While the city of Austin’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the headlines, surrounding counties are also working to keep their communities safe. Alongside the news of its first presumptive coronavirus case, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra issued a state of disaster in conjunction with the city of San Marcos on March 15. Then, […]
Bastrop
Bastrop is a city and the county seat of Bastrop County. It’s located about 30 miles southeast of Austin
Posted inLand Development Code
Bastrop’s land use revisions aim to cater to new development, while maintaining ‘authenticity’
Bastrop residents and city staff got their first look at ideas to help mitigate the city’s flooding problems at the Transportation and Drainage Rodeo on Tuesday. The community event was part of the process to update land use regulations after concerns that ramped-up development is impacting the drainage system in the growing city of almost […]
Posted inDevelopment
Citing flooding concerns, Bastrop temporarily stops new development
Development in Bastrop has been temporarily put on hold. The Bastrop City Council voted unanimously last week to put a 90-day moratorium on development permits. The city wants to use this time to update its land development rules to try to prevent flooding, an effort it’s calling Building Bastrop. The council also approved an emergency […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Animal protection
Pine Forest still driving up Bastrop’s legal bills… During the past year, the city of Bastrop has paid an additional $106,308 to the lawyer representing the city and Bastrop County in their continuing legal battle with the Pine Forest Investment Group, according to Tracy Waldron, Bastrop’s chief financial officer. Last September, the Austin Monitor reported […]
Posted inLocal Government
Bastrop’s lawyer claims Aleshire in contempt
David Bragg, the attorney for the city of Bastrop, has threatened to seek a contempt of court ruling against Austin attorney Bill Aleshire because of Aleshire’s representation of a Bastrop resident in a lawsuit accusing the city of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act. Aleshire filed suit against Bastrop City Council this week on behalf […]
Posted inLocal Government
Bastrop resident claims open meetings breach
After years of litigation and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent on attorneys fees, the case involving the Pine Forest development in Bastrop County took a startling turn this week. Paul Burt, a Pine Forest homeowner, filed suit against the city of Bastrop alleging that its City Council violated the Texas Open Meetings Act […]
Posted inLocal Government
Attorney trying to settle Pine Forest suit
Bastrop’s City Council has budgeted just $220,000 for legal fees for the next fiscal year, starting in October, a small sum compared to the $1 million plus it has spent under the administration of former City Manager Mike Talbot and longtime outside attorney Jo-Christy Brown. One of the biggest drains on the city’s coffers has […]
Posted inLocal Government
Bastrop’s Pine Forest legal fees still rising
The city of Bastrop has paid nearly $652,000 to the attorney representing the city, Bastrop County and the Bastrop Independent School District to wrangle with Robert Leffingwell, the other owners of the Pine Forest Investment Group LLC and the homeowners association at Pine Forest. City records show that attorney William Charles Bundren of Frisco started […]
Posted inLocal Government
Bastrop’s attorney quits, Pine Forest case on hold
Seeing the proverbial handwriting on the wall, Bastrop’s longtime attorney, Jo-Christy Brown, resigned, effective immediately, at Tuesday night’s Bastrop City Council meeting. Brown’s tenure has been controversial since at least last December, when the public began to complain about the outsized legal fees the city was paying. City records indicate that Brown personally received more […]
Posted inLocal Government
Bastrop hoping to deal with legal fee problem
When they meet Tuesday night, Bastrop City Council members are scheduled to discuss and perhaps take action on the employment of their regular outside counsel, Austin attorney Jo-Christy Brown, as well as the ordinance governing the city’s relationship with its lawyers. Council has wrangled with Brown and with former City Manager Mike Talbot, who resigned, […]
Posted inLocal Government
New affidavits filed in Bastrop case
Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape and two members of a Bastrop property owners group who went to court over control of their association have signed affidavits disputing the veracity of another affidavit, which was signed by a citizen who swore that he witnessed them talking behind a locked glass door to Judge Carson Campbell just […]
Posted inLocal Government
Recall petition launched against Bastrop mayor
A political action committee run by a longtime Austin-area activist is launching a petition to recall Bastrop Mayor Ken Kesselus. The petition, which was released by the Linda Curtis-led Independent Texans PAC, takes Kesselus to task for a number of instances of political maneuvering, some of which it alleges were illegal and all of which […]