AUSTIN, Texas – A group of community activists said on Thursday that they have enough signatures to force a citywide vote in November on the controversial rewrite of Austin's land development code, a process known as CodeNEXT.

The group included Austin attorney Fred Lewis, Austin Neighborhoods Council's Mary Ingle, Austin National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Nelson Linder, and People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources’ Susana Almanza and Daniel Llanes. Petition gatherers said they collected more than 32,000 signatures from Austin voters; city code requires signatures from 20,000 "qualified voters" to be validated.

"People have a right to have a say in the end," Lewis said. "Every single person in this city knows what is in their best interest regarding their neighborhood, their home, their property better than any city council member."

However, a city spokesperson said the effort could be for none.

"While City leadership respects the voices of those who have signed the petition, this has been an exhaustive process with unprecedented public involvement," a spokesperson said in a statement. "The City Charter and state law determine Council’s role in making amendments to the zoning code, and this petition may be inconsistent with those legal standards. Pursuant to State and City Code requirements, the City Clerk will immediately begin validating the signatures. Once the validation process is complete, and if the petition is determined to be valid, the City Council will take action in accordance with the legal requirements."

Austin Mayor Steve Adler expressed concern that a citywide vote could disenfranchise communities of color, which historically have lower voter turnout. Since 2014, Austin has been divided by 10 districts with roughly equal populations, each served by a single city council member, and one mayor serving at-large. The previous system had six council members and the mayor serving at-large.

"When we passed 10 to one as a community, the purpose to do that was to ensure that all parts of our city had an equal opportunity to impact policies and the direction of the city," Adler said. "We wanted to ensure that those districts in our city--those areas in our city, primarily areas with communities of color--actually had an equal voice, even if their voter turnout wasn't the same as other areas. That resulted in now a 10-1 Council that has more viewpoints being expressed on the dais."

The City Clerk now has 30 days to certify the petitions and send to the City Council to call an election. Petitioners threatened to sue the City of Austin if it fails to send the measure before voters.