[{"_1":2,"_111":-5,"_112":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87,99],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6668085,"mediaKeyId","2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612","parentId",2245548,"title","Votes at a glance: Housing and Planning Committee, Feb. 6, 2025","audioSeconds",70,"startMs",46000,"endMs",116000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612&start=46&end=116","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612/thumbnail_46000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6668085/Austin/Travis-County/Texas/Votes-at-a-glance-Housing-and-Planning-Committee-Feb-6-2025","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6668085-d4c83757275b977bfebcd6b24eb6fc16/orig.mp4?Expires=1771142827&Signature=PpIA0ZEG88RcDAR6V8-Br8hfbQ5oSFMkdqFi2PYEYCsbhKGK7q~BY6XJpOcgIv9aI9M1lqqMXmPFb8A6ZvRmWoOrMYKIgw0dLo7XZWu2B~NmJ8BSzttYYRaOSIOW0YjlY3g1intvWlhCzB9MiZoXdcLo5NvCsu2z7iGiA1QfNolAykFYiqEPRv9z~1--kJfABhoEcgsG7Rd0v6rRZeRDE7w4MEhgR4TdppaqJYCdypqXW6I3~KEhOK89~kN27YvORShSQrQhqnDb2ZnYQ4RkrayO3F90KcyVuWePhdKHbuFNzTC6qmhXXJkiaiio9P73NdGV1WU-8qkJ5~QSNdLXNA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Austin","date","2025-02-06T00:00:00Z","article","The Housing and Planning Committee approved the minutes from its Dec. 3, 2024 meeting during the Feb. 6 session.

The motion to approve the minutes was moved and actions recorded indicate the committee approved the minutes during the meeting; the transcript does not record the names of the motion maker or seconder nor a roll-call tally.

No other formal motions or recorded votes appear in the transcript for this meeting. Several agenda items were discussed (Land Development Code amendments, long-range planning and Imagine Austin, and a comprehensive density-bonus analysis) but action was limited to approving minutes at the start of the session.

If the committee or staff publishes a formal set of minutes or a certified vote record, that official record should be consulted for a complete vote roll and mover/second attributions.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Austin - Housing and Planning Committee - Feb 06, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","The committee approved the minutes from its Dec. 3, 2024 meeting. No other formal motions or recorded roll-call votes were recorded in the meeting transcript.","taxTitle","Austin, Travis County, Texas","taxId",2819,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6668090,"Consultants and staff present comprehensive analysis of Austin’s density‑bonus programs",911,2526000,3437000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612&start=2526&end=3437","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612/thumbnail_2526000.jpg","/articles/6668090/Austin/Travis-County/Texas/Consultants-and-staff-present-comprehensive-analysis-of-Austins-densitybonus-programs","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6668090-751629ab99de8a5441e476669dd65522/orig.mp4?Expires=1771142827&Signature=iK4D-Lf3dSVKGklJf3rW75eqCEA-MfWdrdz0Ja0c6D9Zi7FRdmnMovW8BQGR~JeapCVkuumCiPKDG9ePwonHB~5ppg9HjGY6WPcbV0dNm0rlAUbezuQ0biUINysMWMX6qO1CI4JGk-ALN5lQtJlyS1mh-vLJ8Ae3Pj00iaTczZ567Grfc~ZMXH7cfoHjD0j5JLeSgYdaCjdtuPbZr6DiSc3opGGgI67Iaf-OkFu7TkEWHC6oHp4ecxZ-i2xqI8siyRbDtpzrJzF4YzLqL-tyWJf9kdz3WNUeg4mUlHJMabJWUio5CyODNrtRB1QR9dD~p3UxBWJByIqjFNkFZbH-Mw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Consultants and City of Austin staff reviewed the performance and structure of the city’s density-bonus and affordable-housing incentive programs and presented options to recalibrate and simplify during the Housing and Planning Committee meeting Feb. 6.

Darren Smith, a principal with Economic & Planning Systems (EPS), said his firm and Clarion Associates were hired to inventory programs, assess performance, interview stakeholders and recommend refinements. “The intention of the work initially was to look at ways to enhance utilization of these programs,” Smith said, noting Austin currently administers about 15 programs with differing goals, geographies and calculations.

EPS highlighted wide variation across programs: income targets differ (for example, many rental incentives target 50–60% of area median income while some downtown programs use 80%), affordability durations vary from one year to 99 years depending on program, denominators differ (units, bedrooms, bonus square footage) and incentives are determined by different measures (height, floor‑area ratio or maximum bonus). Smith said this complexity makes apples‑to‑apples comparisons difficult for developers and staff.

On performance, Smith said the Smart Housing program has produced and is planning far more units than any other program — roughly 11,000 produced and a similar number planned — because it offers fee waivers and relatively light affordability restrictions. Affordability Unlocked, a citywide program that incentivizes projects providing 50% or more affordable units, had nearly 6,000 planned affordable units as of late 2024. By contrast, the downtown density bonus has generated many in‑lieu payments — about $27 million through 2024 — and just a handful of on‑site affordable units because on-site production is costly for high-rise projects.

