SRCC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
TUESDAY, May 3, 2022 @ 7:00 PM
Zoom Teleconference
MINUTES
Only members may vote. As an officer, you should be a member. Please confirm by emailing membership@srccatx.org, and we’ll confirm.
1. 7:00 Executive Meeting Welcome
Presenter throughout unless otherwise indicated: Wendy Todd, President (5 min)
The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm.
2. 7:05 Membership report & voting
Reminder that SRCC current dues status is required to participate in SRCC business and actions such as voting and making motions. (5 min)
3. 7:10 April 2022 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Approve minutes. (5 min)
Motion to approve by Mary Friedman/Dan Fredine. No comments or corrections were made – approved as posted.
Remaining meeting dates in 2022: GM May 17; EC Jun 7; GM Jun 21; EC Aug 2; GM Aug 16; EC Sept 6; GM Sept 20; EC Oct 4; GM Oct 18; GM Nov 15; EC Dec 6
4. 7:15 Treasurer’s Report
All reports available upon request to the Treasurer: treasurer@srccatx.org
Presenter: Will Andrews, Treasurer (5 min)
For the year to date through the end of April income is greater than expenses, and the expenses included the printing of the newsletter.
5. 7:20 Standing Committee updates re: events/goals/issues
Presenters: Committee Chairs, including 1) Planning and Zoning; 2) Historic Preservation; 3) Finance; 4) Mobility; 5) Public Safety; 6) Parks and Environment; 7) Schools; and 8) Communications (10 min)
1) Planning and Zoning; working on the upcoming VMU-2. The Statesman PUD appears to be in good hands; Council is working on the affordable housing aspects and reviewing the financial calculations.
2) Historic Preservation; no report.
3) Finance; no report. There was discussion about the possibility of offering discounted or free 1st year membership for new members.
4) Mobility; it was reported that there was a presentation about the Blue Line bridge that had 2 options, one including a bus lane. The video of the presentation is available online at https://publicinput.com/66701.
5) Public Safety; no report.
6) Parks and Environment; no report.
7) Schools; no report.
8) Communications; nothing new on the website upgrades. A group will be meeting about outreach and communication, including the website, social media, and newsletter. The newsletter has gone out to all but Area 7; Sarah Campbell has someone who will do the north half; Rachel McClure will do the south half.
6. 7:30 Additional Updates from Representatives and Coordinators
9) Norwood; 10) GSRC NPCT; 11) EROC, NPCT; 12) ANC; 13) SCC; 14) South Central Waterfront; 15) St. Edward’s; 16) S. Central Affordable CDC; and 17) Ad-hoc Land Development Code Revision (10 min)
9) Norwood; no report.
10) GSRC NPCT; no report.
11) EROC NPCT; Malcolm will give an update on the Parker Ln NPA later in meeting
12) ANC; met April 27th. Travis Central Appraisal District presented; link on TCAD website on how to appeal your market valuation, without going through a hearing. There was talk about VMU-2, and how it will potentially allow an additional 30’ to developments throughout the City. ANC is trying to re-establish a monthly meeting with the mayor. There is discussion about reinstituting the Council voter tracking (Malcolm can share this presentation).
13) SCC; no report.
14) South Central Waterfront; SRCC is currently unrepresented, though the new representative has been elected and is coming up to speed.
15) St. Edward’s; no report.
16) S. Central Affordable CDC; no report.
17) Ad-hoc Land Development Code Revision; no report.
NEW BUSINESS
7. 7:40 Confirmation of SRCC Standing Committee Chairs.
Vote to confirm all standing committee chairs for the upcoming term, including:
Planning and Zoning: Sarah Campbell
Historic Preservation: Paula Kothmann
Finance: Sam Martin, Will Andrews
Mobility: Mark Thompson
Public Safety: Tom Groce
Parks and Environment: David Todd
Schools: Gretchen Otto
Communications: Betty Weed
Presenter: Dan Fredine, SRCC Secretary [VOTE EXPECTED] (10 min)
The list was amended to be as shown above. The proposed chairs were elected by acclamation.
8. 7:50 1406-1506 Parker Lane
Postponement of Planning Commision vote until May 24, 2022 to provide additional time to discuss drainage issue.
Presenter: Malcolm Yeatts (5 min)
The neighborhood is not opposed to the density being proposed by this development, but it is concerned with the flooding issues, which has been an ongoing issue. The neighborhood has been coordinating with Watershed Protection Department: they suggested that the neighborhood work with the developer during site plan to address drainage (though there’s not a guarantee that the developer would), or the City will partner with the developer to address the storm drain infrastructure for the whole area (though there is not currently City funding available).
The neighborhood has a valid petition opposing this rezoning. This has been postponed until May 24th at Planning Commission, to allow the developer to come up with a drainage solution. There was a previous lawsuit against the City to force the City to address drainage issues.
It was suggested that one option would be for SRCC to enter into a restrictive covenant with the developer on this project, similar to what is being done for Manlove. It might also be possible for residents of Elmhurst to enter into a private restrictive covenant.
It was asked if the homeowners on Elmhurst were SRCC members; there is a family that is a member.
When the SRCC previously negotiated public and private restrictive covenants for the Music Lane and Hotel Magdalena, those were larger projects where the developer paid for the neighborhood’s legal fees, and they resulted in public restrictive covenants which include the City as a party. On the private restrictive covenant, the developer typically has to be bonded.
