According to a report from the Office of the City Auditor, the city has successfully used tax increment financing to attract development to places that otherwise might not have seen new infrastructure, such as Austin’s old airport, now the Mueller neighborhood. The city’s other three TIF districts are also on track to achieve the goals […]
Tax Increment Financing District
A geographic area in which property tax revenues are set aside for reinvestments in other areas.
Posted inCity Council
New worries arise over tax increment financing
Council members approved a resolution Thursday directing the city manager to bring them a plan for financing two Capital Metro Red Line rail stations in north Austin, one at McKalla Place and one at the new Broadmoor development. However, several Council members expressed unease about using tax increment financing, a vehicle the city has used […]
Posted inPlanning
Infrastructure, financing studies signal progress for South Shore district
The city’s Planning and Zoning Department is looking to move forward on two pieces of long-overdue economic analysis needed to begin larger planning and development efforts around the portion of South Congress Avenue immediately south of Lady Bird Lake. At Monday’s meeting of the South Central Waterfront Advisory Board, members learned that PAZ had identified […]
Posted inUncategorized
‘Snoopy PUD’ wins first-round approval
Council approved a complicated set of Planned Unit Development regulations at their March 22 meeting for the piece of property at Riverside Drive and South First Street currently occupied by a Hooters and a surface parking lot. As Planning and Zoning Assistant Director Jerry Rusthoven explained to Council, “We have renamed this PUD the Snoopy […]
Posted inHousing
Austin could use rising property values to create affordable housing
City Council Member Greg Casar wants to get the most out of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the city is poised to spend to upgrade its transportation corridors in the coming years. The improvements coming to Austin’s corridors will naturally contribute to increasing property values in the surrounding area. If the city does […]
Posted inTransportation
How should Austin fund its transportation needs?
The City Council Mobility Committee largely steered clear of discussing a potential bond election during a meeting Wednesday focused on how the city can finance its looming transportation needs. A bond election, said Council Member Ann Kitchen, who chairs the committee, “is not an inevitability.” “It’s one piece that’s part of our discussion when we […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Politics
Council members ponder high cost of Highland area renovations
There was widespread support at Tuesday’s work session for the renovations already underway at Highland Mall. But the hefty price tag that will most likely accompany that redevelopment had some City Council members concerned that the city could be overextending itself in the face of so many opportunities. The first phase of the project […]