As Austin voters wrangle with a mobility bond on the November ballot, city planners are gearing up to draft a new transportation policy road map to guide decisions for decades to come. Work on the Strategic Mobility Plan soft-launched earlier this year and will make its formal debut sometime in early 2017. The plan will […]
Planning
Posted inPlanning
New section of Guadalupe named activity corridor, despite neighborhood concerns
City Council designated a new section of Guadalupe Street as an activity corridor despite some neighborhood concerns, making its higher concentration of businesses, people and services official. The change came as part of a package of amendments to the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan, the city’s detailed 30-year plan that was adopted in 2012. The majority […]
Posted inTransit
Planning Commissioners raise concerns about proposed bus routes
Members of the Planning Commission raised concerns at a meeting last week in response to a presentation on the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s planned overhaul of bus routes. The ambitious 10-year plan, Connections 2025, aims to create a bus system that delivers more frequent service to more areas of the city, allowing more Austinites to […]
Posted inPlanning
Brentwood flag lot prompts density debate at Planning Commission
A short debate during a Tuesday meeting of the Planning Commission about a subdivision in the Brentwood neighborhood was a fitting example of the conflicting views on development at the center of city politics. Commissioner Karen McGraw voiced concern about a variance requested by a developer to subdivide a single-family lot at 5503 Jeff Davis […]
Posted inPlanning
Tovo pushes alternatives in lieu of fees-in-lieu
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo is pushing ahead in her efforts to steer the city’s density bonus programs in a new direction. Near the end of last year, she initiated a staff review of the current programs, suspecting that there was room for improvement. Neighborhood Housing and Community Development staff members presented their findings to […]
Posted inPlanning
Planning Commission votes to break Rainey Street covenant
It’s one of the most densely populated parts of the city, with nearby access to bike trails, downtown, public transit and Interstate 35, but development fights in the Rainey Street District have a familiar villain: traffic. Last week, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to remove a restrictive covenant in the heart of the district that […]
Posted inPlanning
Capitol view corridor dashes longshot hopes for county courthouse plan
The Texas Legislature has no interest in helping Travis County build a new civil courthouse across the street from its existing one if it means blocking protected views of the State Capitol, according to state Sen. Kirk Watson. “I don’t think there is any good chance that you would pass legislation that would do away […]
Posted inPlanning
East Austin’s boom: What to do? And how to do it?
As a first, necessary step toward addressing East Austin’s growth, the Planning Commission continues to look for a way to get a handle on the conversation about that growth. Commissioner Nuria Zaragoza, who sparked the latest discussion on the subject at last week’s Planning Commission meeting, explained that her agenda item was based on a […]
Posted inPlanning
Night Owl gets late-night permit
After a visit to the Planning Commission, Burnet Road’s Night Owl will indeed be open to night owls. Commissioners voted 9-2 last week to grant a Conditional Use Permit to the Night Owl bar at 8315 Burnet Road. The permit will allow the establishment to keep its cocktail lounge open until 2 a.m., on the […]
Posted inPlanning
Guadalupe amendment moves to Council without endorsement
Sometimes it’s easier to say what something isn’t than to say what it is. For example, not many people know what an “activity corridor” is under the Imagine Austin plan. But, for the time being, a section of Guadalupe is most certainly not an activity corridor, at least not officially. And though the city would […]
Posted inPlanning
County creates first PID, possibly setting up showdown with city of Austin
City Council is now on the clock to determine whether it wants to be the spoiler for Travis County’s first-ever public improvement district. The Commissioners Court voted on Tuesday to approve the creation of the WildHorse Ranch PID in far Northeast Austin. Because the project is within Austin’s city limits, Council now has 30 days […]
Posted inPlanning
Hyde Park neighborhood groups divided over future of Austin State Hospital
State leaders are considering selling the Austin State Hospital, a historic facility near the Hyde Park neighborhood, but residents are divided over the future of the site. After construction was completed in 1861, the Austin State Hospital becaome the first facility in Texas established to care for the mentally ill. But now, state lawmakers are […]