In hindsight, future historians may interpret the Planning Commission’s Oct. 24 resolution as taking a clever shortcut toward the final destination of an April 2018 CodeNEXT adoption. Or, it may be viewed as a turnaround that strayed off the clear path set by City Council. In any case, the timeline for reviewing the code has […]
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 will CodeNEXT mean for Austin’s neighborhood plans?
At a CodeNEXT meeting earlier this month, residents from across Austin raised concerns about one perceived change: that the city’s new Land Development Code would scrap their neighborhood plans. Jorge Rousselin, the city’s project manager on CodeNEXT, said that’s just not true. “There has been no change to how we are addressing neighborhood plans through […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Planning Commission hosts massive CodeNEXT public work session
The Planning Commission opened the doors of City Hall yesterday to a public eager to share its thoughts on the second draft of CodeNEXT. Despite some polarizing opinions on certain topics, the atmosphere remained cordial, and the complex review process that typically seems unwieldy for once almost appeared manageable. The zoning chapter of CodeNEXT has […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Panel of Latino leaders to explore how CodeNEXT addresses racial inequities
As Austin’s new Land Development Code, CodeNEXT, is being crafted, some residents see the process as a chance to address longstanding issues of racial and economic inequity. Neighborhood activist Susana Almanza said Austin needs to talk about its past before it plans the future. Almanza, a member of the Eastern Crescent Right to Stay Coalition, […]
Posted inCity Hall
CodeNEXT consultant not meeting goals to hire women- and minority-owned firms
The California-based company hired to help rewrite Austin’s Land Development Code is not meeting contractual goals to hire local minority-owned and women-owned firms. The city’s contract with Opticos Design Inc. calls for about 32 percent of the consultant’s work on CodeNEXT to be subcontracted out to minority- and women-owned businesses. The percentage goals are set […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Planning Commission quartet revolts against calls for CodeNEXT delay
In an unconventional maneuver, four Planning Commissioners hosted an impromptu press conference Thursday at City Hall, announcing their opposition to voices critical of the CodeNEXT timeline. Commissioners Chito Vela, Greg Anderson, Jeffrey Thompson and Angela De Hoyos Hart all made statements urging the city to proceed as planned on the current draft schedule. The land […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Commission vents about CodeNEXT’s momentum
Somewhere, hiding mysteriously in the drafting timeline of the new land use code, there is a point of no return. The Zoning and Platting Commission, a body that has repeatedly called for the CodeNEXT review process to be slowed down, questioned at its Oct. 17 meeting if it was too late to postpone adoption of […]
Posted inEnvironment
Environmental Commission stalls on CodeNEXT 2.0
CodeNEXT once again took center stage at a meeting of the Environmental Commission earlier this month, when commissioners refrained from recommending the second draft of the Land Development Code rewrite, with a hope that they would have comments prepared just after the Halloween deadline, at the beginning of November. Jerry Rusthoven, the assistant director of […]
Posted inLand Development Code
CodeNEXT density increase could mean parking requirement decrease
The spirit of road rage sometimes goes beyond Austin’s congested highways and injects itself into debates revolving around the city’s transit problems. That angst could be felt at the Oct. 10 Planning Commission meeting, when staff presented how parking requirements would shift under CodeNEXT 2.0. In the Mobility Code Prescription paper published in July 2016, […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Sticking with what we know
Such a tease… Travis County Commissioner Jeff Travillion’s recent appointment to the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors was probably all but guaranteed given the circumstances – his avowed interest in transit on top of the need to politically defuse his predecessor Beverly Silas’ comments about not wanting an African-American man to serve as […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Council pushes ahead with CodeNEXT contract
City Council has voted to authorize spending what is supposed to be the final chunk of money allocated for the consultants hired to craft CodeNEXT, the rewrite of the city’s Land Development Code. The $2.27 million will go to Opticos Design Inc., the California-based consulting firm in charge of the rewrite, as well as a […]
Posted inLand Development Code
We collected your CodeNEXT fears. And then tried to fact-check them.
Nearly 100 people crammed into a back room of a South Austin lodge to hear Mayor Steve Adler tackle some boring stuff. Made up mostly of members of the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association, the audience sat in cushioned beige chairs looking at times angry, confused and tired. When the seats were full, neighbors leaned against […]