Stories by Miles Wall
A once-banned type of building is back in favor – and the Planning Commission approves
The Planning Commission approved several proposed amendments to an amendment of the city’s Technical Building Code during a meeting March 25, all of which address a peculiar kind of development called a “single-stair,” or “point-access” building. Point-access buildings are so…
Planning • By Miles Wall • Apr 1, 2025
ZAP recommends first-time zonings of former ‘Hickmuntown’ on city’s northwest edge
The Zoning and Platting Commission voted 6-2-1 to recommend first-time zonings for two plots of undeveloped land at a northwestern edge of the city in a case that emphasized the commission’s commitment to a maximalist housing policy. The lots in…
Zoning • By Miles Wall • Mar 25, 2025
Planning Commission reverses city rejection of university-area site plan in an unusual case
The Planning Commission voted unanimously last week to reverse a decision by city planning staff to reject a site plan for a 142-unit student-oriented development at 2610 Hume Place, on appeal from the applicant, marking a rare use of the…
Planning • By Miles Wall • Mar 19, 2025
New strategic plan for downtown streets keeps momentum with stamp from Planning Commission
The Planning Commission recommended a new plan for the city’s downtown streets with several amendments during a meeting on March 11, joining the Urban Transportation and Design commissions and including some of their respective recommendations for the plan. The document…
Planning • By Miles Wall • Mar 18, 2025
Planning Commission OKs Manor Road rezoning following delays, neighborhood ire
The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the removal of a lot at 2967 Manor Road from the Martin Luther King Jr. Transit-Oriented Development, or TOD, district during a meeting on March 11. Austin Growth Ventures, the real estate developer…
Zoning • By Miles Wall • Mar 17, 2025
Urban Transportation Commission criticizes I-35 frontage road plan
The Urban Transportation Commission on March 4 unanimously passed a resolution strenuously recommending against the Texas Department of Transportation’s plan to widen Interstate 35 frontage roads downtown. The resolution specifically addressed the Central Austin project, which covers an 8-mile section of…
Transportation • By Miles Wall • Mar 12, 2025
Subscribe to our newsletter
Urban Transportation Commission recommends new strategic plan for downtown streets
The Urban Transportation Commission voted unanimously to recommend that City Council approve a new strategic plan from the Department of Transportation and Public Works for the streets of Austin’s small-yet-mighty downtown, along with a list of their own recommendations regarding…
Planning • By Miles Wall • Mar 7, 2025
Planning Commission endorses, amends updated erosion protections
The Planning Commission voted unanimously on Feb. 25 to recommend, with amendments, an ordinance proposed by the Watershed Protection Department to add new erosion protections to a section of the Colorado River below Longhorn Dam. The Austin Monitor has previously…
Environment • By Miles Wall • Mar 4, 2025
Austin Transit Partnership presents pedestrian features, changes to stops in revised Project Connect plan
The Mobility Committee of City Council heard an update on plans for the Austin light-rail project that included a proposal for three new pedestrian features along the prospective system, as well as changes to stops, during a meeting on Feb.…
Transit • By Miles Wall • Feb 26, 2025
Under threat of a federal freeze, city staff says they’re staying the course on infrastructure grants
City staff made the case against panic to City Council’s Mobility Committee during an update on the state of Austin’s pending federal infrastructure grants, which some believe may be threatened by President Donald Trump’s executive orders to freeze all federal…
Transportation • By Miles Wall • Feb 24, 2025
DB90 designation signals redevelopment on Hart Lane
A proposal to rezone several tracts of land on Hart Lane to allow for more intensive redevelopment under the DB90, or Density Bonus 90, zoning district was recommended by the Zoning and Platting Commission by an 8-1 vote during a…
Zoning • By Miles Wall • Feb 21, 2025
Planning Commission bucks opposition to recommend DB90 for Red River plots
The Planning Commission voted 9-0-1, with Commissioner Grayson Cox abstaining, to recommend a proposal from a landowner to rezone three addresses on Red River Street in the Hancock neighborhood that was widely panned by neighbors at a public meeting on…
