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Rezoning makes way for apartments in north Marble Falls

North Marble Falls site for apartment complex

The site of a planned 275-unit apartment complex near the Marble Falls Business and Technology Park along Resource Parkway. Staff photo by Nathan Bush

The Marble Falls City Council unanimously approved a zoning change for apartments along Resource Parkway near the Marble Falls Business and Technology Park on Tuesday, April 18.

The approval makes way for a 275-plus unit complex that would be one of the few multifamily developments in north Marble Falls. 

“I’m encouraged to see something come to the north side,” Councilor Reed Norman said during the City Council’s regular meeting. “We don’t have anything like this out that way.”

The roughly 22-acre site’s rocky geography played a role in city staff’s decision to recommend councilors approve the rezoning application.

Proposed north Marble Falls apartment complex
Early plans for an apartment complex on Resource Parkway in north Marble Falls. Courtesy image

“We’ve got a clear, geographic delineation of where the general commercial can effectively end and something else can start,” said Kim Foutz, director of Development Services for Marble Falls.

While barriers are not required by code, the property developer plans to include mitigation to keep the complex separate from its industrial and commercial neighbors at the business park.

“Without a doubt, in all of my projects, we incorporate buffer zones,” site developer Bill Walters said. “We would voluntarily comply over and above code on that.”

Councilor Dee Haddock compared the rezoning request to a separate application filed earlier this year for Panther Creek Village, a proposed 237-unit complex that was voted down 5-2 by councilors on March 7.

“For the public, we recently had a request to rezone to build apartments (that we denied),” Haddock said. “If you’ve seen the site, you’ve seen the site. They’re not all equal.”

Foutz mentioned traffic congestion as a major difference between the two sites.

“Over at the other site, there was a lot of clustering happening,” she said. “We don’t have that going on at this site.”

During a public hearing on the rezoning, resident Russ Roper asked about the demand for apartments in the city.

“There have been plenty of multifamily sites already approved, do we need any more?” he asked.

Mayor Richard Westerman answered the question.

“Just because things get approved, does not mean they’re being built,” he said. “So many of these projects get approved and then the developer flips them to someone else and they never get built. We certainly have a housing shortage, especially as far as apartments are concerned.”

nathan@thepicayune.com