Housing and Planning Committee (HPC) meeting Transcript – 5/23/2023 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 5/23/2023 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 5/23/2023 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [1:02:17 PM] All right, all right, all right . And the famous words of Matthew mcconaughey. Let's get started. Good afternoon. I am council member Natasha harper-madison. I am the chair of the housing and planning committee. Proudly we are meeting in city hall. That was not my name. We are meeting in city hall council chambers in Austin, Texas. It is may 23rd, 2023, and we're about to call this meeting to order at 1:03 P.M. Before we begin diving into our agenda, I'd like to allow our guests to speak on the items that they signed up for. Clerk can you please begin calling up speakers. Yes. Scott turner followed by Joe Paul. Paul Connolly. Good afternoon. Council members. I just want to thank you for taking the time to [1:03:17 PM] organize and prioritize these these housing resolutions. Today there are a lot of good ideas in there. Many of those came out of our decision to update our land development code Eid way back in 2012, which was also a good idea . However Shaw I think Austin sometimes has a hard time seeing those good ideas through fruition. So as you discuss these today, please dedicate the resources necessary to get them done efficiently and effectively. Hire consultants and hire attorneys. Don't take no for an answer because after ten years with home prices at a point where the average austinite simply can't afford to buy a house here, which is important to me as a home builder. Shaw we can no longer afford to wait. Thank you. Hi good afternoon. Thank you all for hosting this space and inviting us to share our [1:04:17 PM] thoughts. I'll keep mine very brief. I want to thank you guys for having this conversation. Ann there is a long queue with a lot of proposals and changes to the code that staff has to work on. And what I want to emphasize is that we try to keep things simple as much as possible, where things can be deleted or eliminated because they are outdated and no longer reflect, reflect the reality that we're in. That's what we should do. We should avoid overthinking things over complicating things, adding new layers of complexity to an already complex code. We need to move towards simplicity and efficiency as much as possible. And so I appreciate you guys having this conversation and wherever possible, I also would ask that we prioritize citywide Eid structural changes such as parking, such as the policies such as things that can have broad impacts on creating large volumes of affordable housing in our community, which we desperately need, and we need to see we need to see substantive change. Paige so anything that can that can do that. Now, I'm [1:05:18 PM] also in favor of finding ways to efficiently use staff time and grouping items together where they make sense. So I appreciate the thoughtful discussion that will take place here today, and I appreciate that this is happening. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Conley. Ron thrower, followed by Ryan knell. Mayor pro tem, council members. Ron thrower. Just wanted to give you my personal take on the code amendments. There's one in particular that I know that is coming forward and that's to eliminate the cycle of being able to file for a future land use map amendment. To me, that's going to be a very simple fix, but it's also got a timing situation because we got July coming up and if we can get this addressed rather quickly, that would help a lot of people. And being able to file applications at any point in time right now, we're poised to file for at least one future land use map amendment in July, but we're not going to be able to file for the zoning case for several months [1:06:20 PM] after just because of the complexity of the situation. But so I don't mean to interrupt you, but when you say we have July coming up, I don't know what the context. What do you mean when you say that there's one month out of the year that the east side of 35 can file for a future land use map amendment without as a landowner, you have the right in July to file for that application. Ann and there's only about four lines in the code that need to be eliminated to allow for this to happen. I think it's a quick fix . It's something that should take minutes compared Leslie to all the other comp plex items that are that are initiated. Eid. But again, if we can if we can file any month out of the year is I think that's going to help housing in a tremendous way, but it also helps us on our side of just having to just deal with how we file the subsequent zoning applications that go along with those future land use map applications. Thank you. Chair chair yes, ma'am. I just wanted to know that what Mr. Thrower is talking about is an initiative that I think council [1:07:21 PM] member Vella is working on. Yes councilmember, would you mind expanding on that so we can just get a better understanding as a body? Yes. And I want to say that it's up I can't remember if June 1st or June 8th, but like it's drafted and we've got the co-sponsors and we're ready to go on it. June first. Yeah, it's out on the current agenda. Okay I get swamped sometimes and I forget where things are, but I mean, it's not like you're doing anything and essentially, I mean, when the this is the history, as it was explained to me, staff did the neighborhood plans and then they limited the, you know, basically ability to amend it because they had just drafted them in like 2000 and they were like, you can only file code amendments to, you know, they kind of get these little windows to try to keep their capacity down because they were also in the process of writing all the neighborhood plans. And there was a lot of work to do and they don't want to have to be amending plans that they had just adopted and [1:08:22 PM] written. That was 20 years ago. Now a days, you know. So the only thing that we're doing is saying that, you can file for a shalom amendment any time you want, not just, you know, July. I think like east and then I think January west or something like that to eliminate that and say like if a landowner wants to file for two, amend their Flum, they can amend, they can do that without any kind of time limitation. That's all that item would do. So I'm going to take a page out of my predecessors book. When you say Flum, I want these people to know what you say when you say that we don't use acronyms. Yeah, future land use map. So it's kind of like the meta zoning, not the actual zoning, but but it's another overlay of the, the zoning. So so that's what it would be. But appreciate that June 1st clerk, if you'd like to move forward. Thank you. Ryan knell followed by Kai gray I'm sorry, followed by felicity Maxwell. Hello, council members. My name is Ryan [1:09:23 PM] knell, our complex code drives up housing costs all over Austin and makes a career for a limited set of highly specialized people in housing development. I think that simplifying our code will allow more people with less effort to provide more housing. Simplifying the code will allow staff to spend less time reviewing projects and researching all of the unintended consequences that y'all inevitably might come up with as you create new policies and simplifying will allow you the council to see your resolutions turn into law more quickly instead of waiting months to years to see them come and potentially being thrown aside by future councils. I think the easiest way to make the code more simple is to make it shorter by eliminating the sections of the code that restrict housing or add unneeded costs so we can eliminate occupancy limits which don't allow people who fit the traditional nuclear family [1:10:24 PM] structure and have been making cooperative housing development extremely difficult over the years. You can eliminate the barrier requirements separating mobile home parks from other types of housing. You can eliminate compatibility requirements which also separate one form of housing from another . I know you're working on getting rid of parking limits and I think we need to keep focused on that. I also think we should eliminate the mcmansion ordinance. I think staff spends probably too much time ensuring that the projects meet the complicated requirements of that ordinance and it's also adding, I'm sure, thousands of dollars of costs for architects to design very bespoke housing. I think we should eliminate the minimum lot size and make sure that we address the setbacks that set an implicit minimum lot size. If you don't look at those and I'm sure that everyone in the room has their specific pet issue that causes them headaches. And I think we should really figure out which ones we can live without. And get rid of [1:11:26 PM] them and focus on simplifying the code. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony, miss Maxwell. Next up is Kai gray. Good afternoon. Council members . We appreciate the time today to discuss these various code amendments which have been coming forward fast and furious. We know we know that all cities also still in a housing crisis. And we're really hopeful that these amendments will give us a chance to offer real relief to those who are housing stretched right now in our city, which we know is so many of us we'd like to advocate specifically for additional staff resources Luz to ensure that we get the best outcomes from these amendments. We know that staffing and housing and planning is not where it needs to be, especially given all the work they're about to be undertaking as a housing advocate, I'd like to suggest the citywide efforts like parking reform, town zoning and be prioritized, since those are likely to have the largest impact on our housing prices. In addition, long overdue changes like eliminating occupancy limits are critical. As we look [1:12:27 PM] to build a more equitable city, especially around housing. I would also like to close with a fact from Selig Shea that she shared yesterday that 70% of our medics live outside of Travis county and spend about 40% of their income on housing Singh. I sincerely hope that we keep these critical ems workers in mind as we move forward with our code amendments to ensure that they have the opportunity to live in the city they serve. Thank you. Thank you very much for that testimony. I really appreciate you sharing that statistic for folks who don't know, Celina is the ems union president, and so she's bringing good data. If she said 70% of our ems professionals live outside of the city, I absolutely trust that as good data. Next up. Hi my name is Kai gray. I'm the chair of government relations for the Austin info coalition. Ann. And I'm really thankful you all are here to get some more housing. [1:13:28 PM] Obviously, Austin has been working with an outdated land code for decades now. One of the things that we are really concerned about is finding a way to get more housing on the 90% of Austin. That's sf3. So we have a few things. The preservation bonus would be the first time we could get more than two units on 90% of Austin is zoned. Sf three it was something that was done during the land development code and it was generally popular. We also have expansion which includes allowing it to be built easier to build an Adu, but also allowing more adus on corners, alleys and lots over 10,000ft !S. If you look at Los Angeles, the Los Angeles recently released a report where they had three times as many adus built as single family homes, built. So it's possible to do reform where we get a lot more of these smaller type of units. We just need to revise our outdated land code. And again, we have a few suggestions for that, which is the preservation bonus Adu expansion, allowing you to ads on some of these larger lots in corner lots and stuff like that. But again, thank you for your [1:14:29 PM] time and we're looking forward to some changes. We appreciate your testimony. Next up, Daniel Casselman, followed by Elena Carnahan. Good afternoon. Hi. Council members and I appreciate that you're taking the time to sort of look at the 21 or however many amendments are in the works and sort of deciding how we're going to be getting the most sort of bang for our buck, out of which code amendments and what we'd like to see come first. I think it's a good exercise, guys, and I'm looking forward for the discussion. My suggestion is that I think that a code deletion is probably very simple . And so I would encourage you to sort of use the time to think about how parking is a lot of just deleting the code. It's not coming up and hopefully it doesn't take a ton of staff time on that. I think that it's important to say that we said [1:15:29 PM] citywide and so I think that it's important that we also include sometimes they don't get included in these citywide. But ncds and planned unit developments as well. And just making sure that you don't have to go through every single one of those and delete it. But just saying that this item supersedes those and sort of on the whole idea of saving time for builders and for staff. First of all, getting them more money in the planning and housing department so that they are adequately staffed up to make sure that we are moving as quickly as we want to amend our code. But also things like site plan, light that might, you know, decrease the time that staff members and developers are just sitting on money. And like as lending costs are going up, that's thousands of dollars for a two month delay. That is getting passed on to renters and buyers. So any of these that are can simplify the code and save staff time and builder time, I think should be priorities because that would [1:16:34 PM] reduce the time in the capital costs of projects, something that is absolutely crucial, that is significantly more complicated as Ito do itod. So as soon as we can get moving forward because we have the plan but you know our light rail system, they came up with a recommendation today so we know exactly where we're going to want to prioritize those areas, whether it's new zoning typologies or voluntary overlays or things like that. I think that is absolutely crucial that we move into an implementation plan as soon as possible. Knell thank you so much for your time today. Speaker do you mind if I ask you a question? You put some specific emphasis on site plan light. Yes, I'd like very much for you to reach out to my office so we can expand on what exactly you think should happen there. Something tells me you have ideas. So I look forward to speaking in the future. Thank you. Thank you so much, councilmember. [1:17:38 PM] Good afternoon, council members. My name is Lena Carnahan and I'm here today on behalf of the real estate council of Austin and its membership. Our members build the housing that our city so badly needs, and so they have the best vantage point to share what needs to be improved in our regulations to allow for more housing on the ground. I would be remiss if I didn't start with a note that the development review process, even though it's not necessarily on today's list, is always top of mind for us. It is the quickest and easiest way to reduce costs is to make that process more efficient. But some of the existing code changes on staff's list would have a huge impact for our membership and for people renting and buying in Austin. Compatibility is one of, if not the most limiting regulation to effective new development