Housing and Planning Committee (HPC) Meeting Transcript – 9/5/2024 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 9/5/2024 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 9/5/2024 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. [2:06:06 PM] Alrighty. Alrighty. Good afternoon everybody. I'm Natasha harper-madison, chair of the housing and planning committee. We're joined this morning by vice chair, altura, council member qadri and council member Ellis, we are meeting at city hall in council chambers in Austin, Texas. Today is September 5th to 2024, and the time is currently 2:06 P.M. And I'd like to call to order this meeting of the housing and planning committee, we're going to start with speakers. I believe we have a few remote speakers, and then at least three in person speakers, staff, if you'd like to start that process. Thank you. >> We have Matt Gorski. Remote speaker. Do you have any others? >> I have, magdalena de odio. >> Okay. Is Matt. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. [2:07:07 PM] >> Yes, we can hear you. >> My apologies, thank you for your time and leadership to the city of Boston. My name is Matt Gorski, vice president of public affairs for the downtown Austin alliance, I'm going to be speaking today on the downtown Austin plan. I want to specifically thank council member qadri and his team for their leadership on moving the new downtown Austin plan forward, our mission at da is to create, preserve and enhance the vibe, vitality and value of downtown Austin for everyone. Downtown has changed immensely since the last dap was drafted 15 years ago. An update to the plan is needed both to bring our existing plan in alignment with today's landscape. Downtown and also to look forward to downtown's future. Having a central plan with a dedicated implementation team and resources is critical to the success of downtown, especially as we continue to address our biggest challenges such as affordability, preservation of live music and culture, and improving our infrastructure and access downtown. We believe that in order to plan for long term [2:08:07 PM] in order to plan for long term success for the city as a whole, we must get the downtown core right. We are in support of updating the dap and want to ensure that the process is adequately resourced, both in the planning and implementation implementation stages. The da would like to be at the table in the process, including in the early stages of scoping. Thank you for your time and leadership. >> Thank you. Speaker. Next speakers. >> Maggie. Maggie magdalena. Maggie. De la teja. >> Hello. >> Go ahead. Speaker. >> Hello, this is Maggie de la teja, and I was calling on behalf of the resolution to support the limited equity, housing affordability for seniors, I have been working [2:09:08 PM] seniors, I have been working with the boomers collaborative on that issue, and I understand that this type of housing would help make it more affordable for seniors. It also allows for seniors to keep their dignity in a community of like minded people, to be able to pool resources to support seniors, and to give them an opportunity to collaboratively be involved in the support of the seniors and in making decisions about their housing environment, and I do believe that this would be a model that is innovative, that's been implemented in other cities. And I know that Austin is very creative, and I do hope that you will pass the resolution in support of this type of housing for seniors. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Next [2:10:08 PM] >> Thank you very much. Next speaker. >> Okay. We'll wait on the last remote speaker to join and we'll go to Kimberly Levinson. Let's see here. Yes >> Hi. Thank you for giving me this opportunity today to talk about the downtown plan, otherwise known as the dap. As a downtown commission member and a resident of downtown and a board member of the downtown Austin neighborhood association, what happens in downtown is clearly important to me. But I'm here today to point out that what happens in downtown is actually of vital importance to all of Austin, because downtown is the economic engine of Austin, and that means we have to get it right. We can't afford to have it go wrong. Updating the dap is of paramount importance because the current dap is outdated. Too much time has passed and [2:11:09 PM] much time has passed and downtown has changed and grown since then, with the many development and transportation pieces happening, we need something to pull it all together. We need to account for I-35. The convention center expansion Waterloo greenway, the Mexican American cultural district, the red river district, and the sixth street redevelopment and more. That's a lot of moving parts. We believe that requires money for a consultant and the recreation of a downtown officer position to act as an executive team leader, overseeing all those moving parts. And the downtown commission, which originated specifically to oversee downtown development, needs to have a strong voice in this, as does the da. If downtown is to remain the goose that lays the golden eggs and generates large revenues for the city, all of us need to work together to make it happen. We stand ready to do the work, and we ask you for your support and we thank you so much for your leadership. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Next speaker. >> Dallas Richard. >> I actually thought I had [2:12:22 PM] >> I actually thought I had signed up just in support of agenda item five. Also, that was brought up earlier on the, equitable senior housing and just as a long time, native austinite and gen xer who's fastly approaching that with as well. Just want to encourage the continued innovative approaches to investing in the future needs of our of affordable senior housing. Going forward. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Next speaker, annaliese lopman. >> Good afternoon. I'm also here in support of agenda item five. Senior housing cooperatives. Cooperatives represent a really incredible opportunity for seniors to build, continue to build equity and to invest their [2:13:23 PM] build equity and to invest their equity in their own futures and remain independent. And, in community while supporting each other. So it's a really special kind of housing. And I look forward to seeing more of it in Austin. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I think we have a final in person speaker. >> We had one more remote, but I don't think we have them on the line. >> Okay. So we'll circle back to them. Should they join us? >> Sounds good. Thank you. >> Thank you. Committee members and those in attendance. We're going to take an opportunity to acknowledge a special guest we have visiting us from Ohio today. Debbie stopped in to see how things work at Austin city hall. So thank you for joining us and for visiting. And we'll try not to put you to sleep. All right. So moving forward, before we review the order of today's agenda, there have been a few [2:14:24 PM] agenda, there have been a few items that have been postponed. So item number two has been postponed. This one is related to the development regulations applicable to residential re subdivisions and to multi-family residential site development, it's been postponed at the request of the planning commission as they continue continue to review staff recommendations on the item. And finally item number seven is an update to the northeast planning district. It's also been postponed at the request of the county city work group, that's coordinating the district until next month's meeting, so