A project that long promised to resurrect a music venue that one council member said used to make Bee Cave special remains up in the air after Bee Cave City Council failed to pass a special vote Tuesday to amend the development plan for The Backyard.

“We’ve got an opportunity to bring it back,” said Council Member Marie Lowman just before the failed vote. “A music venue as the heart of our city doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”

Passage required a supermajority or five of six council votes in favor to allow the $500 million project to go forward after two sizable adjacent property owners filed formal zoning protests. The votes split down the middle 3-3 causing the motion to fail.

Developer Chris Milam led the latest defense of the project, saying it would generate sales tax revenue for the city—something Bee Cave relies on.

Milam’s proposal included traffic management strategies and a last-minute offer to pay to install gate entrances to the nearby Ladera community to eliminate cut-through traffic headed to and from the proposed venue on Bee Cave Parkway, adjacent to the city's Central Park.

Bee Cave area homeowners told city council members at the Nov. 28 meeting that they opposed the development of The Backyard music, hotel and office venue due to a range of concerns, including:
• how a 2016 traffic analysis did not take into account newly approved housing developments along Hamilton Pool Road where residents may avoid Hwy. 71 by taking the Bee Cave Parkway to RM 620;
• creeping incrementalism where the venue's developers could keep returning to future councils to increase the capacity of the venue bit by bit. The latest amendment capped attendees to 1,900 down from an earlier 3,410 since there remained only one main entrance and exit point, and
• the threat of high casualties in the event of a Las Vegas-type mass shooting event due to a single main exit.

Milam was not immediately available after the meeting for comment.

Other Council notes

Bee Cave City Council approved a $6 million 2017 tax note to purchase 44 acres near Great Divide Drive, also known as the Lamar tract. The purchase will allow the city to use it for undefined municipal purposes, according to City Manager Travis Askey.

The council also approved a site plan amendment that will allow the managers of The Shops at the Galleria to swap out existing exterior lighting with energy efficient LED lights. The new lighting promises to provide more even lighting at the complex along with technology to progressively dim the lighting overnight to maintain ordinance related to keeping the city's light pollution to a minimum.