Bee Cave residents sue city over proposed roadway

Citizens for the Preservation of the Brown Property, a nonprofit organization operating in Bee Cave, is gearing up for a court battle over the city’s action designating a 4-acre area near Little Barton Creek as a future roadway.

The area is part of the 44-acre Brown Property, which the city purchased in 2017. Residents say they were assured that the property would be preserved in a manner similar to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

In their suit, the citizens group alleges that the city of Bee Cave failed to follow the requirements of Chapter 26 of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code, which requires a published notice and a hearing. The code also states that projects should “include all reasonable planning to minimize harm to the land as a park recreation area, wildlife refuge, or historic site.”

The plaintiffs also claim that the city refused to comply with the Texas Public Information Act over a period of several months and missed the deadline to appeal to the Texas attorney general’s office.

The city has denied all allegations in the lawsuit.

Bobby Levinski of the Save Our Springs Alliance is representing the plaintiffs. He said the group submitted a public information request on Jan. 12, 2023, “and the City refused to process it until March 1, 2023, the day after the City Council voted to approve the new roadway. That’s not a coincidence.”

One member of the citizens group, Tracy Guttes, recently stated, “we were shocked by the Council’s change of course. They made a commitment to all of us to preserve the Brown Property in its wildlife. We hope this suit shows the Council that we intend to hold them to their commitment.”

Mary Smith and Walter Stewart are members of the preservation group. They are especially concerned about the proposed roadway because their property is adjacent to the Brown Property.

Stewart said, “The city told us they were going to make the Brown Property into a nature preserve. Because we share a long boundary with that property, we were thrilled about that, since that’s what we’re doing with our own property.” The couple said they have invested many thousands of dollars in their own property to restore the natural ecosystem, removing invasive species, and planting Hill Country plants.

The city hired Ecosystem Design Group, which stated in a site assessment, “roads influence stormwater behavior and water quality, act as a vector for invasive species, and increase noise and light levels, thus impacting wildlife behavior and visitor experience.” However, in November 2022, City Council voted to approve an 80-foot-wide road through the northern border of the Brown Property to provide a bypass from Hamilton Pool Road to the planned Village at Spanish Oaks.

City Council passed a resolution in July which states, “even though the City Council did not intend, and does not believe that it formally designated the Brown Property for a limited use as only a park or only a recreational use, such limited use is inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan and with the current needs of the city, and citizens.”

In the resolution, Council seems to imply that it provided sufficient notice about the city’s intent without specifically mentioning the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code. City spokeswoman Jenny Hoff told the Austin Monitor via email, “The hearing was noticed per the requirements of Chapter 26th and it was held on July 25th.”

It’s bird migration season in Central Texas, and Stewart is thinking about how a roadway might impact birds making their way south. Stewart and Smith are concerned that the disturbance of building a new road along their property line will mean fewer birds and other native species and more invasive plants, which they have worked so hard to eradicate.

Stewart said they often host chimney swifts, which swoop through the air above their Bee Cave home. They’ve built a swift tower specifically for the small birds, most of whom have already migrated to South America for the winter.

Stewart told the Austin Monitor on Wednesday, “We had 35 return last night … with a peak of 213 one night about a month ago.” Chimney swifts forage for insects in the sky before clinging to chimneys and holes in old trees. They had hoped that the Brown Property would host another swift tower, but that question will go unanswered for a while.

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