TipSheet: City Council, 8.26.21

In good news for reporters covering City Hall, today’s City Council meeting looks to be on the lighter side, with not much more than a handful of zoning cases to focus on. (It’s always worth noting, however, that trying to predict the length of a Council meeting is a fool’s errand. One just never knows what might derail the whole shebang.) 

Of note for planning purposes (if you missed our whisper earlier this week): Open meetings rules that have been suspended due to the pandemic are set to spring back into effect in September. That means Council’s next meeting will have in-person speakers, though the rest of the details are still being worked out.

As for today’s meeting, we expect that the Crestview Village proposal (Item 9) might get some more attention, though it does not appear to be particularly controversial. Here are some last-minute amendments, for the insatiably curious. 

In terms of zoning cases, it looks like the 3M property case that divided the Zoning and Platting Commission may be up for discussion. That’s Item 81 on the agenda. Items 89/90 on the agenda are the Fair Market rezoning, which also is without a boards and commissions recommendation after the Planning Commission could not agree on its requested height. Council will also take up the proposed affordable housing project on Anderson Lane. Last time it was up, Council members were obviously peeved at the fact the developer had redrawn the project’s boundaries to evade a valid petition. However, they agreed to vote for it on first reading after the mayor pro tem assured them it would be worth it. 

Finally, though we aren’t likely to cover it, Council will vote to approve a resolution welcoming Afghan refugees to Austin. 

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