March-April 2003 SLNA Scoop Archive
4/26/03--Update on City View Storage
Hi gang,
Was at the City on Thursday... checked on City View Storage...They
have applied for "reconsideration" and that appeal will be
considered on May 12th.
It takes three of the five votes from the board to decide even to
hear the request for reconsideration. If heard, it requires
four votes to get the variance.
Bryan
4/21/03--Recap of Walgreens Presentation
Hey folks. A developer is proposing to build a Walgreens
at South Lamar and Bluebonnet, replacing most of the current
trailer park, behind Maria's Taco and Texas Boot shop. Below
is a helpful digest (written by Bobby Rigney of Zilker
NA--thanks, Bobby) of the presentation from Sarah Crocker,
representing Walgreens at the SLNA meeting last Thursday. I
think it's a good reflection of Crocker's statements at the
meeting.
A few thoughts of my own: We must respect the rights of the
landowners to do as they please, within legal limits, with
this property. However, we owe it to ourselves and to
proposed future users of the property to say what we desire.
It's OUR community in which their land lays, and WE are
their potential customers. Please do look at the site and
draw your own conclusions. I personally believe there could
be a better use of this property, although I'm pretty sure
there could be a worse one. I think the promises to mitigate
the effect on the neighborhood (flooding, traffic) are just
that--promises. So are the promises to leave alone Maria's
and the boot shop. We must weigh whether such promises merit
our trust, and how they could be enforced. Most importantly,
we must envision what we want there, considering all options
(including a "no-Walgreens" one). As Crocker said, this land
is likely to be developed in the near future. Now--like
RIGHT now--is our chance to speak up. -Kevin
Here's an update from the presentation last Thursday
which I attended for Zilker. The Sarah Crocker presentation
on Walgreen's behalf was simply intended to start the
dialog. This site is Walgreen's number 1 pick for our area.
Sarah had a larger site plan but that "was not 100%
accurate" so instead of showing that, attendees passed
around a copy of the city's map included in the notification
letter that landowners and neighborhood associations within
300' receive. The owner is applying to the city, seeking a
change in zoning from Single Family 3(SF3) to General
Retail(GR). This application concerns 4 acres of THIS
owner's total land ( 6.5? total acres) Often, properties
have different zoning on the front, than on the back, or
wherever. This is also the case for the (we hoped Russell's)
W.O.Harper adjacent corner land, having a different property
owner. It was presented that the corner landowner was not in
a "land lease" nor "selling mood" as of last week. It's hard
to relate the angled configuration of these parcels with
words, but I'll talk through some aspects that help
describe.
The 4 acre (for which GR zoning is requested) property
angles with a point pointing closest to Lamar at the
W.O.Harper corner property's southern property line. The 4
acres includes the trailer park, and includes Bluebonnet
Lane frontage. That Bluebonnet frontage does not currently
allow trailer park access, but in the event of a Walgreen's
store, large trucks using Bluebonnet for an exit would
prompt a city requirement for Walgreen's to upgrade that
street to the extent it would be traveled on back to the
Lamar traffic light. It was presented that two advantages of
this plan is (1) this opportunity to upgrade Bluebonnet,
which could add sidewalk improvements as well, and (2) this
plan implied the intention to leave the "Lamar frontage left
intact" (unchanged?) which includes Texas Boot Store and
Maria's Taco X'Press (7 years left on her lease). We were
told the owner has inherited this property and intends to
sell.
After Sarah left (thanked for her presentation) it was
brought up that we lack neighborhood planning, and also lack
a corridor plan for the Lamar Boulevard. It was encouraged
that we envision what neighbors would LIKE to see, and not
to just view this as an "opportunity" to endorse Walgreen's,
or not. Worth noting is that a Bluebonnet improvement would
be expected of most any new development, and the zoning
would be what's granted, not especially this specific plan.
