AUSTIN, Texas — Travis County District Judge Jessica Mangrum ruled the City of Austin violated a prior court order when the mayor and council members passed three ordinances without giving proper written notice.
The plaintiffs in the case sued the City in 2020 over its land development code rewrite. They won the lawsuit and the appeal.
In March 2023, the plaintiffs filed a motion to enforce permanent injunction to stop the new ordinances.
The plaintiffs also argued the City’s 2019 program “Affordability Unlocked” should also be stopped, but the judge ruled that ordinance is valid.
The court filing shows: “Ordinance Nos. 20220609-080 (Vertical Mixed Use II Ordinance); Ordinance No. 202221201-055 (Residential and Commercial Development Program); and Ordinance No. 20221201-056 (Compatibility Ordinance) are void ab initio for failure to give proper written notice to all property owners whose property is having any of its zoning regulations or boundaries changed, and the property owners within 200 feet of such property, at least ten days before the Planning Commission’s public hearing to change any zoning regulations or boundaries of their property or nearby properties, and for improper delegation of authority to Defendants’ staff to make final zoning changes, without further notice or City Council approval, and for failure to affirmatively inform property owners and surrounding property owners of their protest rights under Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code section 211.006(d).”
The ordinances were for certain developments designed for both residential and commercial use (Ordinance No. 20220609-080), residential units in commercial areas (Ordinance No. 202221201-055) and certain compatibility changes for developments along major transit corridors (Ordinance No. 20221201-056).
The court awarded attorney’s fees, costs and expenses to the plaintiffs.
“Plaintiffs expect to ask for attorneys’ fees of at least $150,000. These costs are a direct result of the city’s repeated refusal to abide by state law on zoning,” Doug Beker, attorney for the plaintiffs, wrote in a press release to KVUE News.
“We have received Judge Mangrum’s formal ruling. We are gratified that the judge did not issue sanctions, which were requested by the plaintiffs, as the city continues to make efforts to comply with all laws and judicial rulings related to the land development code changes. City management and city council will follow the judge’s ruling,” a City of Austin spokesperson wrote to KVUE.
The case may not be over.
Becker said they are now reviewing the recent passage of the HOME ordinance, writing it is “anti single-family.”
“Plaintiffs’ attorneys now are assessing the legality of the city’s rushed passage last Thursday of Council Member Pool’s anti-single-family zoning ordinance. Ms. Pool repeatedly proclaimed that her ordinance did not change the zoning on anyone’s property, which appears contrary to the court’s ruling. Nor did Ms. Pool and the council consider the 16,000 filed protests against her ordinance, as if protest rights and their constituents’ views were irrelevant,” Becker wrote in the press release.