With Downtown Austin exploding with new mixed-use development, the redevelopment of a low-income apartment complex into a new mixed-use project has affordable-housing advocates worried that the city's supply of below-market-rate housing is vanishing.
"The development firm Ardent Residential wants to tear down the 30-year-old Stoneridge apartment complex on South Lamar Boulevard and replace it with 300 apartments and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail -- exactly the kind of dense, mixed-use project that city leaders love. The rub is that the 141 existing apartments rent for about $400 to $660 a month - affordable by Austin standards -- and Ardent's apartments would rent for $930 and up."
"The project is what city leaders wanted when they passed a set of incentives recently to encourage mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly projects on Austin's major roads, Council Member Brewster McCracken said. The city can now allow more density and more housing units in mixed-use projects if the developer makes 10 percent of the units affordable for families that earn $56,900 or less."
"Housing advocate Heather Way said she likes the idea of denser development on South Lamar, 'but only if low-income families can benefit from it and only if it doesn't displace low-income families.'"
"The Austin Neighborhoods Council wants the city to enact a policy to require developers to replace affordable units if they tear some down."
FULL STORY: Affordable housing or denser development?

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

Seattle’s Pike Place Market Leans Into Pedestrian Infrastructure
After decades of debate, the market is testing a car ban in one of its busiest areas and adding walking links to the surrounding neighborhood.

The World’s Longest Light Rail Line is in… Los Angeles?
In a city not known for its public transit, the 48.5-mile A Line is the longest of its kind on the planet.

Quantifying Social Infrastructure
New developments have clear rules for ensuring surrounding roads, water, and sewers can handle new users. Why not do the same for community amenities?
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions