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Who We Are
The West Austin Neighborhood Group (WANG) is a non-profit organization of residents with the shared goal of preserving West Austin and protecting it from deterioration. WANG is concerned with community development, ecology, safety, and any other matters that indirectly and directly affect the quality and character of the neighborhood and the City of Austin.
WANG Meetings
WANG typically meets the second Monday of each month at 6 PM, at the Howson Public Library or the Lions Municipal Golf Course meeting room. Please join us! All neighbors are invited to attend our monthly meetings. If you have an item for the agenda please send an email to:
December Monthly Meeting:
Our next monthly meeting will be Monday, December 11, 6 PM at Howson Public Library Meeting Room,
2500 Exposition Blvd. 78703
Contact WANG
Let us know about neighborhood issues and concerns! You can reach us at
WANG Newsletter
Sign up to receive our E-Newsletter! Please send an email to
Neighborhood NEWS
City Hall Wants Three Units on Every Single-Family Zoned Lot—and Soon That Number Will Jump to Six (or More)
The City of Austin is considering changes to the Land Development Code. These changes would increase the number of housing units allowed on a single-family zoned property. They would also change the regulations that apply when more than one unit is built on a single-family zoned property, allow for tiny homes and RVs on single-family zoned lots, and remove the restrictions on the number of unrelated adults living together.
MORE INFORMATION AND CTY DOCUMENTS: https://www.speakupaustin.org/v1473
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HAVE A VOICE IN WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR PROPERTY AND NEIGHBORHOOD BEFORE DECEMBER 7?
SIGN UP TO SPEAK AT PUBLIC HEARINGS
THE PUBLIC HEARING DATES
The public hearings on these proposed amendments will be held at Austin City Hall, 301 W. 2nd St., on the following dates:
- Thursday, December 7 at City Hall- Austin City Council Meeting Sign up to speak soon! https://www.austintexas.gov/department/city-council/council/council_meeting_info_center.htm
- The Austin City Council will soon vote on a proposal to allow three housing units on every Austin lot
- That number is sure to grow next year, because City Hall plans to allow the subdivision of all lots into 2,500-square-foot parcels
- Council Member Alison Alter has demanded to know why the public isn’t being told that “Phase 1” is three units on a single-family lot, and then the closely following “Phase 2” will change lot sizes to 2,500 square feet
Over the summer, we alerted you to Austin City Council Member Leslie Pool’s proposal to eliminate most single-family neighborhood zoning in Austin and replace it with multi-family zoning.
The council adopted it on July 20, as a policy resolution without prior input from the community.
The proposal has two main parts:
- It allows three housing units on every residential lot
- It allows lots to be subdivided into smaller, 2,500-square-foot lots by reducing both the minimum lot size and development regulations accordingly
Under this proposal, a 5,000-square-foot lot could be subdivided into two lots to hold a total of six units. A 7,500-square-foot lot could be turned into three lots, with a total of nine units. Larger lots could have 12 or more units.
Here’s Why Three Units Per Lot Will Ultimately Equal Six or More
The council has divided the Pool proposal into two parts, and this year, it intends to pass just the first part, allowing three units per lot. When she called her proposal “light touch density,” Pool may have wanted residents to believe that the second part of her resolution had been dropped.
But at a recent council work session, city staff admitted that after they pass the proposed three-units amendment, “[t]he second phase will be the lot sizes and those changes that go with changing lot size.”
Council Member Alison Alter picked up on the implications of this, noting that “the change to lot size would interact dramatically with the three-unit lot item.”
Council Member Alter is correct. The density becomes not so “light touch.” After the passage of both parts of the Pool amendments, lots of at least 5,000 square feet in Austin would be eligible for re-subdivision for six units. Larger lots would yield even more, potentially three units for every 2,500 square feet. Single-family zoning becomes multi-family zoning, granting density equivalent to the current MF-5 zoning (“Multi-Family Residence – High Density”).
So, when the hearing notice goes out, will the public understand that three units per lot today will equal six (or nine or 12) units per lot next year?
Contact Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and your representative on the Austin City Council using the following contact information and tell them: You oppose their proposed code changes transforming single-family zoning into multi-family zoning across the board via the “H.O.M.E.” Land Development Code Amendments.
Mayor Kirk Watson:
| 512-978-2100
Natasha Harper-Madison (District 1):
| 512-978-2101
Vanessa Fuentes (District 2):
| 512-978-2102
José Velásquez (District 3):
| 512-978-2103
José “Chito” Vela (District 4):
| 512-978-2104
Ryan Alter (District 5):
| 512-978-2105
Mackenzie Kelly (District 6):
| 512-978-2106
Leslie Pool (District 7):
| 512-978-2107
Paige Ellis (District 8):
| 512-978-2108
Zohaib “Zo” Qadri (District 9):
| 512-978-2109
Alison Alter (District 10):
| 512-978-2110
Check this map if you aren’t sure which council member represents you. You may send a single email to the mayor and all council members using this form.
Please read this information at Community Not Commodity and write to the Mayor and City Council Members before October 5th.
Reed Park Water Quality Improvement Project
| https://www.austintexas.gov/department/reed-park-water-quality-improvement-project The Watershed Protection Dept. would like to hear from you about your priorities and concerns so that your input can inform their plans. They’ve created a project survey as one way to gather feedback and hosted a virtual public meeting and an in person “walking tour” at the park. The virtual public meeting was on Thursday May 11thth at 6:30 PM You can view a recording or the meeting and take the survey through May 31, 2023. publicinput.com/ReedParkProject. You can reach out to the project managers with questions: Kshitiz Gyawali, Project Sponsor, 512-974-3345 or Matt Harold, Project Manager, 512-974-2964 or |
Save Muny Update:
The future of Muny is still undetermined. The City of Austin and University of Texas continue to discuss future development of the Brackenridge Tract, and possibly Lions Municipal Golf Course. Therefore it is essential that we join together to voice our support for the preservation of all 141 acres of historic MUNY, to the Mayor, City Council members and to the University of Texas President and Board of Regents. If MUNY is zoned commercial, the University will develop the land, and we will lose not only Muny’s history, but one of the last beautiful tracts of open green space in Austin. Once it’s gone, we can’t ever have it back. Please visit the Muny Conservancy website at savemuny.com to learn how you can help with the effort to Save Muny forever, to serve our entire diverse Austin community, golfers and non-golfers alike.
The West Austin Neighborhood Group supports the preservation of the entire 141 acres and all 18 holes of Lions Municipal Golf Course (MUNY) as a historic public golf course and open green space. We are working with the Muny Conservancy and Save Historic Muny District to preserve MUNY in perpetuity, for the citizens of Austin to enjoy forever.
“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone? They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.” -Joni Mitchell