SRCC general membership meeting notes - 5/4/2009
1- present meeting procedures and welcome newcomers:
2- approve minutes from april 6th, 2009 general membership meeting:
MOTION: to approve april minutes = PASSED
3- soco lofts developer has files a zoning amendment to increase daily vehicle trips; made SRCC presentation april 6th, 2009; seeks SRCC support. presenter: marc davis, srcc vp & interim chair of the transportation and public safety standing committee, will present findings and a recommendation for SRCC vote: background: soco lofts' zoning amendment is to revise the project's daily vehicle trips upwards from 3360 to 4100. they would like the srcc's approval for this zoning amendment. before the srcc voted on this approval, we felt it was important to do some research into the potential impacts of this change. the soco lofts consists of 374 apartments with access onto both alpine and south congress. the main issue that the srcc has always had with this development is the potential for increased traffic in this small residential part of the neighborhood along alpine, willow springs, braeswood and woodward. since the project was originally approved, the developer has pledged $35,000 to pay for the installation of traffic calming devices along the most affected streets in the hood.
findings:
1- installation of traffic calming devices- no traffic calming devices have been installed yet which is clearly an area of concern as soco lofts nears completion. the issue appears to lie with the city and where area 8 is prioritized on their list of hoods in need of traffic calming. sarah met with the traffic calming division of the transportation department of the city to gather information about how hoods are ranked, what kind of process is required to come up with a calming plan and roughly how much calming devices cost. among other things, we learned from that meeting that area 8 had a pretty highranking, but funding only allowed the division to treat 3 hoods this year. the
traffic calming division called sarah back a few days later to say that, due to a number of factors, not the least of which is the fact that we have funds available and also due to the really small area of impact, area 8 could be added to this year's traffic calming list if we were prepared to cost participate. srcc's costs will not only be for installation of calming devices, but also for creation o f a work group to develop a satisfactory plan and for the creation of a database of owners and occupants of all residential units in area 8 plus at least on notification mailing.
2- installation of a traffic light at alpine and congress- we found that the developer is being asked by the city for additional funding for the traffic light at alpine and south congress, although we still do not know when that traffic signal is scheduled for installation. unfortunately, we don't have any more data regarding this issue and are not sure if the developer and the city are working together to get this resolved.
3- sift from condos to apartments- due to the slow economy, soco lofts has converted the set of units they had originally planned to sell as condos into apartments. although this doesn't have an effect on traffic, it does reduce the number of property owners in the area and decreases the likelihood that the residents of soco lofts will be committed to the betterment of its adjacent residential areas in area 8.
proposal:
we know that the original $35,000 will pay for most but not all of the costs associated with installing traffic calming devices. in order to be as fair and rational as possible, we calculated an additional $7,700 to be donated for traffic calming by the developer in the following manner: the requested increase in daily vehicle trips is 740 or a 22% increase. applying a 22% increase to $35,000 yields $7,700. knowing that traffic calming in area 8 can be had, those of us who took part in this research recommend that srcc vote in favor of soco lofts' zoning amendment upon payment by the developer to srcc of an additional $7,700 to be combined with the original donation of $35,000 and applied immediately to traffic calming measures in area 8. in addition, we recommend that the developer be encouraged to work with the city to ensure that a light at alpine and congress is paid for and installed as soon as possible. finally, although there isn't really anything the srcc can do about the shift from condos to apartments, this change makes it even more important that the traffic calming be addressed as soon as possible.
MOTION: support soco lofts zoning amendment upon: 1. payment by the developer of $7,700 additional funds toward traffic calming attainment immediately in area 8. 2- developer promises to work as quickly as possible with the city to install the traffic light at alpine and congress = PASSED
4- request for srcc support of variance for carport at 2504 little john lane, cv-2--8-097009, presenter: werner campbell, agent and michael canney, resident: mr canney constructed a covered carport on the side of his house without seeking city approval. the structure is permanent and was built right up to the property line. the structure was tagged by the city along with other similar structures in the area.
