Yep, they are back, folks!

No surprise, i think we (the original Wal-Mart ad hoc committee) warned you all this summer that even if Wal-Mart did pull out (Yeah - so happy they DID back out !!), the option remains open for any other Big Box to move in.

That is EXACTLY what has happened on the same 60 acre lot the goes on both sides of Slaughter Lane all the way north to Davis Lane. The same plan is STILL being considered, just with a different develper. My apologies to Endeavor, who create the orignal plant, however, it appears that they must have sold that plan to another developer. So, I'm not so sure Endeavor is guiltless in the nasty plan.

If you are new or need an update, what they have in mind is a reasonable plan for banks and sit down resturants on both sides of Slaughter Lane (everyone is happy about that part of the plan), but it goes terribly wrong when you see that 200,000 squar foot warehouse that they have proposed for the north end of the lot, off of Davis Lane.

There are 3 tiny caves on this property and they ARE asking for reduced setbacks on two of them, to accomadate the 18-wheelers that will come in from Davis Road.

This project ruins Sendra's neighborhood on it's Western side, where they currenlty walk to their neighborhood pool. The traffic loads will make Slaughter an instant bottle neck and add massive traffic loads to Davis Lane, as well. It ruins the neighborhoods, roads, and the environment.

All that Mr Monohan has to do, is to take off the any buildings on the north 30 acres, and the rest of the project would move forward, quickly, without any further oposition !!

How stupid can one 80 year old man be ?

Well, he appears to be greedy as Scruge, He won't budge an inch and he's already sued the City of Austin, after we scrared off Wal-Mart. I think it's time we find out what Mr Monohan is made of. We need to start looking into his backroom deals and find out what's amuck here.

What can YOU do to help ?

In a nutshell, be prepared to donate a significant amount to a non-profit group that will be announced next week. They have to move quickly and they will need a to hire a powerful law firm, but there are some cracks in this case that could be exploited. The volunteers are lined up and alread working to stop this project, but they are going to need some cash for legal action.

Every local HOA will need to contribute if we are going to have any chance to stopping this Monhan Monster. I know it's a busy month at CCHOA , but the entire neighborhood has already said, in a CCHOA survey, that they are prepared to fight with CCHOA funds.

It's time.....

Or

we could just hire Daryl Slusher....

Big Box News

The new coalalition of neighborhoods has just formed, as I noted in an earlier post. They will be managing a single purpose team, specifically to address the threat posed by the current plan for the Monahan tract along MOPAC, between Slaughter Lane and Davis.

The primary concern remains with the over development of the land, which allows for 40% Impervious Cover. Even worse, the current plan at City Hall, still includes a design with a 200,000 square foot anchor store (some sort of Big Box like Warehouse retailer). There are no tennants listed in the current plan, which is still going to rely on nieghborhood access to Davis Lane on the north, Sendrea Mesa on the East, and Slaughter Lane to the south. The stores are planned for BOTH sides of Slaughter Lane. There is no provision to exclude strip mall designs, fast food stores, or all the typical generic or trademark mix of familiar designs. It's going to look like every other glaring eye sore along I-35.

There is no zoning or any other public hearing on this. No one has organized a Town Hall meeting and it's going to get approved and they will break ground by summer, if we don't find a way to stop the madness.

Get ready for a little taste of the ugly side of commericalism. Or, you'd better be prepared to quickly fund a legal challenge. We can't count on any other group to fight ths battle. This one is in our backyard and the city has already washed it's hands of the whole deal. They took credit for ushering Wal-Mart off that Endeavor plan, but there is nothing holding back Monahan's latest developer (S-R Ridge) from doing EXACTLY THE SAME PLAN !!

We need a good law firm and expect that the fund is going to need $50,000 initially, to get started.

I don't think we can expect $100 per home owner from Circle C Ranch alone, so we will need lot more smaller contributions from all the other neighborhoods. Keep in mind that most of the other HOA's have little or no funds for this kind of project. And, the window of opportunity is very narrow. The city has means to help us stop this mess and without a named tennat, it's hard to put pressure on the retailer's that will be lined up to move in (you know the names of the Big Box companies - they are all going to be competing for this lone spot, because there are very few more that have this kind of loophole for over development - thank you dim witted state representatives for their ''grandfather'' legistation that lets this kind of commercialization trash our peaceful community.



You saw how SOS blocked the Bee Caves development - an entire shopping Mall. That's the kind of thing we need to do, here in our backyard.