with that said, we're going to take up our items in the order of what number was 134, six, five, eight. And then number nine. So let's go ahead and begin with, approval of the meeting minutes from. Oh, I'm sorry, council member qadri. Okay. Approval of the minutes from our previous housing and planning committee [2:15:25 PM] housing and planning committee meeting on may 22nd. And the motion is passed by council member qadri and seconded by council member Ellis. And all in favor? Looks like we're unanimous with four of us on the dais, the item passes. Moving to item number three. We're going to shift, our first item of discussion, item number three is related to the home task force that concerns improving low and moderate income homeowners access to construct a to use. I believe we're going to be hearing from development services staff, but it looks like we have Mandy Demayo joining us. We do. >> Mandy Demayo, interim director of the housing department. Thank you for having us here today to provide an update on resolution number 20240530. Dash 115, which was a companion to the home initiative. There were three major components of that resolution, which was passed [2:16:25 PM] resolution, which was passed earlier this year. The first was the creation of a home inter-departmental task force, dsd. The development services department has taken the lead on that, and we actually held a kickoff meeting on August 19th. So just last month that included representatives from dsd, the planning department and the housing department. Additional partner departments will be added as the work moves forward. Please note that October 24th, you will be receiving a work plan that will be submitted to mayor and council for the remainder of the work and January 30th of 2025. As per the resolution. The findings report will be delivered to mayor and council. That was one component of the resolution. The second component was really exploring financial tools, access to private financing, tax rebate, low interest and forgivable loans, we are staff at the housing department is currently working with housing works on [2:17:25 PM] working with housing works on conducting an analysis of access to private financing in order to provide a full response to the resolution. In addition, we are working with a companion resolution from 2023 that will provide a comprehensive analysis of a potential accessory dwelling unit loan program. The third and final component of the resolution was related to expanding educational resources and technical assistance for community members. Wanted to give an update on that. There was a request for an update on the anti-displacement navigator program. Please know that we're currently undergoing a thorough evaluation of the pilot program that wrapped up in June of this year. Huston-tillotson is delivering that final analysis and evaluation to us later this month. Then we anticipate the housing department will be doing a solicitation for an improved navigator program. We're [2:18:26 PM] navigator program. We're anticipating that in fall of this year, we also have an estate planning solicitation that we are planning for winter of 2024. And then with respect to community outreach, our department is taking a look at our existing Austin is my home campaign, which is available on our website, and relaunching an improved and expanded campaign in early 2025. I'm happy to answer any questions. We also have Brenda de la Garza and Keith Mars from development services department, and of course, the planning team as well. Should you have any specific questions, >> Thank you so much, director Demayo colleagues, do you have any questions? No questions. I actually do have just a couple questions. So you answered the first half of my question, which was who's conducting the analysis? And you said, that's H T huston-tillotson is doing contracted for the evaluation of [2:19:26 PM] contracted for the evaluation of the pilot program for the navigators. >> Yes. And that's expected to be delivered to us, I believe, September 15th. Okay. >> And then the estate planning solicitation. Could you elaborate a bit? >> Sure, that is a new program that is coming under our displacement prevention team, it's something that we have contemplated for a while. It's been a community priority. We do have one of our community initiated solutions projects through the project connect funding, has funded a small pilot project. We're looking at the possibility of doing much broader estate planning for errors. Property. We often, particularly in low income communities and communities of color, we have challenges with transfer of property and multiple heirs involved in property and, kind of untangling that to ensure that that asset can be either maximized or held [2:20:29 PM] can be either maximized or held on to for the long term. I'm very interested in following along with that process. >> You know, that's we're excited about it. Some of the commentary I received from my constituents is, you know, had we known, had we known, if we had only known, you know, and so that's certainly something that's of importance to me adjacent to that excuse me, having had to go through, estate planning processes, I'd say the most frustrating from a personal perspective was sort of the whole probate law space. How do we reconcile for that within this estate planning initiative? >> So we haven't finalized our solicitation or what it will look like yet, but we do anticipate that there will be both legal services solicited, as well as mediation, services. Those will both most likely be a component. >> Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. And I have way too many real world examples to sort of represent why that's [2:21:29 PM] sort of represent why that's important. And then the final question is the Austin is my home initiative. You said it's available on the website. >> It is. We launched this campaign, several years ago, under the leadership of former council member and mayor pro tem Delia. Garza to provide, educational resources for the Austin community about how to stay in your home. So there were components about accessing, tax exemption. So your homestead exemption or senior exemption or disabled exemption, also avoiding predatory lending, a variety of different components. Home repair was one of them ways in which low income homeowners can stay in their home. We really want to since it is 2 to 3 years old at this point. We really want to look at it, look at some of our new displacement prevention programs, new priorities within the city, and see how we can refresh that [2:22:30 PM] see how we can refresh that program. We anticipate that that will be relaunched. It's live. Now, if you go to Austin is my home. It is live and available. But relaunch that in 2025. >> So do our constituents exclusively access that information digitally or is there printed collateral? >> We have printed collateral as well. And when we go out to community engagement events, or any community events, we do bring those materials. >> That's awesome. And, you know, I ask because my office is working on an initiative now. You'd really be amazed how few people know who their council member is. And more importantly, what does your council member do and what don't they do? And so we're looking at, you know, who's your council member or, kind of initiative. And I'm going to issue a challenge to my colleagues to do some block walking when we're not campaigning and go out and introduce ourselves to our constituents. So I just wonder if this might be the kind of initiative that we could piggyback on. Absolutely have [2:23:30 PM] piggyback on. Absolutely have that built into it. >> And we're happy to connect with your office to provide materials, we're always happy to piggyback on existing council members events, >> Anyway, I think we'd be piggybacking off of your collateral, is what I'm trying to say. Like there could be within the booklet that's already being proposed. Just a couple pages about, you know, who who your council member is. Absolutely. I think could be very helpful. So, yeah, we'll be in touch. Okay. Great. Thank you very much. I appreciate it, okay. If no further questions on that item, we're going to I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry to interrupt. We do have our remote speaker. Oh, okay. On the line. Please invite them. One more in person to cover. >> I'll follow your lead from here. Okay. >> Great. Thank you, our remote speaker is Chad Wallace. >> Okay, I think I got it here, [2:24:35 PM] >> Okay, I think I got it here, good afternoon, everybody, good evening, commissioners. My name is Chad Wallace. I'm here today to speak in strong support of the resolution, prioritizing senior housing cooperatives on city owned land, which are in, Austin's itod areas. This resolution isn't just another housing idea. It's a game changer. We're talking about providing sustainable, affordable living options for one of our most vulnerable populations. Seniors, baby boomers are retiring in droves, and Austin's housing market is pricing out the very folks who helped build this city. They deserve better. And co-ops are a solution that bring long term affordability and community ownership right to their doorstep. Doorstep co-ops allow senior seniors to live independently while pooling resources to manage their housing. That means lower costs, shared responsibilities and, more importantly, a sense of belonging and community. It's a model that that promotes not just affordable housing, but [2:25:37 PM] just affordable housing, but also a dignified lifestyle. Let's not forget that prioritizing these projects on city owned land means that we're not just solving problems for today, but creating lasting, sustainable housing for tomorrow. It's affordable, it's scalable, and it's a kind of bold, forward thinking approach. Austin needs the benefits. Don't stop with seniors. This model provides economic development and job growth, opening doors for younger workers and creating a stronger, more resilient community for everyone. It's a win for all generations, not just the older ones. So I urge you to pass the resolution and prioritize senior housing co-ops on city owned itod tracks. It's time to put our land and resources to work in a way that truly benefits Austin's nature. Thank you. >> Thank you. Speaker >> Our last speaker is Philip Wylie. >> Good afternoon. My name is Philip. >> Just a moment, Mr. Wylie. I don't know that your mic is on. >> There you go. [2:26:38 PM] >> There you go. >> Thank you. There you go. >> Good afternoon. My name is Philip Wylie. I've lived downtown since 1992, and I'm here to speak in support of updating the downtown plan. Please I've brought a couple of charts that I'd like to briefly go through here. The first is the census. Conclusion. In terms of what happened from 2010 to 2020, to the left is population density chart and I'd like to kind of zero in on the very center of the chart, which is a district or a census tract in downtown that has a population density more like Westlake than you would expect. In in the downtown of a rapidly growing major city. Yeah. If you could. I'm sorry, so the second chart [2:27:45 PM] I'm sorry, so the second chart again on the left shows that one census tract kind of blowing it up. And, I'm here to give you a little bit different perspective on the downtown plan and, and strictly from a planning professional perspective, if, if we are intending to become a more data driven organization in the city, this should kind of stick out like a sore thumb and, and ask rey raise a lot of questions that we might want to answer, I would like to point out that there are four census tracts downtown. The one in white is the one that's the most northern. That's basically borders mlk and goes down to about 12th. And you can see the below that is a medium density. More more like, the, the areas west and east of downtown. And [2:28:50 PM] west and east of downtown. And then below that you see areas that are very dense. So if you look at the white, those are the four census tracts downtown. Yeah. And so how we got here, there are a lot of reasons for it. But I just wanted to bring something to your attention as we decide whether or not and how important it is to do a downtown plan. From page 31 of the dap, I've taken a section of that out and put it at the top of this chart. It's basically, I'll read it to you. This section of the dap provides a summary of the issues, opportunities and priorities of the districts. Except for the single family neighborhood of judges hill and the university of Texas owned northeast UT district, both of which will be the subject of future planning exercises. So that's from the downtown Austin plan, page 31, we never we never did that planning exercise. So I think now would be a good time [2:29:52 PM] think now would be a good time to do that. Thank you very much. >> Thank you for your contribution, Mr. Wiley. Does that conclude our speakers, both in person and virtual? Awesome. Thank you very much. We are going to move on now to item number four, which is related to the discussion on the status and timeline of amendments to our land development code from our planning department. Afternoon >> Good afternoon, chair and members of the housing and planning committee. >> I'm Steve Greathouse and I serve as the division manager in the city of Austin planning department. I am here to provide a brief update on the status and timeline of amendments to the land development code. After a busy spring delivering a package of significant transit supportive amendments to our land development code, staff have been gearing up to work on [2:30:54 PM] have been gearing up to work on additional priorities and have developed an updated version of the land development code. Amendments timeline. Gantt chart. The updated version of the Gantt chart is included in the backup for this meeting, and will also be posted on the speakup Austin code amendments website. The updated timeline reflects our anticipated work program over the next 12 to 18 months. I will keep today's update brief, and we are happy to answer questions that you may have at the end. Since April of 2024, council has initiated an update to the preservation bonus provisions associated with phase one of the home initiative has initiated amendments to the regulations for future pdas, also known as planned development areas, to include a density bonus supporting housing affordability, and has initiated a set of amendments to the downtown density bonus program. Next slide please. The remote is [2:31:54 PM] Next slide please. The remote is not advancing it. Thank you. As you will recall, city council took action in may to adopt a package of significant transit supportive amendments to the land development code, including amendments related to creation and regulation of a new primary electric vehicle, charging use, modifications to citywide compatibility, creation and application of a new equitable transit oriented development overlay along the project connect phase one light rail line and its priority extensions, as well as phase two of the home initiative, allowing smaller lots for a single housing unit at the August 29th meeting, council