06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 9 - Staff Report — original pdf

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NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENT REVIEW SHEET NEIGHORHOOD PLAN: Central Austin Combined (Hancock) CASE#: NPA-2025-0019.03 DATE FILED: July 17, 2025 PROJECT NAME: 1012 E 38th PC DATE: October 28, 2025 ADDRESS/ES: 1012 E. 38th St DISTRICT AREA: 9 SITE AREA: 0.1269 acres OWNER/APPLICANT: GDC-NRG IH35 LLC AGENT: Narrow Road Group (Griff Whalen) CASE MANAGER: Maureen Meredith PHONE: 512-974-2695 STAFF EMAIL: Maureen.Meredith@austintexas.gov TYPE OF AMENDMENT: Change in Future Land Use Designation From: Single Family To: Mixed Use/Office Base District Zoning Change Related Zoning Case: From: SF-3-CO-NP To: LO-MU-NP NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN ADOPTION DATE: August 26, 2004 CITY COUNCIL DATE: TBD ACTION: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: October 28, 2025 – (action pending) 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 91 of 30 STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff supports the Applicant’s request for Mixed Use/Office land use. BASIS FOR STAFF’S RECOMMENDATION: The property is located approximately 300 feet from the west side IH-35 and is on the north side of E. 38th Street. The surrounding land uses are Mixed Use/Office land use to the north, Mixed Use to the east, and Single Family land use to the west. With the expansion of the IH-35, a section of the block to east of the property has been condemned for the highway expansion. Transitioning properties that are near the expansion of IH-35 to Mixed Use/Office could serve as a buffer between the Mixed Use land use and development to the east and the Single Family land use to the west of properties along Harmon Avenue. Staff believes the Applicant’s request for Mixed Use/Office land use is appropriate for this location. The Central Austin Combined Neighborhood Plan states the desire to preserve the single family land uses in the Hancock area. Staff believes because of the changing nature of the area transitioning this tract to Mixed Use/Office is appropriate. 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 92 of 30 LAND USE DESCRIPTIONS: EXISTING LAND USE: Single family - Detached or two family residential uses at typical urban and/or suburban densities Purpose 1. Preserve the land use pattern and future viability of existing neighborhoods; 2. Encourage new infill development that continues existing neighborhood patterns of development; and 3. Protect residential neighborhoods from incompatible business or industry and the loss of existing housing. Application 1. Existing single‐family areas should generally be designated as single family to preserve established neighborhoods; and 2. May include small lot options (Cottage, Urban Home, Small Lot Single Family) and two‐family residential options (Duplex, Secondary Apartment, Single Family Attached, Two‐Family Residential) in areas considered appropriate for this type of infill development. PROPOSED LAND USE: Mixed Use/Office An area that is appropriate for a mix of residential and office uses. Purpose 1. Accommodate mixed use development in areas that are not appropriate for general commercial development; and 2. Provide a transition from residential use to non‐residential or mixed use. 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 93 of 30 Application 1. Appropriate for areas such as minor corridors or local streets adjacent to commercial areas; 2. May be used to encourage commercial uses to transition to residential use; and 3. Provide limited opportunities for live/work residential in urban areas. 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: • Directly north of the Downtown Regional Activity Center Yes Mobility and Public Transit: Located within 0.25 miles of public transit stop and/or light rail station. • Bus routes along E. 38th Street, Red River Street, and along IH-35. Yes Mobility and Bike/Ped Access: Adjoins a public sidewalk, shared path, and/or bike lane. 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. • Approx. 0.6 miles from HEB Yes Connectivity and Education: Located within 0.50 miles from a public school or university • 0.1 miles from Stepping Stone School at Mueller/UT, 3811 Harmon Ave, Austin, TX 78751 • 0.5 miles from Russell Lee Elementary School, 3308 Hampton Rd, Austin, TX 78705. Yes Connectivity and Healthy Living: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles from a recreation area, park or walking trail. • Approx. 0.6 miles from Hancock Recreation Center 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.) • Approx. 0.6 miles from St. David’s Medical Center 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. • The proposed zoning of LO-MU-NP would allow for a residential uses Yes Mixed use: Provides a mix of residential and non-industrial uses. • The proposed zoning of LO-MU-NP would allow for a mixed use development. No No Culture and Creative Economy: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of a cultural resource (ex: library, theater, museum, cultural center). Culture and Historic Preservation: Preserves or enhances a historically and/or culturally significant site. 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 94 of 30 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” Not known No 10 Proximity to Imagine Austin Activity Centers and Corridors 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 95 of 30 Proximity to Public Parks 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 96 of 30 Proximity to Public Transportation 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 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 97 of 30 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. 