Residents living near a proposed site for a new Gold Cross Ambulance facility won a victory Monday evening when the Austin City Council unanimously denied the service’s request to rezone the property from residential to commercial use.

Neighbors of the property at 1400 Fourth St. NW, next to Hardee’s, filled the north section of the council chamber on Monday in hopes of expressing their opposition to the request.

The denial of the request came from a recommendation by the Austin Planning Commission, who voted unanimously on April 10 to advise the council not to accept the request. The commission stated the rezoning request “is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan Future Land-Use Plan as a mixed use and/or commercial/retail district” and the “use is not compatible with the surrounding uses and zoning.”

Many of the residents at Monday’s meeting were also present at the commission’s April 10 meeting, along with representatives from Gold Cross.

Kristofer Keltgen, regional operations manager for Gold Cross, addressed the council first regarding the company’s need for a new facility.

“The project is intended to rectify an urgent medical need within the community that we have observed,” he said. “We are experiencing at this point in time some very significant challenges in regard to providing emergency medical care in this community and it was deemed this facility and this investment in the community was essential to continue to provide the high level of service that the citizens of the community have become accustomed to.”

Gold Cross’ current facility at 1010 West Oakland Ave., he said, is inadequate because it is too small and in poor condition. He also stated that Gold Cross in Austin is understaffed and the current facility’s condition has served as a deterrent for recruiting new employees. Employees have also been the targets of random criminal acts at the West Oakland location, he said, showing the council pictures of vandalized employee vehicles.

Keltgen said Gold Cross has been working to identify potential sites for the past 18 months and that 1400 Fourth St. NW was the only location that could fit their needs.

“When we’re going to make a $2.2 million investment into the community, we want to make sure it is strategically positioned to be able to get emergency services to the residents as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible,” he said.

The location, he said, would allow them better access to Interstate 90 and Mayo Clinic Health System and also let them connect to the hospital’s computer network. Being on an arterial road, he said, would allow for quicker response times in a more centralized location.

Gold Cross would do its best to be “a good neighbor,” he said, taking steps such as demolishing the dilapidated house currently on the property and trying to keep siren noise to a minimum. On average, he said, Gold Cross receives five to six emergency calls that require use of sirens in a 24-hour period. Of those, two-thirds occur during the day.

Keltgen said he met with residents in the neighboring properties, but had not anticipated the level of opposition from them.

He expressed concern that if the council did not approve the request, which would allow Gold Cross to continue with the purchase of the property, “there would be no guarantee the property would continue to be available.”

“The decisions made tonight are going to have a great impact on the city’s ability for emergency response,” he said.

After Keltgen spoke, the neighbors expressed their opposition. Chief among them was Chichi Mosher, who lives in the 1300 block of Fourth Street Northwest.

“We have made a sizable investment in our home, located in a residential district, and to rezone an adjacent property would negatively affect our property value as well as those of our neighbors,” she said. “There are many commercial sites in Austin that would not hinder the future valuations of residential property.”

Mosher expressed concern about the potential traffic the facility could bring to an already-high traffic area, citing an increase in vehicle and pedestrian traffic since the building of Hardee’s and Subway.

“Allowing another business to open in this area would make this problem worse,” she said. “In our opinion, it warrants a traffic study before consideration of any kind of business would be added to this area.”

“There are many locations and empty buildings already zoned for commercial use in Austin,” she added. “To cut into a residential area is unnecessary, and to cut into one that is already having traffic and pedestrian safety problems is unreasonable.”

Another reason for the opposition, according to Mosher, was concern over noise.

“An ambulance would have to run its lights and siren in order to access Fourth Street,” she said. “It is our understanding that even if a traffic light were installed, the siren is required to trigger the light to stop traffic. You can imagine being startled anytime day or night with a piercing siren.”

Mosher also said that many of the neighbors were concerned about the potential removal of trees at the site, which she said would be “a loss to our neighborhood.”

Mosher suggested a location at 301 Fourth Street SW, calling it a “more centrally-located property which would provide quick access to the streets of First Avenue and Oakland as well as Fourth Street.”

“Why consider residential zones when so many commercial sites are available?” she added, citing a previous attempt to rezone the property in 1999 failed.

During the meeting, Councilwoman Laura Helle suggested that Gold Cross petition for a conditional use permit, which would allow them to temporarily use the property. The residents, however, said they opposed that as well.

In the end, the commission’s recommendation and the residential opposition won out as the council voted to deny the rezoning request.

Gold Cross does have the option to negotiate for a conditional use permit, which would have to be approved by the planning commission. Should the commission not approve a conditional use permit, the decision could be appealed to the council.