May 6, 2024 General Meeting Notes/Recording
Our May 6th meeting was full of info. For those unable to attend, below is a recording of the meeting and snapshots of handouts provided by the presenters. If you have followup questions, please let us know: hydeparkna@gmail.com
Among the speakers was District 9 Councilman Zo Qadri. You may contact his office here: https://www.austintexas.gov/department/about-council-member-zohaib-zo-qadri
Lower on this page are extensive notes on the proposed zoning changes by the HPNA’s Susan Moffat, who spoke at the meeting (fast forward to 33:39 of the posted YouTube video below.
For more information about the zoning changes being considered by the City of Austin:
Email: LDCUpdates@austintexas.gov
Web: SpeakUpAustin.org
Phone: 512-974-7220
Recording of May 6th meeting of the HPNA.
The following notes were prepared by Susan Moffat, currently the vice chair of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Plan Contact Team. Ms. Moffat has lived in Austin for over 40 years, more than 30 of them in Hyde Park. As a tri-president of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association in the 1990s, she was a leader in the fight to create Austin’s first mixed-use development at the Triangle, defeating the original developer’s plan for a massive strip mall at that location. In addition to her work on numerous city and AISD task forces, she served as the Joint Subcommittee’s appointee to the CodeNEXT Advisory Group, representing the city, county and AISD. While these notes provide an overview of the current proposed code changes, Ms. Moffat strongly encourages everyone to visit the city website and read the ordinances and staff reports for themselves.
PROPOSED LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE CHANGES
Everyone wants our neighborhoods and all of Austin to be more affordable and more inclusive. The question is how to get there.
A majority of the current City Council believes changes to the land development code are the key and they’ve combined four separate batches of major code amendments into one very compressed hearing schedule. All four initiatives are scheduled for possible Council action on May 16th.
The four initiatives are:
• HOME Phase 2
• Citywide Compatibility Changes
• EV Charging Stations
• Equitable Transit Oriented Development (ETOD Overlay)
Each of these initiatives has different assigned city staff, but the contact information is the same for all of them: https://www.speakupaustin.org/d0670, (512) 974-7220
The city’s Planning Commission already discussed and voted on HOME Phase 2, Citywide Compatibility Changes and EV Charging Stations on April 24 and 25. They discussed and voted on ETODs on April 30.
During the Planning Commission meetings, city staff acknowledged that they don’t actually know the impacts of any of these changes, but they’re hoping that smaller lots and relaxed compatibility will result in less expensive units. Of course, there’s no cap on profits so the reality is that prices will be whatever the market will bear.
PROTEST PETITIONS
Affected residents may file a protest petition related to any of these initiatives and, if a sufficient number are filed, it will require a supermajority vote (9 of 11) by the City Council to approve them. However, it appears likely that they already have the votes for that.
Petition forms are available for download at SpeakUpAustin.org. Please note that the city cannot accept petitions by email. Petitions may either be mailed to COA Planning Dept, Attn: Lauren Middleton-Pratt, P.O. Box 1088, 78767 or dropped off at Planning and Development Center at the old Highland Mall, 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr 78752.
Below are brief descriptions of each initiative as currently drafted, but bear in mind that these are only summaries. To truly understand each initiative, please visit the city website and read them for yourself.
EQUITY TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (ETOD)
The ETOD Overlay will explicitly override all base zoning, all NCCDs, the McMansion ordinance and any other conditional overlays. It applies to all non-single-family properties – meaning any property currently zoned Multifamily (MF) or Commercial – that falls within half a mile of the Project Connect light rail corridor or its priority expansion routes. In Hyde Park, for example, the ETOD zone begins at Guadalupe and extends half a mile eastward, up to and including the west side of Avenue H.
Many newer neighborhoods tend to locate MF or Commercial zoning only on their edges, but in older neighborhoods like Hyde Park such zoning dispersed throughout the neighborhood. This means the impacts of the proposed ETOD ordinance may be quite widespread.
The ETOD ordinance would do three things.
1. It prohibits or makes conditional any land uses that don’t support transit. This includes vehicle sales and repair, service stations, gas stations, storage facilities, recycling drop off/collection, warehouses and distribution, basic industries like electronic assembly/repair/testing, equipment sales, scrap and salvage, etc. But to be clear, the ETOD ordinance would not require existing businesses to close or cease operation. These businesses would simply become legal nonconforming uses. However, if one of these businesses closed for any reason, it couldn’t be replaced with a similar business. (Please note that the Hyde Park NCCDs already prohibit most of the businesses that the ETOD ordinance seeks to prohibit).
2. It allows residential uses on any parcels that are currently zoned Commercial. This means that a developer could build apartments or condos on any site currently zoned for commercial use without having to go through a zoning change.
