UPDATE on 6/19/18 Below
Original Post:
Just sharing the recent released opinion of RECA on CodeNext...
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Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA) Board Position on CodeNext 3.0
RECA is deeply committed to a more vibrant, livable and connected Austin. And while RECA remains engaged in the CodeNext process, we are very concerned about the latest draft of the land development code (CodeNext 3.0).
In 2012, Austin City Council unanimously passed the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan that detailed the need for a compact and connected city and recommended a rewrite of Austin's land development code through a process called CodeNext.
Since then, the City has spent more than three years developing a new code that was supposed to be simpler and more predictable. Unfortunately, the latest draft of the code is more than 500 pages longer than the current code and remains overly complex and confusing.
RECA supports a new land development code that results in the implementation of Imagine Austin's goals for a more affordable, livable and compact and connected city. RECA's technical experts' assessment is that, as written, the code is a step backward, not forward, and will discourage forward-looking development.
Our members have volunteered thousands of hours, submitted hundreds of comments and tested several sites under the new code. To date, more than 90 percent of our technical feedback (50 pages and dozens of suggestions) has been ignored.
While RECA will continue to stay engaged in the process at this time, we cannot support the current code as written because it:
- fails to meet the goals of Imagine Austin, including the need for a more affordable, livable and compact and connected city.
- fails to provide the density on city corridors necessary for long-term transit solutions and reducing traffic congestion.
- fails to realistically and substantially encourage more affordable housing.
- fails to produce a more predictable permitting and building process.
- fails to simplify the process and creates even more unworkable layers of bureaucratic red tape that will slow the development process.
Our Position
While RECA will remain engaged in the process at this time, RECA cannot support the code in its current draft 3.0 form.
Going Forward
RECA will continue to actively collaborate in the Evolve coalition and provide our technical expertise with the goal of getting to a code that works for the future of the city. Our assessment of the current draft will not keep our team of experts from doing everything in our power to make significant changes to create a code that works. Dramatic and significant changes need to be made by the Planning Commission for RECA to support CodeNext.
Just sharing...