City Council to Discuss Northcross Wal-Mart
The Austin city council will discuss the Northcross Wal-Mart at this Thursday’s meeting at 6:00 p.m. You can sign up to speak your mind at the meeting or just attend if you’re interested. The city council also posted documents relating to the Northcross redevelopment plan. And if you’re concerned about the current Northcross redevelopment plan, be sure to join Responsible Growth for Northcross in their rally at City Hall on Thursday at noon.
I saw some seemingly good news over on austinist: Wal-Mart is going to suspend development for 60 days. However, Lincoln Properties is the one with the actual authority to do so, and they haven’t suspended development. So it’s still critical that you make sure the city council knows how you feel; contact them, come to the rally, and come to the city council meeting.
From the Responsible Growth for Northcross press release: “Among other things, the site plan is illegal because it was approved by city staff administratively rather than going through a public hearing with the Zoning and Platting Commission (ZPC). Such a public hearing was required because the site plan includes a garden center which is not authorized under the current GR zoning. It would be up to the ZPC to decide whether a site plan was acceptable — after public notice and a hearing.”
The 60-day thing isn’t necessarily great news. It simply gives the developer time to try to remedy the defects in the application, and in the meantime have some discussion with the neighbors on what color to paint the parking lot stripes.
They are taking a hard line on issues such as the 24-hour operation and record-setting size, which are among the most fundamental problems with the development.
Hey…where is Mike? Doesn’t he know there is a thread that needs his immediate attention?
I think he’s busy harassing the people on Austinist. Keep quiet or he’ll see us.
Since I don’t live in Crestview and I don’t shop at Wal-Mart, I don’t really have a dog in this hunt. I will say that I’ve noticed really bad traffic on Anderson between Burnet and Shoal Creek at lunch hours and other times of the day. Northcross is pretty much a concrete wasteland at this point, so I can’t see that a Wal-Mart the size of the existing mall would be all that much worse except that I’m pretty sure it’ll make the traffic on that stretch of road even worse regardless of what the analysis might say.
Seems to me that traffic around town in general has gotten much worse over the last 6-12 months. It used to take me 30 minutes or less to get from Braker and Mopac to Oltorf and I-35 at evening rush hour. Now, it takes 45 minutes to an hour.
F the both of U. Heaven forbid somebody on the other side from you should post from the perspective of actually knowing what they’re talking about, unlike most of the garbage that passes for comment on this stuff.
“F the both of U?” Wow, I see M1EK’s powers of persuasion and reasoning are in top form.
Funny. I thought I was making a valid comment.
You know, M1EK, people might be more inclined to listen to you if you weren’t so abrasive about it.
I agree with you that the defeat of light rail was a bad idea. I voted for it.
I agree that there’s already a shopping mall in that area and can’t see that even if the new Wal-Mart is one of the largest that it’ll make much more of a footprint than the existing mall.
I disagree that the new Wal-Mart won’t cause traffic problems. As I mentioned, from personal experience, that stretch of Anderson can be pretty bad at lunch in particular.
You mentioned the Target/movie theater development that was once slated for the 6th and Lamar area where the Whole Foods now stands. Have you tried coming up Lamar from Barton Springs during lunch? Also a nightmare. You’re a champion of alternate forms of transportation. I agree, it’s better. The problem is that you can’t change things overnight. People are still going to drive to these places and cause traffic congestion. You’re touting more density and mixed use. What’re we going to do, raze the entire Crestview neighborhood and start over?
TTrentham,
How else I am I supposed to feel about snarky belittling crap like the two of you threw my way? Try apologizing for that first, if you want me to address your remaining substantive points.
It’s called having a sense of humor and not taking yourself so seriously. You should try it some time.
Yeah, so is “F the both of U”. It’s every bit as much of a joke as y’all’s two snarks were.
Why don’t you people talk about the real problem with this Wal-Mart stuff. They kill all the small businesses is the area, every place the go. I know they will say “In the name of competition its ok”.
But its not.
Roger,
I just wrote on that subject. I actually agree with many of the criticisms of Wal-Mart as a corporation, but it still doesn’t make it right to make the city pay, once again, for the bad behavior of irresponsible neighborhoods.
A slightly-more-tolerable-than-the-normal-crappy-suburban Wal-Mart is better than an empty building here, and nobody else wants to move in. And I don’t trust rg4n.org; I think they’re lying about wanting dense urban development here; but even if they weren’t, I doubt anybody wants to come in and make that kind of investment right in the middle of 1960s suburban sprawl.
Putting the monstrosity they’re proposing on Andersn Ln. is ridiculous. There’s pretty much a perfect level of retail off Anderson right now – it’s busy, but it moves. I’m not a Wal-Mart fan, but they have a right to do business – if they stick a store over there, it should be one of their smaller “neighborhood Wal-Marts.” I hope to God they’re not successful with their current plans.