TipSheet: City Council, 11.2.17
Thursday, November 2, 2017 by Elizabeth Pagano
City Council will hold its (kind of) regular meeting again today, after top-secret interviews with city manager candidates are completed. Expect a short meeting, with a start time around 4 p.m. ANYWAY, here are the things we have our eye on. In the interest of space, we’ve decided not to post the entire agenda. The Office of the City Clerk posts a copy on its website, here.
Item 16: C14-2017-0028 – Great Hills Mixed Use – District 10 – Conduct a public hearing and approve an ordinance amending City Code Title 25 by rezoning property locally known as 9828 Great Hills Trail and 10224 Research Boulevard (Walnut Creek Watershed). Applicant Request: To rezone from community commercial (GR) district zoning and limited office (LO) district zoning to general commercial services-mixed use- vertical mixed use building (CS-MU-V) combining district zoning.
Monitor’s Take: As reported on Wednesday, this zoning case would allow a shopping center to be redeveloped with housing. As is typical these days, there will probably be a lot of talk about affordable housing – a plan for that aspect of the development has yet to be established.
Item 14: C14-98-0146(RCT) – 6610 McNeil Drive Termination of Restrictive Covenant – District 6 – Conduct a public hearing to terminate a public restrictive covenant on a property locally known as 6610 McNeil Drive and 12602 Blackfoot Trail (Rattan Creek Watershed). Staff Recommendation: To grant the restrictive covenant termination. Zoning and Platting Commission Recommendation:To grant the restrictive covenant termination. Owner/Applicant: Abraham Birgani. Agent: Shaw Hamilton Consultants (Shaw Hamilton). City Staff: Sherri Sirwaitis, 512-974-3057.
Monitor’s Take: Though getting rid of the restrictive covenant on this property probably won’t be a big deal, the Austin Monitor would like to inform you that this is but one piece of a zoning puzzle that Jo Clifton described as “Kafkaesque.”
Item 22: Update on EMS Labor Meet and Confer Agreement
Monitor’s Take: Not sure if the current situation around Austin-Travis County EMS contracts rates as Kafkaesque, but it’s certainly … something. At the moment, as we reported today, negotiations between the city and the EMS employee association collapsed Monday with no contract in place, so we will be watching this for sure!
TipSheets
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Key Players & Topics In This Article
Austin City Council: The Austin City Council is the body with legislative purview over the City of Austin. It offers policy direction, while the office of the City Manager implements administrative actions based on those policies. Until 2015, the body contained seven members, including the city's Mayor, all elected at-large. In 2012, City of Austin residents voted to change that system and as of 2015, 10 members of the Council are elected based on geographic districts. The Mayor continues to be elected at-large.
