Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, we will call to order the Austin City Planning and Zoning Commission meeting for Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. Uh, I normally say in the packets was the minutes from our last meeting, but there was no packet this time. Did everyone find everything on Govwell? Okay, everyone managing to get the information kind of. So, the meeting minutes were out there from our last meeting which was April 14th. So, if no one has any additions or corrections for those minutes, I need a motion and a second to approve them as written. Motion to approve the minutes. Second.

Thank you. We have a motion from Commissioner Burroughs and a second from Commissioner Shrock to approve the minutes from April 14th as written. All in favor of the motion, please say I. All oppose? No.

Motion carries. Those minutes are approved. We have three open public hearings tonight. The first one on the agenda is an application from John and Christy Luna at 1,0423rd Avenue Southwest for a variance from city code on accessory structures with aggregate square footage of 1,200 square f feet. Yeah, as noted, uh the petitioners have uh made an application uh for uh a variance due to having a a shed that was um added without a permit and they had gone over the ordinance requirements. The petitioner has three sheds and a detached garage for a total of 1,236 square feet. All but one of the sheds had existed before annexation into the city of Austin. Uh the unpermitted shed was later added to the west of the house for motorcycle. The petitioner is requesting a variance from our city code which allows a maximum of two detached structures with an aggregate square footage of 12,200 square feet um for partial under one acre. The property in question is approximately.7 acres. The variance request then of course would be to allow four detached structure structures all are existing and increase the aggregate square footage from 1,200 square ft to 1236 square ft. Um the planning commission and city council must decide if the request meets statutory requirements for granting a variance. One, the variance is in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the zoning ordinance. Two, the variance is consistent with the comprehensive plan. Three, the proposal puts the property to use in a reasonable manner. There are unique circumstances to the property not created by the land owner. Variance if granted will not alter the essential character of the locality in which the property is situated. This is a recommendation to council. Planning commission may

approve, deny, or approve with conditions. And I do have pull the map up here. It's not as smooth as I usually do it. I'm still trying to figure out the new software that we're using. So, I'm going to be flipping back and forth a little bit. But this is the this is the area in the southwest. The neighborhood the parcels are overall a little bit larger than our ordinary older neighborhoods. I think I think this property was annexed in the 2000s. And the structure that we're talking about is this to the west of the house in the attached garage.

So, I went by there today. That's the metal one. Yeah. Yeah. And the petitioners are here if you would like them to answer any questions. So, how big is that? Um, if you could go up to the podium and then just state your name and address. Hello, my name is John Luna. I live at 10423rd Avenue Southwest. And right there, that garage is for my motorcycle. Right. The metal shed. How big is that shed? How big is that? Oh, I'm sorry. It's uh 18 by 12.

That was constructed after annexation. Is that correct? Yeah, that's the only building I had um we got annexed in 2003. And so um from my understanding when we had meetings on this when we got annexed in that they were still our street was still going to be zone that's commercial and the businesses that are on that street they run you know so there is it there's more than one business on that street.

Yeah. They would have been uh grandfathered in essentially is the term. Um so they would be considered a legal non-conforming use once they're annexed in. Uh although But yeah, I'm not sure what the if it was a commercial zone prior to being annexed. I don't know how they can have a business if they didn't because the bus company was there. Um, Palmer bus company was right down the road for me. Uh, Durban's garage. We had a Payton company right at the end of the road. We had Kilby's lawn service and we had a Casey mowing company there. So, and to your point, I think uh Commissioner Woods, were you wondering about the square footage?

Yeah, if it was under 200, he doesn't have to permit it. So, it's 216. So, that would be required, but I think was this a bought uh pre-made or did you I built it. You built it. Okay. Yeah, it was a hit and so um it been up for five years at least. So, it just didn't get built. And I don't know why all of a sudden, you know, they were coming around asking for money for this. The three sheds that I had were there when I we got in. So, I just wanted to point that out.

We normally do investigate based on complaints and so we had gotten a complaint from someone and then that led to this current uh variance matter. Yeah. If you seen if you drove by my house and seen that shed, it has a garage door in front of it. So, it's nothing's sticking out or you can't see in it or out. So, it's all and I got plants growing around it. So, it's decent. Yeah, I've been by there. It's very clean and neat and wellkept. Yeah. Lot number 15 or whatever there is. That's are not 15 but on the other side. I mean kitty corner. If you drove by my house you hadn't seen that house cuz that house is you know a wreck. So

talking about down here. Yeah that one I think it is. Yeah we've had some cases with them and it still isn't cleaned up. And then we got Charlie that owns that building next to me that's been there since I Bob I think Kudson died in in 2000. So, um, is that this is that this one on the west or the east? East. On the east side. Yeah. There's all them buildings right there that he owns are Oliver owns and he's left them there. I had three graduations at my house and the people walking by uh seeing, you know, seeing that house. It's just a brick house doing nothing. Broken windows and I don't understand it.

Yeah, we have a case with that, too. So, I guess my house is I I don't see anything wrong with it. You know, I everything's cleaned and so I I can't believe I'm here and Charlie Farber and other guys are here. What specifically was the complaint? You remember? Uh I think having uh I think just it was having excess number of number of buildings structures. Yeah. It wasn't that there was anything

uh you know I guess in poor condition or anything like that. So square footage wise it's six six square feet is it's a little bit over the exception for building code so there would have to be a conversation about permitting it that could be a condition I guess if you know you wanted to approve it um that it just meet building code or be able to be permitted I have a question is

my garage and the three sheds in the back were there when I got anx. They took 10 ft of my yard to make that boat there. So, um, and now you guys want to charge me $300 for a variance and another whatever it is to have the permit that I built 5 years ago. It was actually public right away, but it felt like your yard because it was I had a ditch in culprit that I put in. I had mow my lawn all the way up in that ditch. So, you guys didn't know it. If I would have known that, you guys could have paid no motive. So, but they took a lot of it. They took a lot of my land and Oh, wow. the the other structures are considered illegal use, but when you put something new,

they count toward they count towards the totals. I don't see why. But anyway, like I said, it was commercial. We were zoning in. They told us we were going to stay commercial on that street. So, There's businesses on that street. If you drove by it today, then you'd know see the businesses there.

