City Council has voted to authorize spending what is supposed to be the final chunk of money allocated for the consultants hired to craft CodeNEXT, the rewrite of the city’s Land Development Code. The $2.27 million will go to Opticos Design Inc., the California-based consulting firm in charge of the rewrite, as well as a […]
Land Development Code
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We collected your CodeNEXT fears. And then tried to fact-check them.
Nearly 100 people crammed into a back room of a South Austin lodge to hear Mayor Steve Adler tackle some boring stuff. Made up mostly of members of the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association, the audience sat in cushioned beige chairs looking at times angry, confused and tired. When the seats were full, neighbors leaned against […]
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Commission casts aside CodeNEXT timeline
A code rewrite is by nature a precarious undertaking, where even an informal conversation can trigger a tectonic shift in the entire process. At its Oct. 10 meeting, the Planning Commission played around with the idea of shifting gears to a different timeline for CodeNEXT. “I don’t think this commission should be worried at all […]
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Misgivings clear the way for an East Austin ADU
Doubts about CodeNEXT and a belief in the capricious nature of city staff added up to a win for the future of an East Austin accessory dwelling unit at the most recent meeting of the Board of Adjustment. Jim Wittliff spoke on the behalf of Guillermo Sach Sanchez, who owns the property at 2017 E. […]
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Push on at Council to delay CodeNEXT vote
Council Member Leslie Pool is pushing to further delay a vote on CodeNEXT, the controversial rewrite of Austin’s Land Development Code that is already years behind schedule. In a message to fellow City Council members Monday evening, Pool suggested rethinking the April deadline that Council had informally set for final adoption of the new code. […]
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Mapping CodeNEXT: Units and Height
Austin’s proposed land use code rewrite would line major city corridors with narrow strips of dense, mixed-use development zoning. But just behind those ribbons of mixed-use street design, vast swaths of Central Austin neighborhoods would remain much less dense. These two effects are brought into stark light by two new interactive maps produced for the […]
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The new ‘old code’ zoning category makes waves at commission
If adopted, CodeNEXT will be a total rewrite of the Land Development Code, but as comprehensive as the revisions will be, remnants of the old code will remain. At their Oct. 3 joint meeting, the land use commissions learned about the proposed zoning category for these vestiges of the current code: Former Title 25, or […]
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CodeNEXT 2.0 facilitates affordable housing, but where?
The Halloween deadline for CodeNEXT’s third draft recommendations is closing in for the land use commissions, and the sense of urgency that has driven the review process thus far teetered on full-blown panic at Tuesday’s joint meeting. The new land use code’s promises, like enough affordable housing to meet the Strategic Housing Blueprint’s goals, continue […]
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Will CodeNEXT help protect against the next big flood?
When Hurricane Harvey inundated Houston last month, the city’s flood mitigation deficiencies came under fire. In Austin, the Halloween Floods of 2013 and 2015 raised similar questions about Austin’s infrastructure, so commissioners at the Sept. 19 joint land use meeting grilled consultants and staff on how the second draft of CodeNEXT would improve protections before […]
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Commissioners poke holes in consultant’s housing capacity predictions
Austinites would like CodeNEXT to solve a lot of the city’s problems, and the housing crisis is chief among those problems. At the Sept. 19 meeting of the joint land use commissions, John Fregonese of Fregonese Associates claimed that the second draft of CodeNEXT would put enough carrots out on sticks to surpass the goals […]
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CodeNEXT 2.0 is here, but supplemental materials are missing
At the Sept. 19 joint land use commissions meeting, the dazzling presentations detailing the new aspects of the second CodeNEXT draft could not overshadow supplemental information that was missing. Commissioners expressed frustration with city staff and consultants who they said had not followed through on prior requests for supportive data. The Planning and Zoning and […]
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Second draft of CodeNEXT allows more housing in more places, city says
Austin is releasing a second draft of CodeNEXT, the city’s rewrite of its Land Development Code, today. “We are really excited about the new draft coming out,” Peter Park of Opticos Design, a consultant hired by the city, told City Council members during a preview of the new draft last week. Park said the second […]