Austin Neighborhood Objects to Proposed Transect Zone

Catherine Marfin reports on potential changes to the zoning code in the Austin neighborhood of Allandale, as proposed by the draft of the CodeNext zoning code overhaul.

"Most of the existing regulations for the city’s residential neighborhoods were preserved in the initial draft of CodeNEXT, the overhaul of the Austin’s land use and zoning policies," writes Marfin. "Yet some communities, Allandale more than most, could see far more sweeping changes."

According to Marfin, Allandale is mostly a single-family neighborhood, "established in several phases from the late 1940s to the late 1960s" and "characterized by the post-World War II and midcentury single-family houses, the many original homeowners and the tree canopies lining the streets."

Under CodeNEXT, 80 percent of the neighborhood is zoned as a transect, and residents are concerned that designation strays too far from the single-family zoning currently in place. One building type that could potentially be developed in the neighborhood if it becomes a transect zone: cottage courts. Some residents, as represented by the Allandale Neighborhood Association, have collected their critiques of CodeNEXT into a position paper [pdf]. The question of whether the existing character of the neighborhood has been protected in line with expectation of these residents is obviously still up for debate.