The city is sectioning off 1500 acres of land near the airport for a special district, aimed at future growth with Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s needs in mind. The new designation required an amendment to the city’s Envision Taylor comprehensive plan. Assistant City Manager Tom Yantis presented the proposal during a public hearing at the July 25 City Council meeting.
“We designated the majority of this area a special employment district. The reason is twofold. One, we were going through a process to reconsider some of our growth sector designations in this area based on some landowner input. And then the other reason was because we wanted to ensure we had locations for Samsung suppliers and others like that to locate and that we didn’t lose a bunch of that land to residential development which is normally the thing that comes first,” Yantis said.
In fact, residential development has already begun in the area now referred to as as Small Area Plan – Special Employment District North. The new Turner Springs, Megatel and Silicon Vistas subdivisions are building in the northern section of the district.
