Back to the case - By declaring attic voids to be floor area, the ruling effectively shrinks how much livable space a homeowner can build under FAR limits.

Not through Council, not through public process — but through a late-night reinterpretation of a word.

The underlying case was not a typical example of infill development. It involved procedural discrepancies, manipulated drawings, aliases, and conflicting professional statements, all documented in testimony to the Board.

The project should have been caught at plan review.

On Oct 13, the Austin BOA accidentally rewrote the city’s housing rules late at night by declaring attic space over 6' high = floor area, even if it’s unfinished, uninhabitable, and literally just insulation + HVAC.

A late add-on motion. No study. No notice. Now citywide policy

Back when Blueskies was cool

A little nap time reading

Grenfell was one of these buildings that caught fire, killing 74, and sparked the current reforms

From what I’ve learned, there were originally three allowable building methods. One of them was modular construction which had several problems, including not guaranteeing structurally soundness… now there’s a ton of damp, dark, aging building that folks are retrofitting ad-hok