06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 10 - Staff Report — original pdf

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NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENT REVIEW SHEET NEIGHORHOOD PLAN: Central West Austin Combined CASE#: NPA-2025-0027.01 DATE FILED: March 27, 2025 PROJECT NAME: Lake Austin PC DATE: May 27, 2025 ADDRESS/ES: 2406 Lake Austin Blvd DISTRICT AREA: 10 SITE AREA: 7,290 sq. ft./0.1674 acres OWNER/APPLICANT: Wildan Enterprises, LLC AGENT: Keepers Land Planning (Ricca Keepers) CASE MANAGER: Maureen Meredith PHONE: (512) 974-2695 STAFF EMAIL: Maureen.Meredith@austintexas.gov TYPE OF AMENDMENT: Change in Future Land Use Designation From: Neighborhood Commercial To: Mixed Use Base District Zoning Change Related Zoning Case: C14-2025-0026 From: GR-NP To: GR-MU-NP NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN ADOPTION DATE: September 23, 2010 CITY COUNCIL DATE: TBD ACTION: 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 101 of 25PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: May 27, 2025 – (action pending) STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff supports the applicant’s request for Mixed Use land use. BASIS FOR STAFF’S RECOMMENDATION: Staff supports the applicant’s request for a Mixed Use land use designation because the property fronts onto Lake Austin Boulevard, an activity corridor identified in the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan’s Growth Concept Map. A Mixed Use future land use category is appropriate along those corridors. Furthermore, the associated zoning change request from GR-NP (Community Commercial – Neighborhood Plan) to GR-MU-NP (Community Commercial –Mixed Use combining district- Neighborhood Plan) and the future land use map change request from Neighborhood Commercial to Mixed Use will make the zoning and land use designation consistent. The Central West Austin Combined Neighborhood Plan (2010) was approved before the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan (2012) when activity corridors and activity centers were designated. The existing zoning on the property is GR-NP, and the existing land use on the future land use map is Neighborhood Commercial. The most intense zoning district compatible with the existing land use of Neighborhood Commercial land use is LR – MU (Neighborhood Commercial – Mixed Use). The zoning on properties along this segment of Lake Austin Boulevard varies from CS-NP, GR-NP, GR-CO-NP, LR-NP, GO-CO-NP, and LO-NP, making most sites inconsistent with their land use designation of Neighborhood Commercial. Although the subject tract is the only one presently requesting a change to Mixed Use, this designation would be the most compatible land use for all these sites along this segment of Lakeshore Boulevard, given its designation as an activity corridor in the comprehensive plan. 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 102 of 25 The Central West Austin Combined Neighborhood Plan envisions Lake Austin Blvd as a gateway into the planning area with the desire to expand neighborhood-serving commercial uses. Lake Austin Blvd has transit access and is within walking distance to commercial uses. 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 103 of 25 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 104 of 25 LAND USE DESCRIPTIONS: EXISTING LAND USE: Neighborhood Commercial - Lots or parcels containing small‐scale retail or offices, professional services, convenience retail, and shopfront retail that serve a market at a neighborhood scale. Purpose 1. Accommodate low‐intensity commercial services that serve surrounding neighborhoods; and 2. Encourage small‐scale retail within walking distance from residential areas. Application 1. Appropriate for areas such as minor arterials and collectors, small parcels along major arterials that abut single‐ family residential development, and areas in environmentally sensitive zones where high intensity commercial uses are discouraged; and 2. May be used to encourage high intensity commercial to transition to residential uses. PROPOSED LAND USE: Mixed Use - An area that is appropriate for a mix of residential and non‐residential uses. Purpose 1. Encourage more retail and commercial services within walking distance of residents; 2. Allow live‐work/flex space on existing commercially zoned land in the neighborhood; 3. Allow a mixture of complementary land use types, which may include housing, retail, offices, commercial services, and civic uses (with the exception of government offices) to encourage linking of trips; 4. Create viable development opportunities for underused center city sites; 5. Encourage the transition from non‐residential to residential uses; 6. Provide flexibility in land use standards to anticipate changes in the marketplace; 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 105 of 25 7. Create additional opportunities for the development of residential uses and affordable housing; and 8. Provide on‐street activity in commercial areas after 5 p.m. and built‐in customers for local businesses. Application 1. Allow mixed use development along major corridors and intersections; 2. Establish compatible