CITY& COUNTY
News fromWest Lake Hills, Bee Cave & Lakeway
Lakeway City Council denies request for zoning change for workforce housing
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LAKEWAY A proposed workforce housing devel- opment at the corner of Bee Creek Road and Hwy. 71 hit a roadblock after its bid to amend the 14.89- acre site from commercial to mixed use failed. Lakeway City Council was unanimous in its deci- sion to deny the request after hearing presentations from the developer, Conine Residential Group Inc., and its agents and listening to more than 13 citizens during public comment. Plans for the property at 18214 W. Hwy. 71 call for 276 units, a parking structure and a 6,000-square- foot restaurant site. The main concerns coming from both council and the public were tra c, overcrowded schools and sales tax. Public speakers expressed concerns about the property and not maximizing its potential for commercial projects, which would bring more sales tax revenue to the city. That revenue, they say, would keep their property taxes low and help senior residents continue to a ord their single-fam- ily homes. Lakeway resident Jennifer Szimanski was against the amendment and said she thinks the city needs
all the commercial space and sales tax revenue it can get. “Many of us are also working people, and now we are going to be paying double the taxes we thought we were going to be paying when we bought our homes,” she said. Project proponent Clint Strickland, executive director of Belmont Village Senior Living in Lakeway, said the No. 1 objection he hears from potential employees is that it is located in Lakeway. Strickland said he has raised pay rates four times in the past year trying to recruit workers and that there is a “tremendous” need for workforce housing. “You have to pay the best to get the best; how- ever, they have to be able to get to work,” he said. Nancy Clayton of Lakeway said she wanted data, not hyperbole when it comes to the workforce housing project. She also questioned whether this was a work- force housing or a ordable housing project, saying once a certain income is required for renters it is a ordable house, not workforce housing. “Residents do not have to work in Lakeway. It
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SOURCE: MEEKS DESIGN GROUP COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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is illegal to tell them they have to, either work, or work in Lakeway,” she said. Discrepancies in the amount of tra c added to roadways due to the development also caused skepticism for the project. Council Member Gretchen Vance said since another project the developer brought before council, Nightingale, had large discrepancies between the projected tra c and what the tra c impact analysis found, she believed council should not even entertain the zoning change until a tra c analysis was completed for this project. Developer Kent Conine said he is committed to doing a tra c study regardless of if it is required.
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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