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Historic Preservation Officer Steve Sadowsky updated the Downtown Commission on his ongoing historic survey of downtown’s warehouse district, one of the proactive measures Sadowsky’s office has initiated in recent months.   The Historic Preservation Office often receives demolition permits on potentially historic buildings, ones where the owner frequently claims he was unaware of the historic […]

The former True Ranch development, re-christened and re-developed as Mustang Valley, passed through Hays County Commissioners Court with a unanimous vote last week. The developers, Mimi and Russell Hinds, changed the scope of their initial project dramatically and water conservationist Joe Day spoke at length in favor of the development and its water management plan. […]

Council passed a complicated, yet brief, set of motions last week to approve zoning changes on two properties on East 11th Street corridor, while putting a third property on hold indefinitely at the request of the Austin Revitalization Authority.   The shorthand version of these motions is that the ARA plays a role in neither […]

What is usually a routine approval of an Austin Housing Finance Corporation project took on a different tone Thursday when Council Member Mike Martinez criticized the agency for the way it negotiated a contract.   Meeting as the AHFC’s Board of Directors, Martinez and other Council members were upset when they learned that the contractor […]

A number of people in Central Texas are criticizing this week’s ruling by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to deny a joint petition by the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District and the City of Austin, which proposed new rules prohibiting the discharge of pollutants into the watersheds of Onion and Barton Creeks. The TCEQ […]

Representatives of the Live Music Task Force presented their recommendations to the Austin City Council on Thursday. First and foremost on their list is the creation of a City Music Department to deal with, nurture and promote the local music industry.   While Task Force representatives admitted the economic downturn made it difficult to ask […]

The Austin City Council and dozens of firefighters welcomed new Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr at Thursday’s Council Meeting. The Council unanimously voted to ratify City Manager Marc Ott’s decision to hire Kerr for the top job at AFD. She is scheduled to start Feb. 2.   “She has impressed everyone, including us, with what […]

The Lower Colorado River Authority has approved an 84 percent increase in the impact fees it will change for wastewater water customers in western Travis County who want additional connections or service. At its monthly meeting on Wednesday, the LCRA Board also allocated $1.5 million to improve a pumping station in the same part of […]

The Water and Wastewater Commission voted 6-1 last night to recommend extending water and wastewater service to a controversial development on Vaught Ranch Road. The property owner proposes a development that would include a gas station and underground tanks on a lot that sits in Austin’s Extraterritorial Jurisdiction and in the Drinking Water Protection Zone. […]

Officials with the City of Austin’s Watershed Protection and Development Review department hope to have a contract signed by the end of the year with a consultant for remediation of an illegal dumpsite on city-owned property in East Austin. More than 70 tons of trash and debris have been removed from the 2.3-acre site in […]

A voluntary recycling program has cut the number of plastic bags heading to the city’s landfill in half, Council Member Lee Leffingwell said Tuesday. “Our goal by mid-2009 was to achieve a 50 percent reduction in the number of bags going to our landfill. That obviously is a combination of efforts,” Leffingwell told those gathered […]

After receiving advice from the counsel, the Zoning and Platting Commission voted Tuesday to recommend approval of a request for PUD zoning for the planned Wildflower Commons development in Southwest Austin. Save Our Springs Alliance Executive Director Bill Bunch raised several legal issues about the project, and commissioners went into an executive session to get […]