Liveable City celebrates the advent of a new model for urban development in Austin -- the mixed-use, diverse, and sustainable vision that's poised to become a reality at Mueller. Now, we join the community in making sure that Austin's values remain Mueller's values long into the future.

On December 2, 2004, the Austin City Council took a giant step toward creating a new model for urban life in our city, when it signed a Master Development Agreement (MDA) with Catellus Austin for the redevelopment of the former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. The new Mueller will bring to more than 700 now-fallow acres in the heart of town a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented urban village that provides affordable housing options, supports local and independent businesses, creates and enhances jobs in important sectors of the Austin economy, adds to the community's inventory of open spaces, and brings needed reinvestment into East Austin.

Liveable City heartily supports the Mueller project as a prime example of the goals we feel Austinites share for our city's future. We also realize -- along with the hundreds of citizens, development professionals, and civic leaders who've made Mueller happen -- that there is still much to do to make sure Mueller realizes its potential over the next 10 to 20 years.

A Product of Community Values

In our community surveys, Liveable City has found that Austin's values are clear: Our city wants affordable housing, a protected environment, jobs distributed throughout the city, fair public investment policies, thriving independent local business, and civic policies that produce a high quality of life. This philosophy was further echoed by Envision Central Texas, whose extensive community survey documents the region's commitment to increased urban density and transportation choices as an alternative to featureless sprawl and ever-growing auto-dependence.

These values are not new, at least not to the citizens and neighbors who -- dating back to the 1980s -- have advocated for dense urban infill at Mueller. From the beginning of Austin's community dialogue and debate over relocating aviation from the aging, crowded and landlocked municipal airport, these citizens have maintained a vision of not just a new community, but a new kind of community that knits together existing neighborhoods, provides amenities for the whole community, and helps bring prosperity to the region.

That vision formed the starting point when the Mueller project began in earnest in 1996, after Austinites committed to opening a new airport at the former Bergstrom Air Force Base. Indeed, the first stage of the Mueller project was the work of a Process and Goals Task Force, which sketched out the outlines that would later be filled in through the creation of the award-winning Mueller master plan and then the MDA with Catellus. While that process has taken more than eight years, with several twists and turns along the way, it has never lost sight of those critical community goals:

• Fiscal responsibility: a positive revenue stream that funds the needed onsite infrastructure and increases the city's tax base for the benefit of all citizens.
• Economic development: creating a wide range of employment opportunities.
• East Austin revitalization: giving local residents a direct stake in redevelopment and its rewards.
• Compatibility: maintaining and enhancing the quality of life in adjacent neighborhoods.
• Diversity: a wide range of housing choices for a ethnically and economically mixed community.
• Sustainability: development promoting energy efficiency, reduced auto dependency, watershed protection, and green space preservation.

The consensus that a mixed-use urban village like Mueller is the best way of attaining these goals has been forged and maintained over the years with an unprecedented amount of community input. It's not an exaggeration to say that citizens and neighbors are directly responsible both for the current Mueller vision and for the fact that it's now poised to become a reality. Among the many activists and advocates who've made Mueller happen, one acknowledged leader is Liveable City board member Jim Walker, chair of the city-appointed advisory committee for the Mueller project and organizer of the Mueller Neighborhoods Coalition.

The Challenges Ahead

Walker and other Mueller neighbors, along with Catellus' Greg Weaver and the city staff and consultants behind the Mueller masterplan and MDA, will quickly tell you that much still needs to be done, and Liveable City stands ready to help achieve further milestones. These include:

Transportation. Many advocates were disappointed by the lack of direct service to Mueller in Capital Metro's recently approved commuter rail plan. However, Mueller has been designated a high-priority "transit circulation area" for future enhancements to Capital Metro service, and the transit authority is working now to get the federally required study process for extending rail service, or providing other fixed system ridership alternatives that will help fulfill Mueller's potential as a "transit-dependent" development, under way.

Affordable housing. The Mueller MDA already includes the most ambitious affordability goals of any large-scale development project in Austin - more than 1,000 units of diverse types of housing dispersed throughout the project. Housing advocates and community leaders want to ensure that homes at Mueller can be accessible to citizens making as little as 30% of the area's median family income. Making those goals into realities is an important work in progress; citizens can help as the community finds the best ways to build and finance these units and ensure their affordability over time.

Jobs and economic development. Two major employment centers are already emerging at Mueller -- the new Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, and the film-making complex centered around the Austin Film Society's Austin Studios. A third center -- a UT Research and Academic Health Center adjacent to the hospital -- is currently being contemplated. But there will also be other opportunities for both small and large businesses, as well as civic and government institutions, to find a home at Mueller. Liveable City will continue to work to ensure that the city seeks a healthy and diverse mix of businesses in a fiscally responsible manner.

Retail. The northwest corner of the Mueller site is to be anchored by a "regional retail" center. While Mueller's extensive design guidelines, and other provisions of the MDA, do much to make this center an unattractive location for socially and economically irresponsible "big box" businesses, Liveable City will continue to closely monitor the center's development. As well, Mueller's Town Center -- the heart of the urban village -- is and must be a perfect home for the vital, local independent businesses that exemplify the spirit of Austin. Liveable City is exploring whether the Town Center can be designated an Independent Business Investment Zone (IBIZ), which would extend to local businesses many of the advantages now enjoyed by national chains.

For more than 20 years, committed citizens of Austin have risen to the challenge and created a project that expresses the values of the community. Liveable City looks forward to playing a role as Austinites continue to make Mueller a jewel in the city's crown.