The Unforeseen: A Film about a Rural Development Clash

By Lucia Stewart, 5-26-08

“Growth itself is not the enemy, it is the nature of that growth and the quality within it.”

It’s a story of development, citizen campaign and the future of open space. Sound familiar?

The film, The Unforeseen, is a complex story about the development of the rural land outside of Austin, Texas, but has themes that ring true in the Northern Rockies.

In the height of the boom of Austin in the 1980’s, developers were beginning to look beyond the city limits to the rural, agricultural lands for 4,000+ acre planned developments and suburbs.

When one of the developments, Barton Springs — also the name of the community-coveted swimming hole— went in front of the of City Commission for its Planned Unit Development (PUD), the public turned out in mass in protest of a development that would pollute and possible degrade the “spiritual” swimming hole and the water of Austin. The evening hearing lasted until 7am the next morning, closing with a denial.

Fierce battles over developments happen every month in communities across the West, but I have never seen a film that displays a story, history or legal battlegrounds such as The Unforeseen. A recommendation for anyone who deals with development, or has a passion about your community’s rural landscape.

The community of Austin then petitioned a ballot initiative, and passed the Save our Springs ordinance, that would never allow a development to threaten Barton Springs or Austin’s water supply again.

Shortly thereafter, developers hired a lobbyist, which assisted in Texas Legislation passing a law that stated: all developments with Preliminary Plat approval were exempt from all subsequent laws after the date of approval.

The argument: developers should know their playing field prior getting into the game, and the rules of the game should not be allowed to change mid-game.

Consequently, it opened the doors to hundreds of developments that had been halted due to new ordinances and laws, including Barton Springs.

The movie continued to discuss Austin’s development sprawl, interlaced with images of the polluted Barton Springs swimming hole and the rural, agricultural land now backed-up to cookie-cutter development.

This film is a recommendation to all who are a part of a community that cares about the future of their rural landscape.