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[CALL TO ORDER]
DESIGN COMMISSION MEETING.UM, WE'RE GONNA CALL IT TO ORDER AT SIX OH TWO, AND WE WILL START WITH THE ROLL CALL.
WE HAVE A SLIM QUORUM, BUT, UH, COMMISSIONER WHIR IS ON HIS WAY, SO, UM, WE MAY BE ADDING HIM TO THE MIX WHEN HE GETS HERE.
UH, DO WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMUNICATION FOR THE EVENING? ALL RIGHT.
UM, WE NEXT ITEM UP ON THE AGENDA
[APPROVAL OF MINUTES]
IS, UH, TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE DESIGN COMMISSION MEETING, UH, FROM JUNE 22ND.DO WE HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE? A MOTION? ALL RIGHT.
DO WE HAVE A SECOND? I'LL SECOND.
UM, ANY DISCUSSION RELATED TO THE MINUTES FROM THE JUNE 22ND MEETING? ALL RIGHT.
[2. Staff Briefing regarding the implementation of urban design guidelines into the Great Streets plan update. Presented by Jill Amezcua and Mudita Bilay, Austin Planning. Sponsors: Vice Chair Howard, Commissioner Nkiru Gelles.]
IS A STAFF BRIEFING REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES INTO THE GREAT STREETS PLAN UPDATE PRESENTED BY JILL ESUA AND MUDITA BELE, UM, FROM AUSTIN PLANNING.UM, SO WE'RE READY WHEN Y'ALL ARE.
CAN Y'ALL HEAR ME OKAY? EXCELLENT.
MY NAME IS JILL AMES QUO, AND I AM THE PRINCIPAL PLANNER IN AUSTIN PLANNING'S URBAN DESIGN DIVISION AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
AND THIS EVENING, I WILL BE GOING OVER AN UPDATE TO THE GREAT STREETS PLAN, SPECIFICALLY AS IT RELATES TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND OUR DRAFT PLAN FOR THE UPDATE AND RESPECT TO THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES.
SO OUR PRESENTATION AGENDA WILL INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.
FIRST, I WILL GO OVER THE RECAP FROM THE LAST YEAR AND A HALF.
THAT, UM, WAS THE LAST TIME THAT I PRESENTED TO DESIGN COMMISSION ON THE GREAT STREETS UPDATE.
I WILL ALSO GO OVER A HIERARCHY OF GREAT STREETS AS IT RELATES TO OTHER OVERLAPPING INITIATIVES IN DOWNTOWN.
AND I'LL ALSO GO OVER THE GREAT STREET SCOPE, SPECIFICALLY ON THE GROUND AS IT RELATES TO HOW GREAT STREETS IS IMPLEMENTED IN THE PHYSICAL SPACE.
I'LL ALSO GO OVER THE RECOMMENDATION CATEGORIES, SO HOW WE, UM, DIVIDE UP THE RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE PLAN ITSELF.
MY COLLEAGUE MUDITA WILL GO OVER THE GREAT STREETS UPDATE RECOMMENDATIONS WITH URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES, CORE PRINCIPLES, SO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BOTH OF THOSE ELEMENTS.
I WILL ALSO GO OVER THE SCHEDULE AS WELL AS NEXT STEPS.
SO TO RECAP, IN THE LAST YEAR AND A HALF, URBAN DESIGN HAS PRESENTED AND COMPLETED A DEMOGRAPHIC SECTION FOR THE UPDATE.
ONE, LOOKING AT BASICALLY WHO WE'RE DOING THIS PLAN FOR, SO WHO IS IN DOWNTOWN IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
SO THAT, UM, SECTION OF THE PLAN IS COMPLETE.
WE'VE ALSO COMPLETED OUR EXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSIS, WHICH URBAN DESIGN, UM, COMPLETED LOOKING AT THE EXISTING BLOCK FACES IN DOWNTOWN.
WE LOOKED AT THE EXISTING STREET SCAPE ELEMENTS AND THE CONDITION OF EACH OF THE EXISTING GREAT STREETS, UM, STREETSCAPE, ELEPHANTS ELEMENTS.
AND WE ALSO DID AN INVENTORY OF ALL OF THOSE ELEMENTS AS WELL.
THAT WAS THE FIRST INVENTORY THAT WAS EVER COMPLETED BY URBAN DESIGN FOR GREAT STREETS.
WE'RE ALSO A CONTINUING COORDINATION ON THE GREAT STREETS LIGHT POLE, SPECIFICALLY ON PEDESTRIAN SCALE LIGHTING AS IT RELATES TO THE, UH, CITYWIDE LIGHTING PLAN.
SO LOOKING AT THE RELATIONSHIP, UM, WITH TPW AND TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS, UM, AS WELL AS AUSTIN ENERGY ON
[00:05:01]
HOW WE CAN BEST COORDINATE ON THE CITYWIDE LIGHTING PLAN AS IT RELATES TO GREAT STREETS.WE'VE ALSO COMPLETED EXTENSIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT WITH THE UPDATE THAT INCLUDES JUST SOME OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WE'VE COMPLETED IN THE LAST YEAR AND A HALF, OR ACTUALLY THE LAST YEAR, RATHER INCLUDE THE OPEN HOUSE THAT WAS HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL, AS WELL AS A COMMUNITY SURVEY.
WE'VE ALSO COMPLETED FOUR COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP MEETINGS.
ONE, THE FIRST MEETING WAS THE VISION OF GREAT STREETS, WHICH IS STREETS ARE FOR PEOPLE.
THAT VISION IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO BE CARRIED FORWARD WITH THE UPDATES.
WE ALSO WENT OVER THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES, UH, FOR THE UPDATE AND, UH, REFINED THOSE IN THE SECOND CAG MEETING.
AND WE ALSO, AND CAG NUMBER THREE, WE LOOKED AT REVIEWING THE EXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSIS WITH THAT GROUP SPECIFICALLY, AS WELL AS THE DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO IN CAG FOUR, WE REFINE THOSE DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS.
AND THEN IN OUR TAG MEETINGS, THERE'S ACTUALLY THREE OF THOSE THAT HAVE OCCURRED THUS FAR.
THE FIRST ONE WAS FOCUSING ON THE VISION, WHICH IS STREET SURFER PEOPLE.
AND THEN THE SECOND AND THIRD TAG MEETING WAS FOCUSED ON THE SPECIFIC STREETSCAPE ELEMENTS FOR GREAT STREETS ON THE TECHNICAL SIDE WITH OUR SISTER DEPARTMENTS THAT INCLUDED TREES, LIGHTING, THE PEDESTRIAN ZONE, TRASH, AND RECYCLING RECEPTACLES, AS WELL AS OTHER STREETSCAPE ELEMENTS.
OKAY, SO OUR ONGOING INITIATIVES, HIERARCHY AND SCOPE.
SO THE CENTRAL CITY DISTRICT PLAN IS THE VISION FOR DOWNTOWN AT A HIGH LEVEL THAT RELATES TO NOT ONLY DOWNTOWN, BUT TO SOUTH CENTRAL WATERFRONT TO THE SOUTH, AS WELL AS UNO TO THE NORTH.
THAT'S AS THE ACTUAL BOUNDARIES OF THE CENTRAL CITY DISTRICT PLAN THAT IS IMPLEMENTED THROUGH ONE WAY AND DOWNTOWN IS THROUGH THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM, OF WHICH GREAT STREETS IS A GATEKEEPER REQUIREMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THAT PROGRAM.
THE GREAT STREETS UPDATE WILL THEN BE INCLUDED IN THE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA MANUAL.
SO THAT'S HOW IT'S IMPLEMENTED THE GREAT STREET SCOPE.
SO THIS GRAPHIC SHOWS, UM, AN ORANGE ON YOUR SCREEN IS THE 10 FOOT WIDE PEDESTRIAN ZONE, AND THAT ZONE IS IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE CURBSIDE ZONE, THAT'S EIGHT FEET, AND THAT THOSE TWO ZONES MAKE UP GREAT STREETS.
SO WITHIN THE CURBSIDE ZONE, THERE IS PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE THAT SUPPORTS ACTIVATION, AND DOWNTOWN, WHICH INCLUDES THINGS LIKE TREES, LIGHTING, BENCHES, TRASH AND RECYCLING, AND RECEPTACLES, AS WELL AS BIKE RACK.
SO THOSE FIVE ELEMENTS ARE THE CORE ELEMENTS OF GREAT STRAITS, ALONG WITH THAT PEDESTRIAN'S ZONE WITHIN THE RIGHT OF WAY.
SO YOU HAVE 80 FEET, THAT IS TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS RIGHT OF WAY.
SO BETWEEN THE CURBS, WHAT YOU DON'T SEE IN THIS GRAPHIC OFF TO THE RIGHT IS THE BETWEEN THE CURB SPACE THAT HAS THINGS LIKE TRAVEL LANES, WHATEVER DIRECTION THOSE TRAVEL LANES ARE GOING, AS WELL AS PARKING, VALET, BIKE LANES, BUS ROUTES.
THOSE ARE THINGS THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE SCOPE OF THE UPDATE.
IN ADDITION, THERE IS THE DENSITY BONUS, UM, PROGRAM THAT IS TYPICALLY WITHIN THE BUILDING ITSELF TO THE LEFT OF YOUR SCREEN.
THAT IS ALSO OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THE UPDATE.
HOWEVER, THERE ARE OVERLAPPING ELEMENTS LIKE AWNINGS, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT NEED TO BE COORDINATED WITH GREAT STREETS.
SO THE GREAT STREETS GOALS AND OBJECTIVES.
SO THE FIRST GOAL, AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, IS FOCUSING MORE ON THE PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE AND WHAT IT ACTUALLY FEELS LIKE TO SPEND TIME IN DOWNTOWN AND HAVE AN ACTIVATED SPACE.
THE SECOND GOAL IS FOCUSING ON IMPLEMENTATION.
SO AS I MENTIONED, YOU HAVE AN 80 FOOT RIGHT OF WAY AND ALL OF THOSE TRANSPORTATION ELEMENTS THAT COULD POTENTIALLY HAPPEN IN THE 80 FOOT SPACE, AS WELL AS ACTIVATION AND FOCUSING ON THE PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE.
THERE'S ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY WITH THE UPDATE TO MODERNIZE AND CLARIFY THE PHYSICAL STANDARDS.
SO THINKING MORE ABOUT THE SPECIFIC GREAT STREETS ELEMENTS AND HOW THOSE CAN BE UPDATED.
THE NEXT GOAL IS FOCUSING ON CROSS AGENCY COORDINATION, SO THAT, AS YOU ALL KNOW, THERE ARE A LOT OF ONCE IN GENERATION PROJECTS THAT ARE CURRENTLY HAPPENING IN DOWNTOWN, UM, WITHIN THE DOWNTOWN AREA AS WELL AS ADJACENT TO DOWNTOWN.
SO GREAT STREETS HAS AN OPPORTUNITY INTERNALLY AND WITH OTHER PROJECTS TO PARTNER ON EACH OF THOSE INITIATIVES.
NEXT IS TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE AND MAINTAINABLE PUBLIC REALM FEATURES.
SO FOCUSING MORE ON THE SUSTAINABILITY SIDE AND LOOKING AT THE LIFE CYCLE OF EACH OF THESE ELEMENTS AS IT RELATES TO THE LEVEL OF MAINTENANCE THAT'S CURRENTLY HAPPENING IN DOWNTOWN FOR THESE THREE SCAPE INFRASTRUCTURE.
AND THE NEXT IS TO STRENGTHEN AND CHAMPIONS, UH, AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT.
SO HOW DO WE INTERNALLY AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN, GET OUR SISTER DEPARTMENTS ON BOARD WITH THIS UPDATE THROUGH THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP AS WELL AS THE DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY.
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LAST GOAL IS TO ENSURE CONSISTENT FUNDING AND MEASURABLE OUTCOMES.SO LOOKING AT SPECIFICALLY THE FUNDING AND HOW GREAT STRESS HAS BEEN FUNDED IN THE PAST, BUT ALSO HOW IT'LL BE FUNDED AND IMPLEMENTED MOVING FORWARD.
AND THE LAST SLIDE THAT I'LL GO OVER IN THIS SECTION INCLUDES THE RECOMMENDATION CATEGORIES.
SO LOOKING AT THE PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE, OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE AND COORDINATION, IMPLEMENTATION, OR DELIVERY ARE THE THREE CATEGORIES THAT OUR RECOMMENDATIONS ARE BROKEN DOWN INTO.
AND I'M GONNA TURN IT OVER TO MUDITA TO GO OVER THE NEXT SECTION.
I AM A SENIOR PLANNER WITH THE URBAN DESIGN DIVISION, ALSO WORKING ON THE GREAT STREETS UPDATE.
UM, SO, UM, WHILE THE PREVIOUS SLIDE SHOWED, UH, THREE CATEGORIES, THERE ARE 10 RECOMMENDATIONS ACROSS THEM.
UM, WE PREVIOUSLY HAD 22 RECOMMENDATIONS, WHICH WE HAVE, UH, CONSOLIDATED PER THE CAGS, UH, SUGGESTION.
AND ALTHOUGH SOME RE UH, RECOMMENDATIONS MAY LOOK, UH, LIKE THEY'RE REPEATING OR NEXT FEW SLIDES, I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT, UH, THE SUPPORTING ACTIONS OF THESE, UH, RECOMMENDATIONS AS THEY TIE BACK, UH, TIED TO THE CORE URBAN DESIGN PRINCIPLES.
SO FOR THE FIRST CORE PRINCIPLE, A PROTECTING PEDESTRIANS AND BICYCLISTS FROM THE ELEMENTS, THIS CONTINUES DIVISION OF THE ORIGINAL PLAN.
PEDESTRIANS HAVE BEEN THE PRIORITY AND THEIR COMFORT FROM ELEMENTS LIKE SUN AND WIND HAS BEEN A CORE ASPECT OF THE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.
THESE INCLUDE TREES AND STREET FURNISHINGS TO PROVIDE SHADE AND PROTECT FROM WIND, AND ALSO CREATE A SENSE OF ENCLOSURE.
THIS, HOWEVER, UM, HAVE BEEN THESE, HOWEVER, HAVE BEEN REQUIRED, UM, IN A SPECIFIC PLACEMENT ACROSS ALL PROJECTS.
AND THE UPDATE IS LOOKING AT REVISING THESE, UH, REQUIREMENTS AND STANDARDS TO SUPPORT, UH, SITE SPECIFIC NEEDS, UH, SPECIFICALLY FOR TREES.
UH, WHILE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE WORKING GROUP IS ADVANCING THE FACILITATION OF, UH, GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN RIGHT OF WAY, THE UPDATE IS COORDINATING, UH, DOWNTOWN, UH, OR GREAT STREET SPECIFIC, UH, TREE REQUIREMENTS TO, UH, INCLUDING SPECIFIC, UH, SPECIES AND PLANTING DETAILS.
FOR THIS CONTEXT, WE ARE ALSO UPDATING GUIDANCE FOR SHADE STRUCTURES AND AWNING WITHIN THE RIGHT OF WAY TO PROTECT PEDESTRIANS FROM SHADE AND PRECIPITATION.
UM, CORE PRINCIPLE B, PROTECTING SIDEWALK AND BIKEWAY USERS FROM MOTOR VEHICLES.
THIS IS ANOTHER CORE VISION OF THE ORIGINAL PLAN.
UH, HOWEVER, THERE HAVE BEEN GAPS, UH, BETWEEN, UH, GREAT STREETS STREETSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS, WHICH HAMPER THE USER EXPERIENCE ACROSS THE CORRIDOR.
UM, AS PART OF THE UPDATE, WE ARE IDENTIFYING THESE GAPS AS WELL AS COORDINATING WITH OVERLAPPING INITIATIVES AND BUILDING AND FLEXIBILITY, UH, IN THE GREAT STREET STANDARDS TO CONTEXTUALLY RESPOND TO THESE INITIATIVES.
