Developer offers extra parkland to speed construction
Pioneer Crossing at 10930 Defender Trail is an old, undeveloped planned unit development that City Council approved in 1997. A history of foreclosures and bankruptcy has left the 1,410-acre parcel...
View ArticleReporter’s Notebook: Dark Skies over ZAP
Doggone open data… During last week’s SXSW-adjacent session at Capital Factory about the value of open data provided by governmental entities, the city of Austin got an unexpected plaudit that also...
View ArticleAffordability Unlocked gets ZAP approval, with concerns
With a $250 million bond geared toward affordable housing, a goal to preserve 10,000 affordable units over the next 10 years and a City Council resolution seeking ways to increase the number of...
View ArticleZAP recommends rezoning AISD property for commercial use
Austin Independent School District’s Rosedale School is a special institution that serves students of all ages with severe disabilities, including children who are medically fragile or who need...
View ArticleAnnexation causes confusion over property zoning at ZAP
Before being annexed into the city of Austin in 1984, the half-acre lot at 9606 Swansons Ranch Road operated as a commercial lot with a gunsmithing business and later a seafood business. After...
View ArticleZAP says unlimited RVs should be allowed in mobile home parks
City Council will attempt to alleviate some of Austin’s affordability pressures on Thursday by discussing rezoning mobile home parks that are operating as such yet are not appropriately zoned and by...
View ArticleZAP recommends allowing cellphone tower on church property
Data use on cell phones has become so ubiquitous that Verizon Wireless is finding some of its towers overwhelmed by capacity. One area Verizon is unable to adequately serve is in North Austin at the...
View ArticleZAP case triggers discussion on affordable housing and transit in North Austin
Northwest Austin is developing quickly. Many of the large tracts of developable land in the far reaches of the city’s jurisdiction, by Farm to Market 620 and Texas State Highway 45, are outside the...
View ArticleThird time not the charm for River Place case at ZAP
At the end of Milky Way Drive there’s a 42-acre greenbelt buffering the River Place neighborhood from Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. Since 2015, there has been an ongoing debate over how best to...
View ArticleWater drainage fears force postponement at ZAP
Drainage engineering studies are site-specific and don’t always capture the concerns of adjacent properties. However, without addressing those concerns, a study doesn’t always tell the whole story.At...
View ArticleDespite reduction in size, subdivision still troubles neighbors and ZAP
After failing to get his 82-lot subdivision at 9406 Morninghill Drive approved last fall, David Knapp refiled a subdivision application for his 51-acre ranch late last year. But this time he requested...
View ArticleNew rules put pressure on land use commissions
Operating under new rules as a result of the so-called “shot clock bill,” members of the Zoning and Platting Commission and the Planning Commission will be under pressure to rapidly make decisions...
View ArticleReporter’s Notebook: (Cont’d)
If forums were homes… South Austin residents concerned about the city’s policies regarding homelessness and plans for opening a housing center in the area are pushing for candid questions and answers...
View ArticleDespite road safety concerns, ZAP approves final plat for Oaks at Slaughter...
Despite some residents’ concerns about road safety, on Sept. 3 the Zoning and Platting Commission approved the preliminary plan and final plat for the nearly 19-acre Oaks of Slaughter mixed-use...
View ArticleDeveloper offers extra parkland to speed construction
Pioneer Crossing at 10930 Defender Trail is an old, undeveloped planned unit development that City Council approved in 1997. A history of foreclosures and bankruptcy has left the 1,410-acre parcel...
View ArticleWithout paperwork, commissioners hear testimony on rezoning, but hold off on...
It’s unusual for the Zoning and Platting Commission to postpone a final plat but hear a preliminary plan for a zoning case. Yet that is exactly what commissioners did at their Dec. 17 meeting, before...
View ArticleCampground case returns 18 months after initial rezoning denial
A rezoning case to transform a 12-acre plot next to the Colorado River into a community-centric campground returned to the Zoning and Platting Commission on Jan. 7.The case failed to receive Council’s...
View ArticleCommission calls city’s approach to South Austin planning “piecemeal”
Cases that come before the Zoning and Platting Commission are reviewed individually. But when a zoning request change at 12001 S. Interstate 35 came up at the Jan. 7 meeting, it caused the commission...
View ArticleA heated ZAP tackles displacement
Nearly two years to the day citizens debuted the People’s Plan on Martin Luther King Day 2018, the topic of displacement mitigation came before the Zoning and Platting Commission for an update.On Jan....
View ArticleReporter’s Notebook: The breakdown of wide-eyed, optimistic exuberance
The trouble with working groups… At the Feb. 3 meeting of the Public Safety Commission, two agenda items required the appointment of commissioners to serve on working groups. These groups are tasked...
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