2026-06-04 - City Planning Commission Work Session
Summary
Built from the official minutes (Legistar status: Final). No video is posted. A work session: no votes were taken.
- Present: 8 (Chair Hensler, Robbins, Willoughby, Engel, Case, Gigiano, Clements, Cecil). Absent: Vice Chair Slattery.
- Chair Hensler said interviews were held for one voting member and two alternate vacancies, Council action on appointments was expected the following Tuesday (June 9), and new appointments would likely take effect in August; she asked commissioners to answer attendance requests promptly for special meetings.
- Planning Director Kevin Walker reported the Boulder Street vacation was approved 6-2 with one abstention after extensive public process, that there would be no Council meeting June 23 because of the Municipal League conference, and that 2027 budget development had begun.
- Staff introduced a new Planning Technician I, Samantha Fahnestock, who previously worked on historic preservation for the City of Austin (introduced by Senior Analyst Mellisa Wutzke).
- Previewed the Cottage Court on Costilla parking adjustment and development plan (heard June 10).
- Walker briefed the Commission on scheduling for a pending data center appeal: any administrative decision was expected to be appealed; staff asked for late July dates.
- Walker updated the Commission on the AnnexCOS plan revision.
Cottage Court on Costilla
- Items DVSA-26-0001 and DEPN-25-0164, both quasi-judicial. William Gray, Senior Planner, presented a Development Standards Adjustment to City Code section 7.4.1003 to provide 11 off-street parking spaces where 18 are required, and the development plan for 14 single-family attached units (22,230 square feet, 0.51 acre) at East Costilla Street and South Prospect Street, zoned MXL, near Shooks Run east of downtown.
- Layout: duplex-style buildings around a central green with 11 rear-alley spaces; the applicant sought multifamily parking standards and reductions for on-street parking, transit adjacency and bicycle routes. Gray tied it to "missing middle" housing goals, expected neighborhood concerns over density, parking and traffic, and asked commissioners to consider the balance between onsite parking and urban housing.
- Commissioners asked about bicycle parking (none included yet), the HOA or management structure (a question for the applicant), project links and site circulation.
- See Costilla Street Cottage Court.
Data center scheduling
- Walker would not discuss project substance because of the quasi-judicial nature of the forthcoming appeals. Staff expected to finish administrative review the following week. Appeal timeline: a ten-day appeal period, mandatory scheduling within seven days, then a hearing 30 to 60 days afterward, so staff asked for availability in late July. Several commissioners said a Friday would be less ideal and preferred Thursday or Monday; the date was to be confirmed. The hearing was later held July 23.
- See Project Taurus Data Center.
AnnexCOS
- Presentation listed for Planning Manager Shelia Booth; the minutes record Walker giving the overview. State statute requires updates every three years; the current effort began in 2024 and is nearing completion. Changes: major annexations in 2025, the recent annexation election outcome and more coordination with military installations. The update sets policy guidance rather than mapping land priorities. Discussed: three-mile plan requirements, fiscal impact analysis, enclaves and county-city coordination.
- Commissioners asked about obligations after annexation, public safety service levels, fiscal and water impacts and how annexation relates to development review. A full draft was promised before the formal hearing, with possible further public engagement.
- See AnnexCOS Annexation Plan.
Sources
Data notes: the minutes spell the presenter's name Shelia Booth and list the Boulder Street vote as 6-2 with one abstention; the 8-present roll call omits Vice Chair Slattery, who was absent.