A PATH Forward for CodeNEXT?

Perhaps the most interesting part of Tuesday's press conference announcing a "PATH Forward" on CodeNEXT from Council Members Leslie Pool, Alison Alter, Kathie Tovo, and Ora Houston, was the sight of Jimmy Flannigan's Communications Director (and former Chronicle senior editor) Kate Messer ushering reporters to the District 6 CM (who was stationed nearby) for a counterpoint presser on the proposed zoning rewrite.

The quartet's new proposal, named PATH for the first letters in their surnames, calls for a "community driven" code that Tovo said creates a "livable Austin for everyone." The proposal was light on specifics, but did hint at a series of amendments that Pool said they expect to release sometime this week. Surrounded in City Hall's media room by members of anti-CodeNEXT group Community Not Commodity, the four CMs were adamant about supporting affordable housing and supplying sufficient housing stock while also ensuring existing neighborhoods remain protected from unwanted changes.

Flannigan later agreed that, as a high-level objective, he and his colleagues are in agreement on a need for "accessible housing" and a "sustainable, equitable" future in Austin. The hard part, he said, is deciding which tools "we need to get there."

The dueling press conferences came nearly a week after Council's last CodeNEXT work session, wherein members spent the day discussing, debating, and talking around topics somewhat related to affordable housing. Some members, from both sides of the rewrite's glaring divide, expressed exasperation with the current process of identifying consensus goals for the new land use code to achieve. Tovo suggested taking the draft chapter by chapter (Flannigan and Delia Garza concurred); Houston reminded her colleagues about the need to also discuss non-zoning related chapters; and Garza and Greg Casar reiterated their wish to begin digging into the details. Mayor Steve Adler suggested CMs prepare statements or amendments "daylighting" issues they hope to address sooner rather than later.

Council's tentatively scheduled to resume CodeNEXT next Tuesday and Wednesday, and the fact that they don't currently intend to take the topic up next Thursday suggests that no action will be taken before their summer break, as they'd originally intended.