Chris Milam and John Paul DeJoria’s The Terraces planned development district, or PDD, located off Bee Cave Parkway, east of RR 620, is on hold for now.
Bee Cave City Council unanimously denied a request by the developers June 14 to amend the PDD that was approved in December 2014. Council members said the amendments were vastly different from the district’s original plans and involved too many variances from the city’s development code, including an increase in the amount of glass on the project’s buildings, the addition of a helipad and the calculation of open space.
“Although I will admit that some of the changes to this are an improvement, I’m having a hard time understanding how this is an amendment,” resident Bob Arona said. “I’m under the impression that this whole thing has changed and it should be a whole new package to go before you.
“As we go through this, whether a decision is made on this tonight or at a later date, it’s going to be a very important day for the city of Bee Cave because what [the decision is] going to do is test the validity of all of the ordinances we have in place. I think there are far too many variances that have to be granted here.”
Under the city’s ordinances, The Terraces developers would be precluded from filing an amendment to the PDD for one year. However, following a failed tie vote (3-3) to decrease the time to file from one year to six months, members unanimously agreed to allow Milam and DeJoria to refile PDD amendments after three months.
City Attorney Patty Akers said the delay may amount to longer than three months because any proposal would need to pass through a planning and zoning hearing or hearings before reaching council for approval.
Mayor Caroline Murphy said a delay of six months would push back improvements to the intersection of Bee Cave Parkway and RR 620 that the developers agreed to perform.
“I think everything about the project is vastly superior to what was done and approved originally,” Milam said. “I think this is a great solution that meets the objective of the codes. In the code, it calls for not strictly applying the code to the extent it [deters] architectural creativity. It’s actually a provision of the code.”
Although other changes included what city staffers said was a benefit—trading two parking garages for underground parking—Council Member Kara King said the benefits did not outweigh the other project changes introduced including the large amount of glass used, a request for the development's restaurant component to remain open until 2 a.m. and an increase in restaurant space from up to 6,500 square feet to up to about 14,000 square feet.
“There are just too many variances,” King said. “I don’t feel like this meets anything we’ve asked for to be built in the Hill Country.
“[Developers], you guys work on what you need to work on. Give staff time to refocus back on other projects and then bring this back to us in a way that is respectful of their time, our citizens’ time and our time.”
Following a May 3 presentation before the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, the developers removed a glass skywalk between two of the buildings and made other changes to the amendment proposal.
