What's happening
Highland Village Church of Christ sold its property on the west side of Bull Creek Rd, between Perry Ln and W 49th St. The deed to Westminster Manor Inc, the retirement community at 4100 Jackson Ave a few blocks south, was recorded June 2, 2026. The church is meeting at Austin International School for now.
Westminster's engineers, Kimley-Horn, filed a site plan with the City to demolish both church buildings. A first application in May lapsed; the current one (SP-2026-0245D, filed July 29) passed intake and is in full review. In late September a crew ran a drill rig and a ground-penetrating-radar cart across the lot, which is the soil and subsurface work an owner does before design starts.
No rezoning has been filed. We don't know how tall the building would be, how many units, or where the driveway would go. This page exists so that when that filing shows up, the block isn't starting from zero.
Why a rezoning is likely
The lot is zoned SF-2, which allows one house per lot and little else. Westminster's current campus is five-story buildings with underground parking. Anything close to that needs the City to rezone the lot, and rezoning is a vote of the full City Council. That vote is where neighbors get a formal say.
How this plays out
- Now: demolition review and site workThe demolition site plan is in City review. Borings, radar, survey and environmental work are happening on the lot. None of this needs a public hearing.
- Outreach before filingDevelopers usually talk to neighbors before they file, because changes are cheap before the drawings are done. If Westminster reaches out, this is when we can move the design the most.
- Rezoning application filed (not yet)It gets a case number like C14-2026-XXXX. Everyone who owns property within 500 ft gets a letter. From this point the petition described below is available to us.
- Staff reviewCity planners write up the case and check any petition math.
- Planning Commission hearingPublic comment, then a recommendation to Council. The petition doesn't affect this vote, but what's said here goes in the record.
- City Council hearingsUsually two or three readings. The petition deadline is noon on the day of the hearing. With a valid petition, approval takes 9 of 11 votes instead of 6.
- Site plan and permitsTechnical review. We can comment, but the big decisions are already made by then.
Being realistic: a senior-living project on this lot is probably going to happen in some form. Westminster is a nonprofit with long ties to the City, and Austin has been loosening the rules that used to let neighbors block things. What's still very much in play is the shape of it: how tall, how far from our fences, where the loading dock and generators sit, which street the traffic uses, construction hours, which trees stay. Those get written into the zoning as binding conditions if we push for them at the right time. A flat "no" campaign tends to lose and spends the goodwill we'd need to get any of that.
The petition
State law gives owners near a rezoning a specific tool. If the owners of at least 20% of the land within 200 feet of the lot sign a written protest, City Council can only approve the rezoning with nine of eleven votes instead of a simple majority. The City calls this a valid petition.
It's measured in land, not people
Your weight is the amount of your lot that sits inside the 200-foot band, as a share of all the private land in that band. Streets don't count. Lots that share a fence with the church count for the most, roughly 3 to 5 percent each.
It doesn't take many of us
Using the City's own parcel data, 46 lots have some land in the band. The five biggest shares add up to just over 20%. Any six of the top ten gets there. We want a comfortable margin, 30% or better, so one disputed lot at the edge can't undo it.
It's leverage, not a veto
Under a valid petition, three council members voting no is enough to stop a project, and the rest of Council generally follows the district member on neighborhood zoning. Developers know this, which is why a petition tends to produce a negotiation before it ever produces a vote.
It only works against a rezoning
If Westminster can build what it wants under the current zoning, there's no Council vote and the petition doesn't apply. It also doesn't count at Planning Commission, only at Council.
