Austin City Council approved plans for redevelopment of the Brodie Oaks shopping center, an aging strip mall located on the edge of the Barton Springs Greenbelt, on Sept. 21.

 

Located on the corner of South Lamar Boulevard and the Texas 360 Loop, the shopping center’s development plans reimagine the area as a high-density multi-use property with restaurants, shops, residential apartments and emergency services. Construction begins in 2025 and helps advance the city’s housing and transportation goals but potentially pose an environmental precedent.

 

The location will provide 200 affordable housing units through Foundation Communities, said Ryan Alter, the council member from District 5, whose district the shopping mall is in. 

 

“(The units are) a meaningful investment in the needs of District 5 and the city at large,” Alter said. “I think all in all this development has a lot to offer the community and that's why I was really excited to support it.”

 

According to the foundation's website, their affordable units are between $200-$400 cheaper than market price and residency includes access to free financial and education services. 

 

When Alter took office in 2022 he supported the development plans, first approved in 2021, because of the included designated rent-subsidized units. He said the city fell behind on its affordable housing goals. 

 

“We always need more, (and) I'll always be pushing for more,” Alter said. “We're going to dramatically upgrade the use of this site both in terms of park space and retail space but also in terms of housing and, most importantly, affordable housing.”

 

In 2017, the council passed a plan to add 135,000 housing units by 2028. In 2021, Housing Works Austin reported eight districts were “offtrack,” meaning most of the city is behind on meeting the 10-year deadline as of 2021.

 

According to Housing Works Austin, the average cost of rent in 2022 was over $1,700 monthly. Additionally, only 8% of housing options were considered subsidized affordable housing in Alter’s district, a net zero change from the percentage in 2015. 

 

“By allowing this (permanent unit development) to move forward in the way it did, we're seeing hundreds of income-restricted housing units,” said planning commission member Greg Anderson  “We're seeing transit-supportive density being built here and this just goes a long way in accomplishing all of the city goals that we've put forward over the past number of years.”

 

Anderson, an urban studies professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said the nature of high-density development brings transportation benefits.  People will be able to safely walk from their residency to a shop or workplace within the center.

 

“(The) CoolClimate calculator is very clear on the fact that the further you live from the city center, the higher your carbon footprint,” Anderson said. ”We want people to live in a compact and connected fashion.”

 

However, residents near the site raised concerns about accessing the stores from nearby neighborhoods. People can reach Brodie Oaks via the 803 Rapid Bus route, yet, it would still be unsafe to walk to the site from areas in the city not along the bus route, said long-time resident Gene Wilkin at the council meeting. 

 

“The planned improvements only serve if you are adjacent to the site, not if you're in close-by neighborhoods,” Wilkins said. ”(Which is) pretty much most of South Austin.” 

 

Although the development decreases impervious cover, the percentage of man-made structures that cannot absorb rainwater, it is not enough to meet the 1992 Save our Springs initiative, requiring all properties in the “recharge zone” of the Barton Springs Watershed to limit cover to 15%, said Bill Bunch, executive director of the Save our Springs Alliance.

 

Currently, the property is 84% impervious cover, and according to the Brodie Reimagined website, the new development is projected to reduce it to 54%. Yet, Bunch said the leeway sets a dangerous precedent for future developments in the “environmentally sensitive” area.  

 

“This is one of the first larger redevelopment projects in the Barton Springs watershed,” Bunch said. “The idea that they would not be required to reduce impervious cover all the way down to the SOS limits … that was recognized that might be done but it was also recognized with (the) idea that off-site mitigation land would be secured.”

 

Bunch said the SOS Alliance repeatedly asked for added off-site migration land, or untouched land used to compensate for harmful water runoff into the Edwards Aquifer, but was ultimately not included. However, the alliance is more concerned with potential urban growth surrounding the new development. 

 

“It's going to generate secondary growth in that area in the Barton Springs watershed,” he said. ”That's another part of the pollution picture that we're concerned about and that we don't think was adequately addressed.” 

 

Lionstone and Barshop&Oles, the development companies, did not respond to requests for comment.