OLD WEST AUSTIN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2005
I
Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 7:01 p.m.
II
Kevin Covington, APD
Officer Covington spoke concerning the recent spate of car burglaries. APD will
increase the frequency of volunteer rounds.
An individual was arrested as a Peeping Tom in the northern central city area.
A request for surveillance of running the stop sign at 9th & Blanco was made.
A request was made to look into illegal parking in the alley between 6th & 7th
streets, east of Blanco. This parking causes restricted visibility onto Blanco Street.
Landscaping plantings at Palma Plaza and 14th also obscures visibility
The DWI team will be targeting 5th & 6th streets in the near future.
II
Elliott Naishtat, previous OWANA resident, past OWANA president, and current
Texas District 49 Representative
The honorable Elliott Naishtat, Texas representative to District 49 (which
included the OWANA neighborhood) spoke on a variety of issues, primarily
Imminent Domain and the 79th Legislature.
Imminent Domain
The Texas constitution currently allows condemnation of lands for public use.
The recent Supreme Court ruling expands the interpretation from previously
understood public use such as parks, highways, etc to uses including private
benefit. Thus the Texas legislature passed a constitutional amendment to prevent
private benefit.
79th Legislature
Elliott provided an extensive recap of the legislature with a historical perspective
and highlighted recent changes that may indicate a return to some semblance of
sanity. The previous legislature was the 1st Republican lead Texas legislature in
150 yrs and championed “no new taxes and no tax increases”. It financed this “no
new taxes” on the backs of the poor and needy, for instance, cutting funding to
health and human services resulting in 180,000 children loosing health insurance
coverage. It was also responsible for placing Texas dead last in ranking of US
states funding for education. This 79th Legislature represented some movement
by moderate Republicans away from the radical right wing faction of the
Republican Party, in joining with moderate Democrats to attempt to restore some
of this funding. The jury is still out. Many thanks to Elliott for taking time out
of his busy schedule to visit with us.
II
Jim Wilson, City of Austin
Tim Wilson, with the City of Austin, presented a review of the 2006 Bond
Election. The County Bond vote is to be held in Nov. 05, and the City Bond vote
is to be held in May 06. The City of Austin needs prioritization criteria and
direction on interfacing with the neighborhoods in determining choices on the
plan. A detailed list of potential projects was distributed and everyone was
encouraged to participate in the prioritization of these projects. Of the $769M
potential projects, it was suggested that a realistic limit to the voters was $250M $300M. The projects included in the OWANA area totaled almost $44M.
II
WEAA Meeting Report (Laura Morrison)
June- primary discussions concerned 6th & Lamar project. This is now on hold.
July- discussions included:
-6th & West – Project consist of primarily DMU existing & 1 lot office. Owners
want CBD zoning. Much enthusiasm exists, but the following concerns were
raised: compatibility with adjacent properties, historical nature of the house on the
north lot currently zoned office, expansion of the DMU outside of the
Neighborhood Plan, spot zoning outside of the neighborhood plan. Zoning change
was approved by the city council. Historical zoning on the house has been
initiated.
-Signage will be coming soon reading “Welcome to the Historic West End”
-Spring Condo – represents 12/1 densities, higher than 8/1 allowed in CBD.
-Lumberman Development discussed at Town Lake and Lamar.
III
OWA NP Contact Team Report (Laura Morrison)
The contact team has been formally ratified and initiated. The remaining funds
from the Neighborhood Planning Funds (~$5k) will be used for street sign toppers,
highlighting the border of Old West Line neighborhood.
IV
Austin Neighborhoods Council Report (Linda McNeilage)
City Budget was discussed. There is a proposed increase in the code enforcement
department, primarily management. Owana input was more field personnel were
required.
Meals on Wheels needs volunteers
A presentation from “No Nonsense in November” was given. This group is
opposing the constitutional amendment limit family rights to same sex couples.
September is Fitness Month.
V
Committee Reports
Zoning (Steve Coburn, Laura Morrison, Linda MacNeilage)
1603-1605 Enfield- Demolition permit was requested by the Historic Landmark
Commission to be reconsidered, (Owner misrepresented OWANA’s position on
the project when asking for permit) but permit cannot be recalled once approved.
1106 W 6th Street – successful lobbying by the neighborhood team resulted in
allowing better configuration of the driveways and access to reduce neighbors
directly adjacent.
Encinal Condo – deadline has passed for the demo permit
Lumberman Sandbeach – 1st plan includes 40k office, 40k retail and 140k
residential. The townlake park group is objecting to heavy development adjacent
to the lake and parkland.
1101 W. Lynn (formerly Croft’s): The rear section (Eason) of the lot is zoned
single family and the front section (W. Lynn) is zoned commercial. The City was
in error in permitting this at the zoning review; not realizing the property
contained two zoning classifications on the two different sections of the property.
The site plan application has been rejected and is being resubmitted.
Spring Condos – concerns exist about spot zoning outside a comprehensive
downtown neighborhood plan, and traffic impact. OWANA suggest not waiving
the traffic study. The steering committee previously had approved unanimously
the following motion: OWANA opposes any developer driven upzoning until an
updated downtown neighborhood plan is approved.
Shelly Park Flats - We are continuing to pursue an adequate response from the
city on the improper approvals. The city memo did not address height issues and
did not provide reasonable examples.
700 West Ave – circa 1900 house, historic zoning review has been initiated.
Steve Colburn announced his resignation due to moving out of town for work
reasons. His able monitoring, review, constant communication and superb
lobbying and counsel will be sourly missed. Good luck Steve!
He suggests this opening is a great opportunity for someone else to ease into.
Duties include:
Organize things
Speak to city representatives
Spread the work within OWANA
Any interested parties, contact Richard McGown.
Membership and Fundraising Committee (Saralyn Stewart)
212 voting members
30 Lapsed
44 Business members
12 Rejoined
$6,006 in Business underwriting of the calendars has been collected. Proceeds are
to go to the Zoning fund. Wed. Nov 9th, an auction will be held for the original
prints used for the calendar. Calendars should be ready for Octoberama. Michael
Mulligan asked a rhetorical question on the appropriateness for the calendar artist
to designate the recipient of the proceeds.
Historic Preservation Committee (Rosemary Merriam)
The federal office has received application for the National Registered Historical
District. The Glanco Hern house application for historical designation passed.
The NRHD application process was criticized for its bureaucratic load.
Traffic and Safety Committee
Richard McCown regularly attends both the DTAC Police Commissioner’s
Forum and the Police Chief Forum.
VII
Administrative and Organizational Issues
501c3 application has been completed and submitted.
Treasurer’s Report (Jean Stevens)
Jean Stevens reported
General Funds account - $6,252.27
Fundraising account $20,729.08
Zoning targeted account - $8,395.00
Update and Input on OWANA Website
Red Wassenich continues to work on the website which can be accessed at
www.owana.org.
VIII
Other Business and Announcements
A special steering committee meeting held just prior to this general membership
meeting approved a street event permit for the AIDS Benefit Walk, and a clause
agreeing to no conflict of interest between steering committee members.
IX
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m.