South River City Citizens (SRCC): minutes for meeting of general membership, August 5, 2013

South River City Citizens (SRCC): minutes for meeting of general membership, August 5, 2013 return to SRCC home page

MEETING OF THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP OF SRCC
MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 2013
7:15 PM
GRACE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
205 East Monroe; Austin, Texas

MINUTES

CALL TO ORDER/APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. 7:15 Meeting procedures, etiquette, welcome newcomers. When making a motion or seconding a motion, please state your full name to be included in the minutes.
Presenter throughout: Marc Davis, President, unless otherwise noted.
Please be sure to say your full name when presenting or seconding a motion.
2. 7:20 Membership & voting announcements. New membership fee structure effective immediately. If you pay multiple years in advance, you will get a discount.

Single membership: 1-yr $20; 2-yr $35; 3-yr $50
Family membership: 1-yr $35; 2-yr $65; 3-yr $95

3. 7:25 Approve minutes from June 4, 2013, last regular monthly meeting
MOTION: Carol Martin / Tim Vincent - to approve the minutes from last month = PASSED
4. 7:28 Treasurer's Report (will be updated day of meeting:
Account reconciliation, profit & loss, and balance reports available upon request from treasurer Presenter: Nancy Byrd, Treasurer
5. 7:35 Committee Chairs' reports--
1) Parks, Schools, Environment; 2) Planning & Zoning; 3) Transportation & Public Safety; 4) Norwood; 5) Historic District; 8) Financial; 9) Reps to ANC (Austin Neighborhoods Council); 10) Communication; 11) Quality of Life
5.1) Parks - The Parks Department is terribly underfunded and understaffed. There is a fresh push by a citizen advocacy group, the Greater Austin Parks, to increase funding by 8% to address many community issues.
MOTION: David Todd / John McEachran - to endorse the Greater Austin Parks to increase park funding by 8% = PASSED
5.8) Financial - The Financial Committee has received 9 submissions, totaling $65,000, with proposals on how to spend the remaining funds (approx. $25,000) managed by the Austin Community Foundation. The Executive Committee will review the proposals at its meeting on October 21, 2013, at Grace United Methodist Church. EC will present recommendations to general membership on November 4, 2013.
5.11) Quality of Life - Current issues pertain to merchants on South Congress who have live outdoor music, trash along Congress, enforcing the residential parking permits, and camping at Norwood Park. By engaging stakeholders, the QoL committee has made noticeable progress on all these issues.

OLD BUSINESS
6. 7:45 New information, new proposal, and re-vote on Reagan Signs Re-zoning request
Presenters: Marc Davis, President; Sarah Campbell, Pat Roeder, Brian Talenti, Teresa Griffin, members
This issue has been going on for a few years despite efforts to resolve it. Given the history with the developer, SRCC previously voted to oppose this zoning change based on the fear of "zoning creep." The current proposal is to upzone the property from General Retail to Commercial Services in exchange for restrictive covenants that prevent all uses other than a public storage facility. These restrictive covenants will be in effect regardless whether the owner changes. After many meetings between SRCC and property owners, it was advised by the SRCC task force on this issue that we reconsider our stance based on the extensive concessions made by the developer.
MOTION: Sarah Campbell / Brian Talenti - that SRCC take a second vote on the request to change the Zoning from GR to CS for the property site nw corner of IH 35 and Woodland Ave. and support the restrictive covenant and conditional overlay = PASSED
7. 8:05 Congress Avenue Baptist Church's request to amend the NCCD to allow for commercial parking on the back half of its lot
Presenter: Marc Davis, President
At the last meeting the church came to us asking for support to upzone to GR (General Retail) the back half of its property to allow for commercial parking. This allows for secondary parking and potentially a parking garage. The parking spaces are currently being rented to adjacent businesses without the proper zoning. Another option is to amend the NCCD (neighborhood combined conservation district). They have not been willing to provide us with a direct answer about building a parking garage but after meeting with them they made it clear that they did not want to rule out the building of a parking garage. It was proposed in this meeting that members from both sides participate in at least one more meeting to discuss the long-term goals for the property and see if there is any middle ground. Both sides are willing to request the postponement until next month giving enough time to meet and for SRCC to formally vote in the September general meeting.
MOTION: Jean Mather / Sarah Campbell - to postpone the City Council vote /Friendly Amendment: Theresa Griffin - or oppose the request if postponement isn't an option = PASSED

NEW BUSINESS
8. 8:25 518 Oltorf request for Conditional Use Permit for Limited Restaurant
Presenters: Steve Portnoy, Alice Glasco
This building is currently an ex-dentist and insurance office but it is being proposed that it be changed to office space with a coffee shop below. Previous issues were taken into account and an amended plan proposed. General Office zoning requires a conditional use permit in order to operate as a "limited restaurant" such as a coffee shop. The new zoning would allow for beer and wine sales but not hard liquor, the same as what you see at Jo's Coffee Shop or similar.
MOTION: Eric Rangel / Tim Vincent - to support the developer's request for a conditional use permit with an increase from an 8-foot-high fence to a 10-foot-high fence along the north end of the property /Friendly Amendment: Kent Anshutz - no hard liquor, no drive-through, no outdoor music, no onsite food trailers = PASSED
9. 8:45 Proposal to support Zilker Neighborhood Association and Oppose the Taco PUD aka Paggi Planned Unit Developent
Presenter: Carol Martin, Vice President
The developer of the property that is currently the Taco Cabana at the corner of Riverside and South Lamar, is asking to increase the height limitation from 60' to 96', decrease the setbacks from 5' to 0', increase the FAR (floor to area ratio) and to designate private balconies as a substitute for required public space. All of this is in violation of the Waterfront Overlay and the size of the property does not qualify it for PUD status.
MOTION: Carol Martin / Jean Mather - that SRCC support the Zilker Neighborhood Association in their opposition to the Paggi PUD = PASSED
10. 8:50 Update on Quality of Life Committee negotiations with Guero's OMV (outdoor music venue)
Presenter: Robert Reeves, Chair of Quality of Life Committee
This item was covered earlier in the meeting.
11: 9:00 Update on 1304 Alta Vista
Presenter: Jean Mather, Chair of the Zoning Committee
The property owner built a garage without the proper setback so he is purchasing the necessary extra footage from his neighbor to make it legal.
12: 9:05 517 E. Oltorf, C14-2013-0081 - Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus, Inc. request to upzone to GR to increase its impervious cover limit Presenter: Jean Mather, Chair of the Zoning Committee and Jim Bennett, Owner representative The church was built in 1959 with 69.7% impervious cover where only 45% is currently allowed under the SF-3 zoning so they are requesting the zoning be changed to allow for what currently exists and that would be GR (which allows for 90% impervious cover). They are looking to build an addition to operate as a community space.
MOTION: Jean Mather / Garret Nick - to oppose the requested change = PASSED
13: 9:15 Update on Ordinance C20-20013-002 allowing Planning Commission to initiate zoning changes
Presenter: Mary Ingle, Austin Neighborhoods Council
On August 13 there is a plan amendment ordinance that includes language giving the Planning Commission new authority to initiate zoning changes out of cycle with the normal process. This would eliminate or restrict the ability for the neighborhood contact team to hear and respond to requested changes.
MOTION: Diane Harbison / Jean Mather - to oppose the changes to the Planning Commission authority = PASSED

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
No extra announcements were made.

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