Practice Areas-
Entitlement

Our entitlement practice entails representation of real property owners and developers seeking governmental approvals for all types of real estate development projects, including master planned communities, complex planned unit developments, transit oriented developments, vertical mixed-use projects, regional and local shopping centers, major employer campus sites, apartment complexes, condominiums, office, and industrial parks. We have obtained approvals for projects located in suburban, urban and redevelopment infill areas.

Our partners, associates and land use planners offer extensive experience with the development processes and regulations of Austin and San Antonio and many other Central Texas municipalities and counties. In those processes, we interact with governmental technical and legal staff. We also confer with and appear in public hearings before elected or appointed city councils, county commissioners’ courts, zoning and planning commissions, and environmental boards. We have relationships with regional and local environmental interest groups, neighborhood associations and other special interest advocacy groups, and we have a record of successfully working with those groups throughout the development process.

We have pursued and obtained municipal approvals for, among other things, annexation, zoning, Chapter 245 grandfathering claims, development agreements, amendments to neighborhood plans and master plans, subdivision plats, site development plans, variances, and utility extensions. Furthermore, we have worked with state and federal agencies, including TxDOT, the TCEQ, CAMPO, and the General Land Office, among others, to obtain advanced funding agreements and curb cut approvals on state highways, wastewater package treatment plant approvals, amendments to the metropolitan planning organization transportation plan, and beachfront construction certificates.

We participate in regional and local planning efforts, such as Envision Central Texas, development of retail design standards, creation of new land use definitions and zoning districts to accommodate new technology, businesses and planning practices, and amendments to municipal code regulations.

The following examples reflect the breadth of our entitlement practice:

(a) a 1,300-acre mixed-use project over the Edward’s Aquifer Recharge Zone that required Chapter 245 grandfathering claims, municipal zoning and development agreement approvals with related environmental elements, open space dedication, mitigation land, infrastructure reimbursement, and neighborhood and stakeholder buy-in;

(b) a 750-acre industrial site that required zoning and subdivision platting approval to convert the site to a mixed use project with accessibility to the airport and future rail lines;

(c) a 300-acre regional outdoor lifestyle shopping center with a mixed use element and redevelopment of an outdated industrial park that required zoning, subdivision platting, site planning and related environmental variance approvals with land use compatibility issues with adjacent industrial development, tree transplanting plan, transactional and city permitting issues associated with construction of a mixed use project, and an advanced funding agreement with TxDOT to construct an additional lane on a frontage road.

We also offer experienced advice on development planning, expediting the development permit process, infrastructure reimbursement, right-of-way condemnation, Chapter 380 agreements for tax reimbursements, land use and zoning recommendations, and evaluating existing entitlements and entitlements required to construct a proposed development.