A large group of residents and nearby property owners used the Nov. 5 open‑mic to ask the City Council to oppose a requested rezoning of a Southeast‑corner tract at Hillcrest Road and LBJ Freeway from neighborhood office to regional retail for a proposed H‑E‑B store and parking garage.

Speakers from the Hillcrest Preservation Coalition, nearby homeowners associations and affected office‑building owners repeatedly described the 10‑acre site as too small for a 127,000‑square‑foot regional grocery and said the scale would generate traffic flows and truck deliveries that the surrounding streets and access drives cannot handle. Multiple speakers (Burl George, Paula Goss, Charlie Nye, Scott Mackler and others) cited projected hourly traffic counts, queueing onto the 635 service road and the potential for spillover into nearby residential streets and school crossings. Several speakers also raised stormwater and flooding concerns tied to additional impervious cover and to Park Central Drive's existing flooding problems.

Why it matters: opponents said the requested zoning change — a jump from neighborhood office to the city's most intensive retail designation — would allow a use inconsistent with the surrounding low‑density residential and office context, invite up to a thousand weekend traffic trips, and create safety problems for pedestrians walking to nearby schools and neighborhoods. Office owners said the site is effectively landlocked and that rezoning would represent a major change in traffic patterns; some warned the designation could enable a later owner to flip the property for a different high‑intensity use.

What residents asked council to do: postpone or deny the rezoning until a traffic and drainage plan is provided that demonstrates ingress/egress adequacy, flood mitigation and deed restrictions or development standards protecting residents. Speakers said H‑E‑B had not yet submitted a site plan and that deed‑restriction negotiations had stalled.

Responses and next steps: council took no vote on the zoning item during the Nov. 5 meeting; speakers and community groups said the matter is scheduled for a council vote Dec. 10 and urged council members to visit the site and review traffic modeling. Several speakers noted their intent to continue outreach to city staff, the city plan commission and council members prior to that vote.

Provenance: public comments during the open‑mic period included detailed, repeated technical claims about traffic counts, truck deliveries, and flood impacts; the Hillcrest coalition emphasized the size discrepancy between typical H‑E‑B sites (commonly 20+ acres) and the proposed 10‑acre parcel.