City receives future land use plan feedback from North Old Town residents

  • A map displays what types of development are currently located in the North Old Town neighborhood. Georgetown city staff and neighborhood residents used the map to write notes about future land use in the area during a meeting November 17. BRIGID COOLEY
    A map displays what types of development are currently located in the North Old Town neighborhood. Georgetown city staff and neighborhood residents used the map to write notes about future land use in the area during a meeting November 17. BRIGID COOLEY

    Residents of the North Old Town neighborhood met with Georgetown city staff members November 17 to discuss changes to the city’s future land use plan for the area.

    Roughly 20 people attended the meeting, which was led by planning director Sofia Nelson, strategic support manager Mayra Cantu and Kimley Horn consultant Jordan Moyer. Kimley Horn was hired by the city to work on the city’s future land use plan.

    North Old Town is a neighborhood of mostly single-family residences located between San Gabriel Park and the intersection of Williams Drive with North Austin Avenue. The neighborhood is also home to several historical structures and four residences built through the Habitat for Humanity program.

    Future land use for North Old Town is currently earmarked for urban mixed-use, with portions being zoned for high-density mixed housing such as townhomes and apartment facilities. The neighborhood is included in the city’s Williams Drive Gateway Plan — a corridor to the city encompassing 558 acres of residential and commercial development along Williams Drive between San Gabriel Park and Lakeway Drive — and is expected to see major development over the next 10 years.

    In an attempt to preserve the neighborhood’s character, North Old Town residents banded together to petition the city to reconsider the future land use plan specifications. During a May 24 meeting, the Georgetown City Council instructed the planning department to revisit and adjust the plans alongside the residents.

    During the November 17 meeting, attendees collaborated to establish neighborhood boundaries for North Old Town and workshopped possible ways the community could change over time.

    Residents communicated wanting the area to remain mostly single-family residential, with some openness to low-density mixed-use housing — such as duplexes and townhomes standing no higher than two-stories — and some light commercial development along the edges of the neighborhood.

    They also stressed that traffic along Williams Drive greatly impacts North Old Town and pointed out the need for better road infrastructure along Morrow Street and other locations within the neighborhood, especially with incoming developments — such as a small, two-story apartment complex with nine units being planned for a 0.66acre parcel of land in the neighborhood — on the horizon.

    Ms. Nelson and other attending city employees asked questions during the meeting and took notes by writing on large, printed out maps of the neighborhood.

    With initial feedback collected, city staff will make contact with the remaining North Old Town neighbors in December and will evaluate adjustments to the future land use plan, Ms. Nelson said. Revisions will be presented to residents for approval before changes are made official.

    City of Georgetown
    North Old Town