Travis County adopts new Facilities Master Plan

For the first time since a major setback in 2015, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved an update to the county’s Facilities Master Plan. The updated version accounts for the voters’ narrow rejection of a $287 million bond to build a new civil courthouse at 308 Guadalupe St. three years ago as well other adjustments county planners have made since then, including the acquisition of the U.S. courthouse catty-corner to the county’s downtown headquarters. Additionally, whereas the planned mixed use development at the county’s North Campus on Airport Boulevard was originally planned to feature new space for the Tax Office and Health and Human Services Department along with affordable housing units, the new plan keeps the Tax Office in its current building but allows for that facility’s expansion. As for a new civil courthouse, the revised plan projects that the county will ink a deal this summer with a private partner that will both provide the land and build the facility.