[CALL TO ORDER]
[00:00:04]
O'CLOCK I'M GONNA CALL TO ORDER THE REGULAR MEETING IN THE ZONING AND PLANNING COMMISSION.
TODAY IS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH.
WE ARE IN AUSTIN CITY HALL IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS, ROOM 1001.
I'LL START WITH THE UM, ROLL CALL FOR THE COMMISSIONERS CHAIR.
AND SCOTT BOONE? I DO NOT SEE HIM.
COMMISSIONER ALANI STERN
AND COMMISSIONER TAYLOR MAJOR HERE.
THERE IS NO EXECUTIVE SESSION ITEMS. DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
[ Consent Agenda]
ON THE APPROVAL OF MINUTES? THERE WE GO.AND COMMISSIONER FOUT HAS NOW JOINED US.
ONLY PLANNING ON THE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER 2ND.
WE'LL INCLUDE THOSE IN THE CONSENT AGENDA AND THERE IS NO PUBLIC COMMENT.
SO THE CONSENT AGENDA IS APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.
ITEM ONE FROM SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2025.
ITEM TWO IS A REZONING CASE, C 14 20 25 DASH EIGHT FOUR HOWARD LANE, REZONING FROM GR TO CS.
IT'S RECOMMENDED BY STAFF AND ON THE CONSENT AGENDA, ITEM THREE IS A REZONING CASE, C 14 20 25 DASH 0 0 7 ON MCNEIL REZONE, IT'S AT 72 21 MCNEIL DRIVE.
IT IS FROM CSCO TO CS ONE FOR TRACK ONE AND CSCO FOR TRACK TWO.
UH, STAFF RECOMMENDS CS ONE CO FOR TRACK ONE AND CSCO FOR TRACK TWO.
AND THE APPLICANT AGREES WITH STAFF COMMENTS.
SO WE ARE GONNA GO WITH THE C AS DETERMINED BY STAFF.
AND IN THE BACKUP, ITEM FOUR IS A TOTAL VACATION OF A SUBDIVISION C EIGHT S 7 7 2 34 VAC, THE BYRD SUBDIVISION AT 78 0 9 PEACEFUL HILL LANE.
UM, THE REQUEST OF THE APPLICANT IS PROPOSING A FULL SUBDIVISION VACATION.
THERE IS A ALREADY EVERY PLAT THAT IS IN REVIEWED PENDING THE OUTCOME OF THIS VACATION.
IT IS ON CONSENT AGENDA AND RECOMMENDED BY STAFF.
IS THERE ANY COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? SO THE CONSENT AGENDA IS APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.
ITEM TWO, ITEM THREE AND ITEM FOUR ARE ALL ON CONSENT.
DO I HEAR A MOTION FOR APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA? MY APOLOGIES, CHAIR.
WE JUST HAVE A COUPLE FOLKS THAT I'M GONNA CALL FOR SPEAKING ON THE CONSENT AGENDA.
FIRST, WE'RE GONNA BEGIN WITH THE APPLICANT FOR ITEM TWO, DIANE BERNAL OR BERNAL.
DIANE, YOU'LL HAVE SIX MINUTES.
DO YOU WANNA CHANGE OUR MIND
I'M THE APPLICANT FOR THE REZONING OF 2315 HOWARD LANE.
I ALSO AGREE WITH STAFF RECOMMENDATION AND I HOPE, UM, YOU, UH, WILL RECOMMEND ALSO APPROVAL ON THIS, UH, REQUEST THAT WE HAVE, UM, STAFF PREPARED A REALLY GOOD, UH, PACKET OF INFORMATION AND I ACTUALLY DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD TO WHAT THEY PROVIDED TO YOU.
WE'LL NEXT BE HEARING FROM THE PRIMARY SPEAKER ON ITEM NUMBER THREE, JIM WHITLOW.
JIM WILL BE JOINING US VIRTUALLY.
JIM, PLEASE PRESS STAR SIX AND PROCEED WITH YOUR REMARKS.
THAT CONCLUDES THE SPEAKERS FOR THE CONSENTS AGENDA.
DO I HEAR A MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA? COMMISSIONER STERN, HIS MOTIONS COMMISSIONER ALEJANDRO FLORES.
[5. Discussion on the roles, responsibilities, and division of labor between the Zoning and Platting Commission and the Planning Commission. (Sponsored by Chair Smith and Commissioner Fouts)]
TO ITEM FIVE, DISCUSSION OF THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES AND DIVISION OF LABOR BETWEEN THE ZONING AND PLANNING COMMISSION AND THE PLANNING COMMISSION.DO WE HAVE AN UPDATE ON THIS ITEM? YES.
UH, MR. CHAPPY? YES, I CAN, UH, READ SOME NOTES THAT I HAVE.
