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Council wades deeper into drainage-fee issues

As City Council prepares to take action on restructuring the city’s drainage fee today, it is working through several issues that the current proposal presents for residents and property owners. That conversation continued at a special called meeting Tuesday. Council…

City announces recycling-education campaign

Austin residents are sending a lot of recyclables to landfills, and city staff hopes to help change that with a new educational campaign. Austin Resource Recovery Department Director Bob Gedert made the announcement at a press conference on Monday. “The…

Council prepares for reworked drainage fee

In the wake of last year’s ruling that the city’s stormwater drainage charge is unfair to certain residents, City Council will hold a public hearing today to consider adopting a new fee structure that staff says would be more equitable…

Almost half of Austin curbside trash recyclable

Despite the city’s ambitious goal to achieve zero waste by 2040, many Austin residents are sending items to landfills that they could be putting into the city’s blue recycling bins. Austin Resource Recovery Department Director Robert Gedert told members of…

Residents confront Parks Board over pool closures

East Austin residents demanded answers from the Parks and Recreation Board during its Tuesday meeting over news that Metz Neighborhood Pool and Mabel Davis Municipal Pool will close this summer for extensive repairs. The item was not on the board’s…

New water tap rule causes cost, consternation

In the midst of what almost everyone agrees is a housing affordability crisis in Austin, planners and residential contractors have discovered a new rule that significantly increases the cost of retrofitting garages into apartments and building new granny flats. Longtime…

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Downward oxygen trend a risk for salamanders

Barton Springs is the only known home to the endangered and federally protected Barton Springs and Austin Blind salamanders. Unfortunately, for these unique creatures, the level of life-sustaining dissolved oxygen in their ecosystem has dropped on average over the past…

Aquifer district ends six-year dispute with Kyle

Board members with the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District wrapped up a six-year dispute with the City of Kyle on Thursday night at their regular meeting, pending a few issues. “This means we can move on,” said John Dupnik, general manager…

AE to seek new solar contracts by mid-April

Since City Council adopted a set of goals last year that will shape Austin’s future energy portfolio, most discussion has focused on how to fill a 500-megawatt power gap in the plan. This week, the focus shifted to a goal…

Council weighs in on Parkland Events Task Force

Some City Council members say the naming of a public parks task force will finally bring action on discussions the city has been having for years about the strain special events place on the city’s parkland. Mayor Pro Tem Kathie…

EUC pushes for generation plan's solar component

The Electric Utility Commission passed a resolution Monday urging that City Council direct Austin Energy to issue a request for proposal for 600 megawatts of utility-scale solar energy by April 15. “I feel like Austin Energy, in making their agreement…

Explainer: The Austin Energy-CoA funds transfer

The Explainer takes a deeper look at stories we have been following. This week, we tackle the annual transfer from Austin Energy to the City of Austin’s General Fund. The annual transfer of what has historically been many millions of…

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