Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'll call to order the meeting of the Austin City Planning Commission for Tuesday, August 12th, 2025. Our last meeting was June 3rd, 2025. Uh before I asked to approve those minutes, I just wanted to say uh Lauren Bachan, excellent job on those minutes. That was a that was the cannabis meeting, so it went pretty long and it was kind of complicated. So, good job of capturing all that, Lauren. And if no one has any changes or additions to those minutes, could I please get a motion and a second to approve them as written? I'll make a motion.

A second. Thank you. We have a motion from uh Commissioner Swanson and a second from Commissioner Mayor to approve the minutes from June 3rd as written. All in favor of the motion, please say I. I. All oppose? No.

Motion carries. Those minutes are approved as written. We're going to flip the agenda here. We have two items. We'll start with the second one. It's open public open public hearing for a petitioner at 13067th Avenue Northwest that is requesting a variance on uh total detached square footage. And is there also a setback request in there or is it just the square footage? No. No. Well, the setback request can be managed with a neighbor agreement. Okay. I just put that additional information in there. All right, Miss Wallace, the floor is yours.

Uh, this property is zoned R1 single family. The petitioner currently has a 440 foot square foot 440 ft detached garage and proposes to add a 26x 36 addition to the rear of the garage of the existing garage. Uh, this would require uh I so I I might be wrong about this and we can clarify with the petitioner, but um the drawing shows a 5-ft setback in the rear, but I thought we had talked about there being uh it being in in that setback area, but the neighbor to the north called me and spoke to me and didn't have any concerns about the the garage being built uh with with an addition. So, um, again, that could be, uh, handled with a neighbor agreement potentially up to a foot from the property line. Um, the petitioner also, uh, got a neighbor agreement with the property to the east and that was included in your packet, I believe. Um, the so the petitioner is actually requesting a variance of 256 square ft. Um the total detached uh is 1,456 square feet. Uh the city code limits properties under one acre to,200 square ft. Um the property in question is approximately.19 acres. Uh with the proposed addition, the total lot coverage. The structures would be approximately 30% 40% is allowed. And then I just have some details on the square footage of the existing structures. Um the planning commission and city council must decide if the request meets the statutory requirements for granting a variance. Uh that the variance is in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the zoning ordinance. The variance is consistent with the comprehensive plan. The proposal puts the property to use in a reasonable

manner. There are unique circumstances the property not created by the landowner and the variance if granted will not alter the essential character of the locality in which the property is situated. And again, this is a recommendation to city council. Um, you can approve with condition, approve, approve with conditions or deny the request. Um, and then just it I recommended that uh there be uh required permissions from neighbors uh if they will build in the uh setback area. And then just some pictures of the location of the property. So this neighbor to the north called and spoke to me and this neighbor they have gotten a agreement from to build within a foot of the property property line

is more required. Do you need one from the neighbor on the other side as well or no? The west side. Yeah. Yeah, I think I kind of in uh implied that, but no, they won't be anywhere near that property line. They'll be outside the setback on the west. So, they're not required to sign. He's really just It's just going to the north edition. Yeah, there's a pretty lengthy mail out list. Were there any other feedback at all from any of the neighbors?

No. Uh Lauren and I spoke to the same person and I personally knew them, so they called me later and talked to me just, you know, to say hello and then just clarify a little bit, but they didn't have any concerns. They have a really nice property with a lot of landscaping and Anything else, Holly?

No, I think, you know, I would just note that moving the garage would be difficult. I mean, they they're just trying to not have a big gap between the garage and the north property line and just maximizing the space uh that they could utilize with the garage if they did do an addition. And can you just verify was it a 5ft setback on the back? 6T. Okay. 6 foot and 24 by 36 strikes that was legal. So I'm actually going 12t past what would be illegal. So 12 by 36.

Yeah, we got that all figured out in the in the notes. Okay. Yeah. So the 6T is on the north end right here according to your drawing. Does anybody want Let's see. I can put this up on

commissioners. Anyone have an issue with this or any more questions for Holly or for the petitioner? Anybody have any questions for property owner? I make a motion to approve it with the agreements with both neighbors. Yeah, I need to get I know they're fine, but if I need to get the neighbor to the uh east or west, I can Could you pull up that document, Holly? I think all it would be needed is just a north the drawing. There was a sign off by the neighbor. Oh yeah, I think I got that. Only one on there or was there two?

Um if the property is owned jointly, we require both owners to sign. It was both signed. There's only one this thing on the application. Uh the agreement to build for residential detached accessory structures. It looks like it's Oh, just it looks like Yep. Cotter. There's two. Okay. They're both Okay. And I see. Yeah. Yeah.

Gotcha. And they're And they're the ones behind, right? No, these are the ones east. Oh, east. Okay. Which is the most important ones? Because they're the ones that Yeah. that he's actually going to be a foot away. I'm within a distance on the back door neighbor. But he Yeah, he doesn't actually need an agreement. Oh. From the neighbor on the north end because he's 6 feet out and the requirement is five for detached. But I mean, if you still wanted them to get an agreement, that's fine. the but I did talk to the neighbor and he was not opposed to the addition and you got no response from anybody else on the mailing list? Nope.

The neighbor north west corner walked over when you sent out the notice and just asked and he was fine with it and the neighbors to the east are fine with it. But like I say, I can whatever's required I can get anything. Okay, we have a motion on the table. Anybody want to make a second? Uh, can I just clarify? Is it a motion to just I guess with what we're just the required signature? Yeah. From the neighbor. Thank you.

I second. Okay. Okay. So, we have a motion from Commissioner Duffy and a second from Commissioner Mayor to recommend a council to approve the request for the variance on the extra square footage contingent on getting the signature from uh which one do I need? The East Neighbor, which you've already gotten. Already got it, but it's just a condition. Okay. All right. Any further discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. All oppose? No motion carries. Recommendation of the council is approved. Um so then it'll go to council on Monday for final decision.

No. Thank you. All right. Next up we have a request from 9005th Avenue Northeast. This is a resoning request from R1 single family to B2 community business. Miss Wallace.

Yeah. So the the petitioner owns reads 4th Avenue which is uh directly across from the alley uh from this particular parcel at 9005th Avenue Northeast. The petitioner is requesting resone the property uh to a B2 community business. The future land use is proposed to be amended from residential low density to commercial retail. The property is currently vacant. Uh it's located along 8th Street Northeast. Uh and um the surrounding uses um are single family, commercial, and multif family residential. Uh right now the petitioner wishes to locate his food truck in that space uh which would include a seating area. And there's some drawings of what that might look like. Um, right now he could actually do that with that vacant lot. Uh, retail under 1500 square feet is allowed in an R1. Um, however, the petitioner has uh thought about maybe doing more development in the future on that particular site. Um, the um he would hope he hopes to be part of reinvestment in the northeast. Um the city staff also preferred uh to have the lot reszone to commercial um just because of the the retail um aspect of the use. Um this is just the zoning snippet of what it looks like right now. So the subject property reads um and then multif family other single family. I did get one call from a neighbor uh outside of our notice area. Um she had heard about it from another neighbor and so she called and asked about it a little bit. I thought maybe she would be here but um she just was curious.

She have any concerns? No, she didn't she didn't traffic. She didn't mention any concerns and I did tell her that, you know, whatever would be feasible in a B2 in that area would be allowed if, you know, if it was reszoned. So, is the entire lot being utilized? It looks like the north side is left vacant. Is is that by design or

Yeah, at this point, I don't think they're going to use the whole Yeah, I don't think they're going to use the whole lot. Let's see. I got a some drawings here. Um, so yeah, this is the drawing that was prepared for the petitioner showing like a a slab or an area that's paved where the food truck would be located and then there'd be some seating area here, but really nothing else going on on that parcel at this point. Do do we we review and approve this for this particular use?

No, just the that it could be used for any commercial. Again, that's feasible on that size of a lot. Don't reszone for specific use. I was going to say just to remind everybody, we don't this really isn't about a food truck or anything else. It's about anything that can be B2 versus R1. Yeah. So a small a pretty a small business could be located in that space.