in Austin. Anything that can be done to lessen the impact of compatibility will go a long way to making improvements for our housing capacity. Rather than tinkering with the complex overlay the all passed last year a citywide change to the regulation that reduces compatibility to a more reasonable distance would be more effective, clearer and [1:18:39 PM] easier to administrate. The elimination of parking minimums , as others have mentioned, is a high impact change for relatively low effort. This was already considered during codenext and will not only rightsize parking for developments and decrease per unit costs, but it also decreases review times. And as others have mentioned, etds will be a game changer for the areas around our future light rail stations and they need to be handled effectively. Delaying the implementation of tods means lost opportunity for more housing and small businesses that are transit friendly in the places we need it the most and could jeopardize Austin's federal funding for the plan. Overall etds need to be done effectively, but with an understanding that every day we delay more opportunities are lost for the city to build once in a lifetime in infrastructure investments and housing, infrastructure investment. This planning commission's initiated town zoning also has a lot of promise for flexible development and that should be a top priority for staff. In addition to those existing items on the list, there are two other items [1:19:39 PM] for council consideration that we feel would get more housing on the ground. The first is a citywide density bonus program that's carefully calibrated. All in one would be easier for staff to administer, more predictable for builders and if done well, be much more frequently utilized, which is a win win win . The second item is a reconsideration Ann of Florida area ratio for is often a limiter in development beyond height and impervious cover limitations and often serves to reduce the number of housing units with no clear policy goals. A reconsideration of that in different Zones would be no cost to the city and make things a lot simpler. All of these items need to go through a consistent stakeholder engagement and notification process that involves testing real projects with practice owners that's not always consistently done and it makes a huge difference. There have been so many well intentioned items that council and staff have created, but if they don't work on the ground, they won't get us any closer to solving our housing crisis. Thank you for your time today. Happy to answer any questions. Taylor Smith [1:20:42 PM] followed by Greg Anderson. Good afternoon. My name is Taylor Smith. I'm the deputy director of government affairs at the Austin board of realtors. And on behalf of the Austin board of realtors, I want to thank all the council members here for not only starting the conversation today, which is much needed in our community, but taking the leadership to lead us through this process to overall increase our housing supply, to highlight the importance of prioritizing Singh housing, I pride it provided each of you with a market update. One pager that provides a status of the greater Austin housing market using data from Dr. Clare Leslie. Our Arbor's new housing economist. According to Dr. Leslie, the greater housing Austin market continues to moderate and amid higher mortgage rates and inflation and there are signs of the market bouncing back to a more normal housing market. Burt. However, long term affordability remains a major hindrance for the Austin housing [1:21:43 PM] market and for new construction . There has been a decline in permits for single family 2 to 4 units and multi-family homes across the Austin Round Rock msa, which has even greater potential implications for our future housing, stock and affordability. And then in addition, from April 2023, central housing market report, I can report that last month Austin's housing inventory for the city of Austin increased to 3.2 months of housing inventory , which is far below zo the city, far below the Texas real estate center's balanced market of six months and the median home price decreased about 11% to 565,000. Within the city of Austin, Ann Arbor, we support any changes that are designed to help increase Austin's housing stock and reduce the overall housing in Austin. When developing your list of prioritization, we ask you to consider prioritizing items related to ads compatibility [1:22:44 PM] standard Luz lot size requirements, parking requirements and the permitting process. Our recommendations are also provided to you on one of the handouts I provided earlier. We are committed to being a partner with you through this process and we're here to be a resource with any data or expertise that you need. Thank you. Hey, council members and staff, thank you for being here today. Staff so this is awesome. So glad that you all are doing this today. We have so many problems in our land development code and I want to go back in time a little bit. When all of Austin was coming together to work on imagine Austin, so many people in this room were a big part of that. And we came up with a really great visionary plan for the city of Austin, Ann that called out a big need. You need a new land development code and so I remember very clearly being in this building from 2012 to 2015 when a lot of council [1:23:45 PM] members did a lot of good work and came up with really good policy ideas, and we'd go to staff and we'd say, hey, we want to bring this forward. This is something that's broken in our code. Let's work on this. And staff would say, you're right, this is broken. We got to fix this, but let's fix this in the new code. And so we as a city grabbed great consultants from around the country. We put our best staff from the city into this amazing process to come up with this new land development code. And then we know what happened. Local control was taken away from the city of Austin. We didn't get a new land development code. And so now here we are in 2020, we've had ten years of deferred maintenance on this terrible land development code. That was terrible 11 years ago. Now it's just god awful. And now you all are left with this problem of trying to solve all these issues and correcting this terrible land development code and so the problem that we're all going to face now is the little changes that you see in front of you, which are substantial in a lot of ways. That's a small list of actually what needs to get started. So if we don't beef up staff and pay them more and get a whole lot more roles over at [1:24:46 PM] city staff side to get these processes done, we're going to have this amazing bottle neck of great policy ideas initiated by all the different bodies of the city that can initiate, but then nothing happens. They're going to sit there for six months, a year, two years, because we can't get them going through the process fast enough because we don't have the staff to do so. So if we can really focus on that during this budget cycle and beef up staff to really pull all those amazing people back together, maybe get consultants , do whatever we have to do, but figure out a way to really if we have to keep the terrible land development code, figure out a way to do it. Heard flume's mentioned a minute ago I was vice chair on a neighborhood plan contact team in south Austin with a Flum from 1998. Tell me what's futuristic about a Flum from 1998. Glad we're going to look at those compatibility. Still kills more housing than anything else on the books. And now we have 21 versions of it, or maybe it's 19 versions of it. I don't know. It's still really, really bad in town. Zoning, there's a lot of hope there. I'm glad to hear staff's excited about that. As well. Are a lot of folks who want to see better zoning categories and then parking [1:25:46 PM] mandates? Thank you, council, for initiating that. Is there any reason why that code change can't happen in the next month other than we don't have the staff to do it? Maybe not. So what do we have to do to beef up staff? And last thing I'll say, I met with a crp major the other day who graduated two Fridays ago and was concerned about whether or not to go work for the city because of the rumor out there of how overworked staff is right now. Like, I don't know if I want to take that job or will I be burned out too fast and so we've got to figure out ways to kind of to kind of kill that mindset at crp graduating right now, ten years ago, that was the hottest job in town working for staff. And now there's concern. So we can fix them, though. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Next up, David Glenn, followed by two Ann kowtow. Good afternoon, council. My name is David Glenn. I'm here representing the homebuilders association and our members. I will keep this fairly brief since we do agree with much of what's been said today. We are very excited about this process [1:26:47 PM] . Many of the things that are on this list and others that are not site plan ly adus lot size setback. It's anything that's going to really help bolster the city's housing supply. Something that we would like to get engaged in. I think one of the really important elements of this discussion is establishing that framework. Mr. Anderson just mentioned that there's concern about things falling, good ideas falling between the cracks. I think setting up a good framework that is predictable and engages the experts, the practitioners, the folks actually using the code is going to make a very big difference. I would encourage the city and staff to the extent that they can to benchmark look at other cities that are doing it well. We know of a handful of cities that are processing more permits with fewer staff, for example. So try and see, take a look what other cities are doing. Find some good examples, but overall, just really excited about the work this committee is doing. We think that this is important and a much needed conversation. We're happy to be a resource whenever we can, so please keep us in mind. Thank you. I do actually have a question and I'd like for again to let's follow up afterwards. But when you say processing more [1:27:47 PM] permits with fewer staff, I think that's a resource issue. And I'd like very much for us to I think so many of us are new to the body and or just recognize Singh how highly inefficient it. You know, I used to say before I joined the council, I used to say anything that has to go through the city costs too much and takes too long and I got here and I realized, oh snap, I was Wright. And so I'd like very much for us to as a body, be able to have, you know, access to those resources that tell us how to be more efficient. That's great. And if I could just add one little note to that. We've actually been talking to some of the folks on the staff level, connecting them with their peers and other cities to talk about these kind of things. And so we have counterparts all over the state of Texas and nationally as well. And can reach out and bridge those bridge those gaps at the risk of showing my age, I'm going to use a cliche. It takes a village. That's right. And I look forward that our housing village is moving forward together. Thank you for your testimony. Next up.oo gd [1:28:50 PM] afternoon, everyone. Yes, my name is Ann Cueto and thank you for nailing my name. That's pretty impressive. I'm here also as a member of the greater Austin homebuilders association and the women in building, I would like to pair it our support in in our support. Sorry for anything. Any change that will help simplify the code as well as expedite the process of getting land entitled. And yes, everything that has to go through the city is expensive. Give Austin per unit costs more, almost double what the state average is to entitle a lot for single family housing as a production volume builder, we kind of live in the suburbs, but yet we know that changes made at the city of Austin could influence our neighbors. And so I encourage you to be responsive for that. And we do hope to see and are excited to see some of the changes that we've been talking about. So thank you so [1:29:52 PM] much for your time and allowing us to voice that support. Burt we appreciate your testimony. Thank you very much. Next up, let's last speaker, Jen weaver, Shaw. I don't see her. Oh, there she is. Great. Okay, good afternoon, council members. I'm here to talk to you today as a developer for right now, we have rising cap rates. We have rising interest rates. And I'm very concerned about the market for residential real estate downtown Ann we already have a shortage of market rate rentals downtown Ann downtown is mostly luxury product. We have one affordable project design commission would [1:30:52 PM] like to bring attention to what's going on with the density bonus. Not all units are being utilized that are being deployed downtown. That's a different conversation. Ann. But as far as market rate solutions that could work downtown, there are other solutions burns co-ops can be co-owned and co-managed by the residents, and we don't have very many in Austin. Ann there are eight co-ops outside of west campus, with about a thousand residents in co-ops in Austin, the minimum size can be as little as 20 units to as large as 150 per complex. There are financing and political barriers to co-ops that should be explored. But other cities have deployed co-ops with partnerships within the city like Boulder, Berkeley, Madison, New York. Additionally co-living or multifamily for roommates could solve our workforce. [1:31:54 PM] Housing solution downtown Ann people get married later. They stay in school longer and traditional hut is really set around the nuclear family, which is what all of our housing in affordable housing in Austin is underwritten by. We don't have older building stock to convert for roommates like warehouses in New York that are converted for lofts. And we need new construction to solve this housing solution. But we don't have that downtown. My residence at capital quarters, which is a building for roommates, our teachers tirz at UT, their Fulbright scholars visiting from other countries. We have acrobats, nurses as ux designers starting staff as analysts. Downtown lobbyists in town for session. It's workforce housing , but the barrier to making more products like this is it's not an asset class that commercial real estate recognizes it. It's not student housing and it's not [1:32:55 PM] the cheapest debt and equity for multifamily housing. So I think we need more debt and equity partners in this housing typology. I mentioned the market rate for the cost of financing is up, cap rates are up. So we're going to see less creative solutions. Burns for workforce or market rate housing downtown and Seattle, the I 135 social housing initiative has started and it's really focused on 0 to 120. Ami which for Seattle is $120,000 for a family of four Shaw our affordable housing solutions in Austin really top out at 80% Ami miss weaver, please finish your sentence and do me a solid. Yes, we're going to really try to. I'd like very much for us to open the housing conversation to everybody. Be they don't know what you mean when you say cap. So it's for [1:33:55 PM] our smart housing or density bonus. 