Austin University Neighborhood Overlay: opt-in zoning for West Campus
Nothing here applies unless you elect into it
Every other overlay on this hub applies to property inside it automatically. UNO does not. §25-2-751:
This division applies to property in the university neighborhood overlay (UNO) district if the property owner files a site plan and an election for the property to be governed by this division.
So a West Campus property can sit squarely inside the mapped district and be entirely outside these rules. Whether an election has been filed is the first question about any UNO site — before height, before setbacks, before anything.
Once elected, §25-2-752 makes the trade explicit: for property governed by the division, it supersedes the other provisions of Title 25 to the extent of conflict. You are opting out of ordinary zoning and into this instead.
What you owe, what you get, and what stops applying
The division splits cleanly into three, and each part is covered in full on its own page:
- What a project owes — §25-2-765 requires 10 percent of dwelling units or bedrooms at or below 60 percent of median income and another 10 percent at or below 50 percent, held for at least 40 years. Only the second 10 percent can be bought out with a fee.
- What it gets in the air — §25-2-756 adds 25 feet in outer west campus or Guadalupe, or 125 feet in inner west campus in exchange for a further affordability package. §§25-2-758 and 759 then shape it: a minimum 24-foot street wall, a stepback at 65 feet, and 42 percent of the street wall in occupant space.
- What stops applying — §25-2-763 removes maximum floor-to-area ratios, maximum building coverage, the landscaping article and, beyond 75 feet from the boundary, compatibility standards. Impervious cover reaches 100 percent in two subdistricts.
If you only read one of the three, read the last. No maximum FAR changes how a West Campus building is sized more than the height bonus does.
Common questions
Send us an address and we will tell you what we find
We do this research ourselves on every project we take on — zoning, floodplain, watershed, trees, whether it is a legal lot. Send us an address and we will run it and tell you what we find. It works the same whether you own a vacant lot, a house you are thinking of adding a unit to, or a house you are thinking of replacing. No charge and no strings, and if it is a bad lot we will say so.
Send us an addressWe are homebuilders, not the City of Austin. This page explains how we read the code in practice — it is not legal advice and it is not an official determination. Always confirm with Austin Development Services before you rely on it for a project. The authoritative text is the Austin Land Development Code; permitting questions go to Austin Development Services Department.