mixed‐use corridors along the neighborhood’s edge 3. The neighborhood plan may further specify either the desired intensity of commercial uses (i.e. LR, GR, CS) or specific types of mixed use (i.e. Neighborhood Mixed Use Building, Neighborhood Urban Center, Mixed Use Combining District); 4. Mixed Use is generally not compatible with industrial development, however it may be combined with these uses to encourage an area to transition to a more complementary mix of development types; 5. The Mixed Use (MU) Combining District should be applied to existing residential uses to avoid creating or maintaining a non‐conforming use; and 6. Apply to areas where vertical mixed use development is encouraged such as Core Transit Corridors (CTC) and Future Core Transit Corridors. Yes Yes Imagine Austin Decision Guidelines Complete Community Measures Imagine Austin Growth Concept Map: Located within or adjacent to an Imagine Austin Activity Center, Imagine Austin Activity Corridor, or Imagine Austin Job Center as identified the Growth Concept Map. Name(s) of Activity Center/Activity Corridor/Job Center: • Property is on Lake Austin Blvd which is an Activity Corridor Yes Mobility and Public Transit: Located within 0.25 miles of public transit stop and/or light rail station. • Capital Metro bus routes on Lake Austin Blvd and Veterans Drive Yes Mobility and Bike/Ped Access: Adjoins a public sidewalk, shared path, and/or bike lane. • Sidewalks on the north and south side of Lake Austin Blvd Yes Connectivity, Good and Services, Employment: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles to goods and services, and/or employment center. Yes Connectivity and Food Access: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of a grocery store/farmers market. • 0.4 miles from H-E-B Grocery Store • 1.4 miles from Whole Foods Market • 1.8 miles from Trader Joes No Connectivity and Education: Located within 0.50 miles from a public school or university. 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 106 of 25 • 0.7 miles from O Henry Middle School • 1.0 miles from Mathews Elementary School • 1.0 miles from Austin High School Yes Connectivity and Healthy Living: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles from a recreation area, park or walking trail. • 0.1 miles from Eilers (Deep Eddy) Neighborhood Park • 0.2 miles from Veterans Park • 1.4 miles from Lions Municipal Golf Course • Existing and proposed urban trails to the south of the property Yes Connectivity and Health: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of health facility (ex: hospital, urgent care, doctor’s office, drugstore clinic, and/or specialized outpatient care.) • 0.3 miles from MinuteClinic at CVS No Housing Affordability: Provides a minimum of 10% of units for workforce housing (80% MFI or less) and/or fee in lieu for affordable housing. Yes Housing Choice: Expands the number of units and housing choice that suits a variety of household sizes, incomes, and lifestyle needs of a diverse population (ex: apartments, triplex, granny flat, live/work units, cottage homes, and townhomes) in support of Imagine Austin and the Strategic Housing Blueprint. • Applicant proposes to add a residential unit at the rear of the property. The proposed zoning for GR-MU-NP would allow for residential units. Yes Mixed use: Provides a mix of residential and non-industrial uses. • Applicant proposes to add a residential unit to the property where an existing office exists. No No Not known Not known No 9 Culture and Creative Economy: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of a cultural resource (ex: library, theater, museum, cultural center). • 1.6 miles from Austin Central Library Culture and Historic Preservation: Preserves or enhances a historically and/or culturally significant site. Creative Economy: Expands Austin’s creative economy (ex: live music venue, art studio, film, digital, theater.) Workforce Development, the Economy and Education: Expands the economic base by creating permanent jobs, especially in industries that are currently not represented in particular area or that promotes a new technology, and/or promotes educational opportunities and workforce development training. Industrial Land: Preserves or enhances industrial land. Number of “Yeses” 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 107 of 25 Proximity to Imagine Austin Activity Centers and Corridors 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 108 of 25 Proximity to Public Parks 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 109 of 25 Existing and Proposed Urban Trails Proximity to Public Transportation & Urban Trails 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1010 of 25 IMAGINE AUSTIN GROWTH CONCEPT MAP Definitions Neighborhood Centers - The smallest and least intense of the three mixed-use centers are neighborhood centers. As with the regional and town centers, neighborhood centers are walkable, bikable, and supported by transit. The greatest density of people and activities in neighborhood centers will likely be concentrated on several blocks or around one or two intersections. However, depending on localized conditions, different neighborhood centers can be very