Residents and organizers ask Austin commission to review rezoning at 1405 Rosewood over displacement concerns

Donna Hoffman, a property owner on Gregory Street, told the Austin Planning Commission that she and neighbors want a formal review of the zoning and conditional overlay for a lot at 1405 Rosewood.

"My name is Donna Hoffman. I'm the property owner at 1500 Gregory Street, in 78702," Hoffman said during the public-comment period, asking commissioners to direct staff to research the case and report back to the neighborhood. She described a history of displacement in the area and said documents she shared include a statement from a former African American Resource Commission chair about past segregation and urban removal.

Hoffman also raised a concern she described as a possible conflict of interest involving the recent sale and resale of the 1405 Rosewood site. In the transcript she said the parcel "was bought for 500 k from a, older African American aunt and uncle in 2021 and then immediately turned around and put on the market for 1000000 750 k." The transcript’s pricing text was unclear; the commission did not adjudicate the purchase history during the meeting.

Sol Prakis, speaking for Community Powered ATX, told commissioners the neighborhood has asked for planning-department support to clarify the site’s status and potential impacts. Prakis read a statement from Janelle Romeo, who identifies herself in the statement as a Black business owner and operator of Twin Isles restaurant: "To try to build a 5 story building here would be disheartening. Where would I go in a market like Austin?" Prakis asked the commission to request a review of the rezoning at 1405 Rosewood and to schedule a neighborhood-wide conversation.

No formal vote or action on the rezoning was taken at the meeting; speakers requested that staff and the commission follow up with research and community outreach. The public comments occurred during the meeting’s public-communication period; commissioners acknowledged the speakers and then proceeded to the consent agenda.

The transcript includes local place names mentioned by commenters (Gregory Street, Rosewood, Carver Library, Texas State Cemetery, and an establishment transcribed as "East Side Pied's Pizza"). The spelling of some business names and the purchase-price numbers appear in the transcript as spoken by commenters and were not clarified during the meeting.

The planning commission took no immediate regulatory action on 1405 Rosewood at this meeting. Commissioners did not record any formal direction to staff or issue a vote on the rezoning during the session; next steps, including whether staff will produce a report to the neighborhood, were not specified. The meeting was adjourned at 6:11 p.m.