Starting today, Jan. 31, the third floor of One Texas Center at 505 Barton Springs Road will be undergoing renovations. During the renovation period, which is expected to last four months, the building inspection team that normally occupies the third floor will be temporarily relocated to the city’s Ben White location. Limited building inspection services will be available on the second floor of One Texas Center during this time. Planned improvements to the third floor include a new intake area for residential, commercial, expedited and volume builder building plan reviews.

A diverse lineup of state and national water experts will be speaking at the ninth annual Central Texas Water Conservation Symposium, whose theme this year is “Integrated Water: Keeping Conservation at the Forefront.” The symposium’s goal is to educate water utilities on how to implement successful water conservation programs and keep customers engaged. The event is today, Jan. 31, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Canyon View Event Center, 4800 Spicewood Springs Road. See a complete list of speakers and topics of discussion here.

Austin Independent School District has snagged an honor called the Texas K-12 Consortium of School Networking Council’s Team Award, in recognition of the district’s pioneering use of technology in urban schools. The award, which recognizes “individuals and school districts that demonstrate outstanding vision in the use of information technologies to improve student learning,” was announced by the Texas K-12 CTO Council, the state chapter of the Consortium of School Networking. The technology team at AISD is led by Kevin Schwartz and includes Erin Bown-Anderson, John Kohlmorgan, Les Ready and Lewis Wynn.

At City Council’s first work session of the year, Mayor Steve Adler reminded his colleagues of the lawsuit by the state attorney general against the Planning Commission. The suit accuses the commission of being in violation of the city charter, which states that only one-third of its members can have ties to the real estate or land development industry. Two of the eight members cited in the suit have since left the commission, but two more will have to go for the commission to be in compliance, according to the suit. Council Member Alison Alter insists that her appointee, Patricia Seeger, is retired from real estate and therefore should not be considered an industry insider. Even if the attorney general agrees, that still suggests that Council members will have to negotiate with each other to ensure that more than four of the commissioners do not have real estate ties. Due to a charter amendment approved by voters in November, every commissioner’s term ends in June, at which point they can either be reappointed or replaced. Council will begin considering appointments to the commission in February.

Fifty-eight Austin schools will receive funding to implement 70 sustainability projects involving over 30,000 students, says the city’s Office of Sustainability, which awards its Bright Green Future grants for projects that offer students hands-on lessons in environmental stewardship and have benefits for the community. The winning projects include organic gardens, wildlife habitats, composting systems, rainwater harvesting and reducing light pollution. Five different school districts including AISD, Round Rock ISD, Georgetown ISD, Leander ISD, and Del Valle ISD, as well as some private schools, the Travis County Juvenile Justice Alternative and the Texas School for the Deaf, received BGF grants. Said Chief Sustainability Officer Lucia Athens in a release announcing the grants, “As Austin continues to seek innovative solutions to address climate change and preserve nature in the city, fostering sustainability thinking and practices in the next generation of Austinites is critical. These are the leaders of tomorrow. The large number of creative projects proposed by teachers and parents should give us all hope for a resilient future.” See the entire list of projects here (PDF).

The month of February is amnesty month in the Austin Municipal Court. The Municipal Court has declared an amnesty from Feb. 1-28 so Austinites can clear their unpaid citations and outstanding warrants and walk away with a clean record and a clear conscience. The amnesty applies only to charges that were filed in Austin Municipal Court or Downtown Community Court. No arrests will be made for those who appear voluntarily. No appointments necessary: Just show up at the Municipal Court at 700 E. Seventh St. or Community Court at 719 E. Sixth St. during business hours. If you can’t afford to pay what you owe, you may set up a payment plan, request community service or petition for a hardship waiver. For more information, visit austintexas.gov/court.

The city of Austin is developing its five-year federal funding plan and is looking for input. Specifically, the city has an online survey that asks residents to weigh in on programs for affordable housing, job creation and public service for area families, those with disabilities, seniors and youth. To weigh in on the $11 million or so that is awarded annually through Housing and Urban Development grants, take the survey now.

Council Member Ann Kitchen is offering a resolution for Council’s Jan. 31 agenda that will instruct the city manager to prepare a report by the end of May describing “the best options for piloting immediate shelter and support services for those experiencing homelessness with the intent of providing a pathway to permanent housing.” The resolution directs the city manager to identify opportunities to purchase or lease property that can be used to provide immediate shelter for those without. The resolution specifies that the new shelter will not be “directly adjacent to existing residential neighborhoods” unless the “neighborhood approved of the use,” and that the structure and services should be ready by September.

Earlier this month, we checked in on the progress of Affordable Central Texas and the Austin Housing Conservancy, which have partnered in an effort to buy apartment complexes and preserve their rents at middle-class income levels in order to safeguard workforce housing. That story described how the groups planned to purchase four complexes in 2019, bringing the total to seven since the effort began.  This past week the CEO of ACT told the Austin Business Journal that the investment fund has raised nearly $10 million total, with a goal of raising another $30 million by the end of this year. On its own that level of capital wouldn’t be enough to follow through with the groups’ purchase ambitions, which is why deals like the $50 million Fannie Mae loan secured with Bellwether Enterprise Capital was needed for the housing fund to move ahead with the purchase of two of the three complexes it bought in 2018. The Conservancy hopes to get a total of $500 million to complete purchase of 10,000 apartment units preserved at workforce rates in the next 10 years.

While it might be premature to plan out routes just yet, the city of Austin has released its map of SXSW street closures for all of you who’d like to get a jump. Head over to the city website for confirmation that downtown will be a mess in March, and stay tuned for the loads of information to come!

As promised, word came through about District 8’s office staff yesterday. Julia Montgomery will be joining the office as policy adviser and Brittne Walker will be serving as communications and district relations manager for newly elected City Council Member Paige Ellis. In addition to being a familiar face at City Hall, Montgomery has been serving as regional planner for the Capital Area Council of Governments, focusing on transportation, housing policy, economic development and national disaster relief. Previously she worked for the city’s Transportation Department, The Texas Tribune and the Texas House of Representatives. Walker most recently worked as an AmeriCorps leader at Breakthrough Central Texas. A release about the hire notes that her previous experience includes work for the Virginia Democratic Party, Annie’s List and Battleground Texas. The two join Chief of Staff Deena Estrada, who was hired earlier this week.

It’s cold out and homeless people are taking shelter in some unusual places, including stormwater sewers and culverts. It may be shelter, but when you add a candle to a mattress the result can be disastrous. Council Member Pio Renteria took a ride with members of the Austin Police Department as they visited two underground homeless encampments in his district on Riverside Drive about 10 days ago. On Sunday, one of those camps caught fire. Renteria told the Austin Monitor via email, “Last week I visited several homeless camps with APD and I saw firsthand the desperate state of the homeless in our city. During one of the visits, APD informed everyone living in a tunnel that it was unsafe to be there. However, after we left, the makeshift furniture remained and so people moved right back once we were gone. Several days later, in that same tunnel there was fire and thankfully no one was hurt.” Renteria called it “a public safety issue for renters and homeowners on Riverside as well as the homeless who are forced to live in these unsafe conditions.” Ramesh Swaminathan, managing engineer with the Watershed Protection Department, said Thursday his department is working with other city departments to try to solve the problem. He said the city would be awarding a contract for a pilot project within the next two weeks or so to clean up nine hot spots, including two tunnels on Riverside Drive. He estimated that the city would spend about $50,000 to $60,000 on the pilot, though that addresses just one part of the problem. Renteria concluded, “We need to provide a safe place for those who are homeless in our city to sleep, recover and hopefully get back on their feet. That should be our first priority. “