In the late hours of the Nov 7th City Council meeting, 4 of the 7 members voted to accept a settlement with Lowe's, which allows them to proceed with their Big Box Warehouse in Sunset Valley. They tried to avoid as much debate as possible, pushing the hearing, originally set for 7pm until after 2am. Then, after everyone had left, the negoatiated an agreement with the remaining citizens and lawyers, to listen to brief comments and then the passed a the supporting ordinance in a spilt vote 4-3 on first reading.
Why Jackie Goodman wanted to go this route is not clear - she insisted the terms were better than an uncertain lawsuit, which might go on for years.
Anyway, the details of the settlement are listed on the city web site for you to review. This gives the property owner zoning that allows for 40% Impervious cover (3 times the SOS limits we live by) and, they can still sell it to Wal-Mart or anyone else they want to, since Lowe's isn't committed.
That means, if the public outcry is loud enough, Lowe's can still walk away from this baddly designed project. Also, the city still has two more readings one the ordiance, so you still have time to contact the city and demand they stand their ground.
The key difference in this settlement is that Lowe's offered $600,000 to buy Proposition 2 land somewhere far south in Hays county (their offer won't buy much land in Travis county, and that kind of mitigation is simply not effective. Lowe's will pollute water that runs into the aquifer in amounts we have never seen so far, and they will contribute chemicals and fertizer products, which simple retentions ponds will never be able to filter out. It's bad enough with Wal-Mart and Home Depot in that area, but Lowe's seems hell bent on making a bad situation even worse?
What kind of logic makes business men behave so baddly? I guess, they just think we are unmotivated and that we will forget and forgive and then buy mass quantities like there is no tomorrow !
If you won't call city hall, then at least agree to boycott Lowe's - immediately. And before you run off to Home Depot, take a good hard look at the empty Big Box in Sunset Valley. That's what happens when these fast and loose Big Boxes are done sucking up our clean water and good will - they just leave us a giant cinderblock reminder !
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/news/2003/lowes.htm
Why Jackie Goodman wanted to go this route is not clear - she insisted the terms were better than an uncertain lawsuit, which might go on for years.
Anyway, the details of the settlement are listed on the city web site for you to review. This gives the property owner zoning that allows for 40% Impervious cover (3 times the SOS limits we live by) and, they can still sell it to Wal-Mart or anyone else they want to, since Lowe's isn't committed.
That means, if the public outcry is loud enough, Lowe's can still walk away from this baddly designed project. Also, the city still has two more readings one the ordiance, so you still have time to contact the city and demand they stand their ground.
The key difference in this settlement is that Lowe's offered $600,000 to buy Proposition 2 land somewhere far south in Hays county (their offer won't buy much land in Travis county, and that kind of mitigation is simply not effective. Lowe's will pollute water that runs into the aquifer in amounts we have never seen so far, and they will contribute chemicals and fertizer products, which simple retentions ponds will never be able to filter out. It's bad enough with Wal-Mart and Home Depot in that area, but Lowe's seems hell bent on making a bad situation even worse?
What kind of logic makes business men behave so baddly? I guess, they just think we are unmotivated and that we will forget and forgive and then buy mass quantities like there is no tomorrow !
If you won't call city hall, then at least agree to boycott Lowe's - immediately. And before you run off to Home Depot, take a good hard look at the empty Big Box in Sunset Valley. That's what happens when these fast and loose Big Boxes are done sucking up our clean water and good will - they just leave us a giant cinderblock reminder !
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/news/2003/lowes.htm
