>>Mayor Watson: tha you all very much. Next gig wednesday night at threadgills?
>> that's right. I would also like to mention may 15th we're playing at lib lunch as a benefit.
Invocation
>> Thank you very much for being here much he tells me he is a 38 year resident of the City of Austin and proