With only six members of City Council voting Thursday in favor of changing plans for the west parcel of the Hyatt planned unit development at West Riverside Drive and South First Street, the developer will have to come back for a third vote. The change won approval on first reading last month, but the rezoning at second reading was stymied over water reclamation plans.
Developers have agreed to use collected rainwater and air conditioner condensate for irrigation but have not agreed to a request from Austin Water that they connect to the city’s reclaimed water line.
Council Member Leslie Pool abstained from the vote due to the Hyatt's refusal to agree to the water utility's request. Council Member Mackenzie Kelly was off the dais, and Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison was absent. Council Members Zo Qadri and José Vela offered strong support for the requested zoning change.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes supported the item after pulling it "to flag that these were concerns that came from Austin Water.” After learning that the item had only six votes and would be coming back for third reading, she said, “I really hope that applicant and the developer consider their stance on the issue.”
The City Council two years ago approved an ordinance, set to take effect Dec. 1, requiring all large commercial and multifamily developments to use either rainwater and air conditioning condensate or reclaimed water for nonpotable needs. Austin Water's Kevin Critendon told the council that although the policy is scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1, the department would be seeking a 90-day delay.
Leah Bojo, who represents the Hyatt, told Council that she was aware of two new PUDs that had agreed to use the centralized reclaimed water system. However, she pointed out that two PUDs related to the South Central Waterfront are getting “huge amounts of new entitlements. And what’s happening with this amendment is this is an older PUD and the only requested amendment is to remove parking minimums. We are not receiving new entitlements as part of it.”
Fuentes asked if Hyatt would be seeking new entitlements in the future; Bojo said no. She pointed out that the parking lot is the last of the property to be redeveloped.
Pool led Critendon through a series of questions designed to show that if the Hyatt project were attached to the system, it would save about 1.9 million gallons of potable water. “I think this is an opportunity lost on this particular project.This will be a requirement of Water Forward in the coming months," Pool said, adding that developers' plans to reuse rainwater on the site would provide only a fraction of what could be saved by attaching to the system. “As we move forward as a city, we need to decide where our priorities lie and how best to achieve them. Allowing projects to opt out in the future won’t help us reach the goals.”
"I know some of my colleagues have their reservations about this item, but it’s clear to me that this project fulfills the definition of going above and beyond our existing regulations as the applicant has worked with staff to meet the site portion of the pending Water Forward requirements," said Qadri.
