The Planning Commission has approved yet another rezoning request involving the city’s controversial Density Bonus 90, or DB90, zoning during their July 22 meeting.
Commissioners heard from both neighbors in support of a redevelopment that would offer relatively dense housing in a fast-growing neighborhood and neighbors who fear another tall building. This time around the site is on South Lamar Boulevard, just north of Mary Street.
In (literally) concrete terms, the property is currently occupied by the South Lamar Business Park and its associated parking spaces, which developers, planning commissioners and neighbors all described as underutilized. Local development firm Stonelake, which owns the property, wants to build somewhere north of 300 units in a project which would also likely offer some ground floor commercial space, as is stipulated by DB90 zoning.
Technically, the request is for multiple rezonings at multiple addresses, in service of one larger development. That’s not uncommon for larger projects, which are often built on multiple smaller lots that are bought up and then processed through the city’s regulatory machinery in a bundle. The address in line for the DB90 designation is 1700 South Lamar, where the boulevard meets Collier Street. The site is currently zoned Commercial Services-Vertical, or CS-V, and the request is to add DB90 and its entitlements to it. The other two smaller lots are zoned Limited Office, or LO, and Single Family-3, or SF-3, and the request is for a combined rezoning of CS-V with an overlay that would prohibit certain uses.
The rezoning request was supported by city staff, who cited the project’s high unit density and location along an Imagine Austin corridor as reasons for their endorsement. It also received support from neighbors like Sharlene Leurig, who said she had negotiated with Stonelake over various issues including the construction of a fence between her home on Kinney Avenue and the western edge of the development and measures to curtail noise from nighttime trash pickups she said had long troubled her sleep under the previous owners. Leurig said the developer’s willingness to work on a formal agreement with her over those and other issues made her willing to support the project.
“I appreciate that commitment,” Leurig said, while noting that she and Stonelake still “have some work to do” to make sure the agreement will provide her with the assurances she wants.
Graham Trull, another neighbor on the Kinney Avenue side who works in real estate, described the project as a “rare and exceptional opportunity to transform blighted space into much needed housing” that would be “thoughtfully developed.”
“We have city staff support, we have surrounding property owner support and, as of yesterday, we had no opposition to this case,” said Michele Haussmann, a land use consultant who spoke during the meeting in favor of the rezoning on behalf of Stonelake. But it seems that some opposition bestirred itself, as a group of neighbors from neighboring condominium development The Sage came out to oppose the rezoning.
Yazmin Melero, a condo owner who served as the primary speaker in opposition during the meeting, said that the development would hurt owners like her by blocking their views, but also by lowering their property values. She alleged that property values on the opposite side had fallen dramatically after an unspecified tall building was constructed on that side, and suggested that the same would happen with the plan presented by Stonelake.
Melero said she had moved her family to The Sage from a house she had owned in Bee Cave, seeking proximity to the city’s downtown. She said the view from her unit, which fronts the site of the proposed redevelopment, was a big part of what sold her on it.
“I made a very strong financial decision for me and my family and moved us all across town for, now, something that’s not even going to be there,” she said.
Besides Melero, at least seven other residents of The Sage submitted comments against the project to the city, which were included in the backup information provided to commissioners, or spoke against the rezoning at the meeting.
Haussmann, responding to Melero and others’ complaints, noted that the site’s current zoning would already allow for a 60-foot building. She added that that zoning has been in place since 2008, well before the roughly 40-foot condos at The Sage were constructed.
In response to questions from Commissioners Greg Anderson and Casey Haney, Haussmann also confirmed that under the current plan, which does not include a ground-floor parking garage, residents of The Sage would be facing into other residential units, and also there would be an at least 75-foot wide setback between the two buildings for a fire lane and landscaped pedestrian walkway.
Commissioner Greg Anderson motioned to recommend the rezoning, which was approved 9-0-1, with commissioner Felicity Maxwell abstaining due to a conflict of interest.
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.