A new, updated version of the CodeNEXT maps will be released next week, according to project managers from the Austin Planning and Zoning Department.
Jorge Rousselin, project manager for CodeNEXT—the city’s $6.2 million land development rewrite project—told
Community Impact Newspaper that an updated map to be released early next week correcting many “errors and omissions” from the
April 18 version of the map. The new map will be out by between May 8 and 9, according to CodeNext spokesperson Alina Carnahan, who dubbed the update "CodeNext 1.1."
The area of McCallum High School at 5600 Sunshine Drive was mistakenly converted from a single-family-3-neighborhood plan to transect-4 zoning, rather than low-medium density residential.[/caption]
Just over two weeks after the map's initial release, Rousselin conceded the first draft has several mistakes, ranging from incorrect zoning classifications and false conversions to accidental upzones. While the update will correct many of the mistakes discovered so far, Rousselin said it was highly likely that more mistakes will be brought to light.
“It’s a pretty daunting task,” Rousselin said. “It’s extremely difficult to go through 325 square miles to find these glitches.”
Major mistakes that will be corrected in next week’s version, according to staff, include the Transect-4 zoning applied to McCallum High School and Metz Elementary School. Rousselin said in both cases, low-moderate density residential—LMDR—zoning is the more appropriate classification.
Some planned unit developments, or PUDs, and planned development agreement, or PDA tracts were mistakenly changed to Flex Industrial designations. According to Rousselin, the zoning would be correct, but the city agreed to carry over pre-approved PUD and PDA zoning classifications.
Rousselin also cited a few instances where the city’s current geographic information system mapping excluded some tracts of land within Austin’s boundaries, resulting in areas being left out of the new zoning map draft. In these cases, the CodeNEXT team will have to research what zoning was applied to these mystery tracts in order to correctly convert them to the new code’s classifications.
The area of Metz Elementary School at 84 Robert Martinez Jr. Street was incorrectly zoned transect-4 from single-family-3-neighborhood plan. In next week's draft map update, the area will be given low-medium-density-residential.[/caption]
The most tedious mistakes that call for corrections, according to Rousselin, are “slivers of glitches” within the zoning maps that apply the incorrect zoning to individual lots. Members of the CodeNEXT team said the public input has been most helpful in identifying these glitches.
“We listen during these community sessions, we need that on the ground knowledge that property owners have,” Rousselin said. “They are the experts. When we get down to the specific properties, that is how we can test the efficacy of the tools provided by the code’s text.”
Greg Guernsey, director of the Planning and Zoning Department, said the public should expect at least one more zoning map update before the official release of the second draft, which is slated to be released in August.
The second update will include updated zoning classifications for North Shoal Creek and the South Austin Combined neighborhood plans. Rousselin said this second update will also consider subjective corrections recommended by the public
and commissions.
Rousselin and Guernsey urged the public to continue attending the
district-specific CodeNEXT conversations, taking advantage of office hours and the code’s comment tool.
The area of McCallum High School at 5600 Sunshine Drive was mistakenly converted from a single-family-3-neighborhood plan to transect-4 zoning, rather than low-medium density residential.[/caption]
Just over two weeks after the map's initial release, Rousselin conceded the first draft has several mistakes, ranging from incorrect zoning classifications and false conversions to accidental upzones. While the update will correct many of the mistakes discovered so far, Rousselin said it was highly likely that more mistakes will be brought to light.
“It’s a pretty daunting task,” Rousselin said. “It’s extremely difficult to go through 325 square miles to find these glitches.”
Major mistakes that will be corrected in next week’s version, according to staff, include the Transect-4 zoning applied to McCallum High School and Metz Elementary School. Rousselin said in both cases, low-moderate density residential—LMDR—zoning is the more appropriate classification.
Some planned unit developments, or PUDs, and planned development agreement, or PDA tracts were mistakenly changed to Flex Industrial designations. According to Rousselin, the zoning would be correct, but the city agreed to carry over pre-approved PUD and PDA zoning classifications.
Rousselin also cited a few instances where the city’s current geographic information system mapping excluded some tracts of land within Austin’s boundaries, resulting in areas being left out of the new zoning map draft. In these cases, the CodeNEXT team will have to research what zoning was applied to these mystery tracts in order to correctly convert them to the new code’s classifications.
The area of Metz Elementary School at 84 Robert Martinez Jr. Street was incorrectly zoned transect-4 from single-family-3-neighborhood plan. In next week's draft map update, the area will be given low-medium-density-residential.[/caption]
The most tedious mistakes that call for corrections, according to Rousselin, are “slivers of glitches” within the zoning maps that apply the incorrect zoning to individual lots. Members of the CodeNEXT team said the public input has been most helpful in identifying these glitches.
“We listen during these community sessions, we need that on the ground knowledge that property owners have,” Rousselin said. “They are the experts. When we get down to the specific properties, that is how we can test the efficacy of the tools provided by the code’s text.”
Greg Guernsey, director of the Planning and Zoning Department, said the public should expect at least one more zoning map update before the official release of the second draft, which is slated to be released in August.
The second update will include updated zoning classifications for North Shoal Creek and the South Austin Combined neighborhood plans. Rousselin said this second update will also consider subjective corrections recommended by the public and commissions.
Rousselin and Guernsey urged the public to continue attending the district-specific CodeNEXT conversations, taking advantage of office hours and the code’s comment tool.
