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Austin council votes to not put citizen petition for CodeNext on November ballot

The Austin City Council voted Thursday to not put a citizen initiated petition on the November ballot.

AUSTIN — The Austin City Council voted Thursday to not put a citizen-initiated ordinance to require voter approval for any re-write of the city's land development code on the November ballot.

The land development code dictates what and where things can be built in Austin. The city is currently in the process of re-writing the entire code; it's called CodeNext.

Back in March, members of the Let Us Vote Austin Political Action Committee (PAC) turned in signatures from about 32,000 registered voters. Those residents want a new city ordinance in place which states before the city can adopt any rewrite of the land development code, including CodeNext, voters have to approve it.

The petition was found to be valid by the City clerk, leaving the council with two options: adopt the ordinance as it was written in the petition or let the voters decide if the city should adopt the new rule.

The council previously voted not to adopt the petition ordinance, so many thought they would have to put the issue on the ballot.

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Council Member Ora Houston sponsored a resolution to put the petition ordinance on the ballot, but Mayor Steve Adler offered a substitute motion to not put it on the ballot.

Mayor Adler and other council members believe the petition ordinance is invalid because in Texas, residents can't vote on specific zoning issues. State law says residents can only vote to initiate zoning or to get rid of zoning.

This idea drew strong criticism from some in the community.

"Failing to put something on the ballot, interfering with an election, is like dropping a nuclear bomb in the middle of our democratic processes," said Fred Lewis, treasurer of Let Us Vote Austin PAC. "The courts do not do it except in the rarest of circumstances."

In the end, council voted 6-to-4 to adopt Mayor Adler's substitute motion and not put the petition ordinance on the ballot. Council Members Alison Alter, Ora Houston, Leslie Pool and Kathie Tovo voted against the motion and Council Member Ellen Troxclair was absent from the meeting.

"The easy thing to do here would be just to put this on the ballot and then we could just walk away," Adler said before the vote. "But that wouldn't be right because it wouldn't be legal. For me it would be a denial of the oath of office that I took."

The mayor's motion notes the council is voting down adding the ordinance to the ballot before it is legally required to, giving the PAC or others time to sue the city over the issue before the election. It also states that if a judge rules voters should be able to weigh in, the council will add the ordinance to the November ballot.

The mayor said he added that last section in to send a message to residents that the council does hear them and respects their voice.

The council is set to hold public hearings on CodeNext May 29 and June 2.

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