A pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use development, featuring residential units, offices, hotels, civic spaces and more is planned for just north of the Taylor Municipal Airport.
At the regular meeting of the City Council Feb. 23, the first of two public hearings were held to develop the property, located on approximately 78.53 acres north of intersection of CR 398 and Justin Lane.
But some residents of the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, whose land use has been limited in the Envision Taylor Comprehensive plan due to limits the city is placing on new infrastructure there, said they were unhappy with perceived unequal treatment.
“It seems like you all are picking winners and losers,” said Brian Winkler, whose family owns property about two miles south of the Samsung Austin Semiconductor plant, which he said has caused traffic, trespassing and illegal dumping there.
“We are dealing with all those downsides, and now you want to optimize off that property because you claim you have got the infrastructure, but it doesn’t look like you have the infrastructure.”
But Assistant City Manager Tom Yantis said the development, which was done with the city’s urban-design consultant, will enhance the character of the city.
“This is a highly connected neighborhood that provides street connectivity to the surrounding properties, so as the city grows, we grow in the pattern that we are used to growing in, which is a network of small blocks that have street connections to each other,” Yantis said.
As the eastern portion of the tract is already within city limits, this multistep process will involve council’s annexing the remaining 60.48 acres on the western side of Justin Lane, and then rezoning the whole parcel from single-family residential and local business to planned development with residential and commercial base zones on the property. In addition, the development will need to tap a new lift station for utilities that the city recently added improvements on. Last year, council approved changes to the land-use designation of the comprehensive plan from to “market center,” “employment center” and “neighborhood.”
“Those are essentially placeholders to show that this is the mix of land uses that are intended to happen on the property,” Yantis said.
The second readings of the new ordinances as well as public hearings will be held Thursday, March 9. For more information on the development, read next weekend’s issue of The Taylor Press.
