Texas

Residents of Austin, TX are risking violation of city ordinances forbidding loud animals to raise chickens in their central city neighborhood backyards. It's partly a way to cut out-of-pocket expenses.

A Houston bedroom community decides against allowing childcare centers to mix with other businesses in strip centers.

How often does one hear that transit is somehow a less respectable form of transportation than driving because of the "massive subsidies" transit receives? Well, a new study by Texas DOT says that highways don't pay for themselves either.

Stakeholders in Austin debate the future of a public golf course in the center of town while the University of Texas, owner of the land, debates whether to seek greater profits off the land. Neighbors champion the course as vital open space.

Dallas's city council passed an ordinance restricting the percentage of window space a storefront can use for advertisements. Council members say the signs are creating or adding to blight.

City officials in Lockhart, near Austin, consider allowing golf carts on arterial streets.

Austin and a number of other cities are working to reduce the carbon footprint left by their fleets of city vehicles. Austin officials are looking for ways to offset their remaining emissions.

A recent conference in Austin, Texas, of real estate appraisers explored how they should incorporate green-building techniques and features into their assessment of properties.

Fort Worth, Texas officials try to tackle the thorny issue of gas pipelines snaking through residential neighborhoods.

This segment from NPR features a discussion with Houston Mayor Bill White about the city's increasing congestion, the limits of zoning, and the population's reaction to rising gas prices.

A five-line extension of Houston's light rail system was just approved by the city council.

As a Texas beach erodes and the waves come closer to shore, homeowners are scrambling to figure out what to do when the public beach invades their private property.

Instead of sending an ambulance every time someone calls 9-1-1, the Houston City Council voted to contract with a telephone nursing service for non-emergencies.

The Waco Chamber of Commerce is credited with inspiring a renaissance in downtown, developing their new headquarters on a former parking lot. They hope to receive LEED certification - the first U.S. chamber building to receive this designation.

A suburb of Dallas ponders charging a toll on a surface road, perhaps the first such plan for a surface road in the United States.

An old-fashioned community barn-raising in Masonville, Texas could in fact be a glimpse of the future.

A recent report by a Federal Reserve Bank senior economist argues that Houston's resiliency during the ongoing housing crisis is due in part to its lack of zoning regulations.

This commentary from the Austin American Statesman argues that the city's aim to become the country's most livable city is undercut by its low number of community gardens.

This commentary argues that, though it may not be called "zoning", Houston has plenty of land use restrictions and guidelines.

With planning likely to become a major issue in next year's mayoral campaign, a recent survey shows that most residents would support new rules -- including possibly land use zoning -- to manage the region's sprawling development.