SRCC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
TUESDAY, May 2, 2023 @ 7:00 PM
Only members of the Executive Committee may vote at an EC meeting. As an officer, you should be a member. Please confirm by emailing membership@srccatx.org. And please register 24 hours in advance.
MINUTES
1. 7:00 SRCC Welcomes Members and Guests
Verification of quorum. 17 present with at least 2 Officers present
Reminder: please state your name when presenting or seconding a motion.
Meeting began at 7:01pm
Presenter throughout unless otherwise noted: Noah Balch, SRCC President (5 min)
2. 7:05 Membership report & voting
Please confirm membership by emailing membership@srccatx.org. And please register 24 hours in advance.
Members must pay dues to participate in SRCC business and actions, such as voting and making motions. Try the PayPal subscription option for automatic annual renewals: https://www.srccatx.org/membership-dues (5 min)
3. 7:10 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Approve minutes. (5 min)
April 4th, 2023 EC Minutes approved
Upcoming meeting dates (will be reviewed in a future meeting and are subject to change): GM May 16, Jun 20, Aug 15, Sept 19, Oct 17, Nov 21
EC Jun 6, Aug 1, Sept 5, Oct 3, Dec 5
4. 7:15 Treasurer’s Report
All reports available upon request: treasurer@srccatx.org
Presenter: Will Andrews, Treasurer (5 min)
Dues collecting is up, not quite where we’d like to be, but close. No expenses change for April. Will will be out of town for the last part of the month so plan accordingly.
Some discussion on costs of Newsletter, and that cost was included in the budget.
5. 7:20 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)
1) Planning & Zoning; Noah will be attending a meeting with the developer and neighbors for the Live Oak development at South Congress. They’re requesting 7 stories, but that is out of character for the neighborhood. Much of this is based on previous Light Rail options, but they aren’t feasible now.
Does that change the availability for the relaxed status for development if it’s no longer along the rail-line? There’s a desire for 5 stories or less for this development by the neighbors.
Russell Fraser brought up a recent article in The Chronicle regarding some studies about gentrification and escalation of prices and finds parallels between Austin and Minneapolis. Russell would like to post it to the SRCC website in order for people to follow the link through into a “Bloomberg Study”.
Procedural discussion on posting links or articles on the SRCC website – decided it was appropriate and also to share to the listserve. Reminder to post links, rather than editorializing.
Betty Weed brought up the reduction of Project Connect and the ECOT areas and how that affects our neighborhoods. Most of this is targeting areas for future development and treating the area based on future use, not current plans.
Anita will attend the meeting tomorrow and will report back. Working on multiple properties right now, so there’s many concerns moving.
The Statesman Development (SCWF) is really troublesome in some of the tax burden being passed onto residents. We have had the opportunity to attend meetings and get into the feedback and communication process, but our current Representative hasn’t been able to be there consistently so we may need another person to be advocating for our interests.
2) Historic Preservation; NONE
3) Finance; NONE
4) Mobility; Project Connect – Mark Thompson PTMD met today, start meeting every 2 weeks. June 1st implementation date seems unrealistic, more like July 1. No kiosks, which is good, but getting all the info onto signage is a challenge.High responses to the survey, over 1700, very high percentage for feedback surveys of this type.
Park ATX app is the way this will be handled, still with some bugs. There will be kiosks on SoCo, but app driven in the neighborhood. Trying to digitize it as much as possible.
Alley behind Gueros has been having some problems with traffic and conflicts, so moving to make it one way going south.
5) Public Safety; Working on an article for the next Newsletter. Analysis for April says that within our boundaries there’s been a measurable decrease in crime, but neighboring areas are showing upward incidents.
6) Parks & Environment; David Todd and a group from the neighborhood met and toured Blunn Preserve to discuss some Land Management Plans to be presented to the Parks and City Council this Summer. Goal is to target good restoration practices in these lands and areas, and to bring on City Staff and contractors to achieve the goals. Contact David and he can give more info on times and dates for upcoming meetings.
