNEXT ultimately […]
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BOA denies a new build designed for a new decade
When the first Lake Austin Watershed Ordinance went into effect in 1980, some properties had development rights curtailed overnight. The property at 2803 Edgewater Drive is one of those cases where the ordinance limited the buildable area on the property’s steep slopes to 196 feet. With such a small percentage of the three-acre lot classified […]
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Draft Land Development Code approved on first reading
Wrapping up a three-day effort, City Council approved the draft Land Development Code text and map on first reading in a 7-4 vote Wednesday afternoon. In accordance with Council direction, the code revision team will now work to compile and publish the revised code text and map as quickly as possible to allow time for […]
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Council sets off on long journey to code adoption
City Council took its first go at a first reading of the draft Land Development Code on Monday. Due both to the scope of the issue and scheduling conflicts, that attempt will now be spread out over today and Wednesday, but Council members managed to get through most of the amendments directly related to residential […]
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White homeowners dominate input over Austin’s land code rewrite. One group is trying to change that.
More than 100 people sat in Austin City Hall chambers just past 10 a.m. on Saturday, gearing up to share their thoughts about the city’s rewrite of its Land Development Code. Council Member Alison Alter, who represents part of Northwest Austin, took a photo from her seat on the dais and posted it to Twitter, […]
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Chief appraiser says market will determine whether code rewrite changes property values
City Council got some clarity Tuesday on the issue of property valuations under the Land Development Code rewrite. Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler of the Travis Central Appraisal District joined Council’s work session to offer context to a conversation Council members began last month. Addressing the main point of contention over the link between zoning entitlements […]
Posted inHousing
ULI sees progress on affordability, with drawbacks, in latest LDC draft
Urban Land Institute Austin has weighed in on the draft Land Development Code, with a white paper that asserts the city’s proposed changes in housing types, design standards and affordable housing programs won’t go far enough to add enough new housing to make the city more affordable. The paper, which was released earlier this month, […]
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Garza says code needs ‘equity overlay’ to address historic development patterns
Reading through the draft Land Development Code over the last several weeks, Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza noted that, for all its pages and nuance, the draft has a blind spot around housing equity. Realizing there was no single tool to address displacement of the city’s most vulnerable residents, Garza consulted with her office and […]
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Land Development Code: Density and impervious cover
With the first reading of the new Land Development Code draft expected by Council in two short weeks, the Watershed Protection Department is working to finalize its recommendations. Despite the tight timeline, Environmental Officer Chris Herrington told the Environmental Commission at its Nov. 20 meeting that his staffers have achieved a task he had previously […]