Two Austin environmental organizations and several of their members filed suit against the city and City Council on Sept. 18, challenging public financing arrangements approved for the Dog’s Head development. Save Our Springs and PODER, or People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources, allege in a Travis County District Court petition that the city’s development agreement and tax increment reinvestment zone amount to an unconstitutional gift of more than $1 billion to Endeavor Real Estate Group, the project’s private developer. The allegations have not been resolved in court. The groups say the agreement and financing zone were approved after a rushed review that bypassed typical board and commission consideration. They also contend city leaders kept the project’s purpose under wraps while it was called “Project Toaster.” The project was identified in July as a 300-acre Amazon Robotics manufacturing campus, the groups said, two days before City Council finalized the tax increment zone. The lawsuit argues that state law permits public support for a development only under a limited exception when the project would not happen without that assistance. Plaintiffs’ attorney Bobby Levinski said the exception does not apply in this case. The petition says Endeavor had spent seven years assembling and planning the larger Dog’s Head development and that construction had begun on about 11% of the site before the city approved the zone, without public incentives. Levinski also argues the agreement transfers city regulatory authority over the zone to Endeavor for 45 years, raising questions about whether a private developer should exercise powers that belong to public officials. A city spokesperson said Austin had not yet been served with the suit and would review it and respond through the court process once it receives the filing. Endeavor managing principal Andy Pastor has described the project as including six miles of trails and a major employment center. He has said the plan would restore previously disturbed land, protect the Colorado River corridor and expand public access to the river. The dispute follows a similar case involving Austin and Endeavor over a 118-acre tax increment reinvestment zone along Lady Bird Lake. Save Our Springs was also a plaintiff in that case, which Travis County District Court ruled against the city and developer in 2024.