SRCC General Membership Meeting Minutes – May 18, 2021

SRCC GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING – MINUTES

Tuesday, May 18, 2021    7:00  PM

Zoom Meeting via

The Internet

MINUTES

To be sure you get a vote, become a member. You can join or renew online www.srccatx.org. Not sure if you are current? Email membership@srccatx.org and we’ll let you know.

The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:03pm.

CALL TO ORDER/COMMITTEE REPORTS/APPROVAL OF MINUTES

1.  7:00  Meeting procedures, Zoom tools, etiquette, welcome newcomers. Verification of quorum. Reminder: state your name when presenting or seconding a motion. If an acronym is stated during the meeting and you don’t know what it means, please feel free to raise your hand and ask.*   

Presenter throughout: Cynthia Milne, SRCC President, unless otherwise noted.  (8 min)

2.   7:08    Membership and voting. Pay multiple years in advance and 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    NOTE: In order to vote or make motions, dues must be paid a month in advance, with the exception that if a former member’s dues have  lapsed no more than 2 years, they may renew no less than 2 days prior to the online meeting and be eligible to vote. Contact membership@srccatx.org to renew. (2 min)

When meeting in person we could renew on the same night of the meeting, but due to Paypal limitations payment at the last minute will not be available until we are back to meeting in person.

3.  7:10  Treasurer’s Report – see reverse of agenda. All reports available upon request to the Treasurer @ treasurer@srccatx.org 

Presenter: Will Andrews, Treasurer   (5 min)

The Treasurer presented the report for the year to date through April. Income is from membership dues and a donation, along with interest. We have spent funds on ANC dues and the accounting software subscription. The Austin Parks Foundation balance was reduced by their annual fee.

 4. 7:15   Committee Chairs report

1) Planning and Zoning;   2) Historic Preservation;   3) Finance;  4) Mobility; 5) Public Safety;  6) Parks and Environment; 7) Schools; 8) Communications; 9) Executive Committee; 10) Land Development Code Rewrite ad hoc committee.     (15 min TOTAL)

  1. Nothing to Report
  2. No update on the National Register Historic District application. There are several properties scheduled to be discussed at the May 24 meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission, which include item D.3 –  1807 Brackenridge St. (relocation); item D.13 – 1109 Travis Heights Blvd. (partial demolition); item C.9.  600 Congress Ave. – Congress Avenue National Register District – Install signs
  3. Nothing to report
  4. Nothing other than Item 8, below
  5. We have low participation in the Neighborhood Watch. The Chair will try to give a call to arms to get some more interest. National Night Out is coming up this fall.
  6. June 5th there will be a work day at Blunn Creek Nature Preserve at 8:30. June 12th will be It’s My Park Day at Blunn Creek, at 8:30. You can register online for both of these events.     Justin Haynes gave an update on Harpers Branch Greenbelt – there was a meeting and next steps were identified. Putting up a sign may not be a good idea, as it might result in a lot of additional foot traffic; though an interpretive sign may be useful. A mulch path along the edge might be useful to get rid of the poison ivy. The City’s Watershed Protection indicated there was no reason to do any big erosion control measures, but they did discuss the possibility of earthen dams. Some training opportunities  will start up in fall to train volunteer leaders to spot invasive species.
  7. Lots of students are back in person, and there have been few cases at the schools. Today the Governor has made it illegal for schools to require masks, though children under 12 still cannot get vaccines. June 3rd is the last day of school.
  8. Nothing to report
  9. Tentative meeting in June
  10. Nothing to report

Representatives: 12) ANC*; 13) SCC*; 14) South Central Waterfront; 15) St. Edward’s; 16) S. Central Affordable CDC (10 min)

12) ANC had a meeting in April. City Council Member Mackenzie Kelley introduced herself and was very impressive. City Manager Cronk talked about Winter Storm Uri and some of the resulting changes at the City, including that the February 2021 water usage will not be part of the wastewater averaging calculations. There was discussion about LDC rewrite; the City was downplaying it, but there is a concern that it is still lurking.

13) There was a meeting, which was very informal. Spent a lot of time talking about the recent local election. An evaluation of the voting participation was discussed – early voting went to support Prop B, day of election voting went to oppose Prop B. The rains on voting day appeared to suppress turnout.

14) The recent meeting was a rehash of previous discussions on the Austin Economic Development Corporation Board and interaction with the SCWAB board, plus discussions of committee assignments.

15) Nothing to report

16) Nothing to report

5.   7:40  Approve minutes from the April, 2021 monthly general meeting (available at www.srccatx.org).  Reminder: Schedule for General Membership meetings: 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7:00pm -8:30pm. Location: teleconference during 2021 (eventually will return to Good Shepherd on the Hill). (5 min)

Remaining meeting dates in 2021:   EC Jun 1 (tentative); GM Jun 15;  EC Aug 3; 

EC Sept 7 (tentative); GM Sept 21; EC Oct 5 (tentative); GM 19;  GM Nov 16; EC Dec 7.

There were no comments or corrections. The minutes were adopted as published. 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

6.  7:45    The SRCC Newsletter 

The last edition of the SRCC Newsletter was published in April of 2020. Before then, the newsletter came out three times a year. In order to restart that tradition, we need to find an editor and a designer to put it together. Are there neighbors who would like to take this on?  Presenter: Betty Weed, Chair Communications Committee ( 10 min)

The question was if we want to continue to have a newsletter, which typically comes out 3 times a year. If so, we will need an Editor, as well as someone to do the layout and design. We could then put it online, and could in the future have a discussion about printing and distributing the printed newsletter. If anyone is interested in the Editor role or knows anyone who would be interested, please contact Betty Weed. Gretchen Otto indicated that she had produced the newsletter for a long time, and that she would be happy to walk a new person through the process.        We should continue to think about how we can reach out to our neighbors and increase our membership, and the Newsletter is one of the tools that we use for outreach.       We could also consider producing a smaller version of the newsletter (maybe a one page version), perhaps more frequently.

A member suggested that we look at the Hyde Park online presence, which takes advertising, but is pretty good. There was discussion that managing the solicitation and inclusion of advertisements in the newsletter would result in additional effort for the newsletter editor, and might require another volunteer position to handle the extra effort.

It was mentioned that in the past there was discussion about selling ads in the SRCC newsletter to offset the cost of the printing, and some members were not happy with the idea of selling advertisements.

7. 7:55   2105 Parker Lane: An Update –  The Foundation Communities project was unanimously approved by the City Council on May 6, 2021. The vote was for MF3 instead of MF4, with the conditional overlay to add a setback from the neighboring condos.

Presenter: Fred DeWorken, Area 7 Representative (5 min)

Fred DeWorken was unable to attend, so others in attendance discussed the issues. 

City Council approved the zoning change request unanimously with all 3 readings in one night. Foundation Communities had met with Fred and neighbors, and they changed their ask to MF-3 with a Conditional Overlay to require a setback from the neighboring condos. The hope is that the neighbors will continue to be involved in negotiations with Foundation Communities. SRCC needs to come forward to work with these neighbors to help them have an impact on this project.

In the past we have had an SRCC point person to help get involved in larger projects, and would represent SRCC’s interest in the project. The current officers have not been involved in these types of projects in the past, and could use some input from veteran members who have been through this before. Generally speaking, we typically have a core group of people who feel passionately about the project, and an ad-hoc committee would be formed and would work with Foundation Communities to come to an agreement. Any member can form an ad-hoc committee, alert the officers, have a mission statement or purpose and have a specific end goal, identify members, take minutes from meetings, and report monthly to the membership. Once the committee stops meeting or achieves its goals, it is dissolved. These requirements are defined in the bylaws.

It was suggested that SRCC could show support by showing up and participating to support these neighbors.