MOTION: srcc take no action = PASSED
5- proposal for courtesy vote, presenter: sarah campbell, president, create an srcc ad hoc communications committee to investigate and recommend to membership the most up to date ways for srcc, as a volunteer and nonprofit community organization to integrate and improve upon the following services:
membership- numbers of and ways to increase; current status; areas of stated interest; access to and for; automatic reminders of dues, meetings; etc.
newsletter- increased access; additional information; online format; increased outreach for more articles; frequency; etc.
list serve- security and privacy; ownership by srcc; etc.
website/web presence- potential for new website parallel to existing to serve different computer capabilities/needs of membership; integration of the other 3 services; privacy and security; ownership by srcc; costs, etc. committee membership to include: sarah campbell, president, marc davis, vp, garret nick and dawn cizmar, co-secretaries, carol martin, membership list manager, bob drew, treasurer, helen day valdez, newsletter editor, and jane kellogg, owner and manger of the current website srccaustin.org and list serve. committee to convene first official meeting no later than may 15, 2009, meetings may be held via email as long as records are maintained by record-keeper. members to appoint, at a minimum, a chair and a record-keeper/secretary at first meeting. committee will present a written account of its findings and recommendations by no later than 3 months after its first meeting. the account will be posted on the list serve for commentary and input prior to a membership vote. interim monthly reports to membership may be at discretion of the committee chair.
COURTESY VOTE = PASSED
6- proposal for courtesy vote, presenter: sarah campbell, president, create an srcc ad hoc financial policy and procedures committee to investigate and recommend to membership best financial practices for srcc, as a volunteer and non-profit community organization, to include but not be limited to the following:
limitations of srcc as a 501c4 organization
annual budget
investments/holding of assets
optimal fundraising methods
special funds
use of funds
dues
advertising in newsletter
developer buy-offs
committee membership to be composed of sarah campbell, president, bob drew,
treasurer, david swann, member, sam martin, area coordinator, and gayle goff, member. committee to convene first official meeting no later than june 1st, 2009, meetings mayb e held via email as long as records are maintained by record-keeper. members to appoint, at a minimum, a chair and a record-keeper/secretary at first meeting. committee will present a written account of its findings and recommendations by no later than 3 months after its first meeting. the account will be posted on the list serve for commentary and input prior to a membership vote. interim monthly reports to membership may be at discretion of the committee chair.
COURTESY VOTE = PASSED
7- motion to support the attached concerns and recommendations of the eroc neighborhood plan contact team regarding austin parks and recreation long range plan 2010-2015 (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/longrangeplan.htm) by letter from srcc president to the director of pard. presenter: toni house, member and secretary of eroc npct:
MOTION: danette chimenti, jean mather- that eroc be included in area 12 of the pard long range plan and eroc neighborhood plan contact teams statement be included as set forth in the letter = PASSED
8- request for variance at 611 long bow lane to "decrease the minimum side street setback from 15 feet to 0 feet in order to maintain an attached carport", c15-2009-0032, presenter: sarah campbell, president: the property owner was not present.
MOTION: garret nick, marc davis- take position of no position = FAILED
MOTION: ?, jean mather- ask for postponement = PASSED
9- srcc 4th of july fundraising t-shirt sales, presenter: teri hubbeling, area
coordinator: teri has designed some shirts and is proposing we get business sponsors to cover the cost of the shirts to be sold to raise money that would then be donated back to srcc to hopefully cover the cost of the event with extra funds going back into a 4th of july fund.
MOTION: teri hubbeling, claudette lowe- the money made from the sale of shirts go back into the 4th of july fund = PASSED
10. 4th of july task list and signup, presenter: teri hubbeling, area coordinator: teri has broken the event down into many small tasks both for the day of and prior to the day to give volunteers as many opportunities to participate. please contact her if you have a few minutes to spare.
11. austin energy will be starting their tree trimming in our area during the time which oak wilt is most likely to spread and right in the midst of efforts to deal with the existing oak wilt issue. an srcc president letter will be drafted and sent to all relevant city officials letting them know.
12. don haga wrote a letter to the baptist church on south congress asking for a presentation on the newly populated parking lot and its trailer businesses.
13. it has been confirmed that the construction on milissa lane is in violation of city codes and is in need of a site plan.
garret
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