Austin City Council strikes some parking requirements in effort to increase housing density

In an effort to promote more housing density, the Austin City Council voted Thursday to eliminate the minimum number of off-street motor vehicle parking spaces currently required by the city, except for accessible spaces.

By passing an ordinance to amend the city's land development code removing the minimum parking requirements, developers have more room to build housing units, a city affordability impact statement asserts.

"Eliminating parking minimums will reduce these costs and give developers greater flexibility in choosing building typologies," the statement says, noting that an analysis from the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint estimates that requiring one additional parking space per unit increases rent by up to $200 per month.

The ordinance is one of many amendments to the land development code — which dictates what can be built and where, and how big it can be — that the city is attempting to implement.

The ordinance passed in an 8-2 vote with Council Members Alison Alter and Mackenzie Kelly voting against.

Parkland dedication

The City Council postponed voting on an ordinance to comply with the recently passed Texas House Bill 1526, which, according to District 10 Council Member Alison Alter, "guts our ability to provide access to parkland in our city."

House Bill 1526, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, changes regulations surrounding parkland dedication for cities with a population over 800,000 — Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth.

"Passage of HB 1526 supersedes the City’s previous parkland dedication, limiting the City’s authority on how parkland dedication can be administered," according to a city memo sent to the mayor and City Council from Kimberly McNeeley, director of Parks and Recreation, through Assistant City Manager Stephanie Hayden-Howard.

The ordinance the City Council had been set to vote on Thursday would "designate all territory in the City’s municipal boundaries as a suburban area, urban area, or central business district area for the purposes of calculating parkland dedication fees during the development process for multifamily and hotel-motel development," according to the ordinance draft. The item was postponed until the Nov. 9 council meeting.

According to the memo, HB 1526 will:

• Reduce parkland from 9.4 acres per thousand residents under current code to 0.075 acres, 0.75 acres and approximately 3 acres per thousand residents in the Central Business District, urbanand suburban zones, respectively.

• Change new fee amounts collected to an estimated 40%-70% of what is charged today permultifamily dwelling.

• Pre-exempt the city from requiring parkland dedication from commercial developments,overturning the recent amendments approved by the council in 2022.

During a council work session Tuesday, Alter said, "Two developers went to people in East Texas and said they didn't like it, and people who don't represent Austin changed the rules and made it hard for us to do this."

The bill was written by Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, who represents parts of East Texas.

"This is not just a minor change," Alter said. "This is absolutely gutting it."

The memo states, "The bill places both fee and land caps on the parkland requirements for a new development, creating an inverse relationship between the amount of parkland that may be required for on-site dedication and the density of the development’s location in the city."

The City Council must adopt a new ordinance to comply with the law no later than Dec. 1, and it will apply to all multifamily, hotel and motel plans submitted after Jan. 1, 2024, according to the memo.

Ella McCarthy covers Austin city government for the American-Statesman. This story has been updated following City Council action. To share additional tips or insights with McCarthy, email [email protected] or [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin City Council: Minimum parking requirements on Thursday agenda