SRCC General Meeting Minutes — December 2017

Posted on January 24, 2018 by Secretary

SRCC GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING  – MINUTES
Monday, December 4, 2017     7:15  PM
LIFE IN THE CITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
(formerly Grace UMC)
205 E. MONROE, AUSTIN, TEXAS



CALL TO ORDER/APPROVAL OF MINUTES

  •  7:15  Meeting procedures, 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: Gretchen Otto, SRCC President, unless otherwise noted. (10 min)

Meeting called to order at 7:22 pm.  Jeff Brodnax on St. Edwards Drive (since 2014) introduced himself.

  1.  7:25 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 at the meeting and be eligible to vote.     (2 min)

Gretchen reviewed these rules.

  1.  7:27  Approve minutes from November 6, 2017 monthly general meeting (available at www.srccatx.org). (3 min)

MOTION: Betty Weed/Mike Kelly – to approve the minutes from the Nov. 6th, 2017, meeting = PASSED 18 for, 0 against, 2 abstain

  1.  7:30  Treasurer’s Report – see attachment to agenda distributed at the meeting; all reports are available upon request to the Treasurer.   Presenter: Nancy Byrd, Treasurer (5 min)

Nancy Byrd shared the November Treasurer’s Report.  Nancy’s term will be up in March, so we are looking for a new treasurer.

  1.  7:35  Committee Chairs reports

1) Planning and Zoning; 2) Historic Preservation; 3) Finance; 4) Mobility; 5) Public Safety–see item below;  6) Parks and Environment; 7) Schools; 8) Communications (chair needed); 9)Executive Committee; 10) CodeNEXT ad hoc committee–see item below

Representatives: 11) ANC*; 12) SCC*; 13) South Central Waterfront; 14) St. Edward’s (10 min)

Historic Preservation Committee – regarding the project of achieving National Register Historic District status for Travis Heights area: Gretchen reported that that the process is ongoing and the committee is working on writing a grant.

Schools Committee —Mary Friedman and Gretchen shared that Travis Heights Elementary has a Tamalada this Wednesday between 3 and 6 pm.  On Saturday, Dec. 9th, they are also having a Cultural Fest between 10-12.  All neighbors are invited.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Tom was not present.  Gretchen shared that the City has delayed the process, as we were hoping.  The SRCC CodeNEXT ad hoc committee was relieved to have more time.  Greg Guernsey had reported to the SRCC Committee was planning to get the draft to the City by February. Gretchen shared that she generally has not received responses from the City staff.  There is a petition asking for the passage of CodeNEXT up to a vote of the citizens.  Having enough signatures on the petition would delay the passage of CodeNext (after Council approval) for an election of the citizens of Austin.

A member of SRCC stated that she did not approve supporting the petition because the election that approved the plan was already voted upon and that we should rely on the council as our elected representatives to act in our interest and on our behalf.  Cynthia shared that she felt that CodeNEXT did not follow the plan and that what is out directly impacts SRCC directly, so she would like to support the petition.

MOTION: Cynthia Milne/Jeff Kessell –  motion to support the petition to put CodeNEXT up to citizen election = 14 for, 4 against, 3 abstaining

  1.  7:55  Update on Little Stacy Park improvements project.  Presenter: Brendan Wittstruck – Senior Associate Designer, asakura robinson, 512.351.9601, brendan@asakurarobinson.com       (10 min + 5 min Q&A)

Representative from City Parks & Rec reported on progress at Little Stacey.  He reported that these improvements should have started already, but that improvements will be better than originally reported.  Several means of feedback from park users have been sought to determine need.

