The Austin City Council took the first step to rezoning property at the 200 block of 14th Street Northwest for a possible new strip mall.

Although council members voted 6-1 to adopt an ordinance to rezone the 65,000-square foot lot at 205 14th St. NW, the council must revote on the issue at its Dec. 3 meeting. The council had to unanimously approve the lot rezoning after a first reading of the ordinance, but since Council Member Marian Clennon dissented, the council will re-examine the issue at the next public meeting.

The former Comforcare Senior Services building sat on the property for decades, and developers allegedly want to build a four-unit strip mall for retail and office space on the site. The council did not say who the unnamed developer is.

In other news, Assistant Engineer Steven Lang will be the new city engineer and public works director if the council has its way.

City Council members and Mayor Tom Stiehm agreed to offer Lang the position currently held by Jon Erichson, rather than go through a public interview process, at a work session Monday night. Lang will replace Erichson, who will start as executive director of Austin’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority on Feb. 1.

Check the Wednesday print edition of the Austin Daily Herald for more on each of these stories.