BUDA — Community and council members gave input on Buda’s Unified Development Code (UDC) during a work session held by Buda City Council at its May 5 meeting. This follows Kendig Keast Collaborative beginning the UDC amendment process, alongside the Code Advisory Ad Hoc Committee.
With the recent adoption of the Our Buda Our Future Comprehensive Plan in 2024, which set broad policies and possibilities for growth, the city is looking to update its UDC — a set of laws, procedures, design standards and zoning ordinances that a city creates for builders to follow — with specific strategies. The city noted in a social media post that the UDC “guides how land is developed throughout the city and helps shape the community’s long-term growth.”
Kendig Keast Collaborative was awarded the contract at council’s Feb. 17 meeting earlier this year, followed by an ad hoc committee member appointment at the April 7 meeting.
The collaboration, according to the city, “will focus on aligning Buda’s development standards with the community’s expectations for future growth, while also creating a more business-friendly, predictable development process for property owners, residents and the development community.”
Alignment with these plans is the company’s primary goal, but Kendig Keast project manager Ashley Woolsey mentioned additional objectives, including modernization, efficiency, flexibility and sustainability.
After Woolsey explained the project goals, deputy project manager Steve Sizemore conducted a live, digital poll on the UDC with the meeting attendees to gauge desires for development, where the first few questions focused on housing.
“As the greater Austin area’s housing prices continue to increase, we want to see what is the best fit to address the needs of residents, such as families, teachers, public safety officials and young professionals,” Sizemore stated.
The deputy project manager then asked participants to rate a series of residences based on how appropriate they were for Buda. Votes were split between approval and disapproval for most housing types, including a side-by-side duplex, single family home, townhome and fourplex. Most voters found the example of an eclectic cottage appropriate for Buda, while residential apartments had the least approval.
The poll proceeded to assess commercial building types. Again, votes were divided for mixed-use mutli-story buildings, a shopping center and a drive-thru. Few found a mixed-use single story building — similar to those lining Main Street — inappropriate, whereas the depiction of a high-rise was found overwhelmingly inappropriate by many.
Participants were then asked to rate 10 development factors, such as environmental health and affordability, from -5 to 5, based on importance and urgency. Water supply and downtown protection rose to the top; supporting industrial growth and expansion found its way to the bottom of the scale.
Following Sizemore’s poll, council reflected on retaining Buda’s charm, what is working well and how the UDC could be improved.
Regarding Buda’s small-town feel, Mayor Lee Urbanovsky noted walkability as an important factor and one that scored high on the scale. He added that “location matters significantly” when building anything in the city and felt Buda had done a good job zoning development cohesively.
Continuing this notion, council member Evan Ture mentioned that preserving water and the downtown area would “score high on any survey,” measuring importance among residents.
Along with Ture, council member Monica Davidson emphasized predictability when shaping a code to make it easier to follow: “As we revise the historic preservation guidelines and streamline that and that coincides with the UDC … there's a lot of back and forth.”
Concerned that the law would change during the UDC update process, Urbanovsky brought up oversight from the state legislature. He expressed, “Every time they meet in Austin, they seem to take more of our decisions away from us… there’s a lot of ordinances that we have that supersede what the state allows.”
The mayor noted that, in the past, the legislature has tried to prevent cities from enforcing rules that are stricter than state law. Woolsey confirmed that a legal team would be reviewing the documents to ensure legality.
Urbanovsky also mentioned the issue of affordability on the national level, which impacts how Buda shapes its development.
“The easy, quick answer a lot of people want to go to is density. I want to caution the group: density is not always the answer. Creativity is the answer,” he said.
According to the presentation, the ad hoc committee — composed of Buda citizens — will meet as needed to discuss UDC drafts and give direction to Kendig Keast. Public hearings will also be held for the community to provide input.
As the UDC project unfolds over the next 18 months, Kendig Keast will review committee feedback and make changes as necessary to create a Public Review Draft. Then, the Planning and Zoning Committee will evaluate the draft. Ultimately, city council will vote on the final product.
The management team from Kendig Keast wound down their presentation and thanked the city for its collaboration. No vote was taken as the session was designed for input, not action.
Buda City Council will meet next Tuesday, May 19.
