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Developer requests PUD amendment to allow drive path instead of funicular at Lake Austin site
Summary
A project representative told the Zoning and Planning Commission during public comment that a 45-acre Lake Austin development approved under a 2018 PUD requires an 800-foot elevator/funicular for certificate-of-occupancy but the developer seeks a PUD amendment to allow a drive path down the hillside as an alternative.
During public communication at the Zoning and Planning Commission's May 6 meeting a speaker identified as Jonathan (last name not specified in the record) described a proposed 45-acre residential development on Lake Austin near the 360 bridge and asked the commission to note the developer's intent to pursue an amendment to the site's planned-unit-district (PUD).
The speaker said the site's existing PUD, approved in 2018, includes a condition that an 800-foot elevator (described in the record as a "funicular") must be completed before a certificate of occupancy can be issued. "We can't get the certificate of occupancy until after the elevator is completed the way that PUD was drafted," the speaker told commissioners.
The speaker said the project team has identified an alternative: acquiring adjacent land and constructing a vehicle path down the hillside instead of the elevator. He said that change would require a PUD amendment. "We think it's far superior to drive down the hillside," the speaker said.
The speaker described the project as a residential resort for which he used the name "4 Seasons, Lake Austin" and said the project would create new public parkland on the lake shoreline. He said the team solicited neighborhood input and provided custom renderings for adjacent neighbors, and that 11 letters from neighborhood homeowners associations representing roughly 3,000 homeowners endorsed the proposal as presented to the commission.
The speaker also described shifting dwelling locations to preserve shoreline open space and said the project team would donate the parkland and cover maintenance under the homeowners association; the meeting record does not contain a legal or funding commitment beyond the speaker's statement. The speaker described the funicular as large and disruptive in construction and said switching to a drive path would avoid that construction.
The commission did not take formal action on the public comment; the speaker's request was presented during the public-communication portion of the agenda for commission awareness.
The transcript contains one unclear numeric phrase about the acreage converted to parkland (the speaker said "90 out of the 45 acres" in the record). That phrase appears inconsistent; the commission record does not provide a corrected numeric breakdown. The commission did not debate or vote on a PUD amendment at the May 6 meeting.
