It’s NOT a Done Deal!

We, the Allandale Neighborhood Association (ANA), are working on your behalf and need your help. As you know, Lincoln Property Company is redeveloping Northcross Mall to include a 192,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter. A one-stop store of this magnitude will overburden our roads, negatively impact surrounding businesses, and ultimately change the character of Allandale.

For decades, Allandale residents have successfully fought to preserve the quality and character of our neighborhood. We have saved the neighborhood from serious threats by:

• Securing the largest zoning rollback (to SF-2) in Austin history;
• Blocking the conversion of Koenig Lane into a 6-lane freeway;
• Stopping a church expansion that would have destroyed many neighborhood homes;
• Blocking the extension of Far West Boulevard into Allandale.

Allandale can make a difference at Northcross, too! Our Legal Fundraising Committee has raised over $25,000 towards our goal of $100,000. We need your financial contribution. How much is your quality of life worth to you?

• 1/2 of your July electric bill?
• 1/20 of the property taxes you paid last year?
• 1/2000 of your home value?

No contribution is too small! Please consider a one-time donation or smaller monthly contributions to reach your personal goal. Click here to donate online.

ANA’s Position
We believe the City of Austin has an obligation to uphold both the letter and the intent of the law and to act in a manner to protect the safety and general welfare of its citizenry. By law, the Northcross site plan should have triggered a public hearing. Our right to public process has been denied. Furthermore, we believe that Lincoln Properties has grossly underestimated the impact of traffic on our streets.

The law mandates that the City Council may deny an application if the traffic study demonstrates the proposed development may overburden the city’s streets and/or endanger public safety. Allowing city staff to approve this plan is clearly a case where the Council has abandoned its responsibility. Our City Council members not only have the legal right to reject the site plan, but the obligation to do so. Help to preserve the way of life that brought you to Allandale in the first place.

Update
Administrative Site Plan Approval Site plan approval is pending for Lincoln’s 2nd site plan (filed Dec 2006). We have called for the City Council to reject the site plan based on errors in the approval process and deficient traffic studies. City Council members claim they are unwilling to reject the site plan for fear of being sued.

Project Size
Since the original site plan was filed, the size of the project has changed from 205,000 to 226,000 to the currently proposed 192,000 square feet. The 7% reduction in size does little to alleviate projected traffic and/or address other neighborhood concerns. This is still significantly larger than any single retail store in the area.

Recommendations/Concessions
In response to neighborhood recommendations, Wal-Mart’s consideration to exclude RV parking, limit operation to 20 hours except during peak periods (not specified), and other possible changes relating to light, noise, and green initiatives are welcomed but not guaranteed. At present, any concessions by Wal-Mart are no more than promises. There is nothing in place to legally bind them to comply.

What Your Neighborhood Association Is Doing

• Submitted a detailed list of concerns and recommendations relating to development plans to Lincoln/Wal-Mart.
• Created an ANA Northcross Redevelopment Committee consisting of 3 ANA board members to investigate neighborhood impact and to provide recommendations for course of action.
• Contacted Austin City Council members to voice our concerns with the approval process and ask them to withdraw their approval of the site plan
• Hired a traffic engineering firm to conduct a peer review of Lincoln’s initial TIA.
• Hired Bruce Bigelow, a well-regarded lawyer with a proven track record in administrative, health, and environmental law, to advise on and pursue legal options.
• Coordinating legal strategy with RG4N.

Traffic Impact
Based on Lincoln’s traffic analysis, current levels of traffic at Northcross are estimated at 8,000 vehicle trips per day (VTD) and are projected to increase to over 14,000 VTD. However, the City has verified that actual traffic counts at area Wal-Marts are as much as TWICE that projected in the projects’ original site plans

In addition, the traffic study submitted by Lincoln Property fails to include its impact on neighborhood streets, current growth rates, and other developments (eg, Lowe’s and Huntsman Tract). If the project is built as planned we can expect:

• Intersections to fail along Burnet and Anderson; wait times at stop lights will be dramatically increased (2 to 3 light changes) and traffic backlog in turn lanes (>10 cars) will further impede traffic flow.
• Significant increase in cut-through traffic on neighborhoodstreets
• Increase in truck volume resulting in an increased strain on our roads.
• Longer EMS and Fire response times during peak periods.
• Diminished safety and accessibility of pedestrian and bicycle activity on Great Northern and Shoal Creek.
• By law, the developer is only responsible for traffic mitigation costs deemed necessary by their traffic analysis. If Lincoln/Wal-Mart’s traffic analysis is wrong, we will suffer the consequences of traffic congestion and ultimately pay with our tax dollars to fix it.

Donate Now!
This is not a done deal. We believe the City not only has the right but an obligation to reject the site plan and we’re willing to pursue legal means to prove it. Allandale is no place for a Supercenter.

 

Click here to make your donation online or mail it to:

Allandale Fundraiser Legal Fund,
P.O. Box 10886
Austin, Texas 78766-1886