South River City Citizens (SRCC): minutes for meeting of general membership, November 5, 2012 return to SRCC home page



MEETING OF THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP OF SRCC
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2012
7:15 PM
GRACE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
205 East Monroe; Austin, Texas


MINUTES


CALL TO ORDER/APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. 7:15 Room arrangement, meeting procedures, etiquette, welcome newcomers
Presenter throughout: Marc Davis, President, unless otherwise noted
2. 7:20 Membership & voting announcements.
Presenter: Carol Martin, Vice President and Membership Chair
3. 7:22 Approve minutes from October 1, 2012, last regular monthly meeting
MOTION: Jean Mather / Wolf Sitler - to approve the minutes from last meeting = PASSED
4. 7:25 Treasurer's Report
Presenter: Les Case, Treasurer
Account reconciliation, Profit & Loss and Balance reports available from treasurer
5. 7:30 Committee Chairs' reports-- 1) Parks, Schools, Environment; 2) Planning & Zoning (report below); 3) Transportation & Public Safety (report below); 4) Norwood; 5) Historic District (report below); 8) Financial; 9) Reppresentatives to Austin Neighborhoods Council
3) Wednesday Nov 14, 7:30-9pm, there will be Neighborhood Watch Training at Grace United Methodist where we meet for our General Membership Meetings.
4) We are on the second version of the contract between the Norwood Posse and the city to be approved before the project can commence fully. The contract allows the Norwood posse to fix up and operate the property for ten years with all the proceeds going to the parks department rather than the city's general fund.

OOLD BUSINESS
6. 7:35 Auto repair shop at 2311 Rebel Road; update on code compliance, permits status, parking, etc.
Presenters: Jim Hallihan and Nathan Tate, residents
Numerous potential code violations have been recorded at the location of this auto body shop and letters were written to City Council. With the help of SRCC's letter, some progress has been made culminating in an inspection of the property which turned up information confirming that some codes could have been violated.

NEW BUSINESS
7. 7:40 RPP, Residential Parking Permit request for 1900 block of Brackenridge.
Presenter: Charlotte Martin, resident
This is the section of Brackenridge between Terrace and Lockhart on the east side of the street. The applicant has only one parking spot, on the street in front of her house, and, due to age and medical conditions, is looking to reserve that spot so she can safely get in and out of her house. The request is for 7am-7pm, Monday through Saturday.
MOTION: Sarah Campbell / Mary Lovell - to support the request and if possible just for the single spot - amendent: to contact Mario and gather more information about the single spot request = PASSED
8. 7:50 South Congress Hotel project planned for 1603 South Congress: The project is expected to be an 80-room hotel with associated ground-floor amenities such as restaurants and retail space. They are not asking for any variances or exceptions from code as part of the project.
Presenter: Will Schnier, Big Red Dog, President; Patrick Jeffers, CSE Realty Partners
This will be an 82 room hotel with a single story on the backside increasing to three stories on the Congress front with two restaurants and two retail spaces along the front. There will be two stories of underground parking with 220 space, versus the 146 required, and they will be available to the public at an hourly or daily rate. Monroe is the garage entrance with no other access from other streets or alleys. There is a nine-foot setback from the alley as well as a courtyard accessible by the public. This project requires no variances or special requests. The building is 40 feet tall on the Congress side compared to the 60-foot roof of the Baptist Church. The alley side of the building will start at approximately 16 feet and scale up to the front height. Construction should start by April and last approximately fourteen months. The parking spaces in front of the hotel will be replaced by a pedestrian area.
9. 8:05 Demolition permit process: Demolition [address] has been proposed while Travis Heights - Fairview Park Local Historic District designation is pending. Historic Landmark Commission process.
Presenter: Marc Davis, President
Demolition permits are reviewed for historic value and the historic designation determined. This process is at odds with the Local Historic District process as buildings that would potentially be included in the district are removed before the process is completed. We are in the process of exploring this process.
10. 8:15 Area 8 Traffic Calming Task Force: report on status of project located in Area 8 for design, landscaping, construction of traffic calming improvements.
Presenters: Sarah Campbell, Area 8 Traffic Calming Task Force, resident.
Willow Springs road was approved for traffic calming and funded; the project has been in the design and approval stage for a while. The city will implement the plan and the neighborhood will cover some of the costs including possibly the landscaping. The changes will include some traffic calming on Woodward at the intersection of Willow Springs and provide safe crossing for non-motorized users.
11. 8:25 Sherwood Oaks Drainage Improvement project: report on status of project, delayed schedule & impact on residents. Motion for SRCC support: send letter to City officials to request priority for project completion.
Presenter: Garret Nick, SRCC member
The Long Bow Stormdrain Improvement project started four years ago and was projected to take one year to complete with the last phase being to repave all the streets that were disrupted. During this time, the dead end at St. Edward's Drive and Carnarvon Lane was used as a staging area. The project was never completed, with some storm drains being installed as recently as two months ago, and the streets have yet to be repaved. Compounding this problem was the initiation of the Oltorf Reconstruction Project, which was also projected to take one year and use the same staging area. The result is that the Long Bow project has yet to be completed and the residents of Sherwood Oaks and specifically the properties adjacent to the staging area have been forced to live next to a heavy construction staging area for four years. The staging area is an eyesore, with piles of materials, portable toilets, and heavy construction equipment constantly coming and going. Workers gather before 8am and often times stay past 6pm with rows of dumptrucks and bulldozers idling for extended periods while waiting to haul more materials. The expectation by the city that residents be subjected to this prolonged process is unreasonable and threatens the reasonable peace and enjoyment of the residents of Sherwood Oaks but especially the residents living directly next to the staging area or on the streets most commonly travelled by workers.
MOTION: Garret Nick / Synthia Mille - to write a letter to the city asking them to complete the Long Bow Stormdrain Project, outlining the excessive duration of the use of the St. Edward's Drive dead end as a staging area for ongoing city construction projects and requesting the immediate conclusion of the projects or the relocation of the staging area out of the Sherwood Oaks neighborhood. = PASSED 12. 8:30 Zoning change: 518 Oltorf upzoning and FLUM (Future Land Use Maps) change request
Presenter: Terry Franz, member Neighborhood Plan Contact Team
Our neighborhood plan was completed in 2006 and included a proposal for the property at Rebel and Oltorf that includes a dentist office. There is a request to change the zoning to allow for a restaurant with the service entrance along the back of the property that closely abuts single family residential properties. The request is for GR (general retail). An announcement about a meeting will be made so those interested in working on this issue can get together and determine a plan of action.
13. 8:40 F1 helicopter trips from Embassy Suites
Presenter: Marc Davis, President
At Congress and Barton Springs there is a helicopter taxi stop being proposed for the F1 race weekend. The flight path would follow highways and major roads to minimize the impact. The stop near us would follow Riverside to I-35 before heading South with the frequency being every 10-20 minutes. The rationale for approving the temporary helicopter stops is because there is a community benefit and is supported. The hours of operation are 8am-8pm with a total of 200 trips over the course of the weekend.
MOTION: Jean Mather / Theresa Griffin - to write a letter similar to BCNA and include the hours of operation, the frequency, the height, spotlights and a contact person = PASSED
14: 8:50 Land Development Code proposed changes
Presenter: Jean Mather, member and Chair of Planning & Zoning Committee
There are eight amendments to the code but no additional information at this time.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Fulmore food garden going on during F1 if anyone would like to help.


Agenda Prepared by Marc Davis
656-2841 - cell



 

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