As requested by LookingUp, here's the article on the results of the East Riverside Drive projects zoning requests and the battles with the neighborhoods.
From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/realestate/03/01/1riverside.html
REAL ESTATE
East Riverside projects hit speed bumps
Developers may have to rethink, revise plans, after neighborhood opposition.
By Kate Miller Morton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Neighborhood and community activists seeking to limit development along East Riverside Drive and on Town Lake scored two victories when the Planning Commission refused requests from developers to ease restrictions on two of the biggest proposed projects.
The developers might have to redesign or revise both projects, which are part of a string of proposed residential developments that would transform the Riverside corridor from Congress Avenue to east of Interstate 35.
In a meeting that lasted until 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, the commission recommended that Cypress Real Estate Advisors Inc. be limited to building 1,800 apartments and condominium units on South Lakeshore Boulevard, almost 30 percent fewer than the company requested.
The commission also recommended that the developers increase the com- mercial or retail part of the 50-acre project from 4 percent to 20 percent, and reduce impervious cover from the 80 percent Cypress wanted to 65 percent. Impervious cover is pavement, buildings or other structures that reduce natural drainage.
The City Council gets the final say. If the council adopts the commission's recommendations, Cypress would have to rethink the project, which would replace several aging apartment complexes.
"I think it would be fairly difficult for us to move forward with the project with the entire list of requests as they described, but the fact is we are going to dive into them to the extent that we can," Cypress Chairman Steve Clark said.
If the company is limited to 1,800 units, he said, it would develop the site under current zoning. That would mean scrapping plans for several high-rises, building more low-rise buildings and eliminating a proposed park along Lakeshore.
The South River City Citizens neigh- borhood group has opposed large projects that would add significantly more traffic and people to the already-dense and congested East Riverside area.
"We've already been asked to tolerate the bulk of density of the city," said South River City Co-Vice President Gayle Goff. "We need to solve the problems here now before we add density" to the area.
Planning Commissioner Cid Galindo said he voted for the recommendations out of concern that the area already has more people than the roads, parks and other public facilities can support.
"The point behind the entire action was to encourage the applicant to move toward more of a town center, mixed-use town center concept, and away from a strictly residential project," Galindo said.
The commission also turned down a request by Constellation Property Group to exceed city limits on impervious cover for its condominium project at Riverside and Interstate 35.
Constellation is planning to build 245 upscale condominiums on the site, which had been occupied by an extended-stay motel.
Constellation unsuccessfully argued that the impervious cover limit should be waived because it plans to use landscaped roofs on the four towers and build an underground garage with a landscaped courtyard on top.
Chris White, a senior associate with Constellation, said the group was disappointed by the decision but that it would not significantly affect the project.
The company said that it will have to move the garage to beneath the condominium towers, the tallest of which will be 11 stories.
Commissioner Chris Riley voted in favor of granting the variance, saying it would have "provided enough green space and environmental protection on-site to meet the intent of the impervious cover require- ments."
Galindo said he voted against the variance because he feared it would set a precedent.
"The minute we allow one variance . . . it makes it that much easier for the next developer to point to that and say, 'If they got a variance, why can't I get a variance?' And that's a legitimate point for them to make," he said. "I think we need to hold the line."
A third project, a proposed high-rise apartment and condominium community on Riverside Drive east of Congress, also has drawn opposition because the developers want to build closer to Town Lake than city rules allow.
On Tuesday night, the Parks and Recreation Board tabled the request from CWS Capital Partners LLC, which said it will review its plans and consult with neighborhood groups that have balked at allowing exceptions to the setback rule.
The project won't go before the Planning Commission until after the parks board votes.
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