In 1931, the City of Austin enacted a local ordinance limiting the height of new buildings to a maximum of, aiming to preserve the visual preeminence of the Texas State Capitol. From that time until the early 1960s, only the University of TexasMain Building Tower was built higher than the limit, using an exception allowing for additional height with a greater setback. On November 10, 1962, the Austin Statesman announced that real-estate developers were planning a new high-rise residential building adjacent to the capitol called the Westgate Tower. The proposed design for the tower significantly exceeded the city's height limit. The prospect of so tall a structure so close to the capitol attracted significant opposition as plans proceeded. In January 1963, Texas Governor Price Daniel voiced his opposition to the proposed tower in his final address to the Texas Legislature. Resistance continued as construction progressed, with State Representative Henry Grover of Houston introducing a bill to condemn the property in February 1965, which was defeated in March in the Texas House of Representatives by only two votes. The Westgate was eventually completed in 1966, but the controversy over the preservation of the capitol's visual presence that dogged its construction continued to grow. The Westgate was followed by even taller structures: first the Dobie Center, and then a series of ever larger downtown bank towers, culminating in the One American Center. In early 1983, inspired by the Westgate and these other structures, State Senator Lloyd Doggett and State Representative Gerald Hill advanced Senate Bill 176, "Relating to preservation of the view of the State Capitol from certain points and prohibition of certain construction." This bill proposed a list of protected "Capitol View Corridors" along which construction would not be permitted, so as to protect the capitol's visibility from a series of points around Austin. The bill passed through the Texas Senate and House of Representatives in the spring of 1983, ultimately being signed into law on May 3, 1983 and coming into effect immediately. It was later recodified in 2001 by House Bill 2812, which established the current version of the statute in the Texas Government Code Chapter 3151, entitled "Preservation of View of State Capitol." This code defines the thirty state-protected viewing corridors and prohibits any construction that would intersect one of them. The City of Austin has adopted similar rules under the Austin Code of Ordinances Chapter 25-2 Appendix A, entitled "Boundaries of the Capitol View Corridors," so that the majority of the corridors are also protected under municipal zoning code, as well as under state law.
Amendments and additions
The state legislation defining the corridors was amended in 2001 and 2003 to accommodate a series of public development projects, and again in 2013 to clarify the relationship between the state and city codes. In 2007, the Austin City Council asked the Downtown Commission to review the existing corridors and propose updates or modifications. The commission's final report, delivered on June 27, 2007, recommended that eleven of the thirty corridors be reconsidered or modified. Six of the recommended changes were to correct technical errors in the statute or to bring the city and state laws into agreement, and two were to update the laws to reflect portions of the corridors that were already obstructed. The other four recommendations were more controversial, attracting opposition from the city's Parks and Recreation Board, the Heritage Society of Austin, and others; no changes were ultimately made. In February 2017, the Austin City Council considered a proposal from Council Member Ora Houston to designate additional protected viewing corridors in east Austin. The proposal was provisionally approved by council on February 16, after an amendment removed one of the five proposed new corridors; that corridor was later restored to the proposal on March 2., city staff are reviewing the proposed additional corridors for feasibility.
Impact on development
Since their creation, the Capital View Corridors have frequently been the focus of conflict among various groups in Austin and in the Texas government. On one hand, cultural conservation and historic preservation organizations have generally supported the restrictions, arguing that the capitol views form an important part of Austin's cultural heritage and are threatened by the city's growth and land development. On the other hand, both private and public entities looking to build in Austin have expressed concern about the corridors' impact on investment, on property tax receipts, and on the supply of jobs and housing.
Corridors
A Capitol View Corridor is a quadrilateral that links a line segment somewhere in Greater Austin to the base of the capitol dome. No structure is permitted to be built that would intersect the viewing corridor and thus obstruct the protected view of the capitol., state law defines thirty Capitol View Corridors in Austin, while municipal code defines twenty-six protected corridors, twenty-one of which are identical to state-defined corridors and five of which differ slightly from five of the state corridors. The shortest runs for to Waterloo Park, and the longest runs to a scenic overlook in West Lake Hills.
