Agave Neighborhood Meeting Notes
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Turner Roberts Recreational Center
7201 Colony Loop Drive
About 30 neighbors attended the first official meeting of the Agave Neighborhood
Association. They elected the following officers for a term of one year:
President: Chasity Larios
Vice President: Natasha MacNevin
Treasurer: Jenna Wedgewood
Secretary: Sarah Glasscock
Committee Chairs:
Crime and Safety: Candace Million
Membership: Sherry Stephens
Communication: Megen Glass
Dues: Annual dues are $10 per household. Bring to next meeting or contact
Sherry Stephens on NextDoor. Dues may be spread over two payments: $5 now
and $5 later.
Meetings: The Agave Neighborhood Association will meet on the second
Wednesday of every month, unless otherwise specified. Our next meeting will be
Monday, December 9, in conjunction with the City of Austin’s Colony Park
Community Planning Meeting.
Introductions and Meet Your Neighbors
Jo Ann Hackett began the meeting by explaining that once the vote for the Agave
Neighborhood Association’s board was completed, our neighborhood association
would be formally recognized. Having a full slate of board members is another
requirement for formal recognition. This year’s board members volunteered. In
the next board election, there will be a Nominations Committee and members will
be able to make nominations from the floor.
To have a vote in upcoming neighborhood association elections, people will need
to pay the dues by or at the January 2014 meeting.
Chasity Larios asked attendees to introduce themselves, tell which part of the
neighborhood they live in, and what they most like about living in our community.
Austin Neighborhood Council Update
Jo Ann also gave an update on the Austin Neighborhood Council (ANC) meeting
she attended. Neighborhood associations and the ANC work together. Each
neighborhood association sends two representatives to the ANC and has one
vote. ANC meetings are an important way to find out what’s going on in the city
Notes: Agave Neighborhood Association Meeting 11.13.13
and in other neighborhoods. The ANC helps neighborhoods find common ground
with one another.
One of the speakers at the ANC meeting was the person in charge of Google
Fiber, which is expected to start up in 2014. Google Fiber will be going into
neighborhoods based on the number of people who sign up, so Jo Ann urged
everyone in our community to sign up at https://fiber.google.com/cities/austin.
The ANC meets on last Wednesday of each month. Our neighborhood
association needs two representatives to attend the meetings.
Colony Park Project Update
Chasity provided an update on the Colony Park Project:
The City of Austin has received a 3-year federal block grant of $3 million to
develop 208 acres it owns near us on Loyola Lane. The city has hired a team to
draw up plans for the development, and that team has started to hold meetings
with the community. To find out more about the Colony Park project, go to
http://austintexas.gov/department/colony-park. To take a survey about what
you’d like to see included in the project, visit the Agave Neighborhood
Association web site and click on the Colony Park link at the bottom of the home
page: http://agaveneighborhood.org.
On Saturday, December 21, UT students will be walking through our
neighborhood to ask for our feedback on the Colony Park project, so please take
the time to learn about the project and think about the kinds of development
you’d like to see.
Train Horn Update
The loud and sustained noise of the train horns at the MLK crossing has become
a problem. Everyone is urged to attend the City Council meeting on Thursday,
November 21, to voice our concerns about the noise. The next step is to meet
with the Capitol Metro board to ask for funding for a quiet zone at the crossing.
Recycling Plant Update
Many neighbors are concerned about the recycling plant located on MLK just
west of our neighborhood. The machinery is loud and often runs late at night or
early in the morning, and the conditions are unsanitary. If you see or hear any
problems, call 311 to report a code violation. You don’t have to leave your name
or phone number.
Bergstrom Expressway Project Update
TXDOT, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), the City of
Austin, and the Capital Area Metropolitan Organization (CAMPO) are working
together on the planning and construction of the Bergstrom Expressway. This will
Notes: Agave Neighborhood Association Meeting 11.13.13
widen 183 from 71 East at the airport to 290 East and will have a considerable
impact on our neighborhood.
Three major community meetings about the project have already been held. Until
our neighborhood association reached out, representatives for the project had no
idea who to contact in our community. Now we’re in their information loop.
T.W. Lowe (project manager, Atkins North America), Melissa Hurst (CTRMA),
and Shuronda Robinson (Public Outreach) presented maps of the proposed
changes and provided the following information about the project:
Timeline: The environmental impact study will be completed by January 2015.