UM, WHICH INCLUDES IMPROVING PLACEMENT OF THREE SCAPE FOR STREET FURNISHINGS AND ENFORCING, UH, THE VISUAL AND THE PHYSICAL, UH, BARRIERS BETWEEN VEHICLES AND SIDEWALKS, UM, AS WELL AS IMPROVED VISIBILITY AT THE INTERSECTIONS.
CORE PRINCIPLE C, ACTIVATING AND ENGAGING THE PUBLIC REALM.
UM, WHILE OTHER INITIATIVES LIKE, UH, DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS WILL REQUIRE ARCHITECTURAL IMPROVEMENTS TO, UH, SET A BASE AND ACTIVATE THE PUBLIC REALM, GREAT STREETS WILL COMPLEMENT AND PROVIDE, UH, DESIGN CRITERIA AND STANDARDS FOR PLACEMENT OF, UM, PLACEMENT AND CLEAR CLEARANCES TO ACTIVATE THE REALM WHILE MAINTAINING A CONTINUOUS PEDESTRIAN PATH AND CONSISTENCY OF EX, UH, OF THE EXPERIENCE.
THIS INCLUDES, UM, GUIDANCE FOR CAFE ZONES, UM, EITHER ON BUILDING PHASE OR ON THE, IN THE FURNISHING ZONE.
IT ALSO INCLUDES CRITERIA FOR SUPPORTIVE ELEMENTS LIKE AMBIENT LIGHTING, PLANTING, OR OTHER MATERIALS TO GUIDE CFT THROUGH DESIGN.
UM, ADDITIONALLY, AS PART OF THE UPDATE, THE, UM, THE UPDATE IS COORDINATING WITH LIGHTING INITIATIVE, AS JILL MENTIONED, TO SUPPORT SAFETY AND CREATE OUTDOOR ROOMS TO, UH, WHERE, UH, THE ACTIVITY CAN SPILL OVER AT NIGHTTIME.
CORE PRINCIPLE D SUPPORTING PUBLIC SAFETY
[00:15:01]
THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN.THIS IS SORT OF A FOLLOW UP FROM THE PUBLIC CRIM ACTIVATION.
THE UPDATE AIMS TO INCORPORATE, UH, CEPT DESIGN PRINCIPLES IN THE STANDARDS FOR CORE GREAT STREETS ELEMENTS AND, UH, AND SUPPORTIVE STREETSCAPE ELEMENTS.
UM, IT'LL ENSURE THE UPDATED STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS MAINTAIN ICE ICE ON STREET THROUGH THE DESIGN ASPECTS OF THE STREET SCALE FURNISHING, OR THROUGH, UH, THE DESIGN REVIEW PROCESS, AS WELL AS, UM, AS WELL AS, UH, INCLUDING THE PEDESTRIAN SCALE LIGHTING STRATEGIES AND REQUIREMENTS THROUGH THE, UH, UH, THE LIGHTING INITIATIVE.
CORE PRINCIPLE E, ENHANCING THE PUBLIC REALM AND ELEVATE WALKING, BIKING, TRANSIT USER EXPERIENCE.
UH, THE PROGRAM IS CURATED TO ENHANCE, UH, THE, THESE ASPECTS SPECIFICALLY, IT SETS REQUIREMENTS THAT DIRECTLY TARGET, UH, SOME OF THE URBAN DESIGN COMMISSION GUIDELINES, UH, URBAN URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES, UM, SPECIFICALLY SPEAKING WIDER PEDESTRIAN CLEAR ZONE SENSE OF ENCLOSURE ON SIDEWALK HIGH, HIGH QUALITY, LOCAL AND PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY MATERIALS AT STREET LEVEL STREET FURNITURE.
UM, THE CURRENT PROGRAM HAS ONE SIZE FITS ALL STANDARDS CURRENTLY, AND THE UPDATE TARGETS TO REVISE THE GREAT STREET STANDARDS, UM, AND TRIES TO BUILD AND IS BUILDING FLEXIBILITY WHILE MAINTAINING CONSISTENCY THROUGH ALL, UH, GRACE STREETS PROJECTS.
AND, UM, THE, THE KEY TO THESE WOULD BE, UM, UH, TO BE ABLE TO CLOSE THE GAPS IN THE EXISTING, UH, GRACE STREET IMPROVEMENTS TO PROVIDE, TO RESPOND CONTEXTUALLY BY, UH, AND PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY IN THE STANDARDS.
UM, AND SO IT DOES BE ABLE TO INCORPORATE THE, UH, UH, THE, UH, SUPPORTIVE ELEMENTS LIKE ART SCULPTURES OR WATER FOUNTAINS AND ALL.
UH, THERE'S ALREADY PERFORMANCE CRITERIA WITHIN THE EXISTING PLAN FOR PUBLIC ART DRINKING FOUNTAINS AND OTHER SUPPORTIVE STREETSCAPE ELEMENTS.
AND, UM, THE CON UPDATE WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE, OR THE GREAT STREETS TEAM WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE ALL THE DESIGN CONSULTATION AND LICENSE AGREEMENT REVIEWS FOR CONTEXT SENSITIVE URBAN DESIGN.
UM, THAT'S THE SAME CONTINUATION FOR THE, UH, OF THE GRACE RECOMMENDATION, CORE PRINCIPLE F UM, PROMOTING SUB SUSTAINABILITY AND ECOSYSTEM HEALTH.
UH, WHILE THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVE IS, UH, IS ADVANCING, EXPANDING OF TREE CANOPY FOR SHADE, THERMAL COMFORT, AND LONG-TERM DURABILITY, GREAT STREETS IS COORDINATING WITH THEM TO PROVIDE DOWNTOWN SPECIFIC TREE DETAILS AND SPECIES SELECTION.
UM, AND WHILE SIDEWALK SPACES EXTREMELY COMPETED, UH, THE UPDATE WILL ALSO PROVIDE STANDARDS FOR, UH, MORE SOFT SCAPE, UH, WITHIN FURNISHING STONES.
UM, IT'LL PROVIDE, UH, STANDARDS FOR GROUND COVERED AND SHRUBS, FOR EXAMPLE, FOR THE GREAT STREETS DISTRICT.
AND, UM, THE STANDARDS WILL, UH, MAIN WILL INCLUDE, UH, FOR EXAMPLE, ORGANIZING PLANTINGS BY HEIGHT FOR SIGHT LINES AND SAFETY FT.
UM, AND AS WELL AS RECOMMENDED GUARDS AND EDGING STYLES TO PROTECT PLANTINGS.
AND THE LAST PRINCIPLE, CORE PRINCIPLE G, RESPECTING THE CULTURAL, HISTORICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND PHYSICAL CONTEXT OF THE SITE.
CURRENTLY THROUGH THE STRUCTURE OF PROGRAM, UM, GRAY STREETS REQUIRES A SET NUMBER OF, UH, FURNISHINGS AND A SET SIGHTING AND PLACEMENT REQUIREMENT, UH, WITHIN THE RIGHT OF WAY.
UM, AND AS I DESCRIBED IN THE PREVIOUS FEW SLIDES, THE UPDATE IS FOCUSED ON THE FLEXIBILITY AND CONSISTENCY OF DESIGN REQUIREMENTS OR, UH, TO BE ABLE TO RESPOND TO THE UNIQUE CONTEXT WITHIN DOWNTOWN AUSTIN.
UM, THE, THERE IS A HIGH, UH, FOCUS TO LOOK AT CORE GREAT STREETS ELEMENTS AS A FLEXIBLE KIT OF PARTS, WHICH COULD BE TAILORED, UH, TO THE CORRIDOR CONTEXT, UH, DEPENDING ON PE AND WILL ALSO RESPOND TO PEDESTRIAN VOLUMES OR THE SPACE DEMANDS OR SPACE OF, UM, THE, UH, PROGRAM WILL CONTINUE SUPPORTING THROUGH EARLY DESIGN CONSULTATION, INTERDEPARTMENTAL COORDINATION, AND SITE REVIEWS
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TO, UM, AGAIN, DRIVE A, UH, SITE SPECIFIC, UH, THREE SCALE.UH, AND WITH THAT, I'LL HAND OVER TO JOE.
SO TO WRAP UP THIS PRESENTATION, THE SCHEDULE FOR THE GREAT STREETS UPDATE IS AS FOLLOWS.
SO WHAT WE HAVE COMPLETED THUS FAR, AS I MENTIONED, IS THE EXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSIS.
AND CURRENTLY WE'RE IN THE PHASE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.
SO I'VE GONE OVER A FEW OF THOSE ITEMS, AND SOME OF THOSE ARE LISTED HERE ON THIS SLIDE.
AND I'LL GO OVER THE FEW OF THE REMAINING ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES, UM, ON THE FINAL SLIDE AND NEXT STEPS.
SO WITH ALL THAT ENGAGEMENT, WE ARE COMPILING THAT AND SYNTHESIZING THAT AND FEEDING THAT DIRECTLY INTO THE UPDATE AND FORMULATING RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON WHAT WE HEARD AND THOSE KEY THEMES FROM THE COMMUNITY AND OUR KEY STAKEHOLDERS.
FROM THERE, WE WILL CONTINUE TO DRAFT THE PLAN AND WE WILL GO TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS AND FOR POTENTIAL APPROVAL BY COUNCIL.
SO OUR NEXT STEPS INCLUDE OUR COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP MEETING.
THE FIFTH MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE ON SEPTEMBER 9TH HERE IN JUST A FEW WEEKS.
WE WILL ALSO HAVE AN OPEN HOUSE, OUR LAST AND FINAL OPEN HOUSE.
AND LASTLY, WE'LL HAVE DESIGN WORKSHOPS THAT INCLUDE, UH, MEMBERS OF THE DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY AS WELL AS MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP AND OUR TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP TO HELP US MAKE SURE THAT WHAT WE'RE PROPOSING FOR THE UPDATE CAN ACTUALLY BE IMPLEMENTED.
UM, LET'S, LET ME MAKE SURE HERE, THIS IS JUST A STAFF BRIEFING, SO WE'RE JUST GONNA OPEN IT UP FOR DISCUSSION QUESTIONS, ET CETERA.
UM, I'M GONNA KICK US OFF WITH A QUICK QUESTION.
YOU HAD A DIAGRAM ORIGINALLY THAT HAD KIND OF THE FLOW OF HOW THE UPDATE WILL WORK EVENTUALLY, GOING FROM, UM, THE GREAT STREETS BEING A GATEKEEPER REQUIREMENT, PLACING IT INTO THE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA MANUAL.
MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT ANY UPDATES TO THE CRITERIA MANUALS GO THROUGH, ALSO GO THROUGH THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY REVIEW PANEL.
IS THAT THE, IS THAT STILL THE CASE? IT DOES NOT, NO.
THE TAR, IT'S THE TAR, CORRECT.
SO THE UPDATES TO THE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA MANUAL WILL NOT GO THROUGH THE TARP? THEY WILL, THEY WILL.
YOU WERE BOTH MAKING LIKE OPPOSITE GESTURES.
I WAS LIKE, DICK WILL OR WON'T WE? OKAY, GREAT.
UM, I'VE GOT A COUPLE QUESTIONS.
UM, SO YOU GUYS ARE WORKING SPECIFICALLY ON THE GREAT STREETS PLAN UPDATE, RIGHT? UM, UH, BUT AS PART OF THAT, YOU'RE, YOU'RE WORKING ON SOME KIND OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN, RIGHT? UH, UH, AS PART OF THAT, THEY'RE GONNA KIND OF MORE, UM, AWAY FROM THE RHETORICAL AND INTO KIND OF THE TECHNICAL AND IMPLEMENTATION SIDE.
UM, I'M, I'M CURIOUS ON UNDERSTANDING A LITTLE BIT MORE, AND I KNOW THIS WOULD BE A BIT MORE OF A LIFT FOR Y'ALL, UM, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, WHAT, YOU GUYS KIND OF COMPARED THE CORE PRINCIPLES IN THE, UM, THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINE DRAFT TO, UM, UH, I GUESS, UM, GOALS AND, UM, UH, OBJECTIVES THAT Y'ALL HAD FOR YOUR PLAN.
UM, I'M KIND OF, I'M, YOU KNOW, THE GUIDELINES WERE REALLY SPECIFICALLY WRITTEN FOR IMPLEMENTATION.
I'M CURIOUS MORE ON LIKE HOW, UM, HOW THEY RELATE TO YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS, BUT ALSO THOSE CORE PRINCIPLES ARE REALLY JUST LIKE BIG GROUPINGS OF GUIDELINES.
AND, UM, I'D BE CURIOUS TO SEE HOW YOUR GUYS', UH, YOUR OBJECTIVES, GOALS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS RELATE TO THE ACTUAL GUIDELINE LEVEL, UM, INFORMATION THERE.
'CAUSE THEY WERE, THEY WERE MUCH MORE SPECIFIC.
UM, AND MAYBE YOU'RE JUST NOT, NOT THERE YET, AND MAYBE YOU'LL, YOU'LL GET THERE AS YOU MOVE TOWARD MORE TOWARDS RECOMMENDATIONS AND, AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY.
UM, BUT I, BUT I, I WOULD, I THINK THAT THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING THAT, UM, Y'ALL SHOULD TRACK, UM, BECAUSE I THINK IT'S SOMETHING THAT WAS, OR COULD HAVE BEEN REALLY EFFECTIVE, UM, IN THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM IS HAVING KIND OF, UH, UH, STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS WITH OUR, UM, OUR DESIGN GUIDELINE WORKING GROUP.
UM, THERE'S A LOT OF YEARS OF, OF KIND OF LIKE ENGAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL, UM, WORK THAT HAS GONE INTO THAT, THAT DRAFT.
UM, AND I THINK THERE'S A LOT OF, UM, THERE'S A LOT OF FOLKS OUT, EVEN OUTSIDE THE DESIGN COMMISSION, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THOSE, THOSE STAKEHOLDERS AND FOLKS THAT WERE ENGAGED AND OTHER, UH, POLICY MAKERS THAT, UM, AND RESIDENTS THAT ARE ALL REALLY INTERESTED IN SEEING THOSE, THOSE GUIDELINES IMPLEMENTED.
AND SO SEEING SOMETHING KIND OF MORE AT THE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE TECHNICAL TANGIBLE LEVEL, UM, AS TO SEE HOW THEY MAKE IT IN THERE, BUT ALSO, YOU KNOW, ON THE, ON THE FLIP SIDE, THE GUIDELINES ARE ALSO,
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UH, NECESSAR NECESSARILY A LITTLE BIT MORE LIKE PLANNING LANGUAGE, RIGHT? THEY'RE NOT, THEY'RE NOT STANDARDS.AND SO I'D BE CURIOUS ON, UM, WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED THROUGH THIS PROCESS AND HOW THAT COMPARES TO THAT, YOU KNOW, THE GUIDELINE LANGUAGE, THE PLANNING STATEMENTS YOU WERE ABLE TO MAKE AS PART OF THE PROCESS AS COMPARED TO THE GUIDELINE LANGUAGE.
UM, I, WHAT I'M ALSO UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THERE'S LIKE A, A PRETTY DRAMATIC SHIFT IN IMPLEMENTATION OF GREAT STREETS.
UM, AND, UH, IT SOUNDS LIKE IF IT'S IMPLEMENTED THROUGH THE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA MANUAL, THEN THAT IS AN ADMINISTRATIVE, UM, UH, ADMINISTRATIVE, ADMINISTRATIVE RULES RATHER THAN CURRENTLY IT IS, UH, CODE, CODE LANGUAGE THAT'S NOT, THAT'S NOT ACCURATE.
