UPDATE: Council passes the development proposal by NHP/Capital A unanimously.
As part of the city's expansion of affordable living options, the City Council's housing corporation will vote Thursday whether to accept a proposal by NHP and Capital A Housing for a new development in a largely residential area in Northeast Austin.
Large vacant and under-utilized lots still dot the map around Manor Road in the shadow of the former Mueller Airport tower. Mueller Airport was a simple terminal until replaced by Austin Bergstrom International Airport on a former airbase east of the city in the late '90s.
Neighbors, who mostly live in newer developments in the aptly named Mueller community and a number who reside in the more-lived-in JJ Seabrook neighborhood, have gathered numerous times to discuss the various proposals for a city-owned tract at 3511 and 3515 Manor Road. The JJ Seabrook neighbors "strongly" supported Fontaine Trails, a proposal by the Foundation Communities (or FC) for multigenerational houses which they found more "neighborly," "holistic," and compatible with the geography and surrounding parks amenities. Mueller neighbors only narrowly favored the NHP/Capital A proposal titled Seabrook Square.
According to George Hindman, who lives south of the Mueller neighborhood and Manor Road in JJ Seabrook, calls the NHP/Capital A plan "fiscally irresponsible" and said it will require around $7 million in subsidies to sustain -- money that could be used to build another housing project. Nor does the NHP/Capital A proposal cater to families facing homelessness, as hoped by his neighborhood group.
