Court signs order overturning three zoning ordinances

On Monday, Travis County District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum released her official ruling in Acuña v. City of Austin, finding that City Council violated prior court orders and state law when it approved three major zoning ordinances in 2022. The court also found that one ordinance challenged by plaintiffs is still valid because of a state law preventing challenges of municipal ordinances after three years.

All of the ordinances were designed to allow more residential units in areas not previously considered appropriate for housing. But Council will have to start over in enacting the Vertical Mixed Use Ordinance as well as the Residential in Commercial Development program and the Compatibility Ordinance, all of which were approved in 2022. The remaining ordinance, Affordability Unlocked, was approved in 2019 and remains in effect.

Although the attorney for the plaintiffs, Doug Becker, had suggested the judge would penalize the city for violating the previous ruling, Monday’s order makes no reference to penalties – a victory for the city. However, Becker is still seeking $150,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs. The judge will consider that request at a future hearing.

According to a press release from Becker, “Plaintiffs’ attorneys now are assessing the legality of the city’s rushed passage last Thursday of Council Member (Leslie) Pool’s anti-single-family zoning ordinance.” Although property owners filed 16,000 protests against the ordinance, those protests were insufficient to overcome the 9-2 vote in favor of the Home Options for Middle-Income Empowerment (HOME) initiative. Pool points out that not only did the city send written notice to every property owner, but Council and the Planning Commission each held separate hearings as well as a joint hearing on the ordinance.

In 2024, Pool and her colleagues on Council plan to move ahead with an additional set of changes to the Land Development Code to make it easier to develop more housing. Community Not Commodity, the group that put together the lawsuit, is seeking more funding with an eye toward challenging the city on these new regulations.

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