One member had a question about how a restrictive covenant would apply in this situation. The City had previously indicated that the problem was larger than a local retention pond, so this would not be something that the developer could address.
EROC has voted to oppose this rezoning (as has SRCC), and a letter was sent to Planning Commission as backup.
9. 7:55 It’s a Celebration
Discuss celebrating birthdays for Big Stacy Pool (85), SRCC (50), and Kaboom (20).
Presenters: Jeff Kessel and David Todd, SRCC Parks and Environment (5 min)
This year marks the 85th anniversary of Big Stacy Pool, and a celebration is being organized by District 9 Parks and Recreation Department Board Member and Chair Laura Sajbel and sponsored by SRCC. This year also marks the little Stacy Playground celebrating 20 years, and SRCC’s 50th anniversary. We might want to do a celebration at Little Stacy to celebrate all 3 of these, perhaps on the 4th of July. It would probably be a relatively small event, and Tovo’s office may provide some refreshments. Another option for timing would be after the next SRCC newsletter is distributed (where we could put out announcements) when the weather is better.
We may want to form an ad-hoc committee – contact WHO WAS GOING TO BE THE CONTACT PERSON FOR THIS EFFORT?
10. 8:00 Affordable Housing Code Discussion
Discuss VMU2, a proposed 2nd version of the “vertical mixed use” program, and possible action concerning affordable housing along transit corridors.
Presenter: Russ Fraser, SRCC Area 2 Coordinator [possible VOTE] (10 min)
In SRCC this only affects Congress Ave and Riverside Drive. There exist some sites that could be developed by mixed use, but it has not happened, and the thinking is that if developers were given additional entitlements, it may help allow development (and potentially affordable housing). There’s a concern that we would not actually get affordable housing, and there would be issues with compatibility standards with the neighboring homes. ANC is very suspicious of this proposal and is opposed.
CM Tovo’s staff is holding a meeting to discuss compatibility standards, specifically in response to VMU-2. Some CM’s have suggested getting rid of compatibility standards altogether. Russell and Sarah are planning to attend. The Mayor has set a May 17th deadline for discussion.
There has been a long tradition of paying fee-in-lieu of providing affordable housing, and this has resulted in no affordable housing actually being constructed. Once the developments need to actually include affordable housing units in their projects, and it starts happening, there may be more support from the neighborhood for these types of entitlements.
It was also suggested that we require higher % of affordable on-site housing, and at a lower MFI % on the units.
It was suggested that additional discussion on this item be on the agenda for the May GM.
11. 8:10 1100 Manlove
Discuss Use Restrictions and Compromise Agreement.
Presenters: Gayle Goff and Noah Balch (10 min)
The main points that were discussed were that this restrictive covenant agreement becomes effective as soon as the application is approved; the agreement has 3 main points (cannot ask for commercial zoning for the front of the house for 50 years, can’t access the property for commercial use, must build hedges or screening in the back to shield the adjacent residents from the commercial uses). The developer’s agent has proposed a letter for SRCC to send; SRCC will send a letter of support which is considered acceptable to the agent.
The proposed language in the letter for SRCC was unconditional, whereas the developer’s language was conditional. This will be resolved.
The agreement from the developer’s agent puts the onus on SRCC to discover any violations. As written it allows for a limited time of notice after a violation occurs. SRCC has 90 days to notice the default, and SRCC has 90 days to notify the developer. This limited timeframe is a concern, and we may want to lengthen or remove it.
Noah Balch suggested that in the future SRCC could be taken on by Noah’s law firm as a pro-bono client for similar cases.
As the SRCC General Membership should vote on becoming party to this agreement, a postponement will be needed from the current Council date of May 5th. May 17th is the next SRCC GM meeting, and the following Council meeting is on May 19th, so that would give an opportunity for the details to get worked out, and for SRCC to vote formally, then SRCC will send the formal letter.
12. 8:20 Signs and Slogans
Quick update regarding signs, placement, and slogans
Get Involved! // Meet Your Neighbors // There Goes the Neighborhood…Association
Presenter: Mary Janecek-Friedman, SRCC Membership Secretary (5 min)
These issues will be discussed at the upcoming communications meeting. We want to share with potential members that the value of being a member of SRCC is to actually know what’s going on and issues that are coming up that will affect the neighborhood. We may want to coordinate with some of the vendors on South Congress to put up some SRCC signs. If we get an estimate for the cost of the signs, then the Finance Committee will review and make a recommendation to the GM for approval at the May 17th GM.
13. 8:25 Zilker Rewilding in Context
Stitch, Edges, and Regenerate; and how Rewilding fits into the City’s Zilker Park Vision Plan.
Presenter: Noah Balch, SRCC Vice President (5 min)
The Regenerate option proposed by the City is the closest to the Rewilding proposal. Could SRCC support one of the City’s options (unless they will consider Rewilding as a 4th option)? Then maybe try and work Rewilding into the selected alternative. Betty’s understanding is that the Rewilding proposal is to push the City towards an option that provides more shade, deals with erosion and the landfill, and integrates some of the other areas of the park into the overall plan.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:35.
8:30 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!
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 General Membership meeting is May 17, 2022.
The next SRCC Executive Committee meeting is June 7, 2022.
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 most updated version.