80. Ami is the top that you can be making to benefit from that program. Thank you. I appreciate that. And then if you wouldn't mind finishing your sentence and then thank you for your testimony. Yes so the request is to initiate pilot with the city as a partner for creative social living solution is that respond to market needs such as co-ops, co-living or cottage courts. Thank you. Chair. We actually have two more speakers. Michael knell, followed by David Carroll. Good afternoon all. My name is Michael Nahas. I'm vice chair of the economic prosperity commission. I'm an economist who studies housing in Austin on the rent is currently $184 more than in Houston. Ann land price. The [1:34:56 PM] cheapest land on zillow is three times the price in Houston Ann and five out of six lots that are sf three cannot be split like we can't split. During the big freeze as we ran short of water and H-E-B had water. Shaw and H-E-B want Eid to not get exploited by the rich people who were in a panic. They didn't want to raise the price and they didn't want somebody to buy it at a cheap price at H-E-B and then resell it and extort people . So H-E-B went and put a limit on the maximum amount of water one person could buy. I believe it was two cases of water, two cases of bottled water. So this was a necessity that everybody needed and they put a maximum limit on the amount in any transaction in our land code. We have land people need land to [1:35:57 PM] have a house on. It's a necessity. We have high housing prices. It's in shortage. And are we doing what H-E-B did and put a maximum amount on a land transaction? No, we have a minimum. We actually have the exact opposite. To the to a solution here. So I'm not in favor of a minimum or maximum, but we should Eid raise those minimums dramatically in order to lower the cost of housing. Thank you. Good afternoon. Council members . Thank you for allowing me to speak today. I'll try to be brief. My name is David Carroll. I'm an architect who has lived in district one for the last 16 years and I have been designing affordable housing for that entire time. I am also starting [1:36:58 PM] my ninth year on design commission, which means that I have reviewed nearly every project in this city that has gone through the downtown density bonus program. I'm here today to tell you that this program is broken. The downtown density bonus program was created in part to help create affordable housing in the downtown area. But this program has only produced four affordable units to date outside of the Rainey street subdistrict for four units. This. Represents 0.1% of all the units built over this time in downtown Rainey has a slightly different program aim, which requires a small percentage of affordable housing to be built on site. But even this program has only produced 87 units over the last ten years 87 units further, some developers have informed me that many of these units remain empty due to unqualified tenants, [1:37:59 PM] especially for the 120% mfi condo units and the inability of market rate developers to operate affordable housing due to the different regulations for these. So why is it more affordable housing being built instead of providing affordable housing nearly every developer has chosen to pay a fee in lieu to the affordable housing trust fund, as allowed by the original ordinance. But this fund, while it's received tens of millions of dollars over the last ten years, none of this money has ever been used to build any affordable housing in Austin. Ann. Aside from the council directed hotel conversion in 2021, this money has only ever been used for housing voucher programs, which are a very important and much needed program but does not help Austin get to our adopted goal in the strategic housing blueprint of building 60,000 affordable units by 2027. At our current rate, we will be lucky to build 20,000 units by 2027. Even the will is [1:39:01 PM] there, but the money is not. As I attended the last housing investment review committee meeting during the first quarter of this year, they indicated that they had about $85 million to award for the entire year. The demand for just the first quarter was almost $85 million. So many of these projects are going to go unfunded this year. In 2021, the design commission wrote several recommendations to help fix the downtown density bonus program, but none were ever picked up by council at the time. I'll be happy to share these recommendations again if council would like. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Carroll. I do have one question. Did you say for Shaw? I wanted to make sure I heard you correctly for units. Please repeat that entire sentence. Yes. So only for affordable units have been built out with the density bonus program outside of the Rainey street area in downtown Ann. Over the last ten years. Thank you. Ann [1:40:02 PM] Rainey street. It's 87, so a total of 91 units downtown have been built in ten years. I appreciate that statistic. Thank you very much. Colleagues, anybody else have a question for Mr. Carroll? Okay. Clerk does that conclude our speakers? Okay so moving forward now that we've concluded our speakers, thank you all for joining us this afternoon and contributing to these critics conversations. So item number one is our first item is to approve the minutes of the housing and planning committee of March 2nd, 2023, and April 25th, 2023. Is there a motion to pass the minutes move adoption? I move adoption. Looks like we are making a motion by council member alter Ryan alter seconded by council member qadri . If there is so move by seconded by so all in favor, please say aye. Aye looks like [1:41:03 PM] we're unanimous. I'm now going to recommend that we take up items two and four on our agenda. So that we can allow for city staff to provide their briefing and also allow for our our guests to be in attendance for what I expect to be a robust and important conversation. Ann staff. Good afternoon. Council. Veronica Briseno assistant city manager and I'm here to kick off our presentation today. We're happy to be here after a lot of work on on staff with staff and I wanted to start by giving a special thank you to our staff. As you can see by the audience, we have several departments involved. We've initiated them through our our code cabinet and we have really relied on them for going through this process of prioritizing the potential code amendments that we have. So thank you to our staff for their hard work. What we're going to present to you today is a framework. We want to present, a framework that takes all of the code amendments. We have on our in our in the pike and [1:42:04 PM] prioritize them by certain areas. We know housing and affordable housing are key areas for our city. So we're starting off by prioritizing what will impact affordable housing and housing in a positive way. Then you'll see as we go through the remaining code amendments, we're looking at what are some some easier ones to move forward. What are going to take a little bit more time. But really, I've tried to do a thorough analysis and a proposal to you on a way that we can move forward on much needed code amendments at a time where we want to make sure that we're balancing the bandwidth of staff, that we're recognizing the limitations that we have of not being able to do everything at once and making sure that that process is as streamlined. Eid I also wanted to point out that while this is our proposal and we look forward to the discussion and the feedback from you because we want to make sure that we're implementing in the direction that is your desire. But as we're moving forward, I also wanted to point out that as the legislature wraps up, we are very aware that there could be bills that are passed that could [1:43:06 PM] impact our process, which means that we could have to prioritize making changes based on those decisions that are cognizant of that as well as Briseno. I got too excited. I got ahead of myself. I was supposed to say something that I did not say. I want to offer some context, so items two and four just for context, just so everybody knows, we're all following along the same conversation. Sorry y'all, I got to hype discussion and possible recommendations to the city council related to prioritizing and modifying previously initiated amendments and initiating additional amendments to the city's ldc to achieve existing city policy goals. Then item number four, which I think we'll hear about as well, briefing from staff related to prioritization previously initiated amendments to the city's ldc and proposals for additional amendments that achieve city policy and goals. And you know, now that you've approached, I won't say as staff approaches because I wrote that, but I'm not going to say it. I'd [1:44:07 PM] like to provide some context for the committee and for the public about this briefing. So today's briefing that our assistant city manager is offering us, it's about it's about our committee's recommendation and the crucial steps that our council can take to help provide clarity and direction for city staff. As we have heard by way of all the folks which, by the way, thank you all for coming and testifying. I really appreciate looking out in this audience and council chambers and having folks that are actively really addressing our housing crisis who recognize that it exists and who are trying to help us fix it, that said, today's briefing and our committee's recommendation are crucial steps that our council can take to help provide clarity and direction for city staff. As we heard at one of our most recent meetings, staff is experiencing the perfect storm. So staffing vacancies which some of our speakers spoke to today, they talked about how it directly [1:45:08 PM] affects their ability to produce housing. That's critical. Knell often conflict ING from previous councils and limited time and resources to enact the many policies that we or the planning commission have initiated, or by asking for prioritization and weighing in as a committee and a full council, we will ensure that our limited time and resources are being spent on policy that will have the greatest impact on on our shared community goals. We talked about being pro housing village and I need for all of us to own that which which is our number one priority. So today's briefing, which already got started and I interrupted my apologies, will include staff walking through our existing housing policy amendments. Their status suggested prioritization based on number of factors, including these amendments and staffs. Memo outlining prioritization. They were posted as backup for [1:46:09 PM] this meeting to our committee agenda and shared with the full council. The full council. Again for context, the housing and planning committee voted in April for staff to provide this briefing and suggested prioritization at today's meeting that we could so that rather we could recommend any changes or new amendments for the full council's consideration . I expect and encourage Paige robust conversation from both our committee members and visiting non committee members. Thank you for joining us. Councilmember pool and in fact, I thank you for it. I think that's a part of how we get moving forward. We all have to be on the same page and willing to have difficult conversations . This is an opportunity to discuss in public without quorum constraints, our collective ideas and vision for how we can and recognize that we need to take bold action, period. That's a complete sentence. This this [1:47:10 PM] is an opportunity for you to spotlight your work and identify how it fits within staff's proposed prioritization and the broader context of how we can produce housing for all people in all parts of Austin, Texas. I fully recognize that we are asking this committee to take a big first step. Welcome to the party, y'all. But this is not a threat. This is an opportunity. See, this is us getting to move forward as a body, as a people, and as a community. We can make initial recommendations burns to the full council and we can still come back to our next committee meeting on June 13th and keep this conversation going, especially by bringing forward some of the big ideas and recommendations that we will hear. And frankly, by the end of it, we'll have heard from the public. So colleagues, please do not hesitate to ask questions and identify any of the missing pieces. This is enormous. So I [1:48:13 PM] apologize for the interruption and me missing my mark. But please take the stage. No apology needed. Madam chair. I think I messed it up too, by getting excited about approaching the podium. So we're we're happy to be here today. And I was I was wrapping up. I was going to mention our staff vacancies. That is very much a priority for us as a city. We are working across the board, but particularly in these areas, in the departments that we're talking about, most of those departments are within my purview and we're working to be systematic and strategic about how we're filling those vacancies as efficiently as possible. So we're approaching it from a portfolio perspective of knowing that these departments work so closely together and hand in hand in the process. Can I have a question? Vice chair I do. Real quick just on that, and I know we're going to get into some of the details here, but I think a couple of things as kind of as a level setting going into what we're about to talk about, especially early on, the resources question [1:49:15 PM] for first, I think it would be really helpful as you talk about this, to give us a better sense of when we ask you for a specific item, what does that actually look like in terms of what staff needs to do, you know, from from our perspective, there are instances where it seems like this should be so basic. Wright I could go on my computer and scratch that word out and do that in ten minutes. Why is it taking you five months and so if you could help us understand the full process, I think that is helpful and guiding what we're trying to do . But also as we look at staff resources, there are some of these things that are I think, more complex and more comprehensive that we probably want to have have a multitude of our staff working on. But there are other elements that are kind of one offs or isolate Eid and the degree to which we can farm those out to somebody else on a [1:50:17 PM] contract basis or something. Just to let our staff work on the real complex, meaty stuff, or if there is something that is complex but that we can kind of draw a circle around and give it to a third party to help us at least do the draft. And then get it back to us. I would like to see us explore that as a possibility, but as we talk about this, identify potential options where that might be a route. So if I may, vice chair, I would like for you to get into your presentation. We're going to hold our questions to the end and that was a lot, in which case she can't answer that from the podium today. So we can add that to future items for consideration Ann or that's something that she can respond to in an email to the entire body. Thank you. And I would just close it out by saying we are looking at all creative approaches, so we're happy to have that discussion. We're looking forward to a robust conversation today and we will certainly keep all options in mind and try thinking about things creatively. Please [1:51:17 PM] continue with that. I'm going to turn it over to brant Lloyd, who's going to walk you through the presentation from our development services department . So thank you, Ken Briseno and mayor pro tem and members of the committee. We appreciate this opportunity to brief you on the topic of ldc amendments. We know