North Central Austin Edition | July 2023

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BLAST TO THE PAST

Land that once served as Austin’s main airport was transformed into a master-planned community after decades of work among city leaders, developers and residents.

Download the mobile app & submit your service request today. it st @ATX_311 Weaver said Mueller has achieved or surpassed its goals that were outlined in the original master plan, including providing 25% aordable housing and making every building Leadership in Energy and Austin’s land development code requires most sin- gle-family houses to be on a minimum 5,750-square- foot lot. However, Mueller has homes on plots as small at 600 square feet, a design choice that was made pos- sible through a planned unit development, or PUD. Austin landowners can create a PUD when develop- ing a site 10 acres or greater, and this gives developers more freedom when building homes, roads and other infrastructure in a project. Mueller’s PUD allowed the development to have smaller houses, such as town- houses and row homes, that are typically less expen- sive to build. The PUD also made room for Foundation Communities, an aordable housing nonprot, to build several 600-square-foot houses for people exit- ing homelessness. development, the vast majority of Muel- ler’s development is slated for completion by the end of 2024, according to Mueller’s master developer Catellus Development Corporation. “It’s been extraordinarily successful. We get people from all over the country, proba- bly around the world, who’ve studied the pro- gram,” Catellus President Greg Weaver said. While Mueller has been hailed by city lead- ers as an example for what aordable housing can look like in Austin, replicating it can be a dif- cult and costly process, and Mueller itself has room to improve its aordability for residents. How we got here As Austin’s population grew and the Mueller air- port aged, a group of residents known as Citizens for Airport Relocation, or CARE, began advocating in the early 1980s to move the airport farther from the city center, creating an opportunity to turn mostly unde- veloped land into a neighborhood with aordable housing for those who earn 80% or less of Austin’s median family income as well as businesses, restau- rants and ample green space. “The airport didn’t close until the late ’90s. But [CARE] had a vision of what they wanted, and they wanted pedestrian friendly, bike friendly, and open space and aordable housing,” Weaver said.

THE MUELLER CONTROL TOWER IN 1962

1930

1940

1950

1960

1936 The Robert Mueller Municipal Airport opens.

SOURCES: CITY OF AUSTIN, MUELLER INFORMATION CENTERCOMMUNITY IMPACT

association fees and general upkeep, are still burden- ing some. “I am very concerned about rising HOA fees and how that impacts aordable homeownership,” Mei- ring said. Meiring is a retired teacher, but she went back to work part time as a substitute in Austin ISD to supple- ment her budget. Meiring said she has written letters to the city about lowering HOA fees for aordable home owners and hasn’t received a response. Some Mueller residents have also raised concerns with the development’s long-term aordability. Mueller has several mechanisms in place that pro- tect its long-term aordability. The majority of aord- able homes have a 2% appreciation cap that prevents them from being resold at market price. The develop- ment also has a partnership with The Mueller Foun- dation, a nonprot that buys aordable homes back from its owners and resells them at the same aord- able price, Weaver said. The Robert Mueller Municipal Airport Plan

Environmental Design certied—which means they use less water compared to non-LEED buildings and use renewable energy. The development doubled its goal to ll at least 30% of its retail space with local businesses, and every resident lives within 600 feet of a green space. Mueller also met one of its goals to make the aord- able and market-rate homes look indistinguishable from one another. Weaver said Mueller achieved that in part by building creative housing types, such as one house that looks like a larger single-family home on the outside but actually houses several separate units. “I am most grateful to have qualied for an aord- able home because I wouldn’t have been able to move to Austin otherwise,” said Cristina Meiring, a recent owner of an aordable home in Mueller. “I could not drive around and tell you what homes are aordable and which ones are not.” Aordable housing setbacks While Mueller provides housing for people making around 80% MFI, other costs, such as homeowners

The Mueller neighborhood reserves 25% of its housing for those who earn 80% or less of Austin’s median family income. SOURCE: CATELLUS DEVELOPMENT CORP. COMMUNITY IMPACT FILLING THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING GAP

6,580

1,665 Est. total number of aordable homes & apartments

3,840

2,740

Est. total number of single-family homes & condos

Est. total number of apartment units

Est. total number single-family and multifamily units

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