“Our action here today is another step in the right direction to make it easier to build small units at a more affordable price point, and make homeownership in Austin more accessible to more Austinites," council member José Velásquez said March 6. "We are making it easier for people to buy more affordable homes.”
What happened
City Council passed both changes years after they were first proposed. The updates follow other recent land-use updates from City Hall intended to allow for more varied residential building in neighborhoods.
The "Site Plan Lite" concept was originally sponsored by council member Paige Ellis to move smaller-scale residential construction through more streamlined reviews, similar to the process used for single-family homes. After an initial phase expanded the simplified reviews to three- and four-unit projects in 2023, a second phase for projects up to 16 units was approved in March.
Austin's site plan reviews can cover a project's layout and various land-use requirements related to design, utilities, drainage and other environmental considerations.
Ellis said this year's update was needed to reduce extensive reviews for new construction with multiple residences, whether a 10-unit project or 300-unit apartment complex. That regulatory difference can end up determining who can afford to live in the city, she said, regardless of how much more intensive a development is for a neighborhood or the environment.
“When I look at certain policies that say you can have a really big house or duplex, but someone can’t put a fiveplex with that same amount of impervious cover, that’s the problem I’m trying to solve for," she said.
Council member Krista Laine also highlighted how the new policies could affect Austin's historically lengthy and costly permitting reviews, which she said often leads corporations, investors or consultants rather than local residents to benefit from new construction.
“For these smaller projects, I wholeheartedly support streamlining the process so that our individual property owners, our families and our small owners have the opportunity to make full use of their properties," she said.
Zooming in
The changes passed with a few reservations from the council dais and residents, mainly related to how a potential rise in infill development could affect drainage and flooding issues in neighborhoods.
“All of these suggest to me that there’s legitimate risk, particularly for areas that are in flood-prone neighborhoods or in the 100-year floodplain," he said.
Council members approved the updates with a few drainage-related amendments, such as:
- Changing how property owners or developers support city stormwater management requirements
- Adjusting when drainage reviews are triggered
- Requiring new city reporting on updates to drainage rules that are now in progress
“I think the status quo basically favors McMansions over affordable-sized homes. We want to incentivize building homes that working people, Austin workers can afford," he said. "I am assured that there are still checks and balances in place to protect against lot-to-lot flooding, and I think we have this opportunity in our capital budget to make sure that we strengthen our drainage infrastructure in our bond program.”
Going forward, data on Site Plan Lite and the new subdivision rules will be tracked as part of the city's mandated reporting on the "HOME" initiative policies approved in 2023 and 2024, based on a request from Velásquez. That'll include a look at housing production and drainage regulations in relation to the new rules.