Could be a small restaurant, a restaurant bar, could be just lots of different things. Most of the things that would have concern about like, you know, a smoke shop or a cannabis store or something, they're going to need a conditional use permit. So we'd get another bite at it. Yeah. And the other difference would be from R1 to B2 to remember is that it goes from 40% coverage on the lot to 80%. And it goes the height restriction goes from 30 ft to 65 ft five stories. So those are things to consider. But it's really about what can be done on any B2, not just a food truck or whatever. So

yeah, let's see. I'm going to put that up on my app. All right.

So, when will check the acorage on there? Because when will the food truck be there? Either permanently or will it come and go or I should we should probably have them come up to the Yeah. If you could come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record. Well, first of all, I want to apologize for every one of you because I thought it was at 5:45 something like I know so I came in late. I'm sorry for that. Okay,

it's fine. And so my name is Nilles Kumar Metra, you know, and I live on the east side of town, you know, and right behind the Ridge Gas station. I own the ice cream business. And what's the address there? Uh 101350 Avenue Northeast. That that's where my residence is. That's where I live. Okay.

And so I always I'm all in for my community, you know, whatever I can do to make my community better, you know. So uh the opportunity came and I bought the gas system and you know and the previous owner always had the vacant lot for just there you know and I want to make it something better so I can I can represent my east side community to other community. Hey man come on down this side you know we can have a better time you know it's not just east side is a bad neighborhood. A lot of people that think that way but it's not. I live in that neighborhood for like 20ome years you know in the east side and the second part is most important thing is for me to doing that I'm I want to pro for me money is the last part I worry about okay I don't do all my business for money reason only you know I do because I want to make some changes in a different people's life you know so by doing this I can bring people into my in my lot my food is cheap you know $3 taco you can anybody can buy even you know some there's no people a lot of people they know me who I am you know if you don't have money no problem I come and go to the sunny he he'll take care of me you know so that's why I want to do this you know so I can the east side community it's a it's a lowinccome community you know so I want to I want to provide them better service you know see what can I do to make their life better you know that's the whole point of my doing this project I'm okay where I can park my gas uh my my food truck to the different town or anything like that, no problem. But I want to do it right here so I can make this community where I'm at better, you know, and my uh part of the town can get the benefit of my service, you know? That's my goal. Okay.

Okay. So, the food truck will come and go, right? It won't just sit there permanently. So, I can do that if you want. I would do everything what you guys want me to do. It doesn't matter. But I'm just asking with the city or if it okay with any of any members they have any problem. Hey, you don't want to be here every day. I won't put it there. I think I would just just let them know what you prefer and then you can discuss. Yeah. Any of the pros and cons of Okay. Whatever you I don't have a problem either way. I'm just wondering what the plan is. Is it going to stay there permanently? Is it going to come and go?

Only time is going to move because when I have events, you know, like last week I had I was at the fair. So that it won't be there. I would be at the fair, you know, 4th of July or different events like that. I do private events too, you know. So, I would pull out from there, do the events, bring it back, park there and serve there. I go by there every day and there's a picnic table out there now where people sit in the shade and and eat and stuff. Uh there's a great big Is that a big maple tree there on that end? Is that going to stay? Okay, that's what I want to know. I don't want to touch that. Now I remember recognize your face because you owe me 20 bucks at driving. somebody else. That wasn't you. No.

I'm just sorry. Any other questions? No. Get me out of here. Not after you pay. Until you pay. I was just looking at the acreage on that property because it's not really feasible to do a really like a multi-story building on that lot being, you know, the acreage it is, which is I think it's less than an it's a quarter of an acre. So, I mean, most of our apartments are like 2 acres at minimum. So,

and the neighbors, just with the exception of the one person that inquired that you didn't send anything to, no one else? Yeah, they must have been talking to each other and and that's how this particular woman ended up contacting me, but um yeah, I never got any other phone calls from anyone else. Okay. Will the hours be the same every day or different hours for different days or

probably right now the way it's I've been operating it's uh 11:00 open and week weekdays is 10:15 Monday Tuesday I close you know because I do all the shopping and shopping and that kind of stuff so and Wednesday Thursday Friday is 11:00 to 10:15 because I close the gases on 11:00. So, I want to make sure I close the food truck before that, you know. Mhm.

