Evolve Austin Releases Planning Commission Scorecard

Background

The Planning Commission, a citizen-led board of volunteer community members, was tasked with amending the staff recommended version of the new code to ensure it aligned with the vision established in Imagine Austin. To that end, Evolve Austin convened a volunteer group of technical experts, architects, engineers, and development experts to provide Planning Commission with all the tools it needed to produce such a code. Below is a list of all of the steps Planning Commission took toward realizing the vision established in the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan of a more equitable, affordable, and mobile city.

Selected Wins by Issue Area

Affordability/Equity

• Raised occupancy limits across residential zones to provide for cheaper, more accessible living arrangements

• Created new mapping categories to reduce gentrification pressure in the Eastern Crescent.

• Allowed triplexes in all R3 zones. Such “Missing Middle” housing options are critical to ensuring we have diverse housing types that can accommodate residents of more diverse income levels.

• New family friendly “bedroom bonus” of +150sf to allowed Floor to Area Ratio (FAR) for each three bedroom unit within 500' of public school. This provides more family-friendly housing options close to schools.

• Housing cooperatives allowed in most every zone by right.

• Expanded preservation incentive: Accessory Dwelling Unit does not count toward FAR limit when existing house (at least 10 years old) is preserved in R2-R4 zones.

• A new anti-McMansion ordinance that provides incentives to build multiple smaller units on a lot (as opposed to one huge single family McMansion).

Transportation

• Established transition zones along our major corridors to ensure city-wide missing middle housing options and effective corridor development. Transition zones are critical because they function to both “step up” to higher density development along our corridors and waive compatibility, which is a huge limiter of unit yield and transit-supportive density.

• Changed the Growth Concept Map in Imagine Austin to include Southpark Meadows as a Regional Center.

• Amended the zoning map to ensure Imagine Austin Corridors and Core Transit Corridors can provide transit-supportive density. As noted in the guidance paper on transit supportive density released by the Puget Sound Regional Council, minimum densities are recommended to support high capacity transit options (e.g. BRT and light rail).

• No parking minimums required in UNO. We should encourage more public transit options, and fewer single occupancy vehicle trips, in one of Austin’s most high density areas.

• Exempts Transit Oriented Development from compatibility restrictions that would otherwise limit housing yield.

• Map the areas adjacent to Imagine Austin corridors using the new zoning tools in CodeNEXT such that compatibility is not triggered on at least 90% of the properties along these corridors

Mixed-use, Quality of Life

• Small daycares now allowed by right in residential zones. Medium sized daycares allowed with a Minor Use Permit (MUP). Large daycares allowed with a conditional use permit (CUP).

• Increased by-right height and FAR downtown and simplified regulations while honoring the downtown plan. Downtown is Austin’s core hub of activity that supports residents, transits, and jobs. We should let downtown be downtown.

• Relaxed duplex rules to allow more flexibility, including detached units (such as up to 12' of separation)

• UC (Urban Center zone) mapped in all Imagine Austin Centers

• Increased dwelling units per acre by 20% across all zones.

• Remapped shallow lots along IA corridors to allow for effective development along our corridors.

Remaining Asks for City Council

High Level Must-Have Items:

• Take up Planning Commission version of CodeNEXT

• Fix the nonzoning sections of the Code through a working group.

  • This working group should be comprised of technical experts and should include modeling of the code, as recommended by Planning Commission.

• Treat Planning Commission amendments that passed on 7-6 votes the same as any other amendments.

Additional Amendments to Advocate for at Council

Amendments that were introduced at Planning Commission, but were not taken up or did not pass

• Smaller minimum lot sizes (original motion #63)

  • "Add a "Small Lot Single Family Use" as a permitted use in R2C, R2D, and R2E zones with the following development standards

    • Min. lot size: 2500 sf.

    • Max lot size: 4999sf

    • Min. lot width: 36’

    • Building Size (max) for all Small Lot uses: the greater of .4 FAR or 1500 sf

    • Building Placement add Small Lot Setbacks: Front 15', Side St. 10', Side 3.5', Rear 10'.

