Austin residents on Jan. 15 attended a community character workshop, the first in a series of workshops that are part of the city of Austin's effort to rewrite its land development code.

Dan Parolek, principal at Opticos Design Inc., explained the city hopes to develop a report detailing what residents have identified as the "community character" of each neighborhood and release it to the public by March 2014.

"Using this existing zoning code is like using a Polaroid camera to try to take a photograph you want to email to somebody. ... The end result is not as good as [it would be] if you just had a digital camera to start with," Parolek said.

The land development code's last comprehensive revision was in 1984, and it has been updated over time, but the CodeNext effort aims to streamline and update the entire code at once. The 800-page document sets forth regulations for the use and development of land, said George Zapalac, division manager with the city's planning and development review department.

The city is asking residents to identify what assets, constraints and opportunities exist in Austin's 103 neighborhoods to help identify similarities and differences of different parts of Austin, Zapalac said.

"From that, we will be developing regulations that will be tailored to different parts of the city," he said, noting areas such as abandoned lots are among the issues the city could address through the rewrite.

Residents from 39 of Austin's 52 ZIP codes have completed surveys for CodeNext.

In April, the city will release a public review draft of the diagnosis of the land development code, and in May it plans to propose code structure alternatives.

Attendee Tom Nuckols, who is president of the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association, said he would advocate for allowing more time to develop solutions to the current code.

"I would suspect when they come out with their diagnosis there will be some differences of opinion across the city on whether something's really a problem or not," he said.

Nuckols pointed to development along South Lamar Boulevard as one reason why his neighborhood is interested in providing feedback in the CodeNext process.

"There are going to be some impacts on our neighborhoods from that development, so we're interested in making sure the code provides that when a developer comes in, that all those impacts on our neighborhood are mitigated," he said.

David Foster, who lives in the Southwood neighborhood, said he is interested to see how CodeNext efforts match up with work he and his neighbors have already done as part of the South Austin Combined neighborhood planning process.

"My sense is that there are still a lot of unanswered questions about actual zoning and future land use maps and so forth that we'll wind up with as a result of our neighborhood plan, and I'm curious about whether CodeNext will supply those," he said.

He said he sees opportunities for rails with trails in the area.

"I'm a strong proponent of walkable, bikable and transit-friendly neighborhoods, and I like having amenities closer to where I live, more local businesses that you can walk to or bike to easily so we don't all have to drive north of Ben White [Boulevard] to go to funky, weird, Austin-specific places," he said.

At the Crockett High School workshop, photos documenting different neighborhoods' character were displayed.

Oak Hill resident John Rosshirt said some of the commercial character photos depicting Oak Hill— Austin Pizza Garden, AMD, The Natural Gardener and the Austin Community College Pinnacle campus—were an accurate portrayal of the area.

Other photos of local gas stations and older properties along the highway, however, were not, he said.

"[They are] not the type of places that are going to bring good, vibrant businesses, because there is very little access to get to them. When places like this were built, [Hwy.] 290 was a small two-lane road."

Zapalac said the city wants as much feedback as possible to help establish representative "snapshots" of neighborhoods.

"We will be having more meetings in the coming months," Zapalac said.

The following meetings are scheduled:

Jan 16, Murchison Middle School, 3700 N. Hills Drive, 6:30–8:30 p.m.

Jan. 24, St. David's Episcopal Church, Sumners Hall, 301 E. 8^th St., 7:30–9:30 a.m.

Jan. 25, ACC Eastview Campus, Auditorium 8500, 3401 Webberville Road, 10 a.m.–noon

More information is available at www.austintexas.gov/codenext.