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District 5
ZAP divided on rezoning for neighborhood bar on Menchaca
The Zoning and Platting Commission disagreed Tuesday on a request to zone a South Austin property to allow liquor sales and commercial use amid concern from neighbors over noise and traffic. The rezoning concerns a 5-acre tract at 11530 Menchaca…
Zoning • By Jonathan Lee • Apr 8, 2022
ZAP unable to mediate inter-church zoning dispute
The Zoning and Platting Commission couldn’t agree on a rezoning for an apartment project with up to 300 units, in part because of a disagreement between two churches about a restrictive covenant. After multiple failed motions on March 1, the commission…
Zoning • By Jonathan Lee • Mar 18, 2022
City seeks solutions to Barton Springs lifeguard problem
Spurred by news that Barton Springs Pool will soon be closed two days a week, City Council Member Paige Ellis will be asking City Manager Spencer Cronk to come up with additional strategies to address the city’s lifeguard shortage. In…
Parks • By Jo Clifton • Mar 15, 2022
Parks board continues weighing Zilker Park outreach efforts
The fabled adage, “Please all and you will please none,” seems to be an apt description of many of the city’s community engagement endeavors, with the ongoing outreach around the Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan serving as a timely example. …
Parks • By Amy Smith • Feb 28, 2022
Parks board not so fond of the Butler Landfill maintenance project
The gravel lot between Zilker Park and the MoPac Expressway bridge, which most Austinites know as the park’s overflow parking lot, also serves a less visible purpose – it’s a landfill. The Butler Landfill, which spans a total of 8 acres,…
Parks • By Willow Higgins • Feb 10, 2022
Zilker Park has sidewalks and safer bus stops headed its way
In an effort to improve pedestrian safety, Austin’s Public Works Department is working on building better sidewalks and bus stops in and around Zilker Park. Most who frequent the park agree that Barton Springs Road and the connecting Stratford Drive…
Parks • By Willow Higgins • Feb 2, 2022
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First phase of South Lamar bike lanes delayed nearly two years
Work on a major face-lift to South Lamar Boulevard between Riverside Drive and Barton Springs Road was supposed to have been well underway by now, but as those who frequent the stretch know, not much has changed. That’s because the…
Bicycles • By Jonathan Lee • Jan 21, 2022
Makeover planned for Violet Crown trailhead at Zilker Park
Significant improvements are coming soon to the beginning of the Violet Crown Trail at Zilker Park, including an overlook and an entrance worthy of what may someday be Austin’s longest urban trail. The new overlook, shaded by a heritage pecan…
Parks • By Jonathan Lee • Jan 6, 2022
Kitchen: 'We could write a whole book about the last year'
Ann Kitchen thrives from the many challenges of being a City Council member. “It’s a combination of being really proactive and trying to address the problems that we’re having as a city,” she told the Austin Monitor. “It’s always new, it’s…
City Council • By Seth Smalley • Dec 22, 2021
After long wait, Toomey Road rezoning wins initial approval
At the urging of Council Member Ann Kitchen, City Council gave first reading approval for rezoning the apartment complex property at the corner of Toomey Road and Sterzing Street close to Zilker Park. Tenants of the complex, which will be…
Zoning • By Jo Clifton • Dec 10, 2021
Design Commission gives nod to bathhouse project
With the unanimous blessing of the city’s Design Commission, plans to renovate and and restore the historic Barton Springs Bathhouse continue to move forward. Barton Springs’ 1947 bathhouse is unimpeachably historic, with city, state and federal historic designations that all…
Preservation • By Elizabeth Pagano • Dec 1, 2021
ZAP says MF-2 too dense for Menchaca, a Project Connect corridor
On Tuesday, the Zoning and Platting Commission rejected Multifamily Low-Density (MF-2) zoning for three properties along Menchaca Road over objections from some commissioners who argued for more density on a corridor slated for Project Connect investment. “When I look at…
