Austin, Texas

Here's a few facts about where I was born and raised, Austin, Texas.

Area: 297.9 sq miles (771.6 km²)

 Founded: December 27, 1839

 

Weather: 61°F (16°C), Wind SE at 10 mph (16 km/h), 93% Humidity

 

Local time: Wednesday 11:11 PM

 

Population: 820,611 (2011)

 

Austin is a town that I will always love. It's one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, and constantly ranked on top 10 places to live in the United States. The city itself has grown outwards, in all directions, and I have seen in grow extremely quickly to the West. Westlake, where I grew up and where my parents still live, was easily considered out of the city when we moved to Texas in 1990. Now, being 15 minutes from downtown is considered quite close-in.

Economics of the town are quite diverse, and the city is seen as fairly "recession-proof", but clearly it was still affected by the 2008 crisis. The main industry that drives economic growth would have to be the tech industry, with Dell's headquarters located in Austin and many other large tech companies having a significant presence. Another major driver would have to be the University of Texas, as much as we may hate it.

Here's a few pictures of my hometown: 

The first of which is of Hula Hut, one of my all time favorite restaurants ever.

Boonville Project and Oil Spill

The two gentlemen who gave a guest lecture on Jan. 28, 2013 were Mike Gentry and Dr. Harrison came to class on January 28, 2013. Mr. Gentry is currently a lawyer, and the one overseeing the legal issues for Dr. Harrison, the owner of the land in what was formerly Boonville.


The land that Dr. Harrison owns was inherited through his family, who won it in an early 1900's poker game. Part of the land is being developed into a hotel, which had a somewhat small oil spill underneath that had to be totally cleaned up. That took quite a while and a decent investment in order to clean it completely and have it ready to be sold for development.


Something else that I found to be quite interesting was when Dr. Harrison spoke of the tax laws regarding his property. I wasn't aware that you were allowed to have "ranch land" classifications with minimal amounts of cattle, costing pennies on the dollar to what the real tax would be for developing land. I was also surprised that when converted back to a zoned area, you'd have to pay back taxes on the land for a number of years, amounting to huge sums of money in order to prepare it for sale.

Private restrictions on Real Estate are restrictions typically created by land developers themselves. They can be both positive and negative in regards to their nature and intent. Some examples of private restrictions include common easements, fees and restrictive covenants.

Private restrictions are the restrictions formed by two or more private parties through covenants, restrictions, and conditions contained within the tools of conveyance or in specific planned community rules.

Here is what I found to be a good example of some private restriction easements in the news, an Enhanced Easement Incentive -

https://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/tax-matters/campaigns/the-enhanced-easement-incentive





public restrictions are those which are imposed by a governmental authority, which has the appropriate jurisdiction, in the form of zoning. The are usually in place in order to keep a safe a healthy community. For example, some buildings or billboards may not be allowed over a certain height in any given area.

An example in the news would have to be this Conservation easement conundrums within the High Country News - http://www.hcn.org/issues/367/17604/print_view.

As well as this one in Washington on easements in a township.


http://newjerseyhills.com/observer-tribune/news/washington-township-residents-miffed-over-easement-violations/article_77db6ee4-c98f-11e0-841a-001cc4c002e0.html