After receiving scathing reviews about the frustrations and inefficiencies of its site review process, Austin has contracted with McKinsey to begin the work of overhauling the process.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is prioritizing an overhaul of the city’s site review process, after receiving scathing reviews from a recent analysis by the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
After surveying customers completing the site review process, as well as 150 city employees working in the 11 departments involved in the site review process, “found only 1% of respondents were satisfied with the process,” according to a paywalled article by Mike Christen for the Austin Business Journal.
Non-paywalled reporting on Mayor Watson’s response to the analysis is available in an article published by the Real Deal. Mayor Watson is quoted connecting the frustrations and the inefficiencies of the city’s site review process to the increasingly unaffordable hosing market in the city.
The Austin City Council subsequently voted on Thursday, August 31 to spend $2.5 million to hire McKinsey & Co. on a six-month contract to improve the site review process, as reported in a separate paywalled article by Christen (source article below)
FULL STORY: Austin taps McKinsey to improve site plan review process
Austin rents are down — yet evictions spiked by 30%
Austin landlords filed a record number of evictions last year.
How Austin Became Texas’ Most Expensive City
The average mortgage payment in Austin was $2,955 in 2024.
SXSW Panel Addresses Housing Affordability for Artists
Musicians are increasingly hard-pressed to find affordable housing in Austin, a city known for its music scene.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association