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Planning
Vela seeks new solutions for housing the homeless
Council Member Chito Vela has proposed that the city request the cash equivalent of on-site affordable housing upon approval of the Statesman planned unit development on Lady Bird Lake. Under his proposal, the money would go toward temporary shelter for…
Planning • By Jo Clifton • Mar 30, 2022
In time for spring, Living Streets initiative making it easier to throw a block party
Just in time for spring, the Transportation Department stopped by the City Council Mobility Committee meeting to share progress on the Living Streets initiative passed by Council last October. The Living Streets program encourages the use of city streets as…
Planning • By Kali Bramble • Mar 23, 2022
Planning Commission weighs in on mobility plan updates
As the city works to update the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, a 20-year transportation plan adopted in 2019, the Planning Commission was the latest body to comment on the proposed changes March 8. City staffers propose two sets of changes…
Planning • By Jonathan Lee • Mar 22, 2022
Latest Rainey tower gets Planning Commission support
The Planning Commission has recommended increased density for 80 Rainey, a 550-foot-tall, 644-unit residential tower by developer Lincoln Ventures at 80 Rainey St. The commission voted 11-0-1 on Feb. 22 to recommend increasing the floor area ratio (a measure of density)…
Planning • By Jonathan Lee • Mar 8, 2022
Council approves anti-displacement funding for year two of Project Connect
Forty-one million dollars is officially on its way to the affordable housing pipeline as of last Thursday, when City Council resolved to allocate funding from Project Connect’s $300 million anti-displacement budget in the next fiscal year. The resolution, sponsored by…
Planning • By Kali Bramble • Mar 7, 2022
Industry expert pokes holes in city’s convention center expansion plan
A presentation to the Downtown Commission last week largely refuted the need to expand the Austin Convention Center. Commissioners will revisit the issue at their March meeting. The proposed expansion has been an issue for the commission since last fall…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 24, 2022
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Environmental Commission recommends denial of city water services to entertainment complex
Plans to develop 70 acres adjacent to the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve into a mega entertainment complex went off course last night when the Environmental Commission unanimously voted to recommend denying the request to extend water and wastewater service to the…
Planning • By Willow Higgins • Feb 18, 2022
Eureka Holdings right-of-way acquisition moves forward despite neighborhood objections
Homewood Heights residents took an unusual approach to resist development this past Tuesday, requesting that the Urban Transportation Commission reject a right-of-way vacation on an unmaintained and unused street. Despite concerns the vacation would reinforce hazardous traffic conditions, the commission…
Planning • By Kali Bramble • Feb 15, 2022
MACC board wants questions answered before approving expansion plan
Leaders from the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center want the public to have more input on plans to expand the Rainey Street facility, because of concerns early planning documents don’t provide enough details about public access and how…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 11, 2022
Council still has many questions about waterfront tax zone
Anyone expecting definitive answers about how the city will pay for improvements for the South Central Waterfront zone after a lengthy discussion at Tuesday’s City Council work session was likely disappointed. At the end of reports from the city’s financial…
Planning • By Jo Clifton • Feb 2, 2022
Local developers hear call for creative space partnerships through cultural trust
As the city’s recently activated Economic Development Corporation takes its first significant steps to preserve creative spaces, the local real estate and development community is starting to explore ways to partner and bring arts and music uses into new and…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 1, 2022
Opera house redevelopment project gets first OK
City Council unanimously approved the first reading of the proposed zoning change to three tracts just east of South Congress Avenue while signaling that there is much negotiating and bargaining awaiting the project, which aims to revive part of the…