different places. If a neighborhood center is designated on an existing commercial area, such as a shopping center or mall, it could represent redevelopment or the addition of housing. A new neighborhood center may be focused on a dense, mixed-use core surrounded by a mix of housing. In other instances, new or redevelopment may occur incrementally and concentrate people and activities along several blocks or around one or two intersections. Neighborhood centers will be more locally focused than either a regional or a town center. Businesses and services—grocery and department stores, doctors and dentists, shops, branch libraries, dry cleaners, hair salons, schools, restaurants, and other small and local businesses—will generally serve the center and surrounding neighborhoods. Town Centers - Although less intense than regional centers, town centers are also where many people will live and work. Town centers will have large and small employers, although fewer than in regional centers. These employers will have regional customer and employee bases, and provide goods and services for the center as well as the surrounding areas. The buildings found in a town center will range in size from one-to three-story houses, duplexes, townhouses, and rowhouses, to low-to midrise apartments, mixed use buildings, and office buildings. These centers will also be important hubs in the transit system. Regional Centers - Regional centers are the most urban places in the region. These centers are and will become the retail, cultural, recreational, and entertainment destinations for Central Texas. These are the places where the greatest density of people and jobs and the tallest buildings in the region will be located. Housing in regional centers will mostly consist of low to high-rise apartments, mixed use buildings, row houses, and townhouses. However, other housing types, such as single-family units, may be included depending on the location and character of the center. The densities, buildings heights, and overall character of a center will depend on its location. Activity Centers for Redevelopment in Sensitive Environmental Areas - Five centers are located over the recharge or contributing zones of the Barton Springs Zone of the Edwards Aquifer or within water-supply watersheds. These centers are located on already developed areas and, in some instances, provide opportunities to address long-standing water quality issues and provide walkable areas in and near existing neighborhoods. State-of-the-art development practices will be required of any redevelopment to improve stormwater retention and the water quality flowing into the aquifer or other drinking water sources. These centers should also be carefully evaluated to fit within their infrastructural and environmental context. 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1011 of 25 Job Centers - Job centers accommodate those businesses not well-suited for residential or environmentally- sensitive areas. These centers take advantage of existing transportation infrastructure such as arterial roadways, freeways, or the Austin-Bergstrom International airport. Job centers will mostly contain office parks, manufacturing, warehouses, logistics, and other businesses with similar demands and operating characteristics. They should nevertheless become more pedestrian and bicycle friendly, in part by better accommodating services for the people who work in those centers. While many of these centers are currently best served by car, the growth Concept map offers transportation choices such as light rail and bus rapid transit to increase commuter options. Corridors - Activity corridors have a dual nature. They are the connections that link activity centers and other key destinations to one another and allow people to travel throughout the city and region by bicycle, transit, or automobile. Corridors are also characterized by a variety of activities and types of buildings located along the roadway — shopping, restaurants and cafés, parks, schools, single-family houses, apartments, public buildings, houses of worship, mixed-use buildings, and offices. Along many corridors, there will be both large and small redevelopment sites. These redevelopment opportunities may be continuous along stretches of the corridor. There may also be a series of small neighborhood centers, connected by the roadway. Other corridors may have fewer redevelopment opportunities, but already have a mixture of uses, and could provide critical transportation connections. As a corridor evolves, sites that do not redevelop may transition from one use to another, such as a service station becoming a restaurant or a large retail space being divided into several storefronts. To improve mobility along an activity corridor, new and redevelopment should reduce per capita car use and increase walking, bicycling, and transit use. Intensity of land use should correspond to the availability of quality transit, public space, and walkable destinations. Site design should use building arrangement and open space to reduce walking distance to transit and destinations, achieve safety and comfort, and draw people outdoors. BACKGROUND: The applicant is requesting