Say No to Central Texas Airport

For those seeing this image for the first time . . .

The orange rectangle indicates the area of the original ACZ. The purple shaded rectangle is an approximation of the latest iteration of the plan.

I was working on recreating this map tonight and noticed that the portion that is marked as Travis County is not accurate. It looks like a different part of Bastrop county was spliced onto this map. I’m assuming that Carpenter & Associates did this. This portion of Travis county is much more populated.

I believe the map, an ‘official’ one, was purchased from Bastrop County. It seems to be pretty out of date. Some areas of development are even missing from the Bastrop portion!

PS. You can buy one for $5 in the Judge’s office. So no conspiracy here. Just bureaucratic ineptitude.

What does airport compatibility zone mean??? There is no definition here and I have looked elsewhere. I am VERY close to this monstrosity they are calling the “Central Texas Airport” and am scared to death. I own my home and do not want to sell. I have lived here for 20 years and have worked hard to make my little place a sanctuary from the city. Now I can lose my home, my peace, my life as I now know it???? What happened to our slice of heaven???

Did you ever find out what airport compatibility zone meant? I’m in the orange rectangle, and scared, too. Thanks for any info! ~ Deanna

@Jan Hanley

First let’s look at a definition of what “zoning” means from a governmental standpoint. Zoning refers to a “police power” available to states by the U.S. Constitution and delegated by state enabling legislation to local governments for the regulation of development activities for the PROTECTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND GENERAL WELFARE OF THE CITIZENRY.

It would sound like that is something that should protect you, the citizen, right? Well, apparently the Bastrop County Commissioners and Judge Ronnie McDonald didn’t get the memo.

For practical purposes and in short, once you are officially in the ACZ you must fall within the definitions of compatible land use for an airport. This Police Power gives the local government a right to to ensure that those who live within the zone the right to impose restrictions on your land and thus have the power to limit you to only those activities and uses that are compatible with airport operations. For you the property owner, what it means is you now have a whole new set of restrictions for your property use that you did not have BEFORE you became part of the official ACZ. In thesis, once you fall into the ACZ you’ve just lost a lot of rights that prior to the ACZ you probably took for granted. But they were rights nonetheless and as a tax paying property owner one would think that your local government would at least take your opinion into consideration, ESPECIALLY since you are in essence the community they represent. However in this case there isn’t a person in Bastrop County that I have heard from that has actually been consulted about this development. I could go on and on, and there are many other things to worry about such as the developer being granted a Municipal Utility district which would allow them at that point to have powers of imminent domain which would theoretically give them the right to up and seize your property if they see fit.

But that doesn’t mean all this has to happen. Tell everyone you know, neighbors, friends, come to the meetings, get involved and force the county officials to give you a say in what happens in your community. Without the power of the people, Bastrop County just plans to give your community and the taxes you’ve paid to a bunch of corporate speculators who have no concern with the best interest of the community, but like so many other wolf’s in sheep’s clothing (we’re gonna brings Jobs!), they are just looking out for their bottom line and a way to make a quick buck, at all of our expense.