Resources

We’ve compiled a list of internal and external resources to provide Austinites with the information needed to help stay updated on the Land Development Code Revision process.

Jump to section: Additional Resources | Memos and Documents | Meeting Videos | Public Testing | Envision Tomorrow | Citywide Affordable Housing Bonus Program (AHBP) | Corresponding Plans

 

Additional Resources

These are supplemental documents related to the Land Development Code Revision.

Memos and Documents

These are memos and other official documents related to the Land Development Code Revision.

Meeting Videos

These are recordings of City Council and Boards & Commissions discussions related to the Land Development Code Revision. For a list of all past events related to the Land Development Code Revision, visit the Past Events page. 

• Feb. 5, 2020, City Council Special Called Work Session
Staff discusses (Morning Session) Environmental Updates (Drainage & Water Quality, Parks, and Trees); and Site Plan/Process. (Afternoon Session) Preservation Incentive; Calculating FAR; House-Scale Residential Testing & FAR Calibration (Data Analysis & Modeling); and Multi-Unit and Mixed-Use (Modeling & Compatibility) | Morning Presentation | Afternoon Presentation

• Feb. 4, 2020, City Council Work Session
Staff discusses a Status Update (Timeline & Supplemental Staff #3 Overview); Mapping Overview; Density Bonus Program Overview; and Housing Capacity Overview | Presentation

• Jan. 28, 2020, Housing and Planning Committee Meeting
Staff discusses an Overview of Staff Report #3; Upcoming Schedule – Work Sessions and 2nd Reading; Missing Middle Zone Standards; and Housing Capacity | Presentation

• Dec. 3, 2019, City Council Work Session
Staff discusses Property Taxes (with Travis County Appriasal District, Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler); Overview of LDC Base Motion Options; Supplemental Staff Report #2; Preservation; Incentive and; Housing Capacity | Presentation

• Nov. 18, 2019, City Council Special Called Meeting
Staff discusses Planning Commission Recommendation Overview including, Refinement to Residential Zones (RM1, R4, R2); Refinement to Mapping; Transition Areas; High Opportunity Areas; and Preview of Nov. 25 2nd Supplemental Staff Report | Presentation

• Nov. 6, 2019, Planning Commission Special Called Meeting
Discussion and possible action of adoption of a comprehensive revision to the Land Development Code.

• Nov. 5, 2019, Mobility Committee Meeting
Staff discusses an overview of the Land Development Code Revision; Council's policy direction; Parking; Transportation Demand Management; Transportation Impact Analysis; and Next Steps  | Presentation

• Nov. 5, 2019, Planning Commission Special Called Meeting
Discussion and possible action of adoption of a comprehensive revision to the Land Development Code.

• Oct. 29, 2019, Planning Commission Special Called Meeting
Discussion and possible action of adoption of a comprehensive revision to the Land Development Code.

• Oct. 26, 2019, Planning Commission Public Hearing
Land Development Code Revision Conduct a public hearing regarding adoption of a comprehensive revision to the Land Development Code.

• Oct. 22, 2019, Planning Commission Meeting
Discussion regarding matters related to the revision of the City of Austin Land Development Code including but not limited to staff updates, presentations and scheduling.

• Oct. 8, 2019, City Council Special Called Meeting (Joint Housing and Planning Committee Meeting)
Staff discusses Timeline; Housing Capacity; Affordable Unit Capacity; Affordable Housing Bonus Program (AHBP) Development; City Council District Capacity; Housing Capacity Report Card;and Next Steps | Presentation

• Oct. 1, 2019, City Council Work Session
Staff discusses Public Participation; Post-Release Process

• Sept. 26, 2019, City Council Special Called Meeting
Staff discusses Drainage and Water Quality; Administrative and Permitting Process Chapters | Presentation

• Sept. 18, 2019, City Council Work Session
Staff discusses October public activities | Presentation

• Sept. 11, 2019, City Council Special Called Meeting
Update on Mapping (Market Rate Affordable Multifamily, Non-Transition Area Mapping, Neighborhood Conservation Combining Districts (NCCDs), Conditional Overlays (COs)); Housing Capacity/Yield Analysis; Affordable Housing Bonus Program  | Presentation

• Aug. 28, 2019, City Council Special Called Meeting
Update on Transition Area Mapping Methodology (Compatibility); Downtown; Parking | Presentation

• Aug. 21, 2019, Mobility Committee Meeting
Process update, including discussion of Transportation Impact Analyses | Presentation

• Aug. 20, 2019, City Council Work Session
Re-cap of the Housing and Planning Committee meeting; General Approach to Housing Capacity | Presentation

