04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 4 - Staff Report — original pdf

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NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENT REVIEW SHEET NEIGHORHOOD PLAN: North Lamar Combined CASE#: NPA-2025-0026.02 DATE FILED: October 1, 2025 PROJECT NAME: Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales PC DATE: March 10, 2026 ADDRESS/ES: 10600, 10602, 10604, 10606, 10608 Middle Fiskville Rd DISTRICT AREA: 4 SITE AREA: 1.4617 acres OWNER/APPLICANT: Penize, LLC and Toniette Navarrette AGENT: Husch Blackwell (Nikelle Meade) 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: Commercial Base District Zoning Change Related Zoning Case: From: LR-NP and SF-3-NP To: CS-NP NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN ADOPTION DATE: June 24, 2010 CITY COUNCIL DATE: TBD ACTION: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: March 10, 2026 - 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 41 of 25STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff supports the Applicant’s request for Commercial land use. BASIS FOR STAFF’S RECOMMENDATION: Staff supports the applicant’s request for Commercial land use because there is commercial land use to the south and Mixed Use land use to the north of the subject tract. The property is located near N IH 35 where commercial land use is appropriate. The North Lamar Combined Neighborhood Plan supports commercial uses along IH-35. The neighborhood plan notes that Neighborhood Commercial land use was designated for these properties because they are adjacent to single family land uses. Please see the zoning case report C14-2025-0099 for the list of conditional and prohibited uses Staff recommends in the CS- General Commercial Services district to address this concern. 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 42 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 43 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: Commercial -Lots or parcels containing retail sales, services, hotel/motels and all recreational services that are predominantly privately owned and operated for profit (for example, theaters and bowling alleys). Included are private institutional uses (convalescent homes and rest homes in which medical or surgical services are not a main function of the institution), but not hospitals. Purpose 1. Encourage employment centers, commercial activities, and other non‐ residential development to locate along major thoroughfares; and 2. Reserve limited areas for intense, auto‐oriented commercial uses that are generally not compatible with residential or mixed use environments. Application 1. Focus the highest intensity commercial and industrial activities along freeways and major highways; and 2. Should be used in areas with good transportation access such as frontage roads and arterial roadways, which are generally not suitable for residential development. 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 44 of 25 Yes No 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: • 0.50 miles from E. Braker Lane, an activity corridor • 0.63 miles from the Lamar/Runberg Neighborhood Center • 0.66 miles from North Lamar Blvd, an activity corridor No Mobility and Public Transit: Located within 0.25 miles of public transit stop and/or light rail station. • Bus routes along North Lamar Blvd and E. Braker Lane are more than 0.25 miles from the subject tract. Yes Mobility and Bike/Ped Access: Adjoins a public sidewalk, shared path, and/or bike lane. • Sidewalks along IH-35 Yes Connectivity, Good and Services, Employment: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles to goods and services, and/or employment center. • There are business along the IH-35 frontage road No Connectivity and Food Access: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of a grocery store/farmers market. No Connectivity and Education: Located within 0.50 miles from a public school or university. • 1.8 miles from Walnut Creek Elementary School, 401 W Braker Ln, Austin, TX 78753 • 2.00 miles from Graham Elementary School, 11211 Tom Adams Dr, Austin, TX 78753 • 2.40 miles from Mc Bee Elementary School, 1001 W Braker Ln, Austin, TX 78758 No Connectivity and Healthy Living: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles from a recreation area, park or walking trail. • 0.6 miles from Brownie Neighborhood Park No 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.) 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. No 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. No Mixed use: Provides a mix of residential and non-industrial uses. No Culture and Creative Economy: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of a cultural resource (ex: library, theater, museum, cultural center). No Culture and Historic Preservation: Preserves or enhances a historically and/or culturally significant site. No Creative Economy: Expands Austin’s creative economy (ex: live music venue, art studio, film, digital, theater.) No 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. 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 45 of 25 Industrial Land: Preserves or enhances industrial land. No 2 Number of “Yeses” Proximity to Imagine Austin Activity Centers and Corridors 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 46 of 25 Proximity to Parks 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 47 of 25 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. 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 48 of 25 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. 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 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 49 of 25 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 proposes to change the land use on the future land use map (FLUM) from Neighborhood Commercial to Commercial land use. The applicant proposes to change the zoning on the property from LR-NP (Neighborhood Commercial district – Neighborhood Plan) and SF-3-NP (Family Residence district – Neighborhood Plan) to CS-NP (General Commercial Services district – Neighborhood Plan) for an existing automotive sales business. There is an existing car sales lot that has been Red Tagged by Code Enforcement for operating the business without the proper zoning and without an approved site plan. The applicant is seeking the zoning change to come into compliance with the existing use. PUBLIC MEETINGS: The ordinance-required community meeting was virtually held on October 30, 2025. The recorded meeting can be found here: https://publicinput.com/neighborhoodplanamendmentcases. Approximately 132 community meeting notices were mailed to property owners and utility account holders who live within 500 feet of the property, in addition to neighborhood and environmental groups who requested notification for the area. Three city staff members from Austin Planning attended the meeting, Chris Ryerson, Maureen Meredith and Mark Walters. Three members from Husch Blackwell attended, Nikelle Meade, Amber Dean and Lindsey Walker. Two people from the neighborhood attended. Below are highlights from Lindsey Walker’s presentation: • The existing zoning is LR-NP and SF-3-NP. The proposed zoning is CS-NP. • There is an existing auto sales shop on the property • With the rezoning, the applicant wants to continue to operate auto sales and has no plans to redevelop the property. • The area has changed over the years. • Property owner was cited by the City for not having a site plan, but when a site plan was being prepared, they determined that the property would also need to be rezoned to CS- NP to allow for the auto sales establishment. Q: What triggered the citation for a site plan? A: We’re not sure what caused the property to be cited, but it was probably a complaint by a property owner. The Code Enforcement officer gave them 30 days to file a site plan, but then we found out the property needed the CS zoning before we could submit the site plan. 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 410 of 25 Q: Will the new site plan include new storm water? A: Yes, the new site plan will meet all Code requirements with storm water and water quality facilities. Q: We are not necessarily opposed to the new zoning, but we do not want all the uses that are allowed in the CS zoning, such as an adult lounge. There is a conditional overlay on properties to the north that we would like you to look at for this property. A: We can look at all the uses allowed in the CS zoning and work with the neighborhood on a conditional overlay. We will look at the CO on the properties to the north. 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 411 of 25 Applicant Summary Letter from Application • 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 412 of 25 Mockingbird Hill Neigh. Assn. Letter of Recommendation 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 413 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 414 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 415 of 25Site 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 416 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 417 of 2504 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 418 of 25 Applicant’s Presentation at the Virtual Community Meeting 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 419 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 420 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 421 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 422 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 423 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 424 of 25 04 NPA-2025-0026.02 - Middle Fiskville Automotive Sales; District 425 of 25