Curious about FAN’s take on this?
My take is it’s better than nothing but would’ve preferred more res density and 45th st access.
FAN doesn’t have a take on issues unless we have a vote of our membership.
I have heard a number of our members who are passionate about seeing this development to fruition who also bemoan a lack of connectivity in the loss of the 45th street entrance/exit. The consequence of such a loss could be that traffic gets even worse with only one egress, and then opponents of course will point back and say “I told you so” and use this reasoning to battle future mixed-use developments as well.
You can follow some of the criticism on the Facebook Page here:
And we’ll be sure to post a link to the ATXN coverage once it’s published, but you could also watch their live feed tonight.
Earlier this year, FAN’s membership voted to support the abundance and diversity of housing and the employment density in the project. As always, you can see the exact resolution and vote on the Votes page.
The compromise’s loss of the 45th Street connection runs afoul of the FAN vision for connectivity in our neighborhoods.
Also. the increase in park acreage ignores the Imagine Austin principle, cited in the membership’s resolution, that our neighborhoods need smaller parks accessible to greater numbers of households.
Finally, the compromise also reduced the commercial component of the project, which will likely result in fewer jobs and less support for transit service.
But the basics of the project remain largely intact. Under the compromise, it would still, in theory, enable a large diversity of people to live in central Austin and be within walking distance of open space, jobs, and shopping.
Statesman: Austin City Council signs off on The Grove, ending two year fight