Well, everything, and the city attorney can catch me if I'm wrong, everything when it's annexed in is annexed in is R1. Correct. So things that were something else are just automatically non-compliant. We don't make you go back and change it, but you're non-compliant going forward. So as long as you don't add anything new, you're fine. Like Holly said, adding the building after that. That's what that's what triggered the problem. But any other commissioners got any other questions? Well, if we don't want recommend the council to to let this go, what's what's the options for Mr. Luna tear? Uh just removing the structure and and it's it looks like it's pretty close to the house. I did not get to drive by, but it's darn near attached, right?

It's right up against the house. Yeah, if it was attached to that because, you know, so they could potentially remove one of their existing structures, you know, and replace it with this one to get to the square footage or number of structure requirement, but they have three. So, this is four. So, they'd have to do quite a lot of um you know, changing things around just to have this one. But if it was attached, would that change things? What's that? If it was attached to the home, would that change things? Uh, yeah. We don't count the So, what's the stipulations or requirements to make that attached? Uh, good question. Yeah, I don't know what the 2x4 and a couple nails type thing. I mean, I'm I'm sure it's not that simple. We talked about that before.

Yeah, I think uh on attached we have to have it um foundation on it. So, and it doesn't have it's on concrete. So, it's sitting on a concrete slab next to and it's probably four feet away from the house. Yeah, it's a standalone metal shed. Y it looks nice. It's white. Yeah. So, what are the other sheds for?

I have my garage, three garage there that I use to do work in. And then I have a yard shed. And the other shed is for storage. When we take out our our um furniture in the winter, we put all our furniture in that, our outside furniture. So again, it's not uncommon for rural properties that are annexed into the city to have multiple, you know, out buildings or detached structures. Um there's this is probably not the only one in town,

right? um where there's this kind of circumstance where they maybe added a shed without, you know, maybe realizing that they had a limitation or thinking that they were, you know, grandfathered in that it didn't count or something along those lines. But we kind of we have to address it like it's like running a stop sign. Did you or didn't you? So, we're just following the letter of our ordinance. The only option would be to get a variance potentially or to do one of the things that we discussed as an alternative.

We we are not here to decide the cost of the variance or the payment of the variance. We're here to decide whether or not to issue the variance for the building or not. Correct.

You would use that list of items that I read off as a guideline. The one on the staying with the character of the neighborhood is irrelevant, believe me, to drive into there. One of the nicer properties actually. So, yeah. Do you want me to just quick go through those again? So, just the variances in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the zoning ordinance. Um, in this instance, it's a detached structure we typical to res. areas. The variance is consistent with comprehensive plan. The proposal puts the property to use in a reasonable manner. The there are unique circumstances to the property not created by the land owner. The variance if granted will not alter the central character of the locality in which the property is situated. I mean, you could often make arguments either way on any of those.

Okay. Any more questions for Mr. Luna? All right. You can sit down. Thank you for coming tonight and answering our questions. Yeah, thank you. Not all petitioners show up, so we appreciate that. It helps make a decision. Uh if there's no more questions from the commissioners, anybody ready to make a motion? I'll make a motion to approve. All right. Anybody want a second? Second.

All right. So, thank you. We have a motion from uh Commissioner Bartley to recommend the council to approve the request for the variance and a second from Commissioner uh May or Mark. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All in favor of the motion, please say I. I. All oppose? No. Motion carries. Variance is approved or the recommendation of the council is approved. So, this will go to council meeting on Monday for final decision. Thank you. You're welcome.

So, next up, another open hearing. I just have a correction on this one. Sure. Let me see here. Now, you guys, you're good. Where am I? Okay. All right. So, the this is not public hearing. This is actually a fence appeal. Okay. Don't send out notices for this one.

Um and the individual's name, this was copied from our I think our u our GIS map, but it's the gentleman's name is Ray Mundo Solidad. Just that those are the only two corrections I have on this one. Oh, I guess I should say it's after the fact, but we've already voted on it. But I did have contact from neighbor a neighbor on the prior matter and uh they were they were not concerned although the neighbors were talking about it. So this is um so this is for Rayundo Soladad 104th Street Southwest. Um this property is in a residential area R2 multif family. Uh is surrounded by also by multif family community business and single family to the south. The petitioner is appealing from our fence ordinance ordinance code uh city code 4.70 subdivision division 5 which limits fences constructed in front yards to 36 inches in height unless substantially open. A solid or opaque fence may be constructed but must be set back 25 ft in the front yard and 12 and a half ft in a sideyard in an R1 residential district. The petitioner wishes to add a six foot privacy fence between his house and garage to the sidewalk. Uh the home is set back approximately 13 feet and the garage approximately 16 ft which is obviously less than 20 25 foot

requirement. Um we do allow the fence to start at the house uh set back uh based on the fact that the house is already going to be an obstruction. Um the proposed uh Let's see. We also have a 15 foot sight triangle uh that should be maintained where the fence will interfere with traffic or pedestrian visibility across the driveway, street, alley, or sidewalk. Um the maximum height fe uh feet, the maximum fence height for uh the front yard could be uh extended to four feet if if the last foot was substantially open. Um the proposed in this instance is adjacent to an alley, sidewalk, and driveway. A six foot privacy fence would obstruct views for pedestrians and drivers in those locations. Uh staff suggests that the fence only go to the garage on the west side of the driveway and that the fence be installed in an angle on the east side of the driveway to prevent visual obstructions, drivers, pro protect pedestrians. This is also a recommendation to council. The planning commission may approve, deny, or approve with conditions. I have here somewhere. This is what this is the drawing that he had submitted. All right. Well, that didn't work. Let's see. So, he had proposed um fencing in this area along the sidewalk to connect a fence to from his house to garage and then um and then fencing in that area from the garage along the sidewalk. He doesn't have a a draw a line here, but he intended to

