City Council postponed two of the marquee items on the agenda of its April 21 meeting, saying that in both cases, the city needed to provide more information to citizens before taking a vote.
The first postponement, on amending the city’s vertical mixed-use density bonus program – which allows developers to build above the entitled height of a particular zoning district in exchange for community benefits such as income-restricted housing – was already agreed to at Council’s Tuesday, April 19, work session. Council Member Chito Vela proposed two amendments to the VMU2 ordinance that would let developers waive parking requirements and compatibility standards that restrict building height near single-family homes. Builders say that relaxing those two rules would greatly boost housing output from the VMU program, but they would represent significant changes to how land is used in Austin, so some CMs, including the ordinance’s primary author, Ann Kitchen, urged postponement.
June 9 is the earliest the VMU2 ordinance will return to Council for a vote; before then, CMs are likely to hold a work session in May to have a focused discussion on the ordinance and proposed amendments. Staff analysis of Austin’s existing compatibility standards found they would restrict 67% of sites currently zoned VMU from building to the new proposed maximum height of 90 feet. Staff also studied similar rules in Denver, Seattle, and Atlanta and found Austin’s to be “significantly more restrictive.” In Atlanta, which uses a mix of uses and zoning districts to trigger compatibility like Austin does, a building can reach 110 feet of height within 100 feet of a triggering building’s property line; in Austin, the same building could not be taller than 40 feet.
Most builders would agree that compatibility restricts housing capacity, even if they agree with the intended purpose of such rules – protecting single-family homeowners from increased density. In the same analysis, staff also argued that reducing minimum parking requirements “may facilitate additional residential housing options and transit-supportive density.”
But without the simultaneous implementation of parking maximums, reducing parking minimums would not “significantly impact housing capacity or affordability,” because developers of properties not along the actual Project Connect rail lines (as opposed to the dozens of streets in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan‘s transit priority network, where VMU is supposed to be easiest) would not take the risk of not building enough parking. However, developers who are willing to limit their car storage, like those offering heavily subsidized rental units enabled by Affordability Unlocked, another popular density bonus program, would leap at the chance to reduce required parking. Housing built in already dense neighborhoods, like those in West Campus, would also likely take advantage of relaxed parking requirements.
Council also agreed to postpone consideration of a pilot program to provide 85 households with $1,000 of guaranteed income for one year. Funding for the program was approved in this year’s budget, but some CMs had unanswered questions about how participants would be selected; how UpTogether, the nonprofit which would administer the program, would track program performance; and how participants would be transitioned to other services to maintain financial stability once they no longer have access to the guaranteed income.
The item was postponed to Council’s May 5 meeting after a unanimous vote, although CM Vanessa Fuentes, who has championed the program, voiced her frustration. “I am disappointed that we are postponing this item,” she said. “This recommendation comes from our community, is rooted in our community, [and will help] those who need it the most.”
This article appears in April 29 • 2022.