by Daryl Slusher | Mar 6, 2023 | ETODs, Land Development Code/Zoning
There’s a new acronym in town. It’s ETOD, which stands for Equitable Transit-Oriented Development. The City recently released a 184 page report titled the “Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Policy Plan.” ETODs are something of a blueprint, or zoning map, intended...
by Daryl Slusher | Feb 2, 2023 | City Council 2023, Land Development Code/Zoning, Police
Austin housing prices have made the national news in a new way recently, but there has been a paucity of local coverage about it. According to multiple national media outlets, the financial giant Goldman Sachs predicted that Austin will be one of four metropolitan...
by Daryl Slusher | Nov 30, 2022 | Land Development Code/Zoning
The holiday season is here. While some may be coasting already, for people in many walks of life the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas means a mad rush to get things done before the end of the year. And, of course, that is the case at Austin City Hall. The...
by Daryl Slusher | Nov 7, 2022 | Land Development Code/Zoning
I know. I know. Most everything in the news now is focused on the elections; and for good reason. The Mayor, Council and/or City staff, however, have chosen Election Night as the time to start this Council’s final push to pass Land Development Code (LDC)...
by Daryl Slusher | Oct 27, 2022 | Land Development Code/Zoning
(Part 2 of a series) In the first installment in this series we looked at how, contrary to the rhetoric of Mayor Steve Adler and numerous others, Austin is a runaway national leader in issuing building permits. To illustrate the point, we noted that on a per capita...
by Daryl Slusher | Oct 24, 2022 | Land Development Code/Zoning
I have long said that following Austin politics is like watching a soap opera, including that you can miss several episodes then catch up quickly. I use that analogy because, as I hope a few folks noticed, I have been on a six month plus break from publishing. Now,...
by Daryl Slusher | Jun 8, 2021 | Land Development Code/Zoning
The Mayor and at least some members of the Austin City Council are talking about bringing back the proposed Land Development Code (LDC) rewrite and working on parts of it on which they can agree. That would be while waiting for an appeals court ruling on the lawsuit...
by Daryl Slusher | Dec 17, 2020 | Environment, Land Development Code/Zoning, Strong Mayor Initiative
The Stonegate Neighborhood Association in East Austin agreed to a compromise with developers on the Heflin Lane zoning case reported on earlier in the Independent. Under the compromise more units will be built on the property than the neighborhood would prefer (the...
by Daryl Slusher | Dec 2, 2020 | Land Development Code/Zoning
We’re going to begin December by tying up some loose ends here at the Independent, specifically with some updates on zoning and land use cases we’ve reported on before, but until now we have not followed up with the results. Call it one of the challenges of a small...
by Daryl Slusher | Nov 23, 2020 | Austin Elections, Land Development Code/Zoning
In election contests between a Democrat and a Republican it is usually a given that the Democrat has the stronger social justice position. It is very arguable, however, which candidate in the District 6 City Council runoff occupies the social justice high ground when...