A planning group (subcommittee) co-chaired by Marci Roberts
and Carol Gibbs, and would meet in the near future (Zilker
invited to participate). Everyone heard that Walgreen's is
planning 3200 sites in 7 years, 450 destination stores this
year, and some wonder if Walgreen's would even entertain a
notion of master planning a "flagship" site. There could be
a performance bond tied to a neighborhood agreement.
Expected is a single story 112' x 130' building, with sign,
and 2 drive throughs. That's over 14,000sq.ft. compared to
the current 7,500sq.ft. The entire trailer park would be
displaced, the parking required would be 1:200 (70 spaces),
there would be on-site storm drainage, and a single entrance
would be from Lamar, south of Maria's. There is currently
vacant MF2 zoned property behind this. Stassney at S.1st and
Guadalupe at 45th are locations of newer Walgreen's. Some
said 45th St. has bad egress. Expect this to go to ZAP
sometime in May 2003. Annick Beaudet is city staff(974-2975)
Where are we on that UT connection for corridor planning?
Can anything happen, even schematically, in a usable time
frame?
-Bobby Rigney
4/15/03--City View Storage & Walgreens
Hey there. I'm pleased to say the Board of Adjustment
Monday ruled against the requested variance for the proposed
self-storage place at 2201 Kinney Rd. Bryan, Marci and a
whole crew were representing the hood in style and
substance. The board's actual vote was quite confusing, with
a motion to deny the variance failing 3-2. But according to
the board's rules, 4 votes are required to approve a
variance, so the developer's request was denied. Needless to
say the developer's rep was not pleased, and um, promised
they'd be back with an appeal next month. That would be
Monday May 12, so put it on your calendar now.
In other big news, Sarah Crocker has agreed to present plans
for a new Walgreens on 5 acres of the trailer park at Lamar
& Bluebonnet. She says the plan is to build around Maria's
and the former Anna's Toy Depot. It's zoned Single Family
now, so they're seeking rezoning to GR or CS. This re-zoning
would have to be approved by the Zoning and Platting
Commission and City Council. It will come up for voting
before our next (June) meeting. It could end up being a
landmark case. Please plan to attend Thursday's SLNA 7pm
meeting for more details, and pass the word to neighbors not
on this list. See you there.
Kevin
3/2/03--Zoning-Subdivision Cases Tues. 3-4
Hey folks,
Here's a new notice of a hearing before the Zoning and
Platting Commission this Tuesday, March 4, 505 Barton
Springs Rd. 3rd Floor conference room, starts 6pm. These are
both pretty far down the agenda, that may mean they're
presented rather late. The agenda seems crowded with
postponements from last Tuesday (ice night).
9g. C8-03-0020.0A – RESUBDIVISION OF LOT 1, KIEKE
SUBDIVISION, By: William R. Hurt; AIC Designers (Marco
Castaneda), 2509 Thornton Road. (West Bouldin Creek).
RECOMMENDED FOR DISAPPROVAL. City Staff: Don Perryman,
974-2786.
I don't know why this is recommended for disapproval but
will call city staff Monday to ask. I believe this is the
biggest open area between Thornton adjacent to the railroad
tracks, where we would have liked to see a neighborhood
park. (That's probably a rather long shot.)
Also at the same ZAP meeting is the hearing on 2314 Thornton.
They're filing to subdivide each of two lots into 4 new ones
(8 total). No zoning change, remains SF-3. Don't know what
exactly they propose to build; they're not required to be
specific at this point. This one's recommended by staff for
approval. Oddly, it's tagged as in the watershed of East
Bouldin Creek. I believe it should be West Bouldin Creek.
27. C8-02-0176.0A – RESUBDIVISION OF LOT 15, BLOCK 2,
FREDRICKSBURG ACRES SUBDIVISION, By: Cobalt Partners Ltd.
(Mitch Ely), Mike McHone Real Estate (Mike McHone), 2314
Thornton Road. (East Bouldin Creek). RECOMMENDED. City
Staff: Don Perryman, 974-2786. POSTPONED FROM 2-25 (ZAP).
Kevin