My Vote on the South Shore PUD

September 29, 2009

Dear Fellow Austin Resident:

Last Thursday, I had a difficult decision to make on the Grayco/South Shore Planned Unit Development (PUD) request. I had to weigh the public benefit of the proposed development against its potential infringement on our treasured Lady Bird Lake waterfront. I spent hours considering campaign declarations, environmental impacts, affordable housing, and tangible positive outcomes. After that deliberation, I feel I have made the best choice for Austin.

During my campaign, I wrote in one of the candidate questionnaires that I would vote against any request that would supersede the Waterfront Overlay because of my desire to uphold the spirit of the Waterfront Overlay. By offering my tentative support to a project that can protect and enhance the natural values offered by this portion of the waterfront, I believe I retained my commitment to the spirit of the Waterfront Overlay. While the project does pose an infringement on the Waterfront Overlay’s height limits, I felt it was necessary to consider more than that one metric to guide me to a decision which best protects the interests of Austin.

The PUD developers own the land and have entitlements to develop the property. Consequently, the decision before us was not a vote to allow development or not to allow development; it was a vote on whether to develop the land with community benefits, for which the developer was requesting additional height, or to develop the property without any community benefits and without the additional height. With that in mind, I examined the community benefits to determine whether they were a good deal for the City, compared to what we might be giving up.

In exchange for the additional height, the PUD developers have offered to provide the following considerable public benefits, plus others:

Affordable Housing. My strongest single concern was for affordable housing. I pushed hard for the developers to help mitigate the loss of affordable housing stock, and they proposed to provide a significant amount of money to the City to buy affordable housing or provide it onsite, as well as a program to help relocate the existing tenants to other appropriate units nearby.

Water Quality. The developers are providing a drainage pond that will not only be a great environmental benefit to clean currently untreated runoff from neighboring properties, but which will also be an attractive natural-looking area as well. The runoff from the developers’ site will also all be treated before it is returned into Lady Bird Lake.

Community Benefits. There will be onsite space for a daycare and a police substation, and the development will preserve many important trees. The trail and Lady Bird Lake will be preserved through a significant setback from the Lake and tree cover, which will make it nearly impossible to see the development when enjoying the trail or the Lake.

In sum, these community benefits are significant. I anticipate that the impact of this development on the Waterfront can be managed and minimized, and I believe that this version of development compares much more favorably to having a development with no community benefits. I am still committed to the Waterfront Overlay and to our crown jewel Lady Bird Lake, and I believe that this development will not impinge upon that treasure. I do appreciate your feedback, and look forward to our on-going conversation about these issues and others.

With best wishes,

Bill Spelman