3rd Reading of Land Development Code Revision

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Steve Adler
Posts: 533
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:12 pm

3rd Reading of Land Development Code Revision

Post by Steve Adler »

Colleagues,

I look forward to finishing our important work together to adopt a new land development code. I believe Staff intends to publish the 3rd Reading code text and zoning map sometime around March 20th.

The agenda office has worked to identify a schedule for 3rd Reading that works for all our offices (http://www.austintexas.gov/department/events/3630)

I suggest the process below for public testimony and our deliberations. I encourage you to post any feedback on this suggested process here, and we also can discuss during our Work Session on March 24th.

Our Staff have scheduled two opportunities for the public to come and talk to Council about the proposed code revision. I appreciate Council Member Pool’s suggestion on the message board and at our recent Work Session to allow the public more time for testimony. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1251. I agree, and believe we should go a bit further for this final reading.

Public Comment:
- Two opportunities, March 24th, starting at 4 pm and March 28th, starting at 9 am.
- Instead of our normal practice of only allowing one minute of testimony after the 20th speaker, I propose to allow all speakers that sign up a full three minutes
- We should allow donations of time from up to two other people of two minutes each (for a max total of 7 minutes)
- Speaker sign-ups should open at least 24 hours before the beginning of the meeting and close 2 hours after the start of the meeting
- We will continue both days until all speakers who have signed up are called
- The 9 AM start time for March 28th was scheduled although Council Members Casar, Renteria, and Garza had already indicated there was a conflict with a community event that morning. I suggest the rest of us proceed with the meeting starting at 9 AM.
- We will also work with the Clerk to ensure we are taking all necessary precautions to protect public health at these meetings and will share appropriate guidance for those who may wish to participate.

Meetings to adopt the new code and map on 3rd Reading will be posted for Tuesday, March 31st from 9 am – 12 pm, Wednesday, April 1st from 9 am – 4:30 pm and Thursday, April 2nd at 10:30 am (I suggest we plan on ending this meeting at 10 PM unless Council decides to continue meeting that evening or continue on another day – see below).

At these meetings, we will allow 1 minute per speaker, with no donated time. Speaker sign up will start at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting and close upon the start of the meeting.

Amendments:
I suggest we have a deadline for posting amendments to the bulletin board of 12 pm on March 27th to allow time for sufficient review:
- For the first two readings, we limited amendments to general policy direction, however for 3rd Reading, amendments should now be in the form of specific changes to the code text
- I strongly suggest all amendments be thoroughly reviewed by the LDC Staff team and city legal for form and clarity prior to posting
- Staff has recently published the zoning translation table http://austintexas.gov/sites/default/fi ... 28-20).pdf – I also suggest that any changes to the map Council would like to see be in the form of amendments to the translation table, and also be reviewed by Staff to ensure clarity of intent, and city-wide applicability
- Map changes that are more specific and not suitable for the translation table should be considered as part of the map refinement process as suggested by Staff in the supplemental report #4 http://austintexas.gov/sites/default/fi ... 28-20).pdf, which will also be discussed during our 3rd Reading process.

Additional meeting (if necessary):

At 10 pm on April 2nd, if Council has not yet completed our work, Council can at that time decide to continue our meeting into the evening and/or to post a meeting for April 7 to conclude our work. The April 7 meeting would go as long as needed.
Mayor