MoNAC Minutes 2006-10-17



MoNAC Minutes 2006-10-17

Joyce Basciano, President of MoNAC called the meeting to order

Mark Herber, TxDOT Loop 1 lead said they had a good turnout for their Open Houses. The next round of Open Houses will be in early Dec/Jan timeframe. The Loop 1 website is up and running

The sample sound wall plans are almost finalized, in five weeks the project will be advertised. They expect the sound wall project to begin in January. Mike Shearer, TxDOT's noise expert will be holding noise forums Oct 17-19. The forums will include TxDOT's Traffic Noise Guidelines

If the sound walls prove to be reasonable and feasible, then property owners who butt up against TxDOT ROW will vote on the sound walls.

We thank Chris Allen for joining us and giving us a review of the new Residential Regulations. Chris is a member of the committee writing the Residential Regulations. The regulations will impact the urban central core of Austin - Allandale being one of those neighborhoods. Chris explained the maximum amount of development and buildable area segments of the new code. Click on the following link then click on "New residential design and compatibility standards " to see a presentation similar to Chris'. The link provides diagrams, descriptions, setbacks, etc. Chris said even with the restrictions, large homes can be built on lots - he referred to the examples that have been running in the Austin American Statesman. Amendments to the regulations are being reviewed by the city council Sept 28, with the new regulations going into place Oct 1 2006. The Residential Regulations Task Force will review the ordinance in six months to see if any changes need to be made. The regs were designed to take care of the top 4-5% of the most egregious violations. The Residential Regs will not impact most remodels. Violators are quite often not fined; the city is in the process of selling permits. The city works for developers, it will take years for this to change.

Enforcement of the regs is a different situation. Currently a complete demolition can qualify as a remodel. The city is currently revisiting enforcement. It will be a difficult transition over the next 6-12 months. If you find an enforcement issue take a digital photo and send it to Erica Eichert, Supervisor Residential Reviews

974-2720. Write the Austin City Council and Austin city management to encouraged enforcement and the addition of personnel. In 2000 the inspectors were told to stop self-initiating violations because enforcement was swamped. Enforcement is not a priority for Solid Waste Services Enforcement department as it was hardest hit during budget cuts.

Annual President Reports:

OWANA - Richard McCown OWANA is facing tremendous pressure from developers. One of their members is Laura Morrison who is President of ANC and is active in the Residential Regs and VMU. They have three National Historic Districts, but they have lost historic homes that were a part of the registry. As with many neighborhoods they have a problem with cut-through traffic.

WANG - Joyce Basciano A major concern of WANG is the Brackenridge Tract and whether UT will sell or lease the land and what the future development of the tract will be. WANG is also experiencing trouble with cut-through traffic. They are also experiencing a tremendous amount of development. WANG and the Windsor Road planning areas are to begin the neighborhood planning process in 2007.

BrykerWoods - Edward Tasch The Residential Regs should encourage neighbors to be vigilant in monitoring neighboring changes, watch and protect. The graffiti is getting worse, however the COA is ramping up its Graffiti Abatement Program. If you see graffiti dial 311 and report the location. They are experiencing trouble with cut-through traffic, however the parking along the streets and pedestrians are helping to slow down the traffic. There are parking garages under student housing, the volume is slowing down. In a neighborhood plan BrykerWoods will undergo a study that looks at transportation and land use. Joyce also mentioned VMU.

Oakmont Heights - Tom Whatley The stealth dorms and surgeons offices that have conditional overlays prohibiting street parking, are ignoring the overlays and are filling the streets with their cars. The city doesn't enforce the overlay. Along Bull Creek there are three apartment complexes purchased by Ardent - they will be redeveloped and densified. Ardent is working well with the neighborhood; they came to Oakmont Heights and Rosedale to discuss their plans even though the apartments do not fall under any neighborhood boundaries.

HPWBANA - Nadene Morning HPWBANA is trying to increase interest among neighbors in participating in the neighborhood association. They are having problems with homes being converted to super duplexes or stealth dorms that have college students targeted as renters. Peel Inc produces a monthly newsletter for the neighborhood at no charge.

Allandale - Kay Newell Some streets in Allandale are experiencing severe flooding due to a storage facility built on Burnet Rd. If the bond election passes this will be corrected. They are having problems with businesses along Burnet trying to move into what have traditionally been neighborhood lots. The first VMU is in development for the Antique Marketplace. Allandale is working with A&M testing Milstop and its potential use for ball moss. The city is doing a wonderful job of placing new sidewalks and retaining walls along Shoal Creek. The neighbors are consulted as to where they want the sidewalks before construction starts. Two boundaries of Allandale - Burnet & Anderson - are designated as VMU.

North Shoal Creek - Jeff Russell NSCNA shares the Anderson VMU corridor with Allandale. Apartment complexes surround them. Traffic that is cutting through Allandale and crossing Anderson continues on through the NSCNA neighborhood working its way to 183, Burnet, & MoPAC. The neighborhood would like to see traffic calming devices on their streets.

Rosedale - Chris Allen Rosedale was in a seven-month battle with CTVS over a proposed 60' medical building, Rosedale won much to everyone's surprise. They are working on long-term use of land and coming up with parking solutions such as the Residential Parking Permit program to handle business parking that is overflowing into the neighborhood. Their long-range goal is to create solutions. They will experience VMU on 38th and will decide if their neighborhood will opt in or opt out. Rosedale will pass on the np process. They developed their own np in the early 80's.

There was a group discussion about how property values and taxes have continued to rise along the MoPAC corridor. MoNAC will be working with TxDOT in the coming years as we move towards the interim project and then the long-term project for MoPAC.

Joyce adjourned the meeting.

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