Members of the Bull Creek Road Coalition are expressing alarm about what they consider an abrupt end to the transportation review process for Milestone Community Builder’s planned unit development called the Grove at Shoal Creek. Architect Chris Allen sent out a lengthy email to the media on Monday saying that members of the city’s transportation […]
Development Services Department
A city department that reviews development and inspection services.
Posted inLand Development Code
Steck House case returns to BoA one last time
The development surrounding the Steck House was once again in question at the Board of Adjustment for just under an hour last week. Although the board voted to reconsider the case, in the end, board members did not change their position from last month. Once again they voted to support staff’s interpretation. However, they did […]
Posted inDevelopment
City mulls planning review time fix
Changes to the way the city processes development applications sailed through the Planning Commission last week, and the city hopes that the changes will effect a similar swiftness in its Development Services Department. Donna Galati, who is with the Development Services Department, said the changes are part of a larger effort to streamline development review […]
Posted inCity Hall
Development Services move planned
When the Zucker Report came out in 2015, it offered a scathing analysis of the city’s planning and development review functions and compared Austin’s development and permitting processes unfavorably to many other cities, including San Antonio. One of the report’s recommendations was to move employees associated with the development and permitting process from One Texas […]
Posted inDevelopment
BoA ponders increased fees for neighborhoods
Board of Adjustment members are mulling over whether a recent increase in fees is fair to neighborhood associations, but they aren’t yet ready to offer any solutions. A cost-of-service study from September 2015 evaluated the fees charged by the city for planning and review activities related to cases brought before the Board of Adjustment. At […]
Posted inDevelopment
Builders hope city fee hikes will improve service
Homebuilders who were not paying attention during September’s city budget deliberations might have been surprised to learn that the “volume builder submittal fee” for construction of a single-family home or duplex, which has cost $29 per home since 2007, shot up to $190 on Oct. 1. That particular fee applies whenever a builder sets out […]
Posted inDevelopment
City staff fixes plan review backlog, looks ahead
When it comes to planning and development, city staff has a lot on its plate in the foreseeable future. It no longer has to worry, though, about a plan review backlog that began to pile up earlier this year. Development Services Department Acting Director J. Rodney Gonzales made the announcement at a City Council work […]
Posted inCity Council
Concrete pouring ordinance may need more time
City staff’s proposed restrictions on notoriously loud and bright overnight concrete pouring at downtown sites may not be ready to hit the ground yet. That’s according to a discussion City Council had at its Tuesday work session ahead of a vote on the issue Thursday. “There was a lot of conflicting information,” said Council Member […]
Posted inAustin
One city employee dead, another in critical condition
One city employee has died and another is in critical condition at Brackenridge Hospital as a result of a collision that occurred in south Austin before noon on Monday. A late-evening memo from City Manager Marc Ott says that Robert Egan, an employee of the Public Works Department, was driving near One Texas Center when […]
Posted inDevelopment
City puts a price tag on planning backlog fix
Austin is looking at solutions to fix its plan review backlog, but the fix is going to cost the city. Since the publication of the Zucker Report draft, the Development Services Department has worked to create strategies to eliminate the backlog. According to a memo from Planning and Zoning Department Director Greg Guernsey and Development […]
Posted inThe Code
Planning Commissioners vote to expand powers
Last night, the Planning Commission made clear its power in regard to connectivity and subdivisions. It opted to keep recently controversial code language as-is, and instead offered up a new interpretation of that code. Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of an interpretation of 25-4-151 that will allow the commission discretion to depart from street connectivity in […]
Posted inDevelopment, The Code
BoA to interpret rule on attic dormers next month
For almost a year, the Zilker Neighborhood Association has been waiting for an explanation about McMansion dormers. This week, association members took their questions to the Board of Adjustment and asked for an interpretation. After a discussion of the issue, board members voted unanimously to postpone the item until their May 8 meeting to ensure […]