CodeNEXT: Austin Land Development Code Update

WHAT IS CodeNEXT? CodeNEXT is the new City of Austin initiative to revise the Land Development Code, which determines how land can be used throughout the city – including what can be built, where it can be built, and how much can (and cannot) be built. The process is a collaboration between Austin’s residents, business community, and civic institutions to align our land use standards and regulations with what is important to the community. This initiative to revise the Land Development Code is a priority program out of Imagine Austin, our plan for the future adopted by City Council in 2012.

*A note on terminology: ZONING is part of the LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE (LDC). The Land Development Code is the set of rules and processes that guides how land is used and developed in the city of Austin. Austin’s Land Development Code regulates new development, redevelopment, zoning, subdivisions, transportation and parking, outdoor signs, site plans, drainage, watershed protection, open space, &c.

1. Euclidean zoning separates different land uses and concentrates similar land uses into distinct areas or zones. For example, single-family housing is concentrated in one area, multi-family in another, retail uses in another, and industrial uses in another.
2. Performance zoning regulates the effects or impact of land uses on surrounding properties through performance standards. Key elements of Performance zoning include number of vehicle trips, density or noise levels.
3. Negotiated zoning evolved out of the perceived rigidity of Euclidean zoning and allows landowners to vary uses and development standards in a zoning ordinance through a negotiated process. When approved, this type of zoning becomes a “mini-zoning ordinance” that regulates development of the site.
4. Form based codes are a zoning tool that utilize a community’s unique characteristics of walkable urban development patterns, or the existing DNA of a place, as the framework for a code to foster compatible, predictable, high-quality built results.
5. Hybrid zoning is a catch-all which refers to regulations that combine various aspects of all the zoning models discussed above. There are hundreds of approaches to combining types of zoning codes. In fact, it is safe to say that no two hybrid zoning systems are the same.

DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION

1. CodeNEXT is the process of aligning Austin’s LDC with “Imagine Austin,” the city’s comprehensive plan.
2. CodeNEXT progressed through several phases during 2013 and 2014
   1. Listening to the Community
   2. Community Character Manual
   3. Land Development Code Diagnosis
3. The City of Austin’s CodeNEXT team, which includes staff from multiple departments and consultants, is busy drafting and refining code elements. Virtually the entire LDC will be re-written or revised, including chapters relating to requirements and procedures, zoning, subdivision, site plan, transportation, drainage, environment, and others.
4. The draft code will be released for public review and comment on Feb 1st 2017.  
5. After an extensive review and comment period, the draft code will be revised in accordance with the feedback received, and delivered for City Council potential adoption.
6. Once the code is adopted, the city will adopt a new Zoning Map to implement the zoning elements of the code.

FOUR PRESCRIPTION PAPERS WILL SHAPE THE DISCUSSION

1. Natural and Built Environment
2. Household Affordability
3. Mobility
4. Fiscal Health

These Code Prescriptions represent a preview of the specific direction being taken in the new code as well as “conversation starters” to gather community feedback on whether these Prescriptions accurately reflect community values expressed in Imagine Austin. While the Code Prescription papers will not be revised based on feedback received, the feedback will be used to shape the new code.

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2. HOUSEHOLD AFFORDABILITY, summary

Missing Middle Housing is a term used to describe a range of housing types fairly rare in Austin: occupying the spectrum between detached single-family housing and large multi-family housing products. Missing Middle Housing provides a range of housing types with incremental increases in density ranging from accessory dwelling units, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, courtyard housing, bungalow courts, townhomes, multiplexes, live/work units, studios or “micro units” as well as those offering larger units, with multiple bedrooms for family households. Missing middle housing is typically found in walkable communities, can have higher density than what we actually perceive due to their small nature, and can blend into many types of neighborhoods due to their scale and form.

• THE ISSUE IS SUPPLY.
  1. It is important to note that as land prices go up, allowing more units to be developed on a parcel allows those costs to be divided among those units, and thus be more affordable. If a single-family home is all that the code allows to be built on an expensive piece of land, the market provides a really expensive, large single-family home, and nothing else. (13)
  2. In the last five years, median home prices in the city have gone up nearly 50% while the median household income has increased 2.5%. In 2015, the average priced home became the highest in Austin’s history. (9)
  3. A family making the median income can no longer qualify for a loan to buy a median priced home in Austin. (9)

 

• DRACONIAN ZONING LAWS PROHIBIT DENSITY BECAUSE TRADITIONAL DEVELOPMENT DESTROYS ‘CHARACTER.’
  1. Current regulations focus on houses per acre (depends on zone)
  2. And minimum lot size 5750 sq’ (SF) and 8000 sq’ (MF).
  3. Regulating setback heights will generate graceful transitions between mid-rise development and SF zoned neighborhoods. (25)

 

• WE CAN MAINTAIN CHARACTER BY SWITCHING TO FORM BASED CODES.
  1. These measures prohibit the desired “missing middle” type of housing unit.
  2. Form based codes can compensate for the increase of density and maintain aesthetic appeal of the single-family neighborhood. These standards include building placement, height, mass, impervious cover, parking placement, lot width, open space, landscaping &c. (24)

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1. CodeNEXT Natural & Built Environment Prescription PDF
File Size:	6519 kb
File Type:	pdf

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2. CodeNEXT Housing & Affordability Prescription PDF
File Size:	11470 kb
File Type:	pdf

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3. CodeNEXT Mobility Prescription PDF
File Size:	3934 kb
File Type:	pdf

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4. CodeNEXT Fiscal Health Prescription PDF
File Size:	6145 kb
File Type:	pdf

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CodeNEXT Draft — February 2017 PDF
File Size:	73893 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Current Austin Zoning Guidelines
File Size:	956 kb
File Type:	pdf

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