Hey Occupants! It went pretty well last night, as Chris Riley worked to compromise with both sides and make a deal, and our interests were represented mostly by Cheryl Cole and Bill Spellman, with strong support from Mayor Leffingwell. Heres what happened: 1. Council will consider this again in six weeks, based on a new affordability impact study made by an outside economist. 2. The current proposal limits housing occupancy to four only for new construction after the ordinance date 3. The proposal limits that occupancy reduction to the McMansion boundaries (austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Planning/residential_design_boundaries.pdf) but it seems there would be five votes for something smaller than that at the next meeting. Were going to have to work with the neighborhood groups on a compromise here. 4. The ordinance expires after two years, so were going to have to work hard in the CODE NEXT process. 5. At least three members seemed interested in rushing this through without an updated affordability study. They were Martinez, Tovo, and Morrison. I need support from people that get inspired looking at data and permits. Before Occupancy Austin, the Council had barely heard our side of the story. Last night, the room was split about half and half. We have more work to do, but have made a lot of progress.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 15:50:50 +0000