Reclaimed water issue stops PUD from getting final approval

With only six members of City Council voting Thursday in favor of changing plans for the West Parcel of the Hyatt Planned Unit Development at Riverside Drive and South First Street, the developer will have to come back for a third vote. The change won approval on first reading last month, and Mayor Kirk Watson seemed confident that it would win final approval on Thursday as he read off the list of cases they were considering. But there were not seven votes in favor.

The developer is seeking elimination of the PUD’s parking requirement but made no further requests. Although they have agreed to use collected rainwater and air conditioner condensate for irrigation, they have not agreed to a request from Austin Water that they hook up to the city’s reclaimed water line.

Earlier Thursday, Council members approved an ordinance eliminating parking requirements in most instances throughout the city. So it might have seemed easy to gain approval for eliminating parking on a slab that could instead be used for housing. However, Austin Water requested that the new development be required to use reclaimed water for nonpotable water needs.

Because the developer refuses to hook up to the city’s reclaimed water line, Council members Ryan Alter and Alison Alter voted no, and Council Member Leslie Pool abstained. Council Member Mackenzie Kelly was off the dais and Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison was absent.

Council Members Zo Qadri and José Chito Vela offered strong support for the requested zoning change.

Council Member Vanessa Fuentes supported the item after pulling it for questions. She said she would be supporting the item but “wanted to flag that these were concerns that came from Austin Water.”  After learning that the item had only six votes and would be coming back for third reading, she said, “I really hope that applicant and the developer consider their stance on the issue”

Council approved an ordinance more than two years ago requiring all large commercial and multifamily developments to use either rainwater and air conditioning condensate or reclaimed water for nonpotable needs and it is currently set to take effect on Dec. 1. Austin Water Assistant Director Kevin Critendon told Council that although the policy is scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1, the department would be seeking a 90-day delay.

Erik Luna, a spokesman for Austin Water, emailed the following statement to the Austin Monitor on Monday: “Austin Water is recommending a slight delay in order to allow more time for consideration of the ordinance changes, establish exemptions to the requirements for certain affordable housing projects, and establish new code changes to clarify the required uses for Onsite Water Resource Systems (OWRS) and Reclaimed Water Connections. Austin Water recommends that the implementation of the reclaimed water connection requirement for developments with a multifamily component and the OWRS requirement go in effect on April 1, 2024.”

Leah Bojo, who represents the Hyatt, told Council that she was aware of two new PUDs that had agreed to use the centralized reclaimed water system. However, she pointed out that the Statesman PUD and the Snoopy PUD were gaining “huge amounts of new entitlements. And what’s happening with this amendment is this is an older PUD and the only requested amendment is to remove parking minimums. We are not receiving new entitlements as part of it.”

Fuentes asked whether Hyatt would be seeking new entitlements in the future. Bojo said no. She pointed out that the parking lot is the last of the property to be redeveloped.

Pool led Critendon through a series of questions designed to show how much water would be saved if the PUD would connect to the centralized reclamation system. The bottom line was that if the applicant were attached to the system, it would save about 1.9 million gallons of potable water.

She concluded, “I think this is an opportunity lost on this particular project. … This will be a requirement of Water Forward in the coming months.” Developers have promised to reuse rainwater on the site, but Pool said that would provide only a fraction of what could be saved by attaching to the system. “As we move forward as a city, we need to decide where our priorities lie and how best to achieve them. Allowing projects to opt out in the future won’t help us reach the goals.”

Qadri said, “I’m in support of the amendment and it’s exciting to see the first PUD request to eliminate parking mandates. And it’s especially fitting that it’s on this day as we celebrate eliminating parking mandates citywide. Austin’s come a long way, and I know some of my colleagues have their reservations about this item, but it’s clear to me that this project fulfills the definition of going above and beyond our existing regulations as the applicant has worked with staff to meet the site portion of the pending Water Forward requirements. Parking reduction in itself is an environmental benefit.”

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here. This story has been changed since publication to clarify Council Member Fuentes’ stance on the zoning change.

Posted In: Zoning, District 9