3. It creates a density bonus program (DBETOD) for any property currently zoned Multi-family or Commercial.
To use the DBETOD program for rental units, 15% of new units must be affordable to households earning 60% of the Austin metro area’s Median Family Income (MFI), which in 2023 was $70,080 for a family of four. Alternatively, 12% of the new units must be affordable to households earning 50% MFI ($58,400 for a family of four in 2023). All affordable rental units must be provided on site. However, a 50-unit building would only result in seven affordable units so, while every little bit helps, it’s not likely this program will be a huge game changer for affordability.
To use the DBETOD program for ownership units, 12% of new units must be affordable to people earning 80% MFI ($93,450 for a family of four in 2023) OR the developer may opt to pay a fee-in-lieu instead of providing affordable ownership units onsite. Unfortunately, this means we could wind up with nothing but 120-foot tall luxury condo towers, housing residents least likely to use public transit. In fact, the city’s own data from its three existing Transit Oriented Developments shows their residents earn two to three times more than those they displaced and are far more likely to own vehicles and less likely to use public transit.
In exchange for these minimal affordability requirements, the DBETOD program allows developers the following significant increases in entitlements.
• Compatibility only applies within 25’ of a triggering property, meaning a duplex or single-family home zoned SF-1, SF-2 or SF-3.
• At a 25’ distance from a single-family home, structures may be built up to 90’ height (7-9 stories).
• No compatibility applies after a 50’ distance from a triggering property, potentially allowing up to 120’ tall buildings 51’ away from a single-family home.
Note: A chart contained in the accompanying city staff report appears to show that mid-rise development (5 stories) is likely to be most feasible under this program, though there is no guarantee that would be the case. In addition, the staff report notes that the next phase of this work, expected in 2025, could allow heights above 120’.
• No maximum limit for Floor Area Ratio (FAR) or building cover.
• Alleys count for measuring the compatibility distance, but not to require a landscaped buffer. If the building across an alley or across a street, no landscaped buffer is required.
• Buildings are completely exempt from all side and interior yard setbacks, and are also exempt from front yard setbacks except where the Right of Way (ROW) is less than 60’. This means they can build directly to the lot line.
• The ETOD ordinance does not change existing impervious cover limits, but these are already quite high in multifamily zoning, as well as in commercial zoning where residential use would now be allowed under ETOD. Typical multi-family and commercial impervious cover limits range from 70% to 95%, as opposed to 45% for single-family and duplex uses. In addition, any new building on undeveloped or underdeveloped land does add to the impervious on the ground, even if the percentage stays the same on paper.
The DBETOD does require replacement of some qualifying non-residential uses such as small format retail, restaurants, creative spaces, food/grocery uses of 40,000 square feet or less, child/adult care centers, and medical offices of 5000 square feet or less. How these businesses will be replaced or how they’ll survive in the years in between demolition and new construction is not explained.
On Tuesday, April 30th, the city’s Planning Commission passed the draft ETOD ordinance with 21 new amendments by a vote of 9-3.
Commissioners voting against the draft cited lack of time, lack of public engagement, rushed deadlines, lack of clear data to achieve affordable housing and prevent displacement, no discussion of the infrastructure needed to support these changes, and a basic lack of equity, even though that’s what the E in ETOD stands for.
However, the majority of commissioners thought they should be proud of their work, citing the 58% of Austinites who voted for Project Connect. There was no mention of the fact that the project many of us voted for has been scaled back to such a degree that it’s reasonable to think it would not be approved if the election were held today.
Several commissioners made motions to leave the hearing open for more input, to postpone the commission’s vote until May 14th, to exempt area from 15th Street north to Crestview, and to limit ETOD to Phase One of Project Connect rail lines and not include the priority extensions. All those motions failed.
City staff acknowledged that the rushed timeline on ETOD is being driven by the application for the federal grant funds for Project Connect, stating that staff must have action on the ETOD ordinance by May 30 in order to complete their work by June. They noted that this is the first year of a three to six year iterative grant process, but said they must submit all materials for preliminary ratings this summer. They are allowed to update their initial submissions before final submissions next summer, but staff emphasized that this is a highly competitive process and they are intent on making a good first impression with this summer’s submittal.
Staff did answer two important questions at Planning Commission.
1. Q: Federal grant officials are only rating applications based on station areas, not the full route, so why did city staff map the entire corridor for ETOD?
A: Station locations aren’t fully decided yet and there’s some overlap so staff thought it would be better practice to prohibit all non-transit supportive uses along entire route. In answering this question, staff did not mention the dramatic upzonings a half mile into adjacent neighborhoods that are possible under the DBETOD program so it was not clear whether this part of the ordinance is crucial to the initial grant application. Unfortunately, the commissioners did not ask any clarifying questions on this point.
