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There are good renters and poor renters, those who take care of their properties and return them to the landlord in better condition than they got it, and those who don't care.
There are also good homeowners and poor homeowners - those who take care of their properties, and those who move in a bunch of junker cars, fourteen relatives, and blast music all night long.
I've lived next to all of those examples in my life.
Agreed. My generalization is mainly in response to Austin97 trying to claim that the residents opposing the apartments are motivated by socioeconomic status or race of the renters it would attract.
However, the renters problem isn't just a problem with the renters themselves, but the owners of property. In this case, the owners and management of the apartments. Since Steiner is a deed restricted subdivision, it has protection from the extreme homeowner examples that you mentioned above.
Those apartments will take some of the "family" out of Steiner Ranch. I guarantee renters will not be staying in those apartments in 5 year stretches like Trainwreck20 did. There will be moving trucks in and out of there all the time. Apartments are not a good addition to an established family neigborhood for a number of reasons. I just don't see the problem with the residents trying to make sure that certain criteria are met before it's just thrown up.
There are good renters and poor renters, those who take care of their properties and return them to the landlord in better condition than they got it, and those who don't care.
There are also good homeowners and poor homeowners - those who take care of their properties, and those who move in a bunch of junker cars, fourteen relatives, and blast music all night long.
I've lived next to all of those examples in my life.
By the way - after I moved to Austin and rented an apartment, I tried to get involved in my neighborhood association - and was told that as a renter, I wasn't welcome. They next time they wanted my signature on some silly petition to save a shrub or something, I reminded them that they said I wasn't welcome.
For the record, the Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association (the one that is opposing a lot of these developments) welcomes all residents, including renters. It also encompasses more than just Steiner, as it includes the areas surrounding it, such as the homes near Selma Hughes Park and on Low Water Crossing Rd.
Why? The exact number of single family homes was planned out 25 years ago. The roads and infrastructure were created based on that number. They were not based upon 800 additional residences, which have only been in the plans since 2000. I guarantee you that if the developer were trying to build 800 (or even 100) additional single-family homes, people would be just as upset.
This document from the water development board shows that the original master plan was designed for 8341 lots. At this point there are around 4500 residences built.
The roads and infrastructure then were planned for 8341 lots (living unit equivalents).
What data do you have that shows the projections that the roads are based on?
I keep hearing assertions about what the original plan says. But all the data I can find contradicts these assertions. For example while apartments werent specifically specified, mixed use was. People say the roads werent designed for this many people, it looks like the community plan was over 8K units.
I'll chime in from my perspective (and data) and add that the crime you find in Falconhead, for example, stems from or is in the apartments. Just stating facts and not imparting judgement.
or is in the apartments. Just stating facts and not imparting judgement.
So, it is quite possible that the criminals are locals to the neighborhood but target the apartments; why, the reduction in crime in the non-apartment area due to the thieves moving to the apartments as targets could even exacerbate the difference, making the apartments look like the cause or culprit when they are not....
My main dislikes are below. I've lived in 10 different apartment complexes throughout my life as a kid and as an adult so I've seen most of these things first-hand.
1. Parking is number one. I've never seen an apartment complex that has adequate parking for all the residents and all the guests of those residents without it spilling out to the nearby streets. Since apartments tend to have younger residents who tend to have more parties, it only takes a couple get togethers to have parked cars lining the busy entrances to the neighborhood.
2. I didn't see if these apartments will be part of the main Steiner HOA or not, but if not, it will create issues at planned HOA events. Those of us that live in HOA neighborhoods pay our HOA dues and like the fact that some of that money is used to fund Easter Egg Hunts, barbecues, and Christmas parties. I've seen many of these parties run out of eggs for the kids, food for the guests, etc. because non-HOA members who didn't RSVP show up without knowing that the HOA residents paid for the event and only enough resources for these events were allocated for the paid members. Needless to say, I've seen quite a few toddlers leave Easter Egg hunts crying without any eggs. It's a bad situation for the kids and I can only imagine what 300 or more non-HOA apartments would do to these events. It's not like you can turn away a family from the apartments since they're not on the HOA emails/listservs so they have no idea that the event was an HOA sponsored event. If the apartments are part of the mandatory HOA fees then this won't be an issue.
3. Increased traffic and noise at night is another downfall of the apartments as again they tend to have younger residents. You can almost hear a pin drop in my neighborhood after 10:00pm. That would likely change for the residents that live near the apartments. It would be very unlikely that two 19 year-olds would share a house in Steiner, but they would definitely be likely to share an apartment. There will be more noisy parties and they won't be limited to the weekends.
4. People moving in and out on a monthly basis, high traffic of moving trucks in and out of the neighborhood, and just a lesser sense of community because there will be a lot more people living there for short periods of time.
My main dislikes are below. I've lived in 10 different apartment complexes throughout my life as a kid and as an adult so I've seen most of these things first-hand.
Boy, I hope you didn't hurt yourself grasping at those straws.