Consultants recommended the city consider consolidating and clarifying programs by geography and purpose, calibrating requirements more frequently to reflect market conditions, expanding the use of in‑lieu fees (particularly where on‑site production is economically infeasible) and providing consistent denominators and rules across programs so developers and staff can compare results reliably. Smith said other peer cities typically maintain fewer programs, calibrate requirements by market area and prefer focusing incentives on affordable housing rather than non‑housing community benefits that are difficult to monetize.

Alan Pani of the Planning Department and Mandy DeMaio, interim director of the Housing Department, said staff will use the consultant recommendations as they update several programs this year — including the University Neighborhood Overlay, eTOD phase 2, DB90 and a downtown density-bonus update — and that specific recalibrations will require additional analysis and legal review.

During questions, committee members raised several practical concerns: how fee‑in‑lieu dollars are used, whether affordability durations and income levels lead to units that are hard to lease, and the economics of producing on‑site units versus using fees to fund units in other neighborhoods. DeMaio explained housing-trust-fund revenues come from several sources (including fee-in-lieu dollars designated to specific programs and proceeds from formerly publicly owned parcels that now generate property tax revenue) and that trust‑fund allocations support rental development, local housing vouchers and displacement prevention programs.","A consultant team presented findings from a yearlong review of Austin’s 15 density-bonus and related affordable-housing programs, recommending greater calibration by market area, consolidation of overlapping programs, more frequent updates of in-lieu fees and clearer, consistent calculation denominators.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6668095,"Staff seeks City Council initiation of Imagine Austin update, proposes citywide future‑places map",280,1362000,1642000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612&start=1362&end=1642","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612/thumbnail_1362000.jpg","/articles/6668095/Austin/Travis-County/Texas/Staff-seeks-City-Council-initiation-of-Imagine-Austin-update-proposes-citywide-futureplaces-map","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6668095-0c6dfb367ff6762557dda43f65eccde5/orig.mp4?Expires=1771142827&Signature=eUmDUmZ2PmN0Dri7JVy2CCHrwYXbqIv7~1In~f2Jc4XU-zzoy1atVm6wh3lnWrmMFHdEEHkgyzQdjxp9xAvLewdNavVi7Xo~5CG~yozuh2cAyj47-UgVIiP-CT~pWkKzpfuYhZJ8fSfa58rKHzU9x6S-QTg4Mo4L6fZrK62obDH4T-0eKFsI7m~fzTkK-qo55SQL-ptv47HbwBes8KbGtIY-VeQPoLqiIAvNZSrKgz3dfqKU2OhWYE26~cxnOFcIB~bbn9qAErf7fMYLBEtk83OBPT4PAr6M3zRIDkiuaM3cmugHgWoUAJPPUUEa-dMq~zp-aSfmzvHvIH16P3yogQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","City of Austin planning staff asked the Housing and Planning Committee on Feb. 6 to support initiating an update to Imagine Austin, the city's comprehensive plan adopted in 2012.

Erica Leek, development officer for the Planning Department, said the long-range planning group will return to the committee in April with cost estimates for several projects currently in scoping and that staff plan to bring a resolution to City Council in March to initiate a citywide update of Imagine Austin.

Evelyn Mitchell, principal planner for comprehensive planning, told the committee the update aims to reflect population growth, demographic change, climate events and the Project Connect transit program since 2012. Mitchell said staff have met with the Imagine Austin sub‑quorum and each City Council office to identify priorities and are targeting a spring 2027 completion date.

One substantive proposal is the creation of a citywide “future places” map, a character‑based map intended to guide growth by place type (for example, centers, corridors and different residential intensity levels) rather than parcel‑level uses. Mitchell presented an example from Denver and said a future places map can offer flexibility and help align many more recent plans with the comprehensive plan.

Committee members asked how a future‑places map would interact with traditional zoning and rezoning processes. Mitchell clarified that the map would be character- and place-based, not a direct rezoning: “Our work and the community conversations around…place making are not rezoning properties. Folks that want to do that would have to come through a proper rezoning to actually change the use,” she said.

Council members raised outreach and accessibility questions for planned engagement events. Mitchell said staff will pursue multiple outreach approaches including ambassador programs and paid focus groups to engage historically underrepresented communities. She also announced a public speaker series event on Feb. 19 at the Carver Museum on city demographics and planning.

Several committee members emphasized the need to explain technical topics to the public in accessible terms, and suggested using the future‑places visualization to illustrate the policy and economic reasoning behind place types and what different investments (for example, grocery anchors or retail mixes) enable in neighborhood strategies. Mitchell said staff will bring scopes and cost estimates back to the committee in April and continue to refine outreach.","City planning staff told the Housing and Planning Committee they plan to bring a resolution to Council in March to begin updating Imagine Austin, proposing a new citywide 'future places' map and a target completion in spring 2027 to reflect growth since 2012 and Project Connect.",{"_33":100,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":101,"_41":102,"_43":103,"_45":104,"_47":105,"_49":106,"_51":107,"_53":108,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":109,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":110,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6668100,"Austin staff outlines 2025 timeline for Land Development Code amendments",417,117000,534000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612&start=117&end=534","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2245548-1ef21e84b79313fbc756e95fb66ae612/thumbnail_117000.jpg","/articles/6668100/Austin/Travis-County/Texas/Austin-staff-outlines-2025-timeline-for-Land-Development-Code-amendments","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6668100-b8cb99577ed7878a4f99cec2fa8c7713/orig.mp4?Expires=1771142828&Signature=nO4jWIffkH5~NoxOKrSNuW~vw95vB-82xw5qBMF6cTgYkh1HNbC79FNJsf38wnggA7My09VTnFw1elJ0Vwmh0Otj6E4JE4B-7NGmU1ZpRL4SPH1yWMM35r03YSTfdPECnR58y9TP4~SU2aTTt6xxsUPArXP8PRl7DftcKua4rZc7mcecD3AgKDLqJKVdm7PHeaeLuFCsM0wUP0KgakjbfAgywlhTzE7Wq8p7Us0ydcCIEZr4C6tt0ozmlLd-Y~jH4HSkj46GY5sMXFEBpr2WtofA3WZBgw7y3gvnfhVEghEcl5C05aEgkY7YQf2vS13IK1SGuylMnjYnPQE3y~G1fw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","City of Austin planning staff laid out a detailed 2025 timeline for proposed amendments to the Land Development Code during the Housing and Planning Committee meeting on Feb. 6.

Stevie Greathouse, division manager in the City of Austin Planning Department, said the committee’s packet includes a January 2025 Gantt chart that staff use to “daylight” and prioritize LDC amendments. Greathouse told the committee several items have moved since December and described specific dates staff currently expect for public hearings and council consideration.

Greathouse said City Council adopted safety-bollard-related code amendments Dec. 12 and that Development Services–led amendments to the site-plan-lite program (phase 2) were scheduled for the Feb. 13 council meeting. Watershed Protection Department–led amendments related to Colorado River protections were scheduled for Planning Commission Feb. 25 and City Council in March. “Council is also scheduled to consider changes to the regulations that apply to short-term rentals this month,” Greathouse said, and noted those amendments had been presented at a joint Planning Commission–City Council session earlier in the week.

The timeline also anticipates a procedural amendment to create an amendment process for equitable TOD station area plans and coordinated consideration of North Lamar and South Congress station-area plans. Greathouse said staff currently anticipate bringing the procedural code amendment, the plans and related neighborhood-plan amendments to Planning Commission on March 25 and to City Council on April 24.

Greathouse described additional items on the chart: Article 9 (landscaping) amendments that Development Services hopes to bring to Planning Commission on March 25 and Council April 24; a joint April meeting to discuss proposed updates to preservation-bonus provisions of the HOME program; a University Neighborhood Overlay update and related engagement planned before Planning Commission consideration on April 22 and City Council on May 8; and anticipated smart-housing updates to go to Planning Commission April 22 and Council May 22.

Looking further ahead, Greathouse said staff expect to return to Council June 5 with phase 2 of the equitable TOD overlay to extend tools to corridors served by rapid bus and additional rail lines, and that staff do not currently anticipate recommending automatic rezonings in that June action. She also said Development Services expects to propose changes to tree preservation and planting requirements in July and that the department will pursue multiple updates to density-bonus programs, including work on the East Riverside Corridor Regulating Plan and a downtown density-bonus program update informed by a comprehensive density-bonus analysis presented later in the meeting.

Greathouse acknowledged the timeline is “ambitious” and reiterated it is a “living, breathing document” whose dates will be adjusted as projects advance and as staff identify specific review and adoption dates. For the latest version of the chart, she directed the public to speakupaustin.org/ldcupdates.

Discussion during the committee included questions about how staff factor uncertainty in Project Connect funding and timing into plans for station-area or TOD updates, and whether community engagement would be delayed if transit investments were delayed. Greathouse said land-use work responds to changing investments and that some station-area planning focuses on existing, high-ridership corridors as well as planned transit investments.

Committee members also discussed Crestview and East Riverside TOD updates; Greathouse said staff are still determining the best approach for Crestview because an existing regulating plan is out of sync with eTOD and density-bonus provisions. Staff will continue refining the schedule and bringing proposed dates to committee and council.","City planning staff presented a detailed Gantt-chart timeline of Land Development Code (LDC) amendments due in 2025, noting scheduled reviews of short-term rentals, equitable transit‑oriented development (eTOD) phases, landscaping, tree preservation and neighborhood overlays and explaining the timeline is a living document.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Votes at a glance: Housing and Planning Committee, Feb. 6, 2025

Consultants and staff present comprehensive analysis of Austin’s density‑bonus programs

Staff seeks City Council initiation of Imagine Austin update, proposes citywide future‑places map

Austin staff outlines 2025 timeline for Land Development Code amendments