South River City Citizens (SRCC): minutes for meeting of general membership, May 7, 2012 return to SRCC home page



MEETING OF THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP OF SRCC
MONDAY, MAY 7, 2012
6:00 PM
GRACE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
205 East Monroe; Austin, Texas


MINUTES


SRCC General Membership Meeting Minutes – 5/7/2012


CALL TO ORDER/APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. 7:15 Room arrangement, meeting procedures, etiquette, welcome newcomers.
Presenter throughout: Marc Davis, President, unless otherwise noted.
2. 7:20 Membership & voting announcements. There is interest in getting additional yard signs for SRCC monthly meetings. Carol will follow up and prepare a request for Finance Committee.
Presenter: Carol Martin, Vice President and Membership Chair
3. 7:25 Approve minutes from April 2, 2012, last regular monthly meeting
MOTION: Wolf Sittler/Brian Talenti - to approve the minutes = PASSED unanimous
4. 7:30 Treasurer's Report
Presenter: Les Case, Treasurer
We made contributions to all three PTAs and prepaid for our space at Grace United Methodist for the year. All financial records are available upon request.

OLD BUSINESS
5. 7:35 Update on the Reagan Signs site plan extension for their property on Woodland and I-35
Presenters: Pat Roeder and Sarah Campbell, Members
In 2005 Reagan Signs proposed to move their plant from 290E to the Woodland and I35 northwest corner. The original site plan had a large warehouse space and loading docks but such use is prohibited by the current zoning. The labeling of the space was changed to printing & publishing to get the site plan approved and the property has remained undeveloped. Recently, they applied for an extension which the neighborhood appealed and the Planning Commission sided with the neighborhood because they felt that "good faith" had not been met. In response, Reagan Signs has appealed to City Council and it is now headed to City Council for a vote on May 24th. SRCC supports Pat and the neighborhood and will continue to fight this extension in hopes that Reagan Signs will be forced to submit a new site plan that will more appropriately address the zoning/use issues as well as comply with the more recent heritage tree ordinance which will save 5 additional trees on the lot.
6. 7:45 Update on the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan
Presenter: Danette Chimenti, Member
The Planning Commission voted in favor of the IACP but added some language pertaining to compatibility standards, flooding, neighborhood plans, etc. Please show support for this language by contacting City Council and/or attending the next meeting on May 24th.
MOTION: Sarah Campbell/Mary Lovell - that SRCC support the language added by the Planning Commission to the IACP = PASSED unanimous
7. 7:55 RPP Request for the 205 Block of Park Ln.
Presenters: Dianne Harbeson and Mary Lovell, Members
Residents are requesting RPP on one side of the street that affects three driveways. The times requested are M-F 5pm-12am and S-S 1pm-12am.
MOTION: Mary Lovell/Tim Boswell - to endorse the request = PASSED unanimous

NEW BUSINESS
8. 8:05 Update on Payload Pass Subdivision estoppel and site inspection
Presenters: Â Marc Davis, President and Jeff Kessel, Member
The owners of the strip mall development next to Wal-Mart are attempting to refinance and, because SRCC has a restrictive covenant with the property to protect the Blunn Creek headwaters from runoff, they needed SRCC to sign an estoppel that verifies that the property owners are in compliance with this restrictive covenant. An estoppel does not get them out of their need to comply with the covenant, it simply verifies to the lender that they are to the best of our knowledge in compliance with it. Jeff Kessel walked the property and confirmed they are indeed in compliance with our agreement, so SRCC signed the estoppel.
9. 8:15 Street Retail Vendors campaigning to change city code to reduce restrictions on number of days and open up new locations such as city parks
Presenter: Mary Lovell, Member, and Brandon Hodge, President of the South Congress Merchants Assoc.
Mr. Hodge attended a meeting with a new group that has formed to represent the interests of Austin's street retail vendors (not food vendors). The meeting was hosted by Mike Martinez's office at City Hall and made it clear that the street vendors would like to change some of the city code that pertains to them. Under current code, a property is only allowed to have temporary vendors set up 5 days a month (ie: on South Congress, that usually means First Thursday and 4 Saturdays). Their apparent goal is to relax the limitation on days to allow for setting up on any Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well as opening up city park space for vending. SRCC agreed to have our newly formed South Congress Committee work with Brandon to watch this issue and make a recommendation to SRCC membership on how and when to act.
9.5 impromptu: RPP and South Congress Working Group to address parking issues
Presenter: Brandon Hodge
The South Congress Working Group is a group spearheaded by Council Members Chris Riley, Bill Spelman, and Laura Morrison and contains members of SRCC, BCNA, and South Congress merchants. This group met several times last year to try and resolve the parking issues along South Congress due to its popularity. Chris Riley's office has previewed a proposal they are planning to make at the next SCWG meeting this Tuesday:
1) All parking spots fronting Congress get parking meters from 8am-12 midnight; $1/hr with no time restrictions.
2) Place parking meters along all East/West neighborhood corridors from Drake to S. 1st. All three areas would be set up as parking benefit districts and receive %51 of net revenue that would go to those areas to be spent at their discretion. All North/South corridors get RPP that match the hours of the meters. Merchants would be allowed a buy-in on underutilized RPP parking at $20/month per tag versus a residential price of $20/year. The current area includes 1,700 spots of which 1,000 would be metered. It is estimated that the total number of employee tags might exceed the current %50 cap on RPP along a single block. This is just a proposal and will be discussed and debated at the South Congress Working Group meeting on Tuesday and beyond.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
10. 8:30 "Trophy's Bar & Grill, 2008 S. Congress. C-Boy's, the tentative name for the soon-to-open venue, will focus on funk, soul and R&B music, said Continental Club owner Steve Wertheimer, a partner in the project.. . .Food service is planned, bathrooms will be upgraded, and a new patio area will be created behind the building. . . Live music will not be planned for every night at C-Boy's, Wertheimer said, and all performances will take place indoors. There will be no concerts on the patio.: A-AS 5/2/2012
11. 8:40 Norwood House Update
Presenter: Wolf Sittler, Member
The Norwood House was removed from a bond proposal but the plan promoted by the working group has never relied on bond money so the process is moving forward in phases. They met with Chris Riley to discuss a resolution to encourage the Parks Department to work with the group.
12. 8:45 Various Street Closures
Presenter: Marc Davis, President
13. The EROC pocket park is being referred to as the Heritage Park and residents are looking to stabilize and manage the property to care for the heritage trees and restore the spring-fed pond. The park has since been visited by the Parks Department and mulch spread around. The health of the remaining trees IS in question and residents are looking for an irrigation company to help restore the existing irrigation system. Please contact Helen Fleming 512-917-1935 with questions and information.
14. Please come out on June 2nd to the Blunn Preserve, 8:30-12, for National Hiking Day. Help plant trees and work on the park.
15. A sustainable architectural group, called the Architects Sustainable Design Assessment Team, is working on a plan to address development issues along Riverside between Joe’s Crab Shack and Congress. They are meeting June 4th-6th at the Mexican American Cultural Center

Garret Nick, Secretary

 

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