D-2 C15-2021-0101 ADV PACKET — original pdf

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BOA GENERAL REVIEW COVERSHEET CASE: C15-2021-0101 BOA DATE: December 13th, 2021 ADDRESS: 403 & 201 E. Koenig COUNCIL DISTRICT: 4 and 5613 Avenue F OWNER: 201 E. Koenig Ln, LTD. (Donald J. Reese) ZONING: CS-MU-V-CO-NP (North Loop) AGENT: Michael J. Whellan LEGAL DESCRIPTION: ABS 789 SUR 57 WALLACE J P ACR 7.202 VARIANCE REQUEST: a) (C) (2) to increase height limit from three (3) stories and 40 feet (maximum allowed) to 60 feet (requested); b) (C) (3) to increase allowed height from 40 feet plus one foot for each 10 feet of distance in excess of 100 feet SUMMARY: vertical mixed-use project with on-site affordable units and on-site parkland ISSUES: protected trees, public utility, electrical, & telecom easements lot shape to the east, etc. Site CS-MU-V-CO-NP ZONING North South East SF-3-NP SF-3-NP CS-MU-V-CO-NP West CS-MU-V-CO-NP LAND USES General Commercial Services-Mixed Use, Vertical Mixed Use Single-Family Single-Family General Commercial Services-Mixed Use, Vertical Mixed Use General Commercial Services-Mixed Use, Vertical Mixed Use NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS: Austin Independent School District Austin Lost and Found Pets Austin Neighborhoods Council Friends of Austin Neighborhoods Homeless Neighborhood Association Neighborhood Empowerment Foundation North Austin Neighborhood Alliance North Loop Neighborhood Association North Loop Neighborhood Plan Contact Team Preservation Austin SELTexas Sierra Club, Austin Regional Group D-2/1A V E N U E D L I N K S K Y VIE W CLAYTON D U V A L A V E N U E G A I R P O R T 56TH 55TH H ALF K LIN E F U N E AV E G U N E AV K O E NIG E H U N E AV K O E NIG LN 56TH TIN R A M 55T H L VA U D 55 T H S N VA E 53 R D ! ! ± SUBJECT TRACT PENDING CASE ! ! ! ! ZONING BOUNDARY 54T H NOTIFICATIONS CASE#: LOCATION: C15-2021-0101 403 & 201 E KOENIG LN AND 5613 AVENUE F This product is for informational purposes and may not have been prepared for or be suitable for legal, engineering, or surveying purposes. It does not represent an on-the-ground survey and represents only the approximate relative location of property boundaries. 1 " = 292 ' This product has been produced by CTM for the sole purpose of geographic reference. No warranty is made by the City of Austin regarding specific accuracy or completeness. D-2/2D-2/3D-2/4D-2/5D-2/6D-2/7ARMBRUST & BROWN, PLLC A T T O R N E Y S A N D C O U N S E L O R S 100 CONGRESS AVENUE, SUITE 1300 AUSTIN, TEXAS 78701-2744 512-435-2300 FACSIMILE 512-435-2360 October 19, 2021 MICHAEL J. WHELLAN (512) 435-2320 Via email Board of Adjustment 301 W. 2nd St. Austin, TX 78701 Subject: Variance Request for TCAD Parcel No. 0226100701, locally known as 403 E. Koenig Ln. (“the Property”) Dear Members: Please accept this letter on behalf of 201 E. Koenig Lane LTD (the “Applicant”). The Applicant is requesting a variance from the compatibility standards for maximum height in order to provide a Vertical Mixed-Use (“VMU”) project featuring on-site affordable housing and a full acre of on-site parkland (the “Project”). Planning and Land Use Context The Property is currently zoned for CS-MU-V-CO-NP and has been used for Texas Gas Service’s offices for more than six decades. It is located on East Koenig Lane, just west of the rail line and Airport Boulevard. It is surrounded by roadways to the north (Koenig Lane), west (Avenue F), and south (East 56th Street), and by the rail line to the east. Beyond those boundaries, the lots to the east and west are both zoned for CS-MU-V-CO-NP and used for multifamily and auto sales, respectively, while the lots across the streets to the north and south are zoned for SF-3-NP and used for single-family. City of Austin (“City”) policies designate this site as an appropriate location for directing growth and obtaining affordable housing. For context, the City has a goal of 135,000 new housing units citywide and 3,105 new affordable housing units in District 4 by 2028. However, the City is not on track to meet these goals. Over just the first three years of tracking progress toward the goals, the City has already fallen over 14,500 units short on its citywide housing goal and nearly 400 units short on its District 4 affordable housing goal. The City has adopted a number of planning policies to better enable it to meet these housing needs, including directing new growth toward Imagine Austin Centers and along Transit Priority Network roadways and zoning certain properties with the VMU overlay, which allows projects to increase their unit count and floor area in order to achieve on-site affordable housing. {W1097405.1} D-2/8 These policies set a clear vision for this Property: the City has designated it within an Imagine Austin Center (Highland Mall Station), has designated its three surrounding streets (Koenig Lane, Avenue F, and East 56th Street) as Transit Priority Network roadways, and has zoned it with the VMU overlay. At the same time, City policies also designate the Property as within a ‘parkland deficient’ area, marking it as a location that the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department (“PARD”) has prioritized for new, on-site parks space. Variance Request The Applicant is seeking a variance in order to allow for a reasonable use of the Property as the type of development that City plans call for here: a mixed-use project with on-site affordable housing and a full acre of on-site parkland. This variance would relieve the Project from compatibility standards for height. Currently, Section 25-2- 1063 of the Land Development Code limits Project height to 40 ft. or three stories within 50 ft. to 100 ft. from a triggering lot, and limits Project height to 40 ft. plus one foot of height for each 10 ft. of distance beyond 100 ft. from a triggering lot. The requested variance would instead allow the Project to achieve the full 60 ft. allowed in its base zoning across the entire site. This relief will allow the Applicant to shrink the building footprint