On Oct. 24 when Sunset Valley City Council
approved three requests from Brodie Barn owners Dennis and Anita Dunn allowing them to move forward with opening their bar, it seemed a seven-year conflict over the property at 6218 Brodie Lane had finally been put to rest.
Nearly two weeks have passed since the meeting, and although City Administrator Clay Collins says he has been in contact with the Dunns' attorney, the conditions upon which those requests were approved by City Council have not been fulfilled, Collins said. Anita Dunn moved forward with opening the bar Oct. 27.
"[Mayor] Rose Cardona Hargrave said at the last meeting [Oct. 24] that if I get the bond in I could be open
on Friday [Oct. 27]," Anita Dunn said. "That's what I did."
Questions surrounding the clay liner used in the development's water-quality pond came to the forefront of the Oct. 24 meeting. In absence of approval from a third-party geotechnical engineer on the pond's ability to hold water or an approved Water Pollution Abatement Plan from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, council members agreed the Dunns could provide a surety bond as insurance for the pond.
Anita Dunn maintains that the bond has been secured, and paperwork has been sent to her attorney.
"It's a bit late for me now to close my doors," she said. "I've hired people to work for me, and I have made commitments to a number of musicians for upcoming events, starting this evening," Anita said in an email Nov. 2.
Two restrictive covenants, which put in writing the owners' commitment to utilize a rock barrier around the parking area, as well as maintenance of a fence and access driveway, have also not been completed, Collins said.
"It is the responsibility of the applicant to sign, notarize and bring [the restrictive covenants] to the city," he said. "There appears to be no disagreement on the language, but until somebody signs and says they are on board, it's not a done deal."
Anita Dunn said she assumed this was complete when she agreed to the restrictive covenants sent to her by her attorney.
Collins said that although progress has been made, the Dunns should have refrained from opening until the conditions were met in full.
"It seems unreasonable to me [the Dunns] would be unclear that they needed to complete the items [prior to opening]," Collins said. "But that has been the pattern with this project."
COLLINS REBUFFS DUNNS' CLAIMS
The narrative of events told by Anita Dunn reinforces allegations that the city of Sunset Valley has intentionally thwarted her and her husband's plans to develop the property at 6218 Brodie Lane since 2010. However, Collins claims much of that narrative strays from the truth.
One of the first events to trigger a landslide of issues between Sunset Valley and the Dunns involves a master plan passed by Sunset Valley in 2011, the year the Dunns purchased the Brodie Lane property for a USA Olympic curling facility.
The plan stated that in the event the city were to annex the property, currently located in its extraterritorial jurisdiction, it would be zoned single-family residential.
According to Collins, the Dunns knew about the master plan prior to purchasing the property—a claim Anita Dunn denies. Still, the decision to move forward with the purchase of the property may have been a bad investment at most, Collins said. Without annexation, the city does not have the ability to prevent a commercial use on the property. Therefore, statements made by the Dunns claiming the master plan was the reason behind the denial of their preliminary site plan are a red herring, Collins said.
The real issue with the preliminary site plan, Collins said, were violations to the city's watershed regulations. Only two parking spots were included in the Dunns application, which council doubted would be enough to support an Olympic curling facility.
"It didn't seem to be a workable plan, so we were not going to grant [watershed] variances to move it forward," Collins said. "Council didn't want to allow a project to move forward only to find out there would be a huge problem on Country White Lane or Brodie."
THE LAWSUIT
In 2014, after the Dunns put on hold plans for the curling facility and instead opted for a food truck park and bar, a lawsuit was filed by Sunset Valley. The city once again claimed failure to comply with watershed regulations.
"The food trucks themselves were not really the issue," Collins said. "The parking situation that was created that had dozens of vehicles parking on unapproved surfaces with no drainage, no site plan and no water-quality controls, that's why we filed a lawsuit."
Anita Dunn maintains she was following Travis County laws. She and her husband filed a counter-lawsuit claiming government corruption and conspiracy.
Now, Collins said the Dunns opening the bar without first completing the surety bond and restrictive covenants could result in an addition to the lawsuit.
"This is not something we are anxious to do," he said. "The goal has been to bring the property into compliance and not to have punitive legal actions, but the city's job is to enforce the regulations."
Shutting down the bar is a tactic Collins said he would prefer to avoid, especially due to the Dunns' history of vocal condemnation of the city. There is an end in sight, Collins said, so long as the Dunns complete the requirements put forth by City Council.
"If the restrictive covenant and the bond are provided in the form that is acceptable to the city attorney and then a final inspection is conducted on the property, that is really what is needed," he said. "I don't think it is an exhaustive list."
