With a tie vote, 2-2, City Council denied developers Christopher Milam and John Paul DeJoria’s proposed site plan for the project’s infrastructure, necessitating them to refile the plan and delay its progress.
A bit of history
The Backyard developer Christopher Milam addresses Bee Cave City Council July 25.[/caption]In December, council members approved a Planned Development District for The Backyard and required Milam and DeJoria to obtain an access road to the project off West Hwy. 71 in addition to the access road planned for Bee Cave Parkway. At the time, City Council said the traffic impact to Bee Cave Parkway would not be sustainable once the project is underway and told the developers the city would not issue a Certificate of Occupancy to any part of the project unless the requirement was met.
The developers broke ground on the project June 24.
On July 25, Milam and his staff presented a site plan for The Backyard to City Council that did not include access to the project from West Hwy. 71.
No access to West Hwy. 71
The Backyard tract is currently accessible from only Bee Cave Parkway.[/caption]To obtain access to West Hwy. 71, Milam said he had discussed the issue with the owners of adjacent properties and purchased the note on the tract that currently houses The Emerald Restaurant, 13614 W. Hwy. 71, Bee Cave, “with the idea of putting a road down the eastern side of the park.”
“The project is a huge benefit to the city and its neighbors,” he said. “As long as we continue to press forward, we will work something out [with neighboring landowners]. I don’t have anything specific to present other than our incredible level of commitment to the community and the project.”
Mayor Pro Tem Bill Goodwin voted against the plan, stating an approval of the site plan now may eventually put the city in a position to have to reject the project when it is fully built out at a cost of “well over $100 million.”
“How many approvals are we going to give this project before [the developers] ask for a Certificate of Occupancy and we can’t realistically deny it without access to [West Hwy.] 71?,” Goodwin said.
Council Member Monty Parker agreed with Goodwin and voted against the plan, saying Bee Cave may eventually be forced to accept the project without its required West Hwy. 71 access road once more money has been spent on construction.
“To me, giving them the go-ahead to start spending millions of dollars and then, fast forward two years,” Parker said. “[The developers will say],‘We tried to make the connection and couldn’t do it. We’ve got $150 million-$200 million on the ground and beautiful buildings ready to go. We need to generate some revenue. Hey city, don’t you want some tax revenue? Give us a break.’ I think we are setting ourselves up to fail.”
Mayor Caroline Murphy challenged Milam, asking him why he would assume such a risk while continuing to spend funds on the project without an access road to West Hwy. 71.
“Mr. Milam...We’re not going to be a party to you getting that connection,” she said. “That’s your problem and your problem to solve. I feel like you need to hear it very clearly that this council isn’t going to solve that problem of the [West] Hwy. 71 connection. Why are you willing to risk all the infrastructure improvements [and] the cost of all that [as well as] the fiscal security you are required to put down in the event you don’t get that connection?”
Milam said he has already spent $50 million on the project to-date.
“Starting infrastructure—it’s just an extrapolation of what we’ve been doing for the past 2.5 years,” he said. “We’ve always found a way [to solve a project’s issues]. If we don’t find a way this time, that’s our problem. We’re willing to continue what we’ve started more than two years ago. We are at risk. We’re optimistic there will be one [a solution to access West Hwy. 71].”
Council Member Tom Matzen and Murphy voted to approve the plan, with Council Members Kara King and Marie Lowman absent.
The project’s pollution plan was approved with conditions including a posting of fiscal security.
