By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

River Place residents living on Milky Way Drive are organizing their opposition to a developer’s request for a zoning change for a 40-acre tract at the end of Milky Way Drive that would allow for the development of 110 single-family homes.

Milestone Community Builders is under contract to buy the land from longtime landowner Berta Bradley. Milestone is requesting an SF2 zoning to build 110 homes, with a density of three homes per acre. According to the zoning application which was submitted to the City of Austin on June 23, the homes would be large, with three to four bedrooms, and range in value from $700,000 to $900,000. The developer plans to designate 14.9 acres as drainage and green space.

The homes along Milky Way Drive are zoned SF1 with a conditional overlay that limits the lot sizes to one home per acre. Homes are valued at around $1.5 million. Continue reading →

By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

Leander ISD Superintendent Bret Champion announced that 30 students were distinguished as semifinalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program based on their outstanding performances on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

National Merit semifinalists, who represent less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, include the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of National Merit semifinalists in LISD represents a 43-percent increase from last year, Champion said.

Fourteen students at Vandegrift High School are semifinalists.

“These students scored a 220 or higher on their 2015 PSAT,” said Christa Thompson Martin, VHS dean of instruction. “This is an incredible academic accomplishment for our Vipers.” Continue reading →

By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

While the Hudson Bend Incorporation Committee continues to move forward with plans that would allow the small lakeside community to incorporate as its own city and avoid annexation by the city of Austin, some Hudson Bend property owners are becoming increasingly vocal in their opposition to the effort.

Charles Gault built a new home in Hudson Bend in 2012 and has two siblings who also own property in Hudson Bend, one for more than 20 years. Gault said he opposes the incorporation effort primarily because he believes there is no imminent concern of Austin annexing Hudson Bend in the foreseeable future.

“This committee has decided to ignore the statement from Virginia Collier, Austin city planner, that Austin did not see annexing Hudson Bend for 30-40 years,” Gault said. “The committee has determined this as laughable and instead are purporting a 10 year timeline before Austin annexes Hudson Bend.”

Some residents of the Hudson Bend community — which has over 1,200 property owners and which neighbors Steiner Ranch — want to incorporate to avoid annexation in the years ahead but other Hudson Bend residents do not want to incorporate and are becoming organized about it.

Continue reading →