Trial Ends in Northcross Redevelopment Suit

By Carey Eskridge

Most Austinites are aware of Responsible Growth for Northcross (RG4N), a neighorhood group of residents around Northcross Mall that was formed in response to construction of a 24-hr Wal-Mart superstore. (Photo By John Anderson of Austin Chronicle.)

NORTHCROSS MALL LAWSUIT TIMELINE

1. As originally conceived, the Wal-mart would be the second largest retail store in the state of Texas. Eventually, RG4N filed suit against the city and the developer, Lincoln Property Company, claiming that the store's site plan violates Austin's land development rules.

2. Earlier in the month, the Allandale Neighborhood Association had separately filed for a summary judgment against the development. That motion was denied, so the RG4N claims are the only ones keeping the construction from moving forward.

3. Last Friday marked the end of the trial and the judge expects to make a ruling by mid-December. Renovations have already begun on the buildings near Burnet Road, but no work will be done on portions of the property involving the Wal-Mart until the suit is resolved.

I'm very interested in how this case turns out, since this type of development was the very reason for the city's big box ordinance adopted in February of this year. 

The new ordinance requires proposals over a certain square footage to seek a conditional use permit, which requires a public hearing. In the Northcross case, Wal-Mart was only required to inform residents within 300 feet of the site of the proposed construction. The inadequacy of that requirement is obvious when you consider that Wal-Mart's business plan for the site considered the potential customer base to be anyone living within a five-mile radius of the new store.  

In my opinion, Northcross Mall desperately needs redevelopment. From what I've read, RG4N doesn't disagree. If it's done properly, it can actually help all the local businesses that have located along Anderson Lane and be a boon to the surrounding community. But giant stores can have a negative impact on nearby residential areas. Typically, they attract further large development and the associated traffic is always a concern for homebuyers.

(See the photo inset to view RG4N's site preferred plan).

The bottom line is this sort of development is not going to stop any time soon, but we're really lucky that Austin has such a dedicated citizenry willing to do what is necessary to prevent ill-conceived or out-of-scale projects from going up without public input. We'll know in December if this latest public outcry has legal merit.

Read our original story on the issue at Northcross Mall.

Read the follow up about Wal-mart's troubles with the Northcross Mall neighborhood residents.

Comments

[Dee Copeland]

Great coverage, Carey. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about what the Northcross residents were upset over. We want to make sure residents in surrounding areas receive adequate notice. Although Wal-mart followed the current rules, their point is that perhaps the rules needed changing.

I'm not "pro" or "against" Wal-mart. There's one across the highway from me and it serves a purpose. I am for making sure Austinites have a fair chance to speak out about how their neighborhoods develop. They're the ones who have to live there.