Quote:
Originally Posted by atxsnail
Don't tell Allandale
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Northcross being re-redeveloped may not be as much of a fight from Allandale as you think.
1. The neighborhood has changed. It isn’t universally opposed to urban development on the corridors as it used to be. Yes, residents are nearly universally opposed to urban development within the neighborhood proper, but many would like to see ***reasonable*** density on Burnet and Anderson.
2. The North Shoal Creek neighborhood is way more urbanist politically. The majority of active voters there are in favor of urban development on Burnet and Anderson. A sizable minority likely favor denser single family home infill in
certain portions of the interior of their neighborhood as well.
3. Siegel is their city councilor. Siegel is an urbanist. Siegel lives around the corner in Crestview. Siegel would LOVE to see an urbanist development replace Northcross.
4. Crestview voters are about as urbanist a crowd as North Shoal Creek. They don’t want it IN their neighborhood, nor on 2222, but they do want it on Burnet, Anderson, and Lamar.
5. Wooten is its own vibe and doesn’t get involved. Mostly because Wooten doesn’t have a bunch of nosy white liberals thinking they need to be heard all the time on everything.
Northcross affects all four neighborhoods, and frankly is relatively detached from the core single family portions of them all. In fact, I’d argue that Crestview is most integrated to Northcross from a pedestrian AND vehicular standpoint given the street grid. Save Austin Now, bless their hearts, will have a hard time generating successful opposition to such a proposal, given the potential coalition of supporters behind the scenes.
6. The Save Austin Now crowd (funded largely by residents of Allandale and adjacent neighborhoods in the Hills across MoPac) is literally at the age they are dying. They are a rapidly disappearing political force that lost their teeth about a decade ago. They’re wearing dentures now.
7. And what has their success rate been anyway in Allandale’s immediate vicinity? The Burnet Corridor is one of the most thoroughly urban Austin has to offer outside the core.
Northcross is the big missing piece to enable the spread of urban development on the section of Burnet between the Domain and Anderson. Without that domino falling, it’s harder (though certainly not impossible) to develop urban critical mass on the corridor. I’d imagine this realization will lead to all hands on deck to get a proposal passed at council.