The city’s land development code presently allows a building of up to 60 ft. high on the CS-1 zoned property. Additional compatibility with nearby single family residential properties reduces portions of that 60 ft. height to around 40 ft.
Bouldin Creek’s Neighborhood Plan specifically recommends against any variances, entitlements, or up-zoning over and above present zoning on that portion of Barton Springs Road, which serves as a transitional buffer between Town Lake’s parks, trails and events centers, and our single family residential neighborhood.
Taller commercial buildings on Barton Springs Road like the 80 ft. 811 Barton Springs and 110 ft. Austin Electric building at 721 Barton Springs Road, were built during Austin’s 1980’s development boom, and prompted adoption of today’s Waterfront Overlay and other protective zoning measures.
The developer's application to city staff for PUD (Planned Unit Development) zoning would set new standards for a zoning overlay that traditionally applies to large, multi-stage, multi-use developments of over 10 acres. The PUD application calls for re-zoning this .79 acre tract to L or Lake zoning, which has a 200 ft. height limit, and has no compatibility restrictions. A city committee is presently reviewing PUD development standards for clarification, as developers in recent years have increasingy abused this category in order to circumvent exactly the above named height and compatibiity restrictions, along with other development standards such as impervious cover and the vaguely termed "superior building quality."
The Filling Station property owners presented their plans to nearby residents on January 26, and to BCNA's Zoning Committee on January 28, and again to BCNA's General Association meeting February 13.
A hearing date before the Planning Comission for the requested re-zoning has not been scheduled at this writing.
--Cory Walton