Cherry Creek View

President's Corner

2008-06-07T06:14:00.000-07:00

The July 4th weekend will soon be upon us, and as is tradition, our neighborhood will have a parade and a picnic. In addition to being a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our freedoms, it will also be an opportunity for us to exercise them by taking some time to discuss what to do about a parcel of land at the end of Kangaroo Lane that was offered to our neighborhood a long time ago. At the picnic, your board will present various options for what to do with the land and facilitate an open discussion amongst our members and residents.

While we're on the subject of freedom, I know that many of you feel that your freedom to turn out of and into our neighborhood isn't what it should be. As previously mentioned, the city is working on installing a traffic light. In addition to this, we have been able to confirm that the developer of the shopping center across from our entrance has engaged an engineering firm and applied for permits to begin construction of a left-turn lane on northbound Brodie. The timing of this is unclear, but we will stay on top of it to make sure the project progresses.

Freedom also means participation, and one of the ways that people participate is by contributing to their neighborhood by volunteering for our association. One of our volunteers, Linda Criss, served as a board member and as our newsletter editor for the last year. She is now moving on to other things and will be succeeded by Carmen Martin. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Linda for her work on the newsletter and in building a more friendly, cohesive community here in Cherry Creek. I would also like to thank Carmen for stepping up and volunteering to take over and also to say that I'm excited to have her on board (no pun intended). Linda and Carmen will be creating our July newsletter together and Carmen will take over editorial responsibilities starting with the August edition.

As other board members reach the end of their terms, we will need more volunteers throughout the rest of the year. If you want to participate, please contact us at board @ cherrycreekonbrodie.org. There's never a better time to get involved than now.

Cheers,
Percy Wegmann

President, Cherry Creek on Brodie Lane Neighborhood Association

Urgent Notice for Cat Owners in Cherry Creek

2008-05-14T05:42:00.000-07:00

One of our neighbors reports the following:

"Just wanted to let everyone with cats know that their is a gray tom cat with white paws roaming the neighborhood that is infected with the FIV virus(equivalent of HIV in humans). Our cat was bitten by this tom cat and now has the virus. PLEASE DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOUR CAT. Whomever owns the cat, please get your cat tested and keep them from roaming; it will only spread the disease to other cats."

Cornell's veterinary school provides a page with some good basic information about FIV:

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/fiv.html

President's Corner

2008-05-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-06T18:45:00.001-08:00

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:

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

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
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
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
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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

2008-03-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-27T16:59:00.000-08:00

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:

When board decides that a bond might be needed, they form a citizens bond advisory committee (CBAC)
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
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

2008-02-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

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

City Councilwoman Jennifer Kim Introduces Austin Residents to Google Earth Initiative

2008-02-16T09:10:00.000-08:00

On the morning of February 16, Jennifer Kim and several city staffers gave a demonstration of how the City of Austin is starting to use Google Earth for visualization of current and future buildings in the downtown business district and the north side of Ladybird Lake. The project is still in its very early stages, and the exact goals weren't yet clear. From public comment, it was evident that people are interested in the following main issues:

Data - where is the data going to come from, who is going to pay for its acquisition and how is the city going to make sure that data used for decision-making in the planning and zoning process is accurate?

Integration - How will this new system be integrated with the existing GIS and public records data?

Access - Google Earth is a heavyweight tool. How will those without the ability to use it at home get the necessary level of access.

Street-level View - From the demo, it looked like the software doesn't do particularly well with street-level views. This could be a problem when trying to visualize the impact of proposed developments to our cityscape.

All in all, Google Earth looks like a very powerful tool that could have a positive impact on the planning and zoning process and the city does have some limited budget allocated to pursuing it, but it sounds like it's going to take a while to get up and running with it.

I would not expect that the city will be acquiring data for our part of town anytime soon, but the tool for creating 3D models itself is openly available (Google Sketchup) and it sounds like it might be possible to pull in some of the city's existing terrain and building footprint data from their website and do our own models, if we are so inclined.

Austin Green Neighbor Program

2008-02-10T08:07:00.002-08:00

Our neighbor Phil Brown forwarded the below announcement from the City of Austin:

BECOME A GREEN NEIGHBORHOOD!

When Austinites are asked what they like best about our city, our outdoor lifestyle is always near the top of the list. In large part that’s because we are surrounded by accessible waterways – the creeks, lakes and springs that connect us to our environment.

The City of Austin’s Green Neighbor Program helps homeowners preserve our waterways as well as our drinking water supply. The companion booklet, Clean Creek Challenge, provides useful suggestions on earth-wise landscaping, water conservation, car and pet care tips, toxic chemicals and many more. You can use the booklet as a helpful reference, to test how “green” you are, or take part in the Clean Creek Challenge by scoring your earth-wise actions to win either passes to Barton Springs pool or Green Neighbor t-shirts. If enough of your neighbors become Green Neighbors, you can become a Green Neighborhood and be eligible for Council and web site recognition as well as some neighborhood beautification awards.

If you would like a Water Quality staff person to attend your meeting and introduce the program, please call Kathy Shay, 974-2446. To learn more about the Green Neighbor program please visit www.cityofaustin.org/watershed/greenneighbor/.

Copies of the Green Neighbor booklet are also available at all Austin libraries or 505 Barton Springs Rd, 11th floor.

You could be rewarded with prizes for helping out, but more importantly, you will be rewarded with clean and plentiful water for us and future generations!

Regards,

Sara Heilman

Water Quality Education

City of Austin, Watershed Protection Dept

512.974.3540 (wk) 512.466.6798 (c)

512.974.2846 (fx)

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watershed/education.htm

Green Living Tip

2008-02-10T08:02:00.000-08:00

Our Neighbor Pat Laird forwarded us a green living tip from the Sierra Club:

If you’re in need of lumber, consider buying from ecofriendly wood providers. The Forest Stewardship Council has approved 59 million acres of timber forest in 47 countries for their environmentally responsible practices. Friends of the Earth also has buying tips on its Good Wood Guide site

Announcement of Shred Day Record Management Event

2008-02-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

Shred Day 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Austin High Parking Lot
1715 W. Cesar Chavez

With the increased awareness of identity theft, it’s important to dispose of personal records carefully. To highlight this, the Association of Records Managers and Administrators and the City of Austin is sponsoring a Free event to help individuals and families with:

* Home records management
* Identity theft protection
* Recycling

Households can bring up to five file boxes of paper records for shredding. Mobile shredding trucks from Austin Shred, a Balcones Resource Company, CenTex Shred and Iron Mountain will be on-site to shred the material.

Restrictions:

* No wet material
* No plastics/binders
* No electronic media

For more information contact Jannette Goodall at 974-9045 or via email at Jannette.goodall "at" ci.austin.tx.us

Traffic Management Updates

2008-01-10T09:07:00.001-08:00

I've spoken with a couple of Austin city engineers to ascertain what's happening with regard to getting the intersection of Brodie and Silk Oak under control. Here's the latest:

Traffic Light - A city engineer responsible for traffic signals has promised to visit the intersection again now that the auto parts store has opened. He also plans to commission another traffic count. As you may recall, the traffic count performed last summer did not yet show high enough traffic to justify a light, but we're hoping that's changed with the opening of the store.

Left-Turn Lane on Northbound Brodie - According to the city engineer I spoke with, the developer of Brodie 31 is responsible for putting in a left-turn lane and needs to do so immediately. The engineer's boss has promised to contact the developer and notify him that the left-turn lane needs to be put in ASAP, or else the city will disallow left turns into the shopping center.

Traffic Count at Silk Oak Drive and Silk Oak Cove - The city once again has some funding available to do traffic calming and they are starting to collect data to analyze the situation in our area. We expect to hear from the city engineer heading up this project.

The Cherry Creek on Brodie Lane neighborhood association has also concluded our own survey on our neighborhood's traffic priorities. Based on eight residents responding by the deadline of 12/31/2007, we saw the following results (listed in decreasing order of priority):

Realign Deer and Davis at Brodie
Install Traffic Light at Silk Oak and Brodie
Extend Westgate between Cameron Loop and Slaughter
Widen Davis Between Brodie and Leo
Install a No U-Turn Sign on Southbound Brodie at Silk Oak
Complete Davis between Huebinger Pass and Leo
Install a Cut-Through Turn Lane on Southbound Brodie for the Brodie Heights Neighborhood
Time the Lights on Brodie at Slaughter and at David to Create Gaps in Traffic for People Turning onto Brodie

2008-01-01T00:16:00.000-08:00

There are currently no online member service listings. The teenage job seeker listings were removed for security reasons. If you are a member of the Cherry Creek on Brodie Lane Neighborhood Association and would like to advertise services online, please contact board@cherrycreekonbrodie.org.

2007-12-26T20:24:00.000-08:00

City of Austin Considering Changes to City Council Districting Scheme

Currently, all city council members are elected "at large", meaning that they represent the entire city of Austin. The city has formed a Charter Revision Committee that's studying the possibility of electing some or all council members from geographically specific districts, referred to as "single-member districts".

As part of the evaluation process, the city is asking for feedback from Austin residents. You can go to http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/charter/ for more information and to complete a survey. If you're unhappy with the level of attention we receive from the city, this process may present an opportunity for you to increase our visibility in Austin's governing processes.

As always, feel free to contact your board if you have questions or comments.

2007-12-25T11:36:00.000-08:00

2007 Christmas Lights Contest Winners

Well, the results are in, the people of Cherry Creek on Brodie have spoken, and the conclusion is unmistakable - everyone's a winner! Well, okay, we do have some official winners, but the many ballots that residents turned in reflected a diversity of tastes and a neighborhood that likes to decorate.

So, without further ado, here are the results:

1st Place - 9600 Kangaroo
2nd Place - 9305 Lightwood Loop
3rd Place - 3311 Silk Oak Drive
Most Innovative/Creative - 3311 Silk Oak Drive
Best Nativity Scene - 3201 Grasshopper
Best use of Color - 9604 Kangaroo
Children's Favorite - 9332 Lightwood Loop
Honorable Mention - 9 way tie (3323 Grasshopper, 9309 Lightwood Loop, 9332 Lightwood Loop, 9425 Lightwood Loop, 3311 Silk Oak Drive, 3206 Silkgrass, 3207 Silkgrass, 3306 Silkgrass, 3308 Silkgrass)
Write In - 4 way tie (9434 Lightwood Loop, 3311 Silk Oak Drive, 3112 Silkgrass, 9401 Tea Rose Trail)

I took advantage of our warm Austin winter to walk around last night and see the many wonderful designs that your neighbors have concocted and it was a real treat.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-22T14:48:00.000-08:00

OHAN CRIME ALERT – December 21, 2007

Yesterday, OHAN sent an e-mail to our neighborhood representatives concerning the return of the BB gun attacks theSouthwest Austin area experienced last year. OHAN is now in possession of additional information, so I wanted to get an alert out to the full e-mail list. Below is an APD Crimestoppers report on these incidents. Usually, the targets have been the rear windows of SUVs parked in the street or in driveways. Many OHAN member neighborhoods have experienced these attacks, but neighborhoods along Escarpment Blvd (Circle C, New Villages at Western Oaks, Legend Oaks I and II) seem to be the most affected.

What you can do:

Park cars in garages if possible.
If you have to park your car outside your garage, back it into your driveway. This is because front windshields are more resistant to BB and Pellet guns than rear windows.
Report ANY suspicious activity to APD, the Travis County Sheriff’s Department and/or the Precinct 3 Constable’s office. APD has recommended that calls be placed with 911 rather than 311.
Some neighbors have reported a “loud” full size white pickup truck (presumably with a muffler noisemaker device) driven by three white males in an area where BB gun attacks occurred. Be on the lookout for a vehicle matching this description and report it to the police if it is being operated in a suspicious manner, particularly between the hours of 11pm and 5am.
OHAN will be setting up an e-mail account to collate reports from neighbors about these attacks and forward them to the authorities. Please send any incident reports or information on BB gun attacks to crime@ohan.org (note that this account may not be active immediately as we only began the process of setting it up today).

APD seeks help on vehicle vandalism
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 11:37 AM
From the Austin Police Department:
Austin Police Department Northwest and Southwest detectives are seeking the public’s assistance to help identify suspects responsible for criminal mischief offenses that have occurred since August 2007 in the northwest and southwest parts of the city.

The suspects have been targeting mostly SUV-type vehicles, shattering the rear windows with what detectives believe to be a BB or pellet gun. In most cases, nothing has been stolen.

To date, there have been more than 400 reported cases in northwest and southwest Austin with the incidents occurring between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The damaged vehicles were parked either in a driveway or on the street in front of the owner’s home.

The Austin Police Department asks residents to call 911 on any suspicious persons or vehicles during these times of the night.

Individuals with specific information about this incident or the suspect are asked to call Detective M. Gutierrez at 974-5954 for Northwest, Detective M. Feinartz at 974-8252 or Detective B. Buck at 974-4748 for Southwest or CrimeStoppers at 472-8477. CrimeStoppers will pay up to $1,000 for information. These cases remain under investigation by APD Northwest and Southwest detectives.

2007-12-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

First Night Austin, December 31 2007

On New Year's Eve, downtown Austin transforms into one big art and entertainment gallery as welcome's the New Year in the First Night celebration. Find out more at: http://www.firstnightaustin.org/

2007-11-11T16:09:00.000-08:00

Fourth Quarter Neighborhood Meeting Held Today

We discussed topics ranging from neighborhood watch to our annual budget, and the one recurring theme that emerged was "community". Charlie Criss and Fritz Parker presented the information that they've assembled in their drive to re-invigorate the neighborhood watch program in Cherry Creek, and their message was clear - neighborhood watch isn't about a handful of block captains patrolling the neighborhood, it's about people looking out for each other and keeping the lines of communication open. Looking at the capital projects added to our wish list today, I see that most focused around enhancing our public meeting spaces, be it by providing more seating, building more grills or creating smaller gathering spaces around the neighborhood. And while we've heard some feedback to the contrary, today's consensus seemed to be that continuing to sponsor activities that bring neighbors together is a good thing.

As a board member, I'm happy to engage our residents and members in conversations around where to take the neighborhood, and as a resident of the neighborhood I'm just plain happy to meet people. To that end, I'm going to start holding president's hour with coffee and snacks at my house from 7 PM to 8 PM on the second Thursday of every month, starting on December 13. I'm in the white one story at 3307 Silkgrass Bend and I hope to see you around some time!

Cheers,
Percy Wegmann

2006-04-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

First annual CCOBLNA neighborhood garage sale was a runaway success!

We had around 30 households participate and experience strong traffic throughout the morning and early afternoon. The board would love to find out who made the most money--if you had a good day, please write us and tell us how you did. We'd also love to hear what was the most unique item sold, or any other fun stories you'd like to share. We'd also love to hear feedback on whether or not you'd like to do this again next year, and whether or not you'd like to do it earlier or later in the year.

2006-04-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

First Cherry Creek Neighborhood Garage Sale to take place April 22

Please join us for our biggest crowd pleaser ever! If you were ever planning on a garage sale, now is your chance to have all the attention you will ever need. So, clean out your closets, and turn clutter into cash. Be ready bright and early Saturday morning to meet and greet the public. If things go well and demand is high, we hope to do this on an annual basis.

2006-04-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

About the Cherry Creek on Brodie Lane Neighborhood Association

CCoB is located just off Brodie Lane in southwest Austin, between Davis and Slaughter.

Our association depends on your voluntary support to promote the quality of life we enjoy.

For in-depth answers about the Association's responsibilities and property, click here.

You can join the association by paying annual dues of $60. Please mail your dues to:
Barbara Statum, Secretary
CCoBLNA
PO Box 150127
Austin, TX 78715-0127

Our address for other correspondence:
CCoBLNA
PO Box 150127
Austin, TX 78715-0127

We also have a drop box attached to our entrance marquee. This is not a US Mail box. You can put dues checks or other correspondence in this box and raise the red flag. Board members check it frequently.

CCoB Insider Stuff
Here is some information for real estate agents and prospective neighbors.

CCOBNA is a member of the Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods and the Austin Neighborhoods Council.

2006-04-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

Responsibilities and Property of CCOBLNA

originally posted to http://www.main.org/ccobna/InfoLinks/ccobna_rights.htm on June 27, 2004

The following are questions and answers pertaining to the rights, privileges and property of Cherry Creek on Brodie Neighborhood Association.

Introduction

What is the official status of CCoBNA as an organization?

We are the neighborhood association created by property owners in 1995 before our subdivision was even built out. Milburn Homes (now known as D.R. Horton Homes), which built Cherry Creek on Brodie, has acknowledged that we are its official association in several ways, the most important of which are: 1) Milburn assigned its declarant rights, or legal control, over all CCoB deed restrictions to the association in 1997 and 2) Milburn granted us (along with the former Southland Oaks Municipal Utility District) a landscape easement on land fronting our entrance in 1999. We are not just an ad-hoc group of concerned neighbors who got together long after their neighborhood had fallen into decline, as many associations are, especially in older neighborhoods. We are a non-profit organization under the laws of the State of Texas, and our mission is to prevent the decline of our homes, entrance, parks and property values.

What about by-laws?

We operate under a set of by-laws written by our founding property owners and subsequently approved by Milburn Homes, and we are in the process of getting those online.

Responsibilities

My deed restrictions don't mention CCoBNA at all. Do you have any authority pertaining to the DRs?

