Stories by Jessi Devenyns
Board of Adjustment split over gas station lanes
Despite the city’s goal of reducing the number of people driving in single passenger vehicles to 50 percent by 2039, 74 percent of Austin residents currently drive to work alone. With so many vehicles on the road, that means gas…
Uncategorized • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 30, 2019
Eureka Holdings seeks rehabilitation approval for I.Q. Hurdle House
In less than a week, the I.Q. Hurdle House at 1416 E. 12th St. went from a demolition-by-neglect case to a voluntary restoration project. When Dallas-based Eureka Holdings – under the name Poisonous Poinsettia – bought the home of the celebrated…
Preservation • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 29, 2019
Parks and Recreation lacks $2.4 million in funding, potentially faces more cuts
As the question of property tax caps continues to loom in the state Legislature, city departments are wrestling to pare down their budgets in anticipation of what management expects to be a $51.7 million gap in funding for the entire…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 26, 2019
West Austin home causes impasse at HLC
City code requires a structure to meet two out of five requirements in order to be designated historic. One of the most often-used requirements is that of historical association with an individual who “contributed significantly to the history of the…
Preservation • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 26, 2019
East Austin home slated for historic zoning against owner's wishes
It is rare in Austin that a home is preserved against an owner’s wishes. According to Preservation Austin, the city has disregarded an owner’s wishes in this manner exactly three times since 1974. Now there is a chance it will…
Preservation • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 25, 2019
Environmental Commission recommends rimrock stairwell to lake
Shoreline access from the rimrock cliffs of Lake Austin has been a touchy subject in the past. While mechanized access has not been permissible for nearly a decade and property owners are only allowed to install pedestrian access, there are…
Planning • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 24, 2019
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Should natural gas be a required secondary fuel source?
Even as the city strives to reach net-zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the Energy Code for Austin still, with some exceptions, requires the use of natural gas for water heating when a residential building is constructed adjacent to…
Energy • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 23, 2019
West Austin housing development claims vested rights, compromises on development regulations
Even if a property remains undeveloped for years, the property’s vested rights can, in some cases, allow a project to be grandfathered into another era’s development regulations. In the case of a project at FM 620 at Storm Drive, that era…
Planning • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 22, 2019
Tree protection outweighs density concerns for Environmental Commission
There are only four reasons a heritage tree can be removed in the city of Austin: it must be dead, diseased, an imminent hazard, or prevent reasonable use of a property. Even if a tree meets one or more of…
Development • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 19, 2019
City working to align development standards on East 11th Street corridor
Development in Austin is anything but straightforward. That’s especially true on East 11th Street, where efforts to transform blighted neighborhoods into a vibrant downtown gateway are governed both by the Urban Renewal Plan and the Neighborhood Conservation Combining District. According…
Planning • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 18, 2019
City may initiate demolition-by-neglect case in effort to save I.Q. Hurdle House
For several years, one North Texas company has been stealthily purchasing properties along East 12th Street and now owns nearly four dozen properties between Interstate 35 and Walnut Avenue, according to Travis County property records. One of those properties happens…
Preservation • By Jessi Devenyns • Apr 17, 2019
Board of Adjustment grants unpermitted carport permission to stay parked
After a bitter neighborhood battle took place last month over a carport, the owner of the unpermitted car shelter was given a verdict to take down the structure that had stood for 16 years. However, the owner gave it one…
