At a March 13 meeting, council approved zoning changes requested by a developer proposing to open the grocery store at a 7.79-acre lot at the southwest corner of East Whitestone Boulevard and Arrow Point Drive.
“I really appreciate the way this process went,” Mayor Jim Penniman-Morin said before voting to approve the rezoning. “This is a step forward for our city.”
The update
Civil engineering firm Waeltz & Prete, Inc. requested the rezoning to make way for a 64,000-square-foot commercial development, including a 13,500-square-foot Trader Joe’s alongside three office, showroom or warehouse buildings, according to city documents.
Council voted to amend the nearly 8-acre site’s future land use plan from local office/retail/commercial to regional office/retail/commercial to allow for a mixed-use retail and business center. Additionally, council voted to rezone the area from professional office to general business-conditional overlay.
The background
Austin McWilliams, a representative of CSW Development and executive vice president with Jones Lang LaSalle, said the developer made multiple modifications to the project after hearing concerns from nearby residents.
The developer has reduced the project’s total square footage by around 10,000 square feet as well as proposed an extended landscape bufferyard and setback from properties south of the development, McWilliams said at a Feb. 27 meeting.
Zooming in
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approving the zoning changes with additional conditions, including prohibiting an alcoholic beverage establishment or outdoor commercial amusement project from being built near the area. At the March 13 meeting, the applicant further amended the project to prohibit three more uses near the property, including a commercial parking lot, event center, and outdoor arena, stadium or amphitheater.
Under the new zoning, the building height will be restricted to 35 feet within 100 feet of the southern property line instead of 200 feet as recommended by the Planning and Zoning Commission, said Andreina Davila-Quintero, the city’s assistant director of development services.
What residents are saying
Nearby residents Andy and Jill McGuire, whose property backs up to the proposed development, filed a petition opposing the rezoning.
“We haven't protected our evening hours and our weekends, and the only material things we've gained is five more feet of buffer space and a few bigger trees,” Andy McGuire said at the March 13 meeting.
Cedar Park resident Debra Glovsky spoke in support of the development. Several residents wrote in comments voicing their support to the city.
“Cedar Park is the perfect place for this grocery store to land in,” Glovsky said. “The three other specialty grocery stores just don't carry the value, the selection and the quality that this particular store does.”
Around 1,800 people currently follow a Facebook page called “Bring Trader Joe’s to Cedar Park, TX,” which was started by Cedar Park resident Christina Legrand in 2015.
What council members are saying
Six council members voted in favor of the project with council member Anne Duffy voting against. A total of six votes was required to approve the rezoning due to the petition filed against the project.
“Y’all have gone above and beyond in trying to find and meet in the middle,” council member Eric Boyce said to McWilliams. “This... provides the accommodation that I think both sides can walk away and have a good taste in their mouth.”
Also of note
At the Feb. 27 meeting, nearby resident Tristan Chizick said the development would bring increased traffic to the area and asked that the city conduct a traffic study before approving the rezoning.
Council member Bobbi Hutchinson said she had heard concerns about traffic from residents but felt like there wasn’t much more that the city could do to appease those concerns.
“I trust our professional staff,” council member Kevin Harris said about traffic in the area. “All public roads, as things get enhanced and built on, they'll go back and reassess and they'll make those changes.”
