Board of Adjustment members are mulling over whether a recent increase in fees is fair to neighborhood associations, but they aren’t yet ready to offer any solutions. A cost-of-service study from September 2015 evaluated the fees charged by the city for planning and review activities related to cases brought before the Board of Adjustment. At […]
City of Austin Board of Adjustment
The city’s Board of Adjustment is a quasi-judicial body that decides on variances, special exceptions and can issue interpretations of code.
Posted inLand Development Code
Designed to be neighborly, porch fuels animosity
A still-pending variance request may have seemed simple enough at first glance, but on Austin’s East Side, issues of gentrification are never far away. And at the Board of Adjustment, unhappy neighbors are usually on hand as well. At the board’s most recent meeting, Justin Cofield was seeking a variance that would change his front […]
Posted inLand Development Code
STR prohibition proves popular in variance case
With new regulations for short-term rentals in the works, the topic of STRs has become subtext in any number of seemingly unrelated development cases in the city. This was certainly the case at the most recent Board of Adjustment meeting, when an East Austin request for variances turned into a brief discussion about STRs. With […]
Posted inLand Development Code
West Austin variance case troubles some neighbors
This month, the Board of Adjustment will take another look at a West Austin case that has some (but not all) neighbors disturbed. Phil Moncada represented Lee Ann Concienne before the board. Concienne is seeking several variances for her home at 2805 Warren St. in order to retain a pool, deck, pergola and covered concrete […]
Posted inCourts
Casa de Luz heads to court
It’s time to add another stanza to the Casa de Luz epic. The parking issues are now moving to district court after a variance request and appeal were denied by the Board of Adjustment. The Board of Adjustment is a quasi-judicial board, and its decisions cannot be appealed to City Council. So the Shambala Corp., […]
Posted inPlanning
BoA strikes a balance in West Austin
“Please let my mom have her screened-in porch.” Gavin Clarkson offered up that plea at Monday night’s Board of Adjustment meeting. His mother, Atelia Clarkson, is seeking a variance to decrease the side setback at her 2005 Tower Drive home from five feet to zero feet, increase the allowed impervious cover from 45 percent to […]
Posted inLand Development Code
BoA fails to get past cinder block wall
Fences might make for good neighbors, but apparently 9-foot-tall cinder block walls are another matter entirely. At their last meeting, Board of Adjustment members considered a variance for a wall that has already been constructed along Speedway at 101 W. 32nd St., which is on the corner of West 32nd Street and Speedway. The homeowner, […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Casa de Luz parking troubles back at City Hall
It’s been a while since Casa de Luz was at City Hall, but the business and its parking woes were back, albeit briefly, at last week’s Board of Adjustment meeting. This time, founder Eduardo Longoria was at the Board of Adjustment seeking a parking variance to reduce the number of required spaces from 46 to […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Clarksville home gets its basement at the BoA
Though not everyone was thrilled by the news, plans for a new home in Clarksville are moving forward as proposed after a variance from the Board of Adjustment. Matt Fajkus, who is the architect for the project, spoke on behalf of Jennifer Parker, the owner of 806 Patterson Ave. He explained that they were requesting […]
Posted inLand Development Code
BoA tempers West Austin parking plan
A West Austin homeowner hoping to expand his house will also have to find room for a parking space, after a semi-successful visit to the Board of Adjustment. Heidi Goebel, who is an architect (and former Board of Adjustment member), explained that in the time since owner Todd O’Neil bought the house at 809 Norwalk […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Music school wins parking reduction variance
A future music school earned a parking reduction variance from the city of Austin’s Board of Adjustment two weeks ago when attorney David Cancialosi successfully argued that parking compliance would have run the property afoul of the city’s Save Our Springs Ordinance. Cancialosi was representing property owners Shana and Dave Guidi, who requested a parking […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Griffin School wins variances, though protests lingered
The Griffin School has finally received its variances from the city of Austin’s Board of Adjustment. Board members voted unanimously to amend a previous variance that decreased the minimum street width requirements for the school, which is located at 5000 Martin Ave., from 40 feet to about 27 feet, attaching a condition raising the cap on […]