The Austin City Council tailored recommendations for the senior housing development Fox Pointe Addition, opting to approve new plans for the first phase of work, though refusing requests to change zoning or expand build plans.

“The (planning) commissioners went against the project,” Jeff Austin, 1st Ward council member, said. “It’s that when they approved this development, they included a set of conditions. And now it’s three years later, and the conditions haven’t been fulfilled.”

Developer Roger Derrick, of Edina-based Derrick Investors L.L.C., approached the planning commission last Tuesday in hopes of getting land rezoned to high-density residential and modifying construction plans to include several six-plex units for Fox Pointe, a 20-acre site located south of Murphy Creek housing development and north of Wal-Mart.

“That will help us build much more effectively,” he said.

The senior development was originally slated to include 25 four-plexes when approved in 2004, though Derrick told the city council and planning commission that the struggling market necessitated cheaper, smaller options for buyers.

He told council members that Cottage Homesteads, which also built Oak Park Village, has satisfied most of the requirements, including reconstruction of Seventh Street Northwest, sewer and water installation, three completed residential structures and a stormwater retention pond.

The only item remaining, he said, is road extensions on 22nd and 23rd avenues. He said that Cottage Homesteads is prepared to complete that work, and told members that he like to modify it slightly by extending one street into a thoroughfare to the Wal-Mart store.

“We’re set to go in the next couple of weeks as soon as we get approvals,” he said, adding that construction would like take 90 days months.

Austin city engineer Jon Erichson expressed reservations about the road extension to Wal-Mart.

“As you show it right now, we have some concerns with that,” he said.

He said a driveway adjacent to one at nearby Village Cooperative may pose confusion and hazards for drivers, as well as interrupt traffic flow.

Community development director Craig Hoium also challenged the timeline, saying that developers must meet with local departments for approval of its plans before construction would begin.

“In terms of being able to start the project in two weeks, that would not be possible,” Hoium said.

He said the matter would likely be addressed again this August by the planning commission and city council.