Austin City Council Rebukes Enviromentalists

"who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."
Romans 1:25

If you were still skeptical about the new council being light years better than the old one:

Following about three hours of public testimony – which included neighborhood association in-fighting, a choked-up speech, appearances from environmental activists and Q&As about a “traffic impact analysis” – the Austin City Council began debating Thursday’s marquee zoning item.

The question before the council was whether to more than double the limit of car trips allowed on a 32.8-acre piece of the old Garza Ranch that is in the heart of the Barton Springs recharge zone.

The Garza family had asked for 16,204 car trips a day, or 13,906 net trips if other factors are considered, such as cars that stop by the site at William Cannon Drive and MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) on the way to another place.

The vacant tract currently has a limit of 6,000 car trips a day. For Pennsylvania-based Brandywine Realty Trust, the potential buyer of the land, that’s not enough for the offices, multifamily housing and retail it hopes to construct on the site.

In one of its closest votes to date, the council approved 13,000 net trips on “first reading,” meaning the council will take up the issue again, and could conceivably change the number again, before there is a final vote.

 Read the whole thing here.