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MCCANN/THRUSHWOOD TRAFFIC MEETING SUMMARY
FEB. 3, 2016 7-8:30 PM AT WATERLOO ICEHOUSENSNCA President Amelia Cobb announced that the 2012 request filed by Evelin Nunes for traffic calming along Primrose has been funded. City Council Member Leslie Pool’s office included the project in a list of improvements to be funded from District 7’s share of Cap Metro money recently distributed among Austin’s council districts.
It will be a Local Area Traffic Management Program (LATM) project and will be subject to the procedures of that program. For more info on the City’s LATM Program, please follow this link: http://www.austintexas.gov/department/local-area-traffic-management
Evelin Nunes and Tomas Rodriguez, chair of NSCNA’s Traffic Committee, spoke about North Shoal Creek’s experience with traffic calming. Tomas described the speed cushions and traffic circle that will soon be installed on Rockwood north of Steck. This project is also funded with LATM Program money.
Sharon Justice, NSCNA’s Media Chair, distributed handouts describing several ways to calm traffic and listing sites and documents that provide clear and concise introductions to traffic calming techniques. She urged neighbors to educate themselves about traffic calming so they’ll be better prepared to take part in the LATM planning process. These handouts can be viewed at the following links:ity Council Member Leslie Pool’s Policy Advisor on Zoning and Land Use, Louisa Brinsmade, spoke about the neighborhood’s traffic problem and answered questions about mitigating it. She also brought handouts showing examples of safely integrating pedestrians, bikers, and traffic.
It was clear from the questions and comments that people living along these streets are frustrated and angry with the traffic situation and that they see McCann as the source of the problem. One suggestion for mitigating the problem was to speed up traffic by making two lanes of the eastbound frontage road right turns onto Burnet. The most popular suggestion was to keep drivers from turning from McCann onto Thrushwood; drivers could still access the businesses on McCann from 183 but southbound access to Thrushwood would be blocked. Speakers also stressed the need for additional enforcement of traffic laws and more police presence.
Additional comments and suggestions were 1) need for sidewalks; 2) remind Town North Nissan about not test driving cars through the neighborhood; 3) add signs for residential street parking; and 4) use neighborhood association money if city funding isn’t available.
A sign-up sheet for a committee to work with the City’s Transportation Dept. during the LATM project was passed around. Evelin Nunes will chair that committee because she filed the LATM request and therefore is the City’s contact person for the project.
Louisa Brinsmade said the possibility of partially closing McCann can’t be part of the LATM project, but the neighborhood can pursue it as a goal if they want to. There is a precedent for a similar closure on MoPac at Palma Plaza and Newfield Lane (near Enfield and MoPac).
The meeting adjourned about 8:15. The restaurant was noisy, which made it difficult to hear what speakers said. Future meetings will be held in a quieter location.
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The following people were elected officers and directors of the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association at NSCNA’s January 5, 2016 General Membership Meeting. Please feel free to contact them with neighborhood related questions and issues using the email addresses listed below. Emails addressed to directors@nscna.org will go to all seven directors plus the four officers. Directors do not have individual email addresses.
PRESIDENT: Amelia Cobb president@nscna.org
VICE-PRESIDENT: Sarah Brandon vp@nscna.org
SECRETARY: Barbara Gaston secretary@nscna.org
TREASURER: Donna Eagar treasurer@nscna.org
DIRECTORS: directors@nscna.org
• Ernie Garcia
• Sharon Justice
• Evelin Nunes
• Vannezsa Smith
• Kenneth Webb
• Lauren Werchan
• Mike Yetter
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The annual General Membership Meeting of the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association will be held:
When: Tuesday, January 5, 2016, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm.
Where: Pillow Elementary School Cafeteria, 3025 Crosscreek Drive.In addition to normal business the agenda will include:
— Election and installation of officers and board of directors for 2016. Nominees selected by the Nominating Committee are:
President: Amelia Cobb
Vice President: Sarah Brandon
Secretary: Barbara Gaston
Treasurer: Donna Eager
Directors:
Ernie Garcia
Sharon Justice
Evelin Nunes
Vannezsa Smith
Kenneth Webb
Lauren Werchan
Mike Yetter
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NEED A BREAK FROM THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON?
