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South Central Waterfront Advisory Board RECOMMENDATION 20240401-XXX Date: Subject: April 1, 2024 Recommendation to remove or exclude height limits from the SOUTH CENTRAL WATERFRONT COMBINING DISTRICT & DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM Ryan Puzycki Seconded By: Felicity Maxwell Motioned By: Description of Recommendation to Council Height limits should be removed or excluded from the South Central Waterfront Combining District & Density Bonus Program. Rationale: Given the difficulty of predicting future market conditions, the decades-long redevelopment timeline for the district, the significant variability of parcel sizes within the district, and the other prescriptions in the South Central Waterfront Combining District & Density Bonus Program, arbitrary height limits would serve to limit flexibility and adaptability to future market conditions, particularly on smaller parcels. As a transit-connected district facing Downtown, a significant portion of which already falls within the Downtown Public Improvement District, the South Central Waterfront will become an integrated extension of Downtown over time. The Core/Waterfront and Rainey Street Districts in the Downtown Austin Plan, which comprise the northern banks opposite the South Central Waterfront, are also not subject to height limits but remain regulated by FAR limits. Vote For: Against: Abstain: Absent: Attest: [Staff or board member can sign] 1 of 1  South Central Waterfront Advisory Board RECOMMENDATION 20240401-XXX Date: Subject: April 1, 2024 Recommendation to amend SOUTH CENTRAL WATERFRONT COMBINING DISTRICT & DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM to direct the Director of the Housing Department to allocate funds from the Housing Trust Fund Fee-in-Lieu to purchase existing housing units within a refined Affordable Housing Fee Spending Area Ryan Puzycki Seconded By: Felicity Maxwell Motioned By: Description of Recommendation to Council Proceeds allocated to the Housing Trust Fund Fee-in-Lieu should be spent to purchase existing housing stock within a refined Affordable Housing Fee Spending Area, as defined by the walkshed of the district and current or planned transit lines transecting or terminating in the district, bound by the borders defined in Section 6.4.E.1.b. Rationale: Given the high cost of building new housing units, affordable or otherwise, in the South Central Waterfront District, the city should allocate funds from the Housing Trust to purchase existing, cheaper housing units within or as close to the district and nearby transit as possible. Vote For: Against: Abstain: Absent: Attest: [Staff or board member can sign] 1 of 1  South Central Waterfront Advisory Board RECOMMENDATION 20240401-XXX Date: Subject: April 1, 2024 Recommendation to amend the boundaries of the Housing Fee Spending Area within SOUTH CENTRAL WATERFRONT COMBINING DISTRICT & DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM Ryan Puzycki Seconded By: Felicity Maxwell Motioned By: Description of Recommendation to Council Redefine the South Central Waterfront Housing Fee Spending Area to be within the walkshed of the district and current or planned transit lines transecting or terminating in the district, bound by the borders defined in Section 6.4.E.1.b. Rationale: Housing Trust funds used toward creating affordable housing units for the South Central Waterfront District must be used within the district or within walking distance of the district and nearby transit. Vote For: Against: Abstain: Absent: Attest: [Staff or board member can sign] 1 of 1  [BOARD/COMMISSION NAME] RECOMMENDATION 20240501-XXX [XXX is the agenda item number] Isaac Cohen SCW Combining district Date: Mar 26, 2023 Subject: Motioned By: Recommendation Regarding the financial value of community benefits to meet bonus requirements, benefits that meet certain criteria should carry stackable bonuses or value multipliers that provide developers with an outsized financial incentive to provide them. Criteria for bonus multipliers are listed below:  Permanent benefits with appropriate long-term/permanent easements  Publicly accessible space that does not serve as access to retail storefronts where any of the following Seconded By: Felicity Maxwell apply (may require coordination across multiple lots to be met).  It is adjacent to the lakefront trail, transit stations, or Bouldin Creek.  It is a contiguous green space with a trail providing a shorter path from endpoint to endpoint than streets (including inter-DDA). or a transit station (bus or rail). (Sq Ft number TBD)  Connects from a pedestrian accessible street to the Town Lake Waterfront, West Bouldin Creek,  Publicly accessible green space that meets a square footage minimum to represent a high-value park  Specific kinds of transit-supportive infrastructure that uniquely enables transit use, such as the examples below.  Larger than typical publicly accessible shelters  Publicly accessible restrooms  Transit interconnection hubs for ride-share or private bus lines to be able to drop off and pick up.  Infrastructure that uniquely enables multi-modal and accessible transport from the new rail station to destinations west of the station along Riverside and Barton Springs Road, namely  Palmer Events center  Long Center  Auditorium shores  Zilker Park/Barton Springs. Description of Recommendation to Council Value multipliers for certain benefits will incentivize either uniquely large, uniquely useful, or uniquely desirable permanent community benefits as opposed to smaller, disjointed, lower-value benefits. Rationale: The current staff recommendation does not articulate the valuation process for community benefits. It appears unopinionated as to how the requirement is met if the numerical monetary requirement is achieved. The current approach allows a developer to decide which benefits to provide without appropriate incentives for benefits that may require more work, permanent easements, or cooperation and planning across multiple lots. By delivering higher value via multipliers to permanent benefits that are 1 of 2  uniquely beneficial and possible in certain areas and combining these multipliers with the ability to do transferrable development rights, we can create the appropriate economic benefits to developers to provide the best community benefits possible. Vote For: Against: Abstain: Absent: Attest: [Staff or board member can sign] 2 of 2