  • Comprehensive sidewalk improvement (removing tar and installing ADA approved design with cement)
  • Series of Rain Gardens, each backed up by a culvert, piping the water underneath Sunset Lane and directly into the creek.  The rain garden will is a depression with gravel and plantings.  Each concrete culvert will be covered by a 2 ft x 2 ft. metal grate.  There will be approximately 8 culverts.
  • Electrical upgrades will occur as sidewalk is being improved.
  • Shelter House is in the pipeline for more funds to improvements in the future.  Right now, only improvements would be to make ADA accessible.
  • Improvements to the pool fence and repairs to a piece of playground commitment has already occurred, with further improvements for playground commitment are occurring very soon.
  • Arts in Public Spaces will be seeking input from the community in the future.
  • Sunset Lane will be removed and replaced by a pedestrian/cyclists path.  (This will reduce the amount of parking for the park.  Accessible parking will be installed by the bridge.
  • Installation will be 2 or 3 Burr Oaks, and understory plantings will be Mountain Laurel, and lower plantings will be native grasses.  (All for Little Stacey area near the tennis courts).
  • Construction for rain gardens, drainage culverts, sidewalk replacement/upgrade, electrical work, ADA accessibility to Shelter house, and playground improvements to start early spring and completed in 6  months.
  • Due to delays, more funds have been found, raising the funds from $2M  to $7 M {should be 200K to 700k??}.  More information, including a site plan are available online.
  1.  8:10  Update on SRCC ad-hoc nominating committee, formed to identify and make recommendations for candidates in the SRCC 2018 officer elections; open positions include President and Treasurer. Members of the nominating committee will be confirmed via vote if there are enough volunteers thus far. VOTE POSSIBLE.  Presenter: Gretchen Otto (10 min)

Gretchen shared the timeline for replacement for treasurer and president.  Two volunteers, Carol Martin and Elloa Matthews have stepped forward to be on the nominating committee.  Anyone else interested in joining the committee or nominate anyone to become replacement officers can let Gretchen know or attend Executive Committee know at January Meeting. [Since the meeting, two more volunteers have joined the committee.]

MOTION: Jeff /Cynthia Milne – to form the nominating committee  23  for, 0 against, 0 abstaining

NEW BUSINESS

  •  8:20  Staff from Austin Transportation Department to present an update of the St. Eds Drive Traffic Calming project and on the overall traffic calming program.  Presenters/Guests: Anna Martin, anna.martin@austintexas.gov &  Mario Porras, mario.porras@austintexas.gov, Austin Transportation Department     (10 min + 10 min Q&A)

Update on St. Edwards Drive.  Two representatives from the City of Austin Transportation Department discussed the process for traffic calming initiatives.  St. Edwards Drive was surveyed in 2014 and speeding is an apparent problem.  Asphalt humps, concrete medians are the typical traffic calming measures.  Funding ran out through 2014-2015.  The department looked at less expensive alternatives.  Pre-fabricated rubber cushions cost 1/3 of cement.  After two speed studies in the area looked at both St. Edwards Drive and the neighborhood a proposal was developed:

  • 3 speed cushions at the entrances to the neighborhood—location would be along ST. Edwards Drive between I-35 and East Side Drive.
  • 2 Pedestrian rescue islands or speed cushions (undecided yet) at other locations.
  • Timeline looks like January for 3 speed cushions.
  • Elloa pointed out that 18-wheelers will be going over the speed cushions, making a lot of noise for neighbors while construction is occurring on St. Edwards University.
  • David shared that signs regarding speed limit and curve warning for west-bound traffic are no longer up.
  • Betty Weed suggested moving forward with 3 sets of speed cushions, and then meeting with neighbors to discuss other part of the installation.  Gretchen suggested to the city reps that another meeting with effected neighbors occur to gather information about what might work best.  She introduced Elloa to the city rep.
  • Sidewalks will be installed on the St. Edwards side.

Another neighbor asked about sidewalk installation on Monroe.  All upcoming sidewalk work (for the next 4 years) is available online.

  1.  8:40 Discussion about restart of the SRCC Neighborhood Watch program and confirmation of Thomas Groce as Chair of the Public Safety committee. VOTE EXPECTED. Presenters: Gretchen Otto and Thomas Groce, Proposed Public Safety Chair, tgroce@utsystem.edu (10  min)

Tom Groce stepped forward to take on chairing the SRCC Neighborhood Watch program.  Gretchen shared that Sam & Carol Martin have gone through the training previously and introduced them to Tom.  Tom shared that he has 5 volunteers committed already.  APD is willing to come to our location for the training if there are 10 volunteers or more who want to be trained.  Gretchen reported that visibility of Neighborhood Watch can be a preventative, even if no crime is witnessed by the watch.

MOTION: Oliver Caruso/ Paul Ksiazek – to confirm Tom as chair of Public Safety Committee 20 for, 0 against, 0 abstaining

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Austin Monitor discount: SRCC16 for 20% off subscription
  • Account reconciliation, Profit & Loss and Balance reports available upon request from treasurer@srccatx.org or financecommittee@srccatx.org*Frequently used acronyms: ACF: Austin Community Fund; ANC: Austin Neighborhood Council; 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; SCC: South Central Coalition of NAsMinutes  Prepared by Mary Friedman, secretary@srccatx.org
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