Stories by Ryan Thornton
Mobility Committee aims to protect streets from parking demand
Parking has been “right-sized” in the draft Land Development Code, though some members of City Council are concerned that could have the wrong effect in some parts of the city. The code rewrite team told Council’s Mobility Committee last Tuesday…
Transportation • By Ryan Thornton • Nov 12, 2019
Planning Commission links impervious cover to affordable housing
The Land Development Code draft relies heavily on expanded affordable housing bonus opportunities to reach its nearly 400,000-unit capacity. Altogether, the bonuses would net just under 180,000 units, with about 9,000 of those income-restricted. But site regulations like impervious cover…
Land Development Code • By Ryan Thornton • Nov 8, 2019
Downtown mobility plan reaches next stage of development
The Austin Transportation Department has kicked off the second and final phase of development for its Austin Core Transportation Plan, a document that will serve as a comprehensive guide for downtown right of way management into the future. Leading up…
Transportation • By Ryan Thornton • Nov 7, 2019
CAMPO chooses not to accept Regional Arterials Study
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s 2045 Regional Arterials Study was renamed and heavily critiqued by the Transportation Policy Board on Monday. The $1.5 million study is a big-picture transportation modeling exercise that was intended to serve as a kind…
Transportation • By Ryan Thornton • Nov 6, 2019
Milky Way property zoned for single-family condos, with conditions
City Council has taken action on a zoning case at the city’s western edge that some residents and environmental advocates say could result in catastrophe. Before Council approved the request Thursday, Joyce Statz, president of Austin Firewise Alliance, framed the…
Zoning • By Ryan Thornton • Nov 5, 2019
City Council and Capital Metro talk Project Connect capacity and ridership projections
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority has put together some potential outcomes for a public transit overhaul in the coming decade based on months of technical analysis, but regional and city leaders aren’t sure what to think with so many decisions…
Transit • By Ryan Thornton • Oct 31, 2019
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Capital Metro to get close-up look at neighborhood circulators
In the face of ongoing regional sprawl, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is taking strides to connect low-density areas outside the city’s public transit network to its fixed-service routes. The transit agency began that effort in June with an app-based…
Transit • By Ryan Thornton • Oct 30, 2019
Capital Metro to begin building first electric bus yard
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is laying the groundwork for an electric bus yard to store and charge the city’s first battery electric buses as early as next fall. The agency’s board of directors unanimously approved a $7.5 million contract…
Transit • By Ryan Thornton • Oct 29, 2019
Taco trucks, booze and day care: Commission talks site use in code draft
The current Land Development Code rewrite is usually discussed in either the big-picture abstractions of elected leaders or the detailed, close-up focus of city staffers. Yet more practical questions tend to get little public attention. But at its meeting last…
Land Development Code • By Ryan Thornton • Oct 29, 2019
Commission debates neighborhood planning and housing equity under code rewrite
The Planning Commission is divided over the role existing neighborhood plans should play in the new Land Development Code. Residents who benefit from neighborhood plans defended their merits Tuesday and urged commissioners to do more to help preserve those plans…
Land Development Code • By Ryan Thornton • Oct 25, 2019
Atlas 14 flood plain ordinance advances with residential improvements waiver
The Watershed Protection Department has crafted a way to help residents living in the city’s flood plain continue to make improvements to their homes as one component of an ordinance amending city floodplain regulations. The Planning Commission endorsed the proposal…
Planning • By Ryan Thornton • Oct 24, 2019
Volunteer group calls for more than transit for 2020 ballot with 'Wheel Deal'
A small group of community activists unveiled an all-volunteer effort Monday that they claim will help free Austin residents from car dependency and its associated costs while fighting climate change. The $4.377 billion plan, named the Wheel Deal, is an…
