I think it might help if our membership takes a position on the issue also since this could have a big impact on future housing opportunities in central Austin. I’ve included a draft resolution below, if anyone has any suggestions, comments, or anything else and if we want to vote on this. We need to have a vote soon on our bylaws update (:FAN: FAN Bylaw Changes) and it’d be great to have something like this to vote on also at the same time anyways.
Resolution Language:
Friends of Austin Neighborhoods (FAN) supports the staff recommendation to designate Guadalupe Street from 29th Street to 51st Street as an activity corridor. Residents of neighborhoods along Guadalupe St. deserve greater access to jobs and walkable amenities, including restaurants, grocery stores, and small businesses, as well as much-needed housing near the urban core.
By further reducing the current restrictive parking requirements, this designation would allow more homeowners within a quarter mile of the activity corridor to build accessory dwellings. FAN members support reducing the restrictions on accessory dwelling units as a way of welcoming new residents and the abundant and diverse supply of housing needed to accommodate them.
With the possible redevelopment of the Austin State Hospital in the near future, the Guadalupe activity corridor designation would allow for additional housing alongside one of the last undeveloped tracts in central Austin.
The characteristics of Guadalupe between 29th and 51st Streets align well with the criteria in Appendix A-30 of the Imagine Austin Plan for identifying activity corridors:
FACTORS USED IN IDENTIFYING CORRIDORS
Connecting the city: Routes that connected multiple activity or job centers or major transportation features.
Core Transit Corridors and Future Core Transit Corridors: Routes identified by the City’s Commercial Design Standards, which require wider sidewalks and street trees.
Strategic Mobility Plan: Corridor studies included in the Strategic Mobility Plan.
Land availability: Areas with vacant land or land identified for redevelopment by neighborhood plans (generally, but not exclusively, calling for mixed-use future land use categories).
This recommendation has gone through the full process from being identified by city staff as part of their 2016 Annual Report for Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan and amendments, then to the Comprehensive Plan Joint Committee, to the Planning Commission Subcommittee, to the full Planning Commission, and now to the City Council for consideration. Ample time and notification to neighborhood residents has been provided for this update to the Imagine Austin Plan, including a postponement at the City Council for further consideration. We urge the City Council to approve this important designation.