County: Sunset Valley now reviews ETJ subdivisions

Anna Bowlin, Planning and Engineering Department program manager, told the court that HB 1445 requires the county to have interlocal agreements with municipalities so that both entities "could speak with one voice in regard to subdivision review."

"In the smaller jurisdictions where we don't have a lot of activity, that's when we would really contemplate ceding [the responsibility of subdivision review] to the jurisdiction," she said.

Under the agreement, Sunset Valley regulates subdivision plats and upholds 1-acre minimum lot sizes atop the Edwards Aquifer, among other criteria.

The county will continue to issue basic development permits and regulate septic systems.

Curling center background

Austin Curling Center is a proposed sports facility dedicated to the Winter Olympics sport of curling.

Various designs for the center, located off of Country White Lane and Brodie Lane in Sunset Valley's ETJ, have included three or four curling lanes, a restaurant and a bar.

In January, the Sunset Valley City Council denied a preliminary site plan application for the center. City leaders said the plan had insufficient on-site parking, a lack of a written agreement ensuring off-site parking and outstanding issues that would need to be resolved through variances.

Property in the ETJ is subject to city watershed, subdivision and sign regulations, but not zoning, building codes or parking regulations.

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Because Sunset Valley does not have an amended platting process, Dennis Dunn said he and Anita applied to Travis County.

"We have spent two months and $10,000 on this amended plat application," he said. "We feel that it would be an injustice to turn that [county] application over to Sunset Valley and make us restart this entire process."

He said the only reason they are opposed to turning everything over to Sunset Valley "is because we have had so many issues with Sunset Valley."

Sunset Valley City Administrator Clay Collins noted that the city does not have a simple process to replat two properties into one, and that the Dunns have submitted no application with the city to replat their property.

Dunn said that city staff had told him the process for subdivisions is "a long, tedious process"—a characterization Collins denied—and that the Dunns would have an easier time applying for variances.

When asked if the City of Sunset Valley opposed the land use, Collins said the city has not taken any specific action to oppose the land use.

"The focus has been on the watershed requirements, subdivision and sign code, the things that we can regulate in our ETJ," he said.