A member expressed concern that Foundation Communities had received a letter from the Church saying they could go forward with their plan, prior to SRCC or EROC being made aware of the project. Several people from EROC tried to contact the Church but got no response. Then Winter Storm Uri occurred and interfered with the ability to discuss the project. This resulted in no way to build momentum, and it seemed that no one could have slowed it down. Over the years it has felt like those in SRCC/EROC (SRCC areas east of I-35) have had to educate the rest of SRCC on their issues, and typically get support once the rest of SRCC knows about it. It felt like so much of this occurred late in the process. It seemed that this was rushed through and the approval of the project appeared to be a foregone conclusion. 

8. 8:00  South Congress Parking Strategy – Public Draft

The Public Draft can be read here.  The Draft describes creation of a PTMD (Parking Transportation Management District). Defining the boundaries for the paid parking map is the current task and will be driven by neighborhood input. There are recommendations for improving and enforcing RPPs (Residential Parking Permits). A benefit of moving to a PTMD is that it will create a revenue stream dedicated to mobility improvement for the neighborhood. In addition to sidewalks, the revenue from the meters could fund a circulator like the Dillo. 

Presenters: Mark Thompson, Chair Mobility Committee  and Joseph Al-Hajeri, CoA Transportation Dept. (10  min + 10 min Q&A)

Joseph Al-Hajeri was unable to attend, but has asked SRCC to provide questions and he will respond.

There are many overlapping great questions coming from both SRCC and Bouldin Creek NA as well as some misinformation about the proposal. To address both items, Joseph Al-Hajeri would like to put together a FAQ that is available on a web portal. Questions should be sent via email to the SRCC Mobility Chair at mobility@srccatx.org or mark512512@gmail.com, and he will gather these questions and share them with the City. 

There was discussion about SRCC formulating an approach so that we can have a focused discussion about this topic, during the next EC meeting.

It was suggested that we focus on getting the word out to the folks that are in the larger PTMD area and encourage them to look at the study. We should have a meeting with someone from the City or the consultants, as this will have a big impact on SRCC.

One member was asking about how to reach the greater part of the neighborhood. There was also discussion about having a special meeting or sending out a survey to members. 

One of the concerns was that the report was over 100 pages, and that made it really difficult for the neighbors to get a better feel for the highlights. It would be useful to get a summary of the proposals or discussion. Al Amado volunteered to develop such a summary.

What is the timeframe for the proposed changes? The original timeframe was to get done by summer, but things have been extended. There is no longer an imminent timeline.

9.   8:20   GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

SRCC has restarted the NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH program, and is looking for participants. Anyone interested should contact Tom Groce, SRCC Public Safety Chair at tgroce71@gmail.com to get involved! 

Greater South River City Neighborhood Planning Contact Team members are stewards of our 2005  Neighborhood Plan. To join or for information, visit this page: 

https://www.srccatx.org/about/greater-south-river-city-neighborhood-plan/  Contact Terry Franz if interested: tmfranz@airmail.net

SRCC is looking for someone who would like to take charge of the SRCC Neighborhood Newsletter. As the pandemic (hopefully) comes to a close, neighbors have expressed interest in the Newsletter.  Our previous Newsletter Editor, Gretchen Otto, is available to help someone get started.  Anyone interested should contact Betty Weed, SRCC Communications Chair, at bweed11@gmail.com  for more information! 

Do you have questions about using the Neighborhood ListServ? This link will take you to information about  subscribing, unsubscribing, posting a message, and more.   https://groups.io/g/SouthRiverAustin

The next SRCC Executive meeting is Tuesday, June 1, 2021 (tentative).  The next General Membership meeting is Tuesday, June 15, 2021.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:25pm.

*Frequently used acronyms: ACF: Austin Community Fund; ANC: Austin Neighborhood Council (https://www.atxanc.org/); BoA: Board of Adjustment; SF: Single Family zoning category; FLUM: Future Land Use Map; GSRC NPCT: Greater South River City Neighborhood Planning Contact Team; NCCD: Neighborhood Conservation Combining District; PC: Planning Commission; PUD: Planned Unit Development; SCC: South Central Coalition of NAs; ZAP: Zoning and Platting

Agenda Prepared by Megan Spencer, vicepresident@srccatx.org 

Agenda subject to change. Please check www.srccatx.org for most updated version.   

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