The City of Austin and Travis County are both preparing to expand their ongoing programs to buy and demolish the homes of residents who live in flood-prone areas. And with last week’s severe flooding in the Onion Creek 25-year flood plain, both the city and the county say they are stepping up their programs. […]
Development
Posted inDevelopment
Leffingwell appoints committee to explore Innovation District
Mayor Lee Leffingwell, using descriptions such as “a catalyst for long-term prosperity” and “creating the Austin of the future,” set high expectations for an Innovation District being planned just west of the future Dell Medical School Campus at the University of Texas. Leffingwell, speaking at the Downtown Austin Alliance-hosted breakfast on Wednesday, announced the […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Government, Transportation
Commissioners vote to move heritage tree for road expansion
After assurances that the state would pay for most of the cost, Travis County Commissioners voted Tuesday to remove and transplant a 30-inch Heritage Oak tree standing in the way of an expansion of Frate Barker Road in South Austin. Commissioners had postponed a vote last week on approving the $9 million contract to […]
Posted inDevelopment, Elections
Austin voters approve Affordable Housing bonds by wide margin
City of Austin voters handily approved $65 million in affordable housing bonds Tuesday. The vote recharges an Affordable Housing program left without a clear funding path after $70-million-plus ballot question failed at the polls in 2012. At the end of the evening, more than 60 percent of those voting cast ballots in favor of […]
Posted inDevelopment
Arizona wins new Apple manufacturing plant
Apple announced Monday that it plans to open a manufacturing operation in a Phoenix suburb that will eventually create up to 2,000 jobs making sapphire glass for a number of the company’s products. The deal was announced Monday by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who said that the project will create more than 700 permanent jobs […]
Posted inDevelopment
Judges Hill neighbors dispute calculation of support for district
After five years of work, Old Judges Hill may very well be Austin’s next Local Historic District, but not everyone in the neighborhood thinks that’s a good idea. Proponents and opponents of the change spoke their piece at the Historic Landmark Commission last week, and though the commission approved the historic district zoning, serious […]
Posted inDevelopment
Landmark Commission recommends Historic status for East Austin home
With a bid for historic zoning underway, perhaps one property in central East Austin will keep its neighborhood identity for the time being. The house, which is located at 805 Lydia Street, was built by Eloy and Soledad Guajardo in the 1940s. Born in Mexico, the couple ran Guajardo’s Cash Grocery next door, which was […]
Posted inDevelopment
Landmark Commission rejects Crestview bid to designate home
Some Crestview Neighborhood residents were left crestfallen at Monday night’s Historic Landmark Commission meeting after their bid to designate the McKown-James House fell flat. The commission voted to initiate the historic zoning process at its Sept. 9 meeting, despite opposition from the owner. However, Monday’s meeting ended with the commission opting not to preserve […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Government
Austin may be competing with Phoenix for new Apple facility
Phoenix and Austin could be in competition again, this time in a race to lure Apple to manufacture computers in a local facility with the possibility of hundreds of jobs and millions in economic development to either region. An article in the Phoenix Business Journal Monday quoted unnamed sources in the commercial real estate […]
Posted inDevelopment
Planning Commission OKs daycare with restrictions, reservations
The Planning Commission threw its unanimous support behind a proposed Central Austin daycare last week despite some reservations about the viability of the business plan. The commission voted in favor of a change at 4505 IH-35 from SF-3 to Limited Office zoning, adding a conditional overlay that requires an 8-foot fence and limited vehicle […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Politics
Council approves fund to preserve heritage of Rainey Street District
Though they ultimately voted unanimously to create a Rainey Street District Fund from collection of development fees, it took at fair amount of bickering for City Council members to get there last week. It remains to be seen exactly how much money will go into the fund, but that was only a part of the […]
Posted inDevelopment, Environment
Environmental Board denies variance, orders fill removed from lot
Though it has been in place for years, the Environmental Board definitively shut down a variance request that would have allowed a huge amount of fill to remain in northeast Austin. Instead, the board recommended that that fill be removed, despite protests from the owner. The board voted 5-1 to deny the variance, with […]