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Most Popular Stories
- Despite safety concerns, Council OKs new buildings above Shoal Creek
- Texas lawmakers finalize bill limiting property owners’ right to protest new homes nearby
- A multi-family rezoning at the rugged edge of Northwest Austin
- As Acacia Cliffs rezoning is approved, Critics say Council has sold out on its affordability commitments
- Austin ISD eliminating jobs at its central office to reduce budget deficit
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Spelman vents frustration at staff over work on city leave bank
Months of frustration over delays in a long-planned change to City of Austin leave rules boiled over Thursday in Council Chambers. There, Council Member Bill Spelman called out city staff for what he cast as foot-dragging over the issue of…
Uncategorized • By Michael Kanin • Aug 23, 2013
New project duration rules raising questions
Staff from the city’s Planning and Development Review Department Thursday presented Council members with a set of potential rules to replace Austin‘s former Project Duration Ordinance. If approved, staff hopes the changes – new code for grandfathering property in the…
Uncategorized • By Michael Kanin • Aug 23, 2013
Council backs Garza Ranch on first reading but cans Encino Trace project
The fight over Garza Ranch isn’t quite over yet, though City Council definitively shut down amendments to the Save Our Springs Ordinance for another South Austin development last night. City Council agreed to amend the SOS Ordinance for the…
Uncategorized • By Elizabeth Pagano • Aug 23, 2013
Austin Energy faces cost overruns on IBM-based billing system
Austin Energy finds itself, in the words of Electric Utility Commission Chair “Bernie” Bernfeld, “over a barrel.” At issue is the much-delayed $61 million redesign of the utility’s billing system, and a cost escalation for necessary work on the…
Uncategorized • By Michael Kanin • Aug 22, 2013
Water Utility director warns Council of potential need for drought rates
Austin Water Utility Director Greg Meszaros told Council members Wednesday that the potential arrival of Stage 4 water restrictions next spring could force the utility to consider employing drought rates for water service. “We could not sustain ourselves financially under…
Uncategorized • By Michael Kanin • Aug 22, 2013
City formally demands White Lodging return $688,000 in fee waivers
The City of Austin is formally asking for the return of $688,000 in fee waivers awarded to the developers building a new Marriott Hotel at Third Street and Congress Avenue. Assistant City Manager Anthony Snipes made the request of…
Uncategorized • By Michael Kanin • Aug 22, 2013
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Gómez wants to speed up widening of roads near COTA facility
Travis County Commissioner Pct. 4 Margaret Gómez says her proposal to expand roads in southeast Travis County is about safety, business development, and job creation, but some of her critics charge that she is pandering to the Circuit of the…
Uncategorized • By Charlotte Moore • Aug 21, 2013
Planning Commission passes on amendments to SOS Ordinance
Proposed amendments to the Save Our Springs Ordinance that would allow more development in South Austin than allowed under the current ordinance passed through an almost-mute Planning Commission last week. City Council initiated the amendments for the two developments…
Uncategorized • By Elizabeth Pagano • Aug 21, 2013
Proposal would hike city departments’ administrative costs by $10 million
City of Austin departments would take on nearly $10 million in new support appropriations charges under the proposed FY2014 budget year. That figure – the one assessed by staff to other city departments to account for their share of administrative…
Uncategorized • By Michael Kanin • Aug 21, 2013
Planning Commission OKs waivers for East Austin apartment project
Persistence paid off for developers of an east side project at the Planning Commission last Tuesday. Despite an initial vote against their request, they were able to turn things around in the end. The Chestnut Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation was…
Uncategorized • By Elizabeth Pagano • Aug 20, 2013
Leffingwell backs budget cuts in all but public safety agencies
For the second year in a row, Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell called for across-the-board cuts for all City of Austin General Fund departments, excepting the city’s three public safety agencies. Leffingwell told In Fact Daily during a break in Monday’s…
Uncategorized • By Michael Kanin • Aug 20, 2013
Board of Adjustment OKs changes to historic Mather-Kirkland House
Plans to reconstruct an open-air viewing tower on the historic Mather-Kirkland House will finally be moving ahead, thanks to a variance from the Board of Adjustment. The plans were originally approved in 2003, as part of a historic reconstruction…
