SRCC GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING (www.srccatx.org)
Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 7:00 PM
Zoom Meeting
MINUTES
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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. Please see acronyms below.
Presenter throughout: Gretchen Otto, Former SRCC President, unless otherwise noted. (8 min)
The chair called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm.
A handful of new people introduced themselves.
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 to be eligible to vote. Contact membership@srccatx.org to renew. (2 min)
3. 7:10 Treasurer’s Report. All reports available upon request to the Treasurer: treasurer@srccatx.org
Presenter: Will Andrews, Treasurer. (5 min)
The Treasurer’s Report was shared for all of 2021. There was a net positive income for the year, and the SRCC general fund balance was shared.
4. 7:15 Reports of Committee Chairs
1) Planning and Zoning; 2) Historic Preservation; 3) Finance; 4) Mobility; 5) Public Safety; 6) Parks and Environment; 7) Schools; 8) Communications. (10 min)
Reports of Ad Hoc Committees & Representatives:
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; 17) Land Development Code Ad Hoc committee. (10 min)
- Planning & Zoning – Working on a pool variance at 1414 Alameda, and the Tiger Bar on SOCO may have issues with their liquor license. Have been working on the Statesman PUD. Two members have left the committee, and the committee could use 2 or 3 more members. Also, Russell would like to find a replacement as P&Z chair.
- Historic Preservation – The neighborhood historic district (approved Spet 2021) had a couple of meetings. There are potential tax benefits of improvements inside the district.
- Finance – Nothing to report
- Mobility – The City is seeking input to ATX walk bike roll (where to add sidewalks, better bike mobility – https://www.austintexas.gov/department/atx-walk-bike-roll), through March 6. Also, I-35 there is a survey on the cap and stitch proposal, and TXDoT will have an announcement on Jan 25th.
- Public Safety – [Provided after the meeting] A. Tom is patrolling on his own and still looking for volunteers to patrol our neighborhood association, and he has extra signs for vehicles. B. Crime in our SRCC area is on the uptick, and per Nextdoor Neighborhood individual reports and KRIMELABB which reports all the crimes reported to the police. Many car break ins and car thefts, some home burglaries, lots of porch thefts – both packages and other items of value left on porches such as bicycles, plants, etc. Big new one is theft of license plates off of vehicles; had one instance of 10 vehicles robbed of their plate a week or so ago off of Parker lane.
- Parks and Environment – The trail that wraps around Little Stacy Park is now open, and it is nice! Provide any feedback to David Todd.
- Schools – COVID Cases are up in the schools, with a lot of teachers out sick, which is making it difficult.
- Communications – Nothing to report
- Norwood – The site permits and construction documents are in place. The PARD PM and construction company are negotiating, and hope construction will begin in the spring. It was noted that Claudette Lowe had originally arranged for the sale of this property to the City of Austin.
- GRSC NPCT – See later item
- EROC NPCT – See later item
- ANC – There was no ANC meeting in December – nothing new to report
- SCC – The main topic of the last meeting included a vote about the Zilker Vision Plan that includes the rewilding of Zilker Park.
- South Central Waterfront – [provided after the meeting] A. Last in person meeting was in October, when the SCWAB voted to move forward with City staff recommendation to do the project, subject to multiple considerations as discussed by Russel Fraser in this meeting, such as the TIRZ, bats, affordable housing and environmental concerns, etc. B. The November meeting was canceled for lack of quorum, the December meeting only covered administrative issues (December 20), and January’s meeting (scheduled for the same time as our GM meeting) was also canceled, lack of quorum and it made sense to wait until February since the City Council working group on the TIRZ establishment in December pushed further discussion on the TIRZ to a February working group meeting. C. The February meeting is set for February 22 at 6:00 pm at Austin Energy Headquarters at 4815 Mueller Blvd. in the Mueller district. Note that this is potentially a Hybrid meeting, City Council amended its ordinance to allow remote participation in Boards and Commissions meetings through WEBEX subject to a long list of provisos and exceptions, as detailed in the notice of Hybrid meeting sent out by the City on City email. D. Most importantly, we still need a new SRCC rep to the SCWAB, I am withdrawing from that duty, cannot attend the meetings and the sooner we get someone to take my place we can make a quick transition. If the February 22 meeting of SCWAB is done as a Hybrid Meeting, it should be available to watch for anyone interested by going through the CIty WEBEX sign up procedure.
- St Ed.’s – Nothing to report
- South Central Affordable CDC – Nothing to report
- Land Development Code Ad Hoc committee – There was a lawsuit in March 2020 ruling that property owners would be able to protest upzoning of their neighbors. Appeal was heard in November, but not sure if a decision was reached. There are a lot of projects that include upzoing, even though the LDC rewrite hasn’t passed yet.
5. 7:35 Approve minutes from the November 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 (Spring 2022 may return to Good Shepherd on the Hill). (5 min)
Upcoming Meeting dates in 2022: EC Feb 1; GM Feb 15; EC Mar 1; EC Apr 5; GM Apr 19; EC May 3; GM May 17; EC Jun 7; GM Jun 21; GM; EC Aug 2; GM Aug 16; EC Sept 6; GM Sept 20; EC Oct 4; GM Oct 18; GM Nov 15; EC Dec 6
No corrections or additions were noted – minutes were approved as published.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None.
NEW BUSINESS
6. 7:40 EROC and SRCC
- EROC has requested that SRCC write a letter of support opposing FLUM change for 1406, 1408, 1504 and 1506 Parker Lane because of potential flooding risk
- Provide overview of EROC and areas of overlap with SRCC
Presenters/Guests: Malcolm Yeatts and Rachel McClure (Area 6 Representative). (15 min)
- Question about whether a developer can develop a property that would increase the flooding in adjacent properties without recourse. The developer is requesting a neighborhood plan amendment and zoning change to go from SF-3 to MF-2 and increase impervious cover, at these properties that are within the SRCC area. These properties are currently flooding adjacent properties on Elmhurst. This case has come up previously but was denied.
- This will be deferred until next month due to time constraints
Motion: (Fred DeWorken/Paula Kothmann) SRCC to write a letter of support of EROC, opposing the FLUM change at 1406, 1408, 1504, and 1506 Parker Lane.
MOTION PASSES
One of the neighbors shared that they have been through multiple zoning cases related to these properties, and the neighbors demonstrated to Watershed the flooding and runoff issues. The City stated that no further development would occur here unless a Capital Improvement Project revamped the storm drain system to alleviate the flooding, and the adjacent apartment complex resolved their flooding issues.
The property was sold recently, and the new owners had not been notified of the issues.
EROC expected to have a vote to oppose, but were waiting for a resolution from the property owner on how to handle the drainage. The owner has not yet provided that information and EROC has not had an opportunity to vote, and there are concerns that the case may move forward quickly, prior to the opportunity for EROC to take a position. EROC has previously voted to oppose the rezoning on this site.
It was asked if the proposed project includes stormwater improvements. Previous comments from the City indicated that there needed to be system-wide improvements to the drainage system prior to development, so it would need to be bigger than just this site/owner.
7. 7:55 200 Academy
- Presentation re: development project, possibly requesting removal of the NCCD overlay
- Nikelle Meade to provide update re: the January 27th City Council vote
Presenters/Guests: Richard Weiss, Weiss Architecture; Nikelle Meade. (15 min)
Richard Weiss presentation: Would like to remove the property from the NCCD overlay, but are not proposing to change the base zoning. This will go to council on Thursday Jan 27th. Mr Weiss addressed the SRCC issues: This property isn’t included in the National Register Historic District. In the area of this property, many of the adjacent houses are non-contributing and some are 3 stories in height. The pre-NCCD protections exceed NCCD protections, which results in the inability for development on this site. Want to preserve 17,500 sf of the original 42,000 sf Austin Opera House auditorium area. This would be adjacent to a 500 space public garage, and they are proposing to add a new underground garage prior to the neighborhood and route traffic away from the neighborhood. The developer would like to support RPP as a potential solution for parking issues. The Site Plan will require a new Traffic Impact Analysis. The project has a vested interest in reducing sound, as there will be residential housing included in the project, which will be in the same structure as the music venue.
