City of Austin responds to the "McMansion" phenomena!

The Mayor and City Council recently unanimously passed an emergency ordinance establishing interim development regulations for single family uses that will put temporary measures in place while the new regulations are being developed. The Council has also requested that residential compatibility standards and/or new development regulations be prepared to limit scale of new homes and avoid having scraped lots sprout super-sized McMansions that are happening all around Central Austin. See city website for ordinance details http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/sf_regs.htm

Contrary to initial public reports, these regulations do not prevent homeowners from expanding their homes by remodeling or new construction (see link above). Instead, the interim regulations are intended to provide a flexible allowance for new construction and remodeling, while at the same time temporarily preventing excessively large structures from being grandfathered prior to enactment of any permanent residential standards. The purpose of these interim development regulations is to preserve the status quo while the residential compatibility regulations are prepared, and as such, these temporary rules are a critical tool that would check the rush of building applications that want to beat the new standards that are being drafted. (copy courtesy of WANG)