Austin Mayor Steve Adler at a Dec. 17 Austin City Council meeting.[/caption]
In a letter addressed to the Austin Neighborhoods Council executive committee Friday, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said the city's issues with mobility and housing affordability are inextricably linked. The solution, he said, is to approve the $720 million proposed mobility bond on the upcoming ballot.
Adler said his letter, posted to the ANC's website Tuesday, was written in response to
ANC's Sept. 14 resolution, which asked Austin City Council to address the neighborhood advocacy group's 10 concerns about the bond before early voting began Monday.
In its resolution, the neighborhoods council said the mobility bond had implications to the city's rewrite of the land development code—dubbed CodeNEXT—as well as Capital Metro's Connections 2025 master plan and various neighborhood plans, and that the timing, interdependencies and coordination of all the plans has “not been sufficiently analyzed, considered and explained.”
The group also asked what the city would do to protect neighborhoods from displacement because of new corridor improvements, to which Adler replied the city should "consider each neighborhood's context, character, shape and size, as well as input from affected neighborhoods" to determine how certain areas of the city should be protected during corridor improvements.
Adler—who was endorsed by the ANC in 2014—said he opposes CodeNEXT changes that would eliminate single-family zoning around corridor development "without sufficient notice, input and consent of affected neighborhoods."
He also addressed affordable housing, saying the key to having "reasonable density in reasonable places" was to focus growth on designated activity corridors and centers while respecting neighborhood plans.
"We can increase housing in our city without destroying neighborhood character, if we do it wisely," he wrote.
ANC President Mary Ingle said in an email the mayor's letter was "a promise he had made to us about protecting neighborhoods and their character" and that it was "always good to refresh the memory of the public about those previous commitments."
Austin Mayor Steve Adler at a Dec. 17 Austin City Council meeting.[/caption]
In a letter addressed to the Austin Neighborhoods Council executive committee Friday, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said the city's issues with mobility and housing affordability are inextricably linked. The solution, he said, is to approve the $720 million proposed mobility bond on the upcoming ballot.
Adler said his letter, posted to the ANC's website Tuesday, was written in response to ANC's Sept. 14 resolution, which asked Austin City Council to address the neighborhood advocacy group's 10 concerns about the bond before early voting began Monday.
In its resolution, the neighborhoods council said the mobility bond had implications to the city's rewrite of the land development code—dubbed CodeNEXT—as well as Capital Metro's Connections 2025 master plan and various neighborhood plans, and that the timing, interdependencies and coordination of all the plans has “not been sufficiently analyzed, considered and explained.”
The group also asked what the city would do to protect neighborhoods from displacement because of new corridor improvements, to which Adler replied the city should "consider each neighborhood's context, character, shape and size, as well as input from affected neighborhoods" to determine how certain areas of the city should be protected during corridor improvements.
Adler—who was endorsed by the ANC in 2014—said he opposes CodeNEXT changes that would eliminate single-family zoning around corridor development "without sufficient notice, input and consent of affected neighborhoods."
He also addressed affordable housing, saying the key to having "reasonable density in reasonable places" was to focus growth on designated activity corridors and centers while respecting neighborhood plans.
"We can increase housing in our city without destroying neighborhood character, if we do it wisely," he wrote.
ANC President Mary Ingle said in an email the mayor's letter was "a promise he had made to us about protecting neighborhoods and their character" and that it was "always good to refresh the memory of the public about those previous commitments."
