The Hudson Bend Incorporation Committee is seeking to incorporate the Hudson Bend area, which is located within Austin’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.[/caption] Charles Gault, a Hudson Bend resident and director of the Hudson Bend Colony Neighborhood Association, said his organization will meet Sept. 16 to discuss the actions of a committee whose chairman said it is pursuing incorporating the neighborhood into a municipality. The community of Hudson Bend is an area in the city of Austin’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, adjacent to the city’s boundaries, that can be annexed into Austin’s borders, requiring the city to provide services to its residents. “The best thing about living in Hudson Bend is we have unrestricted property,” Gault said. “The worst thing about living in Hudson Bend is we have unrestricted property. I would rather see this same community spirit and effort [to incorporate] redirected toward cleaning up Hudson Bend.” He said the vast majority of the 1,219 property owners in Hudson Bend were unaware that there was a movement to incorporate until recent print news articles brought attention to the issue. He said the group pursuing incorporation—the Hudson Bend Incorporation Committee—spoke to government officials on behalf of the community without having the approval of property owners. The committee requested to be released from the city’s ETJ on June 2, committee Chairman Alton Moore said. The city declined the request, city of Austin Senior Planner Virginia Collier said. Gault said he opposes the HBIC actions because he believes there is no imminent concern of Austin annexing Hudson Bend in the near future; HBIC misrepresented how much taxes will increase if the area is annexed by Austin; HBIC desires to stifle growth by blocking the development of upscale condominium projects; and HBIC wants to preserve the area’s quality of life when it is not in jeopardy. Gault said he is forming an organized effort to oppose incorporation efforts and will be launching a website by mid-September to provide information about the costs of incorporation and maintaining a municipality.

Incorporation opposition

In addition to feeling misrepresented by the committee, some residents had concerns about the costs and benefits of incorporation. Gault said he created a spreadsheet that compared the cost of incorporation at an additional 10 percent in tax fees for Hudson Bend residents with the cost of being annexed by the city of Austin in 20 years. “After 60 years, we would still be upside down in terms of lost money if we incorporate,” Gault said. “Our goal is to make sure the will of the majority of property owners in Hudson Bend is known. Then and only then—if the support of incorporation represents the majority of the property owners—should the efforts of incorporation continue.” Similarly, longtime Hudson Bend resident Mickey Decker-Mitchell, who is also vice president of the Travis County Water Control and Improvement District 17 Board of Trustees, said she was surprised to learn the HBIC was representing her without her permission to do so. WCID 17 provides water to the area. “This is the gun to divide the whole community simply because we had one person and one very small group of people—when you compare it to the entire population—that decided they were going to take it upon themselves to make a move on this position [and] did not bother to notify anyone,” Decker-Mitchell said. She said the group cannot represent the entire community without “taking a head count” of residents who oppose or support incorporation. She said she did not want to bear the cost involved in incorporation proceedings or have a volunteer official run the city as she said HBIC has proposed. Hudson Bend Colony resident Mandy Spivey agreed HBIC lacks the authority to represent the community and opposes incorporating the area. She said area homeowners association representatives should meet to discuss the idea of incorporating and determine a consensus. “Different neighborhoods have different priorities,” she said. “We don’t have the critical mass of people or taxes to fund a municipality out here.”

Support and next steps

Lifelong resident Max Brown said he supports incorporation efforts for Hudson Bend to avoid annexation by the city of Austin. “The majority of people would prefer to be the Village of Hudson Bend rather than the city of Austin,” he said. “A lot of people around here don’t want to succumb to the city’s code [of] laws. There is more free range out here.” Realtor and HBIC member Dianne Bartlett said the organization has not been at the level to petition the community yet. “First, we had to find out what to do [to incorporate] from the city of Austin before going to the community,” she said. Moore said HBIC will prepare a formal petition of resident signatures requesting Austin annex the area—a requirement that would start the incorporation proceedings. He said the group’s efforts to petition will begin when the weather is cooler and it has hosted more meetings. Collier said the community must present a petition to the city for annexation, giving Austin six months to decide if it will annex the area. If it does not agree to annex Hudson Bend within that time, then the area is free to start incorporation proceedings, she said. “We do not want to start collecting petition names and start the six-month clock now because it is too hot and we can continue to have more community outreach,” Moore said. “We surveyed the community at the formal meetings [we hosted] and [conducted] a personal survey of area businesses.” He said he sent out 1,219 postcards to Hudson Bend residents inviting them to his group’s informational meeting and informing them of HBIC’s incorporation goals. Later, he sent another 2,300 postcards, he said. “There are people advocating a survey, but we do not see the need for that,” Moore said. “The only true gauge [of people’s opinion on incorporating] is the legally mandated petition.” During the first week of September, representatives from two communities, including one outside of Hudson Bend’s census map, contacted the HBIC to find out more about the group to possibly incorporate within Hudson Bend, he said. “The main thing we want to know is if the residents as a whole are in favor of [incorporation],” Moore said. “We don’t know the area as well as our own. Maybe they do share our concerns, and maybe they don’t.” He said adding the new neighborhoods to the incorporation plan may present more problems because the HBIC would be incorporating a larger area than originally planned. “There is no actual indication that the [incorporation] opposition has any greater or less support than we do,” Moore said. “No one can actually truly know [who supports or opposes the idea] until it comes to the petition itself.”