But, uh, when we we locate to that location, I would still be doing probably the same, but it's depend on a demand, you know, if if public wants, you know, hey, we want a more time or whatever, you know, and we can go ahead and do whatever the ordinance allow me to do, you know. Okay. Yeah, you have a licensed food truck. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure that there are any hour limits on that though. I don't think so. Something to consider, I guess, if that's an issue.

If it was, it would be the same for his gas station then, too, right? Cuz it's right in the same neighborhood and it doesn't Yeah, I guess. Yeah, that makes sense. I guess we're just doing a reszone though. Really?

I mean, I want to refocus. It's a reszone. So, what you're asking is in that location, in that neighborhood, with the surrounding land uses and zoning classifications, does this seem like it is consistent with current conditions or what we would like to see develop in that area? And so 4th Avenue, which is right next to Reed's Fourth Avenue, of course, that's a pretty good corridor from Main Street to the East Side business district. And so you may be guided by the idea that adding additional commercial properties in that area does make some sense. And I think that's why Heidi's saying the staff sort of sees this as as maybe a positive move on a zoning level, not on whether the food truck is there or something else is there. And then of course, what is the avenue there?

Eighth Street in Port 8th Street. Yeah. Northeast. You know, that that's a that's a pretty busy

road as well. That may make some sense it for future land use moving more in the commercial uh direction. And so, you know, I would point out you're not creating an island of commercial because you have reads that's been there forever. You're adding on to an existing commercial in an area where maybe commercial makes some sense. I also wanted to point out that u for whatever you make of this, the statute requires that this go to the council and that when the council vote on it, twothirds vote instead of a simple majority. And that just applies to anything going from residential to commercial because the legislature just felt like those kinds of moves should have a little higher standard um because of the impacts they may have around. But if you approve it here, it is subject to a twothirds vote, which is five at the at the council. So there is that added protection that has to pass that next layer as well.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this whole neighborhood's pretty mixed generally. This is Reeds right here. There's lot. Yeah. This is Packarina over here. There's bank and liquor store over here. Or old liquor. Used to be a liquor store. Bank. Um, is there anything else you'd ra you'd like me to pull up? Does have to be changed in the land use plan. Yeah. Lot for Yep. So, that's also in there. So, the future land use plan is proposed to be retail.

Yeah. Anything else, commissioners? Anything else for petitioner? Thank you. Thank you guys. I appreciate for the time. Are you ready to make a motion? This is recommendation. Uh yes, this is a recommendation. I'll make a motion to approve reszoning 9005th Avenue Northeast from R1 residential to B2 Community Business.

I second you. Okay, we have a motion from Commissioner Swenson and a second from Commissioner Duffy to recommend a council to approve the request to reszone 9005th Avenue Northeast from R1 single family to B2 community business. Any further discussion? All in favor of the motion, please say I. I. I. All oppose? No. Motion carries. Recommendation of council to approve. Thank you for coming and answering our questions, clearing it up.

I hope your business does so well that you build a brick and mortar restaurant on that lot someday and then we'll have a restaurant on east side for change. Thank you, sir. I appreciate each other. Okay. The So, the council will make a final decision on Monday, but you don't have to attend that meeting. Okay. But that's the you'll know for sure on on Monday. We'll let you know. Thank you. Thank you guys. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you so much for the opportunity and it means a lot to us. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um I don't have anything else, but um we're working on our comp plan and we're hoping to have it done by the end of the year. So you'll be able to get to see that uh draft hopefully at some point in the near future. Okay.

The commissioners got any other business? Nope. If not, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. A motion from Commissioner Burrows and a second from Commissioner Swinson to adjurnn. All in favor of the motion, please say I. All oppose, no. We'rejourned.