Ordinance History
Austin’s reputation as an environmentally conscious city has been on a steady rise for some time now. With the adoption of the new Energy Efficiency Ordinance that passed on November 10, 2008, Austin is on its way to becoming the green city with a violet crown.
This ordinance, which takes effect on June 1, 2009, applies to most residential, multi-family and commercial properties that go up for sale on the Austin real estate market. In a nut shell it requires homeowners to conduct energy audits on their homes before they are listed and disclose the results to potential buyers.
The adoption of the Energy Efficiency Ordinance comes at the heels of a long debate that has raged at City Hall for some time now. In its first incarnation the ordinance was going to mandate energy efficient upgrades at the point of sale of properties. Besides costing homeowners millions of dollars, this mandate would have had an adverse effect on the already suffering housing market. Then Austin Board of Realtors (ABOR), Austin’s largest trade association, decided to try to stem the tide by starting a campaign with the slogan, “Don’t Mandate. Motivate.”
Initially City officials were for the mandate. Environmental activists, global warming folks, and especially builders who would have gained the most financially with mandated upgrades, were excited to be municipal innovators on the green front. However, homeowner rights weren’t taken into consideration with the proposal.
Once ABOR got involved and contested the integrity of such a mandate, the debate was ratcheted up. An editorial in the Austin American-Statesman printed: “Though improving energy efficiency is a laudable goal, making the changes mandatory at sale would have hurt those prospective homeowners who could least afford it – first-time buyers, low-income families and those on fixed incomes.”
After months of back and forth at long, arduous meetings, a consensus was met. The City and those opposed to the mandate found a reasonable and doable middle ground-increasing consumer awareness through mandatory energy audits at the point of sale.
Upon the adoption of the Energy Efficiency Ordinance, Austin Mayor Will Wynn offered this statement : “We believe this program will result in dramatic energy savings at our electric utility and in household budgets. Most of the time people will do what’s in their economic self-interest – and when they see the math, the savings from basic efficiency upgrades will be too obvious to ignore.”
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