2. Q: Federal grant authorities are not considering the priority extensions in their scoring, only the first phase rail line that ends at 38th Street, so why are the extensions included in ETOD overlay?
A: Staff reiterated that they were trying to get rid of all uses that aren't transit supportive all along the route, again with no mention of the DBETOD upzonings. But staff also said several times that they had to include the priority extensions in ETOD because that’s what was in the City Council resolution that initiated this proposal.
While there is not time or space to summarize all 21 Planning Commission amendments, there was a lot of discussion about allowing fees-in-lieu instead of providing affordable ownership units onsite. Commissioners recommended raising the amount of a fee-in-lieu to 125% of the cost of providing an affordable unit onsite for ownership units. They also recommended that these fees should be used to create affordable units within ½ mile of a station area, but without any discussion whether this was actually feasible. In addition, they recommended creating an oversight committee for how the Austin uses fees-in-lieu, which has not been studied to date.
Staff noted the problem of maintaining affordable ownership units because condo fees may be raised at any time. They said it would be legally challenging to provide a fund to defray rising condo fees for low-income residents because they didn’t want to provide a direct subsidy to a private entity that may not need it. They further noted that the low percentage of affordable units in a condo project means low-income owners would always be outvoted in an election to raise condo fees.
One commissioner noted that Austin’s three existing TODs saw huge displacements of low-income residents, replaced by people earning two to three times as much, and that 19 percent of ETOD area is identified at risk of displacement. Staff responded that they are trying to achieve a one-to-one replacement of market affordable units under ETOD.
There was no discussion about heights in proximity to duplexes or single-family homes, greatly reduced compatibility standards, how far into neighborhoods the ETOD zone stretches, or the impacts on infrastructure or localized flooding.
CITYWIDE COMPATIBILITY CHANGES
The following proposed citywide compatibility changes would apply throughout Austin.
• Compatibility standards end at 75’ from a single-family home.
Note: Planning Commission recommended that income-restricted housing could be built to 90’ heights at a 25’ distance from a single-family home and to the maximum allowable height at a 50’ distance, basically matching ETOD provisions for income-restricted housing. It’s not known whether City Council will accept this recommendation.
• For market rate housing, the following provisions would apply new 75’ compatibility zone:
- No height allowed within 25’ of a SF zoned property.
– At a 25’ distance, a building may be 40’ tall
– At a 50’ distance, a building may be 60’ tall
- At a 75’ distance, a building may be the full height that the zoning standards allow.
• A 25’ wide compatibility buffer is required along a property line shared with a triggering property including a 10’ wide screening zone with trees or large shrubs. But if the building is across and alley or a street from a triggering property, no buffer is required.
Note: Planning Commission recommended reducing the width of buffers on narrow lots, excluding projects up to 16 units from the buffer requirement, and reducing the compatibility buffer to 15’ for residential uses less than 40’ tall. Again, it’s unknown whether Council will accept these changes.
• No compatibility buffer is required for townhome or condo uses or sites zoned Neighborhood Commercial, Neighborhood Office, and Limited Office.
• Exterior lights must be shielded.
• Mechanical equipment noise must be under 70 decibels at triggering property line.
• No onsite amenities may be built within 25’ of triggering property line.
• Screening is required for vehicle lights, mechanical equipment, outdoor storage, refuse receptacles/collection and certain common areas.
HOME PHASE TWO
HOME Phase Two basically brings the whole city in under the existing Small Lot Single-Family Residential ordinance, which previously was an opt-in tool. It will now apply to all SF-1, SF-2, and SF-3 zoned lots throughout Austin, though some areas, including Mueller, are exempt.
HOME Phase Two only applies if you subdivide an existing lot into lots that are smaller than 5750 square feet. If your lot is over 5750 SF, the regulations for your lot aren’t changing.
Owners wishing to subdivide an existing lot will still have to go through the city’s subdivision process, which is time-consuming and expensive. However, city staff is working on a new streamlined infill subdivision process for smaller projects and hopes to have a draft ready for the May 14th Planning Commission agenda.
HOME Phase Two will supersede the base zoning district to the extent of any conflict, but Council Member Zo Qadri stated in the May 6th Hyde Park Neighborhood Association meeting that it will not supersede NCCDs. This means that where an NCCD contains a specific provision that differs from a base zoning requirement, the NCCD will control. But where an NCCD is silent, HOME Phase Two will control where its provisions differ from the base zoning. However, it is possible that a majority of City Council could still decide to override NCCDs when HOME Phase Two comes up for a vote on May 16.
HOME Phase Two would:
• Lower the minimum lot size for one unit from 5,750 square feet to 2,000 square feet.
