CNA 10.13.08 General Meeting Minutes

Laura Morrison of City Council spoke, addressing some of the questions asked of her by the CNA executive committee.

She indicated that she has sought common ground with each of the other City Council members to work one-on-one with them on specific issues, such as preservation (Lee Leffingwell), affordable housing, emerging technology and distributed energy sources, and boards and commission setup.

Regarding a comprehensive plan for the City of Austin she feels that such a plan should address more than the usual zoning and transportation. Also addressed should be land use - parks, public safety, utilities, etc. The last comprehensive plan was done in 1979. There is a line in the budget for this year to work with a consultant on a 2-year process to update the city plan. A city auditor came in two years ago and assessed that Austin has many plans but that they do not communicate with each other.

Regarding working with the City Manager, she stressed the need to be well informed on each issue put before the Council. This educational information is referred to as backup information, and she believes that nothing should be on the agenda without backup information, as Council has at times approved things the consequences of which they weren’t fully aware. The current agenda along with the backup information available to Council is posted on the city’s web site (usually by Friday afternoon), and citizens are encouraged to contact Council members with additional backup information on agenda items if they see that such information is lacking (cc Bobby and Barbara from Laura’s staff).

No money is currently in the budget for implementing neighborhood plan recommendations. The next bond election is likely to be 2011. When that happens, the city could go to neighborhood plans to look at priorities. Looking at what would go into a bond might happen two years before such an election. She suggested that neighborhoods attempt to raise their own funds for their regional priorities in order to gain visibility, as sometimes city funds become available and can then be added to existing efforts underway. Two new positions (neighborhood advisors in the neighborhood assistance center) are to be filled in November.

How can VMU development be developed the way it is supposed to be done? The Station Area Plan is to go before Council for the 2nd reading on the week of October 20th, where they’ll be looking at the recommendations from the 1st reading. Laura pointed to some legislation that indicates that a neighborhood plan requires an amendment before a TOD change to the plan can be approved. This was new information to the executive committee, and Steve and Eddie were going to look into that.

Regarding approval of the neighborhood’s opt in/opt out application, she has heard that as long as neighborhoods have made a good faith effort to pick and choose which properties are in or out, that it is a shoe-in.

Regarding cut-through traffic on Morrow: There is no talk about a left-hand turn from north-bound Lamar onto Morrow. There is currently an Anderson Ln corridor study underway that seeks to determine how to improve traffic flow and make Anderson more pedestrian-friendly. It is believed that if Anderson Ln has better access from Lamar, there will be no reason to open Morrow up to westbound traffic from east of Lamar.

There is talk of developing TIFs (tax increment financing zones) at TOD developments to provide additional income to the city to fund the infrastructure improvements beyond what the developer provides.

She has heard that the Ryan Austin Energy property is being considered as the location for a prototype family-friendly affordable housing development – larger apartments with spaces to play.

She recently went on a Chamber of Commerce sponsored trip to Vancouver to see how they do things there. They are REQUIRED to do parks, affordable housing, childcare, etc. as part of their new developments, but Texas doesn’t have the same laws that Canada has.

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Sonny Poole from Austin Energy was on hand to answer questions about the new substation going in off Lamar at the north end of the Crestview Station development. He handed out a list of questions and answers that are posted as the Austin Energy FAQ under the Neighborhood Documents section.