'We're treating it like 'Field of Dreams;'' Lakeway rejects workforce housing development plan

The Lakeway City Council last week voted against a proposal for a mixed-use development on Bee Creek Road that would include workforce housing and restaurant space following concerns from residents that it would not offer the right solutions to the city’s worker shortage.

Developers on the project proposed a 276-unit workforce housing development on 14.89 acres of land that is zoned for commercial use only. Approval of the development required the land be rezoned for both commercial and residential use, raising concern from some council members who said this would result in a loss of sales tax revenue that would need to be made up in property taxes.

Council members said that Lakeway businesses have experienced issues attracting and retaining a workforce due to unaffordable housing. However, council members were not convinced that this development would solve the issue due to a lack of data from the development group, the Conine Residential Group, among them Mayor Pro Tem Louis Mastrangelo.

“My biggest concern is that we’re treating it like 'Field of Dreams' — ‘Hey, if we build it, they will come,’ but we don’t know that, and I haven’t seen any data,” Mastrangelo said. “If you’re going to sell something to a city, you’ve got to have case studies, you’ve got to be able to show us that it’s going to solve our problem. You can’t just say, ‘this is workforce housing, it’s gonna solve the problem.'”

Residents expressed concerns with the project, including how it might affect the already overcrowded schools in the area. The housing development at 18214 Texas 71 West was zoned to Rough Hollow Elementary School, Lake Travis Middle School and Lake Travis High School and would have added an estimated 52 students to the school district, or about two to three classrooms.

Community members said teachers are overworked and that the district is having trouble attracting them as a result. Concerns with how the development would contribute to traffic around the Texas 71 and Bee Cave Road intersection also were voiced.

The project developers said about 91% of Lakeway workers commute to the area, and new workforce housing could help solve the issue. However, council members shared concerns that the location of the development was on already crowded roads.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about is this really a problem with workforce housing or affordable housing alone, or is this really a traffic problem?” said Council Member Sanjeev Kumar. “We need to have affordable housing where people can afford to live within the area that they can commute from. The problem is, a drive that should take 10 minutes to drive takes 35 minutes because of the traffic on 620. … The issue is a lot bigger and more complex.”

Council members said they recognized the need for more workforce housing to help local businesses stay open and to offer easier commutes, but Mayor Tom Kilgore said he was not confident this was the right solution.

“I think workforce housing is a great program,” Kilgore said. “I would like to see workforce housing. It doesn’t mean I want to see it at this lot, and doesn’t mean I want to see it based on the community input.”

In November, the council also voted against a 248-unit workforce housing development by the same developers on Nightingale Lane.

Council members also approved an updated preliminary plan to build water quality ponds in the Lakeway Highlands and Rough Hollow developments, despite pushback from residents who said water runoff issues in the area were degrading the environment and that the plan did not meet Lower Colorado River Authority requirements.

The plan was approved with the condition that a gas station proposed for the property be removed and LCRA approval would be required before the city engineer signed off on the plans.

The council also voted to approve plans for a new 24-hour QuickTrip convenience store at the intersection of RM 620 and Debba Drive. Mastrangelo said he had concerns with attracting workers to staff the convenience store for 24 hours, but QuickTrip representative Mike Snyder said the convenience store's high wages would compensate for that issue.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Lakeway council votes against 246-unit workforce housing proposal