Downtown Austin Plan
Downtown Austin Plan
On December 12, 2005, the Austin City Council approved a resolution authorizing the development of a Downtown Austin Plan. The original boundaries of the Downtown Austin Plan were set as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the north, IH-35 on the east, Town Lake on the south, and the west side of Lamar on the west.
A nation-wide request for qualifications was issued for a design team to lead the project. In October 2006, the ROMA Design Team was selected. In May 2007, Phase One of the Downtown Plan commenced.
On February 14, 2008, City Council received a presentation from the ROMA Design Group on Phase One of the Downtown Austin Plan. No formal action was taken by Council; however, direction was given to staff to expand the Phase One geographic transit analysis.
The Phase One report is designed to identify the challenges and opportunities facing downtown and to set the priorities for Phase Two, where the actual plan will be developed in detail. The Phase One report is broken into four parts:
- Physical Form and Place: Evaluate forming districts to help guide downtown development and encourage the use of density bonuses as predictable development regulations.
- Sustainability and Mobility: Improve regional and downtown mobility, as well as sidewalk, bicycle lane, and parking options. Increase focus on utility and infrastructure sustainability and improvement.
- Economic Viability: Encourage businesses to office downtown. Expand Austin's music market and encourage the development of more downtown retail areas. Involve UT and state government in utilizing all land effectively and in planning future downtown development
- Affordability and Diversity: Improve incentive programs, develop master plan for downtown affordable housing, identify potential tax credit programs, and public land to be dedicated for affordable developments.
The necessity for and magnitude of additional Phase Two funding will depend on Council's decisions with respect to Phase Two priorities. Planning services conducted pursuant to an approved amendment to the service agreement will be provided in two tiers, and will include:
Tier One:
- Review and analysis of prior transit studies
- Conduct a two-day transportation workshop examining mobility both within and outside of Downtown
- Develop an evaluation matrix including criteria issues such as transit mobility, bike, pedestrian, and vehicular circulation, as well as cost
- Analysis of transit "value capture" potential
- Downtown transportation options report
- Presentation to CAMPO Transit Working Group
Tier Two (to be conducted after the CAMPO Transit Working Group makes decisions on preferred routes and technology):
- More detailed cost analyses for the preferred routes and technologies
TRANSIT:
On Thursday, February 28, 2008, the Austin City Council approved the negotiation and execution of an amendment to the professional services agreement with ROMA Design Group to provide additional transit planning services outside the original scope of the Downtown Austin Plan, in an amount not to exceed $250,000. The additional services and action items will include evaluating rail options in the downtown area extending to Mueller, the airport, 7th Street, Pleasant Valley, and Zilker Park
Council's direction on February 14, 2008 to conduct planning work outside the project boundaries triggered the need for an amendment to the service agreement. ROMA's work in this supplemental amendment will be tied directly to the CAMPO Transit Working Group's efforts to promote rail transit.
Funding in the amount of $600,000 was approved for the original Plan, which was to be conducted in two phases. Funding for Phase One in the amount of approximately $250,000 resulted in the recommendations that were presented to Council on February 14, 2008. The remaining funding of approximately $350,000 was allocated for Phase Two, which will provide an implementation strategy of the recommendations identified in Phase One. Approval of this amendment will allocate $250,000 for transit, and therefore, approximately $100,000 will remain for other services in Phase Two. Go to RECA's web page on inner city rail to read about ROMA's proposal for a 14-mile light rail or "ultra" light rail route and Capital Metro's street car plan.
At its July 24, 2008 meeting, Council received a report from the Downtown Austin Plan project team (Jim Robertson, DAP Project Manager and the Manager of the Urban Design Division of the city's Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department; Jim Adams, ROMA Principal and Director of Urban Design; and Jana McCann, ROMA-Austin Principal) and Tom Matoff, Director of Transportation Planning for LTK Engineering on the transit portion of the plan in which three rail lines and four implementation phases were proposed as follows:
RAIL LINES -
Line 1: Seaholm to Mueller Redevelopment with stops at Seaholm, Central Business District (CBD), Redline, Capitol complex, Brackenridge Hospital, University of Texas (UT), Manor Road, Red Line/MLK, Mueller Redevelopment, and Dell Children's Hospital.
Line 2: Downtown to Austin Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) with stops at Seaholm, CBD, Redline, TxDOT office on Riverside Drive, Travis Heights, Riverside apartments, Tokyo Electron, Montopolis, ABIA Park and Rides, and ABIA.
Line 3 (spur line): CBD to Zilker Park with stops at TxDOT office on Riverside Drive, hotels around Barton Springs/Riverside Drive, and the Long Center/Zilker Park.
IMPLEMENTATION PHASES -
Phase 1: 4.4-mile track connecting Seaholm to Manor Road, estimated cost of $192-$231 million.
Phase 2: 3.2-mile track connecting CBD to Riverside Drive and Pleasant Valley, estimated cost of $133-$147 million.
Phase 3: 2.2-mile track connecting Manor Road to Mueller, estimated cost of $68-78 million.
Phase 4: 5.4-mile track connecting Riverside to ABIA, estimated cost of $157 million.
The proposal contemplates 15.3 rail miles served by streetcar instead of light rail, mostly on dedicated lanes with limited shared lanes as follows: Seaholm to Mueller Redevelopment (6.7 miles) and ABIA to UT (9.9 miles). The anticipated cost is $550-$614 million with annual operating costs of $21-$23 million, excluding anticipated fares. These costs assume laying double tracks throughout the line and buying 20 electric-powered rail cars that will run at 10-minute intervals, 17 hours a day. This proposal has the streetcars sharing lanes with automobiles at least on Congress Avenue and Manor Road, with streetcars on Congress Avenue either in the center lanes or in outside lanes. On Riverside Drive and other downtown streets, consultants suggest dedicated lanes for the streetcars.
The report does not include specific opportunities for transit-oriented development, but does estimate that approximately 1,350+ acres of redevelopment can be anticipated along Manor Road and Riverside Drive, the densest redevelopment corridors along the proposed lines.
The next component of the plan is to decide a financing mechanism before City officials can take their proposal before CAMPO's Transit Working Group (TWG). That group has a four-part decision tree for vetting rail proposals, with a financing analysis and plan being the third part. The fourth part is a voter referendum.
The stated next steps are (1) to move forward with meetings to gather public opinion, (2) work with Capital Metro to prepare a CAMPO TWG presentation, and (3) present that submittal to Council for final approval before taking it to the TWG. The submittal to Council may come as early as September 2008 after the City and ROMA Design Group hold a series of public meetings scheduled September 3-22, 2008. (See the August 29, 2008 issue of RECA's Hot Sheet for a listing of dates and places.)
No specific timetable has been set for when this proposal may be before the voters, but some City officials, including Council Member Lee Leffingwell, have indicated that it could happen in May 2009.
The second phase of implementing the Downtown Austin Plan is underway as city staff are currently creating policy for density bonuses and affordable housing incentives in the downtown area. Downtown Austin Plan project managers are beginning to outline the scope of additional work on the Downtown Austin Plan. During 2009, they intend to undertake several items: a Downtown Austin Framework and Strategic Plan (the document will serve as the de facto "Downtown Plan"); a Downtown Parks and Open Space Master Plan; and likely two district-specific plans. To stay updated on this issue, please visit the City of Austin’s web site.
NEW Draft Transportation Framework Plan (November 25, 2008)
Streetcar Proposal Presentation (July 24, 2008)
Downtown Austin Plan: Phase One Report (revised February 14, 2008 draft)
Downtown Condominum Study by Charles Heimsath, Capitol Market Research (April 2, 2008)
