Alternative facts? In our media? It’s more likely than you think… Over the weekend, Zoning and Platting Commissioner Jim Duncan seized the rhetorical zeitgeist in a letter to City Council members, wherein he warned them that the commission had not, as initially reported by the Austin Business Journal, “reject(ed) Milestone Community Builders’ request to rezone a portion of […]
City of Austin Zoning and Platting Commission
The City of Austin’s Zoning and Platting Commission addresses issues of land use as assigned to it by Austin’s City Code. It has sovereign authority, or the right to make final decisions on certain cases.
Posted inZoning
New ZAP commissioner opposes first rezoning case
Unable to come to a consensus, the Zoning and Platting Commission had no official recommendation in a rezoning case for a property currently zoned Development Reserve in Northwest Austin. Applicant Robert Earl Strobo is seeking Single Family Large Lot (SF-1) zoning for 4509 City Park Road and is agreeable to staff’s recommendation of a conditional […]
Posted inLand Development Code
CodeNEXT draft presented to land use commissions
In the first “fifth Tuesday” meeting of a CodeNEXT-geared 2017 calendar, the city’s land use commissions convened to receive a presentation of the CodeNEXT draft text, which was published online the day before. The release marks a big step in the overhaul of the Land Development Code, the first comprehensive revision since 1984. Admittedly, the […]
Posted inCity Hall
Baker: historic preservationist, zoning queen
Betty Baker, once known as Austin’s Queen of Zoning, died in her sleep Monday morning, according to longtime friends. Jerry Rusthoven, acting assistant director of the Planning and Zoning Department, told the Austin Monitor that Baker would have been 84 today. She had been ill for some time. Baker retired two years ago as the […]
Posted inZoning
North Austin zoning case clears ZAP
At its meeting on Tuesday, the Zoning and Platting Commission approved a request to rezone a Northwest Austin property for Community Commercial (GR) use. Ron Thrower, the agent representing owner and applicant Douglas Reynolds, said his client intends to have an automobile parts store on the site at 6914 McNeil Drive. “We’re trying to get […]
Posted inCity Hall
Ethics complaint filed against wrong person
Northwest Austin neighborhood leader Linda Bailey thought she had discovered a major ethics violation by City Council Member Sheri Gallo’s appointee to the Zoning and Platting Commission and filed a complaint against Susan Chiles Harris on Monday morning. By the end of the day, Bailey discovered that she had made a mistake and was apologizing. […]
Posted inEnvironment
Slow response to flood report frustrates some commissioners
The city does not have many options for supporting individuals who suffer loss or damages from flooding caused by a development upstream, based on an exchange at the Nov. 29 joint meeting of the Planning and the Zoning and Platting commissions. After a presentation on the Land Use Review Process by the Development Services Department […]
Posted inCity Hall
City attorney presence could be scaled down at land-use commission meetings
The city’s land-use commissions may lose their on-call legal counsel, according to Mitzi Cotton, assistant division chief at the Law Department, who presented at the Nov. 29 joint meeting of the Planning Commission and the Zoning and Platting Commission. After the city adopted its 10-1 City Council system, then-city attorney Karen Kennard decided that the […]
Posted inZoning
Musical infill: ZAP passes ‘spot zoning’ case
The Zoning and Platting Commission heard a rezoning case during its Nov. 15 meeting that drew criticism from neighborhood representatives who saw it as an example of “spot zoning.” The property is located in Northwest Austin at 7901 Ranch Road 2222. The request was to change the zoning from Limited Office with a Conditional Overlay […]
Posted inZoning
After some haggling, commission approves a few apartments in Allandale
Allandale residents concerned about the arrival of intense commercial activity in a largely residential neighborhood achieved a partial victory at the Zoning and Platting Commission on Tuesday. Robert P. Stern, who is planning to add a 2,424-square-foot restaurant and 994 square feet of retail space to the southwest corner of Hancock Drive and Bull Creek […]
Posted inZoning
Del Valle neighbors lobby against mobile home park
Del Valle residents who came to a meeting of the Zoning and Platting Commission on Tuesday to oppose the construction of a mobile home park in their area clearly didn’t do themselves any favors with some of the arguments they presented against the requested zoning change for a parcel of land at 6101 Ross Road. […]
Posted inPlanning
Zoning Commission narrowly recommends Grove PUD
After 13 hours of testimony and debate over two meetings, a proposal to build a 75-acre mixed-use development on what is now a vacant tract of land between Bull Creek Road and 45th Street won an important endorsement Thursday night from the Zoning and Platting Commission. Just before midnight, the panel voted 6-4 to recommend […]