Tag Archives: City of Austin Environmental Commission
Environmental Commission recommends CodeNEXT drainage regulations with review
How many complaints on an issue are sufficient to warrant a change in city code? This question cropped up continually at the April 4 meeting of the Environmental Commission as commissioners worked to pass a resolution regarding CodeNEXT drainage regulations.…
Land Development Code • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 9, 2018
Commissions weigh use of parkland for stadium
In the face of a lawsuit brought against it by the Ohio attorney general and the city of Columbus to prevent it from relocating to Austin, Precourt Sports Ventures, the owner of the Columbus Crew SC Major League Soccer team,…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Mar 15, 2018
CodeNEXT Draft 3 makes significant changes to water-quality and drainage regulations
After months of waiting, last month the third and final staff draft of CodeNEXT was released. After allowing adequate reading time, on Feb. 21, Matt Hollon, the manager of the Watershed Protection Department Planning Division, gave the Environmental Commission an…
Land Development Code • By Jessi Devenyns • Mar 2, 2018
FEMA grants Austin funding to help fix Guerrero Park
Eight months ago, Austin’s Watershed Protection Department optimistically declared that the washed-out bridge over what’s known as Country Club Creek West in Roy G. Guerrero Colorado River Park would be completed by 2020. Unfortunately, now the plan has been shifted back…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Feb 26, 2018
Council approves Champion tract deal
By a one-vote margin, City Council on Thursday gave its blessing to the controversial Champion development. Mayor Steve Adler, along with Council members Greg Casar, Pio Renteria, Delia Garza, Jimmy Flannigan and Ellen Troxclair, voted to approve an amendment to…
Planning • By Jack Craver • Feb 16, 2018
Environmental Commission rejects Champion tract amendments
After years of lawsuits related to the development of the Champion tract, proposed amendments to the original 1996 development agreement will go to City Council without the Environmental Commission’s blessing. “We are here to tell you what the best environmental…
Planning • By Jessi Devenyns • Jan 23, 2018
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Environmental Commission weighs options, recommends boat dock variance
It is always difficult to plan a project. However, conventional wisdom suggests that when three construction options exist, you pick the path of least resistance and do not select the choice that requires you to seek a variance from City…
Planning • By Jessi Devenyns • Jan 19, 2018
Environmental Commission recommends Hooters PUD
Unable to wait for the codification of the new South Central Waterfront Vision Framework Plan and its associated environmental standards, eager builders came to the Environmental Commission on Jan. 3 in pursuit of a planned unit development on the site…
Zoning • By Jessi Devenyns • Jan 18, 2018
Environmental Commission recommends Watershed Department issue a middle-of-the-road bond in 2018
The beginning of 2018 marked the beginning of a bond election year. At the latest meeting of the Environmental Commission, the Watershed Protection Department presented plans to ask the public for help conserving Austin’s environment through the acquisition of green…
Environment • By Jessi Devenyns • Jan 15, 2018
Environmental Commission moves Onion Creek buyout plan forward
Over four years after the 2013 Halloween floods racked the Onion Creek neighborhoods, the Environmental Commission voted unanimously at its Dec. 6 meeting to approve staff’s recommendation to move forward with 128 buyouts of houses at immediate risk of flooding…
Austin • By Joseph Caterine • Dec 13, 2017
Request for lakefront bulkhead variance creates new questions
It’s not often that a request for a variance from the city’s code has no predecessors against which it can be compared. At the Environmental Commission meeting on Nov. 15, this unlikely scenario became reality. Janis Smith, civil engineer and…
Planning • By Jessi Devenyns • Nov 22, 2017
Environmental Commission defers CodeNEXT 2.0 recommendation
With the third draft of CodeNEXT slated to be presented to the public on Nov. 28, Watershed Protection Department staff hoped to receive a recommendation of approval from the Environmental Commission for the completed second draft on Nov. 1. However,…
