American manufacturing corporation 3M Company is one step closer to adding more office space in Northwest Austin
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3M Company has additional office parks in the north and south that border a 5-hectare property that is to be converted into office buildings. (Trent Thompson / Community Impact Newspaper)
3M Company, an American manufacturing company, is applying for Austin City Council to build a 5.58-acre vacant lot at 11705 Research Blvd.
The reallocation was passed on first reading as part of the consent agenda calling for the conditional overlay to be removed and the property to be effectively reallocated to a restricted industrial service district. 3M Company owns the vacant lot and is applying to add office space to it. The property is surrounded by 3M office parks to the north and south; Research Boulevard and SH 183 to the south; and a pawn shop, single-family homes and another office park to the west. The reallocation corresponds to the surrounding uses, according to a letter from a representative of the applicant to the housing and planning office.
Conditional overlays put in place specific rules for a particular property, such as: The removal of the existing conditional overlay removes the 12m building height limitation, several prohibited land uses, and certain urban requirements before granting a zoning permit as per the zoning review sheet.
The Summit Oaks neighborhood association, which oversees a neighborhood directly adjacent to the property, is backing the development and approving the lifting of the 40-foot building height limit, said neighborhood association president Steven Schrader.
“The Summit Oaks neighborhood association is willing to support this request in exchange for several considerations, including a commitment to maintain a 15-meter undisturbed residential buffer zone between the development and home ownership lines,” said Schrader.
The zoning and zoning commission has not sent the city council a recommendation to accept or reject the application for rededication, as the commissioners did not vote unanimously on July 6, according to the review sheet for the alteration of the zoning. Areas such as building height and setbacks need to be resolved between local residents and the 3M Company before the case moves forward, Commissioner Carrie Thompson said.
“It seems like there is still confusion about what visibility would be like and so people here have to react to some strangers I think” [3M Company] easy to clean up, “said Thompson.
The last minute 3M Company motion for a fifth postponement also failed, so the case was referred to the city council. Previous postponement requests have been made by employees, neighborhood associations, and the 3M company, according to the Zone Change Review Sheet.
There is currently no information about vegetation and steep sloping areas at the site or whether the development meets water quality requirements and regulations. The site is subject to compatibility standards that state that no building or parking lot may be constructed at least 25 feet within the northwest property line, and a fence, berm, or thick vegetation must be on surrounding property prior to viewing parking lots, mechanical equipment, storage, and trash protect collection.
Austin Transportation Department officials said 3M Company is required to perform a new transportation impact analysis at the site plan phase once the site layout is known, according to the zone change review sheet.
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