The Sunset Valley City Council this week set the amount of impervious cover--hard surfaces such as parking lots that don't allow rain to soak into the ground--to 18% of a property in most cases. The change becomes effective March 3. The city's current development code allows 40% to 50% impervious cover for commercial developments. As much as 70% had been allowed in previous versions.

Those earlier versions helped Sunset Valley, which has about 400 residents, build a retail realm including two major shopping centers filled with national and local stores. National retailers include Home Depot, Circuit City, Barnes & Noble, Petco and PetsMart. The city's sales tax revenue increased from $8,022 in 1990 to $3.6 million in 2002.

With the impervious cover change, the development regulations of Sunset Valley, which covers about one square mile, are more in line with the City of Austin's SOS ordinance. That limits impervious cover to 15%.

Sunset Valley took the action to protect water quality, says Jayme Foley, assistant city manager. "Looking at the protection of water quality in this area, we see the vast majority of Sunset Valley is over the contributing zone for the Barton Springs aquifer," she tells GlobeSt.com. "It's one of those situations in which everyone has to pitch in and do their part."

Foley says the city imposed a development moratorium in November 2002. No new projects have been filed since then. "That doesn't mean that there weren't possibly some speculative projects going on," she says. Projects that were filed with the city before the moratorium, such as a Holiday Inn Express at US Highway 290 near Brodie Lane, can be developed under the 40% to 50% impervious cover rules.

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Austin Suburb Tightens Development Rules

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