Retreat at Easton Park Apartments

Easton Park 4A Section 1B is a 25.43 acre parcel that was originally advertised to be a large park that would include an amphitheater, community garden, and playground. Later, it was re-zoned to become a three story apartment complex with an expected 349 units. This apartment complex will not have access The Union, but will have it’s own pool.

The buildings will be 3 and 4 stories.

Parking spot ratio for the complex is

As with the rest of Easton Park, this apartment will have 10% of it’s units set aside for affordable housing initiatives.

A rejected December 7th, 2021 permit shows the location was set to have 529 units. A March 16th, 2022 notification shows the correct 349 units^[1]Notice of Filing of Application for Administrative Approval of a Site Plan (re-notification), March 16th, 2022.

Ground is expected in Q3 or Q4 to break ground, with a 15 to 18-month construction timeline.

Controversy

Also see Section 1B-4 Park.

Lot 4A Easton Park Section 1B was initially advertised by Easton Park’s website (Cohere (formerly DMB Community) & Home Owners Association), and Meritage Homes to feature a community garden, amphitheater, and playground^[2]Wayback Machine January 25th, 2021 Snapshot. The lot was zoned as Commercial.

Residents found that those plans had been abandoned during Quarterly Town Hall meetings in early 2021, and plans for the area to include a smaller park and a multi-family residential apartment building.

A petition gathered over 550 signatures from residents on the Easton Park Homeowners Facebook and the Nabr App. The petition was submitted to the HOA who forwarded the concern to Brookfield Residential developers.

Advertisements about these amenities were displayed on the Easton Park website in the Union Park page as recently as August 21, 2021. By late August 2021, the website’s copy was updated to exclude the community garden, amphitheater, and playground.

A Notice of Public Hearing dated August 27th, 2021 was sent to all property owners within 500 feet regarding the proposed re-subdivision of the lot from a 1 lot commercial zone to a 4 lot mixed residential zone. An additional sign was placed at the corner of Union Park Lane and William Cannon Rd.

At a September 1st, 2021 Quarterly Town Hall Meeting, Brookfield Residential’s Matt Chase and Matt McCafferty spoke on behalf of their decision for the changes to the park and announced that there will be a hearing on September 9th, 2021 in The Union between the Developers and the Residents.

I know that there have been some questions and some concerns about Union Park West, and as we looked at Union Park West we had to really figure out what would be the best use for that area. Should it be a pocket park? Should it be a community park. Should it be a neighborhood park. And I know that there have been some bits of media out there about what was originally intended for that park. And as we took a look at it we felt that there were better spaces. That some of those amenities should be placed throughout the community, because you really want a lot of those amenities to be centralized, and allow multiple residents within the community to be able to get there. Everything from parking and accessibility for our residents^[3]Matt Chase September 1, 2021 Town Hall Meeting.

Matt Chase, Vice President, Community Operations

I want to highlight a little bit of a timeline. Back when Easton Park was still very immature in its development, and I don’t mean immature from our standpoint, but we just had not had the number of neighborhoods and the growth that we’ve currently had. There was a map that’s been shown around from 2016. What I really want to highlight is the park that we are offering in that space, number one, is really looking to achieve some outdoor physical activities. We’re currently looking at fitting in a basketball court. Potential tot lot with some smaller gathering spaces. Yes, I understand that as Matt mentioned, when we really evaluated the space, its connectivity to the entirety of the development, its proximity to the entirety of the development.

The amphitheater bandstand, the place for the HOA to be able to conduct live concerts and to be able to do movie in the park at night, that’s much better suited inside Skyline Park which is a 25 acre activated park. We’re currently looking at multiple playgrounds, sitting areas, areas for bands, areas for movies, restrooms, as well as a splash pad. All within the 25 acre park. I guess that’s really what I want to focus on with regards to the conversation in the parks. And as we get to those more uh with some of these questions on things like yoga, and some of the aspects that were mentioned, they’re not being taken away. I would say whether currently, at least in the past, I’ve seen yoga done at Bryant Park, I’ve seen yoga done at the amenity center [The Union], and so we are offering all of these different spaces, albeit not in the space that that may have been advertised in 2016^[4]Matt McCafferty September 1, 2021 Town Hall Meeting.

Matt McCafferty

Union Park West Meetings

Lot Property information

Property ID: 882736

Geograpic ID: 0339010105

http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/Property.aspx?prop_id=882736

Case SP-2019-0070C – EASTON PARK SEC 1B LOT 4A SITE PLAN is listed as Expired

Advertisements & Plans of Lot

More recently, the lot was shown to instead have an apartment complex.

City of Austin Documents

Easton Park Sec 1B Lot 4A Site Plan

Application Date: February 19, 2019

Case: SP-2019-0070C

Status: Expired

Easton Park Section 1B

Application Date: July 15th, 2021

Case: C8J-2018-0212.2B

Status Approved

Description: Union Park Lane Extension

October 13th, 2020

Shows Mixed Use Residential has been approved for Lot 4A

Public Notice of Hearing for a Proposed Resubdivision

Notice: August 27, 2021

Hearing date: September 14, 2021

The hearing was postponed for October 12, 2021