At the Sept. 19 joint land use commissions meeting, the dazzling presentations detailing the new aspects of the second CodeNEXT draft could not overshadow supplemental information that was missing. Commissioners expressed frustration with city staff and consultants who they said had not followed through on prior requests for supportive data. The Planning and Zoning and […]
CodeNEXT
CodeNEXT is the name given to the land development code rewrite process undertaken in the early 2010s by the City of Austin.
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: CodeNEXT with Evolve
This week, Evolve Austin’s Eric Goff and Austin Housing Coalition Executive Director Nicole Joslin chat with Austin Monitor freelance reporter Caleb Pritchard and editor Liz Pagano about CodeNEXT. To hear more about Evolve’s take on what needs fixing in the city’s Land Development Code and how that fixing is going, tune in below! Curious about […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Zero vision
More, no doubt, to come… As we all well know, the second draft of CodeNEXT was released Friday. As usual, it’s a dense tome that land use enthusiasts studied in earnest over the weekend, and will continue to study in the weeks to come. However, we were gifted some initial impressions from local groups and […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Second draft of CodeNEXT allows more housing in more places, city says
Austin is releasing a second draft of CodeNEXT, the city’s rewrite of its Land Development Code, today. “We are really excited about the new draft coming out,” Peter Park of Opticos Design, a consultant hired by the city, told City Council members during a preview of the new draft last week. Park said the second […]
Posted inZoning
Rezoning denial may not matter after CodeNEXT
When the world (of the current Land Development Code) is coming to an end, a single property zoning decision can seem insignificant. At the Zoning and Platting Commission’s Sept. 5 meeting, commissioners denied what one Northwest Austin community perceived to be a threat to the character of their neighborhood. But commissioners warned the unsuspecting residents […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Austinites call for halt, and a vote, on CodeNEXT
Residents and activists in East Austin called for a halt and possible public vote on CodeNEXT during a community session Saturday where reparations for displaced individuals and a program to create affordable housing stock on city-owned lands were also discussed as possible solutions for gentrification focused in that area. The session – titled “Destruction, Displacement, […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Council gets preview of CodeNEXT 2.0
Many of the answers amounted to “wait another week,” but City Council was able to pry some information about the second draft of CodeNEXT from consultants and staff at a special called meeting Wednesday. One of the main criticisms of the first draft was its hybrid nature, which proposed, for the most part, a form-based […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Single-family occupancy limits drop back to four in CodeNEXT second draft
There is a two-sided nature of the CodeNEXT drafting process. On the one hand, staff and third-party consultants meticulously work through the details of the new land use code on a daily basis. And, on the other, the land use commissions receive updates and weigh in every couple of weeks, resulting in some significant changes […]
Posted inPlanning
Harvey revives flooding concerns about CodeNEXT
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the land use commissions questioned staff on how CodeNEXT would address local flooding at their Aug. 29 joint meeting. “Austin came real close to having another catastrophe this (past) weekend. Real close,” Zoning and Platting Commissioner Ana Aguirre said at the meeting. The storm event has opened up a […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Commission finds itself at CodeNEXT crossroads
Only a few weeks before the scheduled release of CodeNEXT Draft 2.0, the Planning Commission at its Aug. 22 meeting took a step outside of business as usual and considered the alternatives in proceeding with the revamp of the city’s land use code. After the release of the first CodeNEXT draft, the Planning Commission decided […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Council members call for CodeNEXT changes
Just as the sun was beginning to glare down on the stretch of lawn around the welcome sign to Blazier Elementary School yesterday morning, a group of four City Council members kicked off what they are calling the #FixtheCode #4AllAustinites campaign. During the short press conference, the Council members called for more community engagement and […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Austin aims to simplify the language around CodeNEXT
The upcoming second draft of Austin’s new Land Development Code is expected to eliminate one of its key zoning tools, known as “transect” zones, which focus on a building’s form rather than its use. In theory, transect zones would allow for a wider range of uses in a given area, as long as a building […]