Circle C Neighbors,

Stratus/HEB is seeking rezoning of Tract 103 (The NE corner of the new Escarpment/Slaughter intersection). Included in the proposal is a 93,000 sq ft HEB, one of the largest grocery stores in South Austin. The proposed HEB MegaSupermarket is almost 25% LARGER than the Brodie Lane HEB (75,000 sq ft).

Many believe, a store of this size, needs a major Arterial Road such as Mopac or 290. There are no traffic studies available, to show the effects of a 93,000 sq ft Store at the Escarpment/Slaughter intersection. It's imperative to the values of our homes, that this 1st commercial development, in Circle C, is done right.

This petition asks zoning to limit the proposed HEB to the size of the Brodie Lane HEB:

?• Brodie Lane is still a large store by anyone's standards.
?• Less traffic, less congestion, less bottlenecks
?• More Safety for pedestrians and school children within blocks
?• Increased diversity of neighboring retail stores
?• A Supermarket, more to scale for our community.

NO FAST FOOD AND OTHER POINTS
Stratus is asking zoning for a total of 161,000 sq ft on tract 103. Other than HEB, the retail space will be divided among a bank, video store, coffee shop, other specialty retail and a Fast Food Drive through restaurant. Among other Circle C resident benefits, this petition also asks zoning not to allow a Fast Food Drive through restaurant on tract 103.

NOTE: City of Austin zoning encourages residents to participate in this rezoning process. Village of Western Oaks (Just North of tract 103) has been meeting with Stratus/HEB for the past year on this rezoning matter. VWO has produced 29 points for zoning to consider, including a preference that HEB be reduced in size. This is your chance to have a voice in the 1st commercial development for Circle C. The Zoning process begins in one month.

READ ALL 7 BULLET POINTS OF THE PETITION and sign this short EZ online petition:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CCheb/petition.html

Your Neighbor,
Sal Costello
288-9991

PS Want to help collect more signatures? If you email me your name and home address at imacsal@aol.com, I'll have a paper petition delivered to your door.

Or, forward this post to your Circle C friends.

Email sent 12/10/03

Dear CCHOA Ad Hoc Advisory Committee for tract 103,

A year ago, Villages of Western Oaks began talking with Stratus & HEB monthly about the commercial development here in Circle C on tract 103. Our HOA has squandered that past year. VWO has produced 29 points for zoning to consider, including a preference that HEB be reduced in size.

Over the past months, myself and others have asked our HOA repeatedly for a community meeting with Stratus & HEB. Within the past months the HOA also failed to send a representative to an SOS/Villages of Western Oaks meeting about tract 103. Myself and 2 other residents found out about the meeting, and went. Since then, I've been speaking with a couple dozen neighbors, sharing information, to find out their thoughts on some of the details I've collected.

The CCHOA has failed in informing the membership of what 93,000 sq ft actually is. Without a comparison the number means nothing to the average person. When I told our neighbors that Brodie Lane HEB is 75,000 sq ft and the proposed HEB is 93,000 sq ft, the majority of people I spoke with were very concerned.

I decided to take the ideas and some consensus from the neighbors I've spoken with, and incorporate them into a petition. After only 4 days, there are over 50 signatures, and growing (online and on paper).

Please look over the petition and realize that your neighbors, dozens of members of CCHOA, are speaking up. They want the City of Austin zoning, as well as their ad hoc committee to hear their voice.

Please feel free to call me at any time.

Thank You,
Sal Costello
288-9991

Root of the Problem


Sal said,?”?…..When I told our neighbors that Brodie Lane HEB is 75,000 sq. ft. and the proposed HEB is 93,000 sq. ft., the majority of people I spoke with were very concerned?…?….?”

Sal, could you explain to all of us what this ?“majority of people?” were concerned about????

Were they concerned that the BIG parking lot would attract too much traffic?

Guess what would happen if the new HEB has a smaller parking lot ?–
(1) The shoppers would drive around the parking lot over and over again trying to find parking spaces?…?…..
(2) The frustrated shoppers would park their cars on the side of the roads?…?…?…?….

Would that improve the traffic? You are trying to make the bad situation (traffic congestion) even worse! Why can?’t you use your common sense and think? When you want to fix a problem, you should find out the root of the problem; don?’t just go picking on an easy target.

Here is the root of the problem:
(1) Circle C Ranch has about 3,300 homes with more than 7,000 homeowners. New houses are still being built.
(2) There are many other houses near Circle C Ranch.
(3) When you put a grocery store (regardless the size) in such dense population area, you should expect the traffic congestion. Period.

How to fix the problem:
(1) Move to somewhere else
(2) Get used to it
(3) Go shopping in the middle of the night, just like me.

Now you should realize how good to have a grocery store opens 24 hours.

Lisa, read this 3 times

Lisa,

I suggest you read this 3 times and think about it.

You simply are not reading my posts well enough. If your going to talk about the subject, get the facts right, read more carefully and do your homework.

1. Look at Brodie lane HEB. Look at it's parking lot. That store and parking lot is what we can have here in Circle C (75,000 sq ft store).

2. Now, a 93,000 sq ft store, 25% larger, will need a Larger parking lot. This is what the City of Austin zoning is telling me. Larger store = larger parking.

3. To clarify, and state again, another HOA has made a deal with Stratus/HEB for them NOT to have a 24/7 store, I had nothing to do with it. This other HOA, Villages of Western Oaks, on the North side of HEB, has been meeting with them monthly for a year, while our board has done nothing except make deals for themselves. Some suggest, they made got the sweetheart deals to help keep the residents quiet, to help shepherd this rezoning, with an oversized HEB, into reality.

The fact is, even with rezoning, the total 161,000 sq ft of retail on this tract is way more than the impervious cover allows. Stratus is making a promise to the City not build on another tract, if they can break this rule.

The majority of the neighbors ''I spoke with'' in person and on the phone is the majority I'm talking about. Roughly 15 people. That's not many, but, to date, in only a week, over 90 people have signed the online or paper petition to keep HEB to a Brodie size store.

Can anyone say, with a straight face, that the Brodie HEB is too ''small'' for Circle C, or any neighborhood?

If a 93,000 sq ft will work, and not adversely effect Circle C, show me an ''independent'' traffic study to prove it. Until then, I say, the conservative approach is simply limit the size to an already big Brodie size HEB.

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CCheb/petition.html