A group of residents in Southwest Austin is demanding changes to plans to overhaul the infamous “Y” at Oak Hill. Known as Fix 290, the group issued a press release on Monday calling for the Texas Department of Transportation to scale back plans for the so-called Oak Hill Parkway. Long part of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority’s portfolio, plans for the parkway hit a major speed bump last year when, under pressure from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott, the Texas Transportation Commission nixed the idea of using state tax dollars on toll projects. “Given this major change to the project of dropping tolling, it is time to revisit fundamental design features,” Fix 290 spokesperson Carol Cespedes said. “The current plan is good for tolling, but bad for community. The plan as designed ignores federal mandates for context-sensitive design.” The existing plans envision a six-lane elevated tollway flanked on each side by three lanes of frontage road. Instead, Fix 290 is calling for “a six-lane, ground level parkway design that would preserve the local community’s environment.” Both TxDOT and the CTRMA will hold a public hearing on the parkway plans this Thursday at Bowie High School.

The Parks and Recreation Department is past the halfway point in its rehab of the Rosewood Neighborhood Park Rehabilitation Project, and it’s time to present the design to the public. That will take place at a community meeting, held at the Delores Duffie Recreation Center (in Rosewood Park) from 6:30 until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5. Residents can offer up feedback on the design at that meeting, or direct questions to John McKennis at (512) 974-9510 or at John.Mckennis@austintexas.gov.

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority will spend close to $3.5 million to build a new park-and-ride beneath Ben White Boulevard. On Monday, the agency’s board of directors unanimously approved a resolution directing CEO and President Randy Clarke to finalize a contract with G. Hyatt Construction Inc. to build the Westgate Transit Center beneath the elevated highway between Pack Saddle Pass and Manchaca Road. The plans include eight bus bays, room for approximately 200 cars, lighting, landscaping and a restroom for bus drivers. The company will have 210 days to complete the project once the contract is signed.

On March 27, the city of Austin Development Services Department implemented a new pilot program geared toward inspecting urban infill projects as soon as a building permit goes on file. John McDonald, a member of the environmental inspection infill group within Development Services, explained to the Environmental Commission at its May 16 meeting that the project has “enabled us to move from complaint-based, or reactive, inspections to compliance, or proactive, inspections.” Within the span of a month, they performed 7,105 inspections on 1,239 sites, for an average of five visits per site, resulting in 1,296 verbal warnings, 285 written violations and 43 stop work orders. This was all done with five inspectors. Chair Linda Guerrero expressed concern over the small number of dedicated inspectors in the face of future development done in conjunction with CodeNEXT. “How, when CodeNEXT comes up, are you going to be able to manage without additional staff?” she asked. McDonald agreed that they would be strapped for staff and are going to need to request additional full-time employees when they propose their budget. The Environmental Commission agreed that it would support this request with a recommendation to Council. In addition to inspecting lots that have applied for new building permits, the inspection team also responds to complaints. To help make sure that complainants are able to reach the department, Commissioner Pam Thompson had an idea. “I’m going to suggest the refrigerator magnet with your number on it,” she said.

Early voting for the primary runoff wrapped up on Friday with a grand total of 30,949 votes cast, or 4.17 percent of registered voters in Travis County. The county received 7,604 mail-in ballots, and 23,345 voters cast their ballots in person. Democrats had the better showing by far, with 25,592 total votes cast (3.45 percent) versus the Republican turnout of 5,357 (0.72 percent). The election is Tuesday, May 22, and you can find all of the information you need on where and how to vote at www.votetravis.com. The Austin Chronicle also has a guide to the races, with endorsements.

Next week musicians in Austin will get a chance to learn about all the city-affiliated programs that currently offer compensation for performances or use of recorded works. The Musician Compensation Sector Summit will take place at 2 p.m., May 31, at the Entrepreneur Center of Austin on South Capital of Texas Highway off South Lamar Boulevard. There, staff from the Music and Entertainment Division will give information on how to take advantage of programs such as Dipjar, Music on Hold, the Daybird Music Series, the forthcoming ATX Tour Aid Initiative and the Street Performance Pilot Program. The street performance program – commonly known as the city’s busking program – was launched in March and pays four preselected acts per week to perform downtown on Saturday afternoons, with compensation provided using $150,000 from the Trammell Crow development company. The city holds the sector summits four times per year to help musicians and interested parties stay informed of opportunities and issues in the Austin music industry. Register here.

