Tag Archives: Austin City Council
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
City Council
Council asks city staff for ideas on local Green New Deal, EVs
City Council unanimously approved its own Green New Deal resolution last week in response to the devastating consequences of the climate crisis, from record temperatures to the historic flooding seen in Austin and Central Texas over the last decade.Council Member…
Monday, May 13, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Parks
Kitchen backs reopening Butler Park golf course contract
City staff has been directed to examine options to reopen the bid process for management of the Butler Park Pitch and Putt golf course so the longtime owner of the course can be considered for a contract extension.City Council Member…
Monday, May 13, 2019 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Dougherty move OK’d but questions remain
Council voted Thursday to instruct the Parks and Recreation Department to move forward with preparing a design for a new site for the Dougherty Arts Center at Butler Shores Park. However, the instructions were not an all-out endorsement of the…
Thursday, May 9, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Planning
Code rewrite leaves little room for small area planning pilot
City Council will not be taking action Thursday on a resolution intended to direct City Manager Spencer Cronk to initiate a pilot small area planning project on North Lamar Boulevard between Tech Ridge Transit Center and U.S. Highway 183.Although the…
Thursday, May 9, 2019 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Harper-Madison questions electric vehicle resolution
Council Member Alison Alter’s resolution furthering Austin’s commitment to combating climate change seems exactly like the sort of statement Austinites expect from their leaders. Austin city councils have backed environmental initiatives, including reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, for many years.The…
Wednesday, May 8, 2019 by Jo Clifton
Planning
Streamlined housing plan comes to Council
In keeping with its commitment to increase Austin’s affordable housing stock, Council will consider an ordinance Thursday which will eliminate certain requirements that currently apply to all new housing, affordable as well as market rate.Under a new program called Affordability…
Tuesday, May 7, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Land Development Code
Growing up: Council wrestles with competing water and housing needs
Between an invasion of zebra mussels, an extended boil-water notice due to continued flooding and the concerning results of the Atlas 14 regional rainfall study, city water problems have crowded to the surface in the months since the last land…
Friday, May 3, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Land Development Code
Council directs city staff on code rewrite
Austin City Council has spoken: It wants a new Land Development Code and map to look at and consider for adoption this year, ready to pass on first reading in October.Council voted during a special session Thursday afternoon to direct…
Thursday, May 2, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Parks
Golf course owner hopes Council will intervene in Butler Park contract dispute
The owner of Butler Park Pitch & Putt golf course is hoping City Council will reopen the contract process that threatens to end the nearly 70-year family operation.Lee Kinser, owner and president of the small golf course tucked off South…
Tuesday, April 30, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Planning
Yard Bar evades muzzle on live music
Customers at Yard Bar, a Burnet Road restaurant, will continue enjoying outdoor live music with their dinner and drinks for years to come, thanks to City Council’s rejection of an appeal of the restaurant’s relatively strict outdoor music venue permit…
Monday, April 29, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Austin
City eyes loan to cover facilities costs for job training nonprofit
City Council has committed to offering financial help to the Workforce Solutions Capital Area job training program to help it address facilities expenses that resulted in a 20 percent cut to its programs this year.The resolution, which passed as part…
Monday, April 29, 2019 by Jo Clifton
Zoning
Zoning for affordable housing wins initial approval
With Council Member Greg Casar leading the way, Council voted unanimously Thursday to give first-round approval to rezoning a tract at 916 and 918 Norwood Park Blvd. for 228 affordable housing units in District 4.Members of the Heritage Hills Woodbridge…
Thursday, April 25, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Land Development Code
Council to consider jump-start to small area planning
The city’s Planning and Zoning Department could be getting outside help to clear an anticipated decades-long backlog of planning documents for activity centers specified for growth in Imagine Austin.An amendment up for consideration at today’s City Council meeting includes possible…
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Land Development Code
Council debates preservation of special zoning districts
City Council members have come to a loose consensus on the five questions in City Manager Spencer Cronk’s land development code memo. Council is fundamentally in agreement that a new code is necessary and that a zoning map should be…
Tuesday, April 16, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Parks
Summer pilot aims to save Zilker from parking overload
The first piece of a long-term effort to systematically rethink Zilker Park’s parking, transportation and environmental needs may come into play this summer with a short-term transportation pilot program aiming to reduce traffic and parking demand in and around the…
Tuesday, April 16, 2019 by Jo Clifton
Zoning
Council overrides staff to OK Blackland rezoning
Last Thursday, Council gave final approval to a zoning change that will allow an East Austin property owner to build five units on a lot at 2107 Alamo St., replacing an existing duplex. The vote was 10-1, with Council Member…
Monday, April 15, 2019 by Jo Clifton
Planning
Council says no to cell phone tower
On a vote of 7-3, last week Council rejected an application to change regulations for a planned unit development that would have allowed a cell phone tower to be erected near a condominium complex and an apartment building west of…
Monday, April 15, 2019 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Chopped
Bueller?… Council Member Alison Alter took time from Tuesday’s work session to highlight a concern that current appointees to some city boards and commissions have been racking up absences, creating an issue of making quorum at several points. During discussion…
Friday, April 12, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transportation
Austin gets a new comprehensive transportation plan
After passing the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan – the transportation piece of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan – on an initial reading March 28, City Council unanimously approved the plan on second and third readings Thursday afternoon.According to the ASMP’s…
Thursday, April 11, 2019 by Jo Clifton
Texas State Legislature
Council strongly opposes property tax bills
As Speaker of the Texas House Dennis Bonnen calls the chamber to order today, Austin’s City Council will begin working its way through its regular agenda. That agenda includes a resolution adamantly rejecting House Bill 2, the property tax bill…
