• WRONG to locate the 2nd tallest building in Austin next to neighborhoods and the lakeshore
  • WRONG to invade the beauty of Town Lake Park which belongs to all of Austin
  • WRONG to ask taxpayers to pay for expensive downtown infrastructure for upscale housing
  • WRONG to help developers reap huge profits without asking them to give back to Austin
  • WRONG to weaken the zoning buffer between the central business district and neighborhoods
  • WRONG for developers to drive zoning instead of a community developed plan for downtown
  • WRONG to encourage downtown sprawl that is unprecedented and unnecessary
  • WRONG to call this affordable housing at more than $300 a square foot

    • ___________________________________________________________________________

     STOP AUSTIN FROM TAKING A GIANT LEAP IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

    TAKE ACTION

          -          Tell the Mayor and Council that the Spring Condominiums are WRONG for Austin

    Go to http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm to send them a message &
    Ask them to vote NO on the zoning change.

    -          Come to the Council meeting at City Hall* on Thursday, November 17 at 4pm

    Sign in and tell the Mayor and Council Members that the Spring Condominium upzoning is
    WRONG

    Questions?  Contact WrongPicture@gmail.com

    *City Hall – 302 W. 2nd Street – free parking in garage – enter from Lavaca Street


     

    		 
     

    The Spring Condominiums are proposed for just north of the river at 3rd and Bowie streets.  Developers are asking for a zoning change to go from the current 120 ft. height limit to 400 ft. This zoning case has the potential to set a wide ranging precedent for all of Austin's neighborhoods.  Over many years we have established the planning principle that between high density commercial zones and neighborhood residential areas there should be buffers created by transitional zoning.  This project is located in one such transitional area, the Downtown Mixed Use area, which was created to be a buffer around the most intense commercial zoning we have in Austin, the Central Business District.  The DMU zoning allows for 120 ft. in height and a floor area ratio (FAR) of 5 to 1, while the CBD zoning allows building with 8 to 1 FARs and can result in buildings of over 400 ft. The Spring project's FAR is proposed to be 12 to 1, even higher than allowed in the CBD!

    If this project is approved neighborhoods all over Austin will see other developers trying to encroach on what transitional zoning we have, extending commercial creep into our neighborhoods.  It is important that the Spring project be stopped.   However, because of developer pressure and the Mayor's support, it is on the fast track to get approved.  Write to City Council (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm) and come to the Council meeting at City Hall on Thursday, November 17 at 4pm to express support for maintaining height limits in transitional zones.

     

    Austin Neighborhoods Council Resolution

    Members of the Austin Neighborhoods Council expressed concern over this zoning change as a city-wide issue in passing the following resolution on September 28, 2005:

    The Austin Neighborhoods Council opposes the zoning change at Bowie and 3rd St. requested for the Spring Condominium project. It is neither the right place nor the right time for such a zoning change. The requested zoning would be an incursion of excessive height and density into the area that must remain as a transition from the central business district to the neighborhoods surrounding the central business district to the west, east, north and south. The use of “CURE” zoning is also inappropriate at this location. In addition, this zoning application would be a matter of “spot” zoning that violates the current comprehensive plan for central Austin, and any revisions to that plan should be made within the framework of the upcoming Downtown Neighborhood Plan process.

    Austin Neighborhoods Council on the web:  www.ancweb.org