The Long Center for the Performing Arts announced plans this week to expand its programming to include large-scale outdoor events hosted on the Long Center’s vast lawn, which, thanks to a few upgrades, will be transformed into the Skyline Theater at the Long Center. The theater, set to open in spring 2016, will be large enough to accommodate an audience of over 7,000 people. The Long Center has, in fact, hosted large-scale events on the lawn in the past. However, under a three-year agreement, programming for the newly branded space will be handled by Paragon Presents, a new partnership between independent promoter Nederlander Concerts and Austin-based promotion firm TAG Presents LLC. According to a statement from the Long Center announcing the new partnership, Paragon Presents will “program and produce live events throughout Austin and the surrounding markets” as well as at the new Skyline Theater.

In a statement that called the portion of I-35 that runs through Austin “the worst road in Texas,” Mayor Steve Adler announced that he had voted for more than $74.2 million in improvements to the highway at Monday’s meeting of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. One of the projects will add shoulders and lanes and make improvements to ramps, pavement and bike and pedestrian infrastructure. It will also address specific issues at the intersection of I-35 and Oltorf Street. The $54.5 million project will be funded through Fiscal Year 2016 Proposition 1 money. The second project will be considered at this Thursday’s City Council meeting. That project, which will (theoretically) be funded with about $10.5 million in money from the state and $9.2 million from the city, will attempt to fix the currently circuitous intersection of I-35 and 51st Street. While anyone familiar with the bizarre intersection will probably recognize how it could be improved, the mayor’s press release about the CAMPO vote goes into more detail: “The project will construct a new roundabout at the intersection of the I-35 southbound frontage road and 51st Street intersection, minimizing delay particularly in the off-peak hours and increasing safety. The southbound frontage road will be realigned to make room for the addition of a collector-distributor road between the main lanes and frontage road, reducing congestion at the roundabout. Bicycle and pedestrian facilities will be improved.” CAMPO voted in favor of both projects unanimously during its Monday night meeting.

Due to overcrowding at the Austin Animal Center, all adoption fees for dogs and cats that are ready to go – meaning they have been microchipped, vaccinated and either spayed or neutered – are currently being waived. The shelter has experienced a dramatic increase in the intake of lost, stray and abandoned pets over the last two months, and with shortages of more than 24 dog kennels and 36 cat kennels, the shelter is significantly overcapacity. In a statement from the city, Deputy Chief Animal Services Officer Lee Ann Shenefiel said, “We desperately need the community to adopt or foster a pet so we can free up space to help pets that need special care.” For those who want to help but cannot adopt, the center is encouraging people to consider fostering a pet. The center also wants to remind owners of lost pets that they may attempt to identify a pet by checking the photos posted on the center’s website or Facebook page.

For anyone curious about the city’s efforts, known as CodeNEXT, to revise the land development code, this week’s Sound Check – a series of events running through Saturday – offers a variety of opportunities for public participation. CodeNEXT is an effort to “align our land use standards and regulations with what is important to the community,” according to an announcement from the city. Throughout the next week, as part of that effort, members of the CodeNEXT team will be testing the development standards they have been working on over the past few months, and they will be sharing the results with the public. According to the city’s announcement, the events will be “an opportunity for the public to learn alongside the CodeNEXT team how different development standards, such as land uses, parking, neighborhood compatibility, density levels, and water quality, impact different types of places in Austin.” A full list of events, which include live music, food trucks and activities for kids, is available here. Although the events are free, participants are encouraged to RSVP here. All events take place at the Linc, 6406 N. I-35 Frontage Road.

After hearing staff’s recommendations on how the city could best spend the remaining $21.8 million in mobility dollars left in the quarter-cent fund collected from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the City Council Mobility Committee recommended on Monday that Council move forward with splitting up most of the money by district. The committee passed a motion stating that Council should pass a resolution directing members to submit “a list of priority infrastructure improvement projects” for their districts, totaling up to $1.9 million per district, to the city manager and the Austin Transportation Department by Dec. 31. The mayor will then prioritize how to spend the remaining $2.8 million or so for “citywide priorities.” Several members of the public spoke in support of staff’s recommended projects, which include sidewalks, pedestrian-hybrid beacons, bicycle facilities and local traffic management efforts. One noted exception was Todd Hemingson, Capital Metro’s vice president of strategic planning and development, who asked the committee to recommend projects more directly related to transit.

