President's Corner

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

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.

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
    

Traffic Management Updates

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):

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