Between 2023 and 2026, U.S. cities began zoning self-storage out of their commercial districts. The question on a new deal is no longer how to build it, but whether it's allowed at all.
HUD committed $3M to put AI permitting in six jurisdictions, while admitting it has little public evidence yet for how these systems perform, are staffed, or are governed. That gap is the diligence checklist.
Los Angeles, Austin, Honolulu, and Seattle now run plan review through AI. It clears the code's measurable rules fast. The judgment calls still take a human.
B101's comply clause turns code compliance into a strict-liability duty your insurer may not fully cover, while zoning sits outside Basic Services and the blame still lands on you.
Property owners along Austin's classified streets deed land to the city for future street widening. Permanent transfers under state and local standards.
How Austin reviews the land developers offer for public parks, what House Bill 1526 changed in 2024, and the dedication-fee trap that catches builders.
Compatibility cost Austin an estimated 71,794 housing units. The 2024 reform cut its reach by 86 percent but kept the rule on the most transit-rich land.
A 2023 McKinsey study found 47 places where Austin's overlapping rules apply different criteria to the same parcel, stretching timelines past 18 months.
License agreements are a parallel approval track that gates Austin site plan release. The City advises to start the process along with the site plan itself.