Central Austin Zones For Vertical Mixed Use

"In choosing to avoid the ills of sprawl – environmental, economic, social equity, and quality-of-life – Austinites are being asked to accept increased density...Toward that end, city leaders have created a new zoning category, vertical mixed use (VMU)."

"To encourage desirable new projects, VMU zoning offers enticing developer benefits. To earn them, developers must meet specific requirements to make the project conform with Austin's urban vision. These include high-quality building design, meeting-the-street, pedestrian-friendly amenities, and green-building requirements. In addition, 10% of the housing units must be 'affordable' (based on area median family income).

To compensate and help pay for all the goodies, civic-minded developers get specific financial incentives. Most valuable, the 'relaxed standards' for VMU can allow significantly more condos or apartments on a site (primarily by lifting 'minimum site area requirements' that would restrict density). The relaxations also reduce by 60% the parking required by code and add more uses on the ground floor, such as convenience stores and eateries."

Thanks to ArchNewsNow