SRCC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
TUESDAY, March 7, 2023 @ 7:00 PM
In-person at Good Shepherd 1700 Woodland Ave. 78741
and
MINUTES
Only members may vote. As an officer, you should be a member. Please confirm by emailing membership@srccatx.org. And please register 24 hours in advance.
1. 7:00 SRCC Welcomes Dist. 9 Council Member Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, Chief of Staff Sara Barge
And welcome to our members and guests. Verification of quorum. Reminder: please state your name when presenting or seconding a motion.
Presenter throughout unless otherwise noted: Wendy Price Todd, SRCC President (10 min)
The chair called the meeting to order at 7:03.
Members of the SRCC Executive Committee and others introduced themselves.
CM Quadri recapped some highlights: during the ice storm his team fielded calls and did some house visits, they have been working with the interim city manager, and are working on the police contract. It has been noted that there have been several people who have walked home from the Rainey Street District and fallen in the lake and drowned. In order to reduce this likelihood, the City will be putting up temporary lighting and barricades prior to SXSW. Zo asked that everyone reach out to his office with any questions or comments, and stated that they return every call and email. There is a link to sign up for the District 9 newsletter on the City’s website.
https://www.austintexas.gov/department/district-9
Chief of Staff Barge introduced themselves. She was previously Chief of Staff for another council member, and had previously lived in Hyde Park.
It was suggested that SRCC hold a town hall meeting with both the D9 and D3 Council Members.
For general constituent concerns you can send an email to the appropriate staff member – on the District 9 website (link above) they show each staff member’s area of responsibility and their email contact.
2. 7:10 Membership report & voting
Members must pay dues to participate in SRCC business and actions, such as voting and making motions. Try the subscription option for automatic annual renewals. (5 min)
3. 7:15 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Approve minutes. (5 min)
Betty Weed/Sarah Campbell moved to approve the February 7, 2023 EC minutes. No comments or corrections were proposed, minutes were approved as posted.
Upcoming meeting dates GM Apr 18, May 16, Jun 20, Aug 15, Sept 19, Oct 17, Nov 21
EC Apr 4, May 2, Jun 6, Aug 1, Sept 5, Oct 3, Dec 5
4. 7:20 Treasurer’s Report
All reports available upon request: treasurer@srccatx.org
Presenter: Will Andrews, Treasurer (5 min)
A little money came in during February, most in dues; there were no expenses this month.
5. 7:25 Standing Committee updates re: events/goals/issues
Presented by Committee Chairs: 1) Planning & Zoning; 2) Historic Preservation; 3) Finance; 4) Mobility; 5) Public Safety; 6) Parks & Environment; 7) Schools; and 8) Communications (10 min)
- Planning & Zoning. Nothing to report.
- Historic Preservation. At the last Historic Landmark Commission meeting, 1804 Brackenridge was on the agenda and was approved for demolition and new construction, despite opposition. 1315 Newning, 1317 Newning demolition, and 512 E. Monroe have been on the agenda for many months, but continue being postponed by the owner.
Anyone who is interested in helping on the committee, contact Susan (skasusan@gmail.com). - Finance. Nothing to report.
- Mobility. The South Congress PTMD update is that operational guidelines have been added to the reporting, as have parking statistics. There was a question about adding a street to the PTMD – it was suggested to contact mobility@srccatx.org to coordinate. There will be a vote at either the April or May general membership meeting of whether to support the PTMD.
There is a Cap Metro open house on March 21st at Central Library.
Tonight is the deadline for public feedback on the I-35 plan. - Public Safety. Nothing to report.
- Parks & Environment. There was a successful Blunn Creek Nature Preserve event on Saturday; there were about 20 people, pulling invasives and planting natives, and they had a good time. It was suggested that if you have not yet been, it would be a good experience to go to the preserve and visit.
There is a pending senate bill (SB 558: https://legiscan.com/TX/text/SB558/id/2659622) that would undercut the parkland dedication programs that the larger cities in TX have; the City is organizing people to oppose this initiative – contact president@srccatx.org for details. - Schools. Truancy is an issue at Lively Middle School, and hopefully the bond money will help provide fencing. AISD started a hiring freeze, even though Lively doesn’t have enough security folks on staff.
There is a Superintendent search right now and there’s a window where the public can provide input about important qualities in a Superintendent (there is a survey on the AISD website). They are also taking feedback on the budget for next year.
The PTA at Travis Heights Elementary School is looking for personal hygiene products – collecting Mar 27 -29 at the school. - Communications. Still taking articles for the April newsletter – need some ASAP. The previous deadline was March 8th, but it has been extended.
6. 7:35 Additional Updates from Representatives and Coordinators
9) GSRC NPCT; 10) EROC; 11) NPCT; 12) ANC; 13) SCC; 14) South Central Waterfront; 15) St. Ed’s; 16) S. Central Affordable CDC (10 min)
14) South Central Waterfront. SRCC has a rep to the South Central Waterfront Advisory Board. The Statesman tract has been approved for a PUD, and they need to do outreach to gauge public interest in the different amenities of the park space that was included. There is a survey online about some of the options, but there’s not much clarity about what the options are. A link to the survey (available through 3/31/2023) is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/305SC_Parkland.
BUSINESS AGENDA ITEMS
7. 7:45 Discussion of e-TODs
Discussion of eTODs (equitable Transit-Oriented Development). City Council through CM Harper-Madison proposed that the council vote in a few weeks to change zoning codes by creating over a hundred of these eTODs throughout the city. A traditional TOD is basically a circle drawn on a map around a public transit stop. All land–especially residential land–in the radius out from the center is up zoned to allow far greater density.
Here are links from the city with their current proposals:
Presentation from this week: https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=403200
Draft proposal: https://publicinput.com/Customer/File/Full/1fab5d05-6f47-4373-b71f-8ae0f9f64320
Here’s an early response from Communities Not Commodities. Also contains links.
Speaker: Betty Weed, SRCC Communications Chair (10 min)
There were presentations on this at the City’s Mobility Committee. It is intended to work with transit to provide additional housing.
This is related to transit oriented development, and adding in an equity factor. Betty attended a meeting related to Project Connect, to elicit local folks’ opinions about what they wanted at transit centers. Each stop is expected to have a transit oriented development at them (approximately 150, whereas initially there was intended to be about 9). This is a ½ mile radius around a stop where more intense development will be allowed. There is a density gradient outward from the location of the stop. The impact to zoning was unclear. The initial response in the meeting was that there was no zoning impact, but there was initially concern that this would be rushed through and passed on March 23rd, though it has since been delayed. It was suggested that neighborhoods that had a large part of the neighborhood located within the e-TOD, should have a seat at the table to be able to influence these discussions. In some other cities the TODs are very large and sparingly used, not a continuous area.
A city planner confirmed that there is not a land use change directly attached to the TOD. If Council votes in favor it will allow analysis and work on changes to the LDC. This would then follow the standard land code change process.
8. 7:55 Vote to Support City Council’s I-35 Project Adjustments
Executive Committee to recommend to general membership that SRCC adopt and support City Council’s February 23 vote to adjust I-35 Capital Express Central Project. City officials are requesting the following changes to TxDOT’s proposed plan:
- Adding full east-west crossings for cars, bikes and pedestrians every quarter-mile of the project, adding the project boundary “should not have any span between full east-west crossings greater than 1/2 mile”
- Lowering and covering “as much of United States Interstate Highway 35 as possible” through the construction of caps or land above highways that can host green space or other community features. The measure requests the caps be used to “maximize value to the public, including making new land available for development”
- TxDOT should ensure the design and construction of the project do not prevent additional caps and east-west crossings from being added in the future
- Calls for TxDOT, the Austin Transportation Department and other city departments to work on reducing the “environmental, traffic, and safety impacts” of the proposed projects, adding frontage roads and east-west crossings should both prioritize service to local streets
- Demands minimizing the number of properties, businesses and residents displaced through eminent domain measures
- Incentivizing 18-wheeler traffic to reroute from I-35 to State Highway 130 due to “congestion, air quality, and road safety” concerns affiliated with them
Presenter: Mark Thompson SRCC Mobility Chair (15 min) [VOTE]
Tonight is the deadline for comments on the I-35 plan. People should make their own personal comments, but wanted to see if SRCC wanted to take a position.
Motion (Gretchen Otto/ David Todd): SRCC Executive Committee to recommend to the general membership that SRCC endorse City Council’s February letter to TXDoT. SRCC to also send a letter and provide comment that the SRCC Executive Committee supports the letter’s position. For 9 (in person), against 0, abstain 1; motion passes.
9. 8:10 GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
The general consensus is that communication via the listserve is a good way to reach people about upcoming hot button issues.
In the past SRCC had restricted the election meeting to only the potluck and the election, and tried to minimize other business. Since the April elections meeting will be via Zoom, then we will also do regular business.
Meeting adjourned at 8:16pm.
SRCC’s NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH program is always looking for more participants. Anyone interested should contact Tom Groce, SRCC Public Safety Chair at tgroce71@gmail.com.
This link will take you to information about subscribing, unsubscribing, and posting a message to the neighborhood ListServe: https://groups.io/g/SouthRiverAustin
The next General Membership meeting is April 18, 2023.
The next Executive Committee meeting is April 4, 2023.
Frequently used acronyms:
ACF: Austin Community Fund
ANC: Austin Neighborhood Council (https://www.atxanc.org/)
BoA: Board of Adjustment
CDC: Community Development Corporation
EROC: East Riverside/Oltorf Combined Contact Team
FLUM: Future Land Use Map
GSRC NPCT: Greater South River City Neighborhood Planning Contact Team
NCCD: Neighborhood Conservation Combining District
NHPA: National Historic Preservation Act
NPCT: Neighborhood Planning Contact Team
PC: Planning Commission
PUD: Planned Unit Development
SCC: South Central Coalition of neighborhood associations
SF: Single Family zoning category
ZAP: Zoning and Platting
Agenda Prepared by Noah Balch, vicepresident@srccatx.org Agenda subject to change. Please check www.srccatx.org for the most updated version.
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