“Best of Hutto” named
HUTTO — The results are in and a collection of businesses old and new, local and national were named as best in Hutto. Small business advocacy company iHutto, sponsor of the Best of Hutto contest, announced the winners online Saturday, March 2.
“We are thrilled to recognize the incredible achievements of these, and many more in the various categories suggested by the community. This year’s contest was a clear indicator of how Hutto is changing; there were a couple of upsets this year!” said Sydney Johnson, founder of iHutto. “The community’s passion to nominate and vote for their favorite establishments combined with the business community’s commitment to excellence are what make Hutto such a vibrant and thriving community.”
Dozens of awards were announced, with some of the top overall winners being perennial favorites and others being relatively new.
Hutto Flower Market and Boutique won best business, with East Street Tattoos in second place. Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant won best overall restaurant. Hutto Farmers Market won the category of best things to do, while Olde Tyme Days won for best citywide event.
Connie Gooding won best citizen for “philanthropic initiatives, community outreach and active engagement, she has demonstrated a deep-rooted commitment to the well-being and prosperity of the local community.”
This year was the first time voters could nominate students for youth category awards. Kohl Palmer was named as best youth in the high school category and Genna Newby won best youth for middle school.
“iHutto started off with a single publication on Amazon to raise money for local organizations,” Johnson said. “We have since created volunteer opportunities and become an advertising hub for small business owners. The connections between them and the community through our organization has been amazing.” iHutto is the founder of the Best of Hutto awards as well as the Best Decorated Hippo contest for residential hippo statues, held in August.
New Megasite business proposed
Another light industrial company is hoping to find a home in the Hutto Megasite. City staff evaluated a proposal from Hippo Partner — LI Hutto Megasite for a 52.57-acre development located in the Megasite south of U.S. Highway 79 and just west of County Road 3349.
In their brief to the planning and zoning commission, staff said they recommend approval of the proposal and that the usage complies with the existing development codes and the city’s land use map. No other information about the company has been made public yet.
The applicant is proposing a single business that will have access along the spine road and will possibly not require a traffic study.
“Because the preliminary plat is proposing a single, legal lot, the traffic impact analysis is postponed to the site plan application when the specific uses are available to assess if the threshold for a TIA is met (either 100 peak hour trips or 2,000 trips per day),” city staff wrote in their recommendation. “At this time, the proposed lot does not meet the minimum threshold to require a TIA.”
The applicant has agreed to pay $51,226.50 to the city in lieu of designating parkland or green space within its site.
As of March 4, the proposal has not yet been published on the city council’s agenda.
