Commercial building project rezoning OK’d for Hamilton Pool Road property

By rezoning a 1.76-acre tract at 15814 Hamilton Pool Road, Bee Cave City Council paved the way for a 2,026-square-foot building to be built as a swimming pool office and another 7,192-square-foot structure to be constructed as office space.

Council members rezoned the property—originally zoned for single-family rural residential use—as rural mixed-use zoning July 12.

The rezoning request by applicant and landowner Theresa Thompson was tabled at the June 28 City Council meeting to allow Thompson to provide information as to how many average vehicle trips the new development will yield. At the second meeting, Lindsey Oskoui, the city’s director of planning and development, said the project—with an average of 434 trips per day—did not have sufficient vehicle traffic to trigger a traffic impact analysis, or further study.

At the July 12 hearing, Hamilton Pool resident Nell Penridge said she opposed the development because of the increase in traffic from the project.

“This [City] Council is our last line of defense,” she said. “Hamilton Pool is a deadly road.”

Council—concerned about adding retail to the project resulting in more traffic to the area—limited the development to 50 percent retail and 50 percent office use.

A first draft update to the city’s comprehensive plan is slated to be released this fall with a corresponding change in its future land use map.

Mayor Caroline Murphy said the use planned for the Hamilton Pool property should fit into the expected future zoning category once the documents are completed.