Leander To Consider Dissolving Capital Metro Agreement

UPDATE: Council members tabled the motion related to dissolving their agreement with Capital Metro to enter into negotiations with the transit agency, according to reports. Patch will update when more details are known.

From July 17:

LEANDER, TX — Leander City Council members on Thursday are scheduled to discuss whether to dissolve their partnership with Capital Metro, which would effectively end end train service to and from Austin.

The move comes as Cap Metro hailed its northern service expansion but as Leander has plans of its own to fortify economic development. Should the city end service, it would pay a penalty of nearly $10 million, according to reports.

Cap Metro has made strides in recent months to expand its MetroRail Red Line that ends in Leander at its northernmost reach. But the service isn't consistently available on weekends, which has led to some local disenchantment. MetroRail first began running all the way to Leander — just under 30 miles north of Austin — in 2012.

Leander's move to potentially end its relationship with Cap Metro has gained wide attention, not just from residents but municipal planners and advocates for autonomous communities. The website Strong Towns — dubbing itself as "...an international movement that’s dedicated to making communities across the United States and Canada financially strong and resilient" — wrote a treatise on planned council action, framing it as the first step in nothing short of creating its own destiny.

"A project involving master planned development, tax increment financing (TIF), and the questionable allocation of transportation resources does not sound like the Strong Towns cup of tea," website authors wrote in reiterating its criticism of manufactured downtowns given the inherently costly gamble of such a play.

But in the case of Leander, Strong Towns skeptics have come around to city officials' visions of economic development — efforts that could be stymied with its financial obligations to Cap Metro rather than to spur construction: "Is there ever an appropriate time and place to think big and plan a whole neighborhood out of nothing? Sometimes, under less-than-ideal circumstances, it might still be the best option. Specifically, when you have a large piece of land that existing infrastructure has made far too valuable to waste on a business-as-usual suburban development approach."

Likely to figure prominently in the council's decision-making is a valuable, 115-acre piece of property south of the St. David’s Emergency Center and north of Austin Community College near the metro station. The transit stop there only increases the sites value as a locale, dictating inspired development at the site rather than run-of-the mill shopping centers that may offer quick returns but ultimately end up vacant, an analyst told Strong Towns.

Whether future development at the valuable tract will be thought to be contingent on keeping the train line is up to council members to mull. Stronger Towns analysts offer advice, saying the land yields an opportunity "....to do something bold yet smart," pundits observed. "In doing so, Leander can become a stronger city."

Discussion on the matter is listed as the 12th item on the Leander City Council agenda. The item calls for authorizing the mayor and interim city manager to possibly hire attorney Leonard Smith to assist in the process of possibly withdrawing from the Cap Metro agreement.

Leander City Council discussion on the matter is scheduled on Thursday, July 18. The council meeting is scheduled to take place at Pat Bryson Municipal Hall, 201 N. Brushy St., on Thursday, July 18. The regular meeting starts at 7 p.m. after a 5 p.m. workshop.