CodeNEXT Citizens Advisory Group Chair Jim Duncan and Vice Chair Dave Sullivan join Austin Monitor publisher Mike Kanin to chat about the rewrite of Austin’s Land Development Code. Sponsored by Austin Water. Post is embedded below. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/297387360″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
City of Austin Land Development Code
The city’s Land Development Code regulates building and development in the city of Austin.
Council reaches compromise on charter school land use debate
Last week, City Council voted to apply the same development standards to charter schools that were already required of local public schools, ending months of emotionally charged debate on the issue. In a 7-1-2 vote, with Council Member Ellen Troxclair opposed, Council members Sheri Gallo and Don Zimmerman abstaining and Council Member Delia Garza off […]
Charter school fight headed to City Hall
With an ordinance on the table that could mean an end for their current site plan exemptions, some Austin charter schools aren’t waiting for the fight to come to them. Austin Achieve Public Schools, Goodwill Central Texas, Harmony Public Schools, IDEA Public Schools, KIPP Austin Public Schools, Montessori for All, NYOS Charter School and Wayside […]
Unresolved PUD changes spark Council fight
As has been widely reported by now, civility lost its way at last Thursday’s City Council meeting, culminating with a tweet from Council Member Leslie Pool. That tweet, since deleted, read, “So maybe this is the nail in Gallo’s coffin.” It was posted as tensions, and subtext, ran high during a heated discussion about proposed […]
Citizens plead for affordability from CodeNEXT
About 30 members of the public took the opportunity Tuesday night to address CodeNEXT, the citizens advisory group for rewriting Austin’s land development code. The majority of those speaking asked the panel to do something about Austin’s affordability problems. “We believe that Austin is in a housing crisis,” said Eric Goff of the advocacy group […]
Planning Commission OKs porch change
There were a lot of long discussions at the most recent meeting of the Planning Commission, but the discussion about changing the city’s Land Development Code in order to allow a more liberal approach to porches wasn’t one of them. The code amendment will allow street-facing porches to encroach 5 feet into the side-yard setback […]
Are digital billboards coming to Austin?
To date, Austin’s billboards have remained as static as the code that regulates them. But some are calling for changes that could allow digital billboards in the city. On Monday, members of the City Council Public Safety Committee voted to send those changes to the consultants engaged in the CodeNEXT Land Development Code rewrite to […]
Planning Commissioners vote to expand powers
Last night, the Planning Commission made clear its power in regard to connectivity and subdivisions. It opted to keep recently controversial code language as-is, and instead offered up a new interpretation of that code. Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of an interpretation of 25-4-151 that will allow the commission discretion to depart from street connectivity in […]
Adler promises to change building permit process
Speaking to a receptive audience at the Real Estate Council of Austin on Wednesday, Mayor Steve Adler said he and his colleagues intend to make sure that they fix problems in the city’s development and permitting process sooner rather than later. In response to the highly critical Zucker Report on the city’s slow, complicated and […]
Accessory dwelling unit change stalls in committee
The City of Austin wants to make it easier for residents to establish accessory dwelling units — or ADUs — such as garage apartments on their property in order to create more housing in the city center. At Tuesday’s meeting of the Planning Commission’s Committee on Codes and Ordinances, residents spoke out against the changes primarily […]
Council resolution would move city closer to allowing very small units
The City of Austin may soon designate a clear path within its Land Development Code for residents to legally construct and dwell in very small houses pending approval of a resolution to be voted on at today’s regular Austin City Council meeting. According to the draft discussed at Tuesday’s Council work session, the resolution would direct City […]
Ingle accuses Land Development Code panel member of ethics violation
Neighborhood activist Mary Ingle heightened the controversy around the city’s Land Development Code rewrite process Thursday by alleging that a member of the committee working on the rewrite has violated city ethics rules. In a sworn complaint, Ingle alleges that Melissa Neslund, who serves on the city’s Land Development Code Advisory Committee, has violated city […]
