While it could be argued that budget season is a year-round affair at City Hall, things are about to start in earnest. To get ready, Mayor Kirk Watson has posted a schedule for this year’s process, which will end in an adopted budget on Aug. 14, 15 or 16. According to Watson’s City Council Message Board post, the staff budget will be presented at a City Council work session on Friday, July 12, which will also launch the “Council Budget Questions” process that will be available online for the public to view. Council will hold additional budget work sessions on July 24 (which will include public comment) and July 30. The next month, a public hearing will take place at 3 p.m. Aug. 1, when a tax rate will be adopted, and work sessions are currently scheduled for Aug. 6 and 8. City Council voting on the budget will take place at one of the meetings scheduled Aug. 14-16. “Adopting the FY25 Budget is one of the most important decisions this Council will make. I hope by outlining the timeline and process, we can work in an efficient and collaborative manner while achieving our shared goal of making the City of Austin a great place to live, work and thrive for all members of our community,” Watson wrote.

City Council is poised to make another bundle of changes to the Land Development Code in an effort to make development easier and housing less expensive. Last week, the city scheduled two more open houses to help get the word out about those changes, which would reduce minimum lot sizes, change compatibility standards and create new development standards near future transit and in central South Austin, among other things. The new meetings will take place 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, May 6, at Anderson High School and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center. The changes are on a fast-track back to Council, with meetings scheduled chockablock in the meantime. The amendments will be at Council on May 16 and May 30, with downtown parking and the ETOD amendment to Imagine Austin to be heard at the second meeting.

Austin is currently in that time between plants being dead from a freeze and plants being dead from the sun, which can be an inspirational (and costly) time of year for anyone with a green thumb or a dream. It’s also a time that the city wants residents to be aware of the many resources it offers to gardeners through its Grow Green program. According to a press release reminding us all about the program, its educational materials include:

• 23 Grow Green fact sheets on big-picture and pest-related topics
• Rebates, free stuff and grants to help your garden grow
• Landscape design, installation and maintenance information, including demonstration gardens and design templates
• Native & Adapted Plant Guide for Central Texas
• List of Grow Green landscape professionals who have completed the training series
• Pest information (integrated pest management)
• Drainage solutions

“As spring breathes new life into our gardens, the Grow Green program stands ready to support Austinites in their quest for sustainable, vibrant landscapes,” Denise Delaney, environmental program coordinator for the Watershed Protection Department, said in a statement. “Our diverse educational resources and community engagement initiatives aim to empower individuals to become stewards of our environment while creating beautiful, resilient gardens that thrive harmoniously with nature.”

For a bit of motivation to explore nature in your immediate surroundings, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Nature Trackers program encourage people to document their local biodiversity April 26-29 as part of the City Nature Challenge. It’s a chance to get outside – just out your front door, in your yard or anywhere nature is found and can be safely and responsibly explored – and enter your observations of plants, animals and fungi on the free mobile app iNaturalist. This global, community-based, scientific effort is co-organized by San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Texas Nature Trackers encourages use of the hashtag #CityNatureChallenge on social media or as a tag in iNaturalist. In 2023, Texas metropolitan areas joined more than 400 other cities in a worldwide celebration of the resilience of urban nature that logged more than 1.8 million observations of more than 58,000 species by nearly 70,000 people. In Texas, 93 counties logged more than 174,000 observations, with 7,500 species recorded by more than 6,000 observers. Check out the City Nature Challenge online to find links to Texas projects and learn more. Free training can be viewed online. Participants can also contact TNT biologists Craig Hensley and Wendy Anderson with the Texas Nature Trackers program at tracker@tpwd.texas.gov.

The city’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is hosting a preparedness pop-up today at the Little Walnut Creek Branch Library. The event, which will take place from 4 to 7 p.m., will educate attendees about preparing for severe weather and flooding, among other things, with tips from Public Safety and HSEM representatives. In addition, the first 25 households will receive an emergency supply kit. Austin is currently in a season when severe weather and flooding is a distinct risk. To learn more about regional emergency preparedness outside of today’s event, visit ReadyCentralTexas.org.