WELL, THE, SO IT, IN MY, IN MY WORK ON THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, UM, INITIATIVE, WE, IN OUR EARLY RESEARCH, WERE FINDING THAT, UM, A LOT OF THE BARRIERS TO STREET TREES, UH, THAT WE IDENTIFIED IN THAT PROCESS, UH, WERE NOT, WERE ACTUALLY, UH, NOT THE SAME UNDER GREAT STREETS.
THERE'S DIFF EVEN DIFFERENT REVIEW TEAMS, UH, FOR THOSE RIGHT OF WAY ELEMENTS.
UM, AND THEY MADE KIND OF, UH, REGULAR, UM, MODIFICATIONS OR, OR WAIVERS, UH, TO TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA, MANUAL, UH, RULES.
UM, AND SO I, I'M JUST, I'M A LITTLE BIT WORRIED, UM, WITHOUT CLARITY OF LIKE WHAT'S IN CODE, WHAT IS REQUIRED IN CODE AS FAR AS IF THIS NEW IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY THAT I, THAT I'M AT LEAST IF I'M READING BETWEEN THE RIGHT LINES CORRECTLY, AND PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, UM, UH, THAT WE'RE GOING TO LOSE SORT OF THE, UM, THE CODE REQUIREMENT, UH, THAT IS TRIGGERED TODAY, THAT WE GET THOSE EXCEPTIONS FOR IN THE EVENT THAT, YOU KNOW, THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, UM, INITIATIVE ISN'T ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH EVERYTHING.
UM, AND SO I'M CURIOUS IF YOU GUYS HAVE, UH, ANY THOUGHTS ON THAT? AND LIKE, WHAT, AND, AND REALLY, UH, IN ADDITION TO THAT, I'M JUST GONNA PACK ONE MORE QUESTION THAT'S REALLY, YOU KNOW, WIDE THAT YOU CAN JUST KIND OF COMMENT ON.
BUT, UM, TRY TO, I'M TRYING TO UNDERSTAND HOW THESE, UH, YOU KNOW, THESE STATEMENTS ABOUT OBJECTIVES AND SO FORTH AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS, UH, COMPARE TO TODAY.
UM, THE DESIGN GUIDELINES WORK, UH, UH, IS REALLY IN SOME WAYS A CRITIQUE ON OUR, ON, UM, THE ABILITY TO IMPLEMENT URBAN DESIGN BEST PRACTICE THROUGH THE, UM, THE, THE, UM, DESIGN GUIDELINES AS THEY WERE, AS THEY'RE ADOPTED AND THROUGH GREAT STREETS.
AND SO WE WERE TRYING TO, WE WERE TRYING TO MOVE, BE ABOVE AND BEYOND THAT WHILE STILL BEING, YOU KNOW, PRACTICABLE AND REASONABLE AND IMPLEMENTABLE.
UM, AND SO CURIOUS ON, AT THE CURRENT STAGE OF THIS PROJECT, HOW DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED SO FAR ABOUT THE OBJECTIVES, THE GOALS, AND THE RECOMMENDATION, THE RECOMMENDATIONS YOU'RE PLANNING ON MAKING, UM, AS DIFFERENT FROM TODAY? THAT'S A GREAT COUPLE OF QUESTIONS.
LET'S START WITH THE FIRST QUESTION ABOUT CODE REQUIREMENTS.
SO, GREAT STREETS CURRENTLY IS NOT SPECIFICALLY IN CODE, IT IS IN THE PLAN AND STANDARDS THAT LIVE OUTSIDE OF CODE THAT ALLOWS, LIKE YOU'RE SAYING, A LOT OF FLEXIBILITY AND INCONSISTENCY WITH HOW GREAT STREETS IS IMPLEMENTED.
SO THAT IS ONE OF THE MANY REASONS WHY WE'RE DOING THIS UPDATE.
WITH THE UPDATE, AS I MENTIONED, IT WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA MANUAL WITH BUILT-IN FLEXIBILITY TO ALLOW FOR, I'M GONNA USE THIS WORD AGAIN, FLEXIBILITY AND CONSISTENCY SO THAT ALL REVIEWERS AND ALL DEPARTMENTS AND ALL DEVELOPERS AND ALL INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL INDIVIDUALS ARE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE WITH THE UPDATE.
TO ANSWER YOUR SECOND QUESTION WITH THE SPECIFIC CHANGES THAT HAVE OCCURRED ON THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVE SIDE, FOR THE UPDATE WITH THE COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP, WHAT WE SAW AND WHAT WE TOOK WAS THE ORIGINAL CORE PRINCIPLES OF THE GREAT STREETS PLAN.
THEY HAD DIFFERENT LANGUAGE, BUT THEY'RE ESSENTIALLY OUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES.
SO WE STARTED FROM THERE AND WORKED WITH OUR COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP TO MAKE JUST MINOR TWEAKS TO THE LANGUAGE.
WE TOOK THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES AND SWITCHED THE LANGUAGE TO MAKE IT MORE CLEAR AS TO WHAT ARE GOALS FOR THE UPDATE AND WHAT ARE OBJECTIVES.
AND THIS CHANGED SOME OF THE LANGUAGE, BUT OVERALL, THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS, THEY'RE THE SAME GOALS AND THE ORIGINAL AND OBJECTIVES AND THE ORIGINAL GREAT STREETS UPDATE WITH SOME MINOR TWEAKS.
COULD YOU TALK ABOUT A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE RECOMMENDATIONS THEN? 'CAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE MAYBE THAT IT, SINCE THIS IS AN UPDATE, THAT THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS REALLY KIND OF CAPTURE THE, THE DIFFERENCE, UM, BETWEEN THE CURRENT, UH, GREAT STREETS AS IT'S CURRENTLY DRAFTED AND HOW IT, UM, IS PROPOSED TO BE DRAFTED IN THE FUTURE.
SO YOUR QUESTION SPECIFICALLY IS THE
[00:30:01]
EXISTING PLAN AS IT RELATES TO OUR RECOMMENDATIONS AND COMPARING THOSE TWO, IS THAT ACCURATE? OKAY.SO FOR THE CLARIFICATION, SO CURRENTLY WITHIN THE GREAT STREETS PLAN, THEY DO NOT CALL OUT, IT IS NOT CALLED OUT LIKE SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO THAT SHALL DO X, Y, Z 1, 2, 3.
IT'S REALLY MORE OF A FRAMEWORK AND ALMOST LIKE A VISION LEVEL THAT HAS THE EXISTING COMPONENTS AND ELEMENTS OF GREAT STREETS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THAT PLAN.
THAT ALSO INCLUDES PERFORMANCE CRITERIA WITHIN THAT PLAN ITSELF.
SO WHAT WE'RE DOING AS PART OF THIS UPDATE IS WE'RE HAVING THE THREE THINGS, THE PLAN AS IT STANDS ALONE.
SO TAKING THOSE TWO ELEMENTS AND PULLING THEM APART.
RIGHT NOW WE ARE WORKING, UM, IN OUR NEXT MEETING IN OUR FIFTH COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP WITH OUR STAKEHOLDERS ON THE PERFORMANCE CRITERIA.
SO WE'LL START WITH THE PLAN, HAVE RECOMMENDATIONS, GO TO THE PERFORMANCE CRITERIA THAT WILL BE INFORMED BY THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS, AND THEN DEVELOP STANDARDS OR CONSTRUCTION DETAILS FROM THE PERFORMANCE CRITERIA AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO THEY'RE ALL CONNECTED IN THREE SEPARATE ACTUAL DOCUMENTS.
AND JUST FOR A HUNDRED PERCENT CLARITY, THE, THOSE, UM, THOSE, UH, STANDARDS WILL BE IN THE CRI THE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA MANUAL.
ANY OTHER QUE QUESTIONS? DISCUSSION ITEMS? COMMISSIONER
THANK YOU FOR COMING AND SPENDING YOUR EVENING WITH US, UM, FOR THE PRESENTATION.
UH, APOLOGIES IF SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS WERE COVERED.
UM, FIRST OF ALL, THE, UM, QUESTION OF APPLICABILITY.
YOU MENTIONED THE CORRIDOR APPROACH IN THE, IN THE SLIDE PRESENTATION.
ARE WE LOOKING AT EXPANDING THE, THE GEOGRAPHIC REACH OF GREAT STREETS THROUGH THE TCM TO BE A BROADER PART OF THE CITY OR CITYWIDE? UM, IS THERE ANY DISCUSSION TO THAT OR IS IT GONNA HAVE THE SAME GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARIES AS IT CURRENTLY HAS? THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION.
SO GREAT STREETS AS IT STANDS TODAY, IS DOWNTOWN, RIGHT? SO WITH THE UPDATE, WE WILL EXPAND THE BOUNDARIES TO RAINY STREET THAT ALREADY HAS GREAT STREETS PROJECTS THAT HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED THROUGH THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM.
SO THAT IS A LOW HANGING FRUIT.
THERE ARE ALSO POTENTIALLY OTHER SEGMENTS WITH OUTSIDE THE CURRENT BOUNDARIES THAT COULD BE INCORPORATED IN THE UPDATE.
HOWEVER, IT BECOMES INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO INSTALL GREAT STREETS AND EVEN MORE CONSTRAINED RIGHT OF WAY OUTSIDE OF WHAT WE HAVE IN DOWNTOWN, LIKE IN EAST AUSTIN, FOR EXAMPLE.
OR EVEN ANYWHERE TO THE SOUTH OF THE RIVER.
'CAUSE GREAT STREETS IS MEANT FOR AN 80 FOOT RIGHT OF WAY IN THAT NICE GRID THAT WE HAVE IN DOWNTOWN WITH MINIMAL CURB CUTS.
AND SO, UM, JUST TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION DIRECTLY, WE'RE LOOKING AT RAINY STREET, INCLUDING THAT IN THE BOUNDARIES OF POTENTIALLY OTHER AREAS AS WELL.
I THINK PART OF THE, THE WHY YOU'RE GETTING THESE QUESTIONS FROM THIS COMMISSION IS THAT THE, WE KNOW WE ARE LOOKING AT THE EFFECTIVE SUN SETTING OF THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES.
UM, AND THAT HAS BEEN, UM, ONE OF THE BEST WAYS OF, OF US PROMOTING URBAN DESIGN, BUT I ADMITTEDLY THROUGH KIND OF A SIMILAR GEOGRAPHIC AREA, RIGHT? THE DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM AREA.
UM, BUT AS THE WORKING GROUP WAS CONDUCTING ITS WORK AND STAKEHOLDERS OVER THE LAST COUPLE YEARS, THERE'S A LOT OF DISCUSSION ABOUT TRYING TO EXPAND THAT INTO LOOKING AT ETOD, SOME OF THE CORRIDOR PLANS.
UM, SO IT, YOU KNOW, UH, I APPRECIATE THAT THIS IS EXPANDING, BUT IT, I THINK WE SHOULD, IT WOULD BE GREAT IF WE WERE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO LOOK AT, UM, OTHER PLANNING EFFORTS WHERE THIS MIGHT BE APPLICABLE AND, AND IMPLEMENTABLE.
UH, SECOND QUESTION, UM, PIVOTING A LITTLE BIT.
WE, UH, YOU GUYS ARE TALKING A LOT ABOUT FLEXIBILITY.
UH, AND THAT HAS ALSO BEEN A CHALLENGE FOR US RECENTLY BECAUSE THE, IT IS PRECISELY THE, YOU KNOW, WHAT WE WERE, WHAT WE WERE BEING TOLD IS THAT IT IS THE DISCRETIONARY NATURE OF THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES WHERE ONE SITE MIGHT BE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES, UM, WHERE ANOTHER SITE MIGHT NOT BE THAT IS COMING UNDER LEGAL SCRUTINY.
SO YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT FLEXIBILITY.
I'M, I'M CUR MY QUESTION WOULD BE HOW, HOW WE ARE GOING TO ACHIEVE THAT AND HOW WE'RE GOING TO ALLOW PROJECTS TO HAVE SITE SPECIFIC BEST PRACTICES.
AND THE EXAMPLE I'LL USE IS THAT A PROJECT CAME TO US, UM, I THINK THIS YEAR, UM, THAT HAD SORT OF A, A DUAL SIDEWALK SITUATION GOING ON WHERE THEY HAD AN ARCADE SIDEWALK INSIDE THE PROPERTY LINE AND A, AND A, YOU KNOW, A TRUE, YOU KNOW, FORM-BASED, UH, GREAT STREET SIDEWALK ON THE OUTSIDE.
AND THIS COMMISSION POSITED THAT, UM, WELL, IF YOU SIMPLY COMBINE THE SIDEWALK OR USE, UTILIZE THE SIDEWALK, UH, INSIDE THE PROPERTY LINE, YOU CAN CREATE A POCKET PARK THERE.
UM, NOW THAT'S A VERY SITE SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATION, AND I'M SUPER EXCITED, I BELIEVE THE APPLICANT WENT FORWARD WITH THAT.
UM, SO WE'VE GOT A GREAT UNIQUE SPACE, BUT IF WE'RE BUILDING THIS INTO THE TCM, WHAT IS, HOW ARE WE GOING TO SAFEGUARD THAT LEVEL OF FLEXIBILITY, UH, FOR FUTURE PROJECTS
[00:35:01]
WITHOUT TRIGGERING THIS, THIS LEGAL SCRUTINY OF DISCRETION? THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION.SO ONE EXAMPLE THAT COMES TO MIND IS LIKE WITH TREE SPACING, RIGHT? SO CURRENTLY WITHIN THE GREAT STREETS PLAN, YOU HAVE FLEXIBILITY FROM LIKE 19 UP TO 22 FEET.
IT'S NOT A LOT OF FLEXIBILITY.
HOWEVER, I'VE SEEN SUCCESS IN OTHER PROGRAMS THAT THE CITY OF AUSTIN HAS LIKE AN UNO, FOR EXAMPLE, WHERE YOU HAVE ACTUALLY DOCUMENTED IN CODE ADDITIONAL FLEXIBILITY THAT ALLOWS FOR THE SAME VISION TO BE IMPLEMENTED, LIKE CONSISTENT TREE SPACING, FOR EXAMPLE.
BUT IT ALLOWS SPACES FOR UTILITIES, IT ALLOWS SPACES FOR EXISTING TREES AND INCORPORATING, UM, SITE SPECIFIC DESIGN CONTEXT INTO, UM, THE EXISTING GREAT STREET STANDARDS AND THEN MAINTAINING THAT EXISTING VISION.
SO THAT IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF HOW THE NEW CODE REQUIREMENTS AND THE TCM COULD HAVE CONSISTENCY, BUT YET FLEXIBILITY.
AND I APPRECIATE YOU JUMPING ON STREET TREES AS AN EXAMPLE.
'CAUSE I WAS GONNA CITE THAT AS WELL.
LIKE OUR, YOU KNOW, OUR GREAT STREETS.
YEAH, IT'S WHAT 20, 20 FEET ON CENTER CODE IS, UH, 25 30.
UM, HOUSTON, FOR EXAMPLE, JUST HAS A LINEAR FEED OF STREET FRONTAGE DIVIDED BY X.
UM, SO IN MY MIND, THAT'S A MUCH LIKE, IT'S THE SAME CODE, BUT IT'S A MUCH MORE HIGHER LEVEL OF FLEXIBILITY.
UM, SO THAT'S ONE EXAMPLE OF HOW WE COULD BE WRITING THAT IN THAT, THAT MIGHT HELP SUPPORT THE FLEXIBILITY.
UH, THE OTHER ONE I WANNA LIGHT ON IS, UM, UH, WITH THE, UH, THE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA MANUAL AND, AND THE UTILITIES, UM, CON OF THE DISTANCE FROM A UTILITY IS A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR US RIGHT NOW IN PLANTING TREES.
