The Bee Cave Bee

For those residents against Planet K, please voice your concerns to the city council. Please email Bob Dorsett Bdorsett@dorsettswift.com with your concerns. He wants to hear from you and will take the emails to the city council. If the issue makes the agenda then he will notify those that email him in regards to when to attend the meeting.

Austin Allows them...and they should. Bee Cave should not restrict the opening of a legit business.Get with it . This is 2011. They will have plenty of customers.. Bill Kirchenbauer age 58.

There is plenty the City of Bee Cave can do to prevent this cancer from growing near our homes, schools and children. I don't pretend to judge whether folks should be patrons and entertain the culture promoted at Planet K, but I don't think Bee Cave or Lakeway is the right place for it. Beyond and more importantly than signage and architecture, the City has the power of Zoning. While I am not an Attorney but I did serve on the City Council for nearly 8 years, my opinion during review of the current zoning is the following:

1. There is no existing zoning classification for Head Shop or anything else that Planet K specifically and clearly falls under.

2. All Uses not listed are not meant to fall under an umbrella alternative category known as General Retail Stores and Retail Shop for several reasons. First, there is a zoning section that discusses New Uses (Section 32.04.001 (d) Classification of New and Unlisted Uses). This section clearly implies in my opinion that all Uses were not envisioned to be included in the current zoning Use classifications. Second, Planet K has an age requirement of 18 years to enter and purchase merchandise, therefore they are certainly not "typical" as they discriminate on the age of customers, and therefore they don't fit under General Retail Stores and Retail Shop zoning category.

3. Sexually oriented businesses, alcoholic beverage sales, and tatoo parlors for example, all of which require a minimum age to enter and purchase have their own zoning categorization (just as Planet K would need under "Head Shop.")....and they are very restricted where the can be placed.

This Use was not foreseen and it is therefore a NEW USE that requires zoning review by Planning & Zoning and the City Council with public input. Who would have thought to envision or classify a USE that we all know we would have been curbed since drugs are considered illegal and we did not find the need to categorize a retail store that specializes in catering to the use of mind-altering, illegal substances that discriminates against a substantial portion (those under 18 years) of our citizenry to become paying customers. Again, New Uses 32.04.001 (d) Classification of New and Unlisted Uses would not have been included in our ordinances if our ambiguous general Use categories such as Retail Stores/Shops was meant to include everything not mentioned. And again, the similarilty of age-discriminating businesses such as Sexual and Alcohol related businesses place this in a similar, if not worse, category.

This has sufficient negative potential impact to our property values, the safety of our kids, our schools. It is the City Government's role to protect these and our Ordinances and not set a precedent such as this...particularly as they relate to abiding by the law on legitimizing a business that facilitates and glamorizes the use of illegal or mind-altering substances. This sends our kids, our community, our businesses and future business stakeholders mixed and erroneous messages.

So yours saying "And again, the similarilty of age-discriminating businesses such as Sexual and Alcohol related businesses place this in a similar, if not worse, category." That's fair, but goddamn, there are 2 alcohol sores within 1 mile of that shop! They didn't have to fight to be brought into business, and they are definitely age discriminating. Nothing illegal is sold inside of a Planet K, and do you not think people buy alcohol for minors in the same way that they would for the store? If the store doesn't have support, it will go out of business, that's it.

this is not the type of business we need in our City of Bee Cave, or want in our neighborhood. this will serve as no value to the city of Bee Cave either ...we need to fight this for however long it takes to get them out of here.. I am in for the long haul on this battle ... "No Way Planet K" should be our motto. Thanks, Gregg Russell .

So now, the government is telling people whether they can or cannot open a legitimate store? Welcome to America. Land of the free? Not really.

By the way, Zelda. A: People under 18 can enter Planet K, just not purchase certain goods. And B: It doesn't count as "discrimination", if you're under 18. So Planet K would in fact, fall under the category of "General Retail Stores".

I live in the Bee Cave area and would frequent the store, as well as know many others who would. Why do you people care? If you don't like it, don't visit it, but don't pretend like there aren't other people in this area who would go there.

This is America. We should be able to decide and vote on what type of businesses we would like in our community. The good comes with the bad. If we want it we get it. If we don't want it, we don't get it.

Go Planet K!!! Don't let these LOSERS bring you down!

Your arguments don't hold water. Take your store elsewhere and quit trying to shove it into the square peg. You will just go out of business anyway and I will buy that ghost ridden property for pennies on the dollar.

If your sure the business will go out then why fight it?

See everyone? This is the kind of person supporting the view that there be no Planet K.

First off, he tells me my arguments "hold no water", without even telling me why.

Secondly, he assumes it's my shop. Which it isn't. I just live here.

RK, you really should have read the comments by supporters of the store before posting that last comment. They seek to change our minds by being rude about us and our city. sucha didn't use words like loser or commies. I had no strong opinion on this until supporters of the store started their 'campaign'. Now I firmly believe they are not the kind of people I want around here. Maybe the owner of that store should get his supporters to tone down their opinions about Bee Cave.

Developers are allowed to move into Bee Caves and ruin the landscape and the water aquifer. The whole area landscape west of Austin is allowed to be neglected to make room for people moving there just for the view, thus causing allergens (cedar) to affect all of central Texans, causing a steep rise in children with asthma and other allergy based illnesses. Polution, destruction of the environment, rises in taxes, the obvious whitewashing of what used to be beautiful hill country and what used to be more accessable to everyone regardless off financial background, and you want to worry about one store who is not adding more destruction but restoring what should be a landmark. Sure, lets allow everything else BUT what keeps Austin wierd, I'm sure many of the residents of Bee Caves enjoy the extra gas and time it takes to get what their own community doesn't offer. They like spending money outside of their community anyway, right?

If we as parents mold our children to make morally correct decisions, what do we have to fear? It should start in the home not city hall.

Just an aside, Major brand gas has been selling "pipes" for awhile, less than 100 yards from the baseball fields. Has that impacted our community?

I'm not sure

I dont want Planet K, or any other type of seedy business in this area. We pass the Old Trading post everyday. I dont want to have to explain to my children what this place sells, or the people who frequent it. It takes a village to raise children, and we all need to respect and keep watch over questionable businesses and people who may errode the moral fiber of our community.

Do you explain what convenience stores sell? Drug supplies, pipes,lighters that praise illegal drug use, x-rated magazines, booze, stimulates? Your children can walk to those stores right now, and walk right in. At least at Planet K they have to be 18.

Well, to be fair, everyone who thinks Planet K should not be allowed to open up, *does* have a communist viewpoint. They believe that the government should intervene and not allow a shop selling legal goods to open, because "people are offended". Now, tell me: How is that not communist? So the people calling others "commies", are in fact, right.

Part of freedom, is accepting things that you don't like, and tolerating their existence. Because they are allowed to open whatever legal shop they want to, on their own property.

This is pure bullying fascism. Re-write the rules and changes the laws after the business plan is already in place? If Bee Cave doesn't need this type of business then it will fail. Free market, did we forget about that? The mural design looked amazing, much better than the current mess at that location. Claiming this will hurt the children is non-sense. They sell nothing illegal, and no one under 18 can even go in there. So we are worried that 18 year olds might by smutty magazines, tobacco, and other legal drugs? Whats next, all of the convenience stores? Walgreens? They sell tobacco, pipes that could be used for illegal drugs, and a whole variety of dangerous stimulates.

Dad in my 30's and I have no need to patronize this store, nor do I fear for my kids.