Austin's Land Development Code Schedule Takes Shape

City Council could take a first-reading vote on the draft Land Development Code on Monday, Dec. 9, per a message board post from Mayor Steve Adler. The post, shared during last week's meeting on Thursday, Oct. 17, outlines the scope and timeline of how the mayor would like the LDC process to proceed from here. That first-reading vote would allow for minimal alterations to the code, including "relatively minor or technical code text and map changes," hopefully keeping Council away from the bog of lot-by-lot deliberations within individual council districts that will come later in the process.

Before the proposed Dec. 9 vote, Council would meet on Dec. 3 & 4 for a work session to discuss potential changes and receive a briefing from staff on proposed tweaks – including approved recommendations from the Planning Commission. In between those dates, on Saturday, Dec. 7, Council would hold a public hearing to give space for more community input on the proposals.

It's a timeline that may be seen as too aggressive for those on Council and in the community who are urging city leaders to slow down. But it's clear a majority of Council is eager to move toward final approval of the new code early next year, and the timeline proposed by Adler would certainly get them there. Before December, the public will have other opportunities to provide feedback on the code text and map. This Satur­day, Oct. 26, Planning Commission will hold the first public hearing on the draft. Sign-up for speakers will open at 8:30am and close at 1pm; testimony will commence at 10am, and each speaker will be given three minutes to make their case (with donated time allowed up to nine minutes). We'll be there to track everything, and back next week with more on what the community had to say.