Government
BY BEN THOMPSON
Property owners flee Austin regulations under new state law A new state law has Texas cities grappling with the loss of control over land in their outer limits, including Austin where hundreds of property owners have removed themselves from certain regulations. Since Senate Bill 2038 went into effect last 183A TOLL Properties that have petitioned to leave Austin's ETJ* Approved Under review Not approved Austin's ETJ Round Rock
Cedar Park
45 TOLL
September, property owners in a city’s extraterri- torial jurisdiction, or ETJ—the unincorporated area surrounding city limits—can request release from the city bounds. Sorting out the details Under SB 2038, cities including Austin can’t stop property owners from leaving an ETJ as long as application materials are found to be valid. The law also halts civic ETJ growth alongside any annexa- tions as of 2023 or after. Those in the ETJ can seek the release of any land from their city in one of two ways: • A resident or majority of landowners in the area can petition the city for release. • A smaller portion of residents in the area can petition for a local election. Only registered voters within the proposed boundary can participate and decide on the issue; a majority vote releases the land. Zooming in Hundreds of properties of all sizes were released from Austin’s ETJ or were pending removal as of mid-March, or well over 5,000 acres. That land now falls under looser county review related to develop- ment and environmental regulations, which could affect how the sites are used in the future. A county representative didn’t provide informa- tion on how ETJ releases are being handled. The outlook Through the 2010s, residents in Southwest Aus- tin’s ETJ utilized the city’s public review in an effort to cap the size of the proposed Live Oak Springs subdivision behind their neighborhood. The project would have brought more than 80 homes to the end of lightly traveled country roads. Local pushback over safety, traffic and flooding concerns led Live Oak Springs to be scaled down in 2019 to 30 homes and ended plans for a proposed access bridge over Slaughter Creek. The group thought they’d reached a compromise on the project years ago. However, the Live Oak Springs properties have now been removed from Austin’s ETJ and are no longer subject to previous oversight. New project plans are now being reviewed under
Pflugerville
130 TOLL
183
LAKE TRAVIS
35
360
Manor
MOPAC
290
Bee Cave
Austin
71
COLORADO RIVER
290
71
183
MOPAC
35
21
45 TOLL
Buda
MAP NOT TO SCALE N
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN/COMMUNITY IMPACT
*DATA AS OF MARCH 14
contention between cities and petitioners over certain parts of the process, she said she believes it will “absolutely” continue to be a popular option. “The end result could be that development around Austin becomes less expensive to complete, thus making the developments more affordable for the end-users,” she said. Author of SB 2038 Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said he valued positive reviews of the law for now, while changes could be in line after more analysis. “I was expecting there to be a steady stream of these applications and not a tidal wave of it. So we’re going to be looking at those results long-term because what gets measured gets fixed,” he said.
Travis County’s less restrictive set of rules, once again raising worries about a potential wave of new residents and traffic in what locals thought would remain a quiet, less built-out area. Property owner David Knapp, who successfully petitioned to remove the site from Austin’s ETJ last fall, didn’t return requests for comment. What's next Nikelle Meade, a partner with law firm Husch Blackwell specializing in land-use, said the flexibil- ity and loosened permitting requirements outside Austin’s reach are well-received by landowners looking to “control their destiny.” And despite some
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NORTH CENTRAL AUSTIN EDITION
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