A proposed project southeast of the East Whitestone Boulevard/Toll 183A intersection in Cedar Park could add 42 acres of houses and a new road connecting North Lynnwood Trail to Whitestone.

On Feb. 12, Cedar Park City Council heard the first reading of an ordinance to approve the rezoning of Cross Creek Ranch from development reserve use to planned development use. Developer Brohn Homes has proposed a planned development with medium-density, single-family houses fits with the city’s plan for future land use in the area, Assistant Development Director Amy Link said.

City staffers recommended a final vote for Feb. 26, but the vote was postponed.

City Council mulls new development

The area is located north of the Forest Oaks subdivision and south of undeveloped properties on East Whitestone. Link said the East Whitestone sites are zoned for future general office or general retail.

As a planned development defined by city zoning standards, Cross Creek Ranch would include two lots divided by a future extension of C-Bar Ranch Trail. The developer would build the new road that would connect to North Lynnwood Trail, providing residents quick access to East Whitestone.

Plans also call for a roundabout in the new road that would serve as a measure to mitigate traffic. The roundabout would slow vehicles and help prevent the road from becoming a shortcut for drivers from outside the subdivisions, Link said.

Some residents said they had questions about the project and some said they opposed the site rezoning.

In a Jan. 13 email to the Cedar Park Planning and Zoning Commission, resident Nina Sterrett, who said her property adjoins the Cross Creek site, said she opposes the development because some uses allowed by the planned development zoning could harm the neighborhood.

“I fear it will increase traffic through our neighborhood and on our street,” Sterrett wrote. “I fear it will replace the abundant wildlife in the area, including nesting birds of prey and deer.”

A creek also runs through the land, nearby residents John and Erin Davenport wrote in a Jan. 15 email.

Don Garritano, a Forest Oaks resident, spoke at P&Z’s Jan. 20 hearing and at City Council’s Feb. 12 meeting.

Garritano asked about the results of a traffic study of the area and said the data was not made available to city staffers. Mayor Matt Powell said staffers would locate the information and make it available to Garritano and other city staffers.

Powell said he attended neighborhood meetings in which the project was discussed. He said he is aware of residents’ concerns, especially the proposed linking of C-Bar Ranch and Lynnwood to create a new road.

Powell said a road connection would help Forest Oaks and nearby Silver Oaks residents take a straight route to Whitestone and the rest of northern Cedar Park rather than taking indirect routes. A proposed fifth city fire station on Cottonwood Creek Trail would also have easier access to the neighborhood, he said.

A roundabout and other planned measures could help slow cars on the new road, Powell said.

“If the road is going to be punched through, I’d like a little bit of traffic-calming,” he said.

Assistant City Manager Sam Roberts said the developer is conducting a traffic study for another proposed development, a commercial site between Whitestone and Cross Creek Ranch.

The study includes projected traffic from Cross Creek Ranch and an estimated number of vehicles using a proposed extension of C-Bar Ranch. Roberts said city staffers should have the other traffic study data to discuss before a second reading to rezone Cross Creek.

Place 2 Councilman Corbin Van Arsdale said he would like to find ways to ensure GPS software will not encourage drivers to use the new road as a shortcut.

“If we get enough indirectness, that pushes [the new road] off GPS routes,” Van Arsdale said.