The Austin Zoning and Platting Commission was scheduled to consider rezoning the Austin Oaks property—located on Executive Center Drive and Wood Hollow Drive near Spicewood Springs Road—into a PUD.
However, at city staff’s request, ZAP commissioners unanimously approved a postponement of the rezoning request until Sept. 15. Some commissioners expressed dismay at the request, and many residents attended the meeting to oppose the PUD.
Jerry Rusthoven of the Planning and Development Review Department noted the case was a year old—the original application was filed in June 2014—and said the city would not ask for another postponement.
“It’s not a typical zoning case,” he said. “There’s a lot of back and forth between the developer and staff and the neighborhoods.”
A Sungate Drive resident says "Stop the PUD" signs were stolen from residents' lawns.[/caption]Two residents spoke in opposition to the postponement. Tim Hill, a former member of the Austin Building and Standards Commission, said he lives across the street from the Austin Oaks property.
The neighborhood is overwhelmingly against the PUD proposal, Hill said. He also said he thought the developer was buying time by postponing the request until September, when schools are back in session and community involvement might wane.
Idee Kwak, a resident of Sungate Drive, said signs reading “Stop the PUD” were stolen from residents’ lawns prior to the meeting. She also noted she is elderly, and it is difficult for her to come to City Hall to express her opposition to the project.
“Terminate this agony of uncertainty,” she told the commission. “Please deny this now.”
Rusthoven said the board could issue a decision without a recommendation from city staff, but it could not rezone the Austin Oaks property until after the Austin Environmental Commission discusses the application at its Aug. 19 meeting.
ZAP Commissioner Ann Denkler made a motion to postpone the case at applicant’s request, rather than at the city staff’s request.
“I think the staff has had to scrabble to assess the situation,” she said. “I’m really trying to put the feet to the fire on the applicant here.”
Denkler withdrew her motion after Stephen Drenner of the Drenner Group law firm, which represents real estate company and landowner Twelve Lakes LLC, agreed not to request another postponement Sept. 15.
ZAP voted 9-0 to approve the postponement. ZAP Vice Chair Jackie Goodman told residents the commission was not trying to stall the process, but it was constrained by procedural issues.
“Sooner or later, all good things come to an end, and there will be a decision made,” she said.