• Aug. 13, 2019, Housing and Planning Committee Meeting
Zoning Categories; Residential Uses along Corridors; Preservation Incentive; Accessory Dwelling Units/Duplexes; Single-Family in Multifamily zones; Compliant Residential Use | Presentation

• Aug. 06, 2019, City Council Work Session
Staff update on the Land Development Code Revision; Process Timeline reveal | Presentation

• Apr. 25, 2019, City Council Regular Meeting
Council continued accepting public comment and deliberated on policy direction

• Apr. 23, 2019, City Council Work Session
Council discussed draft policy guidance and staff's response

• Apr. 11, 2019, City Council Regular Meeting
Council took public comment regarding the Land Development Revision Memo

• Mar. 26, 2019, City Council Work Session
City Manager Cronk presented a brief overview of the policy direction requested

Public Testing

On Friday, Oct. 19, 2019, the City staff held Public Testing session of the proposed Land Development Code. The event was an interactive exercise designed to explore how well the Land Development Code Revision Draft performs compared to our current code based on Council direction.

Public Testing allowed Austinites to better understand the proposed code, examine how the draft Code may affect design in a practical setting, and ultimately how well it will perform to meet Council directives. The information gathered from the excercised is be included in the Supplemental Staff Report for Planning Commission and Council review as they deliberate on the Code. 

Below are links to the original site renderings and testing results as marked up by City staff and the public. 

Envision Tomorrow

In May of 2019, Austin City Council adopted policy direction related to the Land Development Code Revision that included meeting a goal of providing enough housing capacity for three times the housing goal set forth in the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint.  Housing capacity of the current Land Development Code and the Land Development Code Revision were performed using an open-access scenario planning tool called Envision Tomorrow. The contents of this page are intended to provide documentation of the Envision Tomorrow modeling approach and assumptions used in the Housing Capacity Analysis of the City of Austin’s Land Development Code Revision (LDC).  

The Envision Tomorrow modeling documentation includes three components described below:

Component 1: Documentation Memorandum

The Documentation Memorandum provides a detailed overview of the Housing Capacity Analysis and all assumptions associated with the Envision Tomorrow model.  It can be downloaded here.

Component 2: Envision Tomorrow Building Prototype Libraries

The Documentation Memorandum refers to two libraries of Envision Tomorrow Building Prototypes used in the Housing Capacity Analysis. These libraries can be downloaded here. Note: in order to view these files, you must have Microsoft Excel 2007 or later installed.

Component 3: Summary Statistics

Summary statistics provide housing capacity estimates at a range of geographic scales.  These include housing capacity by zone and council district, and housing capacity by census block group.  Please note that a GIS software such as ArcGIS or QGIS is required to map the included census block group shapefiles. Summary statistics can be downloaded by clicking here.

Citywide Affordable Housing Bonus Program (AHBP)

About the AHBP

The proposed Affordable Housing Bonus Program (AHBP) creates opportunities to produce long term income-restricted affordable housing in all parts of Austin and in a variety of housing types without direct public subsidy. Because Texas law prohibits rent control, impact fees, and other mandatory affordable housing requirements, the City encourages developers to voluntarily set aside a portion of housing units as affordable by offering a bonus incentive. Learn more about the AHBP in this one-page summary. View the proposed map of areas eligible to participate in the AHBP (PDF) alongside areas covered by an affordable housing bonus program today.

How to Use the AHBP

Bonus incentives are uniquely calibrated to each zone eligible to participate in the AHBP and may include additional dwelling units, height, and/or floor-to-area ratio than would be allowed under the base zoning. Affordable housing set-aside requirements are proportional to the amount of the bonus used and vary by zone as well as by where the property is located within the city. The set-aside requirements for rental housing and for sale housing are available in separate map series. Use the AHBP Guide for a summary of program requirements, a step-by-step guide to calculating the affordable unit set-asides required in a development, and the proposed fees in lieu for affordable units and non-residential bonus square footage. The 2019 HUD income limits for the Austin area are available here for reference. 

How the AHBP was Calibrated

Learn more about how the AHBP was calibrated in this memo from the economic consultant, ECONorthwest. The memo summarizes the methodology used to calibrate and maximize feasible affordable housing capacity, including the data sources, approach, and rationales for program designs. For additional information about the methodology and development assumptions, including a real estate pro forma and local market data, download this workbook. Please note that inputs were based on 2017 data to allow for comparison with previous capacity analysis work.

Learn more about our work to calibrate the fees for LDC-Related Bonus Programs, including Downtown and the University Neighborhood Overlay (UNO), in this memo (PDF) and appendix (PDF) from the economic consultant, ECONorthwest. 

 

Corresponding plans

These are plans that outline a variety of goals for the City. The revised Land Development Code will align Austin development with those goals.