UM, UH, THE, THE COLONY PARK PUD IS SUCCESSFUL IN PLACING TREES RIGHT NOW PURELY BECAUSE IT'S SUPERSEDES CODE AND ALLOWS YOU TO GO WITHIN I THINK, THREE FEET OF, UH, OF A TREE WITH A ROOT BARRIER.
UM, SO LOOKING AT SOME OF THE BASE CODE STUFF AND MAKING SURE THAT YOU'RE WRITING IN THOSE SAME KIND OF PROTECTIONS FOR GREAT STREETS, UM, SO THAT WE DON'T, YOU KNOW, POISON PELVIS THING BY HAVING UTILITY CONFLICTS THAT, UM, MAKE TREE PLANTING IMPOSSIBLE, OR THAT FORCE US INTO SITUATIONS WHERE WE'RE PLANTING TREES IN TOO LITTLE SOIL VOLUME FOR THEM TO BE SUCCESSFUL.
I, I'D LIKE TO JUST PIGGYBACK ON THAT A LITTLE BIT.
UM, I'VE HAD MY HEAD IN TREES FOR A LITTLE WHILE NOW AND, UM, AND YOU KNOW, I, I'M COMING BACK AROUND TO THE SAME, SAME KIND OF STATEMENT THAT I MADE EARLIER ABOUT KIND OF, UH, GREAT STREETS BEING AN EXCEPTION PREVIOUSLY, BECAUSE IT WAS A GATEKEEPER REQUIREMENT, YOU HAD TO COMPLY WITH IT, AND IT WAS WITHOUT FLEXIBILITY,
UM, I I AM A LITTLE WORRIED, UM, NOT THAT, NOT THAT, UH, THAT'S BEST PRACTICE AT ALL.
I THINK FLEXIBILITY IS BEST PRACTICE, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, I I THINK THAT, UH, IF, IF GREAT STREETS HAD TO OPERATE UNDER THE SAME TECHNICAL, YOU KNOW, THE TECHNICAL, UM, ADMINISTRATIVE RULES, UH, FOR UTILITY SPACING AS THE REST OF THE CITY, UM, OR EVEN AFTER, UM, MODIFICATIONS UNDER THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, UM, INITIATIVE, UM, THAT IT, IT WILL BE MORE CONSTRAINED AND THERE'LL BE LESS STREET TREES DOWNTOWN, UH, THAN WE'RE ACHIEVING CURRENTLY DUE TO THE KIND OF BREADTH OF THOSE, THOSE BARRIERS WITH UTILITIES.
UM, AND SO THAT'S, THAT'S A CONCERN.
AND, UM, AND I THINK THAT, UM, AND AGAIN, LIKE, LIKE I SAID, THE BEING REALLY STRICT ABOUT 22 FEET ON CENTER WITH A LITTLE BIT OF FLEX, YOU KNOW, A LITTLE BIT OF FLEXIBILITY TO 19 FEET OR WHATEVER IS NOT BEST PRACTICE.
BUT AS PART OF THE LAST PHASE OF THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, UM, INITIATIVE, UH, WE IDENTIFIED BEST PRACTICES FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY FOR, UH, ESPECIALLY SPECIFICALLY FOR THE REQUIREMENT FOR STREET TREES AND, AND SPACING.
UM, AND WE SAW EXAMPLES WHERE THERE WAS, UM, KIND OF THE HOUSTON MODEL, IT WAS VERY FLEXIBLE, UH, BUT THEN THERE WERE CERTAIN MODELS IN THE SOUTHEAST, UM, WITH, UH, WITH KIND OF, UM, UH, SAFEGUARDS AROUND THAT.
IT'S LIKE THERE WAS MINIMUM NUMBER OF STREETS PER FRONTAGE, WHICH ACTUALLY, UH, WHICH IS, WHICH IS I THINK VERY PREDICTABLE AND, AND CONSISTENT.
UM, BUT THERE WERE MAXIMUM SPACING AS WELL AS MINIMUM SPACING SO THAT IT WAS, AND, AND IDEALLY THAT WOULD BE AS APPROPRIATE FOR TREE SPECIES, UM, UH, AND PERHAPS MORE TREES IF IT'S A SMALLER SPECIES THAN IF IT'S A LARGE, UH, A LARGE SHADED SPECIES, UM, HOPEFULLY IN GRAY STREETS WEREN'T DEALING WITH THAT.
UM, BUT THERE, THERE WERE A NUMBER OF IN, IN THE, UH, THE SECOND, UM, REPORT AS PART OF, UM, THE, UH, KIND OF DISCOVERY PHASE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE.
THERE WERE SOME BEST, BEST PRACTICES THAT WERE IDENTIFIED IF, UM, THAT YOU GUYS, UH, THAT MAY SERVE Y'ALL IN THIS, IN THIS PROCESS.
UM, SO, BUT I ALSO, I ALSO, THIS IS ON A SEPARATE POINT.
I AM REALLY CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT YOU BROUGHT UP.
THE FIRST POINT IS LIKE, BEYOND STREET TREES, HOW ARE YOU BALANCING CONSISTENCY WITH FLEXIBILITY?
[00:40:01]
SO LOOKING AT, AS I MENTIONED, LIKE CONTEXT SENSITIVE DESIGN.SO CURRENTLY IN EXISTING GREAT STREETS PLAN, THERE IS NOT MENTION OF LIKE EXISTING TREES, FOR EXAMPLE.
SO HAVING MORE CONTEXT SENSITIVITY TO POTENTIALLY PRESERVE WHAT IS REQUIRED IN THE RIGHT OF WAY, LIKE A PROTECTED STATUS TREE AND INCORPORATING GREAT STREETS AROUND THAT TREE.
SO DETERMINING THE PATH FORWARD OF HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT SITUATION WHERE YOU HAVE THE EXISTING TREE AND YOU HAVE THAT PRESERVED AND MAINTAINED, BUT HAVE GREAT STREETS AROUND THAT EXISTING TREE AS ONE EXAMPLE OF PROVIDING FLEXIBILITY AND MAINTAINING THE TREE CANOPY, BUT ALSO PROVIDING CONSISTENCY.
D DOES THAT CONSISTENCY AND, UH, AND I GUESS DOES THAT CONTEXT INCLUDE EXISTING UTILITIES? UM, BECAUSE AS PART OF A BON BONUS PROGRAM, THIS HAS BEEN ONE OF THE ONLY, UM, MECHANISMS TO MOVE UTILITIES IN ORDER TO, UM, ACCOMMODATE OUR STANDARDS STREET SCAPES.
UM, SO I'M, I'M CURIOUS IF, IF, IF THAT'S TOO FLEXIBLE AND IT COULD, IT COULD CONSIDER EXISTING UTILITIES, UM, THAT WE ACTUALLY WOULD HAVE, UH, A LACK OF CONSISTENCY IN IMPLEMENTATION AND, AND, AND FINDING THAT THAT BALANCE WILL BE MORE DIFFICULT BECAUSE THERE'S GONNA BE A WHOLE LOT OF PRESSURE TO GO THE OTHER WAY.
SO JUST THINKING ABOUT THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM, RIGHT? AND TO CONSTRUCT AND ACTUALLY HAVE A TOWER IN DOWNTOWN, ALL OF THE DIFFERENT, FOUR OR MORE DIFFERENT WATER LINES AND WASTEWATER LINES, AS WELL AS THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR TELECOM GAS, FORGETTING SOME THINGS AUSTIN ENTER, LIKE ALL OF THE DIFFERENT LINES, LIKE YOU BASICALLY WIPE OUT THE STREETSCAPE, RIGHT? SO THINKING MORE ABOUT PRIORITIES AND FOCUSING ON THE PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE AND HAVE THAT AGAIN, WRITTEN INTO THE CODE TO HAVE THAT VISION BE IMPLEMENTED IS THE GOAL FOR ONE OF THE GOALS OF THE GREAT STREETS UPDATE.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO SHARE AS YOU FIGURE THAT OUT, BECAUSE I THINK THAT'LL HAVE A LOT OF, UM, IF YOU CAN CRACK THAT CODE AND FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO THAT IN AN IMPLEMENTABLE WAY THAT COULD HAVE A LOT OF LESSONS FOR A LOT OF THESE OTHER INITIATIVES THAT ARE GOING AROUND.
SO COMMISSIONER MINORS, UH, ONE OF THE OTHER POINTS I WANTED TO CALL OUT, BECAUSE IT POPS UP QUITE A BIT IN OUR CONVERSATIONS WITH, UH, APPLICANTS, IS, UH, THE DRIVEWAY APRONS, UM, THAT ARE BASICALLY AT GRADE AND KIND OF INTEGRATED, UM, INTO THE SIDEWALK.
UH, EXAMPLES ARE, YOU KNOW, LIKE THE JW MARRIOTT, UM, I THINK, UH, THE HOTEL ON, I FORGET WHAT THE, WHICH HOTEL IT IS, BUT THERE'S ANOTHER HOTEL IN THE WAREHOUSE DISTRICT THAT HAS KIND OF THAT SAME CHALLENGE.
SO I WONDER, YOU KNOW, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU ALL, UM, HAVE RECEIVED FEEDBACK ALREADY OR IS THERE, UM, GOING TO BE SPECIFIC FOCUS ON KIND OF STANDARDIZING HOW, UH, HOW THOSE ARE VIEWED WITH REGARD TO SAFETY AND, UM, DISTINCTION FROM THE SIDEWALK AND WHAT IS A DRIVABLE SPACE ORIGINALLY THAT IS OUTSIDE OF THE SCOPE OF THE GREAT STREETS UPDATE? THAT WOULD BE MORE ON THE TRANSPORTATION AND, UM, ON, ON THAT SIDE.
SO THERE'S NOTHING THAT YOU ALL CAN DO THAT KIND OF HELPS TO BETTER DEFINE OR DELINEATE WHERE IT MEETS THE SIDEWALK, GIVEN THAT GREAT STREETS INVOLVES THE SIDEWALK
SO IT IS UNDER THE ALLOWABLE ACCESS TO THE BUILDING ITSELF THAT THE SPECIFIC PROPERTY OWNER IS ALLOWED A CERTAIN NUMBER OF ACCESS POINTS TO THEIR PROPERTY.
SO AGAIN, THAT, THAT WOULD BE OUTSIDE OF THE SCOPE.
YEAH, I'D LIKE TO SEE THAT AS A MORE COORDINATED EFFORT, EVEN IF IT IS OUT OUTSIDE OF SCOPE, JUST TO ENSURE THAT IT'S STREAMLINED.
UM, SO, UM, BEYOND SORT OF THE MINIMUM ALLOWED ACCESS POINTS, UM, OUR, THIS COMMISSION'S HAD A LOT OF DISCUSSIONS AROUND THE DESIGN AND LIKE ESSENTIALLY STANDARD DETAILS OF, UH, THE ACTUAL CURB CUT AND, AND DRIVEWAY WIDTH AND THAT SORT OF THING.
SO WE, I THINK, AND THAT'S VERY MUCH WITHIN THE, THE SCOPE OF, UM, WHAT DESIGN, UH, WHAT GREAT STREETS DOES TODAY.
YOU KNOW, IT DOES, UH, CURB CUTS, UH, FOR, UM, FOR, UH, PEDESTRIANS, UH, INTERSECTIONS.
IT HAS A LOT OF THOSE DETAILS TODAY.
AND SO I THINK THAT IT'S, UH, YES, THE NUMBER AND, UH, OF, OF DRIVEWAYS IS A, IS A HUGE ISSUE, UM, UH, THAT, THAT WE ARE TRYING TO ADDRESS IN THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM.
UH, OR SORRY, THE DESIGN, UM, THE URBAN DESIGN STANDARDS, UH, BUT THE ACTUAL DESIGN OF THAT CURB CUT AND, UH, THROUGH THE, THROUGH THE PEDESTRIAN, UH, SPACE IS, IS ALSO VERY MUCH OF INTEREST TO THIS COMMISSION.
I THINK I'M HAVING THE SAME COMMENT THERE THAT I'M, I'M, I'M BEWILDERED THAT THAT'S OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THIS AND I UNDERSTAND THE LOGIC, BUT, UM,
[00:45:01]
YEAH, IF, IF WE'VE GOT, IF YOU HAVE A, IF YOU KNOW, TRANSPORTATION'S DICTATING A SET NUMBER OF ACCESS POINTS FOR A PROPERTY OWNER, CAN GREAT STREETS AT LEAST SHAPE WHERE THOSE ACCESS POINTS GO? UH, WE'VE HAD, I MEAN, WE WERE TRYING TO PUSH FOR ALLEY LOADING DRIVEWAYS, LOADING DRIVEWAYS TO SECONDARY STREETS.THERE JUST SIMPLY IS NOT A WORLD IN WHICH A CURB CUT ON SIXTH STREET IS APPROPRIATE EVER, PERIOD.
UM, AND WITHOUT GREAT STREETS PUSHING THAT, WE DON'T HAVE A MECHANISM TO STOP THAT.
WE JUST DON'T, I MEAN, WE, THIS, THIS COMMISSION WAS NOT GOING TO APPROVE A PROJECT THAT PUT A CURB CUT ON A MAJOR PEDESTRIAN THOROUGHFARE.
UM, SO YOU GUYS ARE OUR, OUR ONLY HOPE HERE.
UM, SO I, I'M, I'M BEWILDERED THAT YOU GUYS HAVEN'T BEEN CHARTERED WITH THE ABILITY TO AT LEAST SHAPE THE DISCUSSION GIVEN, GIVEN THAT IT'S A GATEKEEPER REQUIREMENT, THE DISCUSSION OF WHERE THOSE CURB CUTS WOULD HAPPEN AND HOW THEY HAPPEN.
SO I HOPE THAT, I HOPE THAT, THAT THAT COMMENT SHOULD COME IN THE SPIRIT OF SUPPORT FOR WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING.
AND, YOU KNOW, WE'D LOVE TO BE YOUR ALLIES IN, IN PUSHING FOR THAT NOTE TOO, THAT, UH, WHEN I SERVED ON THE DOWNTOWN COMMISSION VERY BRIEFLY, THEY RECEIVED REGULAR, LIKE SAFETY BRIEFINGS FROM A PD ON ISSUES THAT ARE PREVALENT IN DOWNTOWN, SUCH AS, YOU KNOW, SCOOTER INJURIES, THINGS LIKE THAT.
AND I DO KNOW IN PARTICULAR, I THINK COMMISSIONER MINORS, THE OTHER ONE IS THE DROP OFF AT THE W HOTEL, LIKE HOTEL AND RESIDENCES HAS ISSUES AS WELL AS THE JW, UM, WHERE THERE HAVE BEEN PRETTY SEVERE INJURIES THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE BECAUSE OF THE STYLE OF DRIVEWAY THAT HAPPENS THERE, AND THE QUANTITY OF VEHICULAR AND PEDESTRIAN INTERACTION IN THOSE ZONES.
SO THAT MAY BE SOMETHING THAT'S HELPFUL TO LEAN ON, IS THAT THIS IS A HEALTH SAFETY WELFARE ISSUE AND NOT A, NOT NECESSARILY A SOLELY A PROPERTY RIGHTS ISSUE.
COMMISSIONER HOWARD, UM, TO ADD TO THAT, YOU KNOW, IN, IN OUR WORK WITH THE, UM, URBAN DESIGN STANDARDS, UM, WE FOUND THAT, UH, YOU KNOW, DUE ITS NATURE AS CODE RATHER THAN TRANSFER, UH, THAN, UH, CRITERIA MANUAL, UM, WE WERE NOT ABLE TO DO ANYTHING CONTEXT SENSITIVE.
