Public Land Opportunities IFC summary
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2022 5:44 pm
Colleagues,
Thank you for engaging in conversation yesterday about the resolution related to City-owned land that I have brought forward with co-sponsors Mayor Adler, MPT Alter, CM Fuentes, and CM Kitchen.
On Monday, I had the opportunity to help open the latest park at Mueller, an incredible skate park and cycle pump track, which already draws Austinites of all ages and from across the city to come together, exercise, and have fun. At that event several of us attributed Mueller’s incredible success in large part to the community’s role in guiding that development from start to finish—from the calls to relocate the airport to the urgings to create the skate park that we were there to celebrate. Yesterday at work session, we heard from community members whose passionate commitment and energies have poised us for the step we’ll take tomorrow toward creating an incredible development and community resource at Colony Park.
These examples remind me of the enormous opportunities we have to use our City-owned land to create community assets and to meet community needs. For years, the Council, task forces, and community members have urged that we do so more extensively and with a clearer and more consistent process. The Council has passed resolutions, directed practices, and received multiple recommendations related to using our public land. The resolution we will consider tomorrow aims to consolidate these recommendations into one place and to use our learnings of recent years to set out a framework for the future.
Since it’s a long resolution, I thought it might be helpful for me to summarize its actions. Though the resolution includes many details, I believe I have summarized all of the major actions below in one of the bullets. I've also developed a short powerpoint presentation:
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 172504.pdf
I welcome your thoughts and continued conversation.
The Resolution:
• Establishes early Council involvement in discussions about sales/purchases/redevelopments
• Enhances transparency and public involvement prior to Council decisions
• Prioritizes the use of the City’s public lands for living wages, Better Builder Standards, affordable housing, affordable high quality child care, and tenant and source of income protections be embedded into requests for proposals, unless City Council decides otherwise
• Gives direction on a process for nonprofits to apply for City-owned land/building space
• Achieves maximum value -- community or financial benefit -- with City-owned land/buildings (use current appraisals, adjust calculations for public space valuations, consider joint uses, rezone before sale/leases)
• Coordinates consultation with Austin Economic Development Corporation, relevant school district, and Travis County on opportunities for partnership
• Takes next steps on centralized parking management strategy recommended years ago in a City-sponsored report
The Resolution codifies prior policy direction and/or current city goals/practices:
• Leases favored over selling public land
• Ownership favored over leases for city purposes
• Avoid vacancies and significant underutilization in City facilities
The Resolution also ensures:
• Ability for City Manager to recommend changes to priorities, process, and other elements
• Existing projects will continue without change
• Exclusion of utility-specific facilities (such as power plants), airport runways, and the lik
Thank you for engaging in conversation yesterday about the resolution related to City-owned land that I have brought forward with co-sponsors Mayor Adler, MPT Alter, CM Fuentes, and CM Kitchen.
On Monday, I had the opportunity to help open the latest park at Mueller, an incredible skate park and cycle pump track, which already draws Austinites of all ages and from across the city to come together, exercise, and have fun. At that event several of us attributed Mueller’s incredible success in large part to the community’s role in guiding that development from start to finish—from the calls to relocate the airport to the urgings to create the skate park that we were there to celebrate. Yesterday at work session, we heard from community members whose passionate commitment and energies have poised us for the step we’ll take tomorrow toward creating an incredible development and community resource at Colony Park.
These examples remind me of the enormous opportunities we have to use our City-owned land to create community assets and to meet community needs. For years, the Council, task forces, and community members have urged that we do so more extensively and with a clearer and more consistent process. The Council has passed resolutions, directed practices, and received multiple recommendations related to using our public land. The resolution we will consider tomorrow aims to consolidate these recommendations into one place and to use our learnings of recent years to set out a framework for the future.
Since it’s a long resolution, I thought it might be helpful for me to summarize its actions. Though the resolution includes many details, I believe I have summarized all of the major actions below in one of the bullets. I've also developed a short powerpoint presentation:
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 172504.pdf
I welcome your thoughts and continued conversation.
The Resolution:
• Establishes early Council involvement in discussions about sales/purchases/redevelopments
• Enhances transparency and public involvement prior to Council decisions
• Prioritizes the use of the City’s public lands for living wages, Better Builder Standards, affordable housing, affordable high quality child care, and tenant and source of income protections be embedded into requests for proposals, unless City Council decides otherwise
• Gives direction on a process for nonprofits to apply for City-owned land/building space
• Achieves maximum value -- community or financial benefit -- with City-owned land/buildings (use current appraisals, adjust calculations for public space valuations, consider joint uses, rezone before sale/leases)
• Coordinates consultation with Austin Economic Development Corporation, relevant school district, and Travis County on opportunities for partnership
• Takes next steps on centralized parking management strategy recommended years ago in a City-sponsored report
The Resolution codifies prior policy direction and/or current city goals/practices:
• Leases favored over selling public land
• Ownership favored over leases for city purposes
• Avoid vacancies and significant underutilization in City facilities
The Resolution also ensures:
• Ability for City Manager to recommend changes to priorities, process, and other elements
• Existing projects will continue without change
• Exclusion of utility-specific facilities (such as power plants), airport runways, and the lik