May 6th, there will be a group meeting to identify flora and fauna, small invertebrates, cultivators and all of the living communities in Blunn Creek.
7) Schools; Gretchen talked about safe-routes to School. In 2018, SRTS did a comprehensive survey and overview of Safe Route to School, which identified some very unsafe crossings around schools. Some sidewalks and crossings around Lively have been improved, but there are many more areas that need to be addressed so we will be working to get some traction in getting more bond monies dedicated to these improvements.
Gretchen suggested that when Committee Chairs are doing these updates and recaps that they could write them up so they are available and could be uploaded to the website.
8) Communications Betty updated that the Newsletter is at the printers. Encouraged Tom to create that report on Safety, that would be important. Let Ruth know about articles or submissions so she can plan ahead for spacing and inclusion.
David Swan asked at the last meeting about Area 5 and 8 as reflected in the map shows an area that is left out, seems easy to correct. This is an easy update for the website.
Current Map is shown with current boundaries, but there is an area South of Oltorf that is not covered. Some interpretations show that Area 8 should extend to I-35. Also some businesses on the I-35 Frontage road are not covered. Area 8 and Area 5 ACs suggest adding that to Area 5 and that will be updated in the next Newsletter.
6. 7:30 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)
9) GSRC NPCT; NONE
10) EROC; NONE
11) NPCT; NONE
12) ANC; NONE
13) SCC; NONE
14) South Central Waterfront; Above
15) St. Ed’s; Graduation Ceremony coming up, parking and noise accommodations have been made, should be a non-issue.
16) S. Central Affordable CDC (10 min)
BUSINESS AGENDA ITEMS
7. 7:40 Election of SRCC Committee Chairpersons
Noah makes the motion to nominate the following positions, seconded widely –
Planning and Zoning: Anita Tschurr
Historic Preservation: Susan Armstrong Fisher – not in attendance
Finance: Sam Martin, Will Andrews
Mobility: Mark Thompson
Public Safety: Tom Groce
Parks and Environment: David Todd
Schools: Gretchen Otto
Communications: Betty Weed
Presenter: Noah Balch, SRCC President (10 min)
The Slate is accepted with no Nays and approved for 2023-2024 SRCC
8. 7:50 Project Connect
Discuss Austin’s Five Light Rail Options (click on the link, option 2 seems to have the most momentum)
Mark Thompson gave an update from the Project Connect Open House. Five potential maps are under review with public feedback to end May 2. One map option is far superior to the others for ridership and other metrics. The North Lamar Transit Center will likely be chosen so the public feedback seems more of a formality. May 2 is the last day for input, so we should give it while it’s received. Feedback will be reviewed May 4th at The Project Connect Public Advisory Committee. They meet on May 11th to make a recommendation for moving forward.
Some map options require a new bridge over LadyBird Lake, taking away more park space east of the Stevie statue. The other bridge option crosses east of the Statesman tract and preserves park space but does not have a downtown station near Republic Square. Selecting a bridge option requires a trade off of downtown usage or park space encroachment.
Anticipated dates for groundbreaking are not set and contingent upon which map is selected. Rough estimate is to start construction by 2025. Some Project Connect budget funds have been spent to date and further expenditures may be muddied by action in the TX Legislature. The legislative issue revolves around the difference between collecting the taxes versus spending them in a bond.
Presenter: Mark Thompson, SRCC Mobility Chair, (10 min)
9. 8:00 Planning & Zoning
Discuss South Congress and Live Oak project; local meeting with developer May 3
Presenters: Anita Tschurr and Noah Balch, SRCC President (5 min)
Anita and Noah will report back on the meeting with the developer for the South Congress Live Oak project, and the Representative is invited to future meetings to give input.
10. 8:05 GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
None offered!!
Meeting adjourned at 7:56pm
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 May 16, 2023.
The next Executive Committee meeting is June 6, 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.
ZOOM REGISTRATION LINK FOR THIS MEETING:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErdOmvqzgoE9BujHCVcT8h6Gj_7XHnTC4
