It's unfortunately been a rough year for Cap Metro. After a few years of post-pandemic ridership recovery, ridership numbers are now heading in the wrong direction

Another big rezoning near Koenig & Airport was just filed. The applicant wants to convert a parking lot w/ accessory office space to a 650 unit apartment w/ 250' height limit.

Three years ago, Austin elected me to fight for a more affordable, more just Austin. We’ve delivered real change – even when the state pushed back. I’m running for re-election to keep fighting for our future. zoforaustin.com

The City of Austin is seeking community input on three design alternatives for Sixth Street. Conversion to a two-way street is not among the options. www.speakupaustin.org/sixthstreet H/T @kutnathan.bsky.social

University Neighborhood Overlay updates delayed again to November so city staff can continue addressing UT's concerns services.austintexas.gov/edims/docume...

After AISD authorized the sale of Rosedale Elementary School this spring, a developer has requested a rezoning to MF-6 so they can build 435 units. A few years ago AISD proposed retaining ownership and single family homes (lol) or a smaller scale apartment building.

A few properties in the Crestview TOD received final approval for an upzoning from 60' to 160' today

In response to SB840, Plano added multifamily residential as an allowed use in all commercial zones, and also updated all multifamily zones to: - Remove density, FAR, lot coverage limits - Increase height limit to 45 ft - Reduce front yard requirement to 25 ft - Reduce parking requirement to 1/unit

Cap Metro would be second to last on this chart with 17.6 riders per hour.

PUD amendment filed to increase height limit from 160' to 300' @ 1012 Concordia Ave in Hancock. Developer wants to build 400 units on 1.1 acres.

Developer just submitted a rezoning to build 750 units with a max height of 180 ft on Mopac. That's fine I guess but maybe we should fix ETOD so building near transit is more lucrative than highway oriented development.

There's been talk of increasing impervious cover in a future phase of HOME but I've come around to the idea that we should increase height limits instead

SB840 is already having an impact in North Loop. An applicant initially wanted to add MU-V zoning to a commercial lot so they could build a 5 story apartment. SB840 allows the same thing without extra requirements so they dropped the rezoning. www.austintexas.gov/department/c...

UT is building the new 1000-bed Whitis dorm at incredible speed. Looks like they're using prefab panels for all of the floor plates and exterior walls - haven't seen that in Austin before.

142 unit project on a 10k sq ft lot broke ground right next to UT campus. It's not pretty but it's nice to see anything this tall break ground these days.

An exceedingly rare 6 unit project was just completed in Highland (700 Denson Dr). Only 1 parking spot per unit!

Wow. For context, MF-5 in Austin only allows 54 dwelling units per acre. Adding this to the list of reasons our MF zoning needs a rework.

I was beginning to think the city would never defeat a Save Our Springs lawsuit www.kut.org/austin/2025-...

This 500 ft rezoning south of downtown received final approval yesterday www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2025...

Staff have pruned their recommendation to funding just two of the caps, which seems reasonable given the trade-offs.

ETOD Phase 2 adoption was just delayed from June to December and the downtown density bonus update was moved from 12-2025 to 12-2026 services.austintexas.gov/edims/docume...

🫠 www.kxan.com/news/texas/f...

5-story single-stair is now THE LAW OF THE LAND in the city of Austin! Passes 10 to 1! @stephenjacobsmith.com @holz-bau.bsky.social @seanjurs.bsky.social

Big turnout at the Austin #HandsOff rally

Bills filed to remove a few CVCs northeast of the capitol communityimpact.com/austin/south...

Look at this, Austin. Legislators are pushing for EIGHT story single-stair buildings! We've got to go for *at least* six floors for single-stair buildings.

This one could be a pretty big deal. It would increase Austin's housing unit capacity by 46k alone. Here's the staff report on Austin's overturned residential in commercial ordinance: services.austintexas.gov/edims/docume...

The UNO revisions would increase the theoretical max population from 56k to 83k. Obviously there are many reasons we'll never reach that population count but still interesting. Current population is ~28k. services.austintexas.gov/edims/docume...

I wonder how much the new Wildland-Urban Interface boundaries will impact building costs. It'll simultaneously push development into the urban core (good) but also beyond city limits (bad). www.kut.org/energy-envir...

58 micro units are planned for a 4800 sq ft lot in West Campus. 8 stories and just 11 parking spots.

It's past time to eliminate FAR and minimum site area requirements for MF-3 and above. Single-stair buildings will enable higher density and FAR while still complying with the recent code amendment requiring bedrooms to be provided with natural light.

The new QR scanners are great, way more responsive than the old ones. Still looking forward to just tapping my credit card though.

Considering there's an LRT station and transit mall planned (🤞🏻) at 29th the Transit Core district really ought to be mapped there too

Survey for the University Neighborhood Overlay update is out! Staff propose amending the borders and boosting height limits in all of the subdistricts. I think council should push harder on the boundaries but the increased density is great to see. publicinput.com/w11878

Great example of the impact of the Affordability Unlocked compatibility waiver @ 1309 Chicon. Without the waiver a quarter of the lot would be in the no-build buffer and another quarter would be limited to 40 ft.

Big news from this week’s city council meeting: It’s now illegal to park in bike lanes! 🚴🏽‍♂️ Keep scrolling to watch my statement from the dais and read the great piece from @kutnews.bsky.social

Looks like Cady Lofts is almost ready to open. 100 permanent supportive housing units in Hancock www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2022...

Site prep has begun for the Hangar development in North Loop. 470 apartments spread across two phases. Sure hope they stocked up on their Canadian lumber.

"Teslas will be in the wild, with no-one in them, in Austin, in June" Elon Musk makes this sound like a terrifying threat

Yesterday I submitted comments urging CTRMA to limit the MoPac South expansion to a single express lane. You can read about that and my other recommendations below or by clicking the link here: assets.austintexas.gov/austincounci...

new hike and bike trail bridge ribbon cutting over waller creek - this part of waterloo greenway's phase II they had some trail goats eat through the ribbon in place of scissors

Honorable City Council, Commissioners, and Staff: DANA supports single-stair reform as part of the city’s local amendments to the International Building Code. We oppose regulations that limit the feasibility of single-stair buildings up to 85 feet or up to seven stories. 🧵

Game-plan... Subject to change. All signs point to accumulating snow from Central to Southeast Texas Monday night through Tuesday morning. Disaster? No. Hazardous travel? Yes. Winter wonderland? Here's to hoping

📣 The #ATXCouncil will consider changes to the Land Development Code including an overhaul of short-term rental regulations & preservation bonus used for HOME.  Give your feedback through listening sessions and public input! More info found at publicinput.com/DSDNotice.

BREAKING: The curtain is finally lifting on Austin's long-planned light-rail system. ATP just released a detailed report on the planned 9.8-mile route. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will be open to comment for 60 days. atptx.org/milestones/a... Story coming..

Waterloo Records is planning to move to 1105 N Lamar before SXSW 2025 www.austinchronicle.com/music/2025-0...

Two PDA rezonings with 120 ft height limits filed near the end of E Cesar Chavez. More than 1500 units planned between the two projects.

New MLK/Springdale/Heflin intersection just dropped. I like it, only comment is that I wish the MLK/Springdale slip lane had a raised pedestrian crosswalk.

Another rezoning filed just west of downtown, this time for a 300 unit DB90 project. Feels like every other lot in this area is getting rezoned.

Cap Metro is FINALLY going to support tap to pay with cards / apple pay / google pay in 2025. They're also retiring the Cap Metro app in favor of the Transit app for navigation and Umo for payments. www.capmetro.org/fares-passes...