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Planning

Planning Commission wants AISD representative

The Planning Commission is looking into adding a new member to the dais to advise its members about how zoning changes might affect Austin schools. At a meeting Tuesday, Commissioner James Nortey said Austin Independent School District President Gina Hinojosa…

Ott splits Planning & Development Review Dept.

Like the couple that marries and divorces but marries again only to divorce a few years later, the Planning and Development Review Department is once again being broken into a neighborhood planning department and a development review department. In a…

Commission drops secrecy, shares legal opinion

After some deliberation, the Planning Commission has released the legal interpretation that clarifies how much discretion it must deny subdivisions that include required connections to streets, if the commission disagrees with the connections. The city’s legal opinion, according to a…

Explainer: The Zucker Report marginalia

There was a lot of unveiling in the Zucker Report. We saw that a third-party analysis of the City of Austin’s Planning and Development Review Department did, indeed, show what appears as evidence of multiple divisions in shambles, as had…

Council vote on Decker Golf contract uncertain

At least four members of City Council expressed an interest Tuesday in sending the question of whether the city should enter into the contract for a developer to create two PGA-class golf courses at Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park to…

Council takes small step in Garza case

Though they were only deciding one small detail of a decades-long fight over what was once the Garza Ranch, City Council members took hours to contemplate how many trips per day should be allowed on the last piece of land.…

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Planning Commission OKs Red Bluff Hotel variance

The Planning Commission approved a variance Tuesday that allows the developer of a proposed hotel on Red Bluff Road to build within the primary setbacks of the property, much to the dismay of neighboring residents. Commissioners had previously approved two…

Stealth dorm regulations head back to Council

The stealth dorm issue has lived to see another City Council. The Planning Commission took the next step to combat occupancy limit violations at its regular meeting last week. Commissioners voted unanimously to forward a recommendation from the Stealth Dorm…

Council limits Spicewood Springs project footprint

City Council voted Thursday to approve a zoning change that would allow a new professional office building on Spicewood Springs Road. Council limited the size of the structure to 12,000 square feet, despite protests from the applicants. The vote was…

Angry neighbors welcome Council to zoning

City Council heard its first zoning case on Thursday night. The hours-long battle between neighborhood and development interests on Burnet Road was, most likely, an accurate welcome to the process. In the end, plans for a multifamily project at 8528…

Red Bluff Hotel project will get a second chance

At their most recent meeting, Planning Commissioners took the unusual step of rescinding their previous vote on the planned Red Bluff Hotel. The vote to rescind was unanimous, though commissioners made it clear that they may not support the variance…

No-show is a no-go at the Board of Adjustment

The Board of Adjustment extended no favors to an East Cesar Chavez homeowner who failed to appear at its Monday night meeting. Instead, the board quickly voted against her request for a greater floor-to-area ratio than the McMansion Ordinance allows.…

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