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Tag Archives: Planning and Development Review

Austin moves forward with expedited building permits

Builders in Austin have long complained about the city’s notoriously slow permitting process. Now, the city is set to launch a new program that will offer a faster option – but it comes with some costs. Building in Austin typically…

Annexation could threaten emergency response in southeastern Travis County

A small annexation in far South Austin could have big consequences for the southeastern corner of Travis County. Last Tuesday, Chief Ken Bailey of Emergency Services District No. 11 appeared before the Travis County Commissioners Court to seek protection from…

Coalition fights to add worker protections to expedited building permit process

The people who are building Austin can no longer afford to live in it, labor advocates say. Although they’re working on the big construction projects that are pushing Austin’s growth, construction workers in Austin have few protections, and many are…

Facing termination, CodeNEXT leader quits

The top executive presiding over the city’s rewrite of its land use regulations, Matt Lewis, submitted his resignation on Thursday after an investigation by the Human Resources Department concluded that Lewis had violated city policies regarding harassment of and retaliation…

ZAP delays decision on North Austin subdivision amid neighbor complaints

The Zoning and Platting Commission delayed action on a proposed multiuse development in North Austin after residents from the area showed up to register their disapproval of the anticipated increase in traffic. The commission, which was missing three of its…

City planning departments talk budgets

As the city’s budget process gears up, each department is making its way to City Council with its budget for the upcoming year. And in the wake of the Zucker Report, eyes are on what was once the Planning and…

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City works to build trust in wake of Zucker Report

On Wednesday, Austinites had a chance to address the Zucker Report publicly for the first time. Developers, neighborhood advocates and other stakeholders offered their feedback on the report and the development process in two meetings, and heard from Zucker Systems…

Ott splits Planning & Development Review Dept.

Like the couple that marries and divorces but marries again only to divorce a few years later, the Planning and Development Review Department is once again being broken into a neighborhood planning department and a development review department. In a…

Ott addresses Zucker Report in city memo

The city released a draft copy of the Zucker Report last week amid growing curiosity about what it contained. This week, the aftershocks began. Zucker Systems analyzed the city’s Planning and Development Review Department last year, and in its 700-plus-page…

Explainer: The Zucker Report marginalia

There was a lot of unveiling in the Zucker Report. We saw that a third-party analysis of the City of Austin’s Planning and Development Review Department did, indeed, show what appears as evidence of multiple divisions in shambles, as had…

Zucker Report released despite staff apprehension

After months of speculation, the City of Austin posted the draft Zucker Report on its website Thursday night. Last year, Zucker Systems performed an analysis of the Planning and Development Review Department, and while they did find “many exemplary features”…

Commission powers remain unclear, residents remain agitated

On Tuesday, Planning Commissioners opted to postpone an item that should clarify whether they have the ability to approve a subdivision without requiring connectivity. But the sea of bright yellow t-shirts at the meeting made it clear that the issue…

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