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Planning

Commission drills down on Grove at Shoal Creek park plans

After years of contentious planning, the Grove at Shoal Creek has broken ground and begun construction on the first two blocks of residences of this mixed-use development in central Northwest Austin. The plan for the accompanying parkland remains under discussion. At…

Landmark commissioners say they feel double-crossed over West Austin property

Despite a local homeowner and the city spending months compromising, negotiating and working to comply with suggestions from Austin’s Historic Preservation Office, Historic Landmark commissioners were flabbergasted Monday night at the final plans for a multimillion-dollar home in Old West…

Board of Adjustment seeks neighborly consent for variance

There are occasions when even though the Board of Adjustment deems a request reasonable, procedure dictates that it is unable to approve the request. Such a petition came before the BoA at its Feb. 11 meeting, when the homeowner of…

Boat dock variance dredges up concerns at the Board of Adjustment

There are occasions when, regardless of how a homeowner may redesign, reorient or reimagine a site, there is simply no option to make a project code-compliant. That still doesn’t mean that the request for a variance will be supported. This…

Scraped lots are not entitled to variances because of tree placement

Generally, when trees are the cause of a variance request, the Board of Adjustment is quite accommodating. After all, considering all the good trees do for the environment and the city’s stringent protections for them, it can be difficult for…

Del Valle PID moves forward, but county is not done negotiating

The petition to create the Velocity Crossing Public Improvement District in Del Valle was unanimously approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court Tuesday morning after its third and final public hearing. As the county’s first commercial PID, the development has…

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Citing density concerns, West Austin lot receives recommendation for subdivision

After purchasing his home in May 2016 under the assumption that the city would permit him to subdivide his 3.2-acre lot into two 1.6-acre lots, Rick Engel, the owner of Ski Shores restaurant, found himself still pleading his case almost three…

Council weighs mixed messages from staff on car dealership

City Council approved a request Thursday to provide water and wastewater service to a car dealership in northwest Travis County over the objections of the city’s Watershed Protection Department. The car lot, 620 Volvo Dealership, is going to be built…

2019 could be the year to end city parking minimums

The Pedestrian Advisory Council is asking City Council to confront a broad spectrum of issues this year with a simple change to the city’s dated land use code. In a unanimous vote Monday evening, PAC approved a recommendation to Council…

Zoning and Platting Commission discusses validity of previous vote

At the last meeting of the Zoning and Platting Commission on Jan. 29, even with a full dais the commission was unable to muster the supermajority vote needed to approve a request for a flag lot at 11603 Tedford St.…

Planning Commission OKs change to 30-year-old development agreement

Homes produce a lot less sewage now than they did 30 years ago. That’s partly why the Planning Commission decided Tuesday to allow the construction of an office building in western Travis County over the objections of city staff. The…

Neighborhood planning poised to change

The Planning Commission was recently briefed on the future of small area planning by Planning and Zoning staff. Austin has focused its small area planning around the neighborhood planning strategy since a 1997 City Council resolution. But subsequent to a…

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