approved revisions to the down to the density bonus 90. Density bonus combining district to support administration of these regulations, staff anticipates bringing several code amendments to council over the next couple of months. The south central waterfront, combining district is currently scheduled to be considered on September 26th. An amendment sponsored by the [2:32:55 PM] amendment sponsored by the economic development department that will create a live music and creative space density bonus, is currently expected to be considered by city council on October 10th, pending consideration by planning commission on September 10th. Creation of a density bonus for future pda's or planned development areas is currently expected to come to council on October 24th, pending consideration by the planning commission on October 8th, and finally, amendments sponsored by the development services department to move forward on the second phase of site plan light and to improve the infill plat process, are currently expected to come back to council on November 7th, pending consideration by the planning commission in October. I believe this item has been noticed for the September 12th council agenda, and there will be a postponement item on that agenda to postpone that item, potentially to November 7th. Staff will also be working to bring several additional code amendments forward by the end of [2:33:55 PM] amendments forward by the end of the year, including an amendment to the north burnet gateway regulating plan and an amendment to the north. Lamar Justin Todd station area plan, aka crestview, to ensure that the density bonus provisions that apply to the crestview station area are consistent with phase one of the itod overlay in addition, we have been working with the consultant team to undertake a comprehensive analysis of all of our existing density bonus programs, and we hope to be able to share the results of that analysis, along with a series of recommendations that will guide future density. Bonus amendments. As you will see on the Gantt chart, we anticipate that 2025 will be another busy year for land development code amendments in January. We anticipate bringing forward amendments to our short term rental regulations, as well as an initial set of modifications related to the preservation bonus provisions of home phase 1 in 2025. We also anticipate engaging the community and bringing forward phase two of the equitable tod [2:34:57 PM] phase two of the equitable tod overlay work, bringing back possible updates to the east Riverside corridor regulating plan along the east Riverside corridor supporting phase one light rail, updating the regulations that would apply within the university neighborhood overlay and updating the downtown density bonus program in 2025. We would also bring back any additional amendments that are needed to implement the recommendations of the comprehensive analysis of density bonuses, and we hope to engage a consultant team in 2025 to support development of a potential suite of new mixed use and missing middle Zones that could be added to our zoning toolkit to better support our desired development outcomes. As a city. The Gantt chart is available in the backup for you all to provide detailed review of, and happy to answer any questions for the public that may be seeking more information. We continue to maintain a website at speak up Austin. Org forward slash ldc updates where folks can find both the Gantt [2:35:58 PM] folks can find both the Gantt chart that provides sort of a schedule at a glance of everything that we're working on as well as information about each of the individual code amendments and the ability to ask questions through that website via a form for folks that have questions, they can also send or input, can also provide information, provide an email to ldc updates at. Austin, Texas gov. Or leave a voicemail at the number on the screen. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you very much. We appreciate your presentation, colleagues, any questions, looks like council member qadri has a question. Do you have the floor? >> Yeah, I was going to say it's a quick question, but I don't know if it's actually going to be a quick answer. Would you be able to walk us through any updates around the either sorry, around the code amendments, but also the downtown density bonus updates, >> Sure. Just in terms of timeline on the chart and kind of what's in process. So the code amendments, we are working to respond to that resolution, [2:36:59 PM] to respond to that resolution, which was a comprehensive resolution that included more than just code amendments and actually provided some direction around engagement as well, we have begun the scoping and internal dialog and research and analysis phase of that work, we do anticipate being out for some focused, targeted engagement in early 2025, we are going to be onboarding some consultant support under an existing contract that we have to help us engage area stakeholders in that engagement. At the beginning of 25, with the goal of bringing back, recommendations related to that resolution, but also specific code amendments back to planning commission April and council in March. As the current timeline laid out for uno, the other hope with that timeline is that we would be able to take the findings that are coming out of the comprehensive analysis of our density bonus programs and incorporate any relevant findings into that work so that [2:38:02 PM] findings into that work so that it could all move forward as a package for uno, the downtown density bonus. Amendments. We are currently showing, really picking those up with a thorough engagement of stakeholders, particularly downtown stakeholders, but stakeholders writ large since the downtown is obviously a focal point and important to the entire city, with a goal of coming back with code amendments that could be adopted by the end of 2025, for the downtown program. And there again, the notion is that we would be able to use the findings that come out of the comprehensive density bonus work that we would be able to make sure that we are coordinating and integrating what we're doing for the downtown density bonus work with what we will be doing within the university neighborhood overlay, since those are obviously adjacent areas and relate strongly to one another, and then we would have adequate capacity and timeline for the public to actually [2:39:02 PM] for the public to actually provide some detailed engagement in 2025. Again, with that work, we also hope to on board consultant augmentation under an existing contract to be able to support some hands on community engagement in 2025 around that work. And then obviously, the conversation around the downtown Austin plan update will play into that and will continue as we scope that body of work and scope that timeline to make sure that those two efforts are being moved forward in tandem with one another, and that they aren't at odds because the downtown density bonus program is obviously one of the biggest implementation elements for supporting the policy guidance of the dap. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. We appreciate your presentation. No further questions. Colleagues looks like you're in the clear. We're going to move on now to item number six on our agenda, which is related to the city council initiating a plan. Develop a [2:40:03 PM] initiating a plan. Develop a planned unit development otherwise known as a pud, to the whisper valley project as our housing staff comes up, I'd like to provide a little bit of context. Whisper valley is a sustainable housing community located in the northeast Austin region. Whisper valley offers on site affordability. Most specifically, whisper valley. Offers affordable opportunities for homeownership. What we initiate today as a committee will allow for the project to utilize the city's smart housing program. But first, we can hear more from staff on the specifics of this and, you're after your explanation, colleagues, if you have any questions, please feel free to just raise your hand. Thank you. Absolutely. >> Thank you so much. Brendan Kennedy, program manager with the housing department. As you mentioned, this item is going to be a recommendation for council to take up a pud amendment initiation for the whisper valley pud. Some background whisper valley pud is located in district one in northeast [2:41:05 PM] district one in northeast Austin, near the northeast planning district. It's a little over 2000 acres of land. It will include over 7500 units of housing, both single family and multifamily. It will also include commercial space and over 700 acres of open space, including a 600 plus acre signature park, but is also providing an innovative, sustainable energy solution to homes that will include geothermal heating and cooling. That's available through all phases of the pud. It's currently, again, this is an existing planned unit development currently required to provide 10% of both ownership and rental residential units is affordable for ownership. Those are affordable at 80% mfi and for rental at 60% mfi. The purpose of this amendment initiation, in short, is to start a process that would allow housing developments within the pud to seek, apply for, and obtain smart housing certification. The program would [2:42:05 PM] certification. The program would further aid the production and delivery of high quality affordable housing within the pud by offering, among other things, a fee waivers eligible through the smart housing program. The reason a pod amendment is necessary to achieve this? The putt is located within a limited purpose jurisdiction, provision of the city charter stipulates that city funding cannot be expended within limited purpose jurisdiction unless authorized as part of the action for limited purpose annexation and plain language that means that any expenditure of city funding would need to be allowed for in the pud amendment. In this case, fee waivers through smart housing are considered a form of city funding. As a result, when we have had developers within the pud reach out about potentially applying for the smart housing program that might be available within full purpose jurisdiction, it is not currently available for certification within the pod. So [2:43:05 PM] certification within the pod. So what this pod amendment process would again initiate recommendation for council to take up a initiation resolution, a draft of which has been provided as backup. That would begin the pud amendment process so that we can, explore amendments to the affordable housing provisions of the pud ordinance and make the changes necessary to achieve that goal and further, the goal of delivering affordable housing within the pud, I do also want to mention a representative on behalf of the pud is in attendance as well. If you have any questions for them that that don't need to be directed to staff. And again, the draft of the resolution that will be recommended to council is included in backup. We're happy to pull that up. If needed, with that, I'll take any questions, colleagues, any questions for staff or for the folks representing the pud applicants. >> We'll start with council [2:44:07 PM] >> We'll start with council member Ella. She hadn't had a turn yet, and then we'll move down to council member qadri. >> I think council member qadri was moving faster than I was. Forgive me if this is just a conversation I'm not that familiar with, but, when you say that city code pre exempts us from using city funds or waiving fees outside of our jurisdiction, can you talk me through some of those components again? Why? They want to partner with the city for things like affordable housing and smart housing. If they're not in the limits? Maybe this is something everyone else already understands, and I just need a re explainer. >> Yeah, so this may be also more of a law question. It's actually city charter rather than city code. That stipulates where funding can be spent. And again it does allow the expenditure of city funds within limited purpose. But because it is limited purpose rather than full purpose, what the charter says is that that needs to then be explicitly allowed for in the pud amendment, again, it's tied to the delivery of the goals of that pud, one of which is affordable housing, the fee waivers that are a form of city [2:45:08 PM] waivers that are a form of city funding would help to deliver that affordable housing and meet some of the goals that we are pursuing a pud for, so again, as part of the city charter, I can't necessarily speak to the policy impetus behind that, but that's what the language says. >> Okay, that that sounds good. I know there's some issues that we sometimes run into with water service extension and if you're not in the city limits, there's some rules that that are applied in those certain cases. And so I'm happy to kind of support this and understand that staff's been working on this for a while and will make sure that I learn more as it comes to council for approval for us to be utilizing funds in this way. I do know we've also offered Austin water waivers to communities like community first village, they're outside the city limits, but they're on Austin water, and so we still have had ways of supporting the goals of the community, depending on how actually the city services are being leveraged and what kind of effects we can make on those areas. >> Thank you. Council member Ellis council member qadri. [2:46:08 PM] Ellis council member qadri. Yeah. >> Quick question. Are there any other puds in the city that also needs smart housing fees waived? >> I don't know. At the moment that there are any active requests, for that, I would have to look in, though, there's a number of puds and as you know, they're all somewhat unique in their requirements, so I would have to double check and get back to you on that, off the top of my head, though, I don't know of any active, urgent issues related to that. >> All right. >> Thank you, thank you. >> No further questions and no questions for the representatives. Joining us today. Looks like you guys got off Scot free. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. So we are going to move on now. And I will entertain a motion that we recommend that the pud amendment go to the full council. Included in our backup was a draft resolution that staff and the property owners have agreed [2:47:08 PM] property owners have agreed upon, so if I can get a motion and a second, motion by vice chair alter and seconded by council member qadri, in terms of our, committee action report on this item, is there any additional language that we'd like to include in the report that would be brought before the full body? Are we comfortable with where we stand currently? Okay and with that, we got a the motion and a second. All in favor? Looks like we're unanimous from the dais today, which moves us pretty quickly right into item number five. This is our standing item, for our committee agendas, we have invited the planning commission to bring forward items of interest or policy priorities that they believe the full council should consider. So by allowing these recommendations [2:48:09 PM] allowing these recommendations to be discussed at the committee, first, we provide our staff the public and commissioners an opportunity to really fine tune some of these recommendations together before they're brought before the full council. So for our first item of this type, we have been sent a resolution from the planning commission concerning cooperative housing. You guys may have heard it discussed earlier for older individuals. I'd like to now. Well she's already here. Invite up Alice woods to introduce the topic and the resolution, as well as members of the boomers collaborative, which if you didn't catch it before, is a local group for senior housing solution solutions. So take the floor, please. >> Thank you. Chair Alice woods again speaking in my role as a planning commissioner today, I really want to thank you all for considering senior cooperative housing and on behalf of planning commission, thank you for creating this standing agenda item to consider recommendations from land use commissions. >> Commissioner Maxwell and I brought this recommendation to the planning commission in June, and after a lengthy discussion, the commission decided that the [2:49:10 PM] the commission decided that the urgency around this issue warranted a formal resolution, which passed ten one. I want to briefly speak to the crisis that seniors face in Austin and then let Carol, lily, who is the founder of boomers collaborative foundation, speak about cooperative housing as a solution for seniors. Defined as adults, over 65 currently comprise nearly half of the us's unhoused population and are the fastest growing segment of the population, falling into homelessness. 1 in 5 Americans over 65 are or at risk of becoming elder orphans, meaning they have no family available to support them as they age. In the austin-round rock msa, specifically, 38% of seniors are housing cost burdened and 85% cannot afford assisted living, meaning that many seniors only option is to age in place. Often alone. This is already and will continue to create a huge strain on local service providers working to meet the needs of an aging, cost burdened, isolated, mobility constrained and increasingly geographically distributed population cannot [2:50:11 PM] distributed population cannot overstate the urgency of the crisis of senior homelessness, isolation and resource strain that we are facing. And as a city, we must decide whether to let our older neighbors face this alone, or to think creatively and facilitate new housing options that require fewer public resources while offering seniors affordability, community and mobility. And so I'll let Carol tell you a little bit more about why cooperative housing for seniors is one such option. That should be prioritized and facilitated by the city. Thanks. >> Thank you. Welcome commissioner wood, >> Okay. So how do I do this next? Okay, I see all right. Picking up from where, commissioner? >> Maybe tilt your mic down just a tiny bit. Okay. There you go. >> Is this better? >> It is, >> Picking up from where commissioner woods left off. Seniors at boomers collaborative foundation ask what if seniors can come together to live and age in place in vital intergenerational urban village settings, what if we can own, [2:51:12 PM] settings, what if we can own, operate and manage a shared facility with the support of a foundation and under under the supervision of experienced coaches and like minded sponsors? And what if we can also find economic opportunity, socialize and serve each other on site or nearby? Oops. It's not oops. I went too far, as mixed use and economically vital urban village settings within easy walking distance of goods and services and near transportation, public transportation. Boomers collaborative believes tods are ideal locations for seniors, especially for those of us who may no longer drive. We further believe that includes senior housing, especially especially shared housing or limited equity housing cooperatives. In addition to workforce housing, daycare solutions and housing for any fragile group. As part of their vision of part as part [2:52:13 PM] of their vision of part as part of their vision will be significant places of intergenerational and economic diversity and vitality important for healthy aging. And because we believe in an affordable ownership model for senior housing over that of affordable apartments under ownership of an absentee landlord, boomers collaborative advocates for cooperative housing for seniors instead of condominiums. Housing cooperatives are egalitarian. Every member, regardless of investment, gets one vote and democracy and engagement are embedded in their processes. They generally cost less because there are fewer closing costs. Members may buy shares in a cooperative housing organization that owns the building instead of buying a unit. Cooperative shareholders then have a right to occupy a unit under a proprietary lease, where all unit maintenance and repair expenses are the responsibility of the cooperative, not the resident. This is especially [2:53:14 PM] resident. This is especially appealing to those of us who are elder orphaned women in organizations like ours. Can reach and serve more people through joint tenancy. In some two bedroom or larger units. And why do we promote limited equity, housing cooperatives? I'm sorry, and why do we promote limited equity cooperative housing for seniors in particular? And I'm sorry I'm not on the slides or not there. Okay groups form limited equity. Limited equity housing cooperatives so organizations can conserve housing affordability for the long run. And so member beneficiaries can build equity, albeit limited, in their housing share and take advantage of typical home ownership benefits, including homestead exemptions. Briefly, we anticipate the following positive outcomes. Monthly housing costs will be low in comparison to market rate. Housing participating seniors will very likely experience improved vitality and vigor [2:54:16 PM] improved vitality and vigor because the cooperative model demands engagement, participating seniors will have the capacity to buy in bulk, barter among themselves, and negotiate senior services for reduced costs to all. And the model encourages a mixed income community for balanced fiscal health. Seniors 65 and older wanting or needing jobs part or full time will have the opportunity, will have opportunities on site and or nearby, including opportunities for job sharing within the community. This means participating seniors can continue to contribute to the local economy, which we believe is another important positive outcome. And then finally, because we believe mixed use settings near transit centers and shared housing approaches are best for serving, many of today's seniors, especially those of us identifying as elder orphans. We ask the city council to prioritize shared housing models for seniors, especially limited equity cooperative housing within Austin area tods [2:55:17 PM] housing within Austin area tods at transit stations and neighborhoods important to seniors doing so will set us up so we may collaborate to help ourselves and each other and reduce funding and staffing stresses on area transportation and senior services providers. Importantly, because technical assistance will be essential for success, boomers collaborative also encourages the city to expand the existing cooperative housing coaching program available through the economic development department. And because of the hybrid nature of housing cooperatives, perhaps do so in collaboration with the housing department. Many thanks for your time and attention. >> Thank you much, any questions? I personally am really interested in in seeing how many more, thoughtful and new initiatives we can think of to, to help resolve some of these issues. You know, when I read statistics about, older [2:56:18 PM] statistics about, older individuals becoming and or, maintaining illness because of you know, things like isolation, you know, just really thinking about what community means to longevity is something that comes to mind. So looking forward to continuing this conversation. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, members, I'd like to thank our guests, first of all, for joining us today, I'd like to entertain a motion, but then also extend a request. So I'll start with the request component. The request is of staff, we're going to be entertaining a motion to, formalize resolutions that the planning committee brings before council. And so as an extension of that, that motion, I'd like to request that staff review these recommendations from the planning commission and provide us with a response at our next committee meeting, so that the committee can take action on a formal resolution to council. So the motion is, also, I'll extend [2:57:20 PM] the motion is, also, I'll extend the motion to request that staff, review these recommendations from the planning commission and provide us with a response at the next committee meeting. And, motioned by vice chair alter and seconded by council member Ellis. And so all in favor, looks like we're again unanimous. We're on a roll today. You guys, so thank you again to the planning commission and to boomers collaborative for presenting for us today. Really looking forward to following along this. And similar initiatives. I'm really grateful about the community centric process that our policymaking is going through. It's so critical to have, you know, the diversity of everybody's lived experience, contributed to the conversations around how we get us all housed and keep us all housed. We thoroughly appreciate the work that our planning commissioners do. I think sometimes folks [2:58:22 PM] do. I think sometimes folks forget that those are volunteer opportunities to serve the city, and that's one of those commissions that requires a lot of volunteer hours. So we're very grateful for their their help on that. So up next, we have item number eight. And we're going to discuss long range planning efforts by the planning department, looks like Erica leak is with us. This item was requested by council member qadri. This is a topic that my colleagues and I have discussed at council during the budget. And today we have the opportunity to hear an update on our long range planning efforts from our expert staff. And if you have any questions after, please feel free to holler out. >> Good afternoon everyone. >> Erica leak planning department. >> So planning department staff have begun working on a potential schedule for the department's long range planning efforts, >> And we will need cost estimates for some of those activities from consultants that will be on the forthcoming planning consultant bench and those cost estimates will inform [2:59:23 PM] those cost estimates will inform what work will be feasible for what funding amounts. So council will be considering that planning consultant bench on September 26th and then following the approval of the consulting bench, staff can begin the process of reviewing cost estimates for the planning activities, including the imagined Austin update, downtown Austin plan update seven eight 702 initiative etod planning district planning priority areas and other planning needs. So having that planning bench in place is really essential for us to be able to move forward with our planning activities, the planning consultant bench is also necessary for the update to the east Riverside corridor regulations, which were included on the ldc amendments Gantt chart, and we plan to return to you all in December with cost [3:00:23 PM] you all in December with cost estimates for some of those initiatives and a potential schedule of long range planning activities through 2026, I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Is that your bike? Okay. Please go ahead, >> I just want to thank everyone for their support on the, the budget I see that we had brought forward, on the on the downtown Austin plan update, and I'm looking forward to hearing from staff before the end of the year on next steps, scoping and funding, you know, as we heard from a lot of the speakers who came today, downtown is an economic engine for the city when it comes to tax revenue, when it comes to looking at things like funding for housing, especially for homelessness response system. But it's also neighborhood, a great neighborhood to build the visitors and residents alike, you know, I was a downtown resident for five years, and we heard from Phil, who's been in downtown residence since 1992, and I think the success of [3:01:23 PM] and I think the success of Austin is very much tied to the success of downtown. And we need to make sure that we address quality of life issues for residents, protect and enhance our cultural districts, and keep on improving the experiences for folks who walk, bike and take transit. So I'm grateful for staff's time on this, on this item, and I'm looking forward to making sure that it stays a priority for our for our district, for our city as we move forward. That's it. No questions. >> Thank you very much. Thank you for your presentation, you guys, I'm realizing that I forgot to ask a question back on item number four. I think that was Steve Greathouse. Thank you. And I'll try to make it a brief question, one of the things I was curious about, you know, with the presentation of the chart, I'm, interested in an update and or progress report on what we were calling. We're calling agricultural housing now, where should we include that or where should we [3:02:23 PM] that or where should we anticipate that that would be included? Could it be a part of the chart, or would it be a consideration that lives elsewhere? Yeah, sure. >> Eventually it could be so right now. And, Erica can actually come back up and give us very specific answers, since she's overseeing the overall program. But right now, staff is completing research and analysis related to that resolution, and developing the scope of work in general. That could include potential recommendations for code amendments. So if code amendments come out as a recommendation, those would absolutely be, requested to be initiated by council and added to the Gantt chart, the code amendments, Gantt chart, if the agrifoods research and analysis ends up recommending a scope of work that includes developing a long range plan that would be added to the kind of the long range planning activities that Erica is speaking to, and it it may also be, you know, kind of part of what we're looking at. The scoping for as we come back in December to provide council with an update on where we're at on all things long range planning aggregates could [3:03:24 PM] planning aggregates could absolutely be part of that conversation as well. >> That's good to know. Thank you. I think that helps to guide our actions moving forward. Did you have any questions about item number eight? We were discussing the long range planning. All righty. Thank you. Thank you. Okie dokie. All right, it looks like we are at the very bottom of our agenda today. And that is to identify items to discuss at future housing and planning committee meetings, for myself, I believe a couple things that I