South Lamar Neighborhood Association

April 19, 2001

 

Due to a mix-up with Unity folks about leaving the building unlocked, the SLNA held its April meeting outside under the trees.  Bryan took us quickly through several updates and new items of concern.

 

1.   Bryan was unable to get the signs to announce our meetings.  He is still working on it and would appreciate any suggestions folks have for getting these made.

2.   Paisley sent an invitation to SLNA members to stop by her home on Sunday 4/22 from 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. for a party.  She is also trying to negotiate with the Kinney Courts folks regarding the fence she has erected.  According to her research she has built it to code; they claim it is not to code --- a 1:4 ratio of solid to open.  She is also pursuing an historical landmark designation for her home and would like the SLNA to support her petition.  We agreed to support her, but felt that we needed some information about why the home should receive this designation first.  Bryan will follow up with her on that.

3.   Bryan reviewed information shared on the email list regarding the Kinney and Lamar storage building project.  The developers have reduced their proposed to design to 3 stories however they are asking for variances still on the parking and now also on the 10 foot setbacks.  Basically the size of the structure has not been reduced.  It was agreed that this change did not warrant the support of the SLNA.  When Bryan spoke with Marty (one of the developers) he implied that if they could not get this project to go through they would build something else on the site --- implying something we would find more offensive.

4.   The Manchaca development by Bill Howell seems to be going forward without much of a challenge from surrounding neighbors.  Since this is outside our NA boundaries we were not sure how to proceed.

5.   The Del Curto development will go to DRID at some point, but it has not yet been scheduled.  We know that Howell is asking for a variance on the road width to reduce the size as he did in Kinney Court.  Byran is trying to get the Fire Chief to visit the Kinney Court area to discuss our concerns about emergency vehicles being able to access the street when cars are parked on both sides of the street.  We agreed to continue to push for NO VARIANCES regarding the Del Curto development.

6.   South Central Coalition of NA meeting the previous week focused on the trailer park property behind Taco Express.  There has been some interest shown by Walmart in developing a store on that property.  Brian talked to the realtor and asked that SLNA be kept informed about any plans, and notified them that SLNA wanted input about the development of that site.

7.   SLNA will send a letter to APD requesting reassignment of our district representative to the Southwest area.  (Motion made by Celeste, seconded by Bryan, vote – unanimous.)

8.   Sara Campbell met with Bryan to view several areas for a potential park.  These sites included the strip at Cinnamon Path which holds some potential for a pocket park, the Unity Church lands which may be sold, and the Thornton strip.  Bryan will try to visit with the pastor at Unity to learn more about their plans.  He learned from Ms. Campbell that there are no parkland funds dedicated.  He learned from the Travis County DA that the Cinnamon Path lot could possibly be purchased for back taxes for $2000.  There are about $2500 in grant funds that might be accessed to make this purchase, but there are issues about on-going responsibility for the park.  Bryan will try to learn more about this.  Twin Oaks branch of the Austin Library will be moved somewhere, but we don’t know just where.  We discussed the possibility of the library going onto the Unity Church lot.  The library project needs about a 5 acre tract. 

9.    Bryan gave Unity a check from SLNA for flowers to thank them for allowing us to use their building for our meetings.

10.  Kate made a motion that our NA meetings should be reduced to every other month with emergency meetings an option for off months if needed.  This motion was seconded by Kathleen and passed.  Our next meeting will not take place until May.

11.  Bryan attended the Unity Easter party and said that it was a very special event.  He urged us to participate next year if we had time.

12.  Membership dues were discussed.  Camille felt that the $20 per family due was too high to encourage growth of our membership.  Celeste pointed out that although at first that seemed too much, she realized it was about the equivalent of the cost of a cup of coffee each month.  We discussed several possible solutions including “sweat-equity” to pay the fee for those who had problems with the amount.  We agreed that Bryan would post the issue on the email list for discussion and that we would try to resolve the issue in May.

 

The meeting adjourned.  Next meeting date is set for May 17th.

 

Please notify Bryan of any corrections or additions to the meeting minutes at the next meeting.

 

Submitted by Kate Moss, SLNA Secretary