Naked City

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett had hoped to win Planning Commission approval Tuesday on a variance that would have moved him a step further toward developing his Bull Creek property, but even powerful congressmen have to jump through some hoops. The commissioners, who had more questions than city staff could answer, postponed action on the item until July 10.

Doggett, who has championed the virtues of green space throughout his political career, has decided he wants to turn his own green into gold. Doggett is proposing a subdivision development on 40 acres of lush property in the Bull Creek Watershed. The new subdivision, to be called Clayton's Crossing, would include six single-family lots along Spicewood Springs Road and another 15 residential lots on the upland portion of the property.

What's standing in the way of all this progress is the city's Land Development Code, which prohibits Doggett from building a driveway from Spicewood Springs Road to the six-lot portion of the subdivision without a variance from the Planning Commission. Spicewood Springs Road is located entirely within the sensitive Critical Water Quality Zone. The remaining 15 lots don't figure into the variance because they can be accessed from nearby Yaupon Drive.

City staff is recommending approval of the request, and the Environmental Board narrowly approved it -- with nine conditions. But moments after the Planning Commission took up the matter Tuesday night, PC chair Betty Baker offered the first clue that Clayton's Crossing wasn't going to be an open-and-shut case. "I'm hoping you can tell me," she said, "that this situation is unique … and we're not going to see subsequent requests of this nature." In other words, she added, "Do we set a precedent for the area?"

Fred Lockwood, the engineer for the proposed development, said the variance wouldn't set a precedent, but his response apparently did little to raise commissioners' comfort level.

Even so, Skip Cameron, president of the Bull Creek Foundation, stepped forward and told commissioners he supported the variance, even though he had opposed it until recently. His previous stance, he said, had been based on the hope that the city would purchase the Doggett property for preservation. But the city Parks Dept., after assessing the property, evidently determined it couldn't meet Doggett's undisclosed asking price. Initially, greenbelt advocates had hoped Doggett would donate all or some of the property to the city in the name of preservation, but that idea never took flight.