Posting Language
Title
Conduct a public hearing and consider an ordinance renaming Plantation Road to Tommie Lee Wyatt Lane and waiving certain sections of City Code Chapter 14-5 (Street Name Change). Funding: $1,592 is available in the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Operating Budget of Austin Transportation and Public Works.
De
Lead Department
Austin Transportation and Public Works
Fiscal Note
Funding in the amount of $1,592 for the fabrication and installation of the necessary signs is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Transportation and Public Works.
Prior Council Action:
June 5, 2025 - Resolution No. 20250605-085 directing the City Manager to begin the process to rename Plantation Road was approved on an 11-0 vote.
October 10, 2017 - Resolution No. 20171005-031 condemning the display of monuments and memorials of the Confederacy was approved on a 10-1 vote with Council Member Troxclair voting nay.
For More Information:
Richard Mendoza, Director, 512-974-2488; Amica Bose Assistant Director, 512-974-6447; Amir Emamian, Division Manager; 512-974-9319; Gilda Powers, Quality Consultant, 512-974-7092.
Additional Backup Information:
The street name change was initiated by Council Resolution No. 20250605-085 directing initiation of the street name change process for Plantation Road citing previous Resolution No. 20171005-031 and subsequent response memo from Equity Office that designates the renaming of Plantation Road a high priority on a list of assets slated for initial review.
Plantation Road dates from the 1970s and runs through a part of Austin that was once a freedmen settlement known as Kincheonville. Originally settled in the years after the Civil War by the formerly enslaved Thomas and Mary Kincheon, Kincheonville was a farming community of about 300 acres and home to Black, Hispanic, and Anglo residents.
Community engagement was conducted by the offices of City Council Districts 5 and 8 to identify the proposed name. The proposed new name for the street recognizes Tommie Lee Wyatt, a founder and the longtime publisher of The Villager, a newspaper dedicated to reporting on and telling the stories of "African Americans of all ages and occupations, in and out of the Austin area."
Concur review forms were sent to the following City Departments to make them aware of the potential street name: Austin Fire Department, Austin Police Department, Austin Transportation and Public Works, Austin Technology Services, and Emergency Medical Services. No objections were received. The cost estimate for fabrication and installation of the necessary signs is $1,592 and will be absorbed by the Operating Budget of Austin Transportation and Public Works.