AUSTIN (KXAN) — A major battle in the proxy-war between neighborhood preservation groups and the coalition of urbanists and developers comes to a head in the Dec. 11 City of Austin runoff elections. The outcome will decide what kind of housing will be built where in Austin.
The frontline in that battle is the District 3 city council race between siblings: incumbent “Pio” Renteria and challenger Susana Almanza. Volunteers for the two hit the phones and pavement Monday afternoon.
“I’m making sure every single eligible voter is contacted and that we get them to the polls,” said Daniel Llanes, a volunteer for the Almanza campaign.
Voter turnout for December runoffs can only be described as abysmal, so each vote carries more weight. So far in early voting, only 20,000 people have cast a ballot across Austin, a startling rate of 2.71% of eligible voters.
“Tomorrow is D-day. It’s V-day. Vote for “Pio” day,” says Cynthia Valadez, volunteering for the Renteria campaign.
Both sides want more affordable housing but the debate is whether the city should change neighborhood character to allow more units to be built in the existing space.
The neighborhood vs. density fight divides Austin city council between people friendly to neighborhood preservation groups and those who side with developers and urbanists.
By the numbers, urbanists had a slight advantage in city council last year with many votes going 7 to 5 or 7 to 6.
The stakes were raised when neighborhood-friendly member Ora Houston chose not to run again. Depending on the outcome of the election, people who want a much denser city could have a mandate for major changes.
That’s why Daniel Llanes says the Renteria-Almanza race is so important.
Pointing at single-family houses in South Austin, Llanes told KXAN in an interview, “Councilmember Renteria would turn all this into apartments: two and three story apartments. Susana Almanza, on the other hand, is trying to preserve what’s left.”
An earlier attempt to revamp the land development code in favor of more density — known as CodeNext — fell short. The next council will take up the second attempt next year and Cynthia Valadez believes Renteria’s policies will allow more people to live in the same amount of space, saving them from displacement.
“It’s huge! When you have people moving out of the city, moving out of the county, moving to the eastern crescent, which has a great lack of resources,” Valadez said.
When Ora Houston decided not to run, pro-density groups were happy to see Natasha Harper-Madison and Mariana Salazar come out of the general election for Austin’s Eastside District 1. In earlier interviews, both candidates told KXAN they believe the city land code should encourage a denser code.
In District 8, covering southwest Austin, Councilwoman Ellen Troxclair also decided not to run. Frank Ward and Paige Ellis emerged from the general election. Ward wants very little change to the current look and code. Ellis supports more density around the major corridors but not so much in the neighborhoods to protect the fragile aquifers in the area.
