Austin business leaders gathered in the heart of downtown Thursday morning to urge a "yes" vote on a referendum question Nov.

Friday, October 27, 2000

Austin business leaders gathered in the heart of downtown Thursday morning to urge a "yes" vote on a referendum question Nov. 7.

At stake is the annexation of 55 acres of land west of the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. Vote yes, and the proposed development of housing on the land can proceed through the legal hoops. Vote no, and the annexation that was made official with the passage of ordinance No. 450 will be repealed, with no future annexation of the property to be considered for at least two years.

On Thursday morning the board members of the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce stood 19-strong behind executive director Sandy Forstner to declare their general support for the annexation approved by the Austin City Council earlier this year. The Chamber’s is the first organized public effort to encourage a "yes" vote on the referendum.

"The Chamber supports the city of Austin’s efforts to encourage the private development of additional affordable housing options through the annexation of land," the last paragraph of the Chamber’s formal resolution read. "It is the Chamber’s belief that the City of Austin should continue to consider all options, including annexation, to further the private development of affordable housing in the Austin area."

Forstner was careful to stress that the Chamber was supporting a general principle, and that the resolution Thursday could likely be applied to future situations.

"We are not endorsing a particular plan or developer," the executive director said. "We’re saying the city is within its rights annexing the land and that through the platting and zoning process we have confidence that our city fathers will do what is right."

The Chamber’s resolution supporting the annexation was the logical position for business to take, Forstner said, because of the housing shortage in Austin, which has affected the ability of businesses here to attract and retain employees.

Although the larger Chamber membership didn’t vote on the resolution to support the annexation, board members and Forstner were confident the majority would have voted the same way.

"If you asked any one of our members if the annexation of land and the creation of housing would benefit them on a business level, I believe they would say a wholehearted ‘yes’," Forstner said. "On a personal level, there may be members that disagree with this particular annexation."

KAUS radio news director Dan Conradt asked if the Chamber board had considered the argument from the citizen-driven group urging a "no" vote on the referendum, that a housing development across the street from the nature center would have an adverse affect on the habitat and passive recreation area.

Forstner said yes, they had, and reiterated the fact that several steps remain between annexation and development of the land, and that they trusted the city council and staff not to allow something that would be harmful to the nature center.

In response to a question of exactly who the $100,000 and up homes would be "affordable" for, Chamber board member Craig Byram explained the trickle up theory, made popular in Austin by the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

"By building those houses, it would make it possible for people living in older housing with lower market value to step up – thereby opening their [previous] homes for possible first-time homebuyers," Byram said.

The resolution itself came about, Byram explained in response to an earlier question at the press conference, because a leadership group – composed of the mayor, school superintendent and other "leading players" in the community – had worried that no organization or group was taking a stand in favor of the annexation.

"Many times you get a very vocal group of citizens on an issue, and the rest of the community doesn’t pay a lot of attention because it’s not a geographical concern to them," he said. "The leaders in this group commented that there didn’t seem to be anyone taking a stand for the annexation. It’s clear that Austin would benefit from more housing – one benefit would be that we could attract more employees to fill the vacancies in businesses here."