Development
BY ANNA MANESS
Georgetown City Council members unanimously denied the rezoning of an 8.7 acre property at 903 Riverhaven Drive during a June 10 meeting, citing the application’s noncompliance with much of the city’s uni ed development code criteria. If approved, the land, located near San Gabriel Park, would have been rezoned from residential single family to a planned unit development with about 4.3 acres of low- density multifamily and 1.7 acres of local commercial zoning districts. Rachel Lowder, representing the applicant, said the development, called The Garden District in the Park, would include up to 60 dwelling units, including detached condos around 1,350 square feet priced lower to help rst-time homebuyers get started. Property owner Larry Parker said he’s been approached by city sta about buying the property. He said he thinks o cials are trying to use eminent domain to incorporate the property into San Gabriel Park. Rezoning denied for land by park
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Major takeaways
Shelley Bland, North Old Town Neighborhood Association secretary, said the neighborhood believes service-oriented businesses would be a more appropriate use of the space since the area has “slated enough multifamily.” Realtor Robert Fischer said the single- family detached condos proposed in the development plan are “amazing” and t the needs of people seeking smaller, more cost- e ective homes. Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Pitts said while he likes the proposed housing type in the property, he’s skeptical about whether the commercial development aspects of the plan will come to fruition. He said he’s hopeful the project is revised and comes back before council. Additionally, Georgetown resident Alan Neumann said the cemetery situated within the proposed development needs protection, and asked council members to preserve the “history in this park.”
Lowder’s presentation stated property rep- resentatives began meeting with city sta in September 2021 and resubmitted their applica- tion a total of seven di erent times, the latest of which was in March. According to city documents, the current appli- cation does not comply with nine out of 11 UDC requirements, but it received approval May 20 from the Planning and Zoning Commission in a split 4-3 vote. “How are we still sitting at an application, after all of these iterations, that really two of the criteria in our UDC comply?” District 1 council member Amanda Parr asked. Lowder said it’s not compliant with several criteria because the application does not state it will dedicate right-of-way to the city on FM 971, a road which will eventually become a six-lane major arterial from SH 130 to Gann Street, accord- ing to Georgetown’s future mobility plan. At the May 20 Planning and Zoning meeting, Georgetown Senior Planner Ryan Clark said when a development has a future mobility plan road adjacent to it or running through it, the city’s UDC requires ROW dedication, or transferring a portion of the land for public use. Lowder said they plan to reserve—or not build on but maintain ownership of—the portion of land o cials plan on expanding FM 971 to. City sta received zero comments in favor of the rezoning and 186 letters in opposition as of the time the June 10 meeting agenda was posted. During the meeting, Georgetown residents cited tra c, safety and the obstructed view of San Gabriel Park as concerns for the possible development.
“This is not a park. It’s not part of the park. If the city wants it to be part of the park, then the city needs to acquire it as part
Cemetary
of the park and not keep using zoning sources to keep this property from being developed.” LARRY PARKER, PROPERTY OWNER
971
Proposed PUD site
RIVERHAVEN DR.
SAN GABRIEL PARK
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