steiner ranch residents oppose apartments (Austin, Round Rock: rent, insurance, mortgages)

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Steiner Ranch residents opposing plans for 800 apartments

<<We need to make whatever development does come ... fit and be compatible to the existing community," said Steiner Ranch resident Greg Milligan, co-chairman of the development committee for the newly formed Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association, which includes residents in the surrounding area.>>

Thats code for we dont want those kinds of people living here.

No, it's not. It's more like this was not part of the master plan and if you decide to go ahead and do it anyway, then at least have the infrastructure to support it. The plans include having the traffic from these new developments use the residential streets currently going through the neighborhoods - not just 620 and Quinlan Park Road. This was NOT on the master plan when the people who live there bought their homes. I'm going to guess that if they tried to build an 800 unit apartment complex somewhere in Travis Heights, and the plan called for those residents to access said apartments via the 25 mph, residential streets there, people would be pretty damn upset. There is currently a 1200 unit apartment complex in Steiner Ranch that no one has a problem with...because it was always part of the plan.

We also have issue with the fact that the Austin City Counsel has the authority to approve and not approve these plans and variances in the current zoning. The main problem with this is that we are not in city limits. We do not get to vote for any of these city counsel members. I still can not find anyone who is able to explain why they have anything to do with this development. Additionally, after the fire, the city representatives criticized the "master plan" because it only allowed (essentially) one way out of the development, which was not nearly adequate for the number of residents here. They made liberal use of the Lake Travis fire chief's statement that a development of this size, with only one way out would "never be approved today." Yet here they are, approving even MORE residences than we have or were planned for.

Frankly, I don't really care if they put apartments there. But I do care that we have absolutely NO representation on the city counsel that gets to decide the fate of our community. I also have problems with the fact that we do not have the infrastructure to handle that many more residents - and the plans do not address that.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

Steiner ranch...land of the tiny lots...

Been to the beloved 78704 lately? I have. Went house shopping with a friend. She has a $500,000 budget, and we still didn't see anything with even a 1/5 of an acre lot.

So if I buy a $500,000 house on .16 acres in a "hipster" approved neighborhood, that's OK. But I buy a $300,000 house on .25 acres in Steiner, I'm pretentious. Yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense.

[austin-steve]

Well, it's Austin. Protesting new development is in the water here. It's why our city and road system seems anything other than well thought out and planned. It's all hodgepodge based on what can get done and what can't.

The article indicates that the apartments are being built on land "reserved" for apartments. Does that mean the apartments have been included in the master plan all along?



There are traffic studies and ways to quantify the impact of adding an apartment complex, both pro and con.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by Austin97

You chose to move into a development with ONLY TWO entrances. Anyone could have predicted that would be a problem. Now that you live there you want to stop people that cant afford a house from moving in? Why doesnt anyone protest the 200 houses a year that get added to steiner when they are protesting a 300 unit apt complex.

It is just like the people who protested wal mart at northcross mall, but they would have been ecstatic to have a central market or whole foods.

Who said it would be people that can't afford a house? Have you checked the rents at the apartment complex that's already here? They are more than my mortgage (in Steiner). And I hardly think any new ones would be any different.

Why don't we protest the number of houses a year that get added? Because every one of them was part of the master plan. We, the developer, and the county all knew 20 years ago exactly how many houses were going in. There has been a set limit to the number of houses to be built here. These new apartments (and they are far more than 300) are NOT part of the master plan. I guarantee that if they decided to build 300 additional houses, people would be just as upset.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Well, it's Austin. Protesting new development is in the water here. It's why our city and road system seems anything other than well thought out and planned. It's all hodgepodge based on what can get done and what can't.

The article indicates that the apartments are being built on land "reserved" for apartments. Does that mean the apartments have been included in the master plan all along?



There are traffic studies and ways to quantify the impact of adding an apartment complex, both pro and con.

No, they have not been part of the master plan. That's why the developer has had to get special approval for them.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by SickOfCalifornia

When people make these types of baseless assumptions, it really only shows you where THEIR mind is. You are the one bringing up class warfare. I have talked to dozens of residents and never once heard anything about what you are implying. People here are worried about 1) traffic, 2) school overcrowding and 3) the loss of beautiful greenbelt. It's not like they are building projects up there, they are building upscale condos that are out of the price range of the poor you think we all fear. The wacky theories you keep lobbing reflect poorly on you, not us.

Im going by the article that I posted. Did you even read it? It is about apartments that are getting built, not condos. So far 1500 signatures protesting these apartments have been collected. The head of the neighborhood association said :

"We need to make whatever development does come ... fit and be compatible to the existing community," said Steiner Ranch resident Greg Milligan, co-chairman of the development committee for the newly formed Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association,"

Again, they are protesting 300 apartment units. did they protest the 200 single family homes that went up last year? Why not?

[SickOfCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Im going by the article that I posted. Did you even read it? It is about apartments that are getting built, not condos. So far 1500 signatures protesting these apartments have been collected. The head of the neighborhood association said :

"We need to make whatever development does come ... fit and be compatible to the existing community," said Steiner Ranch resident Greg Milligan, co-chairman of the development committee for the newly formed Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association,"

Again, they are protesting 300 apartment units. did they protest the 200 single family homes that went up last year? Why not?

Your points have already been answered in this thread. Did you even read it?

Let's review:
The apartments that they are building have rents equal to or in some cases greater than the mortgages of the single family homes.
The 200 single family homes that were built were included into the original master plan, the new apartments were not.
The residents are concerned about traffic, school population, and greenbelt preservation, not socio-economic status of future residents.
The only person who is talking about race and/or class in this discussion is you

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Im going by the article that I posted. Did you even read it? It is about apartments that are getting built, not condos. So far 1500 signatures protesting these apartments have been collected. The head of the neighborhood association said :

"We need to make whatever development does come ... fit and be compatible to the existing community," said Steiner Ranch resident Greg Milligan, co-chairman of the development committee for the newly formed Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association,"

Again, they are protesting 300 apartment units. did they protest the 200 single family homes that went up last year? Why not?

First off, if the only information you are getting is from this article, then you are terribly uninformed. There are not 300 apartments in question, there are 800. This article only discusses one of the developments. Also, these are not going to be inexpensive housing options by any means, so your concern for people who couldn't otherwise afford to live here is misdirected. We already have a 1200 unit apartment complex in Steiner (whose units, BTW, have a higher monthly rental rate than my mortgage in Steiner, which kind of blows your theory that folks in apartments must be on a lower economic scale). No one has problems with apartments. We have problems with housing that was never part of the master plan. We have problems with residential streets with 25 mph speed limits that were designed to handle traffic to 50 or so homes suddenly being used by residents of 800 additional homes (the plans call for neighborhood streets to be used to access the new apartments). The people who bought homes on those streets did so partly because they were told they would always be quiet, residential streets.

And you want to know why no one protested the 200 single family homes that went up last year? BECAUSE THEY WERE ALWAYS PART OF THE MASTER PLAN. We all knew EXACTLY how many single family homes were going to be constructed and the infrastructure here was created in anticipation of those 200 homes being built. Not so for these apartments. They have never been part of the plan.

BTW, no one is protesting the townhouses going in either - because they were always part of the plan too.

[mayfair44]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

Steiner ranch...land of the tiny lots...

Steiner ranch...land of the tiny tots...

[Austin97]

The "it wasnt in the master plan" argument doesnt hold water. It sounds like most of you are just parroting what you have been told. How many steiner residents actually looked in the master plan in detail WHEN YOU BOUGHT YOUR HOUSE and then MADE SURE THAT TRAFFIC WOULD BE FINE? Riiiight, I dont think so.


In any case here is one link to the master plan which shows those areas RESERVED FOR MIXED USE.

http://www.rviplanning.com/pdfs/news...%20Vision2.pdf

oh yeah and in the FIRST PARAGRAPH of the notice to homebuyers it says
<<Marketing Materials / Development Plan.
A. Any master plans, site plans, brochures, illustrations, information and marketing material
(collectively, the “Conceptual Master Plan”) pertaining to Steiner Ranch and provided to any Purchaser by
Developer (or by any homebuilder, prior developer or other parcel developer within Steiner Ranch [and if
applicable, by virtue of a duly recorded Joinder as described in paragraph 10 hereof, with respect to such other
parcel developer’s property] within the Property) are conceptual in nature, are used for illustrative purposes only,
and that land uses reflected therein are subject to change by Developer at any time and without notice to
Purchaser. Neither Developer nor any homebuilder or other parcel developer (if applicable) within the Steiner
Ranch makes any representation or warranty concerning such land uses to Purchaser. Purchaser will not rely
upon the Conceptual Master Plan in making the decision to purchase any property within Steiner Ranch.>>