Austin leaders advanced a vision of walkable neighborhoods with more diverse housing, approving a trio of resolutions that will encourage development previously encumbered by city code.
Allowing front-yard businesses, capping off-street parking for apartment complexes and expanding “missing middle housing” are among the changes the Austin City Council approved to promote a more affordable, pedestrian-friendly city. Council members passed the measures on Thursday after hearing from lifelong Austinites who hoped the changes could offer a path back to the once-affordable, now out-of-reach neighborhoods surrounding downtown. Critics maintain an expensive and convoluted permitting process will continue to hinder progress despite the changes.
“There are a lot of issues with trying to add housing to properties that have nothing to do with the zoning code,” Katie Kam, a civil engineer, told council members on Thursday. “Going through the City of Austin’s process requires a lot of time, looking at a lot of regulations and … a lot of fees.”
While Kam told them she supports the creation of more affordable housing, she said an evaluation of existing housing policies is needed to ensure those are working.
“It is difficult for existing homeowners to take advantage of opportunities, to add a unit to a lot because of city and professional service fees,” she said. “Projects to add housing can stall because the residential landowner does not have enough money to finish the expensive process.”
Despite some opposition, City Council approved the resolutions aimed at promoting density and walkability. The measures include initiating changes to the city’s land development code to make it easier to build missing middle housing, such as townhomes and cottage courts, that serve as a step between single-family homes and large apartment complexes. Council also directed the city manager to explore implementing parking maximums near transit and passed a resolution to help prospective entrepreneurs operate small businesses on their properties.
“The biggest thing that we’re most excited for was the missing middle package,” said Zach Faddis, president of urbanist advocacy group AURA. “It’s giving people more options for how they choose to live out their lives in our city.”
Faddis said Austin’s land development code is geared toward single-family homes and large apartment complexes, making it more difficult and burdensome to build anything else.
In addition to making neighborhoods known for pricey single-family homes more accessible, Faddis said the initiative could create more development opportunities for people who would not have the resources to build housing under current rules.
Now that the resolution has passed, Austin’s city manager will explore ways to create the missing middle housing through future amendments to the development code.
More businesses, fewer cars
Austin City Council also endorsed a new program that would allow small business owners to operate at home out of 200-square-foot accessory commercial units, their front yards or on their porches. The resolution explicitly prohibits the sale of tobacco products.
“Shrinking the footprint means shrinking the startup cost,” said Ryan Puzycki, who is on the city’s Zoning and Platting Commission. “It kind of removes these high-risk, high-capital barriers that deter would-be entrepreneurs.”
Puzycki, who owned a small business for a decade, said the program would allow entrepreneurs to test out ideas without fronting the enormous costs typically associated with starting a business. He added it could also bring more character to neighborhoods.
“I’m fortunate to live in central East Austin, where I can walk to (coffee shops), but a lot of neighborhoods just don’t have the opportunity to go to anything, and so everything has to be car-dependent,” he said.
But not everyone was thrilled with the idea. Some testified before City Council about concerns over what types of businesses could open in their neighborhoods and the potential for increased traffic.
Puzycki said the goal for these businesses is to encourage people to walk rather than drive, and that existing nuisance ordinances should prevent major issues.
“Until everything really has something in the neighborhood you can walk to,” he said, “everybody has to get in their car.”
‘The path to salvation’
As a third swing towards a more walkable, affordable city, the Austin City Council also approved a resolution directing the city manager to explore code changes that would limit how much off-street parking developers can build along planned light rail corridors.
If approved, more property near transit could be dedicated to housing instead of vast expanses of parking, a move that was celebrated by multimodal advocates.
The resolution states there would be several exceptions to the proposed parking maximums, including underground parking, parking designed for future conversion into other uses and sharing parking facilities with other developments.
“It’s crucial to get the land use right around light rails (so) that we are maximizing our investment in this infrastructure,” said Adam Greenfield, the interim executive director of Safe Streets Austin. “It will maximize walkability, bikeability … Parking reform is the path to salvation here.”