Volunteers are needed for Travis County Parks and the Colorado River Alliance’s inaugural Spring Cleanup from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, April 20. You can help remove and recycle litter across seven parks in eastern Travis County: Northeast Metro Park, East Metro Park, Webberville Park, Barkley Meadows Park, Richard Moya Park, Onion Creek Greenway and Southeast Metro Park. “These waterways are our source of drinking water and it’s essential that we all pitch in to keep them clean,” said Travis County Commissioner for Precinct 2 Brigid Shea. “It’s especially important for our downstream neighbors.” This event helps raise awareness that litter travels, emphasizing the importance of keeping our parks, river and creeks healthy and clean. Reserve your spot to help keep our vital drinking water source clean and flowing for generations to come.

A new round of $5,000 Nexus Grants is open to local artists and art programs. The city’s Economic Development Department announced the newest round of funding for artists, which can be used to cover expenses for area-based applicants who have a one-year (or more) history of arts programming in the area. More information and application details are available online, and more information about the grants is available through a number of outreach events and workshops, detailed here. Applications are open now and will remain open through 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 14.

On April 16 and 17, the city will host a Fair Housing Conference that is free and open to the public. Anyone is welcome to join a host of experts in the field to share ideas and learn more about fair housing issues. The conference will feature panel discussions, housing resources and a tour of the Colony Park Sustainable Community. The 1968 Fair Housing Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, made discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability and familial status illegal. This is the second year for the city’s conference, which is put on as a cooperative effort between the city’s Office of Civil Rights, Housing Department and Economic Development Department. It will take place at Norris Conference Center and registration to attend can be done online here. “The 2024 Fair Housing Conference hosted by the City of Austin will span two full days, offering insightful discussions on legal updates, current fair housing issues, and strategies for fostering inclusive communities of opportunity,” Tamela Saldana, interim director of the Office of Civil Rights, said in a statement to the press.  “It’s an invaluable opportunity to reflect on our progress in advancing fair housing principles.”

Save Austin’s Cemeteries is an organization dedicated to preserving city-owned historic cemeteries through documentation, preservation and education and promoting them as local and state cultural resources. Its Spring Tour is a chance to learn about the cemeteries with drop-in history tours. Join in from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 20, at the Oakwood Cemetery, 1601 Navasota St. The event is free and open to the public and has ample free parking. The Oakwood Cemetery was established in 1839 and is a City of Austin Historic Landmark, a Historic Texas Cemetery and on the National Register of Historic Places. The Spring Tour coincides with a new digital exhibit by the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel, “To Fight Fires,” which details the history of the Austin Fire Department from the early 1800s to the present day. An Austin Fire Department truck will be on-site from 10 to 11 a.m.

Austin’s Earl J. Pomerleau Pocket Park will be officially welcomed into the world today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate its completion. Austin Parks Foundation, Austin Parks and Recreation Department and Windsor Park Neighborhood Association have teamed up to officially open the Earl J. Pomerleau Pocket Park with a free, open-to-the-public celebration at 1906 Patton Lane at 4 p.m. today. The 2-acre park project began in 2018 and has been open to the public since July. This March, with the help of a donor, its pavilion was completed. The project is the result of a joint effort between the host organizations and funded through ACL Board Designated Funds, an Urban Forestry Grant and city parkland dedication fees. The new park includes a playground, picnic areas and a loop trail in addition to the pavilion.

This Thursday at 9 a.m., City Council and the Planning Commission will hold a joint meeting to consider changes to the Land Development Code. The changes, which are detailed here, are part of an update aimed at creating more housing by revising compatibility standards and reducing minimum lot size for single-unit developments, among other things. Thursday’s meeting will feature an overview of the changes as well as a public hearing, with additional public hearings at the April 23 Planning Commission meeting and the May 16 meeting of City Council. In addition, the city will hold two open houses. The first will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on April 17 at Austin Central Library. The second meeting will be virtual, from 10 a.m. until noon. Speaker registration for Thursday’s joint meeting can be found here.