Austin City Council approved a zoning change on first reading for the Asian American Cultural Center in Northwest Austin.
The zoning change would need to be approved on three readings by council for it to pass. City staffers anticipate the zoning change to come back in January for the second reading.
Posted Nov. 27
A zoning change that would permit the Asian American Cultural Center in Northwest Austin to add a senior-living facility, tea room and expanded day care center heads to Austin City Council on Nov. 29.
The center, located at 11713 Jollyville Road, Austin, operates a cultural center for events as well as a day care with preschool and after-school programs.
On Nov. 20, Austin’s Zoning and Platting Commission recommended approving the zoning change from limited office to two different zones. Tract 1 on the southern end is recommended for GR-MU-CO, which is community commercial mixed-use with a conditional overlay. Tract 2 on the north end closest to the residential neighborhood is recommended to maintain the limited office zoning with mixed-use and a conditional overlay.
“This is a real test of our ability to accommodate [President and CEO Amy Wong] Mok’s dream and what the neighbors can live with,” commission Chairman Jim Duncan said.
The commission’s recommendation differs slightly from the recommendation from city-planning staffers, which had proposed general office with mixed-use and a conditional overlay for the site. General office does not permit the uses in the conditional overlay that were ultimately supported by the commission.
According to the conditional overlays added by the commission, the site would be:
- restricted to limited office development standards on Tract 1;
- allowed only certain community commercial uses: food preparation, food sales, indoor entertainment;
- personal improvement services, general restaurant and cultural services;
- restricted to all other limited office permitted uses in Tract 1;
- restricted to 3,000 square feet of restaurant space;
- restricted to outdoor entertainment and outdoor sports and recreation as conditional uses; and
- prohibited from adding access to Rain Forest Cove on to the north by Tract 2.
Austin City Council will consider the zoning change on first reading only at the Nov. 29 meeting and conduct a public hearing. Council will have to approve the change on three readings.
Creating community
This summer, Wong Mok filed a zoning change application to permit a senior-living facility, updated child care center and a public teahouse and dumpling room. Wong Mok said she wants the center to serve the community’s most vulnerable populations: its seniors and children.
“I’m hoping we can with the permission to change the zoning to enrich our program and serve the needs, and I’m hoping, and I will do my best, to turn the apprehension and anxiety into hopefully bewilderment of our AA culture in the future,” she said.
Wong Mok hosted two community meetings to update residents on her plan for the center and to gain support. At the first meeting Oct. 10 residents were concerned about the impact the new development could have on traffic and flooding. Other residents wanted to see more concrete plans before throwing support behind the project.
Timo Xzavier, co-president of the adjacent Raintree Estates neighborhood, said he supports the center expanding but not the building height being requested.
“No building in our neighborhood exceeds three stories,” he said Nov. 20. “Changing the center’s zoning to a designation of GR-MU-CO would allow center not only to build higher than that but also allow a restaurant and liquor sales, which I am opposed to. I fear making the zoning designation change would set a dangerous precedent.”
Other residents, however, have thrown support behind the center’s proposed expansion.
“We don’t a have community center or even coffee shop for neighbors to gather or chat, so I like the idea the new project will offer a tea room and dumpling room so you can walk to get some food, and I think it could help reduce the traffic,” said resident Yi Chen, who lives within a 5-minute walk from the center.
In comments submitted to the city, 53 residents, some of whom reside outside the city of Austin, indicated support for the project, and 69 residents wrote in with their opposition, many citing traffic concerns on Jollyville, which is already congested.
“As a geriatrician I absolutely love the idea of combining senior housing with child care and a cultural center on one site,” wrote Northwest Austin resident Michael Pellegrini. “I see growth along the Jollyville corridor as inevitable and prefer this type of growth.”