    • Building Form (1) Building Articulation New Construction add "Building Articulation is not required for Small Lot uses."

    • Impervious Cover add "(2) Small Lot Impervious Cover 65% max, 55% building cover max"

• Occupancy limits set to at least two per bedroom

• Site plan requirements waived for developments ≤10 units

• Residential Heavy permit for 3-10 units with full Watershed Review option to increase environmental protection and allow IC to 50/60%

• Direction to city staff to rewrite transportation section to move from Level of Service model of traffic mitigation to VMT model.

• Affordable Housing Bonus Program (AHBP) amendment establishing participation targets, removing Review Board approval for fee in lieu, etc.

• Failed to remove Parking setbacks, 10’ curb cut limits, and other associated parking restrictions for R3 and R4 zones.

Council Postpones Decision on Planning Commission Charter

On Thursday, City Council deferred action on a pair of resolutions intended to reshape the constitution of the Planning Commission by amending Charter language that Evolve Austin's Eric Goff called, "so broad as to be meaningless".  The Austin Monitor has more on Council's discussion here: https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2018/04/council-takes-no-action-on-planning-commission/

image (c) Austin Monitor

CodeNEXT 3.0 Includes Positive Changes but Much Work Remains

Evolve Austin is just beginning to digest the 1,574-page third draft of CodeNEXT.

We can say for certain that Draft 3 is better than our current Land Development Code in some respects, but there are clear opportunities for improvement as Planning Commission takes up this staff-recommended draft.

We continue to support a CodeNEXT that enables the City to finally implement the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan. CodeNEXT still needs significant work if we are to buck a status quo of worsening traffic, skyrocketing home prices, and environmental degradation due to sprawl.

Positive changes in the third draft:

●       The expansion and recalibration of the density bonus program will enable more affordable housing to be built in more areas of the city. The program needs more fine-tuning, but CodeNEXT 3.0 takes positive steps in the right direction.

●       Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and duplexes would be easier to build in residential areas.

●       Minimum lot sizes have been reduced, allowing for more efficient land use and correspondingly lower-priced homes.

●       Elimination of the site plan requirement for residential developments of six units or less opens the door for more affordable housing choices, such as Missing Middle housing, that were previously too costly and difficult to build.

●       Minimum parking requirements have been reduced throughout the city, reducing housing costs and encouraging multi-modal transportation options.

●       Non-zoning design standards, such as building articulation requirements, that reduce our housing capacity have been greatly decreased or eliminated.

Barriers that remain:

●       Missing Middle housing is still missing. While there are positive changes in the new draft that would make Missing Middle easier to build, there are far fewer areas on the new map where this type of housing could be built. We need this diversity of density to improve equity and opportunities for everyone to live in our neighborhoods and allow more people to live near their work and transit.

●       Most major transit zones lack transition zones to ease the shift from corridors to the neighborhood core. This greatly reduces overall housing capacity and affordable housing capacity. It also makes it much more difficult to get the overall density needed near the Imagine Austin corridors to support robust transit.

●       High density residential development along corridors is still unlikely due to restrictive development standards, such as height limitations.

●       The City needs to add more robust incentives to entice more private developers to participate in its S.M.A.R.T. housing program. The latest draft continues to rely on fee waivers, which aren’t enough to offset the rising cost of providing income-restricted housing, and appears to eliminate expedited permit review as an incentive.

CodeNEXT clearly remains a work in progress.

Evolve Austin — a diverse coalition of more than 30 civic-minded organizations representing environmental, transit and affordable housing advocates as well as business groups — remains committed to this collaborative process. We will be presenting specific, constructive suggestions for improving the code to better provide the City with the tools it needs to implement the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan in the coming weeks. We encourage all sides in this critical process to do the same.

CodeNEXT White Papers Released

Evolve Austin is a data-driven organization that is committed to working collaboratively with our community to improve Austin’s new Land Development Code so that it better aligns with the goals and principles of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan.