The neighborhood was in agreement with staff recommendation, and the issue of contention was the size of the venue – 1200 people that access the site from a neighborhood street. It was suggested that reduction of the music venue capacity would resolve many of these issues.
Claudette Lowe was the main liaison between this project and the SRCC.
There is a valid petition in opposition to the case, and will be going to Council on Thursday, January 27th.
It was suggested that Nikelle Meade (as SRCC’s Pro Bono representation) should provide an update separately to the officers.
8. 8:10 Statesman PUD
Discussion regarding traffic, TIF/TIRZ (allows taxes to be used to help pay for a private project), financial framework, funding toolkit to pay for improvements such as infrastructure, parks and open spaces, and affordable housing.
[VOTE EXPECTED: to support South Central Waterfront Advisory Board’s 10/18/21 recommendation]
Presenter: Russell Fraser; Councilmember Kathie Tovo, District 9 (20 min)
This project is going to Planning Commission next month. Russell presented a proposed statement in opposition to the development of the Statesman PUD. There are concerns with access, traffic, and the entitlements.
There was a slide shared that shows the assessed values of commercial properties, compared to residential properties, and it was indicated that these commercial properties are not paying the appropriate amount of taxes. Especially as this affects the use of a TIRZ on such a valuable private property, which will benefit the tenants of the private developer. If parking is not free, then low-income workers and customers will park in the neighborhood. Noise – this project will include a music venue that will likely affect the neighbors. There was discussion about placing the affordable housing from this site to be built at a future development at the site of One Texas Center, which is an even more expensive property.
CM Tovo mentioned that they have asked City Staff to develop a chart of the community benefit, as opposed to the benefits required by the PUD (CM Tovo’s staff will share this when available). The challenge is to determine if the planned benefits meet the threshold. Another issue is that the Statesman PUD is moving forward ahead of the SCW Regulating Plan and before the overall development vision can be codified. Right now the TIRZ is set at 0%, and this will be revisited by Council. This was intended to provide public benefits, not to benefit the private developers.
This will go back to Planning Commission (it is currently on the consent agenda), on Feb 8th. It could go to Council mid or late February.
Concern was expressed about the public funding of things that will benefit the developer’s project. There was a question about the use of a TIRZ, which is intended for redevelopment of blighted areas, for a premium development.
Motion: to support the concerns and conditions raised by the South Central Waterfront Advisory Board’s recommendations, the parks board’s recommendations, and the environmental board’s recommendations related to the Statesman PUD.
MOTION PASSES
9. 8:30 Election to fill vacant SRCC President position
Special Election: SRCC Ad Hoc Nominating Committee recommendation to General Membership that Wendy Todd be elected to office of SRCC President [VOTE EXPECTED]
Presenter: Dan Fredine, Chair of Ad Hoc Nominating Committee. (10 min)
Nominations from the floor were opened, none were taken. Wendy Todd was elected president.
10. 8:40 Remembering Claudette Lowe, past SRCC President, who recently passed away.
Presenter: Gretchen Otto, Hugh Lowe and others. (15 min)
Several members spoke about their history and interactions with Claudette, who was an important and well-loved friend, neighbor, and advocate for SRCC and other causes.
8:55 GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
The meeting was adjourned at 9:07 pm
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 SRCC Executive Committee meeting is February 1, 2022. The next General Membership meeting is February 15, 2021.
Frequently used acronyms:
ACF: Austin Community Fund
ANC: Austin Neighborhood Council (https://www.atxanc.org/)
BoA: Board of Adjustment
SF: Single Family zoning category
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
PC: Planning Commission
PUD: Planned Unit Development
SCC: South Central Coalition of neighborhood associations
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.
