[Komeht]

Again, I appreciate your perspective and, in my opinion, Catellus would never make a mistake by listening to those such as yourself advocating for Mueller to be more urban.

Just a few points:

1. wrt the form of Berkman: The elements (building fronted by a door not a garage, short or no setbacks, sidewalk, tree, bike lane, on-street parking, traffic lane) don't differ from what I've read or seen from streets advocated by new urbanists. You can find those elements (well maybe not the bike lane) in streets in traditional neighborhoods and town centers like Georgetown, Charleston, and throughout DC. It is very pedestrian friendly compared to a typical suburban roads (single story house fronted by garage, large yard, berms, swales, sometimes a side walk but often not, fixed hazardous objects (trees) removed, no on-street parking or bike lane, wide traffic lanes divided just in case to make happy cars).

I think two things you and I would probably agree on is that the building height could be even higher than the 2 stories on Berkman to better create a sense of place and that we would both have preferred a mix of uses to attract interest. Correct? I think it would have been better to locate shop houses or VMU for the entire stretch of Berkman rather than in just a few sections. But the design of the street itself is good.

2. wrt HEB: Perhaps Catellus should have held out - I myself would have preferred a Trader Joes on ground floor of a vmu type development. But that's a big ask from Catellus who's also trying to move lots.

3. The HEB is located in close proximity to the denser sections of Mueller. Just to the south is Section 6 - which is mostly townhomes, shop homes and very narrow lot sf homes - all those are <5minute walk. Just north of Section 6 will be Section 7 - those look like dense sf type development and maybe a 1-2 minute walk to the HEB. Just to the south on Simond are the 4/6 unit Mueller homes - those are approximately 5 minute walk. Across the town center (which will have the most interesting street life and walk) are Mosaic and Mosaic 2 apartment buildings - those should be a 5 minute walk once Philomena is connected. Next to the town center will be the new Amli apartments (I think these are VMU) - that will be a 5 minute walk. Immediately across Berkman another apartment was announced - that will be a 1 minute walk and likely. Those are just the existing or announced MF units. The plans look like much of the other areas in the 5 minute walk distance to be MF or dense SF.

Much of the rest of Mueller (the less dense areas) will be a 5-10 minute walk (or <5 minute bike ride) with perhaps some further units pushing the 15 minute walk. The closest Windsor Park units are probably at least a 5-10 minute walk with most being not walkable at all because of Bartholomew Park, the very hostile 51st St. and the large setback of HEB from Berkman.

I don't expect people doing the weekly grocery shopping will be walking too often for that. But there are a large number of units where walking or biking is at least an option some of the time - that walk will be mostly pleasant, even interesting if coming across town center, and not hostile at all.

3. I don't disagree with you about "planning" a town center - but that is how the new urbanist kids play these days. Triangle was planned.

4. Skepticism is good (especially from those who want a more urban Austin). I'm all for that.

5. While some Austin development occurred over the financial crisis period, a lot did not, and there wasn't any that I recall in town on the scale of Mueller. Every one on this board can rattle off the names of 10 or 12 projects that were either killed, delayed or significantly altered during the financial crisis. I can tell you from personal experience, no one was getting 100s of Millions in funding for commercial real estate ventures in 2008-2009 and even after that it was still extremely difficult - especially for something unproven and untested by banks (banks are still figuring out new urban models and get hung up on crap like surface parking spaces).

Also, It's true they built sf homes during the downturn, but it would be dismissive to not also note they built MF condos at Greenway and the MF Mueller houses on  Simond, and the MF Mosaic apartments and the Wildflower Apartments. . .so it wasn't all sf tract homes.  

6. That sucks if the plans for town center were scaled back. Perhaps if the economy continues to look strong here in Austin that will be revisited.

7. I agree there is too much separation of uses. Still, the narrow lots, the alleys, the garages out back, the short or no setbacks, the grid, the mix of housing, the mix of price points, the narrow streets, the on-street parking, the bulb-out blocks (as opposed to graded corners). . .these are all urban forms and elements. And the next best thing to a corner store on your block is a store a short and pleasant walk away. I think that's the promise of Mueller and I don't think dismissing it as merely suburban is accurate. Time will tell if it delivers on the promise.

8. There is at least one VMU project being built right now on Manor (right next to the rail track just west of Airport) - my thought was more would be on the way. It doesn't surprise me in the least to hear from you that the NIMBYs have slowed that down as much as possible. It seems insane to me that Manor - a simple walk or bike ride to UT, isn't just exploding with VMU - the potential for Manor is as good as any in Austin if the city would allow it to happen.

9. I agree that Airport is a significant barrier to development. Perhaps I was being overly optimistic earlier.

Anyway - thanks again for your thoughts on this and I appreciate your taking time on this discussion. At the end of the day I mostly agree with you and even where I think you're hard on Mueller, you are hard on the right side of the scale. I'd rather that the voices calling for Mueller (and Austin) to be more ambitious about urbanism be heard than those of the opponents.

All that being said, I shall let you have the last word on this if you like. Always enjoy reading your ideas and opinions!