Who carries the most weight
These numbers come from the City of Austin parcel layer, buffered 200 feet in the same coordinate system the City uses. City staff will do the official calculation from recorded plats when the time comes, so expect small differences. The full list is on the map.
| # | Address | Share | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2805 Winston Ct | 5.3% | 5.3% |
| 2 | 4715 Bull Creek Rd | 4.4% | 9.7% |
| 3 | 2801 Winston Ct | 3.8% | 13.5% |
| 4 | 4703 Placid Pl | 3.8% | 17.2% |
| 5 | 4702 Bull Creek Rd | 3.7% | 20.9% |
| 6 | 4801 Placid Pl | 3.7% | 24.6% |
| 7 | 4706 Placid Pl | 3.2% | 27.8% |
| 8 | 2803 Winston Ct | 3.1% | 31.0% |
| 9 | 4809 Placid Pl | 3.0% | 34.0% |
| 10 | 4717 Bull Creek Rd | 3.0% | 37.0% |
| 11 | 4803 Placid Pl | 2.9% | 39.9% |
| 12 | 4807 Placid Pl | 2.9% | 42.8% |
How the petition actually gets filed
- The City has a one-page form. Download the Zoning Petition PDF from the Planning Department's zoning FAQ. It asks for the case number, the address, a protest statement, and a table of signatures with printed name, address, date, and phone.
- Only the owner on the deed can sign. Not a tenant, and not a spouse who isn't on title. If the house is held by an LLC or a trust, an officer or trustee signs, and it helps to attach a page showing they can.
- We can't file until there's a case number. Until then we're collecting yeses, not signatures.
- The form's protest statement has a blank for the current zoning. Look the lot up on the City's Property Profile tool and copy it exactly.
- File it with the case manager named on the City's mailed notice. Email a scan and drop off the original. Keep copies. The legal deadline is noon on the day of the Council hearing, but filing before the Planning Commission hearing is better: staff runs the numbers early and everyone negotiates knowing it's valid.
- Ask the case manager for their calculation sheet and compare it to ours.
There's an 1859 house on the lot
The smaller stone building along Bull Creek Rd is the McGary-Thiele House, 4712 Bull Creek Rd. City staff described it in 1979 as built around 1859, with 18-inch rock walls, 18-foot ceilings, four fireplaces, and a 40-foot dogtrot hall, and called it the only structure in northwest Austin with that kind of architectural and historical significance. James McGary, a rancher, built it. The church later used it as a fellowship hall and classrooms. The listing that sold the property calls it the 3,600 sq ft annex.
In 1979 the City of Austin itself nominated the house for historic zoning (case C14h-79-003). The Historic Landmark Commission adopted findings of fact, and on May 1, 1979 the Planning Commission voted 5 to 1 to recommend historic zoning to City Council. The church's trustee spoke against it and asked that any designation wait until the building had been moved off the site. The parcel carries no historic overlay today, so Council either didn't adopt the recommendation or it was later undone. The Texas Historical Commission photographed the house for its statewide survey that same month.
The site plan Westminster's engineers filed in July proposes "demolition of two existing buildings." The house is one of the two.
The City's Historic Preservation Office reviews demolition of any building more than 45 years old and can refer a potentially significant one to the Historic Landmark Commission. On September 30 we asked the office whether that review has happened on this case and, if not, to refer the house. We'll post what we hear.
Sources: Planning Commission minutes, May 1, 1979, pages 11 to 12 (City of Austin EDIMS); THC survey photograph, May 1979 (Portal to Texas History); Travis County Historical Commission on Bull Creek Rd.
Documents
Everything here is a public record. If you find something we've missed, send it through the contact form.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1979-05-01 | Planning Commission recommends historic zoning for the McGary-Thiele House (C14h-79-003), 5-1-1 | Minutes (EDIMS) |
| 1979-05 | Texas Historical Commission survey photograph of the house | Portal to Texas History |
| 2026-05-06 | Demolition site plan SP-2026-0144D.CC, "demolition of two existing buildings" (expired) | Austin Build + Connect |
| 2026-06-02 | Special warranty deed, Highland Village Church of Christ to Westminster Manor Inc (instrument 2026065640) | Travis CAD, parcel 850325 |
| 2026-07-29 | Demolition site plan SP-2026-0245D.CC, same scope, in City review | Austin Build + Connect |
| Current | Zoning: SF-2, no overlays (search the address) | City Property Profile |
| Reference | City of Austin zoning petition form (PDF, English and Spanish) | Planning Dept zoning FAQ |
| Reference | Historic Preservation Office: how demolition review works | austintexas.gov |
The map
Real lot lines from City GIS, the 200-foot petition band, the 500-foot notice zone, and each lot's share. Click a lot to see its numbers and a link to the owner of record at the appraisal district.