and provide a full acre of consolidated on-site parkland. The variance is necessary due to a number of physical and geographic constraints, including on-site protected trees, geographical proximity to the railroad crossing (to the east) and the intersection of Avenue F and Koenig Lane (to the west), a water line (to the north), public utility and electrical and telecom easements (to the east), a power line (to the south), and by the shape of the eastern portion of the site, due to the diagonal angle at which the railroad travels along it (See Figure 1 for discussion of constraints). Figure 1. Constraints Summary Constraint Impact On-Site Protected Trees Ensure protected tree preservation Geographic Proximity to Railroad Crossing (East) and Avenue F/Koenig Lane Intersection (West) Water Line (North) Public Utility Easement and Electrical and Telecoms Easement (East) Power Line (South) Site Shape (East) TXDOT mandates driveways be set back 425 ft. from railroad crossing and intersection The water line easement creates a 20-ft. setback running along much of the Koenig frontage Together, both easements yield a 20-ft. setback on the eastern property line Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) mandates 15-ft. setback from center pole The rail cuts across the site’s eastern boundary diagonally, further limiting usable area. Together, these constraints impact over 16 percent of the Property from all sides, undermining the reasonable use envisioned by the City and reducing the Project’s ability to help meet the City’s affordability and parkland needs, as discussed above. For context, accomplishing the City’s vision for parkland would further reduce buildable area by an estimated 15 percent – producing a combined impact Site Area Impacted 1.04% Site Layout Impact 7.53% 2.41% 5.54% Site Layout Impact {W1097405.1} D-2/9 to the site area of over 30 percent. The requested variance would recognize this impact and provide the relief needed to accomplish the reasonable use of full parkland and a high level of affordable housing. Furthermore, the constraints described above impact the Property uniquely and in a manner that is not general to the area. The railroad serves as a boundary line between neighborhood areas (to the west of the rail line) and busier, highway-adjacent commercial areas (to the east). All of the other railroad- adjacent lots in the neighborhood area (west of the rail line) are either small single-family lots and/or smaller lots accessing local roadways. In contrast, the Property is uniquely situated on the neighborhood side of the rail as a mixed-use lot fronting both a Texas Department of Transportation (“TXDOT”) roadway and the railroad – and, accordingly, is the only such lot experiencing this confluence of constraints on all sides. Project History The Applicant submitted a site plan in late November 2020 for a Project with 434 units, with 44 income- restricted affordable units and an acre of on-site parkland. However, to date, constraints have dictated a layout for the parks space with which PARD disagreed. Specifically, these constraints dictated a layout that split the parkland into two different locations and included area that PARD determined they would not include in their parkland calculations. Initially, the Applicant appealed this disagreement to the Parks and Recreation Board (“PARB”) and to the Planning Commission (“PC”). During discussions over that appeal, members of both PARB and PC independently inquired as to whether the Applicant had sought a Board of Adjustment (“BOA”) variance to compatibility standards for height as a venue for relief. After deliberation, the Applicant determined that such a variance request would be both legitimate and appropriate, considering the physical and geographic hardships facing the Property. The Applicant then approached PARD and, based on positive feedback, proceeded with preparing this variance application. The relief provided by the requested variance would directly resolve the constraints-driven layout issues, allowing the Applicant to shrink the building footprint and consolidate the smaller, disparate parks spaces into a larger one-acre park – a plan that better reflects PARD’s parkland vision while also ensuring on-site affordable housing. Conclusion I believe our application demonstrates that the Property faces a number of site-specific hardships that impact it from all sides, undermining the reasonable use that the City envisions here. Accordingly, the Applicant is requesting a variance from compatibility standards for maximum height that would allow the Project to achieve the full 60 ft. provided in the base zoning across the Property. This requested relief will allow the Applicant to achieve a reasonable use and provide a mixed-use Project with on-site affordable housing and a full acre of quality, on-site parkland. Sincerely, Michael J. Whellan {W1097405.1} D-2/10EXISTING 1 STORY BRICK OFFICE BUILDINGEXISTING 1 STORY METAL STORAGEBUILDINGSEXISTING PARKING LOTE. KOENIG LANE56TH STREETAVE. FRAIL LINEAVE. GSF-3-NP USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP; USE: RESIDENCE 403 E KOENIG SITEEXISTING ZONING AND USE DIAGRAM2021.10.19CS-MU-V-CO-NPUSE: RETAIL/MFSF-3-NP USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP; USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP; USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP; USE: RESIDENCE 0 40 80 160CS-MU-V-CO-NPUSE: RETAIL/MFAVE. HDUVALD-2/11PROPOSED 5-STORYAPARTMENT BUILDINGE. KOENIG LANE56TH STREETAVE. FRAIL LINEAVE. GSF-3-NP USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP; USE: RESIDENCE 403 E KOENIG SITEPROPOSED SITE DIAGRAM2021.10.19CS-MU-V-CO-NPUSE: RETAIL/MFSF-3-NP USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP; USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP; USE: RESIDENCE SF-3-NP; USE: RESIDENCE 0 40 80 160PROPOSED 5-STORYAPARTMENT BUILDINGCS-MU-V-CO-NPUSE: RETAIL/MFAVE. HDUVALD-2/12 Site Aerial {W1098113.1} D-2/13D-2/14D-2/15D-2/16D-2/17D-2/18D-2/19D-2/20D-2/21D-2/22D-2/23