it's important to council and to the community and we look forward to today's discussion. I am here on behalf of the code cabinet to provide an overview of the memo and the spreadsheet that are posted in backup. I'll summarize and expand on the hierarchy of prioritization among the amendments that have already been initiated as well as some big picture themes that affect the timetable for taking amendments through the process and getting them on. Council's agenda. As was mentioned, the [1:52:19 PM] code cabinet is an inter-departmental team of staff from the departments that have the most day to day involvement in the land development code and I encourage other cabinet members who are here to chime in . If there are topics we touch on that they have relevant information on. And finally, although not included in the memo, we're going to talk about some general general overview of ideas. As for potential recommend options from staff for items going forward as well that are not that have not been previously initiated. So the memo is organized based on how closely amendments relate to council's housing goals and how straightforward they are likely in terms of how straightforward they are, in terms of being adopted in the near term. It's important to emphasize that these determinations, particularly with regard to straightforwardness, are in some instances preliminar sherry staff's proposals as staff's [1:53:19 PM] proposals on amendments take shape. We receive advice from the law department, which is a critical piece of the cabinet process as well. And we identify administrative challenges that amendments present. So there are times where an amendment that appears simple at first blush has challenges either in getting it to council or in terms of implementation that are later identified. That said, we believe that our memo and the tables that we provided you provide a useful starting point for category izing the different amendments that have been initiated. So I'm going to begin the in the weeds part of our briefing by talking about amendments that are in part one a of the memo which we deem to be both directly related to your housing goals and also the most likely to be straightforward forward in terms of getting them to you in the near future of the amendments in the queue. These are the ones that staff would like to prioritize in place. The [1:54:21 PM] most emphasis on, we believe that these are ones that are reasonably straightforward and that will deliver to some degree of immediate impact in terms of making housing easier. I will emphasize to that dsd is currently lead on and working on and one is the infill lots. This is an amendment that would utilize a provision of state law that lets cities allow use of the amended plat process for actually creating new lots. Given the time and costs associated with subdivision. This amendment could make creation of residential lots a lot easier. One of the primary challenges of this amendment is identifying contexts where it's most appropriate to allow the process by bypassing subdivision Ann. It limits the city's ability to review and apply a host of regulations so zo while using a citywide lens, staff will focus on areas where infrastruc nature and other [1:55:22 PM] factors can best accommodate Burt additional lots without subdivide Ann review the provision on the amendment on substance ordered lots is one where we're going to look at per council's direction legally plotted lots that don't meet current minimum lot area standards or dimensional standards. Many years ago, a prior council adopted amendments that made it difficult to develop those lots independently of each other. Once a structure had been built over lot lines and so we're going to look at changing the criteria to allow those lots to develop in dependently. Staff will also prioritize housing amendments that are in the more complex tier. But these present issues that may require more time and more review and one of them I want to touch on is site plan lite, which was mentioned in the testimony we there are really two components to that and this amendment has has its genesis in [1:56:23 PM] the original initiation of affordability unlocked, which called for a revised site plan process that was then folded into the ldc revision and in and since that's no longer active, we are bringing it forward as an independent set of amendments to current code and per council's most recent resolution from last year. There are really two components and one is simply to allow up to four units to be built using the standard building plan review process that applies to a single family home. And that's a straightforward amendment that we anticipate having on council's agenda by July at the July 20th meeting, the second component, however, is more challenging. It is basically to create a modified site plan process for a housing type that's increasingly referred to as missing middle between five and 16 units. And this is a housing type that affordability unlocked facilitates and it's [1:57:26 PM] one that I know council is interested in potentially in other contexts as well. And the challenge with this amendment, I think the speaker who said that it would make things easier, I think there's some merit to that , but it involves creating a set of tailored regulations that don't currently exist. We have right now a system that is sort of modeled on building permit for single family or one and two family residential knell full site plan on the other end of the continuum and then there's site plan exemptions that are kind of closer to the building plan side. But what we're looking at here is really create Singh a new tier, a new tier of regulations that would accommodate the greater impacts of missing middle, but not require the full level of water quality and drainage that is required for site plan. And so that that is challenging and that will have organizational impacts. Our workgroups throughout the land development code departments are organized according to site plan, site [1:58:28 PM] plan exemption building permit. And this will be creating kind of a new tier. And so we are working closely with with watershed and with other departments to craft a set of regulations. Burns we're borrowing from ideas that were developed in the code rewrite, and we will have this to council as soon as possible. And we also can provide the memoranda that we provided the information Ann we provided is fairly conceptual , but if at the committees, if the committee wishes, we're available to follow up with a more particularized action plan that has clear dates and timelines and calls out particular amendments that are of the most interest to you. If I may, I can say I can tell you with certainty we would very much like to have that. Thank you. Appreciate that. And one of the themes just with site plan lite that I think also applies to parking and to other amendments is that regulations drive process. And so sometimes [1:59:29 PM] there's emphasis placed on improving the permitting process. And under the leadership of the city managers office and our acms and director Roig, we've made a lot of progress in that area. But without changes to the regulations, there's only so much that can be done on the pure process front, the Adu amendments are also in process. We've made a lot of progress in developing a staff recommendation that we're continuing to refine and work through with our law department and with other staff, and we can provide an update on that as it takes shape. Several amendments in the non housing category. Also further important council priorities, including the phase two watershed amendments, the creative space amendments and the height exception for historic structures on sixth street. You know, without picking favorites, there's one that I would like to emphasize. It is intended to provide greater opportunities for child [2:00:30 PM] care facilities throughout the city. I think it's item B two. In the memo and in that furthers a variety of city goals and the reasons I bring this up is because it's an example of an amendment where parts of it are more straightforward than others. Part of the amendment is simply to change Paige the use classifications so that child care becomes a permitted use or a condition use on a more wide scale than it currently is. But there are other aspects of the council's resolution that require sort of defining a child care desert and particularly tailoring regulations burns to that particular sort of geography. And so this is an example of an amendment. And I think there are maybe others as well where if staff were able to bring forward the easy pieces, the parts that are very straightforward and, you know, subject to further review and discussion appear to be fairly easy to advance. That would allow us to make more progress than if we have to bring all of [2:01:32 PM] it together at once. You know, there are times where council Luz resolution includes things that are really hard as well as things that are reasonably straightforward. Eid and so one, as the committee members consider potential direction going forward, giving staff the license to bring forward quicker , easier items, independent of the balance of a resolution would potentially be helpful. For factors affecting timeline as as acm Briseno and others have have mentioned, staffing has been a challenge, but we are committed to making progress and providing regular updates as well as more concrete timelines . I believe that the last several months we've seen a lot of progress in terms of getting recommendations ready to bring forward through commission, through the commissions process . But there's a tremendous amount on staff's plate and as acm Briseno mentioned, they're [2:02:33 PM] are likely will be some impacts of state legislation that will require us to focus potentially on changes either to the code that we would propose to council or changes to process potentially both. And so that is something that going forward we all have to be aware of and that would obviously require us to devote time to that as opposed to council initiatives, at least for some period of time. So I also want to just touch on Ann before we open it to questions. Is want to touch on rey recommendations that the code cabinet has identified for possible consideration Ann going forward that have not been initiated. Eid and council has asked us repeatedly to come forward with ideas from the staff side, things that we've identified Eid that could potentially help advance housing goals, balanced with other council priorities. And so I [2:03:33 PM] want to mention just a handful of them, and they're all ones that would require further review by law, by others as well. They're not ready to be initiated. Eid but there are ones that we feel provide we that we feel are workable and that could be molded in a way that would provide some options going forward for council to consider for. And one of them is to look at a process for creating new Zones that would be mapped at through a sub Swint process. Council. The planning commission has recently initiated the town zone, as I think many of you are aware, and we feel in general that rather than initiating Zones, sort of individual, really kind of looking at broader goals and creating groups of Zones to advance council's priorities would be a more efficient process and one that would allow sort of a more holistic lens to be brought to bear on on zoning [2:04:34 PM] . And of course these would be Zones that would not be mapped immediately. They would be Zones that would be mapped through subsequent city initiated and or landowner initiated rezoning processes. What that process would look like, the level of stakeholder and community engagement and all of those things are factors that we would of course look for. Council direction on. You know, in the code rewrite. One of the things that enabled that process to move forward was receiving council direction at the outset. The date of may second, 2019, forever for forever in my mind was the date that council issued direction Ann to move forward. And you identified particular objectives that you wanted the code rewrite to further and should council choose to initiate looking at creating new Zones, I think providing policy direction at the outset would be would be useful. Consider a [2:05:34 PM] missing middle zone. That's something that could be folded into looking at a larger set of Zones. But I know it's one that council and the community in particular have been interested Eid in missing middle is not where we realize the most sheer housing capacity gains, but it provides housing choices. It helps to stabilize increases in housing prices and it furthers it furthers a lot of goals. And we know from discussions with several of you that it's been a it's of interest. Another option is to consider targeted reductions in lot size. And this is again as with all of these these are subject to what this would actually look like would have to be subject to further legal review further internal staff review as well. But there may be Zones where some some degree of lot size reduction would provide appreciable benefits for housing that would have some affordability benefits . And that's certainly something that could be looked at either [2:06:36 PM] there with our current Zones or as part of a larger exercise of developing new Zones. And one one that I just want to mention, it's probably the second to last one would be looking at modifying sections to the criteria for land status. We have land status is refers to unplatted tracts of land that are exempt from platting and we have locally adopted criteria for that. Provide options for tracts to acquire land status. And there have been many instances over the years where tracks will almost qualify. They'll almost meet the requirements for land status that would allow a small home to be built. But there's some frontage required or some requirement that they just don't quite meet. And so looking at that potentially in connection with other subdivision related amendments would be an option worth considering. Again, subject to further review. And [2:07:36 PM] then finally and this is something potentially that the our planning department or our housing department can speak to is thinking holistically about density bonuses, just as creating Zones individually on kind of an ad hoc basis is perhaps not the most efficient or holistic way to proceed on the zoning front, creating density bonuses kind of one by one, and adding to the, you know, the layer of bonuses that we already have may not be the most efficient or useful way to look at it. We have a robust Burt set of density bonuses in our code and looking at them holistically and potentially really consolidating and looking at how all they how they all relate to each other is something that I think our housing department feels would be useful. All of these take time. We're certainly not recommending that council just just say we vote, that you go do all that. It would all take more [2:08:38 PM] review, more conversation. But I think those are ideas that we have on the staff side that would be potentially workable and useful to move forward. Eid consistent with your objectives. So that concludes my comments. Our presentation and where I think I'm available and I know others we have others here as well. If you have any questions, we very much appreciate your presentation. It's been very helpful and I have a few questions which I'll reserve to the