connect that. Um, and this I had drawn up. Our engineering department did this thing for me. It just shows what if we had 15 foot sight lines, what that would kind of measure here on this side, on the west side along the driveway, along the alley, and then on the east side along the driveway. the um uh one suggestion was to just have the fence start here because of these two sight lines. I have not talked to the petitioner about that and then the other would be to have like have this at an angle and there could be a variance from the 15 foot if the if the planning commission recommended. Um but uh those were the main areas of concern. Uh, we do again. So, I'm using the new software and it should be sending email notifications to the petitioner. So, I he should have gotten notice that the meeting was tonight, but again, I have not spoken to him. He was pretty responsive um about filing the application and uh getting everything submitted that he needed. So, I'm not sure why he's not here tonight, but but if you have any questions,

it's disappointing that he's not here because this one definitely requires some conditions, I think, for approval. I went and looked at this one also and uh the the biggest issue that I saw that alleyway on the left side, that thing is really narrow. I drive a pickup. I hard to get in, I think. And you can't hardly see it from the picture, but on the left side of that alley, you can leave that picture up. I'll sure. Okay. The one that was up the aerial photo. Yeah. There you go. The left side of that alley, that's a hedge. Oh,

it comes right to the sidewalk. So, you got no vision looking to the west already coming out of that alley. You can't see that sidewalk or anything till you're over it. And so coming back to the east where he wants to put the fence in that corner, that would be this. I mean, you'd be coming out of a tunnel. You'd be on the sidewalk before you can see anything in either direction. And then at the garage, you would need another 15 foot triangle. So you'd have this fence would just be a point down there in the corner, which is kind of pointless. So I agree with Stash's recommendation completely for the alley side. That piece of fence should come straight across to the garage. shouldn't even come any farther toward the sidewalk. It's just going to be too dangerous. So then that leaves the one on the east side of the garage. Same thing there. You you won't be able to see around that fence until you're on the sidewalk. In fact, halfway down the driveway. And so that for sure has to have the 15t triangle to be approved. In my in my opinion, if those conditions were met, I think it's probably okay. Those are two big ones that jumped out at me when I looked at it. Well, you certainly could make that decision or make that condition and then if the petitioner decided they didn't want to do that, they they would just not go through with the fence installation.

In fact, I would even be open to discussion that instead of doing the 15oot triangle, bring the front of the garage, bring the fence straight over to the house there, too. And don't even come out towards the sidewalk. He would still have his fencing yards for the safety that he's looking for. And they could still go. I think I assume they're they're moving from inside the garage into the house behind the fence is what he said. He has kids and dogs or kids and a dog that they want to I mean it's a little yard is that's a I was just going to say that's going to pull up a glide across. It's just tiny. But none of these concerns if they just follow our fence ordinance of having a three foot chain length fence here we wouldn't have to worry about sight.

True. If they that's an alternative and it also meets his requirements of safety, right? They could have an open fence like a chain link fence and they put it right up. Follow the our regulations. He'd solve the problem. Yeah, true. I mean, he wouldn't he really wouldn't need a variance if he just put the fence right at where the garage is and actually went to the house. And so those are two options. It wouldn't be approved with conditions. It would be deny. Deny, right? And then those would be the options available that were left if you denied the variance.

It's my two cents. Because I have serious concerns about sight lines on a very populated street, especially with construction now in that area. You're going to have people sneaking through on those alleyways. And then not to mention, having seen so much squad video at Nauseium watching law enforcement try to go through some of these alleyways with these huge privacy fences, it becomes a major public safety concern. There's not enough lighting. I just sort of go, we don't need more privacy fences to close in on that area in my humble opinion. I agree. I agree. chain link or nothing.

That's how I feel. That would that would be chain link or set back to the structures. Yeah. What's that? Three feet or nothing. He can go opaque if it's right. It could be privacy but shorter. Yeah. Right. That would help a lot with the dogs actually. But can he go six foot chain link and leave it open? No. Not in the front four foot limit in the front yard. Don't know what their dogs are, but Well, did he even say dogs? Because I thought the issue was kids and he's claiming insurance. Yeah, right. It was insurance. They had a trampoline or something. Well, that's a whole different issue,

cuz now we're dealing with why he needs a privacy fence. I mean, it's been a while since I did civil, but yeah, so that makes sense. The insurance recommendation. I'm sure their insurance company wants them to keep that. So where would you have a trampoline when you have cut in six foot privacy fences? Kids would be bone set off the right. Yeah. I sounds like you guys are ready for a motion. I make a motion to recommend denying the fence appeal. Yes. Is this a recommendation to council or is this us? This is a recommendation to council. Okay. All right, I have a motion. Do I have a second?

Second. All right, thank you. A motion from Commissioner Burroughs and a second from Commissioner Shrock to recommend the council to deny the fence appeal. Any further discussion? All in favor of the motion, please say I. I. All oppose? No. Motion carries. Recommendation to council is to deny. Last item. Good old 2045 comprehensive plan. The good old

Okay, let me see. I had the staff report up here somewhere, but Oh, here we go. I should have printed this off because I can't do this along with the uh PowerPoint, but um if you were able to look at some of these uh links, were were most of you able? This is This is a public hearing. We were hoping some public would show up, but uh we all count. Um if you did you have a chance to look at the uh online items at all? Okay. Well, we'll go through a PowerPoint so you'll get a kind of an overview of the pro project.