UM, SO I'VE SPOKEN TO, UH, THE DISTRICT SIX OFFICE AND, UH, I'M CONTINUING TO REACH OUT TO THE DISTRICT FOUR OFFICE.
SO FAR THE DISTRICT FOUR OFFICE HAS BEEN PRETTY UNRESPONSIVE, UM, BUT I'LL KEEP TRYING THERE.
UH, I'VE SCHEDULED TIMES WITH TWO PLANNING COMMISSIONERS FOR THIS WEEK.
I'LL BE MEETING WITH COMMISSIONERS POWELL AND AHMED ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.
UM, AND OTHER, UM, PEOPLE FROM THE WORKING GROUP ARE WELCOME TO JOIN THOSE CONVERSATIONS.
I'M STILL TRYING TO GET A TIME TOGETHER WITH COMMISSIONER MAXWELL AND OTHER, UH, PLANNING COMMISSIONERS AS WELL.
UM, THE DISTRICT SIX OFFICE EXPRESSED SUPPORT FOR A CHANGE IN ROLES FOR BOTH ZAP AND PLANNING COMMISSION.
UH, THEY PREFER THAT ZAP AND PLANNING COMMISSION FIGURE OUT SOMETHING
[00:05:01]
BETWEEN OUR TWO COMMISSIONS RATHER THAN COUNSEL INTER UH, NEEDING TO INTERVENE THERE.UM, AND THEY HAVE HER THAT PLANNING WANTS TO KEEP MOST OF THEIR CASES.
SO FOR NEXT STEPS, WE, WE HAVE A DRAFT RECOMMENDATION IN THE RECOMMENDATIONS FORMAT, BUT WE STILL WANT TO KEEP RECEIVING SOME INPUT FOR NOW.
AND, UH, TODAY I JUST WANTED TO GIVE AN UPDATE AS TO, UH, WHAT WE WERE THINKING WITH REGARDS TO, UH, THE CASE DIVISION.
AND I HAVE SOME OTHER PROPOSED UPDATES AS WELL.
UM, SO SPECIFICALLY I WOULD LIKE TO, UH, HEAR FEEDBACK ON WHAT I'VE HEARD SO FAR.
UM, SO I, I WANNA KEEP THE GENERAL THEME OF ZAP GETTING MORE SPECIFIC REZONING CASES.
THE MAJORITY OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION CASES ARE CURRENTLY NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN CASES AND WITH ACCOMPANYING NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENTS, UH, SCOURING THEIR AGENDAS THAT, UH, AND WITH THAT IN MIND, I THINK IT'S WISE TO SCOPE DOWN SO THAT WE ONLY GET WHICH CERTAIN, UH, SITE SPECIFIC CASES SO THAT WE DON'T, UH, BECOME THE COMMISSION OVERWHELMED WITH CASES.
I PROPOSE THAT ZAP GETS ONLY SOME, UH, NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENT CASES, PUDS PDAS, AND THE CRITERIA FOR WHICH COMMISSION GETS THESE CASES, UH, BEING DETERMINED BY SIZE OF SITE AND, UH, HOW COMPLEX A CASE IS.
UH, PLANNING COMMISSION WILL GET TO KEEP THE LARGER AND, UH, MORE COMPLEX, MORE NUANCED CASES.
AND, UH, THAT THRESHOLD OF SIZE COULD BE INVESTIGATED MORE IN DEPTH BY STAFF WHEN THEY COME BACK WITH AN ORDINANCE.
UH, I, I EXPECT THAT PLANNING COMMISSION WANT TO KEEP THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS CASES.
AND SO THOSE WILL REMAIN, UH, PLANNING COMMISSION'S RESPONSIBILITY.
AND THIS SHOULD PRODUCE A ROUGH BALANCE OF CASES BETWEEN ZAP AND PLANNING.
UH, ONE LAST THING THAT I WAS THINKING IS, UH, WHENEVER AN AGENDA IS PARTICULARLY PACKED AND OVERWHELMING FOR ONE COMMISSION, I I THINK IT'S WISE, UH, THAT WE HAVE THE PLANNING ZONING DIRECTOR, UH, HAVE SOME DISCRETION ON WHICH COMMISSION TO GIVE THEIR CASE TO, UH, SO THAT WHEN, UH, LET'S SAY PLANNING IS OVERWHELMED, WE COULD GET SOME OF THEIR CASES AND VICE VERSA.
UM, AND THEN THE LAST THING IS AN EVALUATION INTO THE JOINT COMMITTEE STRUCTURE.
UM, MAYBE THERE'S SOME, UH, SOME OTHER WAY THAT WE CAN COMMUNICATE.