UM, AND, AND WHAT WE FOUND IS THAT, YOU KNOW, IN DOWNTOWN WHERE WE HAVE A PLAN, UH, WE HAVE THE GREAT STREETS PLAN, WE'RE ACTUALLY DEALING WITH CONTE CONTEXT SENSITIVE, UH, CONDITIONS, ESPECIALLY STREET TYPES.
UH, AND WHAT WE TRIED TO DO IN THOSE GUIDELINES WAS TO IDENTIFY MAIN STREETS, UM, AS WELL AS, UM, YOU KNOW, PEDESTRIAN, UH, THE, I'M FORGETTING THE CLASSIFICATIONS NOW, THE PEDESTRIAN ORIENTED STREETS AND THE, YOU KNOW, MIXED MODE STREETS AND COMMUTER STREETS.
WE HAVE THOSE, THEY NEED TO BE UPDATED CERTAINLY, BUT WHAT, WHAT BETTER TIME TO DO THAT THAN, AS PART OF THE GREAT STREETS AND THE STANDARDS THAT ARE APPROPRIATE AS FAR AS DRIVEWAYS, ESPECIALLY, UH, ON THOSE DIFFERENT CLASSIFICATIONS, UM, IS, IS CRITICAL.
LIKE THOSE, THOSE ARE THOSE CONTEXT THAT CONTEXT SENSITIVITY IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AT AT THE TCM LEVEL.
UM, IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE, UH, IN URBAN DESIGN STANDARDS BECAUSE IT, WE CAN'T, UNLESS WE GAVE EVERY, EVERY STREET CLASSIFICATION ITS OWN ZONING, UH, DESIGNATION.
UM, AND SO IT KIND OF HAS TO COME FROM GREAT STREETS.
UM, UH, PERHAPS IT'S A NEW MODEL THAT THE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA MANUAL AND THE TRANSPORTATION TEAM CAN IMPLEMENT IN SMALL AREA PLANS AS THEY LOOK TO MAKE, UM, OUR, OUR, UH, TRANSPORTATION GUIDANCE MORE CONTEXT SENSITIVE ACROSS THE CITY.
UM, BUT I THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, THIS IS, THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE PLACE THAT WE ACTUALLY ALREADY HAVE HISTORY WITH THIS.
WE JUST NEED TO DEAL WITH DRIVEWAYS TOO.
THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE PLACE THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN, BUT IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN EVERYWHERE ELSE TOO.
BUT HIGH PRIORITY HERE, I'D SAY I'M SUPER HUNG UP ON THE, THE, THE CONTEXT SENSITIVITY.
'CAUSE I, I MEAN, WE CAN, WE CAN DISCUSS BEST PRACTICES IN URBAN DESIGN ALL NIGHT LONG.
CONTEXT SENSITIVE DESIGN IS THE NUMBER ONE MOST IMPORTANT.
UH, I THINK EVERYBODY, I THINK ALL MY COLLEAGUES ARE GONNA AGREE WITH THAT.
UM, AND SO IT'S, IT'S SO CHALLENGING FOR US TO, TO FEEL, UM, LIKE IN THE CASE OF THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES, THAT THE, THE, OUR ABILITY TO BE CONTEXTUAL AT ALL IS, UM, BEING THREATENED BY, UM, CONCERN THAT ONE PROPERTY OWNER IS BEING TREATED DIFFERENTLY THAN ANOTHER.
IF WE WERE TO WRITE TODAY INTO, INTO AN URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINE THAT A, A PROPERTY FACING ONE OF THE DOWNTOWN ORIGINAL SQUARES, UM, DESERVE SPECIAL TREATMENT, WE WOULD PROBABLY BE TOLD NO THAT WE CAN'T DO THAT.
BUT THAT'S ALREADY IN THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES.
UM, AND I BRING THAT UP BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT CONTEXT SENSITIVITY AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WORKING AROUND THINGS LIKE A HERITAGE TREE, RIGHT? MM-HMM
CAN WE BROADEN THAT TO, TO ENCOMPASS COMMISSIONER HOWARD'S DISCUSSION
[00:50:01]
OF THE STREET OF THE, OF THE STREET HIERARCHY, RIGHT? CAN THE STREET HIERARCHY DEFINE, UM, CAN THAT ITSELF BECOME A CONTEXT? CAN YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO PARKLAND OR HISTORIC STRUCTURE BE BROUGHT INTO THE CONTEXT OF THAT? UM, AND, AND WRITE, WRITE THAT IN FOR CLARITY, UM, BECAUSE THOSE ARE, I THINK THOSE ARE GONNA BE REALLY KEY ASPECTS OF HOW WE DESIGN, BUT THEY, THEY DO HAVE TO BE CONTEXT SENSITIVE.UM, AND THEY, THEY DESERVE TO BE IN THERE.
ALL THESE THINGS DESERVE TO BE IN THE CONVERSATION.
AND LIKE I SAID, GREAT STREETS REALLY IS GONNA BE THE STANDARD BEARER FOR THAT.
UM, SO I, I, I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHERE I'M GOING WITH OTHER THAN TO SAY, FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE, WE FEEL LIKE WE ARE BEING, WE HAVE A VICE TIGHTENING AROUND US THAT SAYS EVERY PROPERTY MUST BE TREATED THE SAME WAY.
NO MATTER WHAT, UM, YOU GUYS IN THE PROCESS YOU'RE DOING, PLEASE DON'T GET INTO THAT.
PLEASE LOOK FOR CONTEXT SPECIF SPECIFICITY, AND TRY TO FIND WAYS TO WRITE DOWN AND CODIFY THAT SO IT DOESN'T JUST TURN INTO AN INTERPRETATION OF LIKE, OH, WE HAVE AN ENCUMBRANCE HERE, AND SO WE GOTTA WORK AROUND IT, BECAUSE THAT'S A PRETTY MILK TOAST WAY OF LOOKING AT, AT CONTEXT.
IT'S, IT'S A, IT'S A STEP, BUT IT'S, IT'S JUST SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH.
JUST ONE MORE POINT, JUST JUST TO DIG IT IN EVEN FURTHER, UM, IS, IS, YOU KNOW, UM, YEAH, UH, THAT, THAT SORT OF, UH, PLANNING CONTEXT HAS TO HAPPEN DURING THE PLANNING BECAUSE WE'RE NOT GONNA GET ANY OTHER, ANY OTHER WAY, WAY.
ALL RIGHT, COMMISSIONER KAHN, UM, I JUST HAD A QUESTION ABOUT, UM, THE COMMUNITY FEEDBACK AND, UH, THAT'S BEING SOLICITED AND HOW COMMUNITY MEMBERS TYPICALLY END UP IN, APOLOGIES IF THIS HAS ALREADY BEEN COVERED IN A PAST MEETING, BUT, UM, WOULD BE ABLE TO, TO ACCESS THAT.
CAN YOU REPEAT THAT QUESTION? SURE.
JUST, UM, YOU KNOW, YOU GUYS NOTED THAT YOU WERE GOING TO BE SOLICITING COMMUNITY FEEDBACK AND THE RISK OF BEING AN OPEN HOUSE AND SOME OTHER EVENTS, AND SO I WAS JUST CURIOUS WHERE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY WOULD TYPICALLY FIND LIKE THE LOCATION AND THE DATES AND THINGS FOR THAT.
SO YOU CAN FIND THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY UPDATING OUR GREAT STREET SPEAKUP PAGE, WHERE WE HAVE OUR OUTLINE AS WELL AS UPCOMING EVENTS THAT THE COMMUNITY CAN PARTICIPATE IN THIS UPDATE MOVING FORWARD.
A FOLLOW UP TO THAT, DO YOU HAVE DATES YET FOR THE OPEN HOUSE AND DESIGN WORKSHOPS THAT YOU MENTIONED AT THE END OF YOUR PRESENTATION, OR IS THOSE STILL TBD, THOSE ARE STILL TBD.
ANY OTHER DISCUSSION RELATED TO ITEM NUMBER TWO? ALL RIGHT, WELL, THANK YOU, JILL.
MARITA, WE APPRECIATE YOUR PRESENTATION.
WE'LL CONTINUE ON TO DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS. ITEM NUMBER THREE, DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM, INCLUDING PHASE ONE, BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT.
UM, THIS IS FROM THE DESIGN GUIDELINES, WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS, AND THE PROPOSED APPROACH STRATEGY AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PROCESS FOR PHASE TWO.
THIS WAS, UH, SPONSORED BY VICE CHAIR KEVIN HOWARD AND COMMISSIONER CAROL.
AND AS WE ARE MISSING COMMISSIONER CAROL, I THINK THIS FALLS TO ONE, ONE MOMENT.
LET ME, REORG CAN ACTUALLY, CAN WE SWITCH, UH, FOUR AND THREE, AND THEN HOPEFULLY IT'LL ALL COME BACK TO ME.
SO WE'LL MOVE, UH, WE'LL, WE'LL SKIP, WE'LL, WE'LL COME BACK, WE'LL CIRCLE BACK, UH, DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION
[4.Discussion and possible action to approve a recommendation regarding the future of the Design Commission and their role in the development review process. Sponsors: Commissioner Murkes and Vice Chair Howard.]
TO APPROVE A RECOMMENDATION REGARDING THE FUTURE OF THE DESIGN COMMISSION AND THEIR ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT REVIEW PROCESS.THIS ONE WAS SPONSORED BY COMMISSIONER MEKI AND VICE CHAIR HOWARD.
UM, COMMISSIONER MEKI, DO YOU HAVE ANY UPDATES FOR US? UM, I DO NOT, BUT I BELIEVE VICE CHAIR HOWARD, UM, DOES GREAT.
SO WE PUT, UH, THE WORKING GROUP'S BEEN, UM, PUTTING OUR HEADS TOGETHER.
WE'VE MET A COUPLE TIMES, UH, RELATED TO KIND OF THE FUTURE ROLE OF THE, OR CLARIFYING THE ROLE OF THE DESIGN COMMISSION AS WE MOVE FORWARD.
UM, KIND OF MOVING AWAY FROM THIS, UH, ADVISORY DESIGN REVIEW SORT OF MODEL, UM, AND, UH, TOWARD, UM, YOU KNOW, TOWARD LEANING MORE ON THE OTHER, UM, PARTS OF OUR ROLE.
[00:55:01]
JUST HOLD IT.THAT'S A VERY SMALL TEXT FROM THIS FAR AWAY.
UM, UH, GENERALLY WHAT WE'RE, WHAT WE'RE LOOKING TO DO IS RECOMMEND CODE AMENDMENTS AND COUNCIL ACTION, UM, TO COUNCIL, UM, FOR THEM TO, UH, TO KIND OF CLARIFY OUR ROLE, UM, AND, UH, AND KIND OF, UM, AND, YOU KNOW, AND REQUEST THAT THE, UM, THE CITY MANAGER IMPLEMENTS THAT IN A WAY THAT THAT KIND OF SENDS THE APPROPRIATE, UH, THE APPROPRIATE PROJECTS AND, AND, UH, OUR WAY.
UM, PART OF THAT WAS TO, UH, CLARIFY AND REFRAIN, REFRAME OUR ROLE, UH, WITHIN CITY GOVERNMENTS GOVERNANCE, UM, AND CHANGE OUR ROLE FROM A STANDING ADVISORY ROLE, UH, TO A, UM, TO, UH, PROVIDING RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL, UH, LAND USE COMMISSIONS, UM, CITY MANAGER AND CITY DEPARTMENTS, UM, ON A, UM, OR, SORRY, ON A STANDING BASIS RATHER THAN A DISCRETIONARY BASIS.
SO RIGHT NOW, THE PLANNING COMMISSION COUNCIL COULD ASK SOMETHING TO, UH, ASK FOR OUR ADVICE ON SOMETHING.
WHAT WE WOULD SAY IS THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO CLARIFY OUR ROLE BY, BY, UM, INSERTING, UH, DESIGN, UM, DESIGN COMMISSION, UH, REVIEW OF CERTAIN PROJECTS BEFORE THEY GET TO THE DESIGN, THE DESIGN, OR, SORRY, THE PLANNING COMMISSION OR CITY COUNCIL, UM, IN A SIMILAR MODEL AS, UM, AS SOME OF THE JOINT COMMISSIONS DO TODAY AND POT AND, UM, THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION, UH, TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION.
UM, UH, ADDITIONALLY, UM, YOU KNOW, PART OF, UH, PART OF THAT, UM, COUNCIL ACTION TO THE CITY MANAGER IS ABOUT ADDING CLEAR TRIGGERS TO PROJECTS TO PRESENT BEFORE THE DESIGN DESIGN COMMISSION TO MAKE SURE THAT, UM, FOLKS UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS WITHIN THE PER, YOU KNOW, THE PURVIEW OF THE, UM, ADVISORY, UH, OF THIS ADVISORY BODY.
UM, WHY WE'RE DOING THAT IS PAR PARTIALLY BECAUSE OF THIS SHIFT IN OUR ROLE, UM, AS THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROJECT IS SHIFTING AWAY FROM A DESIGN REVIEW, UH, UM, ADMINISTRATIVE DESIGN AND REVIEW, UH, PROCESS WITH THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES AND TOWARDS URBAN DESIGN STANDARDS, THAT ROLE WHERE WE ARE, ARE PROVIDING ADVICE ON THOSE PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS SPECIFICALLY, UH, WILL BE ELIMINATED AND, AND, AND HAS BEEN ELIMINATED.
UM, AND SO WE, WE WANT TO SHIFT AND KIND OF LEAN INTO THE ROLE, THE OTHER PARTS OF OUR ROLE AND CLARIFY THOSE, UM, AND FOCUS ON CITYWIDE URBAN DESIGN POLICY LEADERSHIP.
UM, A A LOT OF TIMES PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES THAT IMPACT THE PUBLIC REALM, UH, URBAN DESIGNS, UH, IN THE CITY DON'T COME TO URBAN DESIGN COMMISSION OR THE DESIGN COMMISSION.
UM, AND, UH, A LOT OF PROJECTS THAT, I WOULDN'T SAY A LOT, BUT A NUMBER OF PROJECTS COME TO US, UH, WITHOUT CLEAR PURPOSE FOR WHY WE'RE REVIEWING THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.
UM, THIS IS, YOU KNOW, THIS IS, UH, RELATED TO WHAT I CALL THE BARNACLES OF, OF CODE, UH, WHERE SOMETHING, SOMETHING CHANGES, UH, WITH, UH, WITHOUT FULL UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT WAS, UM, WHAT WAS INTENDED OR HOW IT WAS INTENDED TO BE BEFORE.
AND WE KIND OF GET A BUILDUP OF, OF LANGUAGE THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE IN THE CURRENT DAY.
UM, AND SO IT'D BE ABOUT, YOU KNOW, CLEARING OUR RESPONSIBILITIES IN SOME OF THE, IN THOSE CASES OR, OR CLARIFYING WHAT, WHAT IT IS THAT, THAT COUNCIL NEEDS ADVICE AROUND, UM, RELATED TO THOSE, THOSE, UH, PROJECTS WITH UNCLEAR PURPOSE FOR OUR, OUR REVIEWING THEM.
UM, AND, AND FIRST OF ALL, WE WANTED TO KIND OF UNDERSTAND HOW TO, YOU KNOW, WHAT DOES THE DESIGN COMMISSION REALLY LOOK AT, UM, AND HAVE AN INTEREST IN? IT'S, IT'S REALLY AROUND URBAN DESIGN.
UM, AND SO WE WANTED TO IDENTIFY WHAT, WHAT SORT OF PROJECTS WITHIN, UM, DEBT COUNCIL AND PLANNING AND THE PLANNING COMMISSION AND EVEN, UH, PLANNING AND ZONING MAY NEED ADVICE UPON, UM, IN ORDER TO HAVE, UH, THROUGH AN URBAN DESIGN LENS IN ORDER TO MAKE, UM, THEIR, UH, POLICY DECISIONS.
