Planning Department staff explained to a portion of City Council members this week why they intend to move forward with only about half of the Planning Commission’s suggested changes to the South Central Waterfront Plan. At a combined meeting of the Mobility Committee and the Housing and Planning Committee,...

Austin’s voter-backed transit expansion faced a critical legal test Wednesday inside a courtroom on Guadalupe Street. Seated in front of a marble wall and flanked by Texas and U.S. flags, Travis County Judge Eric Shepperd presided as attorneys in dark suits clashed over the intricacies of state law and public finance.

An update from Ken Snipes, director of Austin’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management, to the Public Safety Committee showed a shifting approach in how the department is being run. Snipes told the committee that, due to “a multitude of threats and threat types,” his department would be shifting to...

In February 2021, when a deep winter freeze caused burst pipes in homes and businesses all over Austin, a city staffer looking for available plumbers called Tamara Atkinson, CEO of Workforce Solutions Capital Area and one of the local experts in training for skilled trades jobs. The news she had...

Following a 2018 performance review, Travis County hospital district Central Health analyzed the county health care system, searching for service gaps among its target safety-net population. The county queried its population’s access to eight lines of service, from primary to specialty and dental care. The report returned checkered in...

As Austinites prepare for another round of scorching temperatures, stewards of their dwindling water supply are strategizing, with updates to the city’s Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan expected to hit City Council’s desk next week. The new plan, which outlines targets for per capita water usage and...

The city may soon take steps to promote the creation of “agrihood” developments in Northeast Austin, which would combine small community farms with housing. Proponents of the movement see the still-rare projects as an answer to Austin’s housing needs and development pressures as well as a way to bring more stability to the local food system.

After years of back and forth, Travis County is taking a small step to provide lawyers for low-income people accused of crimes. A program known as “counsel at first appearance” started in a limited capacity Tuesday, with the county providing lawyers at the downtown court this week to defendants who can’t afford legal representation. The county said lawyers would be available at pretrial hearings from 2-10 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.

No city in Texas has adopted bird-friendly building policies for new construction or retrofits, but the Travis Audubon Society hopes Austin, a designated “Bird City,” will lead the way. To advance this cause, the organization enlisted Heidi Trudell, a consultant and researcher on preventing bird collisions, to prepare...

A Travis County resident is trying to remove District Attorney José Garza from office. Betsy Dupuis filed a lawsuit Friday under House Bill 17, which allows anyone in a county to try to remove that county’s top prosecutor. Her complaint is similar to a previous one filed against the DA. Dupuis also told KXAN that Garza’s office mishandled a case after she accused someone of sexual assault.

The Downtown Commission wants the city to take a more proactive role in a proposed new measure that seeks to address friction over noise levels between new residential developments and existing music venues. Last week’s meeting included a presentation on a pending requirement that would force developers building within 600...

For Austin, like most other Texas cities, property taxes are its single largest source of revenue for the General Fund. The second-biggest revenue source is sales taxes, as explained by Budget Officer Kerri Lang at Tuesday’s City Council work session. Overall, for homeowners paying fees in the typical range,...

Plans for an electric-vehicle charging lot spanning Pleasant Valley Road were thwarted by Planning Commission members who objected to its auto-centric nature at their last meeting. The project would have created two electric-vehicle charging parking lots flanking Pleasant Valley at Cesar Chavez Street. The easternmost lot is currently home to...

The city will inventory all of the culturally and economically significant publicly owned real estate just east of downtown in a move intended to preserve and enhance locations central to the area’s longtime Black and Latino communities. A resolution passed at Thursday’s City Council meeting calls for the city...

On Thursday, City Council elevated the significance of Austin’s trees by initiating a comprehensive inventory of the city’s trees alongside a detailed tree planting and maintenance strategy. The measure follows Council’s approval last month of a direction for more street trees and green infrastructure on future city right-of-way...

A Travis County resident is seeking to remove progressive District Attorney José Garza from office using a 2023 Texas law aimed at limiting the discretion of locally elected prosecutors. A state district judge in Comal County on Friday appointed an attorney to represent Texas and pursue the case. House...

Developers in Austin will have to provide some form of natural light in bedrooms after City Council members voted Thursday to amend the city’s building code. For the most part, Austin will accomplish this change by simply replacing one word in the International Building Code that many cities adopt. The rules, which dictate safety standards for commercial buildings – including apartments – require developers to provide natural “or” artificial light in rooms where people sleep. Austin will change that “or” to an “and.” The change goes into effect on May 20.

Each speaker at a City Council meeting now has three minutes – instead of two – to speak on each item they signed up to address because of a temporary restraining order granted Wednesday by Travis County District Judge Madeleine Connor. At Thursday’s meeting, that ruling had some impact on timing, but the meeting generally ran smoothly. A more noticeable difference was the presence of more police officers than is typical in Council chambers.

Members of the Arts Commission appear ready to advocate for The Contemporary Austin fine art museum and sculpture park to receive consistent city funding beyond Hotel Occupancy Tax dollars. This week’s commission meeting featured a presentation from Sharon Maidenberg, executive director and CEO of The Contemporary, detailing the organization’s plans...

Issued annually ahead of Earth Day, Travis County’s report on its own sustainability efforts highlights a host of victories this year – including expanding recycling services, improving energy consumption and facilities practices, implementing staff programming and trainings, and enhancing sustainable relationships with vendors. On Tuesday, the Travis County...