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In court: Homeowners, city of Austin debate procedures used in land development code process
The hearing didn't debate what is in the code itself; instead, arguments were in regard to the policies council used while considering changes.
AUSTIN, Texas - Homeowners and the City of Austin battled in court Wednesday over City Council’s rewrite of the controversial land development code.
The hearing didn't debate what is in the code itself; instead, arguments were in regard to the policies council used while considering changes.
There are two main points that attorneys presented to the judge: whether the city needed to provide individual notice to homeowners whose properties would be rezoned and how the city is handling protests to those changes.
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There wasn't a single empty seat in the 345th District Court as attorneys argued their case.
“The overall purpose of the code is to provide for more density in the City of Austin then, I guess, currently exists under the current code,” said Douglas Becker, who was representing the homeowners who filed suit.
The code still faces one more council vote before it could be adopted. Becker argued it shouldn't get that far.
“The problem with what the city has procedurally done is that they have failed to give notice to citizens of the City of Austin, even told them they wouldn't give them notice, and is refusing to accept and honor protests,” Becker said.
RELATED: Austin City Council prepares for second vote on controversial land development rewrite
Attorney Jane Webre, who was representing the City of Austin, argued the city didn't need to provide individual notice to affected homeowners because the code affects the entire city in the same way.
“So, your argument, essentially, is if only a relatively small number of property owners are impacted then they have the right to notice and protest, but if a huge number of property owners are affected then they don't have the same right?” asked the judge.
“Well, your honor, it's uniquely affected. Are individual properties uniquely affected in some way that is different from the city as a whole?” Webre explained.
“But they're not all being rezoned the same. They're being rezoned differently,” Becker argued.
Becker said, in the past, the city has given notice to large groups of homeowners by including it in utility bills and, if they want to avoid giving notice individually, they could've held a joint meeting with the Planning Commission and published a notice in the newspaper. Neither of those things happened.
“They say it's too hard. We say it's not too hard and if it is too hard, it's their fault. They made it harder than it needed to be, so let's start over and do it right,” said Becker.
RELATED: Council begins review of land development code rewrite
If homeowners' protests were honored by the city, the council would need to pass the code by a supermajority of ¾, meaning nine councilmembers would have to vote in favor of it. However, the city hasn't honored those protests.
Webre said there are other ways for the public to voice their concern.
RELATED: Land development code revision not sitting well with some property owners
“Because all of us can sign up and go to the City Council meetings and the Planning Commission meeting. All of us can lobby our City Council members, all of us can exercise our ability to be heard in this legislative process and the City Council will take all of that into consideration,” said Webre.
Following the hearing, the judge said she wants to review provided documents, of which there were thousands, before making a ruling. There is no word on how long that might take.