By RICH KEITH, Four Points News
An application is under review for a site plan in upper Steiner Ranch that would bring in a car wash, a medical building and two retail/commercial buildings. It would be located on one of remaining mixed-use tracts called MU-15.
The 20 acre development would be accessed at the top of Steiner Ranch Boulevard and from RM 620 with several driveways.
Developers have a site plan in for this 20-acre parcel at the top of Steiner Ranch. Photo by Rich Keith
The property owner is MU-13 Investments, LTD, with Gerald Kucera as the managing partner. He is also part of Kucera Companies.
The City of Austin Planning and Development Review Department gave MU-13 Investments a report dated Oct. 3. The report challenges a few items on the site plan. The city said that no driveway accessing a Hill Country Roadway shall be located where the sight distance is less than 500 feet.
The property owner is being required to measure the distance and report back by the Jan. 28 deadline.
According to records obtained from the planning commission, the city told the developers to eliminate one of the driveways on RM 620 saying, “Access to a Hill Country Roadway is restricted to one driveway unless the estimated traffic volume for a single driveway exceeds 5,000 vehicles per day.”
The property owner had a car trip estimate done in August estimating 576 trips in and out of the property per day, according to the documents.
At the same time MU-13 Investments is submitting a commercial site plan, it is also proposing a re-plat of the property to five lots.
Currently an application is in review proposing to resubdivide the original tract into five lots.
Additionally MU-15 is being submitted as a commercial site plan that will be subject to a Unified Development Agreement. Therefore the five total proposed lots would be divided into four commercial mixed-use lots and one conservation/greenbelt lot.
MU-15 is subject to regulations as it lies within North Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone and must comply with the Hill Country Roadway Ordinance, according to city records. This means strict requirements for drainage, water quality, project signage (low and dim) and many other regulations. For example, as part of MU-15’s Water Supply Rural watershed classification, at least 40 percent of the site must be retained in or restored to its natural state to serve as a buffer.