UM, THE, THE THING THAT I'M LOOKING AT IS, UH, PERHAPS WE HAVE OUR MOST DILIGENT, UH, MEMBER OF EACH COMMISSION, UH, PARTICIPATE IN THE OTHER COMMISSION AS AN EX-OFFICIO MEMBER SO THAT, UH, THERE IS SOME CONTEXT AND PARTICIPATION AND DISCUSSION AS NEEDED THERE.
UM, THAT'S THE HIGH LEVEL OF WHAT I WAS THINKING.
UM, AND YEAH, I'D LOVE TO HEAR ANY QUESTIONS, ANY QUESTIONS.
JUST, UH, UM, ONE THING, NOT A QUESTION, BUT WANTED TO INSERT AN UPDATE.
SO I ALSO SPOKE WITH COMMISSIONER BRETON, UM, ABOUT IT AND HE WAS VERY MUCH IN FAVOR OF THE BROAD IDEA AND LIKED THE CONCEPT OF PLANNING COMMISSION BEING MORE POLICY ORIENTED.
UM, WHEREAS ZAP TAKE ON SITE SPECIFIC CHANGES.
UM, SO YEAH, I JUST WANTED TO THROW THAT IN THERE.
ANOTHER PLANNING COMMISSIONER.
UH, AND HE'S BROADLY SUPPORTIVE OF OUR, UH, OUTLINE.
THE ONLY THING I WOULD, AND STAFF KNOWS THIS, SOME OF THESE CASES ARE TIME SENSITIVE IN THAT WE HAVE TO APPROVE THEM WITHIN A CERTAIN TIMEFRAME AND SO THAT CAN DRIVE WHICH COMMISSION THEY GO TO BY WHO IS MEETING ON WHAT DATE OCCASIONALLY.
SO THAT FLEXIBILITY, THAT'S GOOD NEEDS BE IN THERE.
THAT'S, SO THERE IS SOME FLEXIBILITY, UH, IS WHAT I'M HEARING IN THE CURRENT CODE.
UM, YEAH, I I THINK IT WOULD BE WISE IF THERE COULD BE MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR, UM, IF CASES PERHAPS AREN'T AS TIME SENSITIVE, WHICH COMMISSION MAY GO TO.
ANYBODY ELSE HAVE ANY COMMENTS FOR QUESTIONS? YES, COMMISSIONER STERN.
YEAH, I WAS, I WAS JUST WONDERING IF UM, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT WOULD ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR THESE JOINT, UH,
YEAH, SO THAT'S ACTUALLY ONE THING THAT I WANTED TO, UH, PROPOSE AS A QUESTION IS HOW DO PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT, UH, PERHAPS SUNSETTING THE JOINT COMMITTEE STRUCTURE? I KNOW AT LEAST FOR THE SMALL AREA PLANNING JOINT COMMITTEE, WE HAVE A VERY HARD TIME MEETING QUORUM, CONSISTENTLY, UH, FAILING TO MEET QUORUM.
[00:10:01]
I HAVE NOT, UH, HAD A CHANCE TO ATTEND A SINGLE MEETING SINCE, UH, BEING APPOINTED TO THAT COMMITTEE BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO MEET QUORUM.I WOULD SAY SOME THINGS, UM, LIKE CODES AND ORDINANCES, THOSE CODES AND ORDINANCES AFFECT THE WHOLE CITY.
AND WHEN OUR, THE AREA THAT WE'RE HANDLING, OR MAYBE IT WON'T STILL BE THE SAME AREA, IS GOING TO HAVE RULES THAT CHANGE I THINK WE SHOULD BE WEIGHING IN THE SMALL AREA PLANS ALSO, YOU KNOW, THEY CAN BE IN EITHER THE ZAP AREA OR THE PC AREA FOR THAT, UM, STAYS THE SAME OR IT DOESN'T, I MEAN, I, I SORT OF THINK THERE'S BENEFIT TO THE JOINT COMMITTEES.
I MEAN, ZAP NEVER HAD A SAY, UM, BECAUSE THEY WERE SET UP WITH A FOUR PC MEMBERS AND THREE ZAP MEMBERS.
SO EVEN FOR SOMETHING AS TRIVIAL AS CAN WE HAVE THE, THE CALENDAR, NOT ALWAYS AFTER AAP MEETING, I HAD PC MEMBERS TELL US, TOO BAD THERE'S FOUR OF US
UM, SO WE'RE OUT, WE'RE OUT VOTED ON THOSE COMMITTEES ANYWAY.
BUT I THINK IT IS HELPFUL TO STILL HAVE A VOICE.
AND I, I THINK THAT'S A COMMITTEE THAT KEEPS MEETING QUORUM, THAT'S A JOINT COMMITTEE THAT KEEPS MEETING QUORUM.
I, I DON'T KNOW IF UH, ABOUT THE, THE OTHER COMMITTEE, BUT I KNOW THE SMALL AREA PLANNING JOINT COMMITTEE KEEPS FAILING TO MEET QUORUM.