Yes. On Sept. 26, 1997, Milburn Investments Inc. signed over its declarant rights over the deed restrictions to the Association. This assignment is recorded in Volume 13031, Pages 196-197, of the Travis County Real Property Records.

The assignment of declarant rights covers all four sections under which CCoB was built (10-A, 11, 12, and 13). Here are excerpts of this assignment:

"Whereas Cherry Creek on Brodie Neighborhood Association ... desires to assume the rights and obligations of Declarant under the Declarations ... so that the Assignee may, among other things, enforce the covenants, conditions and restrictions contained in the Declarations ... Declarant hereby assigns, sets over and transfers unto Assignee all of its obligations, rights, titles and interests which Declarant has or may hereafter have under the Declarations."

So what does that all mean?

Well, while the deed restrictions give any property owner the right to take legal action against violators of the DRs in court, the DRs give specific additional rights to the declarant -- in other words, the Association. The Association, for example, in the role of Architectural Control Committee, has the sole and final right to review and then approve or reject all property improvements. Owners, under the DRs, must submit all plans to the ACC for approval. This can be done by contacting the board by mail. The ACC also has the right, at the owner's expense, to enforce exterior maintenance where the owner fails to do so -- for example, to fix a publicly visible privacy fence that is in very poor condition and that the owner has steadfastly refused to repair.

Let's be clear: The Association has seldom resorted to this level of enforcement, because almost all of our homeowners do the right thing. But as our neighborhood ages, the potential for the need for Association action could grow to the point where the Association, acting on behalf of all property owners, will need to take formal action to maintain our community standards. For now, we trust that writing letters to owners when severe violations come to our attention is sufficient.

The Assocation, as declarant, also can take action to make minor corrections to the DRs. We also want to move toward a unified set of DRs as opposed to the four separate and not-quite-identical sets we have now. The sets do not differ in any important ways, but having one set would make managing the Association a lot easier.

I am not a member of the Association. Do these rules apply to me?

Yes. Your deed restrictions are legally binding upon you as a property owner regardless of whether you are a member of the Association, and the Association can exercise its rights under the DRs regardless of the membership status of the owner. If you are a renter, you should follow the DRs as well, because your landlord is legally obligated to do so.

Where are my DRs?

You should have received them at closing. If not, you can get them in the Real Property Records office of Travis County. Or contact your title company. They are binding on owners whether or not the owners received them or read them at closing.

Why are we not a mandatory homeowners association?

Because our founding property owners created us as a voluntary neighborhood association, albeit with the goal of converting to HOA status as quickly as possible. We were one of the last Milburn projects not to have a mandatory HOA, which has become the norm. There have been several abortive efforts for us to convert to mandatory status over the years, even with the support of Milburn Homes. We may try again if we have neighborhood support. The main benefit would be a predictable revenue stream for maintaining our entrance and dealing with developers. As declarant over the DRs, the Association can take the lead on educating our owners on these matters and moving toward the required owner votes to make the change. The Association cannot just amend the DRs to create a mandatory HOA.

Property

What bank accounts, mail boxes and so forth does the Association maintain?

The Association depends upon voluntary dues of $25 per lot for its annual revenue. We have an account at University Federal Credit Union in Shady Hollow Shopping Center on Brodie Lane where we deposit all Association funds. We also rent a safe deposit box there for official Association documents. In addition, we rent a mailbox at PostNet on Brodie Lane in SHSC.

What property does the Association own?

The 8.44 acres at the end of Kangaroo Lane

The Association has entered into an agreement with Endeavor Group to receive title to a parcel of land known informally as "the 8.44 acres" at the end of Kangaroo Lane. This parcel of about 35 single-family lots was part of the tract Endeavor developed as Shady Hollow Shopping Center (Randall's). In exchange for the Association's support for certain zoning changes Endeavor wanted along Brodie, Endeavor agreed to deed over the 8.44 acres to the Association and work to vacate the Kangaroo Lane extension right of way through the property. We plan to dedicate the property as permanent undisturbed buffer or, potentially, develop it for neighborhood recreational use. Although the Association will be liable for property taxes on the parcel, the taxes will be at a nominal rate. Although Endeavor has just recently received the zoning changes it wanted and is ready to sign over the lot, we are going to make sure we can afford the taxes before taking title.

Entrance landscaping easements

The Association also owns landscape easement rights along both sides of Silk Oak Drive entering the subdivision, and a short portion of the east side of Brodie Lane just north and south of the entrance. We consider these easements to be one of our key assets because they give us control over curb cuts, driveways and landscaping along Silk Oak and Brodie to protect the beauty and safety of our only subdivision entrance.

