With a $250 million bond geared toward affordable housing, a goal to preserve 10,000 affordable units over the next 10 years and a City Council resolution seeking ways to increase the number of affordable units, city staff members brought forward a draft ordinance outlining plans for increasing the quantity of affordable housing within the city. […]
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 inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Dark Skies over ZAP
Doggone open data… During last week’s SXSW-adjacent session at Capital Factory about the value of open data provided by governmental entities, the city of Austin got an unexpected plaudit that also offered a not-unexpected snapshot into the city’s priorities. Panelist Susan Alzner, co-founder and chief of strategy and operations for the research group shift7, was […]
Posted inDevelopment
Junction Athletic Complex concerns don’t find a place at ZAP meeting
The Zoning and Platting Commission’s hands were tied when it came to many of the concerns raised by neighbors at ZAP’s March 5 meeting on the proposed Junction Athletic Complex at 8921 W. U.S. Highway 290. The case was only set for the commission to approve or disapprove three environmental variances dealing with construction and […]
Posted inZoning
ZAP unanimously approves Keilbar Lane rezone
The Zoning and Platting Commission granted its blessing to a new condominium development at 1903 Keilbar Lane during their Jan. 29 meeting. The applicant, Michael Winningham, hopes to build up to seven condominium units which he said he believes are compatible with the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan. Winningham also owns the adjacent property at 1905 […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Clarifications
The devil (or the donut) is in the details… When it comes to zoning and platting, make no mistake that the commissioners who sit on ZAP pay attention to the details of each and every case. In fact, this was never more apparent than at the commission’s Feb. 5 meeting. While reviewing cases for consent […]
Posted inPlanning
Zoning and Platting Commission discusses validity of previous vote
At the last meeting of the Zoning and Platting Commission on Jan. 29, even with a full dais the commission was unable to muster the supermajority vote needed to approve a request for a flag lot at 11603 Tedford St. Dissatisfied with the decision due to what Commissioner Bruce Evans called an “inability to articulate” […]
Posted inAustin
ZAP contemplates uprooting
Last month, on Jan. 15, the Zoning and Platting Commission heard a long-awaited briefing from the University of Texas’ Uprooted study on gentrification and displacement in Austin. Dr. Jake Wegmann, one of the three authors, presented a summarized version of the study, which was completed in September 2018. The project evaluated three main factors: where […]
Posted inZoning
North Austin neighborhood group doesn’t want more renters
A family seeking to sell roughly 30 acres of undeveloped property in North Austin won approval last month from the Zoning and Platting Commission for a zoning change that will allow the land to be developed into over 130 homes, along with some office or retail property. The recommendation came at the commission’s last hearing […]
Posted inZoning
ZAP favors half of zoning case
In the end, the Zoning and Platting Commission approved a rezoning for 200 feet of a property just east of U.S. Highway 183 at 7712 FM 969. However, the approval was made not exactly at the recommendation of staff or at the request of the applicant, and not without an interruption from a neighbor with […]
Posted inPlanning
ZAP recommends driveway at South Chisholm Trail
After several years of debate on what to do with the two lots on the corner of Slaughter Lane and South Chisholm Trail, a deal has been struck. Jim Wittliff, representing the property owner Mario Solis, presented the compromise for the property at 9401 South Chisholm Trail to the Zoning and Platting Commission at its […]
Posted inPlanning
Island Cove boat dock variance passes with some tension from neighbors
At its Oct. 2 meeting, the Zoning and Platting Commission approved an environmental variance on a site plan for a boat dock sitting below Mount Bonnell at 4409 Island Cove. The variance passed with a “soft no” from staff and pushback from a neighboring property owner. Chris Herrington of the Watershed Protection Department said staff […]
Posted inPlanning
ZAP endorses Camelback PUD
For more than two hours, 25 Austinites spoke in support of or in opposition to, or expressed a neutral stance on, a new planned unit development known as the Camelback PUD at the most recent meeting of the Zoning and Platting Commission. The PUD is located on the Lake Austin riverfront, north of the Austin […]