Members of the Planning Commission on June 13 voted unanimously to recommend changing the zoning on two small properties at 1705 and 1707 Evergreen Avenue, just off South Lamar Boulevard, to accommodate business uses and workforce housing.
If approved by City Council, the two lots, which currently have single-family residences, would be rezoned from Family Residence (SF-3) to General Commercial Services-Mixed Use (CS-MU).
The very narrow Evergreen Avenue runs from South Lamar Boulevard to West Mary Street. Staff recommended the General Commercial Services-Mixed Use zoning in part because the property is located very close to the South Lamar Activity Corridor, near the Capital Metro Rapid bus line, and also is adjacent to an urban trail network along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.
Just one citizen, a neighbor concerned about traffic, came to address the commission. Drew Zerdecki, who lives on West Mary Street close to the proposed rezoning, urged commissioners not to recommend the zoning change. He said the street is too narrow to support the additional traffic that the commercial services and apartments will generate.
“We need to postpone the decision until we have all the facts. The first step would be a neighborhood traffic analysis. The commission needs to consider the anticipated traffic improvements” in the South Lamar traffic plan, Zerdecki said.
He said that Evergreen Avenue is “a Level 1 street with just 23 feet of existing pavements. Level 1 doesn’t mix well with mixed use.” He brought a video showing traffic congestion on Evergreen Avenue close to West Mary Street. The video showed numerous cars in the no-parking zone along Evergreen. He noted that the city is not enforcing those parking rules.
However, according to the staff report, a traffic impact analysis is not required because the traffic generated by the proposed uses “does not exceed the thresholds established in the City of Austin Land Development Code.” Transportation mitigation requirements will be determined when there is a site plan application, according to staff.
As laid out by city planner Sherri Sirwaitis, the property would accommodate an office and 12 multifamily units. She explained that the property to the north is zoned General Commercial Services (CS) for a warehouse and General Commercial Services-Vertical Mixed Use (CS-V) for multifamily use. The property across the street is also zoned General Commercial Services and General Commercial Services-Conditional Overlay (CS-CO), while a lot to the south has a single-family short-term rental use and is zoned General Commercial Services-Mixed Use. Railroad tracks are behind the property to the west.
Attorney Nikelle Meade of Husch Blackwell represented the property owner, Helsinki Partners LLC. Darius Fisher, the CEO of Status Labs, is listed on the zoning documents as the principal of Helsinki Partners.
Meade noted that Status Labs owns the historic property to the south of the two lots to be rezoned. She said Status Labs came before the commission in 2020 to get its property rezoned. At the time, Meade said, they had a lot of discussions with the neighborhood about traffic on West Mary Street where it intersects with Lamar Boulevard.
“What came to light at that time was there is a plan for the area,” she said. “There will be roundabout that the Austin Transportation Department has determined is a good solution for the traffic in this area. And there will also be a traffic light.”
She said the property owner would be required to dedicate right of way, just like all the other property owners along Evergreen Avenue.
Meade said the city believes the proposed roundabout will relieve some traffic problems, adding, “I’m pretty sure the neighborhood is in favor of that, too.”
Commissioner Felicity Maxwell said she would support the project but expressed some concern about what traffic improvements would best serve the neighborhood. No one suggested denying the rezoning request.
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City of Austin Planning Commission: This commission addresses issues of land use as assigned to it by Austin's City Code. These include the abilities "[t]o make and amend a master plan, recommend approval or disapproval of proposed zoning changes and control land subdivision within neighborhood planning areas and submit, annually, a list of recommended capital improvements." It has sovereign authority, or the right to make final decisions on certain cases.
