The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the removal of a lot at 2967 Manor Road from the Martin Luther King Jr. Transit-Oriented Development, or TOD, district during a meeting on March 11.
Austin Growth Ventures, the real estate developer that requested the removal, acquired the lot in 2022. Currently the site is occupied by a garage, but the company has said it plans to build a 90-foot, 81-unit development if they can.
The TOD was adopted in 2009 with the intention of promoting dense, pedestrian-friendly development near the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard stop on Capital Metro’s Red Line. Among its provisions, it sets a height limit of 60 feet for new buildings within the district’s boundaries.
The request faced loud opposition from neighbors last time it came before the Planning Commission on Jan. 28. Commissioners opted to postpone a decision on the item during that meeting, then postponed it again during a later meeting to give developers time to engage with the community.
More than a dozen neighbors came out to oppose the request again on March 11, condemning the plan over drainage, traffic and aesthetic concerns related to building height raised during the earlier meeting, suggesting that any outreach that occurred during the intervening weeks hasn’t convinced everyone.
“A development of this scale should do more than just meet the basic needs for housing,” said Daniela Valle, an architect who described herself as an avid transit user. “It should give back to the community. As it stands, this project does neither.”
Several neighbors who spoke at the meeting asked the commission to again postpone a decision on the case to allow more time for conversation about the site plan.
Along with requesting removal from the TOD, Austin Growth Ventures also requested a rezoning to CS-DB90-NP, or General Commercial-Density Bonus 90-Neighborhood Plan. The key district type in that mix is DB90.
Introduced in 2024, DB90 is intended to incentivize and allow for higher-density, taller developments that include affordable housing. It’s also been at the center of several contentious zoning cases previously reported on by the Austin Monitor.
As the name hints, it allows for a height limit of up to 90 feet and is central to the tentative redevelopment plan provided by Austin Growth Ventures.
Victoria Haase of Thrower Design, speaking at the meeting on behalf of the company, argued that a taller DB90 development would provide more housing as well as allow for, and mandate, the inclusion of affordable units, which wouldn’t be feasible in a shorter, smaller redevelopment.
“The problem is that the TOD plan is outdated,” Haase said during remarks to the commission.
The rezoning and removal from the TOD has been supported by the city Planning Department, who agree in their report that the TOD is outdated and noting that it would be much more difficult to amend it than to rezone the site. They also noted that as the site is on the edge of the TOD, removing it “would not create a donut hole.”
They further supported a request to exempt any redevelopment under DB90 from a usual requirement to include ground-floor commercial space, citing complex reasons related to a triangular piece of land in front of the site and facing the intersection of Manor and Airport Boulevard.
That land was originally seized by TxDOT and then transferred to the city. According to the Planning Department’s recommendation, the city “doesn’t know what they want to do with” the land, and it could eventually be sold and redeveloped as commercial space, undermining any commercial activity on the ground floor of the prospective development.
The Planning Commission pointedly disagreed, excising the commercial space exemption from their recommendation to City Council.
“Obviously, with its current zoning nothing has happened for 15 years,” Commissioner Greg Anderson, who introduced the motion to recommend the request, said before voting with the rest of the commission to approve it.
“My hope is we give it this better zoning and we see it get developed sometime soon,” he continued.
The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.
And we’re honored you look to us for serious, in-depth news. You know a strong community needs local and dedicated watchdog reporting. We’re here for you and that won’t change. Now will you take the powerful next step and support our nonprofit news organization?
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.