We lived in an apartment, at approximately the same price point as the proposed Steiner apartments, for a year while our house was being built. First, there was NEVER a problem with parking spaces. I never had anything less than a choice of spaces. Thus is a non-issue hi high end apartments. People paying north of $1200/ month won't put up with it.
Second, the HOA issue is a non-issue. You can't simultaneously complain about two nineteen year olds in an apartment, then worry about their kids elbowing yours for an Easter egg. I doubt they will be HOA members - if they are, and pay dues, then deal with it.
Third, "noise". The only problem we ever had was with pool parties that went a little late. We didn't live facing the pool for that very reson. Other than that, we never heard bupkus. And if the noise can travel the two to three miles to most of the Steiner homes from the proposed apartment sites, the other apartment residents will be screaming long before you.
Fourth, moving. Our complex had a couple of parking places, near the gates and elevators, sized for moving vans. Non-issue.
Folks without recent experience in apartment living are racing to faulty conclusions. They aren't building Section 8 buildings. They aren't building student complexes. They are building expensive apartments, with residents that match. You can have your reason for hating this, but all of these aren't it.
My main dislikes are below. I've lived in 10 different apartment complexes throughout my life as a kid and as an adult so I've seen most of these things first-hand.
1. Parking is number one. I've never seen an apartment complex that has adequate parking for all the residents and all the guests of those residents without it spilling out to the nearby streets. Since apartments tend to have younger residents who tend to have more parties, it only takes a couple get togethers to have parked cars lining the busy entrances to the neighborhood.
2. I didn't see if these apartments will be part of the main Steiner HOA or not, but if not, it will create issues at planned HOA events. Those of us that live in HOA neighborhoods pay our HOA dues and like the fact that some of that money is used to fund Easter Egg Hunts, barbecues, and Christmas parties. I've seen many of these parties run out of eggs for the kids, food for the guests, etc. because non-HOA members who didn't RSVP show up without knowing that the HOA residents paid for the event and only enough resources for these events were allocated for the paid members. Needless to say, I've seen quite a few toddlers leave Easter Egg hunts crying without any eggs. It's a bad situation for the kids and I can only imagine what 300 or more non-HOA apartments would do to these events. It's not like you can turn away a family from the apartments since they're not on the HOA emails/listservs so they have no idea that the event was an HOA sponsored event. If the apartments are part of the mandatory HOA fees then this won't be an issue.
3. Increased traffic and noise at night is another downfall of the apartments as again they tend to have younger residents. You can almost hear a pin drop in my neighborhood after 10:00pm. That would likely change for the residents that live near the apartments. It would be very unlikely that two 19 year-olds would share a house in Steiner, but they would definitely be likely to share an apartment. There will be more noisy parties and they won't be limited to the weekends.
4. People moving in and out on a monthly basis, high traffic of moving trucks in and out of the neighborhood, and just a lesser sense of community because there will be a lot more people living there for short periods of time.
This was the funniest list I've seen in a long time.
Easter Eggs? Easter Eggs are your #2 beef against apartments? Wow.
Now to the more substantive items - Every complex I've ever been in has had more than adequate parking, and most are quiet. A properly managed apartment community is a quiet community - and they're called "apartment communities" because they definitely foster a sense of community. Ours currently has a neighborhood watch group, bi-monthly events, and a Facebook page. Some people have lived here for 15 or 20 years. There are many who have no interest in home ownership who live in apartments long-term. Perhaps you didn't know any in your multiple apartment complexes, but there are many.
As for the "high traffic of moving trucks" - how volatile do you think an apartment complex is? My 200-some unit complex I'm currently in has perhaps one moving truck each month. Are you worried they'll run over your Easter Eggs or something?
Really, I have lived in a huge number of apartments in my life, due to my work and education, and even lower dollar apartments that house mainly working class residents (i.e. not students) have little issue with noise. Yes, student apartments and young adult geared apartments can be very noisy. With high-dollar apartments, I doubt their 'ruckus' will rise above the background noise of 620. And I have NEVER lived in an apartment that did not have adequate parking...sure, sometimes I could not get covered parking, or had to park 50 feet away, but never, ever had to even think about parking along the street. The closest I guess I was to parking issues was an apartment north of campus that only had 2 parking spaces per unit, but none of the 13 units had more than two cars and several had one.
And crashing HOA events? Riata apartments had to worry about the locals crashing their apartment events. And be careful the squealing noise of the kids at the Easter egg hunt don't upset the apartment dwellers .
Honestly, there will be increased traffic, and that I consider a potentially valid concern. If, as some people have indicated, the load has already been considered as part of the initial development, it might be a moot point. It would be much nicer to live in an area designed for 8,000 units but only operating at 4,000 units, but I find it a bit disingenuous to blame developers that are operating withing their plans and rights. If you (or the neighborhood) did not want that land developed, someone should have long ago bought the land out. If they developers need a variance, go out and fight it with actual data, not just "we think they might be noisy and crash our HOA events".
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