Council-initiated Dessau Road rezoning for nonprofit office to be returned with dueling recommendations

A rezoning initiated by City Council on two properties that local nonprofit Foster Village plans to use for office space will come back with dueling recommendations from the Planning Department and the Zoning and Platting Commission after the latter voted down the former’s and submitted its own during a special called meeting on Feb. 6.

Council initiated the zoning change to support “a resource center that will provide a safe, communal space for foster families and create a nurturing environment where children and caregivers can access essential resources and feel supported during their journey through the foster care system,” according to a resolution passed in September.

The properties in question are at 10505 and 10545 Dessau Road and are currently zoned SF-2 (Single Family-2) and SF-6-CO (Single-Family-6-Conditional Overlay). The rezoning proposed by the planning department would change both to GO, or General Office, a commercial district type intended to allow for medium-scale office use and development.

After roughly a half hour of discussion during the meeting, commissioners voted that recommendation down 8-1, with commission chair Hank Smith abstaining and commissioner Taylor Major the lone “yea” vote. The commission then approved its own recommendation of NO, or Neighborhood Office, the lowest-intensity office zoning district, by the same margin.

Foster Village, a local 501(c)3 registered nonprofit that serves foster youth and parents in the Austin area, doesn’t currently own the property, said Eric Gomez, a lawyer who said he represents both the nonprofit and the owners.

Gomez said the nonprofit is leasing the land and has no immediate plans to buy or substantially redevelop the properties, though an option to buy is included in its lease with the owners, who he described as supporters and benefactors of the nonprofit.

“The property owner actually offered up the tract because he was aware that we had just outgrown our resource centers and we really need to expand to a larger area,” he said.

He continued that the nonprofit currently plans to use an existing single-family home at 10545 Dessau Road for the new office, with minimal renovations. The only thing stopping them, Gomez said, is the lack of appropriate zoning, which would make use of the property as an office illegal.

Jonathan Tomko, who presented the Planning Department’s recommendation, said that the department had weighed multiple factors in recommending GO zoning, including the character of Dessau Road, a six-lane thoroughfare, and its proximity to the Cameron Road/Dessau activity corridor within the Imagine Austin plan.

Responding to commissioners’ questions about nearby single-family zoning, Tomko reiterated that the department was weighing future plans for the area alongside the current situation on Dessau.

“Some of the neighborhoods to the south are substantially more dense than what’s been developed there historically, so the corridor is kind of shifting in that direction to be more intense,” Tomko said.

Commissioner Lonny Stern questioned staff’s assessment of nearby roadways and transit, and pulled up a Google Maps image of a stretch of Dessau Road near to the property which he characterized as a bridge and called the location a “donut hole” lacking transit options.

“I thought I would be opposed to an office being in this location, but then when I saw what it was for I felt differently,” Stern said. “But again, this is not the best location for who you’re trying to serve.”

Vice chair Betsy Greenberg raised the potential for land value increases that an upzoning to GO might spur, noting that the property had been previously listed for sale at $3.8 million under its current zoning.

“It doesn’t, to me, really make sense,” Greenberg said. “It’s just going to make the property more expensive for the nonprofit.”

Gomez responded that while the land might become more expensive, environmental regulations on the properties, which are situated near Walnut Creek in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, would keep price increases down by limiting the potential for future redevelopment.

“You know, we need a space we can operate an office in,” Gomez said. “The search has been going on a long time, and this is just about the best shot we have.”

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Posted In: Zoning, District 1