HOME Amendment

[Colleen Pate]

Colleagues,

As you know, this week, we will be having a special-called Council meeting to discuss the proposed HOME ordinance. Before Thursday, I wanted to share an amendment that I plan on presenting at our meeting.

During the Planning Commission meeting last month, there was a recommendation to include an annual report after the passage of HOME. I agree that in order for us to see the impact this policy will have in our city, we will need to have our city staff compile data for review to that we can access impacts on various important items.

If adopted, this amendment would direct the City Manager to provide a report six months, twelve months, and eighteen months after the passage of the HOME ordinance. An annual report will be required for the following five years.
I look forward to us having a productive dialogue on Thursday and I encourage anyone planning to present amendments to coordinate with staff as soon as possible.

If you already have your amendments, please share them on the message board as soon as you can prior to Thursday’s meeting.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 172004.pdf

Thanks,
Kirk
On behalf of Mayor Watson

[Leslie Pool]

Colleagues, for Thursday’s meeting, I’m posting an amendment related to the effective date of the HOME ordinance and giving the City departments enough time to develop their processes to support the program.

The Planning Commission recommended a 60-day period to allow for that process development, a concept I support. After conversations with City leadership, I am offering an approach that maintains our standard ordinance effective date but gives staff the 60 days they need to shape their procedures for applications.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 110442.pdf

I’m looking forward to Thursday.

Leslie

[Jose Chito Vela]

Colleagues,

I plan to bring the following amendments on Thursday. We are working with law for exact amendment language, but wanted to post the ideas as soon as we could.

AMENDMENT 1: FLOOR TO AREA RATIO.

DRAFT LINK: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 201804.pdf

1) For 2 and 3 units: Use the standard definition for Floor to Area Ratio (FAR) calculations without any of the McMansion exemptions. This will simplify implementation of the code.

2) Increase the minimum FAR for a 3 unit configuration to 4350 square feet from 3750 square feet. This makes up for the loss of McMansion exemptions and promotes 3 unit configurations that give all sized lots enough square footage to build family sized units.

3) Make the FAR limits for any two units in a three unit dwelling the same as the FAR limit for two units. Right now any two units within a three unit dwelling are limited to the greater of .5 FAR or 2900 Sq Ft while a two unit dwelling is limited to the greater of .55 FAR or 3200 Sq Ft.

AMENDMENT 2: FRONT YARD SETBACKS

DRAFT LINK: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 201831.pdf

Make the Front Yard setback for 2 and 3 units 15 ft. The McMansion ordinance has a complicated set of regulations involving hiring a surveyor to measure every other property on the bloc to establish an average front setback. This establishes one simple standard.

AMENDMENT 3: SIDE YARD SETBACK

[draft language TBD]

Reduce the side street setback to 5 ft for 2 and 3 unit buildings. This makes it the same as the normal side setback. The side street setback only applies to corner lots where one side of the property fronts a street. Many of these corner lots are well suited for a 3 unit configuration where each unit has frontage to the street. However, the current side street setbacks would not allow this type of configuration.

Chito

[Colleen Pate]

Colleagues,

Please see the redline version 2 of my proposed amendment.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 141054.pdf

Thanks,

Kirk
On behalf of Mayor Watson

[Ryan Alter]

Colleagues,

As we move forward with this much-needed land use update, I want to ensure that we’re taking appropriate measures to preserve and enhance our tree protections. To that end, I will be bringing this motion at tomorrow’s meeting:

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 151955.pdf

Regards,

Ryan

[Alison Alter]

Dear Colleagues,

Below is an amendment that I intend to offer tomorrow related to our short-term rental zoning regulations. This amendment keeps the limits consistent with today’s rules.

As posted, the proposed ordinance would expand short-term rentals beyond our existing limits, and allow 100% of a newly developed site under this use to be a multi-unit short-term rental. While I believe short-term rentals have a role to play in creating the vibrant and hospitable city that we aspire to be, I don’t typically hear the concern raised in our community that we have too few short-term rentals. Given that, I would prefer that any expansion of short-term rentals be considered more comprehensively, rather than using this item as a vehicle to change our existing limits on this use. Increasing the potential for high-income, investor-driven use of our limited housing stock does not, in my estimation, further our housing supply goals.

Secondly, I hope that we will take the staff recommendations seriously, particularly concerning calibrating our FAR limits. I am prepared to support the staff recommendations and hope that the sponsors of this item will be amenable to incorporating our staff’s expertise on this matter.

I am continuing to review my colleagues’ amendments and may offer additional amendments.

Alter Amendment 1: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 161813.pdf

-Alison Alter

[Louisa Brinsmade]

On behalf of CM Pool:

This is an updated version of CM Pool's Motion Sheet that will be distributed and uploaded to the backup. No text is changing, but a placeholder for the section of the ordinance is inserted.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 164935.pdf

Louisa

[Melissa Beeler]

On behalf of CM Qadri:

Colleagues,

I’m posting my amendment to the HOME ordinance that ensures coordination between the Historic Preservation Office and Development Services staff on implementation of the preservation bonus.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 170522.pdf

Best,

Zo

[Jose Chito Vela]

Colleagues,

Here is the language for CM Vela Amendment 3 for street side yard setbacks: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 094450.pdf

Chito

[Louisa Brinsmade]

On behalf of CM Pool I am posting her Motion Sheet #2 with a direction related to STR regulation that was crafted with assistance from Legal:

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 203229.pdf

Louisa