UM, AND SO WE ARE KIND OF LOOKING AT DIFFERENT FOCUS AREAS, UM, CAPITAL PROJECTS, SMALL AREA PLANNING, UM, UH, BOTH, UH, PLANNING, UM, AS WELL AS TRANSPORTATION, SMALL AREA PLANNING, UM, DEVELOPMENT AND STREET DESIGN STANDARDS, KIND OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW.
GREAT STREETS TC, YOU KNOW, UH, COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORTATION CRITERIA, MANUAL CHANGES, UM, AS WELL AS THOSE, UH, URBAN DESIGN, UM, URBAN DESIGN STANDARDS THAT WE WERE, WERE LOOKING AT WITH THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM, ESPECIALLY AS WE, AS WE POTENTIALLY ARE SEEING URBAN DESIGN STANDARDS ROLL OUT CITYWIDE, UM, OTHER FOCUS AREAS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PLACE MAKING, THERE'S A HUGE OPPORTUNITY HERE.
THIS IS A PLACE FOR INNOVATION IN URBAN DESIGN.
AND, AND THERE'S SOME FOLKS, UH, THAT ARE, THAT ARE DOING REALLY INTERESTING WORK HERE.
UM, UH, RIGHT OUTSIDE OF THE IMMEDIATE, UM, UH, SORT OF, UH, CITY OF AUSTIN, UM, JURISDICTION, I GUESS, UH, ESPECIALLY, YOU KNOW, RALLY AUSTIN IS DOING REALLY INNOVATIVE WORK HERE THAT'S DIRECTLY RELATED TO URBAN DESIGN, UM, UH, URBAN DESIGN LEADERSHIP AT THE CITY.
YOU KNOW, WE'VE GOT, WE'VE GOT OBVIOUSLY THE URBAN DESIGN GROUP HERE IN THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT, BUT, UM, GENERALLY, AND WE'VE SEEN THIS ACROSS CITIES, ACROSS THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OVER, UH, DECADES, UM, NOW AS, AS EVERYTHING HAS BEEN, BECOME VERY SILOED AND, UM, AND,
[01:00:01]
UH, SPECIFIC EXPERTISE DRIVEN.AND SO, YOU KNOW, WE'VE GOT, UH, WE'VE GOT ENGINEERS FOR EVERYTHING.
WE'VE GOT, UM, YOU KNOW, ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES AND ENVIRONMENTAL, UM, REVIEWERS, AND EVERYBODY'S LOOKING AT, EVEN IN THAT CATEGORY, WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, A, AN A WIDE, UM, SPREAD OF FOLKS THAT ARE LOOKING THIS, BUT THERE'S VERY FEW PEOPLE THAT ARE ABLE TO PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER IN A HOLISTIC WAY, AND THAT'S REALLY WHAT URBAN DESIGN IS.
UM, AND SO ADVOCATING FOR THAT STRUCTURE THAT AT A STRUCTURAL LEVEL AT THE CITY AND POTENTIALLY, UM, YOU KNOW, EDUCATION, UM, THAT, THAT MAY MEAN EDUCATION, THAT MAY MEAN INTERNAL TO THE CITY, IT MAY MEAN THE, THE GENERAL PUBLIC, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, TACTICAL ENGAGEMENT AND, UH, THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF WORK AROUND, UM, QUICK BUILD, SORT OF, UM, URBAN DESIGN INNOVATION.
AND I THINK THAT THESE ALL KIND OF GO TOGETHER.
AND SO WE'VE KIND OF IDENTIFIED THOSE AS, AS KEY FOCUS AREAS FOR, UM, CLARIFYING THE ROLE OF THE DESIGN COMMISSION.
UM, THE MECHANISMS, OH, SORRY.
UM, THE PROPOSED MECHANISMS, UM, THE FIRST ONE WE HAVE IS RENAME AND REFRAME DESIGN COMMISSION IS REALLY KIND OF, UH, THE TERM DESIGN COMMISSION IS REALLY REMINISCENT OF KIND OF ITS CONCEPTION AS A, UH, SIMILAR TO A DESIGN REVIEW BOARD.
AND AS WE'RE MOVING AWAY FROM DISCRETIONARY DESIGN, UH, ADMINISTRATIVE DISCRETIONARY DESIGN, REVIEWING TOWARDS URBAN DESIGN STANDARDS, WE'D REALLY LIKE TO SHED THAT.
UM, AND REALLY, AND KIND OF REORIENT WHAT THIS COMMISSION DOES, UH, AROUND URBAN DESIGN POLICY.
AND SO I THINK A, A RENAMING COULD REALLY HELP WITH REFRAMING THAT AND CLARIFYING HOW THIS, UM, COMMISSION IS INTENDED TO INTERACT IN CITY GOVERNANCE.
UM, THAT WE'VE, WE'VE GOT, UH, YOU CAN GO TO, OR SORRY, ACTUALLY STAY HERE.
THERE'S A NUMBER OF JOINT COMMITTEES TODAY THAT, UM, THAT ARE PART OF LAND USE COMMISSIONS, PLANNING COMMISSION, UH, ZONING AND PLATTING.
UM, EVEN URBAN TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION, WHICH ISN'T A, A LAND USE COMMISSION, BUT, UM, UH, BUT THESE COMMISSIONS OFTENTIMES ARE, YOU KNOW, UM, ARE, UH, OVERBURDENED WITH THEIR, THEIR, THEIR DAY-TO-DAY VOL, UH, WORK AT THE, THE OTHER COMMERCIAL COMMISSIONS AND COULD USE POTENTIALLY SOME, UH, SOME SPECIFIC SORT OF, UM, FOCUS ON URBAN DESIGN IN THESE AREAS.
AND SO WE WANT TO, WE WANNA REACH OUT TO THOSE COMMISSIONS AND, AND THOSE JOINT, UH, THE JOINT COMMISSIONS AND SEE HOW WE MIGHT FIT INTO THAT.
UM, IN SOME CASES IT MAY BE THAT CERTAIN JOINT COMMISSIONS WANT TO, UH, THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA FOR THE DESIGN COMMISSION TO JUST TAKE OVER CERTAIN ROLES THAT THEY HAVE TODAY AND RECOMMEND AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO A, UH, LAND USE COMMISSION.
UM, UH, WE ALSO HAVE, UM, UH, FORMAL REVIEW TRIGGERS, LIKE WE TALKED ABOUT CERTAIN PROJECTS RATHER THAN, YOU KNOW, RATHER THAN BEING A PART OF A JOINT, UH, JOINT COMMITTEE, UH, WITH, UM, WITH ANOTHER COMMISSION, UH, POTENTIALLY JUST, UH, CLARIFYING REVIEW TRIGGERS FOR CERTAIN, UM, CERTAIN PROJECTS.
AND I'M, AND IN BY PROJECTS I'M TALKING ABOUT CITY PROJECTS AROUND POLICY, UM, CAPITAL AND, UM, CAPITAL PROJECTS, ET CETERA.
UM, AND WHAT IS, WHAT IS TO COME TO THE DESIGN COMMISSION OR POTENTIALLY THE URBAN DESIGN COMMISSION.
UM, AND, AND THAT WOULD NOT BE AS A DESIGN REVIEW.
UM, PERHAPS WE WILL BE STILL USE URBAN DESIGN, UH, THE URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES AS A, AS A GUIDING DOCUMENT.
BUT, UM, THIS WOULD REALLY BE MORE AS A WAY TO, UM, UH, ADVISE THE PLAN THE COUNCIL AND, AND THE LAND USE COMMITTEES COMMISSIONS AROUND, UM, AROUND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS.
UM, AND POTENTIALLY THERE'S A POSSIBILITY FOR QUARTERLY PARTNER UPDATES TO SEE HOW WE CAN, WE CAN, UM, PLUG INTO THE ACTIVITIES OF, OF FOLKS THAT, UM, UH, THAT, YOU KNOW, AREN'T WORKING ON DISTINCT PROJECTS THAT REALLY OVER, UM, OVERLAP WITH THE DESIGN COMMISSION AND URBAN DESIGN, UM, FOCUS.
UM, AND MAYBE IT'S, MAYBE IT'S NOT EVEN SO FORMAL AS QUARTERLY, UH, WITH CERTAIN PARTNERS.
UM, BUT YOU KNOW, HAVING A FEEDBACK LOOP WITH CERTAIN ORGANIZATIONS WITHIN THE CITY AND JUST OUTSIDE THE CITY, UM, COULD, COULD BE REALLY HELPFUL FOR INNOVATION.
UM, YOU CAN GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE AND YOU CAN SEE A COUPLE OF THOSE THINGS THAT WE'VE ALREADY ALREADY LOOKED AT.
THE, THE TASKS, UM, ARE REALLY KIND OF THE FOCUS AREAS, UM, THE OUTCOMES THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT ACHIEVING WITH, UH, FOR EACH OF THOSE TASKS.
UM, I THINK FOR MOST FOLKS ON THE COMMISSION, THOSE WILL BE PRETTY INTUITIVE.
SOME OF THEM ARE A LITTLE BIT TECHNICAL.
UM, BUT THE PROPOSED MECHANISM, I THINK WE'RE KIND OF IN DRAFT PHASE HERE, BUT WE, WE BELIEVE THAT, YOU KNOW, GENERALLY WE'RE LOOKING AT, UH, CODE AMENDMENT, UM, AND, UH, AND MAYBE SOME, SOME, UH, A COUNCIL RESOLUTION THAT, THAT CLARIFIES HOW THE, HOW THE CITY MANAGER IS TO, TO, UM, TO TRIGGER PROJECTS TO, TO COME TO US.
UM, BUT YOU KNOW, THAT, YOU KNOW, UNDERSTANDING HOW, HOW WE MIGHT BE MAKING, UH, CHARTER AMENDMENTS AND THINGS LIKE THAT AND MAKING THAT RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL WILL BE A BIG, A BIG MOVE.
UM, AND IT, YOU KNOW, WE'VE GOT SOME MORE DETAILED THINGS WITHIN THAT PROPOSED MECHANISM, AND I THINK THEY'RE REALLY JUST KIND OF EXPANDING UPON, UM, THE EXPLORATION THAT WE'RE LOOKING TO DO THERE.
[01:05:01]
YOU GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE, THE LAST ONE, UM, LAYING OUT, UH, A LITTLE BIT OF A WORK PLAN.UM, SO WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON PROJECT PLANNING, COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION RESEARCH AND CHARTER LANGUAGE RESEARCH.
UH, AND HERE WE ARE AT THE AUGUST 24TH DESIGN COMMISSION MEETING.
WE'RE HAVING A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE UPDATE AND THE WORK PLAN.
UM, THE NEXT STEP BETWEEN, UH, BEFORE THE SEPTEMBER MEETING WOULD BE TO, UH, ENGAGE THE COMMISSION, THE RELEVANT COMMISSIONS AND COUNCIL OFFICES, UM, UPDATE AND FINALIZE A LETTER TO COUNCIL, UH, THAT WOULD BE RECOMMENDING, UM, WOULD BE RECOMMENDING A A, A RELU, YOU KNOW, THAT THEY MAKE A RESOLUTION AND, UM, OR A COUPLE RESOLUTIONS.
ONE TO AMEND OUR, UH, CHARTER AND CODE AND ONE TO, UM, TO TRIGGER CERTAIN PROJECTS FOR OUR REVIEW.
UM, AND, AND THAT WOULD ALSO BE INCLUDED AS WE'D HAVE KIND OF PROPOSED CHARTER LANGUAGE FOR THEM TO ADOPT.
UM, AND THEN I THINK WE'RE GONNA NEED A MULTI, WE'RE GONNA NEED A COUPLE ROUNDS OF ENGAGEMENT ON THIS ONCE WE'VE GOT SORT OF FEEDBACK FROM THESE COMMISSIONS AND COUNCIL OFFICES.
AND WE'VE GOT, UH, AND WE'VE DEVELOPED THE FIRST, UH, DRAFT OF THE LANGUAGE, UM, WE'RE GONNA NEED TO HEAR BACK FROM COUNCIL AND THE COMMISSIONS, UM, UH, TO UNDERSTAND, UH, MORE CLEARLY ONCE WE HAVE SOMETHING REALLY TANGIBLE AND MAKE KIND OF FINAL REFINEMENTS.
AND, UM, AND THEN HOPEFULLY BY THE OCTOBER MEETING WE'LL HAVE, WE'LL BE ABLE TO HAVE A DISCUSSION AND ACTION, UM, TO ADOPT OUR, UH, OUR, UM, OUR LETTER TO COUNSEL AND, UH, AS WELL AS THE PROPOSED CHARTER LANGUAGE.
UM, ANYBODY ELSE ON THE, ON THE, UH, THE WORKING GROUP? FEEL FREE TO JUMP IN WITH ANY DETAILS I MAY HAVE MISSED.
UM, BUT ALSO JUST KIND OF OPEN IT UP FOR QUESTIONS AT THIS POINT AS A POINT OF CLARITY.
WHEN YOU SEE OUR CHARTER, YOU MEAN OUR BYLAWS? YEAH.
WELL, I THINK THIS DOVETAILS INTO, UM, WELL, I HAVE TWO QUESTIONS.
ARE, IS THERE ANYTHING ACTION RELATED? IT SEEMS TO ME LIKE THE ONLY ACTION RELATED TO THIS ITEM TONIGHT WOULD BE A MOTION TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE PLAN AND THE DATES AS YOU JUST PRESENTED.
UM, I DON'T, I DON'T EVEN NECESSARILY THINK THAT EMOTION'S NECESSARY.
I THINK THAT WE CAN, YOU KNOW, AND, UM, THE COMMISSION COULD MAKE A MOTION THAT WE WILL, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING VERY FORMAL THAT WE WANT TO DIVERGE FROM WHERE WE'RE GOING HERE.
THIS IS REALLY JUST A DISCUSSION ITEM, NO ACTION NECESSARY.
UM, WE WANT TO GET FEEDBACK, MAKE SURE WE'RE ON THE RIGHT PATH, THAT WE'VE KIND OF, UM, COVERED THE BREADTH OF WHAT EVERYBODY WAS THINKING WITH THIS AND HAVEN'T KIND OF, UH, THERE'S NO RED FLAGS OR GAPS THAT NEED TO BE IDENTIFIED.
WELL, I THINK ONE THING THAT'S INTERESTING, UM, THAT I'M GONNA BRING UP AS A FUTURE ITEM WHEN WE GET TO THAT POINT IS THERE WAS AN EMAIL THAT CAME OUT, UM, FROM STEPHANIE HALL THAT THE COMMISSION IS SUPPOSED TO BE FILLING OUT.
WHAT ARE THEY CALLING THIS, UH, THE ANNUAL INTERNAL REVIEW? UM, JUST A HEADS UP, I MISSED THE DEADLINE 'CAUSE I NEVER GOT HER EMAIL AND WE'RE OFF IN JULY
SO HAVING IT DO AT THE END OF JULY IS INTERESTING TO ME.
UH, ONE OF THE QUESTIONS THAT IS ASKED ON THIS FEEDBACK FORM IS, DO THE BYLAWS NEED UPDATING? SO I THINK IF WE CAN HAVE A PLAN THAT YES, THAT IS THE CASE, UM, ITS FOLLOW UP QUESTION IS WHAT WOULD THE AMENDMENT INCLUDING THE SECTION BE AND WHY? SO I THINK THE SOONER WE CAN GET THAT INFORMATION TO ME TO FILL IN THIS FORM, THAT WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
SO IF THAT, EVEN IF THAT PIECE COULD BE PRESENTED AT THE SEPTEMBER MEETING TO KIND OF JUMPSTART THE PROCESS, I THINK THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL.