Once the study is approved, a contractor will be chosen. Construction will take 4
to 5 years, so the Bergstrom Expressway is expected to open for traffic in 2020
or 2021.
Description: With the goal of relieving traffic congestion, the Bergstrom
Expressway will have 3 main lanes of tolled road and 3 main lanes of untolled
road, so 183 will go from 4 lanes to 12 lanes. The tolled lanes will not have any
traffic lights. Drivers will have the option of taking an untolled road, which will
basically be a frontage road with lights. By city statute, the project has to have
the same number of untolled roads as it does now.
Based on community input, there will be pedestrian and bike paths along the
expressway and bridges for pedestrian crossings. There will also be access to
trail heads and gateways to communities. For example, the huge oak trees at
Callahan’s will be protected and will serve as a gateway.
Details: We will lose the crossing at 51st Street. There will be a bridge for
pedestrians, but drivers will have to take a “Texas U-turn” at Loyola Lane if
they’re heading north, or at MLK if they’re heading south. According to the
speakers, the Bergstrom Expressway will allow circular movement for local
communities while non-local traffic will go straight through.
TXTAG will run the toll roads; all toll tags with work on the Bergstrom
Expressway. The price will probably be about 20–30 cents per mile. Because
Texas hasn’t raised the gas tax in about 20 years, building toll roads is the only
option for footing construction and maintenance costs. The toll plazas haven’t
been mapped out yet. When asked how they knew people would use this toll
road, the speakers pointed to the ease and the saving of time and said that
people do eventually take toll roads. Taking the untolled roads on the new
Bergstrom Expressway will still take less time than traveling the same route on
183 now. A lot of study has gone into this project; the investment wouldn’t be
made if it weren’t economically feasible.
This total cost estimate is $650–750 million.
Notes: Agave Neighborhood Association Meeting 11.13.13
Construction phasing not yet completed yet. The goal is to make sure that as
many lanes are open as are open during construction as are open now during
peak hours. The plan is to build the outside untolled lanes first and then the
middle tolled lanes.
When asked if the untolled frontage roads were being built with economic
development in mind, the speakers said that they expected the changes to 183 to
promote growth in our area.
For more information: http://www.bergstromexpressway.com. Survey results from
the community will be available soon on the site.
Maps: Contact Sarah Glasscock at NextDoor to see maps of the project.
969 Improvements
Shuronda Robinson also mentioned that Travis County is working on plans to
improve 969. The first phase will be from Decker Lane east to Hunters Bend
Road. An open house will be held on Tuesday, November 19, from 6:00 p.m. to
8:00 p.m. at Travis County East Service Center, 6011 Blue Bluff Road. The next
phase of the project will go west from Decker Lane, which will include our
neighborhood.
Wrap-Up:
 Speakers: Representatives from the Austin Police Department and Code
Compliance will attend each Agave Neighborhood Association meeting to
answer questions. Come to the NA meetings and voice your concerns
about our neighborhood to these speakers. These representatives will
sometimes give special presentations. Please contact any of the board
members or leave a message on http://agaveneighborhood.org to suggest
other speakers.
 Register to Vote: Anyone who wants to register to vote or update their
name or address on their voter registration cards, can contact Jo Ann
Hackett or Sarah Glasscock.
 Bylaws: Chuck Oerter is chairing the committee in charge of writing the
bylaws for our neighborhood association. If you’re interested in
participating, please contact Chuck on NextDoor. Once the bylaws have
been filed, they are very hard to change. The committee will be looking at
the bylaws of other neighborhood associations and considering the Agave
Neighborhood Association’s unique needs.
 Other Committees: Jo Ann asked for a volunteer to head the
Communications committee so we could have a full slate of officers, and
Megen Glass volunteered. To volunteer for any of the following
committees, please visit http://agaveneighborhood.org: Economic
Development, Community Spaces, Crime and Safety, Social and Events,
Communication, and Relations with the HOA and other strategic groups.
Notes: Agave Neighborhood Association Meeting 11.13.13
Amended notes submitted by Sarah Glasscock, November 19, 2013
Notes: Agave Neighborhood Association Meeting 11.13.13