Um so we started this project in 2024. Um it was the city of Austin and M County which is pretty uh novel uh approach to doing a future land use plan. Um, I think most communities there are different jurisdictions do them, you know, as their budget allows. There's not really a lot of opportunity in general probably to do them together, but I would say that this is probably the best way to do it. Um, not only did we have, you know, additional outreach, but we had, um, just a lot of, uh, you know, additional interactions with our staff, the county staff, Austin utilities, and just finding areas where we we complement each other and where there might be friction, and just being able to either get some of those issues on the table to discuss and then maybe address some of them in our comprehensive plan as well. And then also we were able to do um with impact Austin uh Nick Nabatne was uh the spearheading the community engagement for us and that was just phenomenal having one individual that was really um u taking the lead in the community engagement. Although of course, you know, myself and my counterpart Val Shei at the county were also doing community engagement as well as well as our um our consultants were helping us facilitate those uh contacts as well. Um so since the start of uh the planning process we've had over what I think 12,000 community um interactions uh and that was captured through the project website open houses popup workshops inerson meetings interactive maps surveys uh student engagement advisory meetings uh meetings with uh specific

groups uh within Austin the and the public uh input is related to each topic is summarized in their respective chapters. So the all of the information we got from the public is you know looked at and analyzed and our professional consultants planners um with and Mark Nolan here was the one that led the the project on the city side. Um they figure out the way to best make all of these these things that the community wants happen through planning. uh processes whether it's uh you know zoning or transportation recommendations or housing uh solutions. Those things are you know we're we have a certain toolbox. We can't do all of the things to make those happen but we can do the things um within our our specific area of expertise. Um and then again uh let's see going beyond our traditional comprehensive planning the plan also integrates a playbook uh that includes concepts such as uh food city. This will expand expand opportunities for business development, entrepreneurship, community character, tourism, entertainment, arts, culture, agriculture, parks and open space. Um it included concepts for improving downtown and surrounding neighborhoods as well as establishing a regional park. Um this uh primarily was spurred by a desire to um improve our downtown, but also we looked at this with more of a regional lens and also um you know how everything is connected and how the county and the city uh work together to uh to improve things that are going on

in our in our downtown. The um draft of the comprehensive plan was published on the project website uh for public review on March 30th. In in addition, we have an online story map version of the plan which is just a shorter interactive version that summarizes the plan and the implementation process um and highlights key recommendations from each chapter. Uh the requested action tonight is um well, we will present the draft comprehensive plan for your review and comment and then request that you forward the draft to Austin City Council for final review and approval. Following adoption, the plan will guide future land use decisions, capital improvements, and policy initiatives with the playbook supporting both near and long-term implementation actions. And um so anyone anyone who wants to live and work in Austin potentially utilize the information in this comprehensive plan. And let's see. So, with that, I'll pull up our PowerPoint and get that started my little arrows here. So, the purpose of the plan is to guide our growth and quality of life for the next 20 years. Um, sets goals and strategies for a range of topics that are communitydriven. um used uh it'll be a you tool used by pretty much as I noted earlier anyone who's living or interested in work uh having a business in Austin um and it should be updated every 12 10 years to reflect changing conditions we're right on right on track we uh did our last comprehensive plan in 2016 and I was here for that process and again it's just like a night and day difference. There's nothing wrong with doing it the way that we did it previously. It's just that this just gives us so many more opportunities to do it collaboratively.

So just uh putting that into words here. And then how does it differ from our traditional comp plan or previous comp plan regional collaboration? more robust public engagement, includes the playbook with initiatives that feed into the plan's goals, and shifts the community identity to build on culture, recreation, arts, food, downtown, and tourism. And then I think I can let Mark take it from here. Am I am I into the Yeah, you can. Thanks, Holly. I'm Mark Nolan with SE. Thanks you. Thanks to the commissioners for having me in to speak with you tonight. I I do want to repeat some of what Holly said. This is this, you know, this is part of the adoption process and a celebration of of this planning effort and it really was a pleasure working with staff and the steering committee and the public. And we're going to talk about how all of that came together here. And so I'm going to click through um some of these. Also, some of the other things we looked at in comparing to the previous plan is uh looking at evaluating tax revenue per acre. That's part of that playbook that we had talked about to help determine um the locations potential locations of future development. Again, looking at that food systems approach and the value of of uh agriculture to the county and um also to the city itself. and then identifies a catalytic triad model for a dynamic implementation. We'll speak to that here in a little bit. So the plan itself, if you've had a chance to look at it, it's kind of divided into three general sections. The first section is more the introduction. Um gives some background, talks about the community profile,

trends, demographics, etc. And then also summarizes the engagement that that we had experienced during this plan. We'll talk about that in a little bit. This middle section really is the meat of the plan. It's that um more of the core elements of the plan. Land use, housing, economic development, transportation, utilities, and then parks and recreation. We will review these quickly here in a little bit. And then of course where the rubber hits the road the implementation chapter at the end which really talks about identifying action steps responsible parties when those uh can occur and what's really wonderful about this process is that some of this implementation has already begun even before the plan had ended. So again, beyond uh traditional comprehensive planning, um this playbook that was developed, it is a very I don't know if you all had a chance to see it. It's a very dense document. It's filled with lots of wonderful information and our partners um Dan Hins at the um velocity group uh and the sub consultants that worked with him played a real key role here with this with this plan for both the city and the county. I want to make sure that they they get their kudos for putting this playbook together, looking at branding, food systems, again, downtown tourism, arts, economics, open space, and parks in a little bit more detail. Um that was then incorporated into the rest of the planning chapters. And so this is the vision statement that the community developed along with our uh planning advisory committee. I'll just go ahead and read this. The city of Austin is a vibrant and diverse community offering a rich blend of culture, education, and nature. It's a place where people are connected by a strong sense of community and history. It fosters innovation, inclusivity, and

tradition, making it an ideal place to live, visit, work, and start a business. And so, um, what how all of that came together started with community input. Again, looking at demographic and market research and and looking at current conditions and trends in future forecasting for growth combined with some of the best practices that our team brings to the table and ends up with the overall goals and strategies for the planning process. And the way that those are kind of determined is everything starts again with engagement. And through engagement and working with staff and the steering committee, we come up with that plan vision. And then that plan vision is re is reflected throughout each of the chapters by a set of goals. So for example, example that land use chapter will have goals specific to land use but that also support the overall plan vision. And then each of the strategies, there are strategies listed under each goal which are more like action steps to achieve those goals. Again, working towards that 20-year plan vision. And so each chapter is structured in a similar way, each of those core chapters to make the the plan more easily uh digestible uh to a variety of audiences. So we start with Austin today. So existing conditions um summaries of what we've heard from the public that are specific to each chapter and then out of that comes opportunities and recommendations and again those goals and strategies. So, an example of that is in the housing chapter where we've got a quick summary here of some of those existing conditions about housing in uh in Austin. And then followed by some kind of infographics, kind of easy to read and digest information about what we heard from the public regarding housing um and neighborhoods in Austin. Then again, looking at opportunities and recommendations here. This one talks

