Posted Nov 9, 2007, 4:08 PM
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Austinite
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Austin.TX.USA
Posts: 4,624
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Updated news from Austin Business Journal on Waller Creek redevelopment:
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2007/11/12/story5.html?b=1194843600^1547726&page=2
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City seeks lead planner for Waller Creek
Austin Business Journal - by A.J. Mistretta ABJ Staff
The Waller Creek Tunnel project and the redevelopment surrounding it will take another leap toward reality later this month when the city of Austin seeks a group to develop a plan for the roughly 28 acres of land that the project will remove from the floodplain.
The city plans to issue a request for qualifications to land planning, architecture and similar types of firms on or around Nov. 19 in order to designate a lead firm to create a master plan for the property on lower Waller Creek between 12th Street and Lady Bird Lake downtown.
George Adams, assistant director of the Planning and Zoning Department, says city staffers hope to bring a firm to the City Council for approval no later than February.
The planning contract is valued at about $400,000.
The $127.5 million Waller Creek Tunnel project would create a stormwater bypass tunnel under the creek bed to regulate the flow of water and eliminate the flooding that plagues the properties along the creek during heavy rains.
Beyond increasing flood safety, the project would also open up a great deal of property to new development in what some envision as Austin's version of San Antonio's Riverwalk -- a shopping and entertainment mecca that would anchor the eastern half of downtown.
The project has been on and off for more than a decade, but finally gained traction once again in March when Travis County commissioners agreed to create a tax increment financing district with the city of Austin to fund the project.
Adams says the land planning and urban design contract is "especially significant, not only because we want it to be the right type of development and environment from an aesthetic and functional point of view, but [because] the increase in property taxes will go to pay off the bonds for the tunnel, making [the plan] doubly important."
In September, the City Council amended a nearly $30 million contract with a joint venture between Kellogg Brown and Root and Espey Consultants for engineering design services on the actual tunnel.
Construction on the tunnel is likely to begin in 2010.
Developer Robert Knight, who owns several pieces of property along Waller, says he's pleased that the redevelopment of the area is moving forward, but he's concerned that key stakeholders might not be heard.
Knight says the Lower Waller Creek Neighborhood Association, a group of more than 40 property owners along the creek from 12th Street to Lady Bird Lake, was not asked to participate in the citizens advisory committee formed last summer to oversee the tunnel project and redevelopment initiative.
"I think everyone has the same basic concept of what this [project] ought to look like, and this [land plan] will help move the process forward," he says.
But, he adds that the city should be careful not to create a plan that tells private landowners what should be done with their property without their input.
On Nov. 17 Council Member Sheryl Cole and the advisory committee will hold the first Waller Creek corridor community visioning meeting from 9 a.m. to noon at City Hall. The meeting is intended to gather input on what stakeholders would like to see happen along the creek.
Knight says he hopes whichever group is selected to develop the land plan carefully considers the desires of those who actually own the property affected.
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