EAST RIVERSIDE CORRIDOR PLAN TO BE REVISED
Malcolm Yeatts
It is important that East Riverside residents submit comments to the on-line survey and engage in the process to revise the ERC Plan. The East Riverside Drive Corridor is central to the EROC Plan and will control development of this entire area.
The comments that I submitted:
- One key goal of our community engagement is to go to where people are. What are your suggestions on where to go?
The best attendance will be with a hybrid meeting that will allow people to also attend remotely.
- What does meaningful community engagement mean to you?
The city seriously considering the recommendations of participants.
- As we start community outreach and engagement, what are some key questions you think community members would like answered at the beginning.
How well will the city require developers to abide by the revised ERC Plan? Members of the EROC Contact Team spent years creating the original ERC Plan, and then the Planning Commission and the City Council ignored the plan.
THE EMAIL FROM THE CITY OF AUSTIN:
Dear East Riverside/Oltorf Neighborhood Plan Contact Team members,
Austin Planning is happy to announce the East Riverside Corridor Planning Initiative, which will update the existing plans for this corridor to align with the City’s equity goals and reflect the changing conditions in this area of Austin. As you’re deeply connected to your communities, we want to make sure we hear from you early and often throughout this planning process.
The East Riverside Corridor Master Plan (adopted 2010) and Regulating Plan (adopted 2013) currently regulate land use along East Riverside Drive. Council has directed planning staff to update these plans to align with the city’s Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) initiative, which you can read about at https://speakupaustin.org/ETOD, thus ensuring future development supports equity, affordability, and community needs. Many of you are familiar with the existing plans, and indeed some of you participated in writing them, so now that Austin Planning is revisiting them, we encourage you to think about what has been working and what could be updated.
Austin Planning is still in the early stages of the East Riverside Corridor Planning Initiative. Our SpeakUp Austin page is live at https://speakupaustin.org/ERCPlanning, and later this month you and your neighbors will receive postcards in your mailboxes introducing this planning effort. We are currently interviewing candidates to be Ambassadors, who will be paid to spread the word to their communities and gather feedback, and we are planning for focus groups and the first open house in January.
Lastly, we would like your help in shaping our community engagement strategy for this planning initiative. Below, we have included three questions to guide our community outreach and engagement plan. Please reply to this email with your thoughts. Also, note that we are available to meet with your team individually to introduce ourselves and discuss the planning process.
- One key goal of our community engagement is to go to where people are. What are your suggestions on where to go?
- What does meaningful community engagement mean to you?
- As we start community outreach and engagement, what are some key questions you think community members would like answered at the beginning.
We look forward to receiving your feedback and working with you over the next year to ensure that this planning process provides everyone an opportunity to participate.
Best,
Tim McCarthy (he/him/his)
Senior Planner
Austin Planning