At the Zoning and Platting Commission’s Feb. 6 meeting, Vice Chair Jim Duncan continued his series of CodeNEXT presentations with an indictment of the city’s density bonus programs, one of the city’s main approaches to facilitating housing for households making less than 80 percent of the median family income. He charged city staff with being “blind” […]
CodeNEXT
CodeNEXT is the name given to the land development code rewrite process undertaken in the early 2010s by the City of Austin.
Posted inLand Development Code
What policies would create the most housing in CodeNEXT?
As the city of Austin has learned over and over again in recent years, allowing something to be built doesn’t mean that it will be. Hence, density bonuses that offer developers the opportunity to build bigger buildings in exchange for on-site affordable units don’t necessarily lead to additional income-restricted housing. Similarly, most single-family homeowners who […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Days away from new draft, city commissions give their last word on CodeNEXT (for now)
Less than a week out from the release of the latest version of CodeNEXT, city commissions are weighing in on what they’d like to see in this latest draft of Austin’s Land Development Code. The Zoning and Platting Commission laid out its plan Tuesday for gathering public feedback on the new rules, which would regulate […]
Posted inLand Development Code
City demographer smashes assumptions about growth at CodeNEXT meeting
For the past year, the land use commissions have been reviewing the drafts of CodeNEXT, and the discussions have primarily revolved around how to accommodate the incredible population growth the city has experienced for the past few decades. About two weeks before the third and final iteration of the proposed Land Development Code rewrite debuts […]
Posted inPlanning
Planning Commission takes on transit and CodeNEXT
Two of the great planning processes of Austin’s current age came together under one roof on Wednesday night as the Planning Commission talked both CodeNEXT and Project Connect with the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Todd Hemingson, Capital Metro’s vice president for strategic planning and development, used the opportunity to make the case for more transit-supportive […]
Posted inLand Development Code
In Hyde Park, urbanists say they’re the ones defending neighborhood character
In Austin’s ongoing battle over development, it’s generally the traditional neighborhood associations that talk about defending “neighborhood character” and developers and urbanist activists who argue that a growing city needs to accept change, whether that is taller buildings or reduced parking. In Hyde Park, however, urbanists are trying out the neighborhood character narrative to push […]
Posted inPlanning
Mobility plan preview raises questions at Planning Commission
At a special called Jan. 18 meeting, the Planning Commission got its first look at the beginnings of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, what will be an amendment to the city’s comprehensive plan, Imagine Austin. The plan is still in its early stages, but some commissioners expressed concerns that the forecasts being created to develop […]
Posted inLocal Politics
CodeNEXT critics postpone petition deadline, averting a May election
The political action committee hoping to put CodeNEXT to the voters has announced that it’s changing course and will aim for a referendum in November rather than May. As first reported by The Austin Bulldog on Thursday, IndyAustin PAC says it will wait until March to turn in the signatures the group is currently gathering […]
Posted inLand Development Code
CodeNEXT wrong on PUDs, says commission
Waiting for the release of the third and final draft of CodeNEXT has not stopped the Zoning and Platting Commission from continuing to criticize the second draft, even after the commission submitted its formal recommendation last October. One of the main issues of contention discussed at its Jan. 2 meeting was the current system of […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Is back
Lee’s new team?… Former Mayor Lee Leffingwell never had the noted social media chops of his successor (or his successor’s spokesperson, at least), and after he stepped down in 2015, his Twitter account mostly retired with him. In 2017, he posted a handful of tweets that mostly reminisced about his time at City Hall. However, […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Commission: Add music venues in CodeNEXT to help clubs spread through city
The push is on to make live music venues a distinct business use case in the city’s building code, a move that music industry proponents hope will make it easier for music hot spots to emerge in neighborhoods throughout the city. By a 7-0 vote, the Austin Music Commission approved a resolution Monday recommending that […]
Posted inLand Development Code
CodeNEXT: City says few environmental surprises in store
Conversations today about the city run like clockwork: You can guarantee that at some point CodeNEXT will be mentioned. However, although it is spoken about with regularity, there are so many varying opinions, stances and regulatory improvements being presented that it becomes difficult to track, let alone understand, the changes that are being made in […]