I've written about Zilker's Vertical Mixed Use opt-out application before, mainly to illustrate why Council made a mistake by amending the ordinanceto let neighborhoods gerrymander the VMU districts through opt-out requests.
Zilker's application is scheduled to go to Council on Thursday. I imagine Council will approve it, perhaps with minor modifications.
The map below depicts Zilker's opt-out application, which the Planning Commission approved with only minor modifications. Here's the code for your color wheel: purple = "complete opt out"; yellow = "VMU but with no parking reductions"; light blue = "VMU with all incentives and parking reductions."
Zilker identified a number of concerns -- e.g., iconic business, lack of infrastructure, encroachment on single-family neighborhoods -- to justify its opt-out requests. But I think one can get the gist quickly enough just by looking at the map: (1) They are fine with VMU, as long as it is across South Lamar on the land backing up to the railroad track; (2) they will accept VMU on "their" side of South Lamar as long as it is a large parcel that does not intrude into the neighborhood and it doesn't get any parking reductions; and (3) otherwise, no. (The one exception is to (2), where Zilker approved VMU for the Lamar Plaza/Alamo Drafthouse tract (#51) even though it abuts single--family homes. Alamo already creates a lot of overflow parking for them, so I'm sure they believe a VMU development without parking reductions might improve the parking.)
I won't rehash my longstanding objections to this practice of gerrymandering VMU districts on busy commercial arterials. I'll limit myself to two observations:
1. The "apartment-complex" mentality. Zilker is still stuck in it. Vertical Mixed Use developments are supposed to be an alternative to hulking apartment complexes, cut off from the street and sidewalk grids and surrounded by moats of parking. They are supposed to be a sensitive method for reintegrating commercial and multi-family into traditional neighborhoods. The Zilker Neighborhood Association has relegated Vertical Mixed Use to large commercial lots isolated from the rest of the neighborhood, at least on the west side of South Lamar. They have foreclosed the option of small-scale developments; we'll be stuck with the large "pocket" multi-family development.
2. Protecting iconic businesses. It's crap, and it's the most offensive part of their application. Why does the Horseshoe Lounge deserve "iconic" protection while the Saxon Pub does not? Who says La Feria is more beloved than Maudie's? Personally, I care a whole lot more about my pharmacy (South Lamar Plaza Drugs), Suzy's Chinese Kitchen, and the Alamo Drafthouse than any of the businesses they've slated for protection. I didn't get a say because I live on the other side of the street. (It wouldn't have mattered anyway -- what matters is not how "iconic" they are; what matters is how close they sit to a single-family home.)
For now, my criticism is largely academic. Zilker has out-waited this building cycle; I doubt there will be any new VMU developments (or significant developments of any other kind) for the next few years until the credit crunch has resolved and the Austin market absorbs the current inventory. But Zilker's VMU map has likely set up some fierce battles when the market recovers.
