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Planning
Following HOME 2 passage, advocates seek Council action on short-term rentals
Members of the Tourism Commission are pushing City Council to move forward with an agreement with short-term rental platforms that could make it possible for the city to more easily regulate the thousands of unlicensed homes operating as lodging businesses…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • May 21, 2024
Music Commission wants clubs, creative space required in Red River Cultural District
The Music Commission wants the city to ensure that any new multistory development within the Red River Cultural District would need to provide discounted space for music venues or creative uses, without offering any density bonus incentives. At Monday’s meeting,…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • May 8, 2024
Council appears to support revised plans for South Central Waterfront District
City Council appears to be supportive of staff’s recommendations for how to revise the planning and density bonus programs for the South Central Waterfront District, in effect rejecting some of the Planning Commission’s most substantial ideas for the area. This…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • May 2, 2024
Design Commission hears how buildings can be safer for birds
No city in Texas has adopted bird-friendly building policies for new construction or retrofits, but the Travis Audubon Society hopes Austin, a designated “Bird City,” will lead the way. To advance this cause, the organization enlisted Heidi Trudell, a consultant…
Planning • By Amy Smith • Apr 24, 2024
New EV station will not charge forward in East Austin
Plans for an electric-vehicle charging lot spanning Pleasant Valley Road were thwarted by Planning Commission members who objected to its auto-centric nature at their last meeting. The project would have created two electric-vehicle charging parking lots flanking Pleasant Valley at…
Planning • By Elizabeth Pagano • Apr 23, 2024
Planning Commission endorses 'plot twist' for South Central Waterfront Plan
Though the future of Austin’s south shore has been shaken by a court ruling against the proposed tax increment reinvestment zone, members of the Planning Commission last week took their turn tackling the South Central Waterfront Plan in a sprawling…
Planning • By Elizabeth Pagano • Apr 18, 2024
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Study raises questions about senior/child care center proposed for Nash Hernandez Building
A new study calls into question the feasibility of proposals to use the Nash Hernandez Building in East Austin as an activity center for older people and young children. The report on the legal and financial realities of the intergenerational…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 10, 2024
City seeks input on area food plan that highlights fragility for farms, restaurants
The Office of Sustainability has published the draft of its long-in-development food plan for Austin and Travis County, which seeks to balance pressures of development and land use against the need to feed a fast-growing metro area. Released last month…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 1, 2024
Report offers city, developers strategies to reduce parking downtown
A new report from public policy and real estate leaders in Austin recommends a variety of approaches the city can take to reduce the presence and impact of multilevel parking decks in new developments in the downtown core and beyond.…
Planning • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 28, 2024
Environmental commissioners air concerns about waterfront district plan
A proposed framework for how the south shores of Lady Bird Lake will build out in future years received a lukewarm response from the Environmental Commission on Thursday. While only the Planning Commission and City Council are scheduled to vote…
Planning • By Amy Smith • Mar 25, 2024
Council calls for more trees and green infrastructure
On Thursday, City Council approved a step forward for increasing the number of trees in the city as well as promoting pedestrian and bicycle access throughout Austin. The vote was unanimous on the resolution sponsored by Mayor Pro Tem Leslie…
Planning • By Jo Clifton • Mar 22, 2024
Incentive package for music venues, arts spaces headed for May public hearing
The city is working to make incentives for creative spaces available to individual sites and properties as well as larger cultural districts that have been proposed in city planning documents in recent years. Monday’s Arts Commission meeting included a presentation…
