ZAP! Pow! Bang!… People paying attention to the membership of the Zoning and Platting Commission (if you are out there, you are probably reading this) may have noticed change has come/is on the horizon. As we reported, now-former Chair Thomas Weber has left the commission, with former Austin Neighborhoods Council President David King taking over […]
CodeNEXT
CodeNEXT is the name given to the land development code rewrite process undertaken in the early 2010s by the City of Austin.
Posted inPlanning
Creatives see little to preserve artist, music spaces in CodeNEXT
A month after the release of the first draft of CodeNEXT, supporters of Austin’s various creative communities have said they’re underwhelmed and expecting more protections for artist spaces in revisions of the city’s new land use code. Whether it be music venues priced out of business by rising land values or studios and theaters that […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: More on Agenda 21
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 […]
Posted inPlanning
Local interest groups gear up for a year of CodeNEXT talk
At the rear of the Terrazas Branch of the Austin Public Library on E. Cesar Chavez Street, roughly 10 people gather in a meeting room. It looks like any classroom. There’s a white board at the back, unflattering lighting above, and rows of chairs stacked to the side. What’s unusual is the discussion. At times, […]
Posted inAustin
ANC welcomes back the queen of the neighborhoods
After a brief moment of rest, it looks as though Mary Ingle will be heading up the Austin Neighborhoods Council once again. Last Thursday, City Council Member Ann Kitchen appointed then-ANC president David King to the Zoning and Platting Commission. He told the Austin Monitor that he thought it was important to take the opportunity […]
Posted inPlanning
Council still puzzled about CodeNEXT
Most City Council members still don’t know what to make of the first draft of CodeNEXT, the long-anticipated overhaul of the city’s zoning code that was first unveiled late last month. On Wednesday, the consultants hired to craft the draft code gave a presentation to Council members that touched on the guiding aspirations of the […]
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 inLand Development Code
Council gets its first look at CodeNEXT
It’s finally here. At least the first draft. For the first time, City Council members got a presentation on CodeNEXT, the long-awaited rewrite of the city’s Land Development Code. The report detailed ways in which city staff, in collaboration with consultants, propose simplifying and reforming what many have described as a byzantine set of rules […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Austin gets its first look at new Land Development Code
The city of Austin has released the much-awaited first draft of CodeNEXT, its new land development guidelines. It’s the first time in more than 30 years that the city will have a new Land Development Code. The new code aims to address a host of issues, from streamlining the city’s notoriously slow permitting process to […]
Posted inHousing
How do demolitions affect Austin’s affordable housing stock?
As Austin grapples with its affordability crisis, much of the focus has been on how city leaders can incentivize developers to build new housing that includes units reserved for residents at certain income levels. Some city leaders, however, suggest that the city may be neglecting, or even encouraging the destruction of, the largest existing source […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Outdated CodeNEXT draft sets folks aTwitter
The unauthorized release this weekend of a preliminary draft version of the Land Development Code’s next iteration, known as CodeNEXT, via Twitter, started a round of finger-pointing but no conclusive evidence as to the source of the leak. However, the release and reactions to it demonstrated heightened tensions over what the code may ultimately mean […]
Posted inPlanning
Specter of CodeNEXT informs vertical mixed-use cases at Planning Commission
In two separate cases on Tuesday, the Planning Commission approved vertical mixed-use zoning on Congress Avenue. The majority of the commissioners continue to see VMU zoning as a way to increase density along or near core transit corridors in line with the goals of Imagine Austin and CodeNEXT. The first applicant, Guefen Development Company, applied […]