I DO THINK THAT CODES AND ORDINANCES, YES WE MEET QUORUM AND WE TYPICALLY DO ME ONCE A MONTH, BUT THE REALITY IS THAT THE INTENT OF CODES AND ORDINANCES IS TO REVIEW CODE.
AND RIGHT NOW IT'S MORE OF JUST AN A STEP THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN FOR A CODE CHANGE TO ACTUALLY HAPPEN.
BUT WE DON'T, LIKE THERE CODE IS NOT READY TO BE REVIEWED OR DRAFTED AT THAT MEETING.
SO I DON'T THINK, YES, WE GET TO LIKE HAVE A VOICE OR HEAR A PREVIEW, BUT THE REALITY IS THAT THE MEETINGS ARE NOT PRODUCTIVE FOR WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO 'CAUSE WE DON'T REVIEW CODE.
SO I THINK IF THE CODE IS GOING TO BE DISCUSSED DURING PLANNING COMMISSION ANYWAYS, THEN WHY KEEP THE EXTRA STEP? PREFER TO KEEP IT SIMPLE TO PRODUCTIVE MEETINGS.
IT HAS BEEN A PROBLEM THAT THE STAFF DOESN'T PROVIDE THE DRAFT CODE BY THE TIME OF THE CODES AND ORDINANCES MEETING.
BUT WHEN THEY DO, THERE'S OFTEN FEEDBACK THAT I THINK IS HELPFUL TO HAVE A COMMITTEE THAT CAN DIVE INTO IT DEEPER, UM, THAN THE PLANNING COMMISSION.
UM, SEEMS TO BE ABLE TO, BUT YOU KNOW, THAT'S, THAT'S JUST MY OPINION.
I THINK SETTING UP A MECHANISM AS TO HOW CODES AND ORDINANCES INTERFACES WITH TAR R AND HOW WE'RE GONNA BE LOOKING AT RULES CHANGES MOVING FORWARD, I THINK THAT'S ALL GONNA GONNA BE CHANGING IN THE NEAR FUTURE INTERFACES WITH TAR TARP TEXAS, UH, TECHNICAL ADVISORY REVIEW PANEL.
THERE'S A GROUP OF 30 40 STAKEHOLDERS THAT MAKE UP A TECHNICAL ADVISORY REVIEW PANEL AND THEY REVIEW ALL RULES AND, AND UM, ADVI AND TECHNICAL MM-HMM
UH, UPDATES, UH, BEFORE THEY GO INTO EFFECT.
AND SO HOW THAT INTERFACES WITH CODES AND ORDINANCES NEEDS TO BE LOOKED AT.
BECAUSE IT'S A SEPARATE STAKEHOLDER GROUP THAT'S DOING THE KIND OF THE SAME THING AS THE CODES AND ORDINANCE JOINT COMMITTEE IS DOING.
AND IF WE ARE GETTING MORE ZONING CASES FROM PLANNING COMMISSION, THEN PLANNING COMMISSION WOULD HAVE MORE AVAILABILITY TO REVIEW THESE.
SO I THINK THEY ALL NEED TO BE LOOKED AT.
I DON'T KNOW IF THEY NECESSARILY NEED TO BE SUNSETTED.
BUT THEY NEED TO BE LOOKED AT IN TERMS OF HOW THEY INTERFACE WITH WHAT WE'RE DOING GOING FORWARD.
THE LANGUAGE WILL BE MORE GENERAL, UM, TO HAVE STAFF LOOK INTO WHAT THE FUTURE OF THESE JOINT COMMITTEE SHOULD LOOK LIKE.
[WORKING GROUP/COMMITTEE UPDATES]
AND ORDINANCES, JOINT COMMITTEE, WE HAVE A SPECIAL CALL MEETING NEXT WEEK ON THE 24TH AND WE'RE GONNA HAVE AN SB EIGHT 40 BRIEFING AND LOOK AT CBD AMENDMENTS.CONFERENCE PLAN, JOINT COMMITTEE.
WE'RE HAVE A PHONE CALL NEXT WEEK OR THIS WEEK AND THEN WE'RE GONNA TRY TO GET A MEETING SET UP IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS.
SMALL AREA PLANNING JOINT COMMITTEE.
[00:15:01]
WE HAVEN'T MET QUORUM IN A LONG TIME SO.WE'LL LET YOU KNOW THE NEXT TIME WE MEET LAND USE COMMISSION ROLES.
RESPONSIBILITY IS WORKING GROUP.
WE'VE KIND OF BEEN TALKING ABOUT THAT ALL ALONG.
ANYTHING ELSE ON THAT ONE? ANY FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS? HEARING NONE, IT IS SIX 15 AND WE ARE ADJOURNED.