AUSTIN, Texas – Craig Bryan is building something grand. The Violet Crown is a proposed development that would be 10 miles from downtown Austin. It would sit on about 70 acres of land.
If government officials approve the project, there will be an amphitheater that seats 20,000 people, a distillery, tap room, two residential high rises, two parking garages and more.
“Given this opportunity to do something right is something I’m really excited about,” said Craig Bryan, the president of International Development Management. He’s the man behind the project.
Angelos Angelou is the founder of AngelouEconomics. He invested in the project and also ran some numbers. He says the Violet Crown could be a huge benefit for the city.
“Over a 20-year time frame, you are going to get about a little over $2 billion worth of economic impact, [and] putting that into Austin’s economy,” Angelou said. “[That’s] going to salaries, going to utilities, going to everything that any business would benefit [from in] Austin.”
The land is surrounded by the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve, which is intended to protect songbirds and waterways. Bryan says he’s taking steps to ensure that there is no runoff into Barton Creek from the property, but environmentalists say there’s no way to prevent that. The development would sit at the top of a hill. Gravity will do the rest.
That's why several groups have come together to oppose the Violet Crown. The No Amphitheater movement is backed by the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance (GEAA), Austin’s Sierra Club, Save Our Springs, Save Barton Creek Association and Travis Audubon.
GEAA is responsible for protecting the surface water and ground water resources. Mike Clifford, GEAA’s technical director, is leading the movement.
“Barton Creek is sort of our ‘crown jewel’ if you will, of what we try to protect,” said Clifford.
The Edwards Aquifer is "basically an underground lake," he said. San Antonio and parts of South Austin get their water from the Aquifer. Certain parts of the river plunge down into the Aquifer, connecting the underground lake with surface water.
"They communicate with each other," Clifford said. "You pollute one thing in Texas, and you pollute all of them."
Bryan said he wants to talk to the group to mitigate their concerns.
"We have such strict requirements in the city. We are abiding by those and going above and beyond to ensure that no runoff from the development would go into Barton Springs," Bryan said.
This is a classic standoff between a businessman who wants to develop the land and environmentalists who want to protect it. It's one crown versus the other. Clifford said a meeting wouldn’t necessarily do anything because the development would have to drastically change in order to make a difference.
“The ideal situation, if they wanted to develop, would be something that’s consistent with this area,” said Clifford.
What's generally consistent with the area is spaced-out homes on large plots of land. Spectrum News 1 met Clifford at The Madrones, a gated, low-density neighborhood that blends into its surroundings. Each home sits on an acre of land or more. Barton Creek criss-crosses the property. The water was crystal clear. And it happens to be right down the hill from the proposed development.
“These people live here because they don’t want to be downtown,” Clifford said. “And what this developer is trying to do is basically bring downtown Austin here.”
Despite the environmental and traffic concerns, Bryan is pushing forward with his original plan. He’s hoping to get everything approved by city departments so he can start construction. He'd like to break ground this fall, but he says early 2023 is more likely.
“I want to bring something to Austin that’s environmentally conscious as well as an amazing opportunity to the community,” he said. “The development is moving into a stage where we’ll be meeting with the city council in the near future for some approvals relating to the site extension. That’s going to take place in March.”
At the same time, environmentalists will be working toward a different goal: shutting down the development.
“By the time this gets to city council, we want this to be mostly a thumbs down,” said Clifford.