end. Colleagues, do you have any questions? It looks like mayor pro tem Ellis has some questions and then we'll go to council member qadri. Did you have your hand up? Yes oh, okay. So mayor pro tem Ellis, maybe less questions and more just thoughts. A chair. Are we today thinking of trying to adopt what this prioritization would look like or are we just trying to really nail down what it is we know what it is. We don't know and what's our next steps to are we allowed to do both? I'd like very much for us to be doing both today. I'd like for us to be making a motion today. I'd [2:09:40 PM] like for somebody to put a motion forward today. But then I'd also like for us to all have a clear understand of what motion we're putting forward. What are we asking in which case I'd like to do both. Okay, that sounds good because I've got a couple of different documents I'm kind of shuffling through to understand and how it is we will be able to make the most efficient decision here. So is the blue spreadsheet the best one to look at for understanding which ones are almost completely accomplished versus things that have yet to be signed? A person in charge? Because I know there's in these code amendments, there's things all the way from, hey, it's going to the last art committee or commission and then getting to city council within the next couple of weeks. Is that weighing into this? The ones that are that has the already out the door, almost the blue spread, the blue and white spreadsheet has the most information in terms of dates. I would also I can also provide Eid a little bit of data that Lindy Garwood in my group [2:10:40 PM] prepared right before the meeting, which basically is that some amendments that have not been started yet because they're new, that's roughly nine Ann. Amendments that have been started and but they're, they're old and have some challenges or there are four of those amendments that are actually in process are six there are six of those. And then scheduled for council. We have I think, 11 amendments that have been already that are already basically we have dates pinned down for council. Okay. And then you've also provided some backup that talks about what is complex versus what is a little more simple as we work through the memo that was issued recently. Absolutely. And those are a preliminary assessment. But we in terms of where we recommend and that staff's priorities lie, we recommend focusing on the amendments that can be delivered to council for action in, in the near term. And so that's and also relate to housing. So the [2:11:40 PM] memo is kind of structured around that paradigm. Which ones are housing, which ones are non housing, which, which I appreciate that that might just be helpful as this conversation unfolds. For me, of course, I'm a big fan of site plan light. I was happy to carry that and had a number of you on that as well. And so we've been following its work all the way through the commission Ann processes. So I think I just want to identify like there's a bit of what is easy to get out the door, what is almost already accomplished and what is starting from square one. And so I'm going to be evaluating these conversations, factoring that in as well. Something could be lower priority, but is almost out the door. And I want to make sure that staff knows we want them to continue getting the things in motion already moving, because once they stop, they'll be sitting on a shelf for a while until someone picks it back up again. I would also like to, just in the spirit of like conversation, engagement, I just want to respond to one comment that was made during the testimony, and that is the parking amendments like that is I mentioned that there are [2:12:41 PM] amendments that seem like they'd be really straightforward, but they're hard. And parking, the parking is one of them. I think that we're committed to bringing that forward as soon as possible . But our parking amendments are, you know, parking requirement are referenced throughout the code. So it's not a matter of just deleting things. It's a matter of carefully going through and seeing how parking is addressed and all the different places. And additionally coming up with provisions that provide for access, civil parking that's independent of a minimum parking requirement that is that also presents it's not an insurmountable there are places in our code that that do similar things, but it's something that is going to take a lot of work and a lot of careful inter-departmental review. Additionally, council's direction wants people to get credit for certain on street public public parking facilities. So how do those count for all the different uses that are within a certain distance? And figuring all that out again, it's well within [2:13:42 PM] staff's expertise Luz in purview, but it will be challenging. And so I think a lot of these amendments that look simple, there's a backstory and, and they're they're harder than I think they sometimes appear. And I think parking and site plan light are two examples of that. But again, we're fully committed to bringing these amendments to council as soon as we can. Thank you very much, Mr. Lloyd. No further questions. I thank you. I appreciate it. So what I was going to say is, colleagues, now that we've heard from city staff on their recommendations about prioritizing Ann and with the full expectation that the members of this committee will amend or contribute to the list actively, I would entertain a base motion to recommend that this list and framework be considered by the full council for approval. Chair I would like to make that motion kind of in that ish ish motion ish as I have looked around both this [2:14:43 PM] dais, but also spoken with individuals, everyone has has some form of this spreadsheet that they have manipulated into the colors or prioritization or and so we are all thinking Singh similarly, but with our own take on it. So what I would like to do, I propose that we do it is to, as a base motion on the chart that I have handed out is the exact same chart that we just discussed. But instead of being easy hard, it is an actual prioritization of high, medium, low and then kind of an other category of just things such as the puds that they kind of live in their own space or some of the study. And then we have a discussion about, you know, maybe I think this thing in the medium should be high or this thing in the low should be medium or vice versa. Just being able to look at these, to give that direction. That staff has asked for. And as part of that, [2:15:46 PM] I think what would be helpful to Brent's comment about grouping things, you know, we there are multiple items here about compatibility. So let's think about these things holistically or some of these items about the bonuses, both what is in here, but also what we know is coming in terms of bonus structure. So how can we holistically look at this? So if that's okay with you that would be a motion I would like to make if I share. I really appreciate that consideration. I would say the one concern I have there, Shaw is high, medium, low feels relative. How do we establish what that looks like? Who determines what's high, what's medium, what's low that would be my singular concern, but I am happy to entertain that motion. It looks like councilmember pool has a question. Thank you, chair. And I recognize I'm not a member of the committee. Thank you. I agree with what you are [2:16:46 PM] saying about who establishes high, medium and low. And I'm also wanting to ensure that the work that the staff has currently underway, for example , knell all of the amendments that we have initiated that have been long looked for with north burnet, gateway, primarily district seven, but also touching on district four would not in any way be affected or slowed down. And that's that would be a concern that we don't any in any way impede work that is currently underway. Is there any way for us to ensure that that doesn't happen? I think that's a legitimate question, and I think you know, to Mr. Loyd's point earlier, he said something that really I had to write it down. He said sometimes council resolutions make things really hard and unfortunately, I think historically we think as a body, what we're supposed to do in order to make decisions, in [2:17:46 PM] order to direct staff is just fly resolutions out the door. One by one by one, and then they sit on a shelf. To your point, mayor pro tem, they sit on a shelf until they become entirely obsolete and then they mean nothing. So all that staff time, all that effort, it it feels wasted. So I don't want to continue to do that. So I appreciate you pointing that out. But then you said that the thing about staff ideas is I would like very much for us as a body to be able to like estab publish a cadence. How do we take staff's ideas? You are actively doing the work that we directed you to do. We need to be listening to you all. You're the experts. None of us on this body are experts at zoning or planning or housing or none of that. Y'all are the experts. So we're supposed to defer to you, in which case to your point, I want to make certain that we are clear and careful about not being an impediment to active processes. But I also want to make certain that, to your point, vice chair, I want to make certain that we are, as we [2:18:48 PM] prioritize, as there should be some system. And so I think maybe this is I don't know how to resolve of I think we all have so many thoughts around it. I don't know how to resolve, but I do want to let people who haven't spoken yet, councilmember vela, it looks like you have a question, a kind of a comment. And also, I just wanted to kind of preview a bit. Actually, we should have it on the June 8th agenda, but my understanding is that the state item on compatible ality has is unlikely to pass at this point. And so we will be bringing a compatibility item dovetailing off of the memo and the information that staff is already kind of we're going to ask them that. Hey, as long as you're looking at the impacts of compatibility, let's go ahead and make a recommendation on what compatibility should be along with some other cleanup items. So I just wanted to mention that both to kind of preview it and also to say that with regard to some of the other compatibility kind of items, again, I don't know how how [2:19:51 PM] maybe that would I don't know how complex those will be or what, you know, the time involved would be. But I just wanted to put that out there. I do appreciate your comments about I think we also do kind of have a responsibility to try to keep things as simple as possible for staff and not make it kind of overly complicated and overly difficult and respect their time. That said, we got to staff up also, you know, and so we're not also kind of being like, oh, well, I don't want to do this because it's not staff capacity to implement it, you know, but in the short term, I completely respect staff's limited resources and we have to, you know, take that into consideration over the long term. You know, we've got to staff up and be able to make the changes that we need. Colleagues any other questions? Comments? Councilmember vela or I'm sorry , I'm Jay Vasquez. JV one. Got it. I just I wanted to make a comment and then and then ask a question so we can consider it. [2:20:51 PM] One, it's, it's an exciting day in Austin, Texas for us to be moving at this pace. I'm excited with to have been elected with the folks that I got elected with because I think we have we came in pretty strong guns blazing to get y'all's back on on housing and more affordable housing. I do want to make sure , though, that moving forward, we understand and we create a system for how we are prioritizing after this future land development code amendments, relative to what we lay out today. And also that we are putting the highest priority on on ldc amendments that further our affordable housing goals. And that's my statement. That's what I wanted to say. I appreciate y'all. I appreciate your commentary. Thank you very much. Guns blazing, is that what you said? Yes, ma'am. Listen here. Texas, very Texas councilmember qadri. Well, first and foremost, I just want to add how hyped you are and how great it is and the energy that everyone I think, has because of your your leadership on this committee. My question for councilmember Rainey after could [2:21:53 PM] you clarify what other means? And then I also wonder what if something is grouped in that other other column, what does that mean for the dates on on on things as they're on their way out of the door. So other was envisioned. Eid so I'll give you one easy example. The Brodie oaks pud that is going. We don't need to prioritize. I'm going to interrupt you real fast, Clark. Can I bring you a copy of this? So. Oh nevermind. Nevermind that's going to happen through that process or similar with the, the slaughter lane mobility. Now I like the modify occupancy limits. You have an item coming up that that flies that impacts this. So you know, we could call it low or we could just say that once yours comes up like it gets out of that other column. Exactly right. Because if we start moving on this. But then yours does something completely different, we just wasted a bunch of staff [2:22:54 PM] time. Yeah and so the cocktail lounge parking Wright that falls into the overall parking. So we don't need to focus necessarily specifically on this item. If if we're doing parking holistically . That's, that's kind of why other is just this, you know the same with the compatibility study. Do we need to do the elements of the compatibility study if councilmember villa is going to bring something that that study is what you know, it basically the recommendations of what that study would be. And so that's that's where the other I would comment, you know, to the chair's question of who's going to prioritize these high medium , low we are that's our our job to give that direction to staff. And I think staff is a little remiss or I don't know what the right word is, but they don't want to come to us and say, hey, I think that council members item is more important than that. Other council members item, right? And so I get that. That's, that's there's reluctance. And so if we can give that guidance to say, hey, look, this is where we are as a [2:23:54 PM] council in terms of prioritization, that's important. And then as to like an example of the north burnet gateway, which is very far down the pipeline, I think we can give direction that, hey, if something is in the medium category, but you're almost done with it, just do it like get it done. Maybe we move it to the high category because it's almost done or give, you know, we can give guidance that staff can work with. But I think it's important that, you know, if we look at just the document as it stands, as, for instance, you know, no offense to council member villas, substandard lots , I think that's very important. But but I think that parking or site plan light is more important and I personally think our staff's time, if they focus on those other elements first, it would be better served. But that's why we as a as a body decide what we think we should prioritize our limited resources and push push our staff to do [2:24:55 PM] that and then address these other things. And if there are things in the other category that are really, you know, I don't think brant will tell us anything as simple knell but if it actually is something that he can knock out with