THEN PLEASE COME TO NSCNA’S ANNUAL LUMINARIA WALK, 6-8 P.M., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17th , AT PILLOW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL’S TRACKThe track will be illuminated with hundreds of luminarias. Relax and reflect while strolling about the circle of light, then take it easy while enjoying cookies and hot chocolate with your neighbors.
The Social Committee needs volunteers to help fill the sacks with sand, add tea lights, and set the luminarias around the track. We’ll gather at 4:00 p.m. for set up under the Pavilion at the back of the school.
If you would like to help with set up or clean up, please contact Amelia Cobb at social@nscna.org or 512-364-5519
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Austin Oaks Charrette Neighborhood Update
Save the Date: During the week of January 24‐29, 2016, the owner of the Austin Oaks site and the neighborhood stakeholders surrounding the site will participate in a design charrette in a collaborative effort to create a consensus‐based design for the site. Both the owner and the neighborhood representatives working on the charrette planning see this as an opportunity to use innovative collaborative design as a means of moving forward.
Austin Oaks is a 31‐acre office park located at the southwest corner of Spicewood Springs Road and Mopac. The development, built between 1973 and 1985, currently includes 12 buildings and encompasses 445,322 square feet. It features many heritage trees, providing the neighborhoods with an office complex that blends in with the community.
The property was purchased in 2013 by Twelve Lakes LLC, an affiliate of Spire Realty Group. In 2014, Spire sought to rezone the property to redevelop the site as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) with approximately 1.6 million square feet of office and retail uses, and several hundred apartments. The proposal and its impacts sparked neighborhood opposition to the rezoning.
At the suggestion of neighborhood representatives, Spire agreed to engage in an alternative to conventional negotiations for the redevelopment of the property and try a design‐based approach: a Design Charrette. A charrette is a multi‐day design exercise that brings neighbors together with a multidisciplinary team of designers, engineers, and other specialists to produce a design for the property. During the charrette, the designers and charrette participants plan the site using a collaborative process. Throughout the process, participants provide input, ideas, and feedback to the design team. Various redevelopment scenarios are reviewed against agreed‐upon objectives and measures, refining and revising as appropriate.
Neighborhood representatives and the owner have hired Doug Farr, FAIA, http://farrside.com , from Chicago as the design facilitator for the charrette, and the Austin firm TBG Partnershp: http://tbg‐inc.com has been hired as the design team. Doug Farr and the professionals at TBG are among leading urban design architects and landscape architects in the United States.
The charrette is scheduled for January 24‐29, 2016 at the Austin Oaks site (3721 Executive Center Dr., Suite 264‐Meredith Building). Prior to the charrette week, there will be neighborhood meetings, including two workshops that gather neighborhood input on vision and values regarding the site. After the charrette, the owner and neighborhood representatives will use the output of the charrette to collaboratively develop the zoning ordinance to be proposed to the City for the redevelopment by February 26, 2016.
More information on the charrette process may be found on the NWACA website at
http://tinyurl.com/CharretteProcess and on the National Charrette Institute website at
http://www.charretteinstitute.org/charrette.htmlImportant Dates
Community Information Meetings: Please attend one of these meetings to learn about the process and how neighbors can contribute to the Vision and Values Workshops.
Neighborhood representatives will be there to provide information and answer questions.
♦ Tuesday, December 1st 6‐8 PM at St. Mathew’s Episcopal Church, Room B‐18, located at 8134 Mesa Drive
♦ Wednesday, December 2nd 11:30 AM‐1:30 PM at St. Mathew’s Episcopal Church, Room B‐18, located at 8134 Mesa Drive.
Neighborhood Vision and Values Workshops: Please participate in one of these meetings to provide input.
♦ Wednesday, December 16th 6‐9 PM at St. Mathew’s Episcopal Church, Huffman Hall, located at 8134 Mesa Drive
♦ Tuesday, January 12th 11:30 AM‐1:30 PM at Austin Board of Realtors, Auditorium A,
located at 4800 Spicewood Springs Road
Charrette Design Workshop: Additional information is forthcoming about how neighbors can participate, as the workshop schedule is finalized.
♦ January 24‐29th at Austin Oaks Meredith Building (Building #11), Suite 264, located at 3721 Executive Center Drive
Mission Statement for the Austin Oaks Charrette: Create a redevelopment plan for the Austin Oaks site that satisfies the values of the neighborhood stakeholders and is economically feasible.
For more information, please contact us at aocharretteinfo@gmail.com
ver. 11/19/15
