North Burnet/Gateway (NBG) refers to the approximately 2,300 acre area in north Austin bounded by Walnut Creek on the north, Metric Boulevard on the east, US 183 (Research Boulevard) on the south and southwest, Braker Lane on the northwest, and MoPac (Loop 1) on the west. 

As a way to responsibly control growth within Austin’s urban core, the City of Austin has focused on this area, currently comprised of aging, low-density, and auto-oriented development, by re-imagining it as higher density, mixed-use neighborhoods, providing pedestrian access and transit-friendly connections. 

The North Burnet/Gateway 2035 Master Plan (PDF), adopted in 2006, and accompanying North Burnet/Gateway Regulating Plan (PDF), adopted in 2009, are the result of a focused planning process aimed at tackling growth challenges in Austin.  The vision developed for NBG serves as the framework for infrastructure improvements, changes in the City development code, coordination with transit authorities, and private development within and abutting this area.  

Elements of North Burnet/Gateway
  • Encourage high quality design, connectivity, and a mix of uses to begin accommodating Central Texas Region’s expected population growth over the next 30 years.
  • Introduce dense housing types such as townhomes and condos to accommodate more residents with less land. Integrate housing above commercial to create transitions into surrounding neighborhoods.
  • Expand the existing street network to improve mobility and access within North Burnet/Gateway while providing enhanced connections to surrounding neighborhoods.
  • Redevelop City of Austin parcels to serve as catalysts for Transit-Oriented Development.
  • Encourage multi-story mixed use buildings oriented toward new multi-functional streets rather than highways and access roads.
  • Provide direct pedestrian links to rail stations and other transit uses in the district.
  • Encourage active and livable places that serve our daily needs and provide people with a sense of belonging and ownership within their community.
Implementing Development in North Burnet/Gateway

Development projects within North Burnet/Gateway should be compatible with the vision developed during the creation of the 2035 Master Plan. Even though development and/or redevelopment may occur on a parcel-by-parcel basis, the Master Plan serves as a guide and provides an understanding of what developers should work towards within the North Burnet/Gateway Boundary. 

Additionally, the regulations included in the Regulating Plan have been tailored to meet the expectations of surrounding neighborhoods and to promote development forms that can support existing and future transit.  Projects that have the North Burnet/Gateway vision as their foundation are more likely to be supported by the surrounding community.

Resources

Development Assistance Resources

The Land Development Information Services (LDIS) serves as the initial interface between the community and the City of Austin Planning and Development Review Department. Members of the community can visit LDISwith questions and receive consulting information. Information distributed by LDISserves as the foundation for both the customer preparing their land development application and the City staff conducting the site review and inspection.

Affordability in North Burnet/Gateway

The City of Austin provides housing, community development small business development services to benefit eligible residents, so they can have access to livable neighborhoods and increase their opportunities for self-sufficiency.  Affordability within the TODs (Web) is managed by the Housing and Planning Department.

Additional Questions

The NBG Program is situated within the Urban Design Division (Web). The NBG Program is responsible for processing amendments to the NBG Ordinance, providing NBG education, assisting in the review of projects within NBG, and program development and evaluation. Please contact Sophia Benner, 512-974-2022 for more information on North Burnet/Gateway.

Related Links

North Burnet/Gateway Mobility

Some of the biggest challenges facing North Burnet/Gateway concern mobility.  The area suffers from poor internal street connectivity, a disconnected pedestrian network, and lack of direct access to transit.  Both the North Burnet/Gateway Master Plan and Regulating Plan provide tools to address these challenges.  These tools are aimed to encourage a greater number of trips traveled by walking, biking, or transit and as such, address elements such as streets, sidewalks, building placement, site size, and streetscaping to ensure that there are multiple transportation routes for all transportation modes.

Transit

The NBG boundary encompasses several major existing and potential transit modes including:

As Austin continues to look to transit as a relief from increasing roadway congestion, NBG stands in a position to serve as a hub for Austin’s transit modes. 

Streets

Collector Streets

The North Burnet/Gateway Master Plan recommended the addition of streets as well as new street alignments in order to create the framework for the redevelopment of NBG into denser, more urban, and mixed-use neighborhoods.  The plan codified these new streets into a Collector Plan. 

Collector Streets are defined as “a street collecting traffic from other streets and serving as the most direct route to a thoroughfare”(LDC Section 25-1-12(15)(Web)).  The locations of the new required Collector Streets can be found in Figure 3-11 of the NBG Regulating Plan.  The Collector Plan requires that these streets be dedicated as ROW as determined in accordance with LDC Chapter 25-6, Article 2 (Web).  Although the new streets will be constructed over time as the area develops on a parcel by parcel basis, the location and connections portrayed in the Collector Plan will serve as the basis for future development of the street network in NBG.

Street Cross Sections

In addition to new street locations the NBG Regulating plan contains Street Cross Section standards contained in Appendix A of the document.  Appendix A provides a map linking the Street Cross Section with the location of required and recommended new streets.  These street sections provide a range of street types to address the size of NBG and its wide hierarchy of streets.

Sidewalks

In order to ensure that the built environment is able to support a range of travel modes including foot travel, the NBG Regulating Plan requires that sidewalks be built to support a high-quality street and sidewalk environment that is supportive of pedestrians and vehicular circulation patterns. Trees, sidewalks, and buildings are required to be arranged in a manner that supports the creation of safe, human scaled, and well-defined roadway environments.  Roadway types for NBG are illustrated in Figure 1-3 and articulated in Article 3: Circulation, Connectivity, and Streetscape of the North Burnet/Gateway Regulating Plan.

Bicycle

The North Burnet/Gateway Regulating Plan has specific requirements to encourage and accommodate the use of bicycles as transportation device.  Some of these requirements include, bicycle parking on site and in close proximity to the main entrance of the building and the reduction of parking requirement with the provision of bicycle amenities such as showers and fully enclosed bike cages on site.  Bicycle requirements are included in several articles relating to site design and connectivity.