SRCC meeting notes 6/2/2008 for meeting of the general membership

1. treasurer's report: bob drew we will be looking into the austin community foundation fees and interest to make sure there aren't any

2. police report: officer guerra officer guerra was on hand to talk about the recent reorganization of district representatives, crime and how we can avoid crime. the srcc area is the "south central area command" and officer guerra is the rep for the rest of SRCC with the H2 district which covers south oltorf to ben white. they suggested we record serial numbers of items of value or document them so they can be identified and retrieved from pawn shops. october 7th is national night out. be sure to report all crimes and get the incident number for future reference. the phone number for our district rep is 974-5903.

3. july 4th: cile montgomery the parade will start at 11am with the lineup at 10:45 at st edwards and eastside, parading down eastside to little stacey park for a potluck and music. the goal of the event is to boost membership. sponsors are welcome to support the event.

MOTION: up to $2,000 raised through sponsorship of the 4th of July event will be applied to recoup costs of the event before the money is donated to other causes = PASSED

4. continental club, zoning change to CS1: steve wertheimer the continental club and the gallery next door are being proposed by the city to upzone from CS to CS1. the continental club is already grandfathered as CS and the neighborhood plan proposed the upzone to bring the zoning in line with the current use but the actual zoning change was never made. the city is proposing the gallery space to also be zoned CS1 to accommodate alcohol. the proposal would add a conditional overlay to the property to limit CS1 use to 1,700 sq,ft (the footprint of only the upstairs gallery space) so the entire space is not covered, including the tattoo parlor downstairs. 1313 south congress.

MOTION: to support the zoning change along with a letter clarifying the reason for support (eg: existing grandfathering, iconic biz...) plus a conditional overlay to restrict adult uses = PASSED

5. new PUD criteria: toni house the purpose of the PUD amendment is to determine if a PUD is superior to what is possible under existing regulations.

MOTION: SRCC will email council to support passing the PUD amendment as approved by the Planning Commission = PASSED (there was a ton more information on this that i was unable to take notes on but toni sent me an email with all the relevant information - i don't know if the motion wording is correct b/c i'm pretty sure it was longer, i just couldn't keep up)

6. austin tomorrow comprehensive plan: jean mather city council staff has drafted an updated version of the 1973 plan but some wording changes appear to alter the intent of the original so some SRCC members are volunteering to read through all the changes to make sure nothing vital is changed. toni house, sarah campbell, claudette lowe, garret nick and jean mather have taken up this task.

7. committee reports:

a. norwood house: there was an article in the statesman which has spurred lots of new historical information. there will be a table at the 4th of july event as well as additional fundraising efforts. visit www.restorenorwood.org - restorenorwood@yahoo.com - www.restorenorwood.blogspot.com

b. reagan site plan: billboard production company currently located on 290 is moving to woodland/I-35, including the manufacturing, printing and transportation of these signs and their various components. On paper the site plan conforms with the zoning but the size and 40' height of the "publishing and printing" space indicates what they really want to do. the site plan, which was twice denied by city council, was quickly passed the same day it was resubmitted. printing and publishing is allowed on GR zoned tracts but only on par with what you find in an office setting, this does not cover the sort of heavy machinery used in the printing and painting of large billboards. you are urged to contact city council to voice your concerns. http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm - contact pat.roeder@sbcglobal.net to help

MOTION: to allocate $1,000 of general fund to hire a lawyer to explore our options. = PASSED

c. bus stop: no show

d. melissa outrage: a three block long vegetative buffer between single family residents and commercial property was cut down by the manager of the trust which owns the commercial property. the trees and shrubs in question were located on public right-of-way but the manager says he did it to reduce the amount of trash left there by the homeless. the neighbors want the buffer replanted either by the manager who had it cut down or by the city.

8. other: a. if you are interested in collecting air samples to test for diesel engine particulates and pollutants, please contact Rachel McClure