Naked City: Dell Community Campus Wins Planning Commission Approval

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Dell Center Gets Nod A half hour into Tuesday's meeting of the Austin Planning Commission, four uniformed Austin police officers entered council chambers and asked the capacity crowd to clear the aisles and move into two additional rooms carrying a closed-circuit broadcast of the proceedings. Beyond the irony of the Planning Commission breaking the fire code was the fact that most commission insiders say the standing-room-only situation was almost unique. "I've been here five years and never seen the police called in," said Don Perryman, a project manager for the Dept. of Development Review and Inspections. "I'd guess you'd have to go back to… S.O.S. to find that kind of community interest in a planning commission issue." So what was the issue that brought out nearly 300 people, almost half of whom wanted to speak to the commission? The answer — however convoluted the issue became during the five-and-a-half-hour discussion — was the Dell Community Campus and its ongoing battle with the Northwest Austin Civic Association (NACA) — a group that believes the Jewish Federation of Austin's (JFA) plans for a campus with two synagogues, a community center, two educational buildings, swimming pool, fitness club, child development center, athletic fields, and associated parking, reach beyond the capacity of the 40-acre campus. Opponents say the proposal would be incompatible with their existing neighborhood and would create additional traffic, noise, and environmental concerns. With their own plan in hand, NACA asked the commission not to approve the JFA proposal. To that end, both the JFA and NACA called upon their supporters to attend and speak at Tuesday's meeting. "We believe that any opportunity for an elected or, in this case, selected official, to see the people their decision's going to affect and gauge the support of who's there makes a lot of difference," said JFA President Sandy Dochen. On the other side of the debate is Alan Tannenbaum, the leader of neighborhood opponents who sported buttons declaring "Traffic, Lights, Compatibility." He said he asked his supporters to attend the meeting for a similar reason — to explain and illustrate firsthand the Northwest Hills' community standards. "Our position was to uphold standards," said Tannenbaum, "so if we hadn't come out in the numbers we did, it would have been entirely possible for the developer to come in there and just tell the commission what he believes the standards are." After the ensuing discussion, which focused primarily on the traffic impact, the commission recommended to city council a plan for the campus only slightly modified from what city staff recommended earlier in the day — a plan that grants some requested zoning and use variances, but makes the JFA responsible for additional traffic lights and tree conservation. Tannenbaum, who says he's disappointed by the decision but willing to acknowledge that his group's resistance ultimately forced some concessions, says he hasn't decided whether to appeal the commission's decision. But Dochen noted that even with the likelihood of another crowded chamber and another marathon meeting, he'll immediately begin campaigning for his troops to regroup — to appear again when city council considers the issue next month. "We'll do the same thing, the same show of support," he said. "If we can do it for the commission, why not do it for council?" If nothing else, let that be a warning to the fire marshal. — A.L.