Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is once again challenging the makeup of Austin’s Planning Commission. In a suit filed Tuesday, Paxton asks to remove Fayez Kazi, James Shieh, Greg Anderson, Claire Hempel and/or Patrick Howard from the Planning Commission “because one or more of them unlawfully hold a position on the Commission.” The suit is […]
City of Austin Planning Commission
This commission addresses issues of land use as assigned to it by Austin’s City Code. These include the abilities “[t]o make and amend a master plan, recommend approval or disapproval of proposed zoning changes and control land subdivision within neighborhood planning areas and submit, annually, a list of recommended capital improvements.” It has sovereign authority, or the right to make final decisions on certain cases.
Posted inLand Development Code
Land code heads to City Council with request to focus development on West Austin instead of East
Austin’s new land use code, which determines what can be built in the city and where, is one step closer to being finalized – but first, one city body is asking that the plan encourage development farther west instead of in gentrifying areas. Members of the city’s Planning Commission signed off Tuesday on recommended changes […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Planning Commission links impervious cover to affordable housing
The Land Development Code draft relies heavily on expanded affordable housing bonus opportunities to reach its nearly 400,000-unit capacity. Altogether, the bonuses would net just under 180,000 units, with about 9,000 of those income-restricted. But site regulations like impervious cover maximums could keep developers from opting into those programs. The Planning Commission passed two recommendations […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Taco trucks, booze and day care: Commission talks site use in code draft
The current Land Development Code rewrite is usually discussed in either the big-picture abstractions of elected leaders or the detailed, close-up focus of city staffers. Yet more practical questions tend to get little public attention. But at its meeting last Tuesday, the Planning Commission took some time to think about concrete concerns like where a […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Commission debates neighborhood planning and housing equity under code rewrite
The Planning Commission is divided over the role existing neighborhood plans should play in the new Land Development Code. Residents who benefit from neighborhood plans defended their merits Tuesday and urged commissioners to do more to help preserve those plans in the new code, but the commission itself was torn over whether such plans work […]
Posted inPlanning
Atlas 14 flood plain ordinance advances with residential improvements waiver
The Watershed Protection Department has crafted a way to help residents living in the city’s flood plain continue to make improvements to their homes as one component of an ordinance amending city floodplain regulations. The Planning Commission endorsed the proposal Tuesday, but some commissioners and environmental activists expressed reservations. Bobby Levinski, representing the Save Our […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Planning Commission offers solutions to missing-middle housing problem
Transition zones continue to divide the city’s elected and appointed officials in discussions over the Land Development Code. Several City Council members have already taken issue with the way the zones – meant to promote missing-middle housing types in Imagine Austin activity centers and along major transportation corridors – were mapped in the draft release […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Planning Commission begins tackling the new LDC draft
Friday, Oct. 4, was a big day for the city of Austin. That afternoon ushered in the draft of the city’s most recent attempt to rewrite its Land Development Code, kicking off months of discussions about the topic. The Planning Commission had its first discussion on Oct. 8. Though the commissioners only had four days […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Think of the children
Cub Scouts bring improvement initiatives to the Planning Commission… Webelos Scout Pack 81 Den 4 arrived at the Oct. 8 convocation of the Planning Commission to speak solemnly to the commissioners about their concerns for the city and what they appreciate. The appearance was part of the pack’s Building a Better World requirement, in which […]
Posted inZoning
Planning Commission recommends food truck in Tarrytown
Tarrytown may be a centrally located neighborhood, but it is not very walkable. To give neighbors at least one option that is accessible on foot, David Kanne, a resident and local developer, purchased the 11-unit multifamily complex at 2401 Winsted Lane and has been working to improve the property over the last six months. His […]
Posted inPlanning
Planning Commission votes in favor of protecting future ears from airport expansion
Generally speaking, residential use is prohibited within the airport overlay zones. The exception is the third zone (AO3) of the airport overlay, which under certain circumstances permits residential development. “We don’t just meet one of the three thresholds, we meet two,” Drenner Group’s Amanda Swor told the Planning Commission at its Sept. 24 meeting. She […]
Posted inPreservation
Historic Herrera homestead heads to Council with Planning Commission approval
It’s rare that a structure is zoned historic against an owner’s wishes. According to Preservation Austin, it has happened only three times since 1974; however, that number may be about to grow to four. Following in the footsteps of the Historic Landmark Commission, which unanimously recommended the Herrera house at 1805 E. Third St. for […]