Item #72: Lakeline Station Area Resolution

[Krista Laine]

Colleagues,

I would like to bring to your attention Item #72 on Thursday’s regular meeting agenda. Lakeline Station has carried a Transit-Oriented Development designation since the CapMetro Red Line opened in 2010. Sixteen years later the area remains significantly underutilized, despite being the only commuter rail station or Park & Ride facility within a five-mile radius, sitting at the intersection of four major corridors with the potential to serve thousands of people a day.

Even as new multi-family development and employers have arrived, missing sidewalks and bikeways make it difficult and unsafe to walk or bike around the station. These gaps have discouraged people from switching to transit, made affordable housing harder to build, and stalled three large approved planned unit developments nearby. Meanwhile, District 6 has only reached 34% of its ten-year affordable housing goal, and lacks adequate access to public facilities.

These needs will only grow. Williamson County’s population is expected to exceed 1.6 million by 2050, and as more residents move to the edges of our city, we need to ensure that they still have access to city services, programs, and public spaces. Investing in an existing transit hub is smarter and cheaper than building new infrastructure from scratch, and by stimulating development, this investment will expand Austin’s tax base without displacing residents.

Rather than committing us to any specific plan or financing tool, this resolution directs staff to engage our regional partners, study our options, and develop recommendations for Lakeline Station. I expect that the lessons we learn here will unlock new approaches in other parts of our city as well.

I want to thank my co-sponsors, Mayor Pro Tem José "Chito" Vela, Council Member Mike Siegel, and Council Member Paige Ellis, for recognizing this vision early on.

I look forward to examining the untapped potential of this part of Austin’s Red Line, and I hope to have your support.

Thank you,
CM Krista Laine

[Vanessa Fuentes]

Thank you, Councilwoman Laine, for your strong leadership on this item. I certainly support your direction here and will request to be added as a co-sponsor.

In community,
Vanessa