his expertise, then, you know, we can do that. So this is a meant to be something that is manipur weighted and that we all will put our our fingerprints on and our opinions on. But I just think we need to have something that we're working off of uniformly. So I believe I saw some hands, yeah. Councilmember I just want to say thanks for the clarification. Councilmember alter and then councilmember pool, thanks. To that end, I thought I would offer up. I have three priorities from the list that we've been looking at and maybe everybody could offer their priorities from the list and that might get us to a level of consensus. But first, I wanted to check with the mayor [2:25:56 PM] pro tem about a potential kind of a vehicle that maybe we could that might be out there for code text overhaul, like a vehicle that could sort of encompass and embrace various changes that we might bring, not mapping specific, but text changes. Yeah, I know there are some conversations out in the community, just that there is still a need for cleanup. And I know that we as a dais probably in our own meetings that we've been having with staff have probably each addressed at some point like we need a better understanding of where the conflicts are. So that's very much a conversation that's happening about this code isn't easy to work with and to brant Loyd's point, even if people are very well skilled, well versed in it, know how to fix it, it still takes time and patience to really get through the code and make it work correctly. So there's definitely still some interest in a cleanup of some sort and minimizing conflicts. And I'm also interested in the information that's going to be coming back with the initiative that the mayor kicked off with [2:26:57 PM] development services. And he had someone come in who offered to look at that review pro Bono. And I'm looking forward to seeing that come through, too, because part of it is the policy decisions. And part of it is how does that actually function on the staff side once you're trying to get the applications through the permitting process and so I know that conversation is going to be happening very soon, but I think there's a lot of us that are looking at the cleanup and the conflicts part of it and really trying to do our due diligence to make the code function. Yeah, and in some ways, some of the sorting could be what's the easiest to get accomplished and most quickly like housekeeping and the code, Kleenex, Kleenex. I did say Kleenex. The code allergy season text cleanup. Yep. So so I would. I would. I would like to see us maybe move in that direction. Chair and vice chair . That would be, I think useful. Would it be helpful, do you think, chair, to offer. I just had three priorities of there [2:27:59 PM] were ten on the list that I was looking at that my staff and I had identified, and three of them in particular for where I sit, rose to kind of a level of, of where I would call them priorities. Would it be helpful to offer those up? So I think first things first. Councilmember alter made a motion. We didn't get a second. Can you repeat your motion, please? And then see if we get a second for that motion and then take that. Absolutely. Absolutely so I would move that we, adopt or I guess send to the full council a prioritization of the items identified in the memo or chart or whatever we're calling this. This as it has been handed out to everybody. So I don't know if I call this prioritization Ann chart that I move. We adopted, but that's [2:28:59 PM] that is what I'm moving. If if there is a second, it looks like the motion on the floor. I'm sorry. Can you just clarify? Yes I move that we send to the full council for approval. The prioritization chart of our as I have handed out so my prioritization chart of our outstanding code amendments and so it looks like there's a second by way of councilmember Velasquez JV to I would say personally my singular hesitation is that I hope that we leave space for us to make modifications as needed. That's exactly what I hope we're doing right now. Okay awesome. In which case motion by councilmember alter, seconded by councilmember Velasquez. Can we take a vote? All in favor? I'm sorry. Just and this is a procedural question. I always mess this up. If we adopt the motion, can we then amend it or do we need to amend it first before amend it first, amend it [2:30:01 PM] first? We'd have to amend first. I thought so. I always move to approve the amended that's right. Version in which case would you like to continue to bring forward this motion? I would, but I would like if anybody has an amendment to hopefully at this point make any modifications that they believe are aren't, you know, that they disagree with any of this prioritization within the chart . So unlike mayor pro tem Ellis, I do not run a tight ship. I run a long meeting and this one is a really important one. And I think us making the investment of the time and the people who are here with us today, it's critical. But I want to make sure that we're doing a time check, y'all. It's 231. So, should we maybe move to the next item and then as we go through that, maybe you bring back your motion and folks get an opportunity to make whatever amendments they have and then we bring it back. Are you comfortable with that? I'm happy to do whatever you want. If we want. I just I think. Do you have any amendments? Well, she [2:31:01 PM] can't bring an amendment, but she can make suggestions that maybe I could offer an amendment or someone else we are entirely open to. I appreciate your contribution today, but I think I think it might be prudent for us to move to the next item. I know I see some colony park folks. Hi, miss Wright. There colony park folks here who I know came downtown today to talk to us specifically about colony park Pio item. So I think it might be prudent for us to move forward Eid and then bring this one back. Wright before the end. And then we all get the opportunity to think about potential amendments and then take your motion up again and then get another second and then move forward. Are you comfortable with that? If that's how you'd like to handle, I can speak. Can we give, since I think councilmember pool needs to leave, it won't be on the motion, but she can just lay out what her priorities are so that we can know. I'm happy to make that motion for. Absolutely. As a body comfortable with you laying out your concerns. Councilmember pool, thanks and sorry I have another meeting that I need to get to so zo I [2:32:04 PM] was looking at the list and I don't see I don't know how it translates Bartz to the updated Eid list from councilmember Ryan alter, but lot size adjustments . That might be the top one in medium. Is that substandard? Lots that's that's different. But I think it's broader. Yeah yeah. Yours the holistic idea of lot sizes and missing middle housing. So those two together. Okay gentle density in single family Zones which is the single family one, two and three dwelling unit changes that's related to Adu ordinance changes and if Adu changes don't include the single family increases with the legislation that's happening, if that shouldn't pass or if it's not comprehend live, then I can bring Singh. I [2:33:04 PM] can bring those amendments at a council meeting. And then my third one was pdas. And you all know that I mentioned that at our meeting on may 18th. Pd is currently offer no community benefits at all. And as we heard from members of the community on at least one zoning case recently, that that was a real concern. So I would like the council to consider to adding community benefits when we are offering planned development agreements so that the community sees a benefit from pdas. And to the extent they're not on this list and they may not be. Chair I'll I'll bring them separately. But I did want to respect the process. And if there is a way to fold it into [2:34:06 PM] the work that this August committee is doing, I'd like to take that route. We very much appreciate your contribution to the conversation. I would like to moving forward. I would like very much for us to use our committees as the tool that they are for us to get things brought forward before the whole body without to Mr. Loyd's point, without belaboring items and bogging down our very limited staff time, I think it's to their benefit and to ours. If we don't do that, in which case are there any other questions or comments? Oh, I'm sorry, just just to confirm any other priorities from other council members we'll talk about later. Shaw I think what I'm saying is I'm actively looking out in the audience and I see members of our community that are here from colony park. I know they made the trip out today. I would like very much to move forward to the next item, but during the course of that conversation, Ann, as we [2:35:07 PM] go through that presentation and that conversation, I'd like for us as a body to be thinking about what are our questions is what are our priorities, what are if we need to amend this before we take a motion? Second that motion and then vote to bring it before the body? I think we should be taking this time right now to be thinking about what we would like to amend and Eid if this list is comprehensive, you know, so council member pool, for example, just brought forward two things that are not on this list, in which case if we vote on this list to bring it forward to the body, we don't get to amend it. We all get to bring forward our own items. But the resolution Ann graveyard is real, y'all. We cannot just keep writing resolutions for fun. We have to actively be doing something that actually does something, in which case I don't want us to all be bringing forward resolutions to amend the thing that we brought brought forward before the body, in which case I'd like for us to take the time, to move forward to the next item and then be thinking about how would you care to amend this in a way that [2:36:08 PM] we bring it to the vice chair and offer him the opportunity to accept or decline, and then we bring forward a new motion? Ann is that all right with everybody ? All right. In which case, moving forward. To a. Forgive me, I lost my place, especially because I did a little razzle dazzle. I remixed it to doo doo doo doo. So our two remaining items before we return to this item are items number three and five. They are directly connected, so I will kindly ask staff to allow us to bring them up at the same time. Item number three is discussion and possible recommendations from the Austin city from to rather city council regarding colony park community [2:37:09 PM] development and changes to the existing planned unit development. So zo, I don't speak in acronyms, but you will hear people say pud that's planned unit development. That's what they're talking about. When they say that, then item number five is a briefing from staff regarding the development of colony park and potential changes to the existing planned unit development. I would like to add just a little bit of context as you guys come up. Colony park represents one of our greatest opportunities to leverage public land Eid to develop affordable housing and improve the lives of both current and future. Austinites this community initiative is the culmination of decades of advocacy by east Austin residents and collaboration between city of Austin departments. I'm not going to embarrass you, but you know who I'm talking to when I say thank you for your efforts on behalf of the community and the [2:38:09 PM] residents of colony park staff has provided a resolution item number three on our agenda for the housing and planning committee is to recommend for the full council's consider action before the summer break. I believe that you will find it important that our committee take action today to support the collective work this effort represents. Wright at this afternoon's meeting, I'll repeat today my hope is we take action today. So staff, please begin. Council Veronica Briseno assistant city manager responsible for planning and economic development. Which is who you're going to hear from today. But I also want to kick it off. This is absolutely an important priority for our city. I am honored that our community leaders are here with us today. I know it's very important to them and I know it's very important to staff. You're going to hear about one piece of overall colony park and you see this wonderful photo of both [2:39:09 PM] community and staff together. You'll this is one this is one piece of colony park. However recently know that we engaged an inter-departmental team what we're calling our strike team for colony park. This includes directors and technical experts across the city so that this is clear. This is a priority for us all as a city, as one city. That meeting was kicked off by myself and our city manager, Jesus Garza. So there will be more to come and we're excited about these next steps. But today I'm going to turn it over to joy harden and our planning department and martin Barrera and our economic development department for our presentation. Thank you. Thank you very much. Council members, and appreciate this opportunity to talk to you today about colony park sustainable community. I'd also like to thank the community stakeholders for being here today and for [2:40:10 PM] their leadership guidance and support Burt along this way. This has been we'll have several speakers today to provide this update in addition to myself, martin Barrera with the economic development department. I'll ask Jim Adams with catellus and Mckenna. Adams team to provide a land plan update and joy harden to speak about the pods zoning amendment process and then I'll follow up at the end before questions with some staff recommendations to provide an overview for the colony park sustainable community. It's important to know that we have a very long history, just as council member harper-madison stated, we have been working for decades in this community Katy making promises that we have not delivered on. Since 2012. The city has been working to develop a land development plan that was funded by the housing and urban [2:41:11 PM] development Burt and awarded a $3 million grant following that, a long and important effort of community outreach and participatory planning followed to craft a master plan and a planned unit development at the planned unit. Developer zoning district. Unfortunately wasn't feasible in 2018, following a two year process, we selected catellus as master development partner with the city and they have a long history of working with us on the Miller development and very happy to be working on them, on with them on this project to deliver for a plan that is feasible. We've worked for a very long time to develop a land plan that is feasible and, and, and one of the landmark events is that we've sold one parcel, our very first parcel to central health. And so we'll be delivering on health and wellness and with our [2:42:13 PM] partner central health for the college park sustainable community, with our very first project, as I mentioned, the original planned unit development zoning district was not a feasible and we've had identified Eid for as long as 2014 that there was a funding gap necessary to close Luz. In 2018, catullus identified Eid that as $127 million, and through to the land planning efforts that we participated in in 2020 and included this was in the middle of covid pandemic. And so these community planning sessions were done virtually, but we were