la Frontera In the News

Round Rock Leader

January 11, 1999

Zoning panel reviews 'huge' La Frontera impact

By Jodi Berls, Leader Staff

Looking at what one member called "a huge project, the biggest we've ever seen," Round Rock's Planning and Zoning Commission seemed to take a deep breath and consider the future.

The commission heard a presentation Wednesday by developers of the La Frontera planned unit development, proposed for the northwest corner of IH-35 and FM 1325. The development proposes a large shopping center, as many as a dozen large office buildings, hotels and possibly midrise multifamily housing on a tract of nearly 350 acres.

"This is going to change the face of Round Rock forever," said commission secretary Carrie Pitt.

It may also help set a new standard for landscaping along roadways that commission members want to encourage to enhance esthetics along the major roads leading into the city.

The commission seemed favorably disposed to the La Frontera concept but stressed that quality must be paramount in a development that will be so visible the skyline that will be created at La Frontera is likely to become many folks' first view of Round Rock as they head into town from the south or the west.

"Those hills are going to be very visible," said Commission Chairman Al Kosik. "People from all around are going to be able to see this development, from I-35 and from FM 1325."

"We take that challenge very seriously," said Don Martin, one of the project's developers.

One important feature of the development is a "Central Green," which is to serve as a focal point. The Central Green will have landscaped areas interspersed with office buildings and hotels, some of them possibly as much as 10 or 12 stories tall, and will be a main entry into the project.

"The Central Green is an urban-scale area," master planner Paris Rutherford said.

Looking at an architectural rendering that showed tall buildings towering over a circular drive, commission members seemed taken aback at the scale of it.

"Please don't make this a Dallas," Pitt said. "I look at this and think, 'This looks like Dallas.'"

Commission member Michael Jergins questioned whether buildings in reality would have as consistent a look as they do in the rendering.

"We want some continuity," Kosik agreed.

Martin said deed restrictions imposed on La Frontera by the terms of the PUD would require that an architectural review committee approve the designs of new buildings before they're built, to make sure that they work with surrounding structures.

He also said landscaping along the streets in the development is very important, and plans are to find a way to line the roadways with trees, an idea that commission members found appealing.

Round Rock generally has prohibited planting trees near roadways because utility lines run along streets.

"If you're not careful, you can get tree roots that can cause cracking in pipelines," Pitt said.

But community input suggests that residents would like for the streets to be more than just asphalt ribbons.

La Frontera developers hope they can coordinate utility construction so that many lines are in the same trench, making it easier to plant trees where they won't create problems.

"You may help us set the standard for getting trees along the roads," said commission member Bob Belanger.