10-year debate over size of facility at ‘The Y’ continues
The Planning and Zoning Commission’s vote to approve an amendment to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) at The Y failed 6-3 over what seems to be the crux of an existential crisis residents and leaders of Fredericksburg and Gillespie County are grappling with in regard to growth in the area.
Commissioners had a lively debate, Wednesday, March 6, about the pros and cons of allowing an amendment to the proposed mixed-use property at the i...
10-year debate over size of facility at ‘The Y’ continues
The Planning and Zoning Commission’s vote to approve an amendment to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) at The Y failed 6-3 over what seems to be the crux of an existential crisis residents and leaders of Fredericksburg and Gillespie County are grappling with in regard to growth in the area.
Commissioners had a lively debate, Wednesday, March 6, about the pros and cons of allowing an amendment to the proposed mixed-use property at the intersection of U.S. 290 and U.S. 87 North called The Meuse.
In 2014, when the project first started, it was known as the Seven Hills Development. But after multiple meetings between the community and developers, it been renamed “The Meuse” in honor of the town’s founder, John O. Meusebach,.
The three votes in favor of the amendment were cast by Jim Jarreau, Janice Menking and Cindy Scroggins. They argued that the development would pull tourists to the west of side of town, help increase midweek tourism and help ease the short-term rental (STR) proliferation.
Those opposed to the amendment cited the town’s housing availability issues, the lack of a conference center on the property and traffic issues. Jeff Lawrence, Tom Musselman, Tim Dooley, Steve Thomas, Daryl Whitworth and Polly Rickert voted to deny the request for an amendment by Development Manager Nick Skuteris with DC Partners.
His request stated: “This project has gone through many iterations. Based on feedback from the Commission and City staff, the applicant has removed the previously proposed 258 multi-family units, the three-story parking garage and has parked the development at a 1:1 ratio without the previously approved 34% parking.”
Pros
Jarreau said communities that do not move forward stagnate. He also said that the project would create midweek tourist traffic that would help the entire city and county.
“It’s not gonna hurt us. It’s gonna help us,” he said. “We experienced a considerable amount of pinch and pain with the rapid growth of STRs.
“The only way we’re going to get the mini hotels out of the community is to put those folks somewhere else, and this is 200 folks we can get out. This is also a path toward fixing the affordability of our housing, by flushing out some of the STRs that are in the community and converting them into controlled condensed places for folks to stay.”
Cons
Commissioner Rickert applauded the growth-minded nature of the community but stressed that not addressing the housing problem “…is not in our county’s or city’s best interest.”
“We currently import over 4,500 people per day inside the county to work in our county and city. We have a massive housing supply shortage both in the city and the county,” she said. “We keep seeing commercial projects coming in front of us and very few residential projects coming in front of us, so our supply gap just keeps getting worse. This project isn’t helping. We need more housing.”
Whitworth said he couldn’t vote in favor of the project because it did not include a conference center.
The project includes a ballroom and a hotel with 200 guestrooms.
“I want to remind the commission that we just approved a comprehensive plan that specifically enumerates a conference center as a development, Whitworth said. “Yet you’re coming before us asking us to approve a meeting facility and you speak of weddings. We’re not in dire need of wedding venues. What this community needs is a true conference center.
“If we are indeed going to follow what we just approved and are sending to the city council in two weeks to be approved by them for what our comprehensive plans says, we cannot approve what they have put in front of us,” Whitworth said.
Dooley’s concern had to do with the amount of traffic that would be created in the area.
“My issue with this whole project from day one has always and will continue to be traffic,” Dooley said. “In reality, no matter what your technical numbers show, that intersection is probably the most convoluted intersection we have in the entire community. This is a good project in certain areas of the community but not at this intersection.”
Two citizens spoke against the development during public comments and one person spoke in favor.
Because the P&Z commissioners did not follow their failed 6-3 vote with a separate motion to recommend denial of the amendment, it created a technical deficiency in the motion. This means that City Council cannot hold a public hearing on the DC Partners amendment until April, after the P&Z meets again and makes the recommendation.
The commission also:
• Approved a Conditional Use Permit for Matthew Durrette to Operate a STR Facility in a R2 Zone Area on property located at 106 East Nimitz St.
• Approved the adoption of the City of Fredericksburg’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan “Gute Stadt: Good City.”