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SRCC General Membership Meeting Notes - 10/4/10

1. Room re-arrangement, meeting procedures, etiquette, welcome newcomers.
presenter throughout: sarah campbell, president
we decided to re-arrange the room to reduce the visual interference of the columns and bring everyone a bit closer.

2. membership & voting announcements.
presenter: carol martin, membership chair
the new membership rates and efforts are working. maria was awarded a coupon for a free ice cream for being the second person at the meeting to renew their membership.

3. approve minutes from monday, august 2, 2010, regular monthly meeting.
MOTION: jean/dennis - to approve the minutes = PASSED

4. city acquisition of new parkland in area 7, parker & wind oak.
approximately two acres of land including the harper's branch spring are scheduled for acquisition closing at the end of the year by the city to be used for parkland in the EROC area west of I-35 that currently has no park space aside from the riverfront.

5. approve a new SRCC variance policy & procedure developed by member committee (page 5 of October 2010 newsletter).
a document was developed to help clarify and streamline the process for reviewing and presenting variance cases. the hope is that this will save time and reduce confusion for applicants.
MOTION: claudette/dennis - to approve the new policy = PASSED

6. consider site plan for conversion of 1001 e riverside from single family to b&b use: SPC-2010-0237A. applicant: donna bahara, owner.
the property is located at riverside and travis heights. we will be re-notified; city staff made an error; a public hearing is not needed. they have ample parking and will not be doing group events like weddings. there are three bedrooms and they will rent out two of them while living in the third. there are seven total parking spaces available to the property. no vote was needed so none was taken.

7. consider variance request to decrease minimum rear setback from 10' to 5' at 504 sunset circle: C15-2010-0105. applicant: julie ferguson, owner.
the property is located off rebel rd and is a small semi-pie shaped parcel that is 200sq/ft over the small lot amnesty limit that would legally allow what this variance is requesting. the space in question is already covered in concrete and serves as an open air patio. the owner is looking to cover and screen it in along with gutters to direct rainwater away from neighboring properties. the neighbor in the back does not appear to be affected by this variance.
MOTION: russell/claudette - to approve the variance - PASSED

8. consider site plans for removal of existing house and building of a new one at 1313 bonham terrace (no case# yet). applicants: lois kim & phil reed, owners. the family of four has outgrown the existing 1150sq/ft home and have decided to demolish the garage and move the house to make space for a new home to be built around the large oak trees. no variance is needed for the new house. the property backs up to the housing authority parking lot. the new home with be pier and beam and will use many of the existing beams to avoid root damage. this property is outside of our potential historic district, and is not considered historically significant, so that a demolition permit will not be opposed by SRCC if the owners are unsuccessful in relocating the existing house.

9. two road closures: (a) 11/25 thanksgiving day texas A&M corps march beginning on s congress at riverside, 12:30-2pm; (b) 11/27 chuy's children giving to children parade, "de-staging" onto north end of congress ave bridge, 1pm.
MOTION: helen/dennis - to approve closure (a) = PASSED

10. (a) status of traffic calming in area 8.
city wants us to hire an engineer to plan calming devices. laura toupes is being hired with a target start time in spring.
(b) status of SCIP.
south congress improvement project. $4million allocated to this project many years ago with approximately $1million remaining. the current plan includes changing the parking along south congress to reverse angle parking from academy to leland with more lights and pedestrian improvements. the proposed changes will create over 100 new parking spaces and the city continues to look for developers to partner with to increase that number further.

11. progress at and wish list for our middle school. presenter: gloria lee, member & cindy anderson, pta president of fulmore middle school.
the austin community foundation account is now setup and has resulted in two grants, one of which is a grade level book club so all kids can read the same book and discuss it together as well as bring in authors to talk. the school also received the catch award for having a coordinated approach to child health along with another award for promoting nutrition and healthy living. a dedicated parent center has been setup to educate about services available to families as well as for esl and nutrition classes. many bilingual leaders have stepped up to help bridge the language gap. an award was presented to the SRCC for supporting pta efforts with donations to help setup the ACF account. you can donate money and supplies any time, even office supplies help. there are lots of upcoming events, stay tuned.

12. grant for blunn creek preserve. presenter: david todd, co-chair, srcc parks, schools & environments standing committee.
david was not present to speak, so we skipped this item.

13. status of norwood house project. presenter: wolf sittler, norwood posse director
a 30 month effort on the part of the norwood posse to raise funds and restore the norwood house has been put on hold while the city commissions a study by casa bela architects ($80,000) to review the entire parcel. the estimated cost to restore the house is $350,000, per Wolf, using reduced rate professionals and quite a bit of volunteers and donations, so the city is relying on this feasibility study to be the guide for future changes to the house and the dog park.

14. report from austin neighborhoods council (ANC). presenter: wolf sittler, SRCC rep to ANC
the mayor attended the last ANC meeting to talk and promote the november bond election that would allocate $14million of the $90million package to build a boardwalk along the lake to connect the hike/bike trail where it is currently lacking. the ANC had no recommendation as the vote is all or nothing and tied to lots of other mobility funding.

15. comprehensive plan review sessions, citywide.
the city is looking for support of its process and revamped envision austin city plan. the ANC passed a resolution to ask the city to restart the plan based primarily on the feeling that result of the work done to create the individual neighborhood plans is being ignored. the city has requested citizen participation in the process.

16. neighborhood watch. presenter: marc davis, vp and chair, safety committee
the group has put in place the general neighborhood watch structure, documents, communication tools and watch zones. our area has been broken up into smaller areas with block captains, 16 in total. crime victims are encouraged to participate and help expand coverage.

17. (a) downtown austin alliance and kut 90.5fm is hosting their annual holiday sing-along and tree-lighting on congress at the capitol 12/4; (b) the annual texas book festival at the capitol grounds will be next weekend 10/16-17.

18. the srcc executive committee held an online meeting from september 18th to noon september 22, 2010 to vote on historic landmark status for ziller house at 800 edgecliff terrace, in order to have input to the landmark commission meeting on septeber 27th. all votes were positive.

garret

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