Dark Thirty & The Bureaucratic Process, Austin Style

I was roused at 3:30 am.  This was to ensure that I would make it to Austin City Hall by 8:30 am, of course I didn’t leave Lewisville until 4:30 and arrived a little after 8:00 because of morning traffic.  City Hall is a nice building designed by Antoine Predok and is LEED Gold, but this is not the point of today’s blog entry.

City of Austin

Our first discussion was at 9 am with Mr. Fred Evins, of Economic Growth & Redevelopment.  Mr. Evins has extensive knowledge about specific projects, in and around City Hall as this area is his main focus.  Here are a few things that he informed us about:

• CURE – “The purpose of a central urban redevelopment (CURE) combining district is to promote the stability of neighborhoods in the central urban area.”  This also can allow you to increase F.A.R. (Floor Area Ratio) – info. from Mr. Knox.


• The Triangle project (Lamar & Guadalupe & 45^th Streets) – a good example of development in Austin.


• Austin is more conservative when it comes to using tax dollars on private development initiatives. 


• Capital View Corridors – are about 35 designated axis’s that require unobstructed views to the Capital Building.  These corridors maintain lower building heights in order to preserve these views.


• Heights along lake/river are restricted allowing buildings behind them to have views.


• The use of ground leases of city owned property, Request For Proposals (RFP), and Request For Qualifications (RFQ) for private development.

Mr. Christopher Johnson, Head of Development Assistance Center (the One Stop Shop), and Mr. Leon Barba, Assistant Director Inspections, both discussed the processes of permit approval and inspections.  Austin has tried to consolidate all the necessary government agencies for construction and development into one location, the One Stop Shop, to make it more efficient for the public.  They mentioned that there has been a pickup in number of customers since January (2010) and that remodel permits have increased 60% over the last 2 years.  Is this a sign that the economy is turning around?  In order to protect the areas local water supply, the Edwards Aquifer, Austin has restrictions in place for the southwest portion of the city, making it more difficult to develop.

Mr. Michael Knox, of Economic Growth & Redevelopment – Downtown, discussed how Austin doesn’t offer incentives for development, especially in downtown.   Austin is a place where people want to be, for its natural beauty (including greenness), its quality of education, the experience of downtown, and therefore the city doesn’t need to offer these incentives.  There is only one TIF and two municipal improvement districts in the city, Seaholm (TIF), 6 blocks around City Hall and 6^th Street.  We found out later that the Seaholm Power Plant project requires a TIF to help offset the added expense of rehabilitating the historical structure.  One way Austin does help spur development, especially in smaller businesses, is that they offer low interest loans as part of their Business Enhancement & Investment (or Improvement) Fund.  There are recruiters that look for retailers locally (within the state) and nationally that the city may want to open up a location downtown.  This goes for large corporations as well, but more on a city scale than for just downtown. 

Mr. Richard Morgan, of the Green Building Program, spoke on Austin’s Green Building Rating system and how it is more stringent than LEED with respects to issues of ground water pollution/contamination (see Edwards Aquifer).  All new municipal buildings must be LEED Silver; this prevents a conflict of interest that would exist if the city only used Austin’s Green Building Rating system.  Any new housing project built using city incentives must meet minimum energy efficiency standards.