By an 8-2 vote April 13, Austin City Council cleared the path for a 1 million-square-foot planned unit development, or PUD, at the southwest corner of Spicewood Springs Road and MoPac.
District 10 Council Member Alison Alter and Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo, of District 9, voted against the Austin Oaks project, and District 7 Council Member Leslie Pool was absent. The vote followed a 7-1-1 green light from council on first reading, and then a hotly debated and heavily amended second reading approved on a 7-4 vote. City ordinances, including zoning amendments, must go through three readings for approval.
After nearly three years of negotiations and debate, the final Austin Oaks site plan included the loss of one floor of a now four-story residential building on Parcel 9, bringing the “likely” number of residential units down from 425 to 375, according to Michael Whellan, a representative for developer Spire Realty. The new development will also bring new office towers, retail sites and potential restaurant uses.
The site must provide at least two residential buildings at four stories apiece with a minimum of 250 units. That is the threshold to providing a park dedication—a central part of the development’s superiority, the standard used to justify the entitlements given to PUD projects. The PUD must provide a minimum of 27 affordable units, or 10.8 percent of the total residential units, whichever number is greater.
Planned unit developments, or PUDs, are set up to be a negotiation process between the developer and council since the requested zoning requires entitlements beyond what the existing zoning allows. PUDs are then required to offer elements of the project that are superior to what existing zoning allows. According to Michael Whellan, a representative for developer Spire Realty, here is what was superior for Austin Oaks.[/caption]
“I’m proud of what we did here today,” Mayor Steve Adler said. “I think we were able to find the best way forward.”
But several council members agreed with an assertion from Alter that the PUD process is broken.
“Good land development decisions need not take all of this time,” said Alter, who apologized to the community for the schism between neighbors the process created. “We need a better way for us … and the community to address these challenges.”
The zoning case was among the central issues in the December runoff election for the District 10 council seat between Alter and incumbent Sheri Gallo. Alter beat her opponent decisively.
“The PUD process has become a torturous process,” District 5 Council Member Ann Kitchen said. “The original PUD ordinance was intended to be a way to provide for additional community benefits and you know, it’s just not fulfilling what the original ideal was, and I think we need to work on that.”
In December and after two years of debate, council approved PUD zoning at The Grove at Shoal Creek, a 75-acre development in west Central Austin.
Crucial petition invalidated
From the first reading in December up to the hours preceding April’s final vote, a valid petition with owners of more than 27 percent of the surrounding property opposing the development, loomed over the fate of the zoning case because it required a nine-vote supermajority from council to approve the case. With a second reading that narrowly passed 7-4, there were questions as to where two more votes would come from.
Then, just hours before third reading, city staff announced that two petitioners removed their names, dropping the petition to only 19.83 percent of the surrounding property owners opposed and eliminating the need for a supermajority nine-vote approval from City Council.
By the time the item was brought up after the council’s dinner break, a third property owner dropped opposition, bringing the petition down to 15.1 percent.
