Tovo now pushing for three rental registration programs for city

Council Member Kathie Tovo continued Tuesday to try to persuade her colleagues to approve what are now three separate additional rental registration programs for areas that have been deemed to host problematic rental properties.   Those regions include the North…

Urban Farm stakeholders try to cut deal on chicken slaughtering

With Council members set to vote on an ordinance that would memorialize city policy in regard to urban farms, at least two stakeholders were pitching a compromise over the hotly contested issue Wednesday afternoon. It remained unclear, however, whether their…

Developers take concerns over Vested Rights Ordinance to Council

Key players in Austin’s development community brought their concerns about the potential outcome of an upcoming Austin City Council vote on a new Vested Rights Ordinance to Tuesday’s Council work session. There, they expressed concerns that fundamental portions of the…

Austin Energy plans major push on energy app

Austin Energy is getting ready to take a big leap forward in a program aimed at encouraging customers to save energy and money by signing up to get free updates of their electricity use, including email and text alerts when…

Council split over plan to give delinquent utility ratepayers more time

Council Members Kathie Tovo and Laura Morrison want to give delinquent Austin Energy ratepayers who participate in the utility’s Customer Assistance Program additional leeway in paying their bills. Their proposal met with some resistance from Mayor Lee Leffingwell and utility…

LCRA board votes to raise drought trigger to rice farmers’ dismay

A bitterly divided Lower Colorado River Authority Board voted Tuesday to change the drought trigger to 1.1 million acre-feet for lakes Travis and Buchanan. That means that unless combined storage improves significantly by March 1, downstream farmers will again go…

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Burnet Road bar seeks compromise with Allandale neighborhood

The fight over Little Woodrow’s on Burnet Road isn’t over yet.   Though the proposed Little Woodrow’s Bar at 5425 Burnet Road managed to earn a zoning change in March, the owners still need a Conditional Use Permit to operate.…

City studies occupancy limits as latest way to curb stealth dorms

Once again, the city is attempting to tackle stealth dorms. This time they are looking toward a reduction in occupancy rates as one tool to fix the problem.   The proposed code amendment would reduce the maximum number of unrelated…

Longtime Ridgetop business gains zoning support to add offices

Tomlinson’s Feed and Pet store near Airport Boulevard won support from the Planning Commission for construction of a new office space last week after finding a work-around to a slow-moving regulating plan.   Ron Thrower of Thrower Design said that…

City promises local funding for 115 homes destroyed by flooding

City officials are disputing charges made by an ad hoc relief group last week that funding may not be available to buy out 115 Onion Creek area homes damaged or destroyed in the Halloween floods.   However, both City of…

Arguments begin over Highland-East Riverside route for Urban Rail

The latest urban rail suggestion for the city would link north central Austin, in the Highland Mall area, to the downtown and stretch the same transit service to the East Riverside corridor.   According to Project Connect representatives, that route…

Kyle City Council deadlocked over interviewing judge candidates

KYLE — After an hour-long discussion with failed motions and circling banter, Kyle City Council members sent home four applicants seeking the city’s Municipal Judge position without interviewing them as scheduled at a special called meeting on Nov. 7.  …