Austin Design Commission reviews rewrite of urban design guidelines, examines past downtown density-bonus projects

The Austin Design Commission reviewed a comprehensive rewrite of the city's urban design guidelines and examined how the commission's prior recommendations aligned with actual built outcomes, saying the changes aim to make guidance clearer for staff, applicants and commissioners.

The document under consideration is the city's guiding document for scoring downtown density-bonus projects and for advising on city projects, said Commissioner Wittstruck, a member of the working group. "This is the city's guiding document for scoring density bonus projects," Wittstruck said, adding that the working group has reorganized the guidelines into a tiered structure and has sought to make scoring less subjective.

Commissioners said the effort matters because the guidelines are used to recommend conditions that applicants often cite but that are not consistently reflected in final construction. The commission spent more than an hour discussing the structure and intent of the draft and used two past downtown projects'-405 Colorado (presented February 2017) and Fifth & West (presented February 2014)'as case studies to identify patterns and gaps.

Why this matters: Commissioners advised that the rewrite should help staff and applicants understand which guidelines are priorities, and how compliance will be evaluated. Commissioners said that clearer priorities and examples could improve the likelihood that urban-design objectives shown in early renderings are realized at occupancy.

Most important facts

- Structure and purpose: The draft reorganizes the guidelines into priorities (tier 1 and tier 2), values, intent, conditions (must/should statements) and non-binding examples. Commissioner Whitstrot summarized that "the tier 1 and tier 2 is an attempt to provide staff guidance on our priorities."

- Outcome-based approach: The working group emphasized outcome-based language (what the city wants to achieve) rather than prescriptive design rules. Examples and diagrams were discussed as potentially useful but were flagged as possibly becoming quickly dated or overly prescriptive.

- No numeric quotas: Staff said the draft does not assign fixed percentages or hard numeric targets for relative sizes of lobbies, restaurant space or other program elements. "The draft urban design guidelines do not apply percentages or numbers to that," said Sofia Benner, urban design staff.

- Case studies: Commissioners reviewed 405 Colorado and Fifth & West to compare the commission's written recommendations with what was built. Commissioners noted recurring issues: large, under-activated ground-floor lobbies; limited diversity of ground-floor tenants; missing landscape elements or seating that appeared in approval packets but not in the constructed project; and parking podiums that present as undifferentiated facades.

- Follow-through gap: Commissioners repeatedly raised that the commission's role is advisory and that, while the commission can request or recommend specific elements, staff and applicants make final implementation decisions. Commissioners and staff discussed the limited mechanisms available to track whether recommended elements shown at review (for example, street kiosks or specific planters) were ultimately constructed.

Supporting details and examples

Commissioner Mercas called attention to gaps between approval materials and as-built conditions, noting landscape planters and proposed sidewalk cafes shown in the approval materials that do not appear to have been constructed. "It seems as though there isn't one currently a way to follow-up and reaffirm that what was presented was actually constructed," Mercas said.

Commissioner Gellis and others discussed activation of ground-floor retail and suggested including more explicit examples in the rewrite to encourage smaller-scale retail subdivisions, arcades or other strategies that help spaces lease and animate sidewalks. "Drawing examples for providing smaller scale retail spaces within these large floor plates could be a positive contribution to the rewrite," Gellis said.

Commissioners and staff considered whether the guidelines should address parking podiums and garage screening. Vice Chair Meiners observed that some screening strategies are effectively aesthetic or artistic treatments and asked whether the guidelines should offer clearer definitions for public art and permanence.

Staff context and limitations

Sofia Benner described the site-plan and construction process and noted the many changes that can occur between a design commission presentation and final construction: "There is a lot that's out of our control as far as bigger problems that come up, including during construction, utilities underground that are discovered, things that need to be moved."

Benner and other staff members said the working-group draft aims to keep the guidelines outcome-based and non-regulatory while offering clearer "must" and "should" statements and examples for applicants and reviewers. The working group also recommends applying the updated guidelines beyond the downtown density-bonus program so the guidance can be usable for other projects citywide.

Decisions and next steps

Commissioners agreed to continue the rewrite effort and to bring a visual/design presentation to the June meeting to show document layout and illustrative examples. The commission also voted to study additional completed downtown density-bonus projects at future meetings to inform the guidelines, identifying two projects for the next meeting: the Marriott at Cesar Chavez and 17th & Guadalupe apartments.

Quotations

"This is the city's guiding document for scoring density bonus projects," Commissioner Wittstruck said, describing the purpose of the rewrite.

"The draft urban design guidelines do not apply percentages or numbers to that," Sofia Benner, urban design staff, told commissioners when asked whether the draft would set numeric size targets for lobbies or retail areas.

"The tier 1 and tier 2 is an attempt to provide staff guidance on our priorities," Commissioner Whitstrot said, describing how the draft elevates some objectives for clearer interpretation.

Taper/What to watch for

The commission will present a design-oriented packet in June to illustrate how the draft will read and function, including examples and a proposed scoring/priority approach. Commissioners also asked staff to identify how the new guideline structure might support clearer follow-up on whether recommended items are realized in constructed projects.