The Daily Hustle: 9/23/10 (Updated)

Before and After: Gateway/Kimley-Horn's work envisioning South Padre Island's namesake boulevard (Image courtesy Gateway Planning Group, Kimley-Horn & Assoc.)

Update: A full but largely uncontroversial agenda followed its natural course at City Council this morning, with the consent agenda and presentations from the three finalists tasked to develop form-based code zoning along Airport Boulevard taking up most the morning.

The highest profile item this morning, new regulations for mobile food vendors and food trailers, passed unanimously and largely without comment. Consultant Paul Saldana, retained by Snappy Snacks proprietor Tom Ramsey, implored the council to continue looking at the definition of a commissary, or central preparation facility, required under the rules as a place for food prep, saying there was “still more work to do.” Lee Leffingwell spoke to “call attention” to Saldana's remarks for city staff, but, as the Hustle has written, they should make sure too narrow a definition doesn't ignore the differences between truly mobile and stationary sellers.

The bulk of the morning was taken up by the three form-based code finalists: Gateway Planning Group/Kimley-Horn and Associates; Design Workshop; and McCann Adams Studio/Clarion, all vying to develop and implement the code in a trial-run along Airport. Lots of pretty pictures, and touting of community involvement ensued. Council award is scheduled for October 14, with the contract to be negotiated and executed in November.

Taking all the info in was kinda like drinking from a fire hose, so the Hustle will focus on council reaction: Chris Riley, proponent of the FBC-push, questioned how funding for needed infrastructure improvements (roads, sidewalks, etc.) could be funded before redevelopment (and potential funding mechanisms, a la tax increment financing and more) began. He also asked for their solutions to pedestrian safety, as making a well-traveled auto thoroughfare also accessible to walkers and cyclists poses unique problems. Moreover, it was apparent from the presentations that even the form which FBC would take wasn't set, potentially encompassing a supplement to land-based zoning, smart codes, zoning overlays and more.

Leffingwell had a different line of questioning. While the funding appropriated for the project, $478,000, was so high, calling the allotment “one of the priciest I've ever seen” for planning. However, the creation of a new zoning code staff's unfamiliar with is ambitious, and as Bill Spelman said, while it's “relatively expensive,” it's also a pilot program for zoning throughout the city.

One other agenda item came to the forefront this morning: the innocuous-seeming naming of a four-acre park in the Zilker neighborhood to Bluebonnet Park, after the street on which it resides. It rankled some neighbors, as they've always called it Little Zilker. Neighborhood activist and council gadfly Jeff Jack told council the naming process that came before the parks board wasn't “the whole information about the sentiment of the community.” [Indeed, the Hustle doesn't know how it escaped his attention, but agenda backup has a list of names suggested by the community: Bluebonnet lead with seven, Little Zilker with three, and garnering one each were any number of fine park names: Jennifer Gale, Bill Bunch, Will Wynn, Sarha Hensley (sic), and Pretentious Park (“The area is central to park activists who live in Austin. These activists exemplify those in the community who are consumed with bitchin to and about PARD, yet they never lift a rake to spread mulch.”)]

With such a pressing issue (I could almost hear Spelman's eyes rolling on the dais), council pulled the item, but not until a couple other council members spoke.

“Everybody's gonna weigh in on this,” said Leffingwell.

Original post: Hey there, the Hustle here, with a note that I'll be at this morning's City Council meeting, and will update this space later with an update when I get back.

Until then, check out this week's print column, and an additional council preview, "Running the Numbers."

See ya later!