UM, OTHER QUESTIONS THAT IT ASKS THAT ARE SORT OF TANGENTIAL TO THIS, IS THERE ANOTHER BODY THAT OVERLAPS WITH THE ROLE AND THE WORK OF THE BOARD AND COMMISSION THAT WE SERVE ON? UM, DO YOU SEE ANY GAPS IN IMPORTANT POLICIES THAT ARE NOT CURRENTLY COVERED BY A BOARD OR COMMISSION? IF YES, PLEASE EXPLAIN.
UM, AND THEN THIS IS MOSTLY WHY I WAS GOING TO PUT THIS ON A FUTURE AGENDA ITEM IS LIST THE BOARD'S GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOR THE NEW CALENDAR YEAR.
SO THAT IS NOT SOMETHING AS A CHAIR I SHOULD BE DICTATING.
IT SHOULD BE DISCUSSED AS A BODY.
[01:10:06]
COMMISSIONER WESTR.I'LL, I'LL CHIME IN ONLY BRIEFLY TO SAY I, UM, I'M ALSO A MEMBER OF THIS WORKING GROUP, UM, AND HUGELY APPRECIATIVE OF THE, THE WORK THAT MY COLLEAGUES HAVE DONE ON THIS.
UM, I HAVE NO OTHER COMMENT RIGHT NOW OTHER THAN TO SAY, UH, I HAVE, UH, THIS, UH, UH, PLAN OF ACTION AS DESCRIBED BY COMMISSIONER HOWARD HAS MY ENTIRE SUPPORT.
AND I THINK IN LIEU OF NEEDING, UH, A MOTION TO ADVANCE, I THINK WE BROUGHT THIS HERE TODAY TO GET FEEDBACK FROM OUR FELLOW COMMISSIONERS ON THEIR SUPPORT FOR THIS DIRECTION.
ANYTHING WE MISSED AND, UM, HELP, HELP GUIDE US TOWARD COMING BACK IN SEPTEMBER, READY TO PUT FORWARD A MOTION, UH, WITH, UH, SOME REAL TEETH ON IT, UH, FOR OUT FOR THE FUTURE OF THIS BO OF THIS BODY.
I WILL SAY THAT AS PART OF THE SMALL AREA PLANNING ITEM, UM, AND THE ABSORPTION OF THE SOUTH CENTRAL WATERFRONT ADVISORY BOARD, IT WAS AN ADVISORY BOARD.
UH, IT COULD NEVER MEET QUORUM.
UM, AND WE LITERALLY FINALLY GOT A QUORUM TO ELECT A NEW CHAIR, AND THEN IT HAD GONE ON FOR SO LONG THAT IT WAS SLICED FROM THE DOCKET.
UH, THAT BEING SAID, IT SEEMS LIKE, UM, BASED ON INFORMATION THAT WE RECEIVED, I THINK AS A COMMISSION THAT CAME IN RECENTLY, THAT THE SOUTH CENTRAL WATERFRONT IS BEING ABSORBED INTO THAT CENTRAL CITY DISTRICT PLAN AS WELL AS UNO, UM, IS BEING ABSORBED INTO THAT CENTRAL CITY DISTRICT.
SO THAT MAY BE SOMETHING TO CONSIDER, UM, REFERENCING SORT OF THAT AS OUR BOUNDARY OF INFLUENCE.
I THINK PUTTING SOME BUMPERS ON IT, ESPECIALLY INITIALLY, UM, IS GONNA HELP FOR US TO HAVE CLARITY WHEN WE GO TO COUNCIL TO SAY THIS IS, THIS IS THE AREA WITHIN OUR PURVIEW FOR NOW.
FOR THIS INITIAL LIKE, MAJOR CHANGE THAT WE'RE DOING, UM, OR THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO DO, YOU KNOW, THIS IS THE AREA WE'RE GOING TO FOCUS ON, UH, COMMISSIONER MINORS.
I WANTED TO SHARE AN ANECDOTE BECAUSE TODAY I MET WITH THE DEVELOPER FOR THE RYAN DRIVE PROJECT, UM, WHICH IS A CITY FUNDED, UH, KIND OF PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, UM, WHERE, YOU KNOW, THERE WAS AN RFP, YOU KNOW, LOOKING FOR DEVELOPER TO MEET, UH, A PARTICULAR CRITERIA FOR WHAT SHOULD BE A VERY URBAN PROJECT.
AND I THINK WHAT'S INTERESTING IS THAT, YOU KNOW, THEY DID SOLICIT PUBLIC FEEDBACK ON SPEAK UP AUSTIN, AND, YOU KNOW, ULTIMATELY, UM, THEY HAD KIND OF SELECTED THEIR OWN COMMITTEE OR COMMISSION, IF YOU WILL, UH, TO REVIEW, UH, THE PROPOSAL.
AND, YOU KNOW, I COME TO FIND OUT THAT, YOU KNOW, EVEN THOUGH THIS IS A CITY, UH, OWNED, UH, PIECE OF LAND, UM, CURRENTLY AUSTIN ENERGY, UH, THERE WAS VERY LITTLE INVOLVEMENT FROM FOLKS OUTSIDE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD TO PROVIDE INPUT.
UM, AND SO ULTIMATELY I JUST FEEL LIKE THIS TYPE OF BODY IS IMPORTANT FOR PROJECTS LIKE THAT SO THAT WE CAN OFFER PERSPECTIVE, UM, FOR WHAT REALLY IS A, YOU KNOW, CITY DEVELOPMENT.
IT'S NOT JUST A YOU, IN THIS CASE, IT'S IN THE CRESTVIEW NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THEY'RE TREATING IT AS IF IT'S JUST, YOU KNOW, CRESTVIEW DEVELOPMENT AND ONLY THEIR INPUT MATTERS.
SO I JUST THINK THAT THAT PROJECT IN AND OF ITSELF, UM, EXEMPLIFIES WHY IT'S NECESSARY FOR OUR BODY TO EXPAND THE SCOPE AND TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE, UM, THE SAME INSIGHTS THAT WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, UP TO THIS POINT, UM, ACROSS THE CITY.
AND I THINK IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR AN EXAMPLE, RYAN DRIVE IS A GREAT ONE.
UH, YES, COMMISSIONER, WE CHART, UH, THANK YOU COMMISSIONER MINORS.
THAT'S, UH, THAT'S DISAPPOINTING, UH, TO HEAR.
'CAUSE I THINK THAT'S EXACTLY THE, THE KIND OF, I THINK, AND, AND COMMISSIONER HOWARD COVERED THIS IN THE PRESENTATION, IS THAT WE DO GET CITY PROJECTS COMING TO US.
UM, BUT DEPENDING ON WHOM YOU ASK OUR PURVIEW OF, UH, WHAT KIND OF DIS WHAT KIND OF HOW WE'RE REVIEWING THOSE CITY PROJECTS IS REALLY LIMITED.
UM, I'M OF THE OPINION THAT, THAT THE, THE RESOLUTION READS THAT WE'RE REVIEWING FOR SUSTAINABILITY ONLY.
UM, AND I THINK OTHERS AGREE WITH ME THAT, SO I THINK WE COULD HAVE HAD A MORE ROBUST CONVERSATION ABOUT THE CONVENTION CENTER.
WE COULD HAVE ROBUST CONVERSATIONS ABOUT CITY OWNED PARCEL, ST.
JOHN'S RYAN DRIVE, ALL LIKE, THIS IS EXACTLY THE BODY THAT WOULD LIKE THE CENTRALIZED BODY THAT,
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THAT CAN BRING ALL THESE STAKEHOLDERS TOGETHER, THAT, THAT CAN PULL APART THOSE SILOS.SO THE CITY, I MEAN, LOOKING AT, AT URBAN DESIGN BROADLY, AND I THINK THE, UM, THE CENTRAL CITY DISTRICT IDEA AS A STARTING OFF POINT'S AN EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCUSE ME, EXCELLENT GUARDRAIL FOR, YOU KNOW, EXPLAINING OUR SCOPE.
BUT I THINK GETTING TO THE CITY PROJECTS AND THE CITY OWNED LAND, UM, UH, REALLY REINFORCES THE VALUE THAT THIS COMMISSION COULD BRING TO THOSE PROJECTS.
SO THANK YOU FOR THAT ANECDOTE.
UM, COULD I ADD TO THAT COMMISSIONER HART? UM, YEAH, I THINK THIS IS, THIS IS REALLY INTERESTING.
UM, SO I GUESS A, A COUPLE OF THINGS I'M HEARING IS, YOU KNOW, CITY OWNED LAND.
UM, UM, I'M ALSO HEARING KIND OF READING BETWEEN THE LINES AND SEEING, YOU KNOW, TRANSIT STATION AREAS, UM, POTENTIALLY, UH, AS WELL AS KIND OF CENTRAL, CENTRAL CITY DISTRICT AS KIND OF LIKE, UH, MAYBE CENTRAL TO THE MAYBE GEOGRAPHY LIMITATIONS, UH, UM, AND WITH POTENTIAL TO EXPAND CITYWIDE.
I THINK WE'VE KIND OF TALKED ABOUT THAT ALWAYS WITH THE, THE DESIGN GUIDELINES.
UM, SO THAT'S REALLY, THAT'S REALLY HELPFUL.
AND I, YOU KNOW, I'VE BEEN, I'VE BEEN A PART OF, UM, SOME OF THESE, THESE CITY LAND, UH, PROPOSALS, UM, WITH SEA BROOK SQUARE.
UM, UH, AND LUCKILY WE HAD A REALLY STRONG SORT OF URBAN DESIGN CONCEPT WITH IT.
BUT I, UM, I WAS ACTUALLY, UH, I WAS, I WORKED FOR THE COMPANY THAT THAT DID ONE OF THAT PARTNERED ON ONE OF THE ORIGINAL, UH, RYAN DRIVE PROPOSALS THAT WON, THAT KIND OF FELL THROUGH BECAUSE OF THE DEVELOPER AS I UNDERSTAND.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, THERE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT SORT OF URBAN DESIGN CONVERSATION WAS HAD, UM, BUT YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT, UH, THE, UM, THIS COMMISSION HAS SORT OF EXPERIENCE WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND THINGS LIKE THAT, THAT A LOT OF THESE CITY OWNED LAND, UH, THE CITY OWNED ASSETS ARE GOING TOWARDS.
SO I THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'D BE, BE REALLY WELL POSITIONED TO UNDERSTAND KIND OF THE, THE, UM, THE CONSTRAINTS, UM, AS WELL AS, UM, AS, AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITIES.
UM, SO I THINK THAT'S REALLY, THAT'S REALLY INVER, UH, HELPFUL SORT OF EXAMPLE WITH RYAN DRIVE.
CAN STAFF PROVO PROVIDE A POINT OF CLARITY HERE? I I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN VERY CONFUSED AS TO WHAT THE 'CAUSE IT, IT SAYS WHEN WE REVIEW THESE CITY TO REVIEW THEM AGAINST THE SUSTAINABILITY GUIDELINES, BUT THOSE DON'T EXIST LIKE THAT, THAT'S NOT POSTED AS A DOCUMENT ON OUR, ON OUR DESIGN COMMISSION WEBSITE.
SO WHAT ARE THE SUSTAINABILITY GUIDELINES CHAIR, IF I MAY? SO THERE ARE TWO DOCUMENTS THAT ARE REFERENCED, OR TWO, EXCUSE ME, NOT DOCUMENTS.
UH, TWO APPROACHES THAT ARE MENTIONED IN THE COUNCIL OF RESOLUTION CITY PROJECTS ARE TO BE REVIEWED AGAINST CITY DESIGN AND SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS.
DOESN'T TALK ABOUT SPECIFIC SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS.
THERE WAS A PRESENTATION A FEW YEARS BACK FROM PUBLIC WORKS, WE'RE HAPPY TO SHARE THAT WITH YOU AGAIN, THAT TALK ABOUT THE CITY SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS THAT EACH PROJECT FOLLOWS.
AND THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT WERE SHARED WITH THE COMMISSION AND, UH, ARE THE ONES THAT ARE TYPICALLY HAVE BEEN USED BY THE COMMISSION TO EVALUATE THOSE PROJECTS.
COMMISSIONER HOWARD, UH, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT SORT OF THIS WORKING GROUP WAS IDENTIFYING AS KIND OF LACK OF CLARITY.
UM, IT REALLY, YOU KNOW, IT, WE WOULD HAVE TO, YOU KNOW, INTERVIEW COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT WERE ALIVE, YOU KNOW, THAT WERE ON, THAT WERE ON THE DAIS WHEN THEY, WHEN THEY PASSED THAT TO REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE INTENTION WAS, UH, WHAT THE CONTEXT WAS AS FAR AS WHAT, UH, WHAT URBAN DESIGN STANDARDS EXISTED TODAY AT THAT TIME.
WHAT, UH, SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS EXISTED AT THAT TIME, AND HOW A COMMISSION WOULD REVIEW SOMETHING, UH, REVIEW A PROJECT AGAINST STANDARDS.
UH, DOESN'T MAKE A TON OF SENSE EITHER.
UM, I KNOW THAT THERE WAS, THERE WAS MENTION THAT, UM, THAT THESE CITY PROJECTS WOULD HAVE TO COME TO THE DESIGN COMMISSION WHEN ALTERNATIVE EQUIVALENT COMPLIANCE WAS, UM, WAS LEVERAGED.
AND I DON'T THINK THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED IN MY, UM, TIME ON THE, ON THE COMMISSION, BUT I'M SURE THAT ALL SORTS OF, UM, UH, ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCES BEING USED.
UM, SO IT'S, IT'S, YOU KNOW, IS THAT REALLY THE BEST USE OF THE COMMISSION'S TIME? UH, YOU KNOW, PROJECT REVIEWERS USUALLY REVIEW AGAINST STANDARDS, NOT COMMISSIONERS.
UM, AND THAT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE.
UH, THAT'S WHY THEY'RE, UH, NOT DISCRETIONARY.
UM, AND SO, SO I, YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT THIS IS EXACTLY SORT OF THE, KIND OF THE CORE OF WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO CLARIFY AND WHAT, AND, AND TRY TO TEASE OUT WHAT THE INTENT IS AND GET COUNSEL TO AFFIRM THAT COMMISSIONER.
AND TO THAT POINT, IF, IF I'M REMEMBERING CORRECTLY, THE RESOLUTION THAT PUT CITY PROJECTS IN FRONT OF US IN THE FIRST PLACE FROM 2007, UM, IT, IT'S, IT'S A RESOLUTION ABOUT LEAD.
IT, IT'S THE RESOLUTION THAT REQUIRED, UM,
[01:20:01]
PROJECTS TO, TO BE LEAD SILVER HIGHER SINCE THAT RESOLUTION, WE NOW HAVE A SITE STANDARD FOR THAT.UM, BUT IT'S A LACK OF CLARITY ON WHETHER WE REVIEW SITES, PROJECTS FOR PROJECTS, NOT, UH, FOR CITY PROJECTS NOT PURSUING LEAD.
MAYBE THERE WASN'T THE FTE REQUIREMENT OR WHATEVER.
THERE, THERE USED TO BE A CITY'S, THEY HAD A BASELINE CRITERIA.
UM, IT LIVED IN KIT, KIT JOHNSON'S COMPUTER.
UM, AND IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO FIND IT, YOU WEREN'T GONNA FIND IT.
I THINK UNDERSCORING, UH, WHAT COMMISSIONER HOWARD'S SAYING HERE IS THE COMPLETE LACK OF CLARITY ABOUT WHAT WE ARE REVIEWING AND, UH, IN, IN, UH, POINT EFFECT.
THE, UM, I RECUSED MYSELF ON THIS PROJECT 'CAUSE I WAS INVOLVED WITH IT, BUT THE, UM, THE A B WEST GARAGE PROJECT DID COME BEFORE THIS COUNCIL OR THIS COMMISSION.
