Zoning, permitting affect proposed housing units in Four Points




By LYNETTE HAALAND

Four Points News

Four different proposed developments have applied to build between 156 and 312 housing units in Four Points in the years ahead. Three projects are off Zimmerman Land and one is at the end of Milky Way Drive and all are in various stages of zoning approval and/or the permitting process. 

11400 Zimmerman Lane 

The site, which is not far from Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q, is zoned Development Reserve. Applicants Udaya and Uma Kumar would like to see that changed to multifamily (MF-3) zoning in order to construct a 150-unit complex on the 7.63-acre site, which is currently undeveloped. 

In July, the Austin Zoning and Platting Commission voted 7-4 to recommend SF-6 zoning with a cap of 32 units on the site. City Council was supposed to have a hearing on the case on July 28 but District 10’s Council Member Alison Alter requested its postponement.

The Mayor Pro Tem postponed the item because she only recently started representing Zimmerman Lane area since the districts have been realigned.

“This part of the district has recently become part of District 10 and I wanted to hear from my new constituents about this,” Alter shared. 

The case is scheduled to be heard by Council again on September 1 when a determination could be made.

Alter’s office has one meeting set up to hear from members of The Woods at Four Points HOA and is working to meet other HOAs.

“Any neighborhood group who wants to reach out to us, we want to talk to you,” Alter’s office shared. Email mina.shekarchi@austintexas.gov to set up a meeting.

“There’s concern in particular about traffic safety and wildfire evacuations implications,” she said.

11300 Zimmerman LaneKimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. has applied to rezone approximately 4.99 acres from development reserve to SF-6 townhome, condo. The project name on the application filed July 22 is 33 Degrees Smith Tract North and its status is pending.
11301 Zimmerman LaneKimley-Horn also applied to rezone 33 Degrees Smith Tract South, which is 6.3 acres from development reserve to SF-6 townhome, condo. The application was filed July 22 and its status is pending.  

“There are 70 units proposed on the south tract and 24 units on the north tract,” a source close to the subject shared with Four Points News after a conversation with the applicant.

Two new Zimmerman cases

“No one including the applicant of these cases has reached out to us,” Alter shared.

“It’s on the same street and we’d treat it similarly (to the 11400 Zimmerman Lane case),” she said. “That’s what we’d be looking at: traffic, transportation, wildfire.”

Alter’s office would like to hear from neighbors and the applicant of those cases also to learn more about concerns and needs of the area.

MileStone Milky Way permitting

MileStone Community Builders is working on permitting on its project at the end of Milky Way Drive where the scope of the project has shifted.

The zoning for the site was approved by council in 2019 for 68 units and since then the site has been going through the permitting process. 

But at a March 29 City of Austin Zoning and Platting Commission meeting, MileStone’s project to build 68 homes was halted. River Place homeowners had presented their issues and got support from ZAP. The commissioners voted unanimously to pause the project at that time. 

“As far as we are aware, the applicant has currently not satisfied the requirements to build more than the 30 homes,” Alter shared on Monday, August 1. “They have not yet satisfied the requirements to build more than 30 but who knows what they will try to do in the future.” 

The primary requirement to build more homes would be to have a secondary access.

“They do not have secondary access, they only have one road in and one road out,” Alter shared. “They cannot have more than 30 units unless they have a secondary access.”

This was finalized some three weeks ago.

“They have not yet demonstrated a legal way to have a secondary access and they are limited to 30 units,” Alter said.