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 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 98 of 30 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 proposes to change the land use on the future land use map from Single Family to Mixed Use/Office land use. The applicant proposes to change the zoning on the property from SF-3-CO-NP (Family Residence district – Conditional Overly combining district – Neighborhood Plan) to LO-MU- NP (Limited Office district – Mixed Use combining district – Neighborhood Plan). The applicant states proposed uses could be an office, art gallery, home, or community garden. For more information on the proposed zoning, see case report C14-2025-0082. PUBLIC MEETINGS: The ordinance-required community meeting was virtually held on August 27, 2025. The recorded meeting can be found here: https://publicinput.com/neighborhoodplanamendmentcases. Approximately 197 meeting notices were mailed to utility account holders (renters), property owners, and neighborhood/environmental groups within 500 feet of the property. Two city staff members from Austin Planning attended, Maureen Meredith and Mark Walters. Griff Whalen, the applicant’s agent attended, and X people from the neighborhood attended. Below are highlights from Griff Whalen’s presentation: • The CO has height limit to 30 feet. • The proposed zoning is LO-MU-NP and Mixed Use/Office for the proposed FLUM change. • Propose use is a small office or live-work type development. • The concept plan shows the building that looks like a family home, but with flexible with uses like an office or art gallery. • The desire is flexibility which the proposed zoning LO-MU would allow. • Mixed Use/Office FLUM is consistent wit the FLUM to the north • It provides a transition from the high-density land uses to the east and southeast of the site. • There are no plans to build anything tall or have intense uses. Q: Are there no existing plans for intended use? A: It is too early to have a specific plan, but the flexibly of having a small officed or business us is driving the request. Q: I’m concerned about modifying the FLUM. It’s not something we should do lightly. The surrounding streets, especially W. 38th Street are high traffic streets because they lead 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 99 of 30 to downtown. Not knowing the ultimate use of the building could have traffic impacts on the streets. Also, why do the rezoning now? A: The house on this lot was accidently included in nearby demo project. The housing doesn’t have any siding or window. It’s too expensive to rebuild the house to have it rented out in this soft housing market. Q: If you have a height limit of 30 feet, what will stop you from going back and asking for 60 feet? A: We can certainly continue to talk to the neighborhood about limiting the height, but it would also require another rezoning application to increase the height to 60 feet. Q: Why is an office necessary if there is no need for one? This is a residential area. A: The ownership group is looking at a new business plan could work. Some of these smaller projects can be desirable for owner/user in a great central area. We can’t market a site if the zoning is not known. Q: If the plans for a two-story, 40-feet, art gallery, would a two-story limit be agreeable? A: 40 feet is the height limit for the LO zoning. If you want to also talk about restricting certain uses, we can also talk about that. Q: Why not develop more housing on the lot? A: The LO-MU zoning does not prohibit single family homes, which makes the zoning flexible. With the markets changing, a single family home could be built there. Q: Is there a desire by the owner for DB90 or Affordability Unlocked? A: DB90 would require another zoning application, but Affordability Unlock is a separate process. We can have more conversations about this. There is no intent to sneak in more height. Q: Does the applicant own more property around there? A: The same ownership group owns property directly to the east and a small tract to the southeast. I don’t have updates or plans for these properties. As you know, IH-35 is being expanded and imminent domain took about a third of the block to the east of the property. 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 910 of 30 Applicant Summary Letter from Application 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 911 of 30 Letter of Recommendation from the Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (NPCT) (No letter as of October 21, 2025) From: Meredith, Maureen Sent: Monday, September 22, 2025 11:42 AM To: adam.stephens@capstarlending.com; bart.whatley@gmail.com; betsy.greenberg@gmail.com; lindabethteam@gmail.com; bhfairchild@gmail.com; rs01@utexas.edu; cochlea1@gmail.com; a.jarry@sbcglobal.net; jfoxworth@mac.com; wwukasch@flash.net; 1sarah.campbell@gmail.com; hparsegian@gmail.com; mclvinx@mac.com; 'pambell.nuna@gmail.com' <pambell.nuna@gmail.com>; xcjkw636@xntse.com Cc: Hadri, Cynthia <Cynthia.Hadri@austintexas.gov> Subject: CANPAC Rec ltr?: NPA-2025-0019.03_1012 E. 38th Street Importance: High Dear CANPAC NPCT: Cases NPA-2025-0019.03 and C14-2025-0082_1012 E. 38th Street are scheduled for the October 28, 2025 Planning Commission hearing date. If your team would like to include a letter of recommendation in our staff reports, please email it to me and Cynthia no later than Tuesday, October 21st by 3:00 pm. If we get it later than this date and time, we will submit it as late material for the hearing. Thanks. Maureen Maureen Meredith (she/her) Senior Planner, Long-Range Planning Planning Department 512-974-2695 maureen.meredith@austintexas.gov Please Note: Correspondence and information submitted to the City of Austin are subject to the Texas Public Information Act (Chapter 552) and may be published online. Por Favor Tome En Cuenta: La correspondencia y la información enviada a la Ciudad de Austin está sujeta a la Ley de Información Pública de Texas (Capítulo 552) y puede ser publicada en línea. 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 912 of 30 Site 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 913 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 914 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 915 of 3006 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 916 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 917 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 918 of 30 Griff Whalen’s Presentation at the Virtual Community Meeting 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 919 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 920 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 921 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 922 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 923 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 924 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 925 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 926 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 927 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 928 of 30 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 929 of 30 Correspondence Received (No correspondence received) 06 NPA-2025-0019.03 - 1012 E 38th; District 930 of 30