KEY POINTS: The City of Austin failed to release a copy of the city council’s “VMU2” vertical mixed-use ordinance in a timely fashion City staff worked on the ordinance behind closed doors for six weeks The final ordinance reduces compatibility standards and removes notice and protest rights A strange thing happened back in mid-June, after ...
KEY POINTS: Austin Mayor Steve Adler has joined the advisory board of Pacaso, a controversial venture-backed tech company that acquires single-family homes and sells shares of them to vacationers and investors Founded by a group of former Zillow executives, Pacaso has sparked litigation in California, where the company is accused of transforming communities into “adult ...
First came CodeNEXT, the citywide rezoning plan that Austin officials were shamed into withdrawing in 2018. Then came the infamous “transition zone” initiative, which the city council tried to pass without notifying local residents. It met its end after a Travis County court found the council acted illegally, a ruling that was affirmed by an ...
We reported last week on the Austin City Council’s “midnight special” proposals to reduce the compatibility of corridor buildings with adjoining or nearby residential uses. The details will remain unclear until the city releases the council’s amended Vertical Mixed Use (VMU) ordinance and its resolution dealing with proposed general changes to compatibility standards. But the ...
Around midnight last Thursday, the Austin City Council held a “public” hearing on what appeared to be a routine, limited Vertical Mixed Use (VMU) zoning amendment that had consensus support. But Mayor Steve Adler, the mayor pro tem, and eight other council members ambushed Austinites, passing last-minute, often unwritten amendments that have profound consequences and ...