by BRAD ROLLINS
With three members absent, the Kyle City Council last week rejected rezoning from retail to multi-family residential, a 27-acre tract east of Interstate 35 where a developer wants to build an apartment complex.
The rezoning request was made on behalf of Austin-based Bonner Carrington, the same company which had intended to build a 160-unit complex on Lehman Road near the Four Seasons Farms subdivision. With easy access to Interstate 35 from three entry points, the Center Street Village property is more attractive to the company, city staff told council members.
Part of the Center Street Village project includes property where HEB had previously considered building a grocery store. The tract sits along a planned rerouting of FM 150 E. to intersect with Center Street at Interstate 35. Except for an Auto Zone and a Goodyear Auto Service Center, development in the area has been slow for years and curbed-and-guttered streets built to serve a shopping center run empty through a grassy pasture.
“I think this area has been somewhat stagnant since HEB moved. I feel strongly if we’re able to get multi-family development in this area, it will help us build out the rest of this retail service area,” said council member Russ Huebner, who voted along with David Wilson in favor of the rezoning. “Believe me, when you have multi-family go in, retail services tend to gravitate toward that.”
Mayor Lucy Johnson said the city should stick with its plan for the area and not give up potential sales tax revenue that would be generated by a retail center.
“It may draw more retail around it... but nothing is guaranteed. It seems to me that if this development fell through — we’ve had plenty of other housing projects that do not get financed — I think we would have no recourse to change it back to retail service,” Johnson said, adding: “But I don’t think it is a bad place for apartments.”
Joined by council member Diane Hervol, Johnson’s opposition was enough to deny the rezoning on a tie. Council members Jaime Sanchez, Brad Pickett and Becky Selberra were not present.
With so many absences, officials speculate that the rezoning could be brought back for reconsideration but would require someone from the prevailing side — Johnson or Hervol — to move to reconsider.
