Last Thursday, City Council agreed to set a joint public hearing with the Planning Commission to consider new zoning regulations designed to make it easier to build affordable housing. Specifically, the hearing will be on proposals to allow three units per lot in single-family residential districts, to allow tiny homes and recreational vehicles to serve as accessory dwelling units and to eliminate the dwelling unit occupancy limit for residential uses. In an email to supporters, Council Member Leslie Pool, who has championed such changes, said that at its next meeting Council will be considering setting the date for the joint hearing on Oct. 26. There is no Council meeting this week, and the item is expected to be on the Oct. 5 agenda. (After that hearing, the Planning Commission will hold a separate hearing on the same items, and Council will hold yet another hearing after the Planning Commission consideration.) Some neighborhood advocates have criticized Council, specifically Pool, for changing their position on what happens in single-family zoned neighborhoods. In her email, Pool defended her actions, explaining that many people – including city employees – can’t afford to buy a home in Austin. She cited as one example an EMS employee who ended up buying a home in San Antonio and commuting to Austin for her job. As Pool noted, the commute has become tiresome for that employee and others. Pool explained that her position on changes to the city’s zoning regulations had changed as a result of hearing stories like the one from the EMS employee.

The Travis County Commissioners Court has put out a call for applications to the Central Health Board of Managers. Serving on the board, according to that call, means representing the interests of the county as well as a mission to “supply exceptional vision, business and administrative skills, and commitment.” More specifically, the county is looking for someone who has one or more of these qualities:

• Senior management-level experience in a governmental or nongovernmental entity
• Experience serving on boards of directors, advisory boards, community leadership panels or strategic planning committees of high-functioning organizations that provide services to and operate in pursuit of a high-impact mission in the community
• Demonstrated leadership experience requiring strategic planning, execution and maintenance of successful business operations as determined by organizational mission and values
• Understanding of budget development, risk models, insurance or other complex financial information
• Knowledge of the issues and components related to the “safety net” health system
• Understanding of public health care delivery systems as well as finance and funding mechanisms utilized for a publicly operated health care system
• Reflective of the diversity of the communities served by Central Health and engaged in understanding patients’ lived experiences and health disparities of marginalized populations
• Interest in serving the community, especially people with low income who need health care in Travis County
• Recognition of Central Health’s fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers
• Commitment to the mission, vision and values of both Central Health and the Travis County Commissioners Court

The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13. More information and an application packet can be found online or by calling 512-854-4774.

The Salvation Army announced Friday that it had approved a one-year lease with the city of Austin for use of its downtown shelter. Under the terms of the nonrenewable lease, The Salvation Army will serve as landlord to the city, allowing Urban Alchemy to operate a “single adult emergency shelter” downtown, following the sudden closure of the women’s shelter, which was announced earlier this year. “We are excited to continue partnering with the City of Austin as we serve our community’s most vulnerable people,” Major Lewis Reckline, area commander at The Salvation Army Austin, said in a statement to the press. “We have continued to faithfully operate The Austin Shelter for Women and Children, a city shelter with over 80 beds for vulnerable women and their children. In addition, The Salvation Army continues to run the privately funded Rathgeber Center for Families, which has over 212 beds serving any family unit with a child. Along with our many other programs assisting Central Texas families, such as our Angel Tree Christmas Assistance Program and Williamson County Service Center, we are humbled to serve those in the greatest need.” The city and Urban Alchemy will be responsible for all repairs, maintenance, operations and management of the property under the terms of the $1.2 million lease.

Starting this week, the Austin Police Department will be holding a round of community input sessions to help guide its priorities, polices and actions for the next five years. The sessions will help shape APD’s Strategic Plan that, according to a press release from the department, “will communicate our overall direction, forming a logical framework that connects our goals, strategies, and measures, which can be applied to everyday work.” The upcoming sessions are the second round of community input and will be held in an open-house setting and will focus on developing the workforce, enhancing organizational capacity, fostering leadership excellence, engaging the community and protecting Austin. The meetings will be held:

• 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, at Carver Library, 1161 Angelina St.
• 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, at upRising Church, 8601 S. First St.
• 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, 200 W. Anderson Ln.

The events are free and open to the public. Though registration is not required, it is encouraged.

City Council on Thursday approved going forward with a joint hearing with the Planning Commission on some changes to the Land Development Code. Following that hearing, the commission will hold its own hearing and Council will follow suit on proposals to allow three units per lot in single-family residential districts, allowing tiny homes and RVs to serve as accessory dwelling units and eliminating the dwelling unit occupancy limit for residential uses. Council Member Alison Alter abstained. Council Member Mackenzie Kelly asked staff on Tuesday how much the notifications of every property owner and utility customer would cost. The estimate came back on Thursday: $320,000. But since the city has had some trouble with that issue, Mayor Kirk Watson wanted to emphasize that everyone would be notified. Staff did not have an answer about when those hearings would be, but both Watson and Alter said they wanted to make sure there was plenty of time between those meetings.

This whisper has been updated to reflect the fact that Kelly voted in favor of the hearing later in the meeting.

A lower tax rate combined with higher home values will mean a larger tax bill for Travis County residents in the next fiscal year. The Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday unanimously approved the new tax rate of 30.4655 cents per $100 valuation – about 1.4 cents less than than the current tax rate. The new rate combined with rising property values will increase taxes $86.18 for the average homeowner in 2023-24. The vote included an increase in homestead exemptions from $110,000 to $124,000 for seniors and people with disabilities. This will shave an average $42.65 off next year’s tax bill compared to the existing exemption. The new tax rate will lead to a county budget of $1.3 billion – 9.8 percent larger than the 2022-23 budget. Several county priorities including mental health diversion, overdose prevention, transportation and salaries will receive additional funds.

