That is, until you do something like pass the Save our Springs Ordinance. That kind of real-life regulation of land use, which at the time made Austin look like the sideshow freak of Texas cities, now makes us look prophetic. And the legislative response is becoming more sophisticated. But cities do things that make people mad. They require or withhold permits and approvals.
Land use is where city authority is at risk, and our growth is going to make that more apparent.
Now whether we do that piecemeal, one bill here and another there, or comprehensively, remains to be seen. While Texas cities have broad home-rule authority over land use, Texas counties have almost none, because they don't have the power to enact local ordinances. Which means that counties have to let basically anybody build basically anything basically anywhere. So every session the alarum is raised that counties need ordinance authority, and every session bills to that effect are carried, and every session they go nowhere, even when they have substantial support from both sides of the aisle. I'm not optimistic about their chances of passage, and I think we need to be realistic about how we address that issue.