Neighborhoods oppose three Austin projects that would boost density
Residents' concerns are similar - traffic, environment, fitting in.
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By Suzannah Gonzales
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
In Tarrytown, a development of more than two dozen townhomes and condominiums is planned for Exposition Boulevard. In West Balcones, designs are under way for a community of 362 rental apartments. In North Loop, there were plans for a four-story project of 250 luxury apartments.
And in each neighborhood, residents have opposed them.
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They have gone door to door, collected signatures, started Web sites, contacted city officials. In the North Loop case, the developer pulled out after a swell of opposition.
In neighborhoods throughout the city, residents have mobilized against specific developments. The projects are the kind that city leaders want — the dense kind.
The residents have common concerns: The development isn't compatible with its surroundings, and it will increase traffic, burden infrastructure and add stress to the environment, they say. The residents say they're not against density, just where it's proposed.
The developers say some of the concerns are unfounded, that vocal residents aren't representative of entire neighborhoods and that it's hard to make everyone happy.
By and large, the 80 neighborhoods that decided whether to allow increased density lot by lot have supported vertical mixed use, said Austin City Council Member Brewster McCracken. He said a small handful of neighborhoods, including Allandale, East Riverside Drive and Hyde Park, don't want any more density, even on major corridors.
The West Balcones and Tarrytown sites were not among those the neighborhoods considered in deciding about vertical mixed use. Neighborhood residents did opt in for vertical mixed use on the North Loop site.
"We're not trying to jam density in the neighborhoods. But we do have to plan responsibly for the future," McCracken said.
Setting precedent?
About 750 petition signatures have been collected opposing multifamily zoning for a 2.2-acre site on Exposition Boulevard, formerly part of the Austin State School grounds. The City Council postponed the matter until next month, suggesting that a facilitator meet with neighbors and the developer, Burlington Ventures Inc.
Area residents say that multifamily zoning would set a bad precedent if other parts of the school are sold.
They also are facing potential commercial development on the nearby 345-acre Brackenridge tract owned by the University of Texas.
The proposal for 27 townhomes and condominiums on Exposition is too dense, they say. They said they would support a buffer on the Austin State School property and along Exposition that would allow six units per acre.
The developer disagrees that the plan is out of character for the neighborhood, pointing to other multifamily and commercial properties in the area. Also, the complex would offer a variety of housing options, the developer says, and it would be held to strict standards because it would sit on environmentally sensitive land.
Concerns about setting precedent are premature, said Steve Beuerlein of Burlington Ventures. "It presumes that the state will sell off the property piecemeal."
There are no plans to sell or redevelop any more of the property, said Cecilia Fedorov, an Austin State School spokeswoman.
Displacement fears
David Kobierowski is among the West Balcones residents concerned about a proposed zoning change for the Northcastle Apartment Homes at 8100 N. MoPac Blvd. He worries that current residents of the complex, which would be demolished, will lose their homes, which rent for about $650 a month.
Brent Stewart of Trammell Crow Residential said it plans to offer tenants — about 65 percent of the complex's 170 units are occupied — a relocation program that includes refunding security deposits and right of first refusal on affordable units, which might be included in the new development. The average rent for the 362 apartments will be $1,500.
Trammell Crow is under contract to purchase the property, Stewart said. The project still needs the zoning change to allow for the development; a hearing on that was postponed until next month.
Question of suitability
North Loop residents used the Web site ilovenorthloop.org to get the word out about a four-story, mixed-use project with 250 apartments planned in their area.
Jody Horton, a founding member of the Web site, said residents aren't against vertical mixed-use developments or adding density. "There are sites that are suited for it, and there are sites that are not suited for it," Horton said. Traffic is the main concern.
In a 77-76 vote, residents registered their opposition to the project during an Oct. 1 neighborhood meeting after a door-to-door campaign against it.
The opposition came despite the fact that the proposal aligned with the neighborhood plan, said Sebastian Wren, president of the Northfield Neighborhood Association. After the neighborhood voted no, Endeavor Real Estate Group terminated the contract to buy the former site of Howard Nursery on East Koenig Lane.
"A few very organized people really can derail something like this," said Wren, who supports density.
Jamil Alam, of Endeavor, said he enjoyed working with the neighborhood and would do it again, but he was disappointed. "Silly us, we thought the neighborhood wanted a VMU project," Alam said.
The dissenters were misleading about the impact on traffic, he said. And he said he can't react to every request or negotiate the development with different neighbors.
"I'm trying to figure out who won," Alam said, referring to the sellers, developers and neighborhood. "As I see it, everyone lost."
sgonzales@statesman.com; 445-3616
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