able to improve on the land planning to reduce the financial gap to 102. So a $25 million decrease in, in the city's participation in this project and still it's a very large number to overcome. In 2022, we worked with the financial services department to [2:43:14 PM] establish a tax increment reinvestment zone for colony park that will generate over $80 million towards closing the financing gap, among other financing tools, but primarily the tirz is the financial tool and then developed the recommendations that we plan to move forward in June to apply for a hud revision to align the land plan with the approved tirz finance plan. I'd like to talk a bit about the existing community tree out there today. This is by and large black and brown people who live in this area of town at nearly three times the rate for African Americans than they than they live in Austin and nearly double for hispanics in and compared to Austin. The median family income is also lower. [2:44:15 PM] It's about two thirds. The median family income for Austin at 58,000 Ann and persons who live before who live below the poverty line. More than one and a half times the rate in as Austin Ann area. Education is also lower, about 20% receive a bachelor's degree. And that is about, well, quite a bit less than than half of Austin. Also some resource gaps, things that you might have in your community Katy that you might be able to walk to or have a short drive are missing from this area. Libraries grocery stores, urgent care facilities, medical facilities, banks, pharmacies, all of these exist not in some cases, in all cases where out of 183, but even in some cases west of I-35, very distant, long commute times to get to the resources is that every neighborhood should have to be a [2:45:16 PM] complete community. And we've worked very, very long and very hard with the community stakeholders who have identified self identified these eight pillars of need health care, government resources, workforce housing, food access, education, economic vitality, parks, open space, connectivity, Katy and safety. And we've worked on a land plan that can deliver on each of the community. Identified needs. This time, I'd like to turn it over to Jim Adams to discuss the development update. Thank you, martin so zo as martin noted, the we have worked very hard to revise the land plan to create a plan that would be more efficient, but one that would build on the original [2:46:17 PM] 2014 plan. And particularly the . Eight pillars of community benefit. Those included the overall vision for the site called for improved mobility and connectivity, access to health care, open spaces and parks, healthy food, resource sources, economic activity, educational opportunities, workforce housing and an overall enhancement of the community's quality of life. The plan that you see here on the screen, the one on the left, is the original 2014 plan, of which the current hud is based. At and the picture on the right shows the revised plan. The revised plan really builds on the same the basic structure of the original master plan with the mixed use Loyola town center concentrated along Loyola lane and four neighborhoods to the north and west, each with a diverse mix of housing choices [2:47:18 PM] oriented to a network of walkable streets. Approximately 48 acres of the site. Just as in the original plan, is reserved for parks and open space that include three major north south greenways that correspond with the principal drainages of the property and that connect to the 93 acre colony park district park, resulting in what will be over 140 acres of open space. Some of the key refined points that are being made to the updated plan that martin referred to include an intensification of the Loyola town center to include the opportunity for a full service grocery store at and for a wellness center that Burt central health will operate at achieving two of the community's key pillars as access to food and health care. Also in response to the policies of the [2:48:20 PM] recently adopted equitable transit oriented development plan, we're looking to increase the density and the range of housing choices in what we call neighborhood four adjacent to the planned green line metro rail station. So the community, the colony park community is being planned also as a seamless part of colony park district park, even though the park itself is not part of the pod, we believe that the new development can enhance both the recreational and environmental quality of the park through the addition of the trail system. That will connect into the existing park and the pool complex and the recreation center and elementary school and the complementary addition of additional open space features within the 208 acre portion. Ann so as a central element and amenity of the plan, we're proposing an 11 acre plan at the [2:49:20 PM] heart of the new community that will include a protected wetland and nature preserve trails and some open lawn areas for passive recreation, recreation, Ann all which directly are directly proximate to the town center and the surrounding neighborhoods. So some of the key things that we're introducing into the putt amendment is a more flexible arrangement that will allow us give us flexibility to respond to the real estate market and to react to unanticipated options communities while securing the vision. The original vision for the plan prior rising the eight pillars of need and adopting a comprehensive set of design guidelines that will identify variances needed to implement the land use plan. Those are being assembled today, and we plan to submit that as part of the putt in June. So just to summarize this, this is the key program. Overall site is 208 acres, not including the colony [2:50:21 PM] park district park. The plan calls for 230,000ft !S of office. Institutional use, 130,000ft !S of retail. The base plan allots around 2000 units of residential knell, but the pod just as in the original pod, provides for up to 3000 units to be responsive to the market as as that evolves and again, 48 acres of open space as well, 20% of the residential will be in apartments and single family homes and it will be income restricted providing for workforce housing. And that's an important element. And some of the key community benefits, as you can see here on the screen, housing choice and providing a complete mix of housing styles, including missing middle opportunities. Connect activity, the walkability of this community, its access to transit is very important, including the [2:51:23 PM] trail system we've talked about the open space, the opportune 80s for a new grocery store and health care facilities. We estimate over 1200 permanent jobs could be created here, as well as 2900 temporary ones. $3.5 million. In annual property taxes and a sales tax. $500,000 in annual sales tax. So we believe that the economic impacts and the community benefits are very strong. So I think this joy is going to talk a little bit about the zoning of the process. Thank you. Joy harden with the planning department. I want to say I'm very excited to be here today. Oh, okay. It was like, oh, very excited to be here today. Just real briefly, I always credit council member harper-madison heard this briefly. We were at flower hill foundation, but just [2:52:24 PM] real quickly, I credit being a planner to my parents. They were both educators and we would take these long vacations burns in the summer because they had the Summers off and we'd go see a lot of different cities and we'd see the good parts of the cities and the bad parts of the cities. And I said, way back then I would be a city planner and fix all cities. I don't think I was very bright child and I said that, but but that being said, this project is really why you want to be a planner to do these types of things. And it's really exciting. So hold on. Okay, so, so with the lead department of economic development, we already know synovia is a rock star, but working with this team, Susana and the christines and martin, they had numerous meetings with me included, of course, and others from the city. And we've come up with this dedicated [2:53:25 PM] strike team and the strike team is going to review, the putt as it enters the city and make the comments. We'll have a streamlined process and then any pro teams as a Briseno stated, the city manager's department has been involved and we could elevate those to them. And so we've already been meeting and collaborating and having really good meetings. We've talked about losing a lot of city staff and we have lost a lot of talent, but we definitely have a lot of city talent. Our economic development department, our great new director that we are so excited to have. So we have a lot of great talent and we will get this done. And then this is our plan timeline. We're here today, October 23rd, and the presenting to you. We'll submit the pud soon. Ann as you see through June, through September will be reviewing what we talked about with our strike team and [2:54:27 PM] if we have any concerns, we'll elevate it up to the city manager's office. We don't foresee that happening because staff is so talented. We'll work it out between us. But we actually have that option. We'll go to any applicable boards and commissions in October. We'll have our first reading, November 30th and then our final readings at the end of the year. Thank you very much. We appreciate the presentation. Are there other speakers? Mr. Berrera oh, thank you. Okay. We do have some staff recommendations. This is in order to achieve this timeline. This is a this is a very aggressive timeline for puds. We think it's important that that we bring forth some recommended actions for the committee to consider. We recommend that council initiate an amendment to the colony park pud, initiate the zoning for that, that council find that the land use plan in the phase one report, [2:55:28 PM] the phase one report that catullus provided at the end of their first phase of work, that that establishes superiority and that no further review or reevaluation is required of superiority for the amendments. The council authorizes the city manager to process this application Ann without the payment of fees to move this application to the planning commission without seeking consideration, Ann or recommendations from any other boards or commissions and Eid that the council direct the city manager to identify any modifications or waivers as required to implement the land use plan. I'll jump in Ann. All right. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Oh, you're all right. All right. My apologies. Mayor pro tem Ellis. Do I get to [2:56:32 PM] go first? If I have questions? Yeah the bus. You spoke first. I don't know if these are direct questions that can be answered today, but I'm going to stay in my lane of my magic words today are missing middle. So I know there was a mention to making sure there was a style of missing middle housing that, you know, created that glue. That's different than just single family and apartments and finding some sort of way for people to have missing middle housing. Is that going to be brought forward in the pud? Yes. Do you mind if we put the slide back up and I'm going to phone a friend and ask Jim to come back up. I know it was mentioned, so I just wanted to make sure I was understanding that. And I'll ask him to describe the color coding and a bit more detail. It's small, but I think it's very helpful. Yes. And so we're trying to provide a full spectrum of housing and missing middle, I think you all know is referring to the building types between Ann single family houses [2:57:33 PM] and multi family apartments. So what we are proposing is a lot of single family detached Burt. But in addition to that small lot, single family, very small clustered cottage houses, row houses, polgar, kymberley, multiplex, like four plex and six plex that would be possible as part of the pod. All the way up to the multifamily stuff. And the idea just as at Miller is to try to introduce that stuff in a way that it can be interspersed with single family homes in a way that creates a comfortable and compatible kind of neighborhood environment. So some very small lots as well as some clustered condominium type buildings, arrangements as well. I really appreciate that. I know we have lots of conversations on the dais about the right number of bedrooms and apartments. We [2:58:36 PM] also know that there is styles of missing middle housing that either look like a single family home or are kind of built like apartments. Anyway, I lived in one where they essentially each had courtyards, so there were about 8 or 4 on each side that faced each other. It was part of a, you know, 100 plus unit apartment complex, but it felt very much like courtyard apartments. And I think that's a good style of housing, especially for people who are newly starting their their careers or people who are getting older and want to have a smaller place where they can still be near their family. So I'm really excited to hear that missing middle is a part of this conversation. And then the other lane I always occupy is about bike lanes and I want to make sure if you're sandwiched right in between some really good metro, rapid and green line transportation Ann making sure there's first mile, last mile opportunities for people to be able to get to and from the stops. Yes and you'll see in the pod we have a whole series of street types, a network of protected bike lanes that will connect to the new green line [2:59:38 PM] station, the planned green line station, as well as to the metro rapid lines along Loyola lane. That's fantastic. Thank you so much for the presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor pro tem. Any other questions? Thank you so much for the presentation. We absolutely appreciate it and we absolutely appreciate the level of commitment to recognize Singh, especially you, Mr. Barrera, you recognizing that we have a debt to repay. And I appreciate that commitment that we are making actively as a city . If there are no further questions there, I think the item that we should bring back up is the item about this priority ization table. Councilmember alter brought forward a motion seconded by jv2 Ann and I. I have some thoughts . I want to know if anybody else has any commentary about this before we move forward. It looks like councilmember qadri and then mayor pro tem Ellis. Thank you. Great. Yeah I appreciate councilmember alter's him doing [3:00:39 PM] this, but the thoughts that I have, if I if I may I see under high is where this environmental and stormwater management is moving that. To moving that to medium. That's one thing that wasn't on my on my sheet beforehand. And then something that I'd like to go over in terms of our five priorities as a as a district office, eliminate Singh parking mandates . We see that as as high and we agree with that code. Cabinet memo is advising that it's a complex change, but we're really looking forward to working with transportation, housing and planning to get it done this year. Occupancy limits, we see it as other. We see we think it's high and we appreciate the work and the robust conversation at planning commission to get the ball rolling on this [3:01:40 PM] occupancy limits based on non-related adults is difficult for our staff to enforce and harms affordability and inclusivity in our city. And I want to go a step further to ensure that the directive is actionable and easy on staff