was, well, actually, you know what? Let's start with my colleagues, and then I'll, vice chair alter, thank you very much. >> And very informative meeting today. It's, good to see all this going on. I'm excited to see what's coming in the future. But as part of that discussion, there are three things that I was hoping we could discuss, two of them are updates on [3:04:25 PM] of them are updates on information that has been sent to council. The first is the student housing. Was just hoping we could get a briefing or update on. There were recommendations within that memo, but are these recommendations being pursued? Is that something council needs to be working on? Just helping us understand how we can move forward on that student housing item? Second, on the home relocation just better understanding what is being implemented. If there is any follow on work that needs to be done, but would just like to get some more information on that. And then last, would love to be able to set up a panel and we can certainly work more together in with staff about alternative housing construction materials. So whether that's mass timber or hemp or whatever, I would love to just be able to have a conversation about other options that we have, both from a sustainability perspective, but also what barriers might exist [3:05:26 PM] also what barriers might exist in the codes or processes to get these built. I know other communities are doing it, and I've got the opportunity to go see a mass timber project here in Austin. It's really cool, but we'd love to have a further discussion about that. So looking forward to fun conversations here in the fall. >> Thank you very much. I look forward to those as well. Any other council member? >> Ellis just mentioned on the topic of alternative building materials and more sustainable building materials. I know there's been some conversations around, our uses of driveways, pervious materials, decks, pavers, things of that conversation where I think maybe we could get really creative as a city and find ways to, allow people and tell people how they can best utilize these materials and to be able to maximize the impact of the footprint. So I [3:06:26 PM] impact of the footprint. So I know as we look at people being able to subdivide lots, which we know is coming back to us, people being able to build more on long, skinny plots of land, bigger lots. I think it's a great conversation for us to figure out, how do we kind of make the best of both worlds? Can we be more flexible with the outdoor living space? If people want to have decks where it allows them to have more meals outside and things like that, you know, how can we maximize the conversation around getting creative in sustainable materials and helping people make the most of trying to put more housing on smaller footprints? I think it's a great conversation, and I know we've both been interested in that for a while, so maybe we could have a conversation about those in tandem. The building materials and the two dimensional that ends up, you know, on the lawn, on the rocks and how that conversation plays out. >> I think that that's awesome to put those together, council member qadri did you have any items? >> I did not. >> Okay. And so that actually [3:07:27 PM] >> Okay. And so that actually sort of leads right into one of the ones that I would like to bring forward about. I guess, sort of best utilizing our resources. And so along the lines of building materials, I'd like to have, a pretty comprehensive conversation around our options with modular housing, so this specific one, the plug in houses have been deployed out at with the other ones foundation at camp Esperanza. And, you know, if you're not familiar, it's, you know, basically five panels, it's a roof, four walls. And, you know, the, the subflooring and it's one big giant Allen wrench and you go click, click, click, click, click, click click click. So for people and a couple hours for less than $20,000 can fabricate a 300 square foot living quarters. And so I'd really just like to dig [3:08:30 PM] so I'd really just like to dig into how much more we could be doing there, for affordability and perpetual affordability and easy construction. And frankly, how fast can we get it up? I know we have some relationships with folks already, but really want to dig into what other relationships do we have or could we create to really start looking at modular and prefabricated construction as options to help to address our our housing crisis, along those lines, a question there. Okay, along those lines, I, I'm trying to figure out what are we calling it? Wright pop up makes it sound almost trivial, you know, like a canopy, it's housing. It's safe, insulated shelter. And so I'm just not sure what to call it, so kind of leaning on my colleagues for some ideas there. And then farming and floodplains, I'd really like to bring that conversation back. Also, we have [3:09:30 PM] conversation back. Also, we have some, I think it's cricket fields in a floodplain, but who could potentially build housing, and so. I'm sorry, do some agriculture. And so just really wanting to see how we can better utilize, the land that we have access to that's in our portfolio, but we can't use for housing, feels like, you know, we're missing some opportunities there. And last but not least, I'm looking at a couple programs out of Philadelphia and Baltimore where they're repurposing, what otherwise would have been commercial structures into workforce housing. So all these big empty buildings sitting downtown with folks who need to go work at these hotels and on construction projects in various parts of downtown who are driving in from manor and Harker heights and San Marcos, just really wanting to lean in on how we can do more with existing structures. To use for specifically workforce [3:10:35 PM] for specifically workforce housing, our, our workers have to be able to live closer to town if they're going to continue to have to work in town, and I think that was the last of mine. And then you had an item, councilmember Ellis, I did think of another one. >> I know that staff is undertaking the next iteration of imagine Austin and seeing what improvements or updates or tweaks need to be made since it was adopted in 2012. And so I just wanted that to be on our radar. I know there's a lot of community conversations yet to take place, but this document was well vetted when it was first adopted. It's been a guiding principle for us for a long time, and a lot of the subsequent documents that we've approved as a diocese, we've been able to wrap into them to make sure that all of our planning is in in sequence with each other. And so I'm excited to hear that that is taking place and just want to know kind of the right cadence for housing and planning committee to take those up and understand how things are moving along and how the community conversations are going. >> I think that's a great addition. As well. Colleagues, any other questions or items to [3:11:36 PM] any other questions or items to bring up while we have staff? That doesn't look like it. Alrighty, in which case I think, well, I wanted to say, I know that we postponed the northeast planning district item, but I just wanted to restate my excitement for an update on our progress from our city, county collaborative work group, and I'm really looking forward to hearing and seeing more on that. Really significant initiative in the coming months, and with that, I suppose. Thank you all for joining us. And at 3:12 P.M, with no further discussion, the meeting of the housing and planning committee is adjourned.