Council approves rezoning at Whitestone Boulevard to allow mixed commercial project after concessions and petition in protest

The Cedar Park City Council on March 11 approved, by a 6–1 vote, a rezoning and future land-use amendment for roughly 7.79 acres at the southwest corner of East Whitestone Boulevard and Arrowpoint Drive, changing the property’s future land-use map and rezoning it from professional office to general business with a conditional overlay.

Andrina Davila, planning staff, told the council the applicant revised the conditional overlay since first reading to add three additional prohibited uses within the south 150 feet of the property: commercial parking lot, event center, and outdoor arena/stadium/amphitheater. She also said other buffer yards and setback requirements remained in place. Because the city had received a valid petition in protest, the rezoning required at least six affirmative votes.

Deborah Glovsky, a resident who spoke in favor, said the developer had made additional concessions to neighbors and that the proposed grocery would meet local demand. “If this plan does not move forward, you don't know what the next developer is gonna do,” Glovsky said. “Developers have done an outstanding job of going above and beyond to be good partners with these neighbors.”

Opposing residents said the changes still left uses that could generate evening and weekend activity. Andy McGuire, who said he lives immediately south of the site, told the council his neighborhood’s primary concern remained protecting evenings and weekends from commercial activity and that some concessions—such as loading-dock locations and building-height limits—did not address the neighbors’ key worries.

“We haven't protected our evening hours and our weekends,” McGuire said. “The only material things we've gained is 54–55 more feet of buffer space and a few bigger trees.”

The applicant’s representative said the developer had voluntarily doubled the standard 30-foot setback to 60 feet along the south property line and had further revised the site plan so the first building would be roughly 120 feet from the residential property line. The developer also said the current site plan keeps building heights voluntarily under 35 feet and that, under both current professional-office zoning and proposed general-business zoning, any structure above 35 feet would require a 100-foot setback from an adjoining residential property line.

Several residents and commenters told the council they supported the project because the market demand for a specialty grocer would keep retail sales local. The public record submitted with the project included dozens of written comments in favor and several in opposition.

Councilmembers described the final proposal as the result of negotiation and compromise: they noted the applicant had removed numerous uses through the conditional overlay and increased landscape and masonry buffering while residents remained concerned about long-term uses if the project changed. After brief final remarks by councilmembers, the council voted to approve the ordinance and the rezoning.

The rezoning will allow the developer to proceed with the conditional overlay as approved; additional administrative or site-plan approvals will be required before construction can begin.