time as possible and I'm thankful for the items coming up on June first. And I'm thankful for co-sponsors. Mayor pro tem Ellis. Councilmember Fuentes councilmember Velasquez and councilmember pool to bring forth a resolution. So yeah, it's under other if it could be under high or medium, I think that's where I see it. As you know, as a better fit itod. It's high. I agree. Itod amendments and expansion need to remain a priority for this for this council. South central waterfront front regulating plan is necessary to achieve our city's vision plan. So for me that would be that would be medium priority and then last but not least, sixth street height exception, I believe, on [3:02:41 PM] here it is low if we can move it one one thing over to medium, I think that would be that would be great. I think it's really important to make sure sixth streets future is exciting and you know, and making sure we make do right by that historic downtown hotspot. So those are my those are my. I'm going to dip in real quick, you guys. I got so excited. I assume that we all love colony park and the idea of us getting this work done so much that I forgot to actively have us take a vote. We need to. I would like very much to have a motion to move forward staff's recommendation on the colony park pud item motion by councilmember qadri seconded by jv2 and all in favor. Looks like it's unanimous. In which case, moving forward, I think the next person to be recognized was mayor pro tem Ellis and then vice chair alter thank you. I [3:03:44 PM] was trying to follow along with what councilmember qadri had proposed. I think some of this may be overlap as well. Shaw I agree that south central waterfront should probably be bumped up. Whether that's medium or high, I could certainly see an argument for that and I'm not sure about north burnet gateway. I know council member pool has stepped away some of the things that we've adopted with north north burnet, gateway in the past were almost fully baked before we approved them. Like everybody knew what needed to be done. And so I'm not sure if that's one that could move along as well. If that's similarly the case here, I'm not sure because I'm really blanking on those details. Can I just interrupt for half a second? If not, please. Thank you. Okay. Well I think it gives some context to what if, while I appreciate that , I actively would like for her to finish her statement before you interrupt, please. Thank you . Okay. I'll work through these. The environmental and stormwater management. I think councilmember qadri had maybe suggested that as medium. I [3:04:45 PM] think somewhere in one of these spreadsheets it was noted that it is moving through the input and commission process. And so I don't know if where that lands affects that. I want to make sure it keeps moving along because it is a really complex conversation that has a lot of different stakeholders. But I don't know if it needs to be in the high category to continue on its pathway and timeline. I noticed that in our local agreement. I know they have current inter locals that have been amended close to ten times at this point. I know they're also having future conversations around the bonds that were just passed by aid voters. And so I want to make sure that we're not impeding their progress because they have very tight construction timelines as they have to manage when school is in session and making those improvements work. The sixth street height exception. I also thought that one was pretty much almost done. Maybe the chair could correct me if I'm wrong, but I would be happy to see that one move up simply because I think it's something that can be handled relatively quickly and [3:05:45 PM] also as a part of a larger picture of kind of revitalizing the sixth street area where right now you have a lot of the evening activities and not a better blend of morning, afternoon and evening activities to help revitalize that space. And then the town zoning, I know that's one that I'm more newly familiar with and I'm curious about that one, if it can help us as we move forward with these other revisions to help open up different styles of housing in different parts of town. So I'm curious to see if that one needs to get wiggled around at all and I think that's all my comments for now. I appreciate that. I think the vice chair had some commentary. He wanted to offer some context, and then we're going to move to council member Velasquez. Yes. Thank you. So as we talk about this, I want to make sure we're all going to work off the same document, know what the motion I'm going to make. I handed out a new document and you'll notice a new column here that says keep the current timeline. And so there what I have put is everything that has been identified by [3:06:46 PM] staff as already having a date that's coming before council. For instance, the sixth street height, the north burnet gateway. Just keep those things that already have a clear path to council, keep them on their path. We don't need to touch those. We've clearly worked that out every thing else. Now let's let's talk about. And so I would just as as we talk about moving things I want just us to be sensitive that as we keep pouring things from low to medium and medium to high, it's not categorized if everything is high or if everything is medium. We have to make hard choices about what is most important and so just I'm not saying that I disagree with anything that's been said, but I want us to be incredibly cognizant of the fact that we can't tell staff everything is a high or a medium priority because then we haven't given them any direction. We have to choose if something is [3:07:48 PM] just right, it's important to us. But we can wait 6 or 9 months for them to pick it up and so that that is just before I make my motion. I know we have some more commentary. I just want to put that out there. Thank you. Vice chair councilmember Velasquez. I just wanted to second what the mayor pro tem said on town zoning for consideration. Any other questions or commentary? Councilmember alter vice chair alter my apologies. I believe you have a motion that you are sure I'm sorry. Sorry. The only thing that and this is for vice chair alter the only thing and I and I appreciate that the new version but just just I'm still going to push for occupancy limits to be to be medium if you're okay with that. Absolutely and the only reason I put it in others because I don't want them to work on something that you were going to tell them to do something different. Got it. That's that was why I was another because if we said this [3:08:49 PM] is a really high priority and then they start working on the old resolution and not your new resolution, you know, we should give them yours. I got it. Okay. I understand. So if I may make my motion here and it's going to be complex. So this is based off the chart I gave. I'm I'm going to move that we adopt a prioritization Ann as laid out in what I'm going to call zo vice chair, alter chart with the following ING changes the environmental and stormwater management from high to medium. The. Modifying occupancy limits to high. School branch off the sixth street height exemption and low that was that got moved over to keep current timeline and then Ann. I think we should [3:09:51 PM] have amendments about the south central waterfront if from the discussion I've heard that there might be amendments on south central waterfront and perhaps I have some thoughts if you'll see in medium, there's a zoning categories. So that would encompass things like town zoning, which is why it's now in other and noxious land uses. So that to Brent's point, we think about these holistically and not as just one new zoning category , but as if we're going to create zoning categories. Let's think about them generally. So any zoning category would file would go into there and then the reason why I'm holding off on south central waterfront is because mostly, as it's explained in the memo, it's about bonuses. And so if you look in the high category of bonuses, if we look comprehensive at our bonuses, that inevitably captures the discussion of south central waterfront. But there is a planning element to it that's, you know, a separate piece. So [3:10:53 PM] if that's something that this body feels needs to be a higher priority, then, you know, the planning piece, I think we should make that motion when appropriate. But as as described Eid, I move that we adopt it. Vice chair alter chart for prioritization. So there's been a motion on the floor by way of vice chair alter to move the vice chair alter chart. Is there a second to the motion? Seconded by councilmember qadri? It looks like, Mr. Lloyd, you have some commentary. Just very briefly, just to make the chart as accurate as possible. Knell I would suggest removing under on the low column. You have affordable Katy unlocked site plan changes and that is being subsumed within site plan light. So I would just in the interest of like having this as lean and mean as possible, I would suggest removing that. And similarly for the cocktail lounge parking item, it's our [3:11:54 PM] intention, I think, to bring that forward as part of the larger set of amendments to eliminate minimum parking. So I would, if it's at the committee's pleasure, I would suggest removing that one as well, if that's okay. Thank you. I appreciate that clarification . Ann so we have a motion and a second. Is there any commentary from my colleagues, mayor pro tem Ellis and then I would actually like to speak as well. Did the aid inter-local get moved up to medium as part of that? That was one that I, I, I think if you, if you want to move it up, I was going to have you move to do that. I don't know if we want to talk about it some more. Just do it. It's your call. I say let's just do it all right. Then I include it in my amendment. So so included. And so my commentary was along the lines of so colleagues, I really do appreciate and respect. Thank you. Vice chair. The effort that I know you and your staff put into this chart and actively [3:12:55 PM] running around refining the chart. I appreciate the draft prioritization. Respectfully, though, I would request that we for now adopt the motion, but return to this item at our June 13th meeting that will allow, I think, for us to, if we are actively on the dais right now, modifying a list that we got two versions of it in two hours, and I still have concerns about some of these line items, in which case I just don't know that moving forward, like with this being the ultimate draft, my preference would be defer to staff every time there. The ones who know what's in the queue, how to do it, when to do it, what the cadence is, when to pull, which levers they know, what's happening. I frankly would prefer we defer to staff by way of prioritization, including I'm looking at this list and I'm like, I got like nine things that aren't even on here, in which case I'm not [3:13:56 PM] going to do that right now as I'm actively chairing a meeting, I, I have concerns. I think it would be prudent for us to go ahead and adopt the motion for now. But as a body, let's agree that we bring this back on the 13th and we try this again. We can do I my response to that would be two things. First and foremost, at our my understanding is my motion is to send this to the complete council. And so if there are changes that need to be made, that's something that the council can do. So we today take this action to send it to council. Hopefully for June 1st or June 8th. And then we as a council can decide if there are things we want to change. There we can have amendments, do the normal process, but at least we have moved this forward instead of I don't if we adopt this today, I don't think we can come back to it on 13th because we're sending it to the council today. The other thing is this is just a list of our current code amendments out there. If there are things that aren't on this list, such as councilman pool [3:14:56 PM] mentioned, lot size and other things, those are things that staff is going to have to fold in and we can as a council when we pass something, say this is a medium priority, this is a low priority, this is a high priority so that it fits in. But if we continue to wait until we have everything on the list, we're never going to have a list because we're always going to be having new things. So I just think it's important today to give that direction Ann and move us forward. Vice chair I completely agree. I think we should bring this before the full council on the eighth and we can get feedback from the full council. I do think we should revisit this conversation on the 13th of respectfully, so I'm happy to. You're the chair. So I'm happy. I will second that to be on the agenda any time. I appreciate it. So the motion was made by vice chair alter, seconded by councilmember qadri. It looks like there's commentary still from mayor pro tem Luz. I just might suggest that if the [3:15:56 PM] next steps are for all 11 members to discuss this, we could maybe put something on the message board so that we someone could be the main spreadsheet keeper and could help track, you know, if we see things as higher or lower priority and move them along. So I just I think that would be helpful since some of us are working on a hard copy and we might like to wiggle it around ourselves before chiming in, but that might help put that conversation together for the next steps. 100% appreciate that commentary. And I will say I was a part of a body where we sat here one night till 4 A.M. I don't want to bring everything before the body. If we can use our committees to actively work through some of these challenges and not bring everything, listen , our new mayor, the latest we've been here to date is. 3:08 P.M. Y'all so I would like to keep that as our current path forward. I don't want to bring everything to council if we don't have to, and that's generally my point. But it looks like council member Velasquez [3:16:57 PM] and then villa. No more villa, just Velasquez JV jv2 I'm fine with it. I also wanted to volunteer Ben Leffler as being the list keeper councilmember qadri I'll second that. Mr. Leffler, it looks like you just got volunteer on camera for the record. Any other questions or comments? So the motion was brought forward by vice chair alter, seconded by councilmember qadri. All in favor. All right, y'all. I think that thing is done, in which case, let me go ahead and close this out. To, to future items for consideration. That's our final item. Number six future items for consideration would any of our members. Sorry would any of our members like to suggest future items in addition to the ones [3:17:57 PM] that we've already mentioned? Hearing none. We're going to adjourn at 3:18 P.M. Thank you, everybody, for being zo acm Briseno. We do have a future item. We want to make council aware of so it is the 10th anniversary of imagine Austin and our planning department is starting the process to update the comprehend live plan. We are presenting at planning commission tonight Wright by charter. They do they do review the amendments and then we'll be bringing it to your committee in June. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And so with that, you guys, thank you for your attendance. We really appreciate you being here. We are going to adjourn the housing and planning committee at 3:19 P.M. On five 2323, which, by the way, y'all is 2323. Somebody should do something to celebrate. Y'all have a great day.