We have some great news to report in our years-long campaign against Hays Commons, a proposed subdivision that Milestone Community Builders wants to construct over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. Last week, the Austin Planning Commission declined to consider a proposal to let Milestone build its development with two-thirds more impervious cover than the Save Our Springs Ordinance allows in the Recharge Zone. The additional roofs, streets, and parking lots would have created more runoff pollution that would have harmed the Edwards Aquifer, which supplies water for hundreds of nearby residential wells.
SBCA and our partners at Save Our Springs Alliance, Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, and Hays Residents for Land & Water Protection have worked together since 2022 to limit the damage from Milestone’s proposed subdivision. The company has been taking advantage of SB 2038 — a new law that lets property owners withdraw from a city’s ETJ (extra-territorial jurisdiction) — to demand big concessions from the City of Hays and from Austin.
The SOS Amendment limits impervious cover in new developments in the Recharge Zone to 15%, but Milestone demanded that Austin amend the ordinance to let it build to 25%. In exchange, the company agreed that it would follow some of the city’s other environmental regulations. The amendment was withdrawn from the Planning Commission’s upcoming meeting agenda by its sponsors, vice-chair Awais Azhar and commissioner Felicity Maxwell. SBCA thanks them for their action. We also want to thank Austin City Council Member Paige Ellis for her firm opposition to the unprecedented impervious cover concession.
Milestone has also been seeking a second concession from Austin — a Service Extension Request (SER) to bring the city’s water and wastewater pipelines to Hays Commons. At this time it’s unknown whether the company will continue to pursue the SER with Austin.
