Elections for the Crestview Neighborhood Association

Crestview Neighborhood Association meeting will be on 12-May-2008 at 7:00 pm in Wozniak Hall (The Parish Activity Center) at the St. Louis Catholic Church on Burnet Road and St. Joseph (Morrow).

Elections for 9 Executive Officer Positions are held every year at the May meeting. The 9 positions are as follows:

1) President
2) Vice President
3) Treasurer
4) Secretary
5) Editor
6) Place 1
7) Place 2
8) Place 3
9) Place 4

Please see the Crestview Neighborhood Association ByLaws ( look to your left or click here ) for more information about the responsibilities of these positions. So far 11 residents, 7 existing officers and 4 existing members of Crestview NA, will be running for the 9 officer positions. I will be posting their bios by next week.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Membership in the Crestview Neighborhood Association will be required to vote for officers. You must be a member of the Association 1 week prior to the election meeting. This means you must be a member on or before 4-May-2008. This is 13 days from the day this article was posted. Elections and voting will be run as detailed in the ByLaws.

If you are interested in running for an officer position in the Crestview Neighborhood Association and would like to post your Bio on the website, please email me, Jonathan Locklin, at jslpublic@gmail.com.

If you need a Crestview Neighborhood Association membership form, please email me, Jonathan Locklin, at jslpublic@gmail.com.

The Parks and Recreation staff invites you to attend a meeting

---

Submitted by Ricardo Soliz

Dear Neighborhood Association President, Neighborhood Representative, or Neighbor

The Parks and Recreation staff invites you to attend a meeting on:

Monday, April 14, 2008, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
O. Henry Middle School Cafeteria
2610 West 10th Street
512-414-3229

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the future planning for updating the Parks and Recreation Long Range Plan. The goals for the meeting are to:

1. Outline the process for updating the Parks and recreation Long Range Plan;
2. Group discussion on identifying strengths, opportunities and challenges that exist within the Parks System within the Central Area in Austin;
3. Prioritize future opportunities for the next 5 to 10 years;

Please invite your members to attend. We hope to see you and your neighborhood at the meeting to assist with planning for the future.

If you have any questions prior to the meeting, please contact me at 974-6765 or Jenna R. Neal as 974-6790.

Ricardo Soliz
Division Manager

Planning Commission meeting April 8, 2008 Notes

The following items were heard at the Commission on April 8, 2008

1) C14-2008-0030 - Lamar Blvd./Justin Lane TOD Station Area Plan
2) NPA-2008-0017.01 - Crestview/Wooten Combined Neighborhood Plan Amendment - Lamar/Justing Station Area Plan

Commissioner Jay Reddy fought for "public" / "parkland" open space for Crestview. Commissioner Chris Ewen fought for "public" / "parkland" open space for the entire TOD area. Please let Commissioners Jay Reddy and Chris Ewen that we appreciate their efforts to create "public" / "parkland" open space for Crestview and in our area in general

Commissioner Perla Cavazos fought for 1) a left turn from Lamar onto Morrow and 2) Morrow to be opened up to cross Lamar. If you feel so inclined, please let her know you opinion about this option. However Commissioner Clint Small interjected a change to this option stating that we should consider all East/West traffic flow along Lamar from Koenig Lane to Anderson Lane. Small's recommendation ended up being the one passed in the motion (see below)

Commissioner Jay Reddy - jay_reddy@dell.com
Commissioner Chris Ewen - chris@brandocular.com
Commissioner Perla Cavazos - pcavazos_planning@yahoo.com
Commissioner Clint Small - clint_small@hotmail.com

Below is the motion for approval and the recommendations made by the Planning Commission.

Lamar Blvd./Justin Lane Station Area Plan - PLANNING COMMISSION APRIL 8, 2008
LAMAR BLVD./JUSTIN LANE DRAFT STATION AREA PLAN PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION

Motion: The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the Draft Lamar Blvd./Justin Lane Station Area Plan and associated amendments to the Brentwood/Highland and Crestview/Wooten Combined Neighborhood Plans as presented by Staff with the following amendments:

1. Consider the dedication of public open space on the Austin Energy site and that other parkland be provided in and/or near the TOD District through parkland dedication funds;

2. Establish a Working Group to implement the Station Area Plan as soon as possible;

3. Ask staff to investigate methods of funding the proposed capital improvements to the Lamar Blvd./Airport Blvd. intersection;

4. Ask staff to study the potential of a parking benefit district where on-street parking fees are used to fund future capital improvements to the intersection of Airport Blvd. and Lamar Blvd;

5. Ask staff to examine methods of improving overall east-west movement along Lamar Blvd. between Koenig Lane and Anderson Lane with a goal of dispersing traffic load; and

6. Strongly recommend that the City Council:
a. Establish a clear and firm plan to help developers achieve the 25% affordability goal in the TOD Ordinance using the tools presented by the affordable housing consultant, Diana McIver and Associates;

b. Consider amending the scoring process for the allocation of affordable housing bond funds so that projects in TOD Districts are prioritized;

c. Designate CIP funds to infrastructure improvement projects within and connecting to the TOD Districts;

d. Prioritize fee-in-lieu funds generated from a development bonus in the TOD District for future expenditure within the TOD;

e. In order for a project that wishes to take advantage of a development bonus to be approved for the fee-in-lieu option, the Director of the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department should work with the Community Development Commission to determine if a fee-in-lieu should be approved;

ACTION REQUEST

---

Submitted by Steve Kuehner

Background…

At the Planning Commission Meeting held this past Tuesday, 4/8, city staff presented the draft plan for the Crestview Station TOD. During the public comment portion of the meeting CNA concerns (opposition to the proposed street connection of the Crestview Station development to Justin Lane and lack of pedestrian/bicycle connectivity) were presented to the commission. Thanks go to the neighbors that attended and spoke.