Ahead of Thursday’s final City Council vote on whether to loosen restrictions on construction of accessory dwelling units (also known as ADUs or “granny flats”), Council Member Greg Casar will be holding a press conference today in support of the measure. According to an announcement from his office, “A recent report commissioned by the City of Austin identified heavy restrictions on ADUs and other affordable housing types as impediments to fair housing and contributors to housing segregation.” The announcement says Casar also plans to bring a new resolution before the Housing and Community Development Committee on Wednesday “calling for housing desegregation to be a top priority for the City as it rewrites its land development rules.” In the meantime, opponents of easing ADU restrictions are circulating a flier outlining their case. Calling the measure that goes before Council on Thursday “the biggest change to City Code in 20 years,” the flier asserts that ADUs are in fact “not likely to create lower rents,” that they will increase “neighborhood traffic, flooding, etc.” and that they would be allowed even where neighborhood plans or deed restrictions would otherwise restrict them.

A settlement has been reached on Daniel Llanes’ appeal of the Red Bluff Hotel case after months on the City Council agenda. The details of the settlement are available on the City Council Message Board, for those interested. Council approved the agreement, which modifies the original plan by pulling buildings out of the setback, in a unanimous vote.

Accessory Dwelling Unit proponents will gather early Tuesday morning in advance of a Thursday City Council vote that could be the last for a while concerning ADU regulations. The rally was spearheaded by AURA, which released its report on the topic in June. According to a press release about the event, speakers will include representatives from AURA, the Austin Board of Realtors, Austin Music People, Evolve Austin Partners and Friends of Austin Neighborhoods. It will take place at City Hall on Nov. 17 at 8:30 a.m.

The League of American Bicyclists has awarded Austin with a gold “Bicycle Friendly Community” award in recognition of the city’s efforts to make bicycling a more accessible transportation option to people of all ages and comfort levels. The city will hold a press conference this morning at 8:30 a.m. with remarks from Mayor Steve Adler, City Council Mobility Committee Chair Ann Kitchen, Austin Transportation Department Director Rob Spillar and Public Works Department Director Howard Lazarus. The League of American Bicyclists recognizes 54 cities as bicycle-friendly communities, and the five levels of the award are diamond, platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

After quite a bit of back-and-forth about start dates and the proper placement of an asterisk, City Council approved a moratorium on short-term rentals at 1 a.m. during its Thursday meeting. Council voted to suspend issuance of Type 2 licenses for one year, with Council Member Ellen Troxclair voting in opposition. As amended, the moratorium will be in effect until March 2017 unless Council opts to extend it. During yet another lengthy discussion on the topic, Council determined that the ban would begin on Nov. 23, though it limited new license approvals to applications that were submitted prior to Sept. 17. The moratorium is intended to give the city some breathing room as it contemplates the bulk of the Short Term Rental Ordinance changes, which are now making their way to the Planning Commission.

This week, new street banners celebrating the Red River Cultural District will be waving downtown. The banners, which will be displayed between East Sixth and 10th streets, are part of the “Soul-y Austin” initiative, which is designed to help businesses form a merchants association. A press release from the city explains, “As stated in the Austin Music Census, a confluence of pressures is creating critical vulnerabilities for music venues, many of which call the RRCD home. Specifically, census respondents identified expensive leases, high operating costs, and short-term lease contracts as some of the existing pressures. Within the last year, two venues in the RRCD have closed their doors due to external pressures. The newly forming RRCD Merchants Association can assist in the promotion of their districts further strengthening Austin’s role as the ‘live music capital of the world.'”

Following a lengthy closed meeting, City Council adopted a new tariff Thursday that applies to Austin Energy’s largest industrial customers, with little discussion on the dais. “I understand, now, the staff’s rationale for creating this particular tariff for these customers, and I believe there are good policy reasons for doing so,” said Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo. Currently, only two customers, Samsung and Freescale Semiconductor, are large enough and consume energy consistently enough to qualify for the new tariff, although others could be in the future. Rates for these two customers will increase overall, because they will be replacing rates that were frozen in 15-year contracts. However, as an Austin Energy fact sheet notes, rates for the companies that qualify for the new tariff are “lower than those paid by other companies.” That same fact sheet states that the rates “reflect the cost of service” for providing energy to the new class of customers, which “use a lot of power consistently over time.” Council has been considering the new tariff for several months, discussing it most recently at an Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee meeting on Oct. 23 after having removed it from staff’s proposed Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget.