LDC Amendments

[Vanessa Fuentes]

Hello colleagues,

Over the past few months, my office has met with constituents and advocates to discuss the upcoming land code amendments. I joined Council Members Velasquez, Vela, and Harper-Madison in hosting the East Austin Open House last week, where we had several conversations with residents. We’ve also been monitoring the Planning Commission meetings. We’ve heard and received a lot of feedback through these discussions, and as a result, I want to offer the following direction on May 16th.

Preference Policy (Item 1 - Ch 4-18 Permitting Standards):
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 111941.pdf
This amendment directs the City Manager to investigate the legal feasibility of applying the City’s preference policy to all density bonus programs that require affordable housing units. It also directs the development of a template affirmative marketing policy and to explore strategies to increase compliance with the policy.

Short Term Rentals in the ETOD Overlay (Item 5 - ETOD Ordinance): http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 112302.pdf
This amendment directs the City Manager to prepare a recommendation to prohibit Short Term Rental (STR) as a use in the Equitable Transit Oriented Development Overlay combining district (ETOD) and the ETOD Density Bonus combining district (DBETOD). As part of this effort, I also want the City to explore strategies to increase STR licensing compliance.

Financial Lending & Access to Capital (Item 6 - HOME 2):
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 112131.pdf
This amendment directs the City Manager to continue work on the direction passed by Council in Councilmember Velasquez’s Resolution No. 20231214-071 to provide gap financing for low-or moderate-income residents, conduct outreach for the program and designate an ombudsperson in the Development Services Department to assist residents who want to add housing units on their property. The amendment also provides direction to prioritize the development of resources for homeowners to age in place. This includes financial assistance and strategies to reduce development costs for low-or moderate-income residents to subdivide their lots according to HOME 2.

Annual Impact Report (Item 6 - HOME 2):
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 134950.pdf
This amendment directs the City Manager to ensure we also include an analysis of HOME phase 2’s potential impact on displacement in the annual impact report required by HOME phase 1.

Affordable Housing Preservation Efforts (Item 6 - HOME 2):
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 134906.pdf
Lastly, this last amendment directs the City Manager and our Housing staff to continue all the great work to create and preserve affordable housing in the City, and to explore ways to expand the reach of these programs so we can serve more families and residents.

I look forward to discussing this direction on Thursday.

Yours in Community,
Vanessa Fuentes