about those districts, experienced districts throughout downtown. And then again some goals and strategies uh at the end of each chapter. And again we just want to revisit uh the playbook again. So uh the chapters are on the lefth hand side um stitching together land flavor in place. Again, this was a very um large effort that the team and the sub consultants put together working with the community on on things that really focus on um systems that tie the whole community that's a city and county together, but then also focusing on implementation and big ideas. So again, those topics that we've been discussing here, tourism uh food system and downtown and some of those playbook elements um that really stand out um from farmland to fork again the food system strategies looking at agriculture and local food production even culinary entrepreneurship uh within the city itself and looking at food access and equity uh tourism and the Austin Mau story. We had a self consultant who kind of really focused on on emphasizing tourism here um and strengthening Discover Austin's capacity and funding. That's a really key point here is looking at funding opportunities for Discover Austin to be able to implement some of these ideas. Looking at festivals, cultural tourism, etc. The section called grounded and welcome really looks again at downtown Austin. this very high level kind of downtown plan for the city. Um, separating the city into different what were called experience districts that have unique identities, looking at mixed use development and housing downtown. Uh, public realm improvement and then uh in the end looking at potential zoning and land use reform to be able to support the recommendations and then arts and culture development as well. This kind of all ties in around

that looking at public art and cultural programming and inclusive and accessible arts initiatives. So another key aspect of this and and part of the development of the framework and those other uh food systems and related components were the development of communities of practice that helped advance the food city initiative. And so these were groups that met that formed during the process and and met sporadically throughout the the process and really it talked about access, food uh production, community branding and education. Um and then also there were district councils that were set up for each of those um downtown districts. So there's a a set group of folks that met representing each district along with those communities of practice. And one of the key aspects of this is these are groups that already exist. And the idea here is that momentum was building throughout this process. And you know hopefully this that momentum could be carried uh through implementation as the plan uh is adopted and implemented over time. So I'm going to try and fairly quickly review each of the chapters a couple of slides a piece. I'm not going to read every every word here, but just wanted to highlight um really about the community engagement in this plan. So, Holly mentioned the total engagement touch points that we've had here. Um I can't overemphasize the um you know, Nick and and that group Impact Austin coming through and and helping us reach just an amazing amount of folks here in the community. This is a list of of of some of those tools that we used to do that. So, of course, a website, in-person meetings, openhouse, we had an email list, social media, schools, etc. So, some of the things that Holly covered in the staff report, and again, um the engagement throughout

this process was was really um inspiring. So over 5,000 individual visitors to the website, 16,000 interactions. That's persontoperson interactions throughout various um meetings, over 100 meetings, workshops, tableabling events, um etc. Some of you folks came to some of those. We had over 100 comments on our map. Our project advisory committee met 11 times. We've got a representative here. Thank you, Steve, for coming tonight. Um Steve has been a very active member of that committee and um also had over 400 responses to our surveys, just a few photos, in-person openhouse, virtual openhouse. We had an online interactive map tabled at the state fair and

I'm sorry,

county fair and thank you. Uh also some of those community of practice groups. Um and also uh we had attack. So, this was a combined group between the county and the city that met a handful of times throughout the process just to make sure that we're all coordinating. Um, Austin Utilities also was part of that committee. And then interactive um workshops we had with our project advisory committee as well. So, the land use chapter um covers the future land use of the city of Austin. So this is uh what the land use guidance looks like over the next 20 years. So the 2016 comprehensive plan had these land use categories that you all are probably pretty familiar with. The categories as being recommended right now are fairly similar. Um I think one of the key differences um is the residential land use categories now have mixed residential u categories. uh that mixed allowing um you know corner store, coffee shops, some of those neighborhood type of potential retail uses and other uses that can be more associated with uh a residential neighborhood. Um another um category agricultural was added as well. I won't dive into this um but here is that future land use map. Um, you know, we went through a process of iteration with Holly and city staff, u providing her with an interactive map for staff to use to be able to look at recommended land use changes over the next 20 years. And so that's what this map represents.

The urban influence areas. Thank you. So, um, so the striped areas on the outside of, um, on the edges of this, uh, of this map are what we're calling urban influence areas. Those are areas within the extr territorial jurisdiction around the city. And these areas were determined and identified again along with the county and city staff as well as Austin utilities. Um, and a lot of these were were there are variety of reasons that these areas were chosen, but one of them is is being able to serve these areas with utilities um, without trying to leapfrog into other areas um, as well as some existing information that city staff had about interest in some of these areas. So, um, so that's what we identified alongside with the county.

So, what do you mean by that? Those are areas you've targeted for annexation. Is that what you're saying? So these were areas where there were potentially concerns about um so if annexation was technically yes annexation potentially in the future it might be decades into the future but these are areas where as Mark had noted um there's infrastructure available um whether it's water uh sewer um or there may be instances where there may be a neighborhood that's existing ing that is struggling with their existing um on-site septic systems. Um and they don't really have any options other than to either um use a holding tank or um connect to city sewer. So yeah, I mean some of these areas, I mean right now it's just not feasible to provide uh sewer or other utilities, but um just by kind of mapping this out, this kind of helps everybody get on the same page that um so you're saying both the city and the county agree that in terms of of planning in the future to assume that these areas would someday be part of the city and Austin Utilities. Yeah. Areas where they

territory. Yeah. Where they could extend water or uh other, you know, other gas, electric. Would that be a forced annexation as a property owner in that area? A couple properties. You know,

I'm now concerned. I would say that we we have we have done big projects with multiple homeowners and there may be a couple of homeowners that don't want to be annexed in that do end up being annexed in. But generally um generally we won't force people to annex in unless they're you know they they really have to because they don't have any other options. the county is typically, and I don't want to speak for them, but they're not going to really uh generally agree to holding tank option. Um, no, they won't. So, they're so they're gonna

they're just going to say you're, you know, either connect to sewer if it's available or if we can do a project in the future. Usually, we try to uh apply for some grants that are available through the state to try to defay the cost of extending sewer. Um but right, but if you're in a situation

we do wanna but we do want to talk about also um getting on the same page with Austin Utilities and trying to figure out ways to get water to these neighborhoods too because in the future when there's further development, it kind of prevents it from happening when there's no water available. So, we're just trying to get all on the same page and and some of these areas just really are, you know, in, like I said, in difficult circumstances. Well, didn't we deal with this with that one development last year out by Old Mill area? Back road. Yeah. Yeah. If we're going to develop those areas, then part of that piece has to be they have to become part of Austin Utilities Service T.

