Bastrop City Council seeks to fine-tune development agreement for 546-acre film studio proposal

After nearly four hours of presentations, public comments and deliberations Tuesday night, the Bastrop City Council voted unanimously to direct city staff to continue negotiating a development agreement with Alton Butler II, the founder and owner of Line 204 Studios, for a proposed 546-acre private film development near the Colorado River. 

The council voiced its expectation that a revised development agreement could be ready for possible approval at its June 22 meeting.

The council's direction to staff Tuesday included adding more specific provisions and removing vague language after residents spent hours inundating the council with concerns and questions about the proposed development agreement and project during a public hearing.

Issues related to drainage, impact to the environment and wildlife, noise and light pollution and traffic were among the most common concerns residents voiced Tuesday night, many of who also voiced their opposition to the development project a week earlier in a public hearing during a Bastrop Planning and Zoning Commission special meeting.

The proposed development project — known as the Bastrop 552 Development — would comprise 546 acres in Bastrop, west of Lovers Lane and the River Meadows subdivision and bounded by the Colorado River on the project’s western edge. 

The property is in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction. 

A mixture of different land uses — including recreation, studio space and other accommodations — is planned for the property, with developments serving in support of the property’s primary use as a film studio.

According to Bastrop city documents, recreation uses would make up about 220 acres, including event space, restaurants, a golf course, a working dude ranch and parks and greenbelt areas.

Studios would make up about 135 acres of the project and accommodation space would make up about 40 acres.

The 151 remaining acres would be devoted to hybrid recreation-studio use.

The main entertainment elements of the project would include a multi-faceted film studio, production facilities, sound stages, backlots, storage and other ancillary space.

The proposed development is being spearheaded by Butler and his Line 204 Studios, a Southern California-based independent studio and production rental company that rents out equipment, sound stages and props.

Butler is also listed in city documents as the manager of Bastrop Colorado Bend, a Texas-based company that would develop the project. Bastrop Colorado Bend  is considering voluntary annexation into the city as it negotiates development and municipal services agreements with Bastrop.

Butler doesn’t yet own the 546 acres on which the film development is being proposed to be built, but he’s expected to close on the property June 17, according to Bastrop city staff.

Line 204 Studios targets Bastrop for next project

Before the proposed film development was discussed during Tuesday’s council meeting, the Bastrop Planning and Zoning Commission in a special meeting on June 3 voted 5-1 to recommend approval of a concept plan for the Bastrop 552 Development.

Cynthia Meyer was the lone commissioner to vote against the concept plan.

Similarly to Tuesday's council meeting, the special meeting included a public hearing. Both meetings took place inside a packed council chamber at City Hall, with about 70 residents attending each meeting.

Assistant City Manager Trey Job said on June 3 that the overall traffic impact from the proposed development would be less than if about 1,200 low-density residential homes were built in the same area.

Job also referenced the tax benefits for the city that would result from the development agreement, which includes annexing the property from the extraterritorial jurisdiction into Bastrop's city limits before the start of development.

The proposed annexation would help allow the development to connect to the city’s water and wastewater lines near the edge of the city limits on Lovers Lane.

Job, who stressed both on June 3 and on Tuesday that there are still several steps to go in the development process, said the perimeter road surrounding the proposed development would decrease the traffic impact during major events.

He also said that any special event held on the property, outside of filming as defined in the development agreement, would require a permit from the city.

The proposed 45-year development agreement between Butler and the city would establish regulations — like a perimeter fence —  for the proposed development that otherwise wouldn’t apply to the project if it wasn't annexed into the city and instead remains in the extraterritorial jurisdiction.

During both the P&Z and council meetings, Butler said building a perimeter fence around the property would be the first construction step, before beginning the first phase of the development which would consist of constructing six studio sound stages.

The film development, should it go forward, would be completed in phases over six years.

Butler said he plans to use as many people as possible from Bastrop and Central Texas to fill needed jobs for the development project.

According to a presentation by Line 204 Studios on June 3, the proposed development would create more than 1,400 jobs over several years, as well as 700 construction jobs, and the private facility would generate a $2 billion economic impact over 10 years.

Residents push back against proposal

More than 20 residents spoke during the public hearing on June 3, part of the heavily-attended special meeting that took more than two hours to complete.

They raised concerns about the development ranging from possible flooding and potential chemical runoff flowing into the Colorado River, to construction vehicles damaging existing roads like Lovers Lane and the project's potential effect on home values.

The principal concerns most residents focused on during public hearings on June 3 and Tuesday were related to increased traffic, noise and light pollution and a negative impact on local wildlife.

Some residents, such as Philip Lawhon, who lives in the River Meadows subdivision, are concerned about the use of the subdivision and its street, Margies Way, as a possible thoroughfare for the project and how the perimeter road surrounding the development would be used.

Michele Anderson, a Bastrop resident and organizer of community members opposed to the Bastrop 552 Development, created a petition asking the city to reject the project in its entirety. 

As of Tuesday night the petition had more than 500 signatures. Anderson presented the petition to the council when speaking during Tuesday's public hearing.

“Tell me, how do you think Bastrop businesses in our community will benefit from Mr. Butler’s one-stop shop, low-wage concept,” Anderson said, noting past efforts and lawsuits filed by residents in California that tried to stop Line 204 Studios from constructing new projects. “The answer is they won’t, and we won’t.”

Among residents' requests during both public hearings was the addition of language into the development agreement that specifies permissible sound levels and lighting requirements, as well as limits on the number of events and the hours events can be held.

Council seeks clarity

A sticking point for the City Council about the development agreement during Tuesday’s meeting — which saw more than 50 people register to speak during the public hearing — was a lack of verbally-agreed-to changes being formalized in the written agreement. 

Job told City Council Member Lyle Nelson that regardless of what the council chose to do Tuesday night, nothing could prevent Butler and Line 204 Studios from developing the 546 acres once he owns the land.

City Attorney Alan Bojorquez said that because the land is currently in the extraterritorial jurisdiction, the city has limited regulation authority over it. 

This would change should the Bastrop 552 Development be annexed into the city — something the development agreement calls for — with Bastrop then being allowed to impose its code of ordinances on the project.

“We would not, unilaterally, on our own, have the authority to address anything regarding lighting, noise, those types of nuisance things in the ETJ," Bojorquez said.

Job reminded the council that even following council approval of the development agreement, several steps are still required before actual development on the property could begin, including applications, petitions, plan updates and other items that would require additional council approval.

Another suggestion presented during Tuesday’s meeting was for developers to create a public frontage plan for the development agreement that would include specifics on the perimeter fence and potential road improvements as well as address other issues residents have raised.

“I think we need to memorialize that in writing so that we can move forward with something concrete rather than something vague," Nelson said.

Film production in Bastrop County

In February, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that Bastrop County had been designated as a Film Friendly Texas community by the Texas Film Commission, joining the cities of Bastrop, Elgin and Smithville in receiving the title.

During a March 8 Bastrop County Commissioners Court meeting, Kim LeBlanc, a production and community relations specialist with the Texas Film Commission, said that according to the commission’s database more than 200 productions have taken place in Bastrop County.

In a statement, Line 204 Studios said it looks forward to bringing a “prestigious, fully functional and self-contained movie and sound-making facility to Bastrop.”

“The community has expressed a deep desire to develop and strengthen the film industry here in Central Texas,” the statement said. “We believe this unique and environmentally friendly project will drive economic growth and contribute to Bastrop’s future success."