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Amendment to eTOD Item 41

Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 3:30 pm
by Ann Kitchen
Colleagues

I wanted to thank Mayor Pro Tem Harper-Madison and her cosponsors for bringing forward Item 41 related to the city's TOD processes. It is very timely and critical that we engage in community-level planning with neighbors in TOD areas that align with the implementation timeline for Project Connect. If we wait too long to plan for areas along Project Connect rail and MetroRapid corridors we will miss opportunities for affordable housing and anti-displacement strategies. To sum up - we will be too late.

Attached are my proposed amendments, which I believe are aligned with the intent of Item 41. The amendments focus on the following:

1). Provide a process as part of this year's budget adoption for proposing additional areas for eTOD designation, station area and regulating plan processes.

To be timely, we need to begin the focused community-engaged planning for specific priority eTOD areas now. While our 2005 citywide TOD ordinance and processes for specific TODs will benefit from updating - I don't think we should wait over a year to begin planning for specific priority TOD areas.

The current Land Development Code designates TOD areas along some of the Project Connect rail and MetroRapid lines. That list though is not necessarily aligned with Project Connect implementation timelines and not inclusive of some areas that may be higher priorities given risks of gentrification, affordable housing needs, and Project Connect Implementation timelines.

If we wait until AFTER the citywide eTOD Plan comes back in 14 months - and then begin the planning process for specific TOD areas it could be over 2 years before the city is positioned to create station area and regulating plans for these areas. These activities can occur at the same time. Project Connect has already begun planning and implementation processes - and designating at least the priority areas for the city's TOD land use planning sooner is important.

2). Clarifying language to more specifically articulate the intent to develop a citywide eTOD Policy Plan that includes options for updating existing TOD processes, including revising Land Development Code provisions.

3). Clarifying language about current TOD ordinances and processes, including the current list of TODs in the Land Development Code

4). Additional goals, some of which are included in current TOD processes, including goals related to neighborhood engagement and alignment with the Project Connect anti-displacement processes in the Contract with the Voters.

You can find a link to my proposed amendments here:
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 141424.pdf

I look forward to discussing this item at Council Worksession tomorrow.

Best Regards
Ann Kitchen
City Council D5

Re: Amendment to eTOD Item 41

Posted: Wed May 05, 2021 8:31 pm
by Natasha Harper-Madison
Thank you, Council Member Kitchen, for your thoughtful and thorough contributions. I believe the attached draft captures many of your suggested changes while remaining in line with the original intent of directing city staff to coordinate with Capital Metro on updating our existing transit-oriented development processes and ordinances. It’s my hope this work will create equitable land use policies that can be utilized for all future planning around high-capacity transit areas so we can achieve our ambitious but critical goals as they pertain to mode-shift, safety, affordability, and carbon emissions. It’s also my hope that we create conditions that allow for swift implementation in order to ensure that we get in front of the changes we know are coming and that our anti-displacement efforts are as effective as possible.

Thank you again for your collaboration on this important step forward with this historic process.

Kind Regards,
Natasha

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 203003.pdf

Re: Amendment to eTOD Item 41

Posted: Thu May 06, 2021 3:51 pm
by Ashley Richardson (D9)
On behalf of Council Member Tovo -

Colleagues,

My amendments to Item #41 will be circulated shortly by the Agenda Office. You may also find my amendments here: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 155035.pdf

Best,

Kathie