Yeah. I would say when we do look at multiple parcels, there's always, you know, a certain number of people that definitely want in and there's a certain number of people that don't. And so it just kind of ends up having to be, you know, is the majority ready to do it? And if everybody if we don't get enough people to participate, it's just not feasible from a cost expense uh cost perspective. And I'm certainly we're looking at this for future use of potential developments where it's like these are blocks of area that we might be able to put some housing that is desperately needed for the area for both county and city. Yeah. And transportation,

right? And the rest of that infrastructure. Yeah. So the idea here is it is a guide plan. So um it's not a prescriptive in that way, but we're what it really does is does help staff um kind of what what where are those first places they can look when those opportunities come up? And this is what's identified now. And I think what was valuable about this process too was getting the county, the city to work together, but but also Austin utilities. I I think um we kind of felt like this um getting everyone at the same table was not something that happened often. And I think hopefully one of the recommendations we have here is getting those agencies together to meet more often to be able to coordinate some of this. And um so I think that was pretty valuable. So, speaking of housing, um some of the things that we heard about housing is is, you know, twothirds of respondents said yes, there is a need for more housing and expanding housing options is a theme that we heard. Um looking at maintenance of properties, uh as well as making sure that new housing matches existing character. Um so some some folks um so 25% responded that there is an adequate supply of property maintained housing choices. So here there's a theme here. Some more additional housing, which is not unusual, right? We're hearing that not just in Austin, but a lot of places right now looking at um some additional housing opportunities and housing choice for folks. And some of those key recommendations um again won't be reading through all of this, but there was a recent housing study that was completed and one of those recommendations is to follow through on the recommendations in that housing study and again looking for more housing options, infill development, U looking at housing downtown. Um and what we mean by downtown and infill is those areas that are already served by infrastructure and

if there's opportunities to look at looking at housing that are close closer to destinations that are already served by infrastructure is is more cost effective. Um and in doing so enhances downtown and um also neighborhood character. And also looking at accessory dwelling units again as as a potential option. economic development. Just one quick summary question here about what folks about the city's top priorities for the future should be. Maintain quality schools is something we hear often and certainly in this and for the city of Austin, but also downtown development, looking at new growth in the future and expanding and preserving parks, etc. And some of the key recommendations regarding economic development. And again, this is a piece that was informed by all the good work that urban strategies did in the playbook. Um, making sure that the city can retain and attract businesses and young professionals, getting young families here and and helping them stay. Um, strengthening the downtown, implement that food systems concept, potential downtown hotel was uh certainly discussed quite a bit throughout this process. And uh, again, expanding housing options. Employers are looking for housing options for their employees as a way to attract employees. So there's definitely overlap here in all of these chapters. Housing and economic development is one. Transportation. Um most folks, more than threequarters of of uh folks responding to the survey said they feel safe using existing sidewalks and trails, but about the same amount said um they'd like to see more amenities, more trees, benches, things like that to make that pedestrian experience um more pleasurable. Again, adding more sidewalks, maintaining the roads that the city already has. Maintenance does come up quite a bit in in this chapter. And then improving a sense of safety. And so some of those key recommendations

for transportation is build a more connected grid network for all users. So not just roadways but also sidewalks for pedestrians and bicycle facilities. The city does have a complete streets policy was adopted in 2012. Uh recommendation here is to really apply that and maybe uh work on um giving that policy a little bit more weight. Um look at wayfinding and walking and biking in downtown. A couple more recommendations, community facilities and utilities. You know, for as far as the city is concerned, we we did add uh have a couple of survey questions here. In general, it looks like folks are, you know, strongly or somewhat agree that community facilities are wellmaintained and well managed along with utility services as well. So the recommendations here are to prioritize repairs and maintenance to the sanitary system based on the recent sewer evaluation and then also um identify locations where infrastructure is can be efficiently expanded for new development. just talking about that that that is certainly the case here in this chapter and and again what's not listed here but is in the plan is to continue that working relationship with Austin utilities parks and recreation um we heard a lot from the pickle ball folks uh in this process um I will say we work in a lot of communities doing comp plans and and that's very very popular right now a lot of people want pickle courts, but also bathrooms, landscaping, and adult fitness classes in terms of how to program those parks. About twothirds of folks think that the parks right now meet their needs. Um, and along with a variety of uses, but there were some indication that some folks don't feel a strong sense of safety when traveling along some trails.

So key recommendations are again to implement um recommendations from the parks, wreck and trails master plan. Um look at really concentrating resources towards improving prominent parks and recreational facilities. So um we did hear from staff and others instead of developing new parks because you have a pretty pretty decent park system right now is to really focus those uh utilities and resources on those those uh prominent parks. enhancing character, improving accessibility, and um looking at the potential of restoring uh plants with some native species to reduce maintenance needs. Then I mentioned implementation. So this is just a snapshot of that implementation table that is in chapter 10. And what we're looking at here is is a matrix of action items. These action items many of them are taken from the strategies that are listed throughout the document. So on the left hand side is what chapter those are in the action item. Then the timeline whether it's near-term, long-term or ongoing level of effort, impact and champion or responsible parties. And what is a little unique about this compared to some other processes is that this uh with some input from staff is sorted by high impact first and then level of effort. So what you're looking at here at the top would be those higher impact lower effort action items to really kind of look at focusing on first in terms of priorities. and and some of those are again both of those top two um rows for example are just working with other partners and continue those relationships which can have higher impacts in terms of results and implementation with a relative low amount of effort in terms of you know there's no construction involved with that there's it's more just making sure people get together and meet on a regular basis

