City of Austin Council Message Board

I appreciated the productive conversation on item 55 at Tuesday's work session. Thank you Mr. Casar for incorporating the Austin Asian Chamber and the other groups highlighted by CMs Houston and Flannigan into the invited participants list. As I mentioned in work session, I also would like to see AI...

As multiple colleagues have expressed, I too would welcome the opportunity to examine the many elements in item 52 more deeply. I sense that there is discomfort over more than just the process here. Fundamentally, we have not had a chance to craft either the frame nor the elements of the vision for ...

Mayor Pro Tem, I agree that it would be helpful to schedule one or more sessions before the 2nd draft of CodeNEXT is released on Sept. 15. I would prefer the 7th afternoon given an option. Based on recent discussions at the Planning Commission, we should spend some time reviewing the timetable as we...

Dear Colleagues, I posted the below opportunity during a break in a Council meeting and I wanted to draw it to your attention again in case you missed it. I have heard directly or indirectly from 4 other offices that would like all of their staff to attend the Beyond Diversity training recommended b...

Dear Colleagues, As we well know, the violence we have seen nationally in the past few days, our community’s struggle with SB4, our local history with segregation (http://bit.ly/2v1cuLs), and the situation faced by children and families in our region (http://bit.ly/2uHXVku) are strong indicators of ...

Tomorrow I plan to propose an amendment to the job responsibilities that uses different language to accomplish the intent of the Mayor's original suggestion posted above. Before posting here, I shared the language below with the Mayor and Mr. Newton. I understand that the Mayor has communicated with...

Colleagues, I have the following questions related to Imagine Austin implementation and the Growth Concept Map: 1. On page 118 of Imagine Austin, LUT P4 states that we should, “protect neighborhood character by directing growth to areas of change that include designated redevelopment areas, corridor...

Dear Colleagues, Item #43 on the agenda this Thursday is to "Approve a resolution reflecting changes to the review process for adoption of a new Land Development Code, commonly referred to as CodeNext, to provide for additional drafts and commission review" - [http://austin.siretechnologie...

Here is a link to the new proposed language governing the coordinating committee's composition.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 91225.docx

As mentioned in work session, we added two Council appointed ESD4 Community Representatives.

At last week’s CodeNext session, the consultants suggested that T3 on a 50'x135' lot would produce 3,300 s.f. vs. SF-3 yielding 2,700 s.f. That suggests a 600 sq feet increase in entitlement. I know these were calculations done on the fly so I am requesting further clarification. Specifically, I wou...

Dear Colleagues, This morning at work session I proposed that we consider adding a fourth version of the draft code / maps to our CodeNext process. Since two of our colleagues were out of town on city business and we also adjusted the agenda timing for the CodeNext discussion, I wanted to take a mom...

Broadly speaking, I am interested in seeing models of different scenarios that would help us understand the mass, scaling and density of the proposed code in particular instances. I have the following questions for work session tomorrow: 1. What other tools were considered for management of scale/ma...

Thank you Mayor Pro Tem Tovo for kicking off this discussion. The City Charter requires that land development regulations be consistent with the comprehensive plan. I think it would be useful for us to discuss how the CodeNext draft map and text may or may not be following the guidelines laid out in...

Dear Colleagues, I am posting the questions I shared in hard copy during Tuesday’s work session related to the proposed budget amendment of $3.5 million for AFD overtime (http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincouncilforum/15-20170518083308.pdf). Some of the answers can be found in this week’s Q&A ...

Dear Colleagues, It was already Friday morning when we finished our 2nd reading discussion of the Austin Oaks case. Part of what stretched our talks into such a late hour was an attempt to reconcile the numbers upon which we were making our decisions. Specifically, I was trying to understand the und...

Dear colleagues, I will be making a motion to postpone the 2nd reading of the Austin Oaks PUD zoning case (Item #39) on the February 2nd agenda until the February 16th agenda. The applicant is in agreement about the postponement to give my office additional time to work with stakeholders, including ...