PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY

If passed, the council’s draft ordinance will weaken longstanding compatibility standards on roadways and rail corridors throughout Austin, allowing the construction of taller buildings closer to existing homes. This ordinance also proposes to weaken our community’s parking standards, which require developers to provide adequate parking, helping ease congestion on neighborhood streets.

Promoting incompatible development harms nearby neighbors and destabilizes neighborhoods. Reducing compatibility protections and parking regulations creates an economic incentive to redevelop corridor properties. This redevelopment can lead to the displacement of neighborhood-serving small businesses.

Providing housing on corridors benefits the community when an appropriate balance is struck between the size of the corridor structures and the adjoining neighborhood. The compatibility standards were designed to provide that balance. Compatible uses build strong communities.

The right to protest zoning changes is a longstanding property right enshrined in the Texas Local Government Code. It is intended to protect property owners from unwanted, arbitrary rezonings by city governments, and to ensure that controversial zoning changes have the overwhelming support of local governing bodies before adoption. In March 2022, the 14th Court of Appeals ruled in favor of local property owners in City of Austin v. Acuña, upholding their right to file protests.

Yes. Residents who wish to protect their properties from the City of Austin’s attempt to reduce compatibility standards and parking requirements must file new protests no later than November 30, 2022.

According to Texas law, local officials cannot make zoning changes to any property that is the subject of a valid rezoning protest unless they have the support of a supermajority of the local governing body. In other words, a valid protest indicates the need for greater support for the proposed changes. When you and the owners of at least 20 percent of the area within 200 feet of a property slated for rezoning file protests, the Austin City Council cannot reduce the compatibility and parking regulations governing that property without a working consensus (nine of 11 votes). You can do your part to preserve compatibility by filing this rezoning protest. Filing this protest also protects against changes to your own property’s zoning regulations.

No. The court’s ruling protects only those property owners who file timely and valid rezoning protests. In the absence of a valid protest the City Council can pass this ordinance and reduce compatibility and parking standards with the vote of a council simple majority (six of 11 votes).

The deadline for filing rezoning protests is November 30, 2022.

Yes. In March 2020, Travis County District Judge Jan Soifer upheld the right to file a rezoning protest online, and electronic filings like the one made possible on this website have not been contested by the City of Austin. According to Section 322.007 of the Texas Business and Commerce Act, “[i]f a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law” and “[i]f a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.” Click here if you prefer to file your rezoning protest by mail.

Yes. Simply download and print a Standard Rezoning Protest Form (available in both PDF and Microsoft Word), fill it out, sign it, and then mail it to the City of Austin, Planning and Zoning, PO Box 1088, Austin, TX 78767 as soon as possible. Your property address and signature are required.

Not necessarily. If an individual who owns 20 percent or more of a property files a rezoning protest, that protest should be considered valid for the entire property.

Yes, you may use this website to file rezoning protests for multiple properties. After you have filed your first rezoning protest, simply refresh the screen and repeat the process for additional properties. If you prefer to file by mail, simply download and print multiple copies of our Standard Rezoning Protest Form (available in both PDF and Microsoft Word), fill them out, and then mail them to the City of Austin, Planning and Zoning, PO Box 1088, Austin, TX 78767 as soon as possible. Your property addresses and signature are required.

Yes. You and/or your neighbors may protest the rezoning of any property being rezoned within 200 feet of each person’s property. Begin by downloading and printing a Multi-Party Rezoning Protest Form (available in both PDF and Microsoft Word). Fill in the requested information, and then have as many neighbors as possible do so as well. Property owners who work together in this fashion are more likely to the 20 percent needed to constitute a valid petition. After you are finished collecting signatures, mail the form to the City of Austin, Planning and Zoning, PO Box 1088, Austin, TX 78767 as soon as possible but, in any event, in time to be received prior to November 30, 2022. Property addresses and signatures are required.