The NIMBY comeback?
And Project Connect lives another day.
LEGE Update: Project Connect bills die, Lege passes by-right housing on commercial property
Myriad obstacles to light rail in Austin remain, but all of the bills that threatened to upend Project Connect appear to be dead. What I'm hearing is that Speaker Dustin Burrows came through for the Travis County Democrats who put him in power by making sure the bill didn't get to the floor of the House.
The legislature also passed a bill, SB 840, which will require local governments to allow commercially-zoned land to be developed into housing or mixed-use. On such land, municipalities will not be allowed to limit the density to less than 36 units per acre or limit the height to less than 45 feet.
Another YIMBY bill, SB 15, would have prohibited big cities from setting minimum lot sizes above 1,400 square feet, but it was killed on a procedural motion by Fort Worth Democrat Ramon Romero Jr.
Kirk Watson sours on DB90
On Friday, Mayor Kirk Watson posted a statement on the Council message board announcing that he and other Council members would be seeking changes to DB90, the density bonus program created by City Council in 2023.
As I said yesterday, DB90 has been an unhappy experience. Even with Council’s well motivated goals for DB90, this density program, as currently created, is proving to be divisive, difficult to utilize, and ultimately too far from achieving the goal of Council to provide more housing by allowing more density.
...Some of you also expressed your concern with the program last night, and I, along with Councilmembers Velasquez, Vela, Qadri, and Siegel, are bringing a resolution to initiate amendments to DB90 as well as our other density bonus programs. It’s time that we look at our programs wholistically and create a better system to secure affordable housing in all parts of the city while creating opportunity for neighborhoods to engage.
Huh. This is the first time I've heard anyone on Council describe DB90 as an "unhappy experience" or mention "unintended consequences." The program has done exactly what it was intended to do: create lots of both market-rate housing and income-restricted housing.
