Return of the Prodigal Plans

A criticism regularly levied at the city involves its multitude of never-­ending planning efforts. But some years and millions of dollars later, several such efforts are coming home to roost this week, bringing with them so many presentations on various plans and proposals that City Council had to schedule an extra meeting.

Taking up the entirety of a specially called meeting Wednesday, Nov. 17, was a presentation of one of the city's longest-simmering efforts: the Downtown Austin Plan, the gears of which began churning back in 2005. Pieces of the proposal – which seeks to direct growth in the central business district by grouping areas into separate "districts" defined by character and use – have inspired controversy in the past, including the proposal of density bonuses for more intense development Downtown, a failure to adequately address the role of the Red River live music club scene, and more.

The final report calls for seven "transformation steps" in the next decade, including completing a "new generation" of Downtown parks threaded by a green, developed Waller Creek; completing the first phase of urban rail; improving and broadening Sixth Street's appeal; establishing a "Central City Economic Development Corporation" to boost the area; providing permanent supportive housing to Downtown's homeless denizens; and more.

Two additional presentations are scheduled for council's regular Thursday meeting, Nov. 18. One is a briefing from the African-American Resource Advisory Commission, the city group chaired by Chiquita Eugene, president/CEO of the Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce, and Vice Chair Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the NAACP. A second presentation concerns another Downtown issue: the new Central Library, to be built abutting the Seaholm redvelopment along Cesar Chavez. Shepley Bulfinch and Lake|Flato Architects should have some concepts on hand, but don't hold your breath – the city notes that the "design phase," which begins in January 2011, will run all the way through the summer of 2012, with a groundbreaking later that year and an opening some time in the first half of 2015. An encore presentation on the topic will be held much sooner: Monday, Nov. 22, 7pm, at the Austin History Center.

Believe it or not, there is one plan on which council is actually ready to take action instead of merely hearing it – that's the Parks and Recreation Department's "Long Range Plan for Land, Facilities, and Programs" (Item 26), which was pulled from the last meeting's agenda but is up for adoption this week. The 400-plus page document's executive summary includes – surprise! – aligning with the city's other plans (including the Austin Comprehensive Plan), conducting a needs assessment, developing parks in the North Burnet/Gateway region through the nascent Waller Creek district, integrating transit-oriented and vertical mixed-use development, and much, much more.