Austin City Council voted 7-4 to appeal a March court ruling that effectively stymied the city’s eight-year effort to rewrite its rules around what can be built in the city and where. The city’s attorney said an appeal could take up to 12 months.
A group of Austin property owners sued the city late last year, arguing against the government’s position that property owners are not afforded protest rights during the process of a comprehensive overhaul of the land development code. On March 18, as the coronavirus began inflicting significant harm on the community, Judge Jan Soifer ruled in favor of the property owners.
In the weeks leading up to the ruling, City Council had the necessary votes in place and was preparing to make its third and final affirmative vote on the latest draft of the land development code rewrite, capping off what had been the political pressure point in the community for eight years. As concern over the coronavirus grew, the city indefinitely postponed the third vote to focus on the pandemic. Then, two days later, Soifer issued her ruling, invalidating council’s first two votes and sent the rewrite back to square one.
Giving property owners the right to protest means City Council would have to pass the land development code with a three-fourths majority, or nine votes. Throughout the voting process, the prevailing voting block was 7-4, with Council Members Leslie Pool, Kathie Tovo, Alison Alter and Ann Kitchen in the minority.
