Airport Boulevard code proposal under city review

A proposal to transform the Airport Boulevard corridor is taking off.

The Airport Boulevard Form-Based Code was submitted in early June for internal city staff review. The proposal would change the Airport Boulevard corridor, which runs from where the road meets Lamar Boulevard to its intersection with I-35, by replacing traditional zoning with a code that would focus on what buildings should look like, how they relate to each other and how they relate to the street.

"Form-based code is the tool to implement the community's vision for how Airport Boulevard is going to evolve over time," said Jorge Rousselin, city of Austin urban designer.

Following the city staff review, the draft code will be presented to the community and to the Airport Boulevard Advisory Group, a City Council–appointed committee that oversees the progress and outreach efforts of the initiative. Rousselin said the goal is for the draft code to be made public in late July.

Multiple community roundtables will be held on the draft code to generate questions and feedback, Rousselin said. The city will work with the neighborhood groups that border the Airport Boulevard corridor, which includes Highland, Ridgetop, Hancock and Brentwood, Rousselin said.

Following the community engagement process, Rousselin said that City Council could consider adopting the draft form-based code in late 2013 or early 2014.

The draft code incorporates many ideas proposed in the North Loop and Brentwood/Highland Combined Neighborhood Plan, Rousselin said.

"We are excited to be working with the community that has embraced this vision," he said.