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- Parks Board recommends vendor for Zilker Café, while voicing concerns about lack of local presence
- City leaders evaluate surprising ideas for water conservation
- Office slowdown sparks new downtown housing ambitions
- Audit: Economic official granted arts, music funding against city code
- Downtown Historic Resource Survey eyes seven new districts eligible for designation
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Development
Neighbors push back on city plan to direct future land use around Cap Metro sites
A hearing at the Planning Commission on a proposal by city staff to change land use plans around two Capital Metro park-and-ride sites in North and South Austin was postponed during a March 25 meeting after neighborhood advocates raised alarm.…
Planning • By Miles Wall • Apr 2, 2025
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
Austin churches answer prayers for affordable housing – by building it themselves
Standing at a pulpit on a Sunday morning in March, the Rev. Daryl Horton of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in East Austin prayed for a swift approval of building permits. An ask that, as anyone familiar with municipal bureaucracy knows,…
Housing • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Mar 27, 2025
Preservationists praise developer for giving Sixth Street historic buildings ‘some love’
As Dallas-based Stream Realty moves forward with efforts to revitalize more than 30 properties it owns along East Sixth Street, the company is evincing a notable shift in strategy: preserving historic buildings instead of replacing most of them with new…
Preservation • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 25, 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
Eviction crisis spreads as affordability pressures worsen
A record-breaking 13,210 evictions were filed in Travis County in 2024, according to a memo released last week from BASTA (Building and Strengthening Tenant Action), a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. The memo, a snapshot with key evictions-related findings…
Housing • By Madeline de Figueiredo • Mar 24, 2025
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Historic survey of downtown Austin nears completion
Austin’s Preservation Office is poised to complete its Historic Resources Survey of the downtown area by the end of the year, wrapping up years of work documenting sites of cultural interest. Preservation Office Planner Sofia Wagner met with Historic Landmark…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Mar 21, 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
Resource, funding needs will delay South Shore cultural district until 2027
The South Shore Cultural District remains in limbo as the city prioritizes funding and resources for other cultural districts, pushing any substantial progress on South Shore until at least Fiscal Year 2027. A recent city memo from Anthony Segura, interim…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • 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
SXSW panelists examine causes, effects of the city's lack of Black homeowners
A South by Southwest panel discussion earlier this week didn’t gloss over the challenges Black communities in Austin face if they’re not already owners of highly valuable residential real estate. During the panel Advancing Black Homeownership Through Housing Equity, Habitat…