and can you talk about the catalytic triad a little bit

sure so in the in our playbook Um this came from Daniel Hines from Velocity Group, but um it is something that is really resonates. Um and I think just even in the way that we approached this project, we um had several uh organizations that helped us fund this project. So it included um the city, the county, um Hormel Corporation, Mayo, and Hormell Foundation. and impact Austin had applied for a grant to the Hormel Foundation to help us um the bulk of the financing for this project. And then also the the idea of this catalytic triad model for implementation or for um seeing these ideas come to fruition or these strategies and goals um is that it is working together with the private sector, the public sector and the nonprofit sector and just really um emphasizing that none of us can really do it on our own. it really has to be a group effort and that doing it that way is going to create um just a a higher likelihood of success in trying to uh accomplish all of these things that we want to get accomplished. It's a really good point and often times we see in this right hand column um oftentimes it's a bunch of city departments that are listed as the champions or primary responsible parties. What's nice about this process that we mentioned earlier about those different committees that met throughout this process, they already exist. You know, maybe some of them need to be, you know, um started up again, but there are others that, you know, there is still momentum behind some of this. And and to Holl's point, it's not just it's not just city staff and city departments that are responsible for implementing

everything. Obviously, there's a role there, a primary role there. Um but there's also members of the community that have invested their time and effort into this and um have a vested interest in seeing this implemented. And I just I also wanted to add that um a lot of times when we finish big projects like this and we come back with this um document um a lot of people say is this just going to sit on a shelf? Um and it might if there's no um investment into it whether it's time or or money or whatever it requires. Um, but I also wanted to say that when I first came here, there were a lot of things that were going on and a few of the things that I've accomplished since I've been here, quite a few of the things I was building on things that somebody did before me. So, there was with like for example the rental licensing and inspection program, there was 10 years of effort put into that before I got here. And then there was a lot of effort on my part to implement it, but I could never have done it without all the efforts that had taken place before me. So even though some of these things may seem like a long way away, it has to start somewhere. You have to put these things on paper, the things that the community is asking for. And I might be the champion today, but there will be somebody else that comes after me. And that's how we make things happen. We have limited resources. most of the time. Sometimes we get lucky and get a grant or funding partner that might help something happen in the near term. There are some things that are maybe more easy to implement immediately, but overall a lot of these projects will take time and effort and um I always say like you know projects are like you know juggling. Sometimes it feels like you're just not getting anywhere. I should say learning

how to juggle. You're not getting anywhere and then all of a sudden you're doing it. So all of a sudden a project comes together because the timing is right. you have the right partners and you have been putting all this together making these connections over a period of time and that's that's how these things I think uh facilitate the uh the ultimate objectives.

Thanks Holly.

So we're nearing the end here. We are in the review and adoption process. So, um, we've been working with the community and the pack and staff, um, to guide this process, and this process was guided by the community, um, with a draft plan that was prepared and then presented online at a public openhouse um, that was held at the nature center a few uh, weeks back, a few months back. That plan was then revised based on input we've received. And we are here now presenting this plan to you all. And um hopefully what happens next is then is recommended um with comments or without to city council for adoption here in a few weeks. So that's our presentation. Thank you for your time.

Yes, we should probably thank all the people that helped us. Thank you. Oh, thanks, Steve. Do we can't remember? Do we have the list of everybody somewhere? It's in the plan. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. But we had uh several people from the community with our uh planning advisory committee, which Steve was one, and you were on our 2016 as well, right? Planning commission, right? Yeah. One of the things Steve said was uh when I first did this in 2016, I wanted Austin lower county to be better. And now in 2026, I Austin County to be the best.

All right. So, what you're looking for from us is just a recommendation comments on anything that jumped out or thought should be amended or any changes or any additions or any questions about how we got to the point where we got to think did a good job.

I have a question on the when I was going through the housing section uh specifically the whole umbrella of multifamily housing versus our one single family housing is there's there's different groups. There's there's town homes, twin homes, condos, and there's also duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes. I think those are two very different groups. I think the distinctive difference is whether or not it's owner occupied versus rental property, but in all the stuff I look at, it's just all lumped under multi multif family dwelling, residential, R2, R3 or whatever. So, how do you how do you separate those in the plan or do you separate those because those are two totally different animals.

They are. And I think what taking a closer look at the both the recent housing study that was completed as well as the additional work we had done in the plan year starts to look at some of those trends and demands for house for rental versus owner occupied. Oftentimes, you know, a comprehensive plan, yes, it will look at, you know, the housing stock and what to um um what to recommend or allow in each district. for example, um you know, this plan recommends mixing some of those types a little bit, right? Not putting all the, you know, higher density housing in one place versus all the single family in another. But I think the market does have a lot to do with what happens with with rental versus versus owner occupied. And I just there are state level discussions about housing and where it should go.

Yeah, there's a number of bills floating around this session about pushing out statewide policy on what should be local policy in my opinion. Uh so how do you I mean if you're going to if you're going to push for higher density housing and even R1 for example, how do you distinguish between rental versus owner occupied or do you

I I think that um I don't know that we would differentiate between rental versus owner occupied. I mean we do have a rental licensing inspection program. So there's some you know as far as building is concerned I guess um you know would it probably be based on primarily just the number of units would you say like just the density question of you know how much density do you want to have in a particular area and then how would you get to that density what would you know what type of housing would you prefer I mean that's where our you know you would be involved with um amending our ordinance unless it become a state statute where it was, you know, a statewide policy, but we don't know what going to happen with that quite yet. Um, but yeah, otherwise it would be these recommendations would end up in our zoning code where we would be, you know, I guess, um, making recommendations. I would bring something to you for you to review and you would make a recommendation on it. Anything else? Commissioners,

I have a question. First off, I think the catalytic triad thing is sweet. I'm going to steal that and use that. I think that's really cool. Whoever came up with that. Um, but the compreh uh complete street policy that was adopted in 2012. Can I get the cliff's notes on that or is that can I access that? I'm just curious as to what what's that? It's in the plan. It's Yeah. Right. Well, apparently 177 pages. I might have missed a little.

