Daycares
“We want to see more people of all ages in the heart of our city ([1]). “
High childcare costs in Austin make it harder for families to live in the city. CodeNEXT must allow childcare, of all sizes, all around the city in order to facilitate abundant day care access to all. Allowing day cares off of major corridors is imperative; children face no greater threat than cars. Many daycares are found in interior neighborhoods, allow families to easily walk with a stroller or wagon to bring their children to daycare. This is critical to ensuring families are welcomed in all areas.
The Problem
Daycares of various sizes are a permitted use in CodeNEXT. CodeNEXT prescribes parking minimums as well.
- Small (<= 7 children) are P in transects: T3NE.WL and up, (all transects)
- Large (>7 children & <20 children) are CUP in transects: T3NE.WL, T3NE, T3N.DS, T3N.IS (both IS & IS-O), T4N (both IS & IS-O), T5N (both SS & SS-O); permitted in T4; permitted in T5U.SS, T5U, T5MS, & T6U;
- Commercial: unpermitted use below T3N.IS; for T3N.IS, T4N, T5N.SS, unpermitted in IS, SS categories (respectively), CUP in IS-O and SS-O; permitted in T4(MS); unpermitted in T5U.SS, T5U; permitted in T5MS & T6U,
Parking: 1 per 500sqft in T3N.IS, T4N.IS, T4N.SS, T4MS, T5N, T5U.SS, T5U, & T5MS; no parking requirements in T6U
Recommendations
- Small daycares should be permitted by-right in all transects
- Large daycares should be permitted by-right in all transects
- Commercial daycares should be permitted by-right in all transects
- Small, Large, & Commercial daycares should not have parking requirements
Recommendations
| Comment | Page/Section
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|---|---|
| Small daycares should be permitted by-right in all transects |
pdf pg 108
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| All the minimum lot depths should be eliminated or reduced to 50 feet. Under the current rules it seems like a 90 foot deep lot cannot have any of the primary building types on it. | 23-4D-2090 Section D page 32 pdf 116
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| Requiring ADU's to fit in a 28x24 footprint is overly restrictive. Considering that front houses have irregular shapes and other site constraints (trees, floodplain, drainage and other easements). If an ADU is under 1100 sq ft the ADU should be able to not abide by the 28x24 footprint. This would also allow 1 story 1100 sq ft ADU's. | 23-4D-2090 Section D page 32 pdf 116 |
| The side, rear, and front setbacks leave very little room for an ADU on most lots. In particular, the 20’ rear setback is the same for the primary structure and the ADU where alleys do not exist.
The rear setback should be five or ten foot setbacks for the ADU. The code should encourage ADUs by allowing for smaller setbacks when an ADU is built. |
23-4D-2090 Section E page 33 pdf 117
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| Requiring parking behind the front facade of the building should be taken out. It will make it difficult to build ADU's and keep the existing house since currently many houses have parking pads in front of the front facade of the building. Most central Austin lots don't have room for rear parking for the front house and a ADU on the back part of the lot. Additionally this will increase impervious cover and hurt affordability by requiring longer driveways.
Requiring lots with an alley to only have parking accessed from the Alley should be taken out. This should remain as an option and not a requirement. This will increase impervious cover and hurt affordability by in many cases requiring longer driveways. In addition this will not be possible in many cases because of trees, floodplain and other site constraints. It will also make ADU's more difficult because the back of the lot is where most ADU's are placed. Additionally by increasing impervious cover it will be difficult to do much on these lots besides have a primary house and a long parking driveway from the back of the lot to the front house.
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23-4D-2090 Section I page 34 pdf 118
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