a change in the future land use map from Neighborhood Commercial to Mixed Use land use. The applicant is requesting a change in zoning from GR-NP (Community Commercial district – Neighborhood Plan) to GR-MU-NP (Community Commercial district – Mixed Use combining district – Neighborhood Plan) to allow for a residential unit to be built on the property where there is an existing office building. For more information on the proposed zoning, see case report C14-2025-0049. PUBLIC MEETINGS: The ordinance-required community meeting was virtually held on April 24, 2025. The recorded meeting can be found here: https://publicinput.com/neighborhoodplanamendmentcases. Approximately 173 community meeting notices were mailed to people with utility accounts or who owns property within 500 feet of the subject property. Two city staff members attended the meeting, Maureen Meredith and Mark Walters from the Planning Department. Ricca Keepers from Keepers Land 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1012 of 25 Planning, the applicant’s agent, and David Martinez from ENZI Wealth attended, in addition to five people from the neighborhood. Below are highlights from Ricca Keeper’s presentation: • The current property is zoned GR-NP and we want to add the MU-Mixed Use combining district to the property because the owner wants to build a small apartment on the back of the property. • We are asking for support for the Mixed Use FLUM change. • We don’t want to remodel the property, but to add the residential unit on the back. Q: Would it be appropriate to have Neighborhood Mixed Use on the property instead of Mixed Use? A: LR-MU would be the highest zoning district to be allowed in the Neighborhood Mixed Use land use. GR-MU request is compatible with the Mixed Use land use, which is what the applicant is requesting. Q: Why wasn’t the property downzoned to LR during the planning process to be consistent with the FLUM of Neighborhood Commercial if GR is not consistent? A: The staff at this virtual community meeting was not involved in the creation of the Central West Austin Combined Neighborhood Plan, so we don’t know the rationale behind the decision for either city staff or City Council to downzone the property. Q: Why doesn’t the property owner downzone their property to LR so it will be consistent with the current FLUM of Neighborhood Commercial? A: Staff: Not very many property owners choose to downzone their property. The property owner currently has GR-NP zoning and is requesting to add the MU to the GR, so now is the opportunity to make the zoning consistent with the land use. Comments: • The city is going to have too much density and not enough mass transit to handle it, • and that is what is happening with this property. I'm not opposed to the addition of mixed use here but would like to see a more measured adjustment of the FLUM in line with the plan guidance and context of this property. The selective invocation of reasons for mixed use here don't seem to reflect any input from the NP. Again, I'd like to see neighborhood mixed use and support the project's addition of mixed use that way. 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1013 of 25 Applicant Summary Letter from Application 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1014 of 25 Letter of Recommendation from the Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (NPCT) (No letter as of May 21, 2025) From: Meredith, Maureen Sent: Monday, May 19, 2025 11:32 AM To: panchonixon@yahoo.com; dedeumstead@gmail.com; august@moreland.com; Roya@Royanet.com; blake.tollett@earthlink.net; mike <mike@tcciplaw.com>; jbasciano@austin.rr.com; mcmediate@msn.com; rcrumpatx@gmail.com; Corypomeroy@hotmail.com; callieahester@gmail.com Cc: Tomko, Jonathan <Jonathan.Tomko@austintexas.gov> Subject: CWA NPCT Rec: NPA-2025-0027.01/C14-2025-0026_2406 Lake Austin Blvd Importance: High Dear Central West Austin NPCT: Cases NPA-2025-0027.01 and C14-2025-0026_2406 Lake Austin Blvd will be on the May 27, 2025 Planning Commission hearing agenda. If you team would like to submit a letter of recommendation to be included in our staff case reports, please email it to me and Jonathan Tomko, the zoning planner, no later than Wednesday, May 21st by 5:00 pm. If we receive it after this date and time, it will be included as late material submitted to the Planning Commissioners. Thanks. Maureen 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1015 of 25 Site 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1016 of 25 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1017 of 25 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1018 of 25 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1019 of 25 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1020 of 25 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1021 of 25 Ricca Keepers’ Presentation at the April 24, 2025 Virtual Community Meeting 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1022 of 25 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1023 of 25 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1024 of 25 Correspondence Received (No correspondence received) 06 NPA-2025-0027.01 - Lake Austin; District 1025 of 25