To that end, volunteers from our 30-member coalition spent hundreds of hours carefully reviewing CodeNEXT 2.0 and developing specific recommendations to improve the code in specific areas:

• Affordability, including a summary version of the white paper.
• Missing Middle Housing
• Accessory Dwelling Units
• Traffic Impact Analysis and Connectivity
• Small Area Planning
• Administration and Procedures

Each of the above white papers represents our best effort at providing specific recommendations to improve Austin's affordability, transit accessibility, permitting, planning, and environmental outcomes through CodeNEXT - the rewrite of our Land Development Code.

We hope to see many of these changes incorporated in CodeNEXT 3.0, due to be released Feb. 12, and will continue serving as a resource throughout this important process.

Evolve Austin Transit Study Released

CodeNEXT Needs Additional Density on Corridors to Support Transit and Achieve Imagine Austin Mobility Goals

Building a more robust mass transit system is critical to solving Austin’s mobility challenges, but Austin’s sprawling development makes successful mass transit impossible today.

Imagine Austin recognized that land use and mobility are intimately linked, envisioning a more compact and connected city that can only be achieved by changing our Land Development Code.

CodeNEXT remains a work in progress, but a new Evolve Austin Transit Study reveals that there is much work to be done if Austin’s new code is to enable the concentration of residential and commercial development near major corridors that is critical to mass transit success.

Using the respected and oft-cited Puget Sound Regional Council’s literature review of densities required to support Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the Transit Study examined the relationship between high-capacity transit ridership and the allowable housing/job densities within a 5-10 minute walk of the 35 corridors identified by Imagine Austin as potential high-capacity transit routes.

The study found that the first version of the proposed CodeNEXT would only allow the minimum 17 people and jobs per gross acre required to support BRT in just nine of the 35 corridors, meaning that 75 percent of the transit corridors Imagine Austin established would not effectively support high-capacity transit under the current draft of CodeNEXT.

Anderson Lane, Jollyville Road and Airport Boulevard were identified as the biggest missed opportunities to achieving transit-supportive density based on the concentration of housing and jobs there currently; the minimum additional density required to cross the transit-supportive threshold; and the low impact of the proposed zoning in the first draft of CodeNext.

Braker Lane, Springdale Road and Jollyville Road experienced the lowest impact overall when the proposed zoning was compared to the zoning currently in place.

Successful public transit systems must have a minimum density of people and jobs along the corridors they serve in order to operate efficiently and generate a sustainable amount of ridership. Austin has the population, power and desperate need for transit to succeed.  What we’re lacking are the appropriate tools for success to materialize.

This study shows that the proposed CodeNEXT, which is critical to achieving Imagine Austin’s goals, needs to go much further to allow the minimum number of households and jobs required near major corridors to support the robust mass transit system that is vital to get Austin moving again.

As we near the public unveiling of the much-anticipated second draft of CodeNEXT, we strongly urge city leaders to make the changes to CodeNEXT necessary to achieve Imagine Austin’s mobility and sustainability goals before it’s too late.

City Issues Update to Draft Maps

On May 8th, the City released a revised interactive map for the draft land development code.  The new maps are available alongside existing zoning at the City's webpage here.

Evolve Austin opposes proposed city staff changes to "small lot amnesty"

This Thursday, City Council will consider an amendment to City Code that would curtail the use of Small Lot Amnesty to provide more affordable housing options in the urban core where such options are badly needed.  

If we're going to realize on the Imagine Austin vision of a compact and connected city that is accessible and affordable to a broad range of people and income levels we'll need to get more housing on less land.  Small Lot Amnesty is an infill tool that can be opted into by neighborhood plans that permit homes to be built on lots smaller than the Austin minimum lot size, if they were originally legal platted lots.  For a full description, please see our article here.  

In January, we wrote to Council with the letter posted below explaining our reasons for opposing this change.  

Ultimately, we'll need to address lot size as part of CodeNEXT.  In the meantime, this change strikes us as moving in the wrong direction, away from our comprehensive plan.  We encourage Council to send a strong signal to staff that they do not support items that move us away from the goals of Imagine Austin and keep Small Lot Amnesty, as currently drafted, as an option for neighborhood plans.