The Waller Creek Conservancy has received a $5 million donation intended as a kick-start to fundraising efforts for the nonprofit organization created to revitalize the waterway that runs through a prominent portion of downtown Austin. The donation came from a pair of Austin businessmen – World Class Capital founder and CEO Nate Paul, and Brian Sheth, who is a co-founder and president of Vista Equity Partners – and will be used to fund a variety of improvements along the creek where a series of urban parks are planned for construction in the coming years. Last year the Moody Foundation donated $15 million to the conservancy to fund the construction of a 5,000-capacity amphitheater at Waterloo Park, which is a component of the creek project. Even more money may soon be headed toward the conservancy: City Council is expected to vote this week on extending the duration of the tax increment financing district that was at first created to pay for the Waller Creek tunnel project that itself was initiated to control flooding along the creek and take several large parcels downtown out of the flood plain and make them eligible for development.

The Development Services Department has been working on a redesign of the city’s demolition permitting process. Now that the department has reviewed the feedback from its online forum, it has decided to open it back up with an added question asking for general comments. It hopes that this open-ended question will give the department a more complete picture of how residents are impacted by the permitting process before it starts to draft the proposal. The reopened forum will be available until Sunday, July 1.

The Downtown Commission is the latest citizens’ body to officially roast CodeNEXT as the controversial Land Development Code rewrite tumbles down the final stretch before official City Council consideration. On Wednesday night, the commission passed a recommendation damning the effort for falling short of principles outlined in both the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan and the 2011 Downtown Austin Plan. “With space at a premium, CodeNEXT needs to take advantage of available space to maximize the density of downtown without placing additional regulations on development which discourage density,” the recommendation reads. Commissioner Chris Kanipe introduced the draft recommendation as the fruits of the commission’s CodeNEXT working group, which had determined through research and conversations with stakeholders that the most recent version of the proposed code makes dense development easier in areas such as the Domain and Robinson Ranch than in downtown. “There are already a bunch of restrictions. We have a small downtown. We are hindered by Capitol views in many respects,” Kanipe said. “Which is great, but if we are already removing that much buildable area, we don’t need to be limiting it in other places.” Commissioner August Harris, who wasn’t at the meeting, had sent along his own draft resolution for the commission’s consideration. That version simply condemned the latest draft of CodeNEXT for falling short of Imagine Austin and the downtown plan, but offered no recommendations for improvement. Ultimately, the commission amended Kanipe’s proposal to feature some of Harris’ language and approved the recommendation with unanimous support of all members present.

Austin’s reputation as an economic hotbed continues, with a new study from SmartAsset showing that Central Texas is among the fastest-growing areas in the country in total economic activity. SmartAsset, a financial technology company, compiled stats on total investment and business growth across the U.S. and found that Travis County ranks 23rd overall. Texas posted two counties – Comal and Fort Bend – in the national top 10, with Travis County ranking eighth in the state. According to the data, the Austin area’s total number of businesses grew by 11 percent, its gross domestic product grew by $6.1 billion and it added 27.1 building permits per 1,000 homes. That gave the area an overall incoming investment index of 68.30. Neighboring counties Williamson and Hays ranked sixth and ninth, respectively.

City Council gave the nonprofit operator of the city’s downtown homeless shelter a six-month extension last week. The vote to keep Front Steps at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless through the end of next March slipped through without fanfare on the consent agenda. Front Steps has been running the ARCH since the facility opened its doors in 2004. Last October, however, Council took action to begin redefining the scope of services provided at the shelter as well as to invite other vendors to bid alongside Front Steps on a new contract to run the ARCH. The six-month extension worth just over $1 million will keep Front Steps in place while those processes continue to play out.

Dick Nichols District Park is getting a new playground, and the Austin Parks and Recreation Department is looking for public input on the project. To that end, the city is holding a community meeting on Tuesday, June 5, from 6 until 7 p.m. at the Hampton Branch Public Library, located at 5125 Convict Hill Road. The meeting is a two-way affair, where the city will let residents know about future plans and residents will, in turn, let the city know what they think of those plans. Alternately, those interested in the park but not interested in attending the meeting can learn more by calling Patrick Beyer at 512-974-9476 or emailing him at Patrick.Beyer@austintexas.gov.