Here's the whole story of this situation in 3 images.
At the end of our street at the corner of W. 39th 1/2 St. and Medical Parkway, we had 12 wonderful 1960's duplex units that were small and super affordable for the market (rent was between $1,200 and $1,400/month when they were demolished). Here they are in 2016:
In 2017, they all went to the landfill and were replaced with 12 duplex units that maxed out every inch of the current code's entitlements. The Street View image below is from approximately the same spot. The new duplex units are about 1,700-1,800 s.f. each, and all sold for more than $750k per unit. We lost lots of great neighbors that helped Rosedale have more economic diversity.
We also lost a shit-load of trees.
Under the proposed code, the buildings can be even larger and taller than what was built in 2018. How does that help Austin with its Affordability problems??
Why are we designing a code that creates massive, expensive housing??
At the end of our street at the corner of W. 39th 1/2 St. and Medical Parkway, we had 12 wonderful 1960's duplex units that were small and super affordable for the market (rent was between $1,200 and $1,400/month when they were demolished). Here they are in 2016:
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| 2016 Google Street View |
In 2017, they all went to the landfill and were replaced with 12 duplex units that maxed out every inch of the current code's entitlements. The Street View image below is from approximately the same spot. The new duplex units are about 1,700-1,800 s.f. each, and all sold for more than $750k per unit. We lost lots of great neighbors that helped Rosedale have more economic diversity.
We also lost a shit-load of trees.
 |
| Current Google Street View. Note the loss of trees... |
Under the proposed code, the buildings can be even larger and taller than what was built in 2018. How does that help Austin with its Affordability problems??
 |
| Scale of building permitted by proposed Code Re-Write |
Why are we designing a code that creates massive, expensive housing??