Lee Edwards stared at his computer with a growing sense of fear.

An email from a friend said the Austin City Council seemed poised to annex 2,600 acres nearby for a mixed-use development known as Dog’s Head. Endeavor Real Estate Group, the company behind the project, apparently had big plans for the property.

Part of the plan appeared to widen Hergotz Road to accommodate a trail. The road on the map seemed to run through Edwards’ living room.

What the –- he thought.

It was 10 a.m., May 19. The City Council was set to vote in two days.

Over the next 57 hours, neighbors —– worried about the annexation’s speed, scope and lack of public discourse — would mobilize to protest the plan. Council members, seeing the development as a boon to Austin’s tax base, would annex the land and strike a development agreement anyway.

A large development case can take months — or years — to wind its way through boards and commissions meetings at City Hall before a council vote. Once there, it can languish even longer.

But because annexations and development agreements like Dog’s Head must meet different regulations than, for example, zoning changes, they can move with a speed rarely clocked at a municipal level. The difference raises questions about what is lost and what is gained when speed, not transparency, is the priority.

What happened in those 57 hours is not just a story of new development versus nervous neighbors. It’s about growth politics in a cash-strapped city chasing business in the midst of a budget crisis and a community facing a project that seemed to crash down on them out of nowhere.

Tuesday, May 19

Lisa Levins was in her parents house in El Paso when her husband, Garrett Tung, entered the kitchen looking deeply concerned.

“The City is going to take our house,” Tung said.

It was fear talking. Their house also appeared in the path of Endeavor’s proposed trail.

The City had no plans to take his house and Endeavor couldn’t take it even if they wanted to. But Tung was alarmed by the emails Edwards had sent him.

Neighbors knew Dog’s Head — a piece of property located just north of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, along the Colorado River and between U.S. 183 and Texas State Highway 130 — would eventually be developed. They just didn’t know when or how.

Endeavor has been working for years to put together a mixed-use project that could bring housing, business and industry to the property, which currently consists of wide open spaces that feel more rural than urban, despite its location. Because it was a voluntary, full-purpose annexation, state law did not require the city to tell the Dog’s Head neighbors what was coming.

The city had to post notice of the upcoming hearing on the city’s website. They say they did that on May 6.

They had to notify Del Valle ISD, Travis County and several emergency services districts. They say they did that on May 8.

They had to publish a notice in the Austin American-Statesman. They say they did that on May 11.

It wasn’t until the 19th that neighbors saw the proposed development agreement, which laid out some details of how Endeavor could build out the land.

But the 37-page document made little sense to neighbors. It released Dog’s Head from height restrictions on buildings; imposed no city design standards; and seemed to allow the developer to bypass the typical requirements to appear before city commissions for many variances.

The documents also allowed Endeavor to use the land for almost anything, including manufacturing, schools, restaurants, marinas and railroad, recycling and aviation facilities.

A city spokesperson said the Planning Commission will hold public meetings in September before voting on a regulating plan, which will map out how development will look moving forward. The City Council is slated to vote on that plan in October after public input.

While Hergotz Lane neighbors tried to absorb the news, the council sat in a work session at City Hall talking about Dog’s Head. It was the first time the public had a chance to weigh in on the massive project.

The city needed a project like this, Assistant City Manager Eric Johnson said. State caps on property taxes and the loss of federal relief funding had strained city finances. The city needs to help mitigate that by annexing unincorporated land that can be developed and generate city taxes, Johnson said.

With the right development and tenants, he said, Dog’s Head could generate $3.5 billion for the city over the next 30 years.

“It’s a rare, and I use the word rare, structural, fiscal lifeline and a strategic macro-economic development tool,” Johnson said.

Endeavor and its attorney, Richard Suttle, did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

The city and Endeavor formally started working on the development agreement and annexation process in February 2026, according to the Planning Department. Some council members were more involved in those discussions than others.

Council Member Krista Laine, who represents Northwest Austin, said she met with Endeavor several times in April to discuss the project. Mayor Kirk Watson and Council Member Vanessa Fuentes also had conversations with Endeavor.

West Austin Council Member Marc Duchen told the Current that council offices were provided full details of the potential annexation “about a week before the vote, after the city’s legal department and other staffers had worked through its initial details.”

Endeavor wanted to move fast because it has a Fortune 100 company eager to commit to the Dog’s Head location, Laine said. The developers wanted to ensure they would have access to city services, including water and wastewater, she said.

On the city’s side of things, annexation would allow more control over the development and how it moves forward. Travis County has limited control over development and, without annexation, the city would have none.

Laine said she liked “the idea of being able to get a large-scale, mixed-use development that has the type of walkability, bikeability, and a really long trail along the Colorado River. These are things that the residents and workers of Austin actively want.”

By the end of the work session, the council seemed aligned on approving the 45-year development agreement and annexation and playfully bantered over which council members would claim voters in the annexed land.

“I just wanted to make sure we get it on record that the whole project comes into District 3, right?” joked District 3 Council Member José Velásquez, who represents East Austin. “That’s what we’ve settled on.”

That night, Edwards and his wife knocked on doors and made flyers urging people to attend a meeting at their house the next day.

Levins and Tung drove 10 hours home from El Paso to get there.

Wednesday, May 20

At 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, nine neighbors squeezed into Edwards’ small living room, bewildered, angry and focused.

They like their quiet life along the Colorado River. It’s where Levins watches the same vultures stand on her porch day after day; where hawks nest and have babies in Kim Vasquez’s sycamore tree year after year; where Edwards rebuilt his stairs to the Colorado River during COVID.

Vasquez took comfort in being with her neighbors.

“We’re all going through the same thing,” she said. “We’re all worried and scared, so there’s the bonding of our neighbors who are going through it together.”

They strategized what they would say at the council meeting. Vasquez barely slept that night.

Thursday, May 21

Despite the short notice, dozens of residents and environmental activists, including the neighbors who had gathered the night before, showed up at City Hall and pushed the council to reconsider the project. They raised questions about transparency, the environment and the need for community input.

Council members and city staffers said Dog’s Head would still be subject to city development laws, plus zoning, environmental and water quality rules to be determined through a separate planning process. Suttle, Endeavor’s attorney, assured them the maps in the plan were conceptual. No existing homeowner land would be impacted, he said.

The company waiting in the wings for Dog’s Head is not a data center, Suttle added. It’s advanced manufacturing. The company will not ask for financial incentives as long as the city jump-starts the process.

“Your staff has been unbelievable,” Suttle told the council. “We’ve put this very detailed plan together, and we’re able to go fast.”

The city is setting up a tax increment reinvestment zone, a financing tool that would allow Dog’s Head to use property taxes to build the project.

The city required Endeavor to provide affordable housing and open space. The company has said it will provide 266 acres of open space.

Mayor Pro Tem José “Chito” Vela, who represents Northeast Austin, lauded plans for the expanded trail, the open space and proposed stormwater management system.

“These are all huge benefits that we don’t get if we don’t come to an agreement with the property owners,” he said. “I think the benefits far outweigh any costs and I’m in full support of this project.”

The council voted to annex the 2,600 acres.

For the first time in 57 hours, the Dog’s Head neighbors weren’t surprised.