Michael Kleinman, owner of AusPro Enterprises and Planet K, railed against Bee Cave as he took down the eagle mural Tuesday afternoon at the former Trading Post building on Texas 71.

Kleinman said AusPro was removing the painting of an eagle clutching a banner reading “In Pursuit of Happiness” because its placement was delaying its building permit application.
The city defined murals as signs and ruled AusPro’s mural panels violated its sign ordinances.
AusPro reported that it submitted five building permit applications to Bee Cave — the first of which was six months ago — that the city denied or that were pending.
“There’s no pursuing happiness in the City of Bee Cave, at least as far as fine art goes,” Kleinman said as he unbolted the mural section during a press conference.
The company has stated it intends to lease the property to Planet K, an adult novelty store.
“Regardless of whom we eventually rent to — AusPro has the right to maintain and restore our historic property,” he said.
AusPro’s request failed for Bee Cave City Council members to designate the mural as fine art at their Nov. 22 meeting and exempt it from the city’s sign ordinances that define murals as signs and prohibit murals from facing public streets.
“We will plead no contest to our sign infraction and probably pay a fine, all in the hope we can move on and get the simple building permit that we’ve been trying to get for over six months,” he said.
AusPro filed a speculative retail permit application Tuesday, and Planet K hopes to open the location before Christmas, Kleinman said.
Bee Cave City Administrator Frank Salvato said the city appreciated the panel’s removal but asked AusPro to take down the remaining panels.
“The city would appreciate the removal of all signs that have been erected on the property owned by AusPro Enterprises in violation of the city’s ordinances,” Salvato said in a prepared statement. “Due to currently pending litigation related to these matters, the City of Bee Cave cannot comment further.”