The easements extend into the property for five feet from the inside edge of the sidewalk on Silk Oak, beginning at the rear property lines of lots on Silk Oak Cove (north side) and Tea Rose Trail (south side). The depth of the easement widens out at an angle to encompass the Cherry Creek monument signs, lighting, trees and landscaping on the corners, to a depth of about 27.5 feet measuring from the inside edge of the Brodie sidewalks on the north and south. The easements along Brodie extend at this depth parallel to the street for about 130 feet on the south side (Stepping Stone School) and about 140 feet on the north lot.

Continental Homes (formerly Milburn Homes, now DR Horton Homes) granted these easements jointly to the Southland Oaks MUD and CCoBNA on Sept. 26, 1997. When the city of Austin annexed us and the MUD went away, the city inherited the MUD's share of the easement, but seems to care little for it -- indeed, the city seems rather confused as to what to do with an easement granted originally for the benefit of our neighborhood. The Association likely will approach the city about abandoning its share so we have sole rights to the easements.

The easements are "for the installation, maintenance, replacement, upgrade and repair of landscape improvements in, upon and across" the land as described in Volume 13031, Pages 198-208 of the Travis County Real Property Records.

The Association (and, for now, the city) jointly have "the privilege at any and all times to enter and have access to the Property, or any part thereof, for the purpose of installing, maintaining, replacing, upgrading and repairing said landscape improvements." The city has never showed any interest in doing any of these things.

The Association began contesting Stepping Stone School's actual and proposed violation of our easement in 2003 during the school's construction when some of our grass was torn up, and continuing into 2004 as the school planned to cut a driveway through part of the easement and opening onto Silk Oak Drive just east of the narrow median. The school had clearly understood we had the easement prior to construction and had assured us they wanted to be good neighbors and would not seek a driveway cut onto Silk Oak, although they originally had planned to and, in fact, the original address of the school was on Silk Oak.

The Association and many neighbors vigorously opposed this plan and fought the school's efforts to obtain a permit. The city's position was that the easement was a private matter that did not affect the technical requirements for whether a permit should be granted. As of this writing, however, the school, thanks to the efforts of the Association, does not have its permit. We have also reopened dialog with the school after severely strained relations to try to work with the city and other business developers along Brodie to find a better solution. We believe, for example, that once the Brodie 31 development goes in directly across Brodie from Silk Oak, that intersection improvements will mitigate the school's parking problems. We believe the school knew about the potential parking problems from the beginning, the city allowed the school to be built with inadequate parking, and that the parking situation on Silk Oak is as bad as it is simply because the school's clients choose to park in dangerous places and conduct dangerous maneuvers to get in and out of the school by using Silk Oak Drive as a turnaround.

Landscape improvements

The Association owns the Cherry Creek monuments and landscaping within our easements as discussed above, along with the lights and irrigation systems there. Stepping Stone School, without the Association's permission, capped off our irrigation systems during construction; however, we benefit from their excellent maintenance of the landscaping and grass they installed. We also own the light green sign welcoming visitors to CCoBNA, and the entrance marquee on which we post official notices.

Restrictive covenants

We have entered into restrictive covenants with various adjacent developers to protect our neighborhood now and in the future. These include a permanent green buffer between us and Harmon Ranch to the south, and restrictions on the operation of the Goodwill Store on Brodie Lane. We are discussing more RCs with developers of Brodie 31 and Harris Ranch.

Who mows the grass, and pays for the water and lights at the entrance?

The city parks department pays those bills as part of its obligations upon inheriting the Southland Oaks MUD, which created our landscaping, signs and parks. However, given the city's perpetual budget "crises," we foresee the day when we will have to take on more and more of the maintenance and possibly the utilities at the entrance. Doing so may be in our long-term best interests because we want our entrance to be beautifully maintained.

Who owns the parks?

We have two parks: Cherry Creek Park near the entrance and Silk Oak Park between us and Tanglewood Oaks. We refer to these sometimes as the "west park" and "east park." They are public parks maintained by the city, although Cherry Creek Park is on land owned by DR Horton.

Who owns the north entrance lot?

DR Horton owns it. It's an odd lot that will be difficult to develop because it falls under the SOS Ordinance, it has pipelines running through it, and, even though it is zoned Light Office, its deed restrictions are the same as those on our residential lots. We are hopeful that DR Horton will either deed this lot over to us as permanent green space, or restrict it as such through an RC. Stay tuned.