Planning commission advances expanded University Neighborhood Overlay with new affordability, safety and retail rules

The Austin Planning Commission voted unanimously to move a package of code changes that expands the University Neighborhood Overlay (UNO) and adds new requirements for affordability, safety and ground-floor retail.

The commission’s action on items 20–22 sends the UNO amendments—and related draft Land Development Code language on tenant protections—to City Council with multiple commissioner-led adjustments to staff’s draft.

The update is aimed at increasing housing capacity near the University of Texas at Austin, encouraging retail and grocery space in key locations, strengthening safety design requirements and changing affordability formulas tied to building height.

Commissioners and dozens of public speakers debated the map, permitted building heights and the affordability math for months and again during public comment. Students, co-op housing representatives and affordable-housing advocates urged broader boundaries and taller limits in parts of the overlay to increase bedroom capacity. Neighborhood groups, historic-preservation advocates and representatives of parks and religious institutions urged lower heights in some corridors, required ground-floor retail in key locations, protections for historic structures, and added funding for Pease Park and other nearby parks.

“Expand UNO boldly and meaningfully,” student speaker Marathan (Mario) Perez told commissioners, urging larger boundaries and higher allowances in parts of North and Outer West Campus. “This isn’t about a zoning decision. It’s a decision about who gets to live in the city and who gets pushed out.” (Mario Perez, public comment, 00:40:04–00:42:21)

Pease Park Conservancy chief executive Nicole Netherton asked the commission to include a funding mechanism for park maintenance tied to density, saying Pease Park’s visitation has surged and that new density “creates more impact for Pease Park, which creates increased needs for O and M support.” (Nicole Netherton, public…