Travis County has extended its existing burn ban even though it has measured higher humidity in many areas. Fire Marshal Tony Callaway reported that along with humid areas, extremely dry pockets still exist. On a scale of 0 to 800, with 800 indicating zero humidity, some areas of Travis County are now as low as 18, indicating high humidity. “But we have some areas up to 768. I have never seen such a drastic reading as far as parts of the county differing since I started working here in 2005,” Callaway told the Commissioners Court Tuesday. “We still have some critical areas, and once we start to see some north winds and humidity levels drop again we will go back into a critical fire danger situation if we don’t get continuous rain in those areas.” Precinct 2 Commissioner Brigid Shea asked Callaway which parts of the county are driest. “It appears (the dry areas) are spotted throughout the county. We don’t have a clean line so I can’t say the northwestern or the southwestern is the driest portion.” The ban will last until Oct. 18 unless the county sees drastic shifts in humidity.

The city’s Cultural Arts Division has named the organizational and individual/creative business recipients for the Elevate program that awards midlevel contracts to 200 recipients. Organizational awards were given between $30,000 and $75,000, with the following groups receiving the maximum: Austin African American Book Festival, BRAVE Communities, Collide Arts, ConnectHER, East Austin Creative Coalition, Folklore y Ritmos de Panama, Future Front Texas, Girls Rock Austin, HOPE Events Inc., ISHIDA Dance Company, Motion Media Arts Center, Rancho Alegre, Song Rise Arts, Spectrum Theatre Company, TALA, and Texas After Violence Project. Grants for individuals or creative businesses were given in amounts from $10,000 to $25,000, with the following recipients getting the maximum: Behind the Sari: Intergenerational Storytelling, Women’s Work and Immigrant Family Life in Texas; Brown Boy Productions; Bumuo: Rebuilding the Filipino Body; Cage Match Project; Casie Luong Music; Ceia G.; Colectivo IN SITU; Dorian Layssard and Criancas De Capoeira Angola; Greater Tomorrow Youth Art Program; Javier Jara; Khristián Méndez Aguirre; Las Ofrendas DBA Frida Friday ATX; Luis Ordaz Gutiérrez; Malika Boudissa; Mary Jane Garza; Mauricio Callejas; Mercury McKnight; Neighborhood Molino; RichesArt Gallery; and the Levite Laboratory.

The city is offering a variety of resources and support to help promote this year’s Digital Inclusion Week, which runs Oct. 2-7 and has “Building Connected Communities” as its theme. So far, 15 events are scheduled throughout the week, kicking off with the Digital Inclusion Stakeholder Summit at 8 a.m. Oct. 2 at the Moody Center. Additional activities planned include an Austin Film Society movie screening of “You’re On! 50 Years of Public Access TV,” and a Connect to Tech workshop at Goodwill Central Texas Community Center. The week wraps up with a Tech for All Fest! celebration at Eastside Early College High School. Full schedules and more are available online.

Austin will soon be taking part in an initiative designed to uncover the earning potential of its assets. The Government Finance Officers Association announced the city will be included in its second class of the “Putting Assets to Work” initiative that launched last year. “PAW is about helping local leaders uncover the real and significant value that may be hiding in plain sight,” said Ben McAdams, the former U.S. congressman and GFOA fellow who is leading the project, in a statement to the press. “Every local government holds immense amounts of property, structures, and other assets that they may not know how to fully utilize, or in some cases, may not even realize they own. PAW is a process where we help them understand exactly what they have, what it’s worth, and how that value can be leveraged for any number of local priorities.” Austin will be a part of the program for about six months.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is teaming up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on an “Enhancement of Survival Permit” that is part of a larger effort to increase the population of endangered ocelots in Texas. “Once roaming widely across Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona, ocelots have now been reduced to a small group in South Texas largely due to habitat loss,” said Amy Lueders, the USFWS southwest regional director, in a statement to the press. “With this agreement, the East Foundation has proposed an innovative strategy to aid in the ocelot’s recovery by expanding their range in South Texas. We encourage the public to review the proposed agreement and provide us their input during the public comment period.” In Texas, there are fewer than 100 ocelots known in two isolated breeding populations, and the species is listed as endangered in South and Central America, Mexico and southern Arizona as well. The agreement currently under consideration would reintroduce ocelots on the East Foundation’s San Antonio Viejo Ranch in Jim Hogg and Starr counties and provide additional habitat. In that context, the agencies are asking the public to review and comment on the permit by Oct. 16, either online or via post at Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2023-0160; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA, 22041-3803.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be giving a $4 million grant to Austin, allowing the city to move forward with the creation of a reuse warehouse. It “will accept drop-off donations and redistribute furniture to regional nonprofit organizations with a focus on furnishing homes for those transitioning out of homelessness,” according to a news release about the grant. “Furniture has emerged as a problematic material stream. Bulky items like furniture take up more floor space at resale stores and often sell slowly. This means unwanted furniture that is still usable sometimes ends up in the landfill. Austin needs more infrastructure to adequately process and rehome these materials.” The city hopes to open the warehouse no later than 2026. The EPA will give the funds to the city after City Council approval and other requirements are met.