Open the map on its own page. Nothing you click on the map is recorded anywhere; the signer list is kept privately by the organizers.
Help out
If you're within 200 feet
You're the ones who make the petition work. Check the map, confirm the name on your deed, and tell us you'll sign when the case is filed.
If you're within 500 feet
You'll get the City's letter in the mail. Send us a photo of it the day it arrives so nobody misses the case number, and plan to speak or write in when the hearings come.
Everyone else nearby
Join the WhatsApp group, put your name on the list below, and once there's a case number, write to the District 10 council office.
Please don't
Don't argue with the crews on the lot, don't post neighbors' names online, and don't tell Westminster the group has agreed to anything. Quiet and organized beats loud.
Put me on the list
Goes to the organizers only. Not shared publicly.
Questions people keep asking
Can we stop the demolition?
No. Demolishing the church buildings is a site-plan matter reviewed by City staff, not a Council vote, and the petition doesn't apply to it. Save the energy for the rezoning.
Can we stop the project?
Probably not outright. A nonprofit senior community is a sympathetic project and the City wants housing of every kind. What we can do is change what gets built: height, setbacks, buffers, traffic, construction hours, and conditions written into the zoning. The petition makes those much more likely.
What if they don't need a rezoning?
They will. The lot is zoned SF-2, which the City's own zoning map confirms. SF-2 allows single-family houses and not much else, so any senior-living building needs a rezoning and a Council vote. If a project ever did fit the current zoning, there'd be no petition and we'd be down to site-plan comments and code compliance.
Where do the percentages come from?
The City of Austin publishes the county's parcel outlines. We drew a 200-foot band around the church lot and measured how much of each neighboring lot falls inside it, leaving out the streets. City staff will do the official version from recorded plats, so ours may be off by a little at the edges.
I rent. Does any of this apply to me?
You can't sign the petition, but you can speak at the hearings, write to Council, and help organize. Let your landlord know about the petition; a lot of owners never hear about it.
Who decides?
City Council votes. On neighborhood zoning cases they mostly follow the district's council member. Planning Commission makes a recommendation first, and Planning Department staff review the case and check the petition. Westminster decides what to ask for in the first place, which is why talking to them early matters.
Is this the neighborhood association?
No. It's a handful of neighbors near the site. If enough people want to, we can register with the City's Community Registry so the group gets official notices and can speak as a group at hearings.
Contact
Corrections, tips (survey crew on the lot, a letter in the mail, a conversation with Westminster), or anything you'd rather say privately.
Who to write, and what for
- Historic Preservation Office, preservation@austintexas.gov. Reviews demolition of buildings over 45 years old and refers significant ones to the Historic Landmark Commission. Ask them to review the 1859 house on SP-2026-0245D.
- Development Services, zoning and site plans, DSDZoningSitePlan@austintexas.gov. Ask to be added as an interested party for any application on 4716 Bull Creek Rd so you get notices.
- Council District 10 office, contact page. Our council member's staff. A short, specific note from a constituent gets read; a request for an HPO briefing from this office gets answered fast.
- Historic Landmark Commission, agendas and how to speak. Meets monthly. If the house is referred, this is where neighbors show up.
- Preservation Austin, preservationaustin.org. Nonprofit that advocates for buildings like this one at the HLC.
- Look things up yourself: City Property Profile (zoning for any address), Austin Build + Connect (permits and cases by address), Travis Central Appraisal District (owner of record and deed history).