Sound Assessment and Disclosure Requirements

Thank you for your interest in the Sound Assessment and Disclosure Requirements stakeholder engagement.

The City of Austin strives to balance creating an environment in which Austin’s live music and nightlife scene can thrive while enacting practices that ensure a healthy quality of life for community residents. In 2018, Mayor & Council approved Resolution No. 20181018-038, which directs the City Manager to propose programs, rules, and ordinances necessary to improve compatibility between residents, lodging establishments, and music-related businesses.  

The Development Services Department is seeking your feedback on recommendations that would require residential and hotel developments within 600 feet of an outdoor music venue and within 300 feet of a performance venue to conduct a sound assessment and disclose that there is a venue nearby and that a sound assessment has been completed to future residents when they sell or lease units. Residential development applicants will be required to complete the sound assessment during the site plan review process.  

Relevant Definitions: 

Outdoor Music Venue: commercial properties where sound equipment is used to amplify sound that is not fully enclosed by permanent, solid walls and a roof. 

Performance Venue: use is the use of a site for presentation of plays, motion pictures, or other performances that includes the retail sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises. This use also includes live music performance.  

Hotel: site for the provision of rooms for temporary lodging. This use includes hotels, motels, and transient boarding houses. 

Residential: occupancy of living accommodations on a non-transient basis. Residential uses exclude institutional living arrangements providing 24-hour skilled nursing or medical care and those providing forced residence, including mental hospitals and prisons. 

Related Resolutions: 

Register for Virtual and In-Person Engagements

Click on the links below to learn more and register for each engagement. To provide the best possible engagement opportunity for those present, space is limited. Please register early to participate. 

If you have questions about access or accommodations, please contact dsdcommunications@austintexas.gov.

Sound Assessment and Disclosure Requirements (In Person)

On this page you can register to attend our in-person meeting on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Permitting and Development Event Center (6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr.).

Sound Assessment and Disclosure Requirements (Virtual)

On this page, you can register to attend our virtual meeting on Wednesday, April 3, from 6 to 7 p.m. on Zoom.

Question title

We appreciate your feedback. Please submit your questions and/or comments here. Comments will close June 25, 2024.

Closed for Comments

Timeline for Code Amendment Process (subject to change)

complete
complete
March 27

Public information/feedback session (In Person) 

complete
complete
April 1

Presentation to Music Commission

complete
complete
April 3

Public information/feedback session (Virtual)

complete
complete
April 15

Presentation to Arts Commission

complete
complete
April 17

Presentation to Downtown Commission

complete
complete
April 22

Presentation to Design Commission

planned
planned
July 18

Presentation to City Council