The developer behind a new resort planned at Circuit of the Americas is seeking to reduce its required public parkland contributions and other environmental enhancements around the project.
The setup
Expansion at COTA has taken place in recent years under a planned unit development, or PUD, covering over 1,000 acres in far East Austin. That city zoning designation applies to larger, more complicated mixed-use projects and can grant broad building flexibility in exchange for "superior" improvements on site.
COTA has been a longtime home to major concerts and motorsports events that are set to continue for years. The property also continues to develop with updates like a new amusement park opening later this year and the resort concept now on the horizon.
While hotel elements were envisioned in the original PUD outline passed in 2020, an expanded $925 million project from RIDA Development is now moving through city review after receiving initial support last year. It'd include:
A 1,000-plus room, 250-foot hotel with a lazy river
A convention center with hundreds of thousands of square feet of exhibit space
A golf course and driving range
Additionally, further projects around COTA like high-end residences near the main racetrack and a secondary practice track to the north are planned.
The resort project is expected to create hundreds of jobs and generate $10 billion in economic activity over 30 years, according to attorney and RIDA lobbyist Michael Whellan. A labor agreement for hotel operations is also being worked out with hospitality union Unite Here Local 23, he said, and the project team is considering environmental impacts ahead of construction.
“Over the last 10 years, RIDA has built more 1,000-plus room hotels in the United States than anyone else. They pay attention to the details, they partner with communities they are investing in and have experience meeting environmental standards," Whellan said.
However, Austinites tasked with reviewing plans for the new resort have pushed back against the development and its claims of superiority. The Parks and Recreation Board voted against RIDA's requested changes in late February, while the Environmental Commission said the project should only move ahead with a slate of ecological and water quality requirements in place.
“A PUD has to be a clear improvement over everything, and I don’t see that," environmental commissioner Richard Brimer said March 4.
The PUD amendment is now moving to a zoning review ahead of a final City Council vote this spring.
Zooming in
Under the original PUD, 11.38 acres of publicly accessible parkland must be dedicated on-site. That park area was planned on the northern edge of COTA's property and would've included two community soccer fields and other improvements.
The PUD states that any hotel development at COTA wouldn't be allowed to open its doors until the park and soccer fields were dedicated to the city. However, developers are now seeking to change the requirement to allow either:
A 14-acre off-site park dedication somewhere in East Austin
A $2 million fee payment for city parkland
The secondary racetrack could replace the originally planned park and soccer fields. Whellan said the change to allow a payment instead of new land is needed to ensure RIDA's project can move forward.
"The hotel needs the flexibility to meet its own parkland dedication requirements and obtain a certificate of occupancy if, for some reason, COTA and the parks department struggle to find off-site land that can be purchased and dedicated," he told parks board members in February.
Off-site parkland would have to be located within 3 miles of COTA and attached to Austin's full-purpose jurisdiction. However, much of the area surrounding COTA is in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, meaning it'd be more difficult to be served and maintained by the city.
City parks staff said land dedication near COTA within Austin's full-purpose jurisdiction could be difficult. (Courtesy city of Austin)
Randy Scott, Austin Parks and Recreation acquisition manager, said developers had offered two potential off-site park properties so far. Both were located farther east toward the Bastrop County line and "well into the ETJ," he said, making them ineligible. He also said the options wouldn't support a planned community recreation center to serve Southeast Austin at the new park.
What they're saying
APR staff said the $2 million fee payment is now the most likely outcome, but wouldn't meet the PUD "superiority" requirement or result in as much park space as a land dedication.
“The values of fee-in-lieu-of and the value of 14 acres and two soccer fields are not equal. The fee-in-lieu-of option will be a cheaper out at some point in time in the future," Scott said.
RIDA lobbyist April Brown said the expanded resort requires the loss of parkland at COTA, and that the developer is working to maintain superiority for the project.
“If the amendment is not approved, then this hotel development cannot be constructed," she said. "It’s not the original hotel that was proposed in the original PUD; this is double the rooms, and actually the footprint is about 200 total acres with everything that they’re trying to do, which requires the PUD amendment and all the code changes."
The COTA PUD was approved with a requirement for public park with soccer fields off Circuit of the Americas Boulevard. (Courtesy city of Austin)
The parks board was largely critical of RIDA's proposal due to the loss of a community amenity and uncertainty about future public green space in an already park-deficient area. They also said a fee payment would likely be far less impactful given rising land and development costs, and that the public benefit was originally required to advance COTA's plans years ago.
"I’d question whether the PUD would have been approved in the beginning if we didn’t have superiority," board member Jennifer Franklin said.
The board recommended against RIDA's ask 8-1. Board member Pedro Villalobos voted no, saying the area could see negative economic impacts if the project is held up.
What else?
This week, residents serving on the Environmental Commission also voiced concerns about ecological effects from RIDA's revised plans.
“Usually when you think of a PUD ... as far as environmental superiority, a lot of us like to see things that the general public could use. And so with this, there are some questions of what is the value to the general public, right?" Commissioner Haris Qureshi said.
Commissioners voted 6-1 to recommend the project only if the developer followed around two dozen environmental standards. Vice Chair Mariana Krueger was against, saying she opposed the changes in any form due to "really deep concerns" about the resort's impact on the surrounding environment.
Requirements forwarded by the commission included limited construction in the Critical Water Quality Zone, prevention of chemical runoff into creeks, noise reduction measures near the practice track, bird-friendly building design, and the dedication of the nearly 11.5 acres of on-site parkland.
City environmental staff had also recommended advancing the PUD amendment with some less extensive requirements, like additional wetland restoration and tree planting.
Student housing, Valvoline: Check out 5 major Austin-area permits filed this week