At the meeting two alarming requests were made by Highland Neighborhood leadership.

1. They stated their support of connecting the Crestview Station development with Justin Lane via a new street that appears in the recommendations as East Wind Drive. East Wind would connect with Justin and Justin would be connected to Canion Street east of Lamar.
   
   
2. They requested the re-opening of westbound access at the Morrow/Lamar Blvd. intersection. The Planning Commission seemed unaware of the reasoning for this limitation of access to Morrow St. not to mention the years of effort by Crestview residents resulting in the no left turn onto Morrow from north bound Lamar and the no west bound access crossing from east of Lamar.

Some of you are new to Crestview and may not appreciate the added safety and quality of life provided by this attempt to deal with cut through traffic. Traffic counts for westbound cut through traffic were reduced significantly.

As a result of this recent request, the Planning Commission has asked city staff to review the possibilities of re-opening this intersection in the context of reviewing the affect of east/west traffic flow brought on by the Crestview Station TOD. Re-opening this intersection flies in the face of the effort by Crestview neighbors to address cut through traffic, in this case, the traffic on Morrow St. If this change comes to fruition it would swamp any traffic calming efforts currently in the development stage.

At the April 24th City Council Meeting city staff will present the TOD plan including recommendations to re-open the Morrow/Lamar intersection.

ACTION REQUESTED

Let the City Council hear your concerns.

Contact council members prior to April 24th Council Meeting.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm

City of Austin
Name of Council Member
P.O. Box 1088
Austin, Texas 78767-8865

• Mayor Will Wynn
  Phone: (512) 974-2250
  
  
• Council Member Lee Leffingwell
  Phone: (512) 974-2260
  
  
• Council Member Mike Martinez
  Phone: (512) 974-2264
  
  
• Council Member Jennifer Kim
  Phone: (512) 974-2255
  
  
• Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley
  Phone: (512) 974-2258
  
  
• Council Member Brewster McCracken
  Phone: (512) 974-2256
  
  
• Council Member Sheryl Cole
  Phone: (512) 974-2266

Attend the City Council meeting on April 24th and sign up in opposition to demonstrate your support of CNA’s position.

Consider speaking at the City Council mtg. on April 24th. During the time set aside for public comment.

Points to consider when contacting council:

• The Crestview/Wooten Neighborhood plan addresses the desire to limit cut through traffic on Morrow St. and maintain the current intersection design.
  
  
• Traffic counts for westbound traffic on Morrow were considerably higher prior to the limitation of westbound traffic at Lamar Blvd.
  
  
• The money spent by the city to create a diverter at that intersection and add no left turn signage was money well spent.
  
  
• The city and state should work together to make access to Anderson Lane westbound at Lamar safer. This would result in the desired effect of traffic using Anderson Lane to head west, not neighborhood streets like Justin or Morrow.
  

Questions or concerns, contact:
Steve Kuehner, Vice President Crestview NA
459-9601

Barton Springs Pool Master Plan Town Hall Meeting

---

Submitted by  Jodi Jay with the city of Austin

We would like to invite members of the community to the Barton Springs Pool Master Plan Town Hall Meeting, Saturday, April 5, 2008, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at Austin's City Hall, 301 West Second Street.

Barton Springs Pool has drawn people from all walks of life for generations. Public input is a vital to insuring the preservation of this historical landmark.

Below is a copy the Master Plan Town Hall Meeting press release please share it with the residents of your community. If you have any additional questions or comments please contact us at bspmasterplan@ci.austin.tx.us

---

Contact: Victor Ovalle,
Program Manager, Public Information and Marketing (512)-974-6745

City Seeks Continued Public Input on Barton Springs Pool Master Plan

The City of Austin seeks more public input on the Barton Springs Pool Master Plan, at a Town Hall Meeting, Saturday, April 5, 2008, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at Austin’s City Hall, 301 West Second Street.

The Town Hall Meeting will be a half-day workshop, open to the entire community. This is an opportunity to learn more from the consultant team about the findings and recommendations made in the Master Plan report, and participate in discussions about the plan. City staff will participate in the workshop to discuss the future action plan for funding and implementation of the Master Plan. Comments can also be submitted to the following e-mail address: bspmasterplan@ci.austin.tx.us.

The public is invited to visit the following website for more information on the plan and to download a draft copy: www.cityofaustin.org/parks/bartonspringsmp.htm. The plan is also available for review at the Barton Springs Pool and the following libraries: Old Quarry Branch, Howson Branch, Hampton Branch, Twin Oaks, Austin History Center, Carver Branch, Terrazas Branch, and Cepeda Branch. You may also purchase a copy for $10 at Barton Springs Pool or Deep Eddy Pool.

The Barton Springs Master Plan project began with an October, 2006, City Council resolution that recognized an immediate need for improvements at Austin’s most famous swimming pool. It called for consideration of water quality and salamander habitat improvements, grounds improvements, infrastructure improvements and facilities improvements. Working from this resolution, City staff worked internally and with stakeholders for input, and they consulted previously commissioned studies and analyses to develop a task list. The master plan consultant team was given that list when hired in early 2007, and the list was used to develop a project scope. The team also received previous studies, information on earlier construction efforts and historical data on the pool, grounds and buildings at the site.

For more information about this meeting, contact Victor Ovalle at (512) 974-6745.