UM, BUT WE WERE REVIEWING IT FOR SUSTAINABILITY, WE WERE REVIEWING FOR THE PARK SMART GUIDELINES.
UM, NOWHERE HAS, YOU KNOW, AT NO POINT THE, THE REAL VALUE OF THIS COMMITTEE, THIS COMMISSION WOULD'VE BEEN LOOKING AT THE AIRPORT AS A WHOLE AT THE MASTER PLAN, LOOKING AT THE NEW TERMINAL.
HOW ARE ALL THESE PIECES HAVE, WHAT IS, WHAT IS THE, WHAT IS THE OVERALL URBAN DESIGN EFFECT? WHAT IS THE LONGEVITY OF THAT? UM, BUT INSTEAD WE LOOKED AT A PARKING GARAGE AND, UH, Y'ALL DID, I WAS SAT OVER THERE, UM, AND WE SAID, YEAH, IT'S, IT MEETS THE CHECKLIST.
SO IT'S, IT'S NOT VERY CLEAR AND I THINK IT KIND OF MISSES THE POINT OF WHAT VALUE WE COULD BE PROVIDING TO THE CITY IN, IN OUR REVIEWS.
ALRIGHT, ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS FOR THE DESIGN GUIDELINES WORKING GROUP? ALL RIGHT, WELL, I DON'T THINK THERE'S ANY ACTION REGARDING THAT TONIGHT.
UM, AND SO WE WILL KICK BACK UP
[3. Discussion and possible action regarding the Downtown Density Bonus Program (DDBP), including Phase I background and context, Design Guidelines Working Group recommendations, and the proposed approach, strategy, and stakeholder engagement process for Phase II. Sponsors: Vice Chair Kevin Howard and Commissioner David Carroll. ]
TO ITEM THREE.COMMISSIONER HOWARD, ITEM THREE.
SO THIS IS, WE, WE ARE, WE'RE HOPING, UM, I THINK WITH THIS, UH, THIS AGENDA ITEM THAT WARNER COOK WOULD BE ABLE TO COME PRESENT TO US ON THE, UH, THE APPROACH, UM, WITH DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS, UH, PHASE TWO.
UM, BUT, YOU KNOW, SEEING AS THE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY THAT WAS REQUESTED BY DISTRICT NINE, UM, IN, UH, ON THE DA, UH, AT THE, UM, WHEN ADOPTING PHASE ONE, UM, THAT'S NOT DUE UNTIL A WEEK FROM TODAY.
I IMAGINE THAT WE PROBABLY CAN'T GET WARNER TODAY.
UM, AND THAT MAYBE THAT WE'RE BETTER TO LOOK AT TO SEPTEMBER TO GET WARNER HERE TO KIND OF TALK ABOUT THE APPROACH AND HOW THE DESIGN COMMISSION AND PLANNING COMMISSION WILL, WILL BE ENGAGED IN, UH, SPECIFICALLY THE, THE WORKING GROUPS TO KIND OF CONTINUE THE WORK THAT WE STARTED IN, IN PHASE ONE.
UM, SO THAT'S, I THINK WE NEED, UM, I GUESS WE WOULD, THE POT, THE ACTION THAT I WOULD RECOMMEND IS TO, UM, REITERATE THAT REQUEST TO WARNER COOK AND GET THAT ON THE AGENDA FOR, UM, FOR SEPTEMBER.
IT SOUNDS LIKE WE CAN COVER THAT WHEN WE COVER FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS TO MAKE SURE THAT'S LISTED.
[5.Discussion on alley access and promoting the use of alley spaces for economic vitality. Sponsors: Commissioner Nkiru Gelles and Commissioner Jon Salinas. ]
DUE TO THE ABSENCE OF THE TWO COMMISSIONERS WHO PROPOSED, UM, ITEM FIVE, WHICH IS DISCUSSION ON ALLEY ACCESS AND PROMOTING THE USE OF ALLEY SPACES FOR ECONOMIC VITALITY, UM, WHICH WAS COMMISSIONER GLIS AND COMMISSIONER SALINAS, WE'RE GONNA TABLE THAT ONE.AND, UH, YES, JUST FOR THE RECORD ON ITEM FIVE, UH, COMMISSIONERS, I BELIEVE COMMISSIONER GALES HAD REQUESTED A STAFF PRESENTATION.
THERE IS NO STAFF PRESENTATION ON ALL'S.
WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT AND THEY HAVE NO PRESENTATION READY FOR YOU.
SO THE COMMISSION IS WELCOME TO MAKE ANY AND ALL RECOMMENDATIONS YOU WISH TO SEE REGARDING ALI'S, BUT YOU WILL NOT BE SEEING A STAFF PRESENTATION.
THANK YOU, COMMISSIONER HOWARD.
UM, I KNOW THAT WHAT BROUGHT THIS, UH, AGENDA TO OUR AGENDA, UM, WAS, UH, THERE WAS A PRESENTATION FROM SOMEONE THAT HAD BEEN, I BELIEVE HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CHARETTE, UM, THAT HAPPENED, UH, ON THE SEA CHAVEZ ALLEYS.
I THINK A, I A HOSTED THAT, UM, AND POTENTIALLY A I A THERE WAS A, A REPRESENT REPRESENTATIVE, UH, THAT SPOKE TO US ABOUT THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, ABOUT THAT EFFORT.
I WONDER IF, UM, IT, YOU KNOW, THIS ISN'T SOMETHING THAT I UNDERSTAND THAT THAT STAFF IS ENGAGED IN AT THIS POINT.
SO THAT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE THAT THERE ISN'T A PRESENTATION FROM PUBLIC, FROM, UH, PUBLIC WORKS.
UM, AND SO MAYBE IT WOULD BE MORE ABOUT, UM, GETTING CLARITY ON NEXT STEPS AND, AND, UH, AND HOW THE DESIGN COMMISSION SHOULD BE INTERACTING WITH THE GROUP THAT, UH, THAT CAME AND PRESENTED TO US AND, UH, PARTICIPATED IN THAT CHARETTE.
I WILL CONTACT COMMISSIONER GILLIS.
SEE WHAT SHE WANTS TO DO THAT.
UM, COOKING ALONG, WE HAVE, UH, FUTURE
[FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS]
AGENDA ITEMS. UM,[01:25:01]
AND SO I WOULD LIKE TO PROPOSE A FUTURE AGENDA ITEM FOR THE SEPTEMBER MEETING TO DISCUSS, UM, ANY, UH, CHANGES TO THE BYLAWS THAT ARE BEING PROPOSED AS WELL AS, UM, POLICIES NOT CURRENTLY COVERED BY OUR COMMISSION, AND, UH, DISCUSS THE BOARD'S GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOR THE NEW CALENDAR YEAR.TO CLARIFY, IS THIS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE ANNUAL REPORT? YES.
COULD YOU PLEASE CLARIFY THAT IN THE MOTION? IF THERE IS A MOTION ON THE, UH, YES.
SO MY, UH, I'M MAKING A MOTION TO PUT AN ITEM ON THE SEPTEMBER MEETING, UM, TO DISCUSS ITEMS WITHIN THE ANNUAL INTERNAL REVIEW, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO OUR BYLAWS THAT NEED UPDATING, UM, GAPS THAT ARE CURRENTLY NOT COVERED BY THE BOARD, OUR BOARD AND COMMISSION OR OUR COMMISSION.
AND THEN, UH, OUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR.
POINT OF ORDER CHAIR, IS THAT A DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ITEM? UH, YES IT IS.
UM, DO WE HAVE ANY DISCUSSION FROM ANY OTHER COMMISSIONERS CHAIR, IF I MAY? YES.
YOU'RE NOT POSTED FOR ACTION ON FUTURE ITEMS. YOU JUST OKAY.
WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND.
UM, ANY OTHER FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS? COMMISSIONER HOWARD? I HAVE A FEW.
UM, FIRST, UH, UH, WE'LL, WE'LL NEED A DISCUSSION ITEM TO, UM, UH, PROVIDE AN UPDATE ON THE, UH, CLARIFYING THE ROLE OF THE FUTURE ROLE OF THE DESIGN COMMISSION.
SO THAT, THAT'D BE ONE THAT WOULD, UM, PUT ON THE AGENDA.
UH, NEXT, UM, I'D LIKE TO GET, UH, TO REQUEST, UH, WARNER COOK TO COME TO THE SEPTEMBER, UH, DESIGN COMMISSION MEETING TO TALK ABOUT, UM, HER APPROACH AND THE, THE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN, SPECIFICALLY THE, UH, THE WORKING GROUP ENGAGEMENT, UM, FROM, FROM THE DESIGN COMMISSION FOR PHASE TWO OF THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM.
DO WE HAVE A SECOND FOR THAT? COMMISSIONER WISTAR.
AND THEN THE THIRD I'D LIKE, UH, TO REQUEST FROM, UH, JILL SULA AND HER TEAM TO, UH, MEET WITH THE, UM, DESIGN GUIDELINE WORKING GROUP.
UM, OR I GUESS PERHAPS THE BEST THING WOULD BE TO CREATE A, A POTENTIAL, UH, DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION, UH, AROUND, UM, DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN THE GREAT STREETS TEAM AND THE, THE DESIGN GUIDELINES WORKING GROUP AS A DISCUSSION AND AS A DISCUSSION ITEM ON THAT.
I KNOW THERE ARE, THERE IS A GREAT STREET COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP, I BELIEVE IS THE APPROPRIATE ACRONYM FOR THAT.
UM, AND I'M JUST CURIOUS IF WE THINK I I AM PART OF THAT.
UM, THE MEETING, THE GREAT STREETS COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP MEETING NUMBER FIVE IS ON SEPTEMBER 9TH.
UM, I ASSUME THAT'S POSTED ON THEIR SPEAK UP NOW, UH, PAGE.
UM, IS THAT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION TO GO AND SPEAK AS INDIVIDUALS? IS THAT THE DESIRE OR IS THE DESIRE TO HAVE ESSENTIALLY A POSITION AS A COMMISSION TO THE GRAY STREETS? UH, THE DESIRE, UM, WOULD BE FOR, UH, THE COMMISSION TO TAKE A POSITION IN REPRESENTING THE DRAFT URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES, SPECIFICALLY THOSE RELATED TO THE RIGHT OF WAY THAT, UM, ESSENTIALLY DURING THE PROCESS OF THE DOWNTOWN DENSITY BONUS, UH, PROGRAM, UH, ENGAGEMENT, THERE WAS A VERY CLEAR DELINEATION BETWEEN, YOU KNOW, THINGS THAT WERE ON THE DEVELOPMENT PARCEL VERSUS IN THE RIGHT OF WAY DESIGN GUIDELINES THAT ONLY IMPACTED THE DESIGN OF THE RIGHT OF WAY.
WE'RE GONNA GO IN GREAT STREETS, SO WE JUST NEED TO KIND OF CONTINUE THAT CON THAT BIFURCATED CONVERSATION, UH, FROM THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL.
DO WE HAVE A, UH, WELL, I DO WE HAVE A SECOND ON, THAT'S NOT REALLY A FEATURE AGENDA
[01:30:01]
ITEM.UM, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT THE WORKING GROUP CAN REACH OUT TO JILL AND DISCUSS WITH HER DIRECTLY? IT'S NOT REALLY NEEDED AS AN AGENDA ITEM.
UM, IF YOU DO WANT, IF YOU MEET WITH THE GREAT STREETS GROUP AND WOULD LIKE AN AGENDA ITEM TO REPORT ON THAT MEETING IN SEPTEMBER, THAT CAN BE DONE WITH AN EMAIL.
UM, IF THAT OCCURS BEFORE THEN PERFECT.
WITH AN EMAIL WITH A CO-SPONSOR AS WELL.
SO YOU'LL NEED TWO COMMISSIONERS TO SPONSOR AN ITEM.
IT'LL NEED TO BE SPECIFIC AS TO WHAT ACTION IS BEING SOUGHT FROM THE COMMISSION.
ANY OTHER FEATURE AGENDA ITEMS? COMMISSIONER MINORS? I HAVE ONE THAT I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT FOR A WHILE, AND I'M NOT EXACTLY SURE HOW, UH, TO EXECUTE IT, BUT I KNOW THAT I'LL NEED A CO-SPONSOR.
UM, BUT I'D REALLY LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE, UH, ART AND PUBLIC PLACES, UM, INITIATIVE AND KIND OF SITE SELECTION AROUND THAT.
UM, I KNOW THAT THERE IS A COMMISSION THAT IS FULLY FOCUSED ON, UH, YOU KNOW, THE, UM, ART AND PUBLIC PLACES.
SO I'M NOT LOOKING TO NECESSARILY DUPLICATE THAT EFFORT, BUT I WOULD LIKE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF KIND OF HOW THEY'RE INVOLVED IN, UH, DOWNTOWN AND WITH SOME OF THESE PROJECTS THAT WE'VE SEEN OR WILL SEE.
UH, IS THERE A CO-SPONSOR ON THAT? COMMISSIONER WHIR.
WE'LL SEE WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT THAT.
I, I THINK THAT THE, THE SPECIFIC TO HOW THE, HOW THE ART AND PUBLIC PUBLIC PLACES PROGRAM INTERACTS WITH THE DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM AND, AND, AND THOSE MECHANISMS, I THINK IS, IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING, UH, UNCHARTED TERRITORY THAT WOULD, UH, DIFFERENTIATE THAT, THAT, THAT TIME FROM THE OTHER COMMISSION.
SO I THINK THAT FRAMING IT THROUGH THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE TO ME.
AND I CAN SEND AN EMAIL TOO, IF THAT HELPS WITH THE, UM, OR WITH, UH, FINALIZING IT.
YEAH, I THINK IF YOU HAVE SOME CLARITY AGAIN ON JUST WHAT THE ACTION IS FROM THE COMMISSION REGARDING THIS, UM, THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL.
JUST TO NOTE FOR COMMISSIONERS, DO NOT EMAIL THE ENTIRE COMMISSION.
THAT WOULD BE A WALK-IN QUORUM.
PLEASE SEND THAT TO STAFF DIRECTLY WITH YOUR CO-SPONSOR.
WE CAN REACH OUT TO THE CO-SPONSOR AS WELL CHAIR, IF I MAY.
UH, WE WOULD ASK FOR PATIENCE WITH STAFF AS WE REACH OUT TO MULTIPLE DEPARTMENTS THAT YOU'RE SEEKING, WHETHER IT BE A PRESENTATION, A DISCUSSION ITEM, UH, PERHAPS A BRIEFING.
UH, IT DOES TAKE SOME TIME AND IT IS CHALLENGING FOR US TO REACH OUT TO DEPARTMENTS.
SO WHEN YOU SAY WE WANT IT ON THE SEPTEMBER AGENDA, WE CANNOT MAKE PROMISES THAT WE CAN GET CERTAIN ITEMS ON YOUR NEXT AGENDA.
SO WE WILL TRY OUR BEST AND APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE WITH US AS WE DEAL WITH THAT.
AND JUST POINT OF CLARIFICATION IS THAT I'M ONLY LOOKING TO DO THAT FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR.
I DON'T NECESSARILY HAVE A SPECIFIC REQUEST, YOU KNOW, FOR SEPTEMBER.
COMMISSIONER
I DON'T KNOW THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN SEPTEMBER, CORRECT? YEAH.
ALL RIGHT, LAST CALL FOR ANY FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. UM, LIKE YOU SAID, YOU, IF YOU THINK OF ANYTHING BETWEEN NOW AND ANY FUTURE MEETING, UM, JUST SEND AN EMAIL WITH A PROPOSED CO-SPONSOR TO STAFF AND WE'LL SEE IF WE CAN GET IT ACCOMMODATED.
WITH THAT, I THINK WE ARE READY TO ADJOURN.
7:36 PM THANK YOU GUYS FOR YOUR TIME.