A decision by the Zoning and Platting Commission Tuesday to push a zoning case hearing back to April could jeopardize an opportunity for the city to annex a 42-acre lot south of FM 2222. The heavily wooded property, east of Lake Travis at the end of Milky Way Drive, is located within the boundary of […]
Planning
Posted inPlanning
Bowie High School development plan nullified by new survey
Technological advancements are generally welcomed with open arms thanks to their potential to save time, money and recalculations. Unfortunately, applying these new capabilities to work done almost three decades ago can reveal errors that throw carefully negotiated plans out the door. In 2017, City Council approved a plan that would swap impervious cover from three […]
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Planning Commission rebukes city staff in Blackland rezoning
The Planning Commission voted to endorse five townhouses just south of Manor Road despite a recommendation from city staff against the development. The property at 2107 Alamo St. is currently occupied by an aging duplex. The owner, Anmol Mehra, wants to demolish the existing structure and replace it with five townhouses. He has promised to […]
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Brush Square Master Plan gets wholehearted approval from HLC
Brush Square may be the least memorable of the four original squares designed as part of the 1839 Waller Plan. Today, thanks to a new master plan, that may be about to change. Kim McKnight, a planner with the Parks and Recreation Department, came to the Feb. 25 meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission to present […]
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Commission drills down on Grove at Shoal Creek park plans
After years of contentious planning, the Grove at Shoal Creek has broken ground and begun construction on the first two blocks of residences of this mixed-use development in central Northwest Austin. The plan for the accompanying parkland remains under discussion. At the Feb. 26 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board, Robert Deegan, a partner at […]
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Landmark commissioners say they feel double-crossed over West Austin property
Despite a local homeowner and the city spending months compromising, negotiating and working to comply with suggestions from Austin’s Historic Preservation Office, Historic Landmark commissioners were flabbergasted Monday night at the final plans for a multimillion-dollar home in Old West Austin. After the Historic Preservation Office failed to get a supermajority at Council to designate […]
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Board of Adjustment seeks neighborly consent for variance
There are occasions when even though the Board of Adjustment deems a request reasonable, procedure dictates that it is unable to approve the request. Such a petition came before the BoA at its Feb. 11 meeting, when the homeowner of 7309 Bennett Ave. in the St. Johns neighborhood requested to convert the home into an […]
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Boat dock variance dredges up concerns at the Board of Adjustment
There are occasions when, regardless of how a homeowner may redesign, reorient or reimagine a site, there is simply no option to make a project code-compliant. That still doesn’t mean that the request for a variance will be supported. This scenario came up at the Feb. 11 meeting of the Board of Adjustment, pertaining to […]
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Scraped lots are not entitled to variances because of tree placement
Generally, when trees are the cause of a variance request, the Board of Adjustment is quite accommodating. After all, considering all the good trees do for the environment and the city’s stringent protections for them, it can be difficult for homeowners simply to remove them. Still, despite this historical pattern, the Board of Adjustment does not […]
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Del Valle PID moves forward, but county is not done negotiating
The petition to create the Velocity Crossing Public Improvement District in Del Valle was unanimously approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court Tuesday morning after its third and final public hearing. As the county’s first commercial PID, the development has raised a number of concerns over the past several weeks about what distinguishes this PID […]
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Citing density concerns, West Austin lot receives recommendation for subdivision
After purchasing his home in May 2016 under the assumption that the city would permit him to subdivide his 3.2-acre lot into two 1.6-acre lots, Rick Engel, the owner of Ski Shores restaurant, found himself still pleading his case almost three years later. His lot, which sits at 6910 West Courtyard Drive, is a long property […]
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Council weighs mixed messages from staff on car dealership
City Council approved a request Thursday to provide water and wastewater service to a car dealership in northwest Travis County over the objections of the city’s Watershed Protection Department. The car lot, 620 Volvo Dealership, is going to be built whether or not the service extension request (SER) is granted, said Jeff Howard, an agent […]