SRCC General Membership Meeting Minutes – 5/2/2011

SRCC General Membership Meeting Minutes – 5/2/2011

1. room arrangement, meeting procedures, etiquette, welcome newcomers. presenter throughout: sarah campbell, president, unless otherwise noted.

2. membership and voting announcements. presenter: carol martin, membership chair.

3. approve minutes from april 4, 2010, annual meeting.

MOTION: wolf/jean – to approve the minutes = PASSED

4. city case # C15-2011-0027 at 801 avondale – owners of existing house with inherited numerous setback infringements propose to remedy some in exchange for additional. presenters: teresa griffin and jean mather, co-chairs, planning and zoning committee.
the home sits on a triangular lot with a cliff area and the owners are wanting to expand further into the setback.

MOTION: teresa/jean – to oppose the variance request = PASSED

5. ad hoc communications committee to be considered for permanent SRCC comittee. presenter: carol martin, chair, ad hoc communications committee.
the ad hoc committee has met for two years formulating a plan on how to expand and increase communication tools available to the SRCC with the goals that include increasing membership, empowering residents to participate and sharing the task of gathering and sharing information. the committee has taken on issues involving archiving past SRCC data, producing the newsletter, maintaining membership records and expanding tools.

MOTION: sarah/teresa – to create a permanent communications committee = PASSED

MOTION: sarah/toni – to nominate carol martin as the committee chair = PASSED

6. city case # C15-2011-0045 at 1100 reagan terrace. applicant wants variances from land development code provision that, for a two family residential use, the secondary residence must be located at least 15′ behind the principle residence. the property currently has one single-family residence that would be remodeled into two residences. presenters: teresa griffin and jean mather, co-chairs, planning and zoning committee.
this is an existing single family home on an 8,800sq/ft lot with a tree growing through the middle of the house. the owner is proposing to clear the structure away from the tree and divide the house into two dwellings with the rear structure (1,800sq/ft) being larger than the front (900sq/ft), which is not allowed. the other variance is for the back dwelling to exceed 850sq/ft in size which is a side effect of the first variance. the owner’s goal is to eventually sell the separate units as individual condos.

MOTION: teresa/jean – to support both variance requests = PASSED

6a. announcements from the finance committee. presenter: sam martin, chair.
the SRCC 2010 irs forms have been filed along with the franchise tax forms. we are lacking the sale tax filing for the tshirt sales but a sales tax exemption form has been filed. our new treasurer, John Foote, has turned in the first quarter financial report.

7. new SRCC website presentation and launch. presenters: marc davis, vice president, carol martin, chair. communication committee.
marc shared a presentation with the meeting about the new www.SRCCATX.org website. features include a calendar of events, a blog-style news update, officers, contact form, links to the yahoo listserv, twitter and facebook, useful resources links, upcoming events, news organized by category and all of it is fully searchable. the executive committee and committee chairs can all contribute news and information directly to the website. there are many other features and tweaks in the works but this is the start. please take a moment to visit the new website and submit feedback, suggestions and comments through the online form.

8. new green home at 1519 alameda. presenter: beverly donaghue, owner.
beverly and her husband have lived in this home since 1983 where they raised their two children. the original home is under 800sq/ft and after careful consideration they have decided to build their dream home which happens to utilize nearly every green building technique and certification in the book. the details of this home are too many to mention in this meeting update but the new home promises to be a shining example of the reduce/reuse/recycle mantra. construction has not yet started as they are still finalizing the details but they are very excited about this and wanted to share their experience with the membership. please contact them for more details.

9. problems for neighbors close to south congress. presenter: matt lynaugh, resident and member.
a. the city requested a committee work out the language for the parking benefits districts which would be applied to the affected areas and those areas would receive 30% of the net revenue generated from parking meters, 30% would go to the businesses affected and the remainder to the city.
b. the south congress avenue task force was created to study neighborhood and merchant parking issues and is headed by gary shatz.
c. the south congress improvement project (SCIP) is considering plans to install parking meters from academy to leland along with reverse angle parking, bike lanes/sharrows and curb changes for pedestrian safety.
d. has anyone noticed how often our city and specifically our area is affected by large events? if you have any ideas on what to do to remedy the affect of these events, please contact matt.

10. announcements and updates:
a. norwood house – consultants met april 20th and with produce a recommendation soon. next meeting is may 17th at 6pm at the mexican american center. a meeting with the off-leash advisor and dog park proponents to discuss the citywide issue of a lack of off-leash dog parks with the possibility of having more parks but with paid admission like barton springs, maybe a dollar? other ideas for the property have included a possible light rail stop or lake boardwalk trailhead.
b. EROC – the most current regulatory plan will presented in mid-june at a public meeting and then on to city council in october. the plan will detail how the zoning changes will be implemented in the newly designated transit corridor. affected parties within 500ft will receive a notice.
c. pepper’s bistro – has requested a conditional use permit at 1926 east riverside to change zoning from cs-1 to cocktail lounge liquor sales. this request goes to planning commission on the 10th.

MOTION: toni/fred – to support the EROC contact team position = PASSED

d. pocket park – the proposed pocket park positioned potentially at parker and wind oak will soon have a new appraisal completed that should help move forward the process of permanently passing this proposal.
e. save town lake – has reorganized and is looking to take on 1 or 3 new members.  Contact Dennis Cudd at denniscudd@gmail.com if you are interested.

f. newsletter – articles are due by mid-may.