That's right. We put it in the plan. It's also It's on the website. It really is. And and maybe speak more to it or maybe Stephen could if you were here, but the um a lot of communities adopted complete streets policies in the teens um and cities and counties which um and the cities is it's really just about a page or two, right? It's it's a it's a brief policy that council adopted back in I say 2012. Yeah.

Yeah. And it really looks at implementing are considering improvements for other modes other than just vehicles. And that doesn't mean every street has a bike lane. It just means that you really have to consider and a lot of these are ADA improvements and things like that. Um, and what the recommendations really look at is is implementing that policy even for even utility improvements. Whether you're, you know, you're working at an intersection, you're doing a road improvement project and look at ways to improve the pedestrian conditions there. even if it means ADA compliant ramps, things like that.

Yeah, I would say our original policy was developed uh because we had a council that was very passionate, certain council members that were very passionate about um uh sustainability. Um they're also very passionate about the rental licensing inspection program, but the sustainability piece was where the complete streets came from. And then also um I think there was a period where the Minnesota Department of Transportation was encouraging those kinds of pedestrian uh facilities and then that could feed into maybe some grant opportunities and um we had been involved in a a voluntary program called Greenep Cities with the state. Um, and then that had a lot of different sustainability things that they just had like lists of things that you would, you know, complete to make it to a certain step, you know, and so we made it to like three steps within the program, but we're not as active with that now that those council members are no longer here. But, but that's kind of how it was developed and then it sort of, you know, sort of waxed and waned over time as to whether it was, you know, seen in a favorable way or an unfavorable way. Of course, when a number of constituents come in, like the gentleman who is here right now, they did a trail along Fourth Drive um as well as expanding the street and then they lose part of that public rightway that feels like your property, but it's really public right away. And so there's just so a lot of people come in and they're upset about it and then it doesn't happen and even though we have this policy. So, I think we're just talking about let's just have this policy and then we don't have to have to weigh it back and forth every time we decide. We just say this is our policy and and we will put sidewalks in when we have a reconstruction.

Okay. Thank you. I needed I I was actually reached out to by a couple people that live in areas where there's ditches in front of their homes, no sidewalks, and they're they don't want sidewalks. So, I can maybe give them a little answer now as to how that will work. Thank you. I think it's amazing the work that was put into all this. There's a lot to it.

It's a lot to think just seeing all the collaboration across not just county and city which always get along um but also the buyin from like the private companies. I think that's really key. Um, so I really appreciate everybody who volunteered to do this. It's a lot of work and I know you guys put a lot of time and effort into it. Um, but I think it's it's a good plan. I think there's a lot I I like the topics that are covered. I think we're always going to have some conflict between some of them. There's always the we want business downtown, but we also like green space. So, what do we do when those two conflict? Um, the and the bike trails and all of that kind of stuff. And then at the end of the day, it's always a cost. What do we want to spend our tax dollars on? And so I think that's constant communication, but this is always a good guideline to start from. Um, so I I'm I'm excited for that future.

My opinion of uh of the name comprehensive plan, it truly is. Um I focused on a couple effort or areas and that one was land use or is land use housing and economic development and I know Steve's been a real uh driver behind the bike trails. I'm a big bike trail fan and use it. I use them, but also really attract I mean, and I spent a lot of time at Hormal Foods down in Benville, Arkansas, and they just created a place that people want to go and and so that to me, you know, it kind of resonated with with with me when I read it. But like like like everybody, I mean, I can't believe the amount of community involvement for one uh it's truly a plan and it's not, you know, it's it's a roadmap and I just think it's some really good good work and I I do commend everybody that I was never a part of it. Maybe they didn't want me. They never asked me. I'm retired. I got some time on my hands. But um I just think that there's some really great work in this thing. And like like Pete said, it's 174 pages. It's a lot of stuff, but it's a lot of really good stuff. So thank you.

We still have to implement. So you're newly retired. So is this an action item for us? Do we need to do anything or you were just looking for feedback? Do we make a formal uh yeah just recommendation to council recommend it to council for final approval. Okay. Has therefore before we do that has there been any negative feedback from anyone? I mean judging by the empty seats I'm guessing probably I'm trying to think of anything we should consider. there. I feel like there's just the normal comments

resistance. I mean, this is often we wait till it's done and then we complain. Well, some sometimes there individual like they'll come to an open house and see land use is maybe changed, you know, where you the guided use has changed where you live. A lot of questions about that. But once you talk with folks and land owners about, hey, this isn't we're not changing the zoning code on you. not understand that it's just kind of a future look. But yeah, I think it's been fairly fairly smooth.

I think it's good to have direction and this gives us that. I think also, you know, there people have mixed feelings about working with the government, whether it's your local government, your state government, your federal government, but people do like to be heard, you know, and they do like to tell you how they would like things to be. And I don't, you know, I'm sure there's some skepticism about what changes will happen and how quickly they will happen, but um we couldn't do anything that we do without the support of our community. I mean, we have a small staff. You know, there are lots of volunteers in our community that um support, you know, the efforts that we try to implement to make our community a great community.

All right. If there is nothing further from commissioners, we need a motion and a second to recommend approval, final approval of the comprehensive plan for 2045. the council. So move. I'll second. All right. Thank you. We have a motion from Commissioner Burroughs and a second from Commissioner Bartley to recommend the council to approve the final draft of the comprehensive plan for 2045. Any further discussion? All in favor of the motion, please say I. I. I. All oppose? No. Motion carries. Thank you, commissioners. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Holly. And Holly was at the um county board meeting this morning for their adoption.

Yeah, they did a final app for rule this morning. And this will go next this will go to our um uh work session on Monday so council can discuss it freely and then uh for final adoption uh June 1st I think is the date. I don't have anything further. Any commissioners have any other business? If not, can I get a motion? A second to adjurnn. A motion to adjurnn. A second. Thank you. Have a motion from Commissioner Burroughs and a second from Commissioner Mayor to adjurnn. All in favor of the motion, please say I. I. All oppose? No. Thank you. for journey.