President's Corner

We've got a lot going on right at the front of our neighborhood, and I'd like to recognize the individuals that are making it happen.

You may have noticed a bunch of new plantings at the front entrance. As the signs say, these are your dues at work, so the first thank you belongs to all the paying members of our neighborhood association. The second thank you belongs to the landscaping committee, who procured competitive bids, organized the work and continue to maintain a watchful eye to make sure the landscapes are being properly maintained. The committee includes Charlotte Petersen, Kristy Brown, Fritz Parker, Carla Trautwein and Erica Taylor. In addition to our paying members, you can also thank Fritz, Carla and Erica for organizing the rehabilitation of our marquee sign.

The other major development you may have noticed is some construction at all four corners of the Brodie and Silk Oak intersection. As most of you have probably figured out, these are the foundations for a traffic light! Most people upon hearing this news jump for joy and then proceed to ask what finally made the city give in. The official story is that traffic volumes finally met one of the warrants required to justify installing a light. The unofficial story is that your neighbor, Robert Ruiz, stepped up and escalated the matter to the mayor's office, which promptly sent someone down to our neighborhood to observe the situation first-hand. So, the next time you see Robert, give him a big thank you and, if you're so inclined, ask him if he'd like to join the board!

The work on the traffic lights is supposedly scheduled to complete sometime before the end of June. Meanwhile it's on to the next battle -- getting a north-bound left-turn lane put in on Brodie.

All the Best,
Percy Wegmann

2008 Membership Strong

When our neighborhood association voted to increase dues to $60 per year, it caused some concern as to whether or not we would continue to see strong membership participation. I am happy to report that as of the first quarter of 2008, we are already at over 80 member households and growing. This is fantastic news for two reasons:

1. It shows that past members are still committed to the neighborhood and
2. It means that we have achieved our goal of improved funding for neighborhood maintenance and other activities

Consistent funding is vital - while the City of Austin maintains our parks, our neighborhood association is solely responsible for maintaining the landscaping at our front entrance and organizing and funding activities like the annual 4th of July parade and picnic.

Board Unanimously Approves Joint Resolution on the Davis Lane / Westgate Corridor Planning Process

The Cherry Creek on Brodie Lane Neighborhood Association board unanimously adopted the below resolution:

Joint Resolution
On the Davis Lane / West Gate Corridor Planning Process

Grateful that the City of Austin has made available funds for the improvement of roadways in the area bounded on the west by Brodie Lane, to the east by Manchaca Road, to the North by Davis/Deer Lane and to the south by Slaughter Lane (the “Planning Area”, shown on the attached map);

Recognizing that the Planning Area has experienced and continues to experience rapid growth and is in dire need of infrastructure investments;

Cognizant that Cowan Elementary School is located within the Planning Area and that Austin Independent School District (AISD) officials have indicated a need for improved school bus and vehicular circulation at Cowan;

Determined that available funds be invested in a manner that addresses the priorities of residents in the Planning Area;

Further determined that available funds not be diverted to projects outside of the Planning Area;

Knowledgeable about specific proposed projects that have been presented to residents of the Planning Area, neighborhood leaders and AISD officials by City of Austin Public Works Department staff;

Acting on the currently available information, anecdotal information from area residents, and limit traffic data and projections from the City of Austin and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO);

Now therefore do the undersigned, representing more than 5,000 households, commuters, business owners, parents, and school children, come together to make the following resolution:

We the undersigned resolve that the City of Austin Public Works Department present the Urban Transportation Commission with a comprehensive proposal that addresses the Planning Area priorities below in a manner that places an emphasis on the safety of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, especially as it involves children, and with an overall timeline that reflects the given priorities:

Priority One: Improve access, mobility, and safety along Davis Lane by widening the road section bounded on the west by Brodie Lane and the east by Zeke Bend, to include improving access to Cowan Elementary by providing turn lanes where Kentish Road intersects Davis Lane for safe access to the school, and creating AISD's requested circulation areas at the school itself for buses and cars; and

Priority Two: Apply any unspent funds to widen the road section of Davis Lane bounded on the west by Leo Street and the east by Manchaca Road.

We the undersigned further resolve that the City of Austin Public Works Department revise and accelerate the timelines for the following unanimously accepted and fully funded projects to avoid skyrocketing construction costs and dangerous increases in local traffic:

- The widening and realignment of the section of Davis Lane from Brodie Lane to Corran Ferry Drive; and
- The final connection of the section of Davis Lane from Leo Street to Huebinger Pass.

Neighborhood Garage Sale Saturday April 12

We're holding our annual neighborhood garage sale on Saturday April 12, starting in the morning around 8 and going as late as people are willing to go. The association is posting ads in the paper and on Craigslist, so just put out your stuff tomorrow and sell, sell, sell!

Notes from Meeting with Public Works Department to Discuss Local Road Projects

To begin, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to Dominic Chavez from Castlewood-Oak Valley. He has been organizing area residents to work with the City of Austin to come to a consensus around which of various city-proposed road projects would be most beneficial to our area.

The latest of his efforts was to broker a meeting between neighborhood leaders and staff from the Public Works Department, which just concluded. I here attempt to report the facts of the situation as explained by the various attendees:

1. Coming into the meeting, there was broad agreement that projects to realign Deer Ln west of Brodie with Davis Ln east of Brodie as well as to close the gap in Davis Ln between Huebinger Pass and Leo St. should proceed as planned.
• The project for closing the gap between Huebinger and Leo is approximately 80% through the design process, but still requires land acquisition which usually takes about 1 year
• The project to realing Davis with Deer is not scheduled to complete design until October of 2009 and also requires land acquisition, which could proceed while design is ongoing
  
2. The two big open issues were what to do with Westgate (complete the missing section, not complete the missing section, or something somewhere in-between) and what kinds of improvements could be made to Davis Ln east of Brodie
3. City staff indicated that both Brodie Ln and Manchaca are operating at service level "B", meaning that they are supporting acceptable (by the City's standards) traffic flow
4. City staff estimates indicated that a completed 4-lane Westgate Blvd would draw about 8700 trips per day. Long-range CAMPO (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) estimates are around 8900. For comparison, Brodie draws about 22,000, and a 2 lane Westgate would be expected to support approximately 10,000 trips per day at "acceptable" levels
5. Previously, some residents had suggested compromise solutions to the Westgate extension that were intended to address the concerns of AISD with regard to Cowan elementary but without completing Westgate. City staff clearly indicated that they do not consider these options to be viable specifically because they do not create a contiguous Westgate, which the city's plan calls for.
6. City staff also indicated that minor improvements to Davis Lane might be possible, but that widening it to 4 lanes is out of the question because CAMPO's plan only calls for it to be two lanes (between Brodie and Manchaca).
7. A representative from DR Horton, which is developing some condominiums across Westgate from Cowan, south of Davis, indicated that they posted approximately $400,000 in fiscal warrants from improvements to Deer, but nothing for Davis.
8. According to city staff, fiscal warrants from developers are rarely enough to fund whole projects since they only cover that development's impact to area traffic.
9. City staff indicated that from a timing perspective, it was unlikely that the Westgate funding would be used for any new projects that have not already been funded. However, due to the nature of the construction process and a trend of increasing costs, the longer they wait to build the Westgate project, the more likely it is that the money will have been diverted to other (already funded) projects that may experience increased baseline costs or cost overruns and that at some point the Westgate extension becomes impossible.
10. City staff indicated that a design for a 4 lane contiguous Westgate has now been 100% completed and that they are just waiting on area residents to make a decision
11. City staff also indicated that redesigning Westgate as a 2 lane roadway would be possible and take about another 60 days. This was city staff's recommended option if residents didn't like the 4-lane Westgate
12. City staff requested that residents give them an answer within 30 days (best case) or 60 days if that's not possible. They would like to go before the Urban Transportation Commission with a consensus, but will go before them without one if necessary. What they would recommend in that case was unclear. Dominic Chavez will be setting up a follow-up meeting for just the neighborhood leaders to discuss further and hopefully come to a conclusion
    

Board Members Inspect Location of new Building at Brodie Heights

Board members Barbara Statum and Carla Trautwein took a walk over to the newest building going in at the Brodie Heights condominium development north of Cherry Creek on Brodie. They report that the building appears to be no closer than any of the existing ones and looks like it is in compliance with setback requirements.

Notes from February 27 Austin Neighborhoods Council Meeting

The Austin Neighborhoods Council held its monthly meeting yesterday. In addition to its regular business, the meeting included a panel of speakers from Austin Independent School District (AISD) addressing the audience and answering questions about the interim school bond election scheduled for May 10, 2008.

AISD Interim School Bond Discussion
Vincent Torres (AISD Board of Trustees, District 4, Vice President) explained the basics of the bond process:

1. When board decides that a bond might be needed, they form a citizens bond advisory committee (CBAC)
2. Advisory committee explores if and when a bond is needed and for what it is needed. This can include public hearings to collect public comment
3. Board considers recommendations and calls a bond election if necessary

Robert Schneider (AISD Board of Trustrees, District 7) delved into the history of this specific bond:

- It started out as an interim strategic bond
- It was originally scoped at 200 million dollars
- As a result of recent legislative action, school districts are required to get voter approval to raise taxes by any more than 1.17, which promted AISD to consider whether it might want to include more in the necessary election
- Several public forums were organized by the CBAC
- After receiving feedback from the CBAC, the board decided to pursue a larger bond election

Nan Clayton (CBAC) addressed some specifics of what is included on the bond:

- The so-called 4 x 4 state mandate requires new facilities
- Several facilities are operating at over 125 % of capacity, which is officially considered overcrowded
- The State legislature is requiring a transition to use of more software-based textbooks but without having funded the required technology

Mark Yzanga (CBAC) addressed some of the issues and lessons learned from the process:

- Citizen comment started as tepid, perhaps because no concrete proposals were provided at the beginning of the public comment period
- Lack of integration/overall city planning process made it difficult to come up with accurate estimates

Q&A followed:

- One person expressed concern about locating the proposed South Austin High over the acquifer - Rob responded that building a school would be good for the environment because it would result in less impervious cover than other permitted uses
- Propositions 1 and 2 on the bond issue are pretty much directly taken from the CBAC recommendations
- Prop 3 addresses the need for performing arts center in light of the fact that the long center may not be suitable due to lack of parking. Some concerns were raised about the structuring of Prop 3 and whether or not it might be politically motivated.
- According to nan clayton, none of the bond packages include library improvements.
- There is a facility use and boundary committee that is responsible for making recommendations about changing boundaries to improve facilities use
- South High School land acquisition is expensive because of size requirements of highs chools and potential impervious cover requirements

Candidate Forum

At the upcoming Austin Neighborhoods Council meeting in March, they will be holding a candidates forum for the three Austin City Council seats up for election in May. After the forum, the Austin Neighborhoods Council will vote on deciding whom to endorse.

Other Austin Neighborhoods Council Business

- It turns out that single member districts cannot be on may ballot because it is too early for a charter election (has been less than 2 years since the last one)
- Some of the city council members are proposing a resolution to further investigate single member districts, which would probably take long enough to keep it off the november ballot
- The Austin Neighborhoods Council would like to see a real public process for drafting the single member districts ballot

Board of Directors and Officers

At this time, the Cherry Creek on Brodie Lane Neighborhood Association's Board of Directors consists of the following individuals. Officers are indicated with their office in parenthesis.

Percy Wegmann (President)
Silkgrass Bnd

Carla Trautwein (Vice President)
Lightwood Loop

Barbara Statum (Secretary)
Silk Oak Cove

Kristyn Brown (Treasurer)
Silkgrass Bnd

John Schatte
Tea Rose Trail

Linda Criss
Tea Rose Trail

Carmen Ramos
Silkgrass Bnd

Erica Taylor
Silkgrass Bnd

Fritz Parker
Lightwood Loop

Charlotte Peterson
Lightwood Loop