Note: Planning Commission recommended further reducing this to 1500 SF. On a related note, a city staff report said that when Houston reduced its lot sizes, the resulting smaller units were only affordable to those making 105% of the local Median Family Income (MFI). If the same holds true for Austin, this would mean a three-person household would need to make over $115,000 annually to afford one of the new smaller lot units.
• Allow only one unit on a lot smaller than 5750 SF.
• Maintain current 45% impervious cover limit for SF-2 and SF-3 zoned properties.
• Increase building cover limits to 45% of lot (currently it’s 40%).
• Set the maximum Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for a smaller lot at the greater of .55 or 1450 SF.
Note: Planning Commission recommended raising this to 1650 SF.
• Set the maximum unit size for a small lot at 2300 SF.
• Reduce the minimum lot width to 30’ on interior lots with dedicated driveway and 20’ on corner lots or lots without a driveway or with a shared driveway. Note: Planning Commission recommended reducing minimum lot width further to 15’. There was no discussion about how trash/recycling/compost pick up would work with only 15’ of street frontage and no onsite parking.
• Reduce some setbacks for flag lots. Note: Planning Commission recommended reducing all side and rear setbacks to zero for a lot line shared with a lot containing a Small Lot Single-Family Residential use. They also recommended that architectural features like stoops be allowed to encroach 3’ into a setback and that design features like bay windows could encroach 2’. They further recommended reducing the minimum front setback to zero if front lot line is shared with a lot containing a Small Lot SF Residential Use. In cases where the side setbacks are permitted to be less than 5 feet, Planning Commissioners recommended that additional fire resistant construction standards would be required. The Fire Department representatives at Planning Commission suggested this could be a solid cinder block wall with no windows on the lot line.
• Include some design standards for driveways, front yards, and garage placement.
• Allow for a variety of detached and attached housing types including row houses.
• Remove Residential Design and Compatibility (a.k.a. McMansion or Subchapter F) standards for small lots.
• Adjust flag lot regulations to facilitate easier subdivision and to ensure sites do not exceed 45% impervious cover; the ‘pole’ will now count as impervious cover.
• Require that for lots less than 30’ wide, vehicle access is only allowed from alley, side street or joint-use driveway with adjoining lot. Note: No onsite parking is required; Council already did away with that requirement last fall.
• Require that a parking structure can’t be closer to the front lot line that the front exterior wall of first floor. If parking structure is less than 5’ behind front façade, the width of parking structure may not exceed width of building façade.
• Exempt the following uses from a site plan requirement:
One single-family residence;
Duplex unless the duplex is over 4000 SF or has more than 6 bedrooms;
Two-unit residential use;
Secondary apartment special use;
Small lot single family residential use on property zoned SF-1, -2 or -3;
Substantial restoration of building within a year after damage;
Restoration of building designated as historic landmark;
Interior or façade remodeling if front and side exterior walls remain in same location.
The following provisions are NOT changed under HOME Phase Two:
• A minimum lot size of 5,750 SF is still required for two-unit and three-unit uses.
• Developers must still comply with existing regulations for a single unit on a lot that is 5,750 SF or larger.
• 45% impervious cover maximum is maintained for SF-2 and SF-3
• General size and heights established under the HOME Phase One ordinance (Ordinance No. 20231207-001) are maintained.
• There are still no additional restrictions on Short Term Rentals under HOME Phase Two. City staff says it’s not their intent to add more STRs, but they are still working with the law department to see what kind of restrictions are allowed under state law.
HOME Phase Two also adds this somewhat vague statement:
“Properties within NCCD that are either local landmarks (-H) or designated as part of the local historic district (-HD) would still be required to meet those design guidelines and processes if they were to redevelop under the DBETOD program.” According to the staff report, they determined this strikes an appropriate balance between historic preservation and the proposed code changes.
Finally, Planning Commission recommended quarterly reports on impacts of HOME Phases One and Two, and also recommended that Council explore an equity overlay to modify application of changes in areas vulnerable to gentrification and displacemen
ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS
The EV Charging Station ordinance would create a brand new land use. It’s needed because Austin currently has no way to regulate large commercial EV charging stations.
In short, charging stations smaller than 25,000 SF would be permitted on core transportation corridors or to replace existing gas stations, as long as there is at least 1,000 feet between charging stations. Otherwise, it’ll be a conditional use requiring notice and public hearings. EV Charging Stations will also be a conditional use in an ETOD zone.
The new ordinance would not apply to home use or to a small number of charging outlets in public or commercial garages. It will only apply when EV charging is the primary use.
Note: The staff draft says that no EV charging stations will be allowed underground per the Fire Department. However, Planning Commission recommended allowing charging stations one level down with added safety standards required by the Fire Code. In addition, they recommended prohibiting EV charging stations as a principle use within 1,000 feet of a highway cap-and-stitch.
