Congestion, codes and costs stand in the way of new growth

As a western gateway to Austin, the Oak Hill area would seem like a natural place for prosperous development.

Every day thousands of cars travel through the Y at Oak Hill, the intersection of highways 71 and 290. The 2008 Oak Hill Combined Neighborhood Plan and the 2012 Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan identify the Y as an area for redevelopment, yet the Y has not seen the types of changes past plans predicted.

Civic leaders say the barriers to redevelopment are the uncertainty around improvements to the Hwy. 290 corridor and regulations meant to protect the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer.

The topic returned to the spotlight in September when candidates for Austin City Council District 8—which includes Oak Hill—discussed possible solutions.

David Richardson, chairman of the steering committee that produced the Oak Hill neighborhood plan, said the area needs updating.

"The Y is becoming more depressed and is languishing as [an area]," he said. "Nobody wants to be there."

The Hwy. 290 corridor

Although the Y is the most prominent aspect of Oak Hill, the neighborhood's boundaries extend as far as Southwest Parkway and Barton Creek to the north, the border of the city of Sunset Valley to the east, south of Slaughter Lane along FM 1826 to the south and Thomas Springs Road tothe west.

Since the 1990s, Oak Hill has been wrestling with how to address increased traffic along the Hwy. 290 corridor.

In 1990 and 1991, residents opposed plans for the Texas Department of Transportation to extend Hwy. 290 as an elevated freeway through Oak Hill.

Residents had environmental and design concerns and feared the project would divide the neighborhood.

Enough time passed that TxDOT reassigned the freeway's funding, and Oak Hill was left with narrow four-lane roads carrying more cars each year.

In 2011 leaders announced a two-pronged traffic solution: redesigned intersections to solve short-term congestion and a new environmental study working toward a long-term traffic improvement.

TxDOT finished adding turn lanes in September, but the environmental study, dubbed Oak Hill Parkway, will not be completed until 2016, according to TxDOT.

Shopping centers

Representatives for Oak Hill Plaza, the shopping center anchored by Big Lots at 7101 W. Hwy. 71, did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

The Weitzman Group represents Center of the Hills, the Oak Hill shopping center anchored by H-E-B.

Graham Carter, senior vice president of the group's Austin Commercial Real Estate division, said the property at 7010 W. Hwy. 71 is doing well.

"H-E-B is a great anchor for the shopping center, and we are working with tenants to fill almost all of our vacant space," he said. "We are excited about the tenants who are coming into the center because they will provide the neighborhood with some products you cannot currently find in the immediate area."

Carter said Center of the Hills benefits from the more than 70,000 cars that pass by the center daily and the proximity to 125,000 residents within 5 miles of the center.

H-E-B has renovated its Center of the Hills location but is reluctant to make major changes until the traffic situation is resolved, spokeswoman Leslie Sweet said.

"We love our Oak Hill store. We love serving our customers," she said. "We want to make sure that when the transportation improvements are made we retain the opportunity to maintain relationships with those customers."

H-E-B is close to where possible road expansions would take place, Sweet said.

"Obviously we are a facility that needs a good amount of room and parking," she said. "We don't have the room to trim off a part of our building and stay inbusiness there."

Dick Armitage served as secretary on the steering committee that produced the Oak Hill neighborhood plan.

"I think most people look favorably on redevelopment while still protecting the character of the area," he said. "So we approach it cautiously."

He said he did not fault any business that delayed improvements until the final design for the Hwy. 290 corridor took shape.

The Oak Hill Combined Neighborhood Plan calls for a multi-function town center, intended for public gatherings, to be built at the Y.

"[The] town center should have a library, movie theater, park and ride, civic and recreational space, public performance and meeting space [and] elder center/retirement center," the plan states.

The plan also promotes encouraging local businesses to open in Oak Hill and finding ways to help them prosper, such astax credits.

Protecting the aquifer

Much of Oak Hill is built atop the environmentally sensitive recharge zone for the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer or slightly less-sensitive contributing zones.

In 1992, Austin City Council adopted the Save Our Springs Ordinance, which limited development in the Barton Springs Zone, the area with creeks that replenish the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer.

A key point in the ordinance deals with impervious cover—areas such as pavement where water cannot re-enter the ground.

A builder could only cover 15 percent of his or her land with developments if his or her property was in the aquifer recharge zone,20 percent if the property was in the Barton Creek contributing zone and 25 percent for all other contributing zones, according to the ordinance.

In 2007, Austin City Council approved exceptions for redevelopment in the Barton Springs Zone as long as the projects met certain standards.

For example, properties could be redeveloped if they added water quality treatment structures, such as ponds.

Protecting groundwater quality and preserving the area's Hill Country character are top priorities in Oak Hill—and are prominent features in the goals of the Oak Hill Combined Neighborhood Plan.

Resident Laura Lancaster Faulk said with the current regulations, there is no incentive for Barton Springs Zone–area businesses to redevelop.

Richardson said most of the parcels in the Barton Springs Zone are smaller than3 acres and their owners would have difficulty adding water quality features to them.

Next steps

TxDOT officials have said the intersection improvements on the Hwy. 290 corridor should provide temporary traffic relief while the long-term plan is designed.

TxDOT, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, the city of Austin and Capital Metro are working on the Oak Hill Parkway environmental study and have held public meetings this year.

The Mobility Authority has pledged to consider environmentally friendly designs that were developed as part of its 2011 Green Mobility Challenge.

Ultimately redevelopment comes down to the will of the area's property owners.

Anthony Scoma, lead pastor of Southwest Family Fellowship on Hwy. 71, said he would love to have more places to go out to eat after Sunday church services.

Southwest Family Fellowship was one of the first new churches built in the area since the SOS ordinance was enacted.

"Our church cost $700,000 to build," he said. "[The environmental features needed to approve the plan] cost $500,000. Fortunately we are very blessed, but it is cost-prohibitive to build here."