Please read the letter below and sign our petition.
Help Stop Massive Development on Ted’s Trees Tract on Tillery.
The owners of Ted’s Trees via their agent, Drenner Group, have asked the City of Austin to throw out an agreement with our community so they can have a blank check to develop whatever they want.
In 2003 when the Govalle Johnston Terrace Neighborhood Plan was approved by the city, part of that plan included a special case for Ted’s Trees, a nursery in the middle of the neighborhood. The plan was created to right the wrongs of the past. As a result of red lining, much of the neighborhood was zoned Commercial and Industrial. In an effort to codify the same protections and rights enjoyed by neighborhoods elsewhere in the city, the neighborhood plan pushed to create zoning for housing.
A compromise was reached with Ted’s Trees. They would be given the zoning Commercial Mixed Use, with the understanding that it applied only to that business, and if/when that business ceases operation, the land will rightfully and automatically be rezoned (SF4a). The restrictive covenant is how this is achieved and it’s this restrictive covenant that the owners would now like removed.
The neighborhood kept up its side of the bargain but the owner is now attempting to retrade the agreement they made to their neighbors and the neighborhood, in order to unencumber the property prior to sale. If the owners of Ted’s Trees are successful in lifting the restrictive covenant, the Govalle Neighborhood association will lose any voice in the future development of the property. This will lead to a very high density development, 60 ft tall in the middle of our neighborhood introducing unwanted side effects such as traffic congestion and noise. The neighborhood plan encourages such density on the perimeter of our neighborhood, namely Airport BLVD and 7th St, saving the middle for a neighborhood for families. The location of Ted’s Trees is in the middle of our neighborhood and should be housing for families. Help us stick to the plan.
Please help us to send a message to the Mayor and City Council that commitments should be honored. Otherwise why would we ever choose to negotiate with developers in the future?