One of those developers, The Morgan Group, a Houston-based luxury property management company, is seeking to build a complex with over 300 multifamily units on an undeveloped tract of land north of the intersection of RM 620 and Bee Cave Parkway.
The Morgan Group purchased the land previously owned by developer Chris Milam and his company International Development Management. The project was known as the Terraces when it was being developed by Milam. Bee Cave City Council denied the original plan in 2018 because it failed to comply with the planned development district, or PDD, requirements.
The project is now called The Pearl, and the Morgan Group submitted a request to Bee Cave to change the mixed-use district to a multifamily and single-family attached residential district. The land was rezoned in 2014 from residential to mixed use to accommodate the Terraces mixed residential and commercial development.
A request to repeal and replace two rules related to zoning and development standards for The Pearl was approved by council in a split 4-2 decision July 26. The decision allows the developer to build multifamily luxury apartments, attached townhomes, a parking structure and a restaurant, according to city documents.
The approval for the project by council comes on the heels of Bee Cave’s newly adopted unified development code. Much of the discussion from council members during their last few meetings was how The Pearl was going to comply with the new development code as the Terraces failed to meet the standards for the old development code.
Transforming the code
The Pearl is broken into two parcels called the northern and southern tracts. The project will also develop a third tract of city-owned green space.
The Terraces originally planned to use the northern tract for offices and a restaurant, the southern tract for multifamily condos and the city-owned green space for a landscape median on Bee Cave Parkway.
The Pearl’s northern tract will have 10 buildings with 340 multifamily units, public trails and private amenities for residents, such as a pool, a fitness center, a dog park and coworking space. The Pearl’s southern tract will have 59 townhomes for sale with a pool and trail for residents. The city-owned green space will have a 10-foot-wide trail open to the public.
The old and new codes have several key differences that have affected the property’s transition from the Terraces to The Pearl. The height of the buildings, the submittal of site plans, allowed building materials, parking structures and the traffic analysis submittal will all affect The Pearl as the project moves forward.
City Manager Clint Garza said under the new code, new PDDs will not need initial council approval; however, each time land is rezoned or a text amendment is made to a development plan, it requires council approval per city zoning regulations.
Both Garza and Bee Cave Mayor Kara King told Community Impact Newspaper that although it was possible developers denied under the old code might try to reapply under the new code, they would not be able to reapply with their current PDD and would have to scrap the PDD entirely or request a new amendment.
This is exactly what The Pearl did, Garza said. The developers of The Pearl wanted to redo their PDD because it would not have fit in the new development code and would have required rezoning, he said.
Traffic analysis
One issue that is projected to impact the Bee Cave community with this development is the ongoing traffic issue around the municipality, which is only anticipated to grow worse as the population in the area rises.
The Pearl is expected to generate 47% less daily traffic than the original Terraces project, according to trip generation reports submitted by the Terraces and The Pearl. The Terraces projected 4,587 daily trips, while The Pearl projects about 2,015. This is because The Pearl is primarily a residential area, while the Terraces would have included more offices and restaurants, according to the city.
Additionally, the Morgan Group is working to improve traffic by constructing and paying for an additional turn lane from Bee Cave Parkway to RM 620.
In an interview with Community Impact Newspaper, King said the city of Bee Cave is at the mercy of the Texas Department of Transportation to expand and improve roads because two state roads traverse the city.
“So we have a lot of residents come and speak at the meeting or email us and say, ‘Do something about infrastructure first,’” she said. “We can’t because we don’t control those roads.”
Council Member Andy Rebber said he had a different take on the traffic situation after doing extensive research on studies from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
“When it comes to traffic, building roads is not going to fix issues in the long run,” Rebber said. “Instead of people driving in from Steiner [Ranch] or Spicewood and clogging up the highways, I would rather have thousands of people live and spend their money here.”
He said he understood the concerns of community members worried about traffic. However, he said, if people do not want development, then property taxes will have to be raised to fund those undeveloped areas as city governments still levy taxes on empty lots.
When asked how the city can balance the need for development with the issues of traffic, King said she did not believe it was Bee Cave’s problem to develop housing for people to move there.
“The square footage [in Bee Cave] is only so big,” she said. “There’s a million places for people to go; they don’t have to move here.”
The Pearl is projected to finish development in three to five years. King said Morgan Group still has to present a site plan for council before it can “move dirt.” She said she does not anticipate that happening before the end of the year.
"I’m not here to tell you how to do your business,” Morgan Group Chair Michael Morgan said at the June 28 City Council meeting. “Our company is built on respect, communication, transparency, honesty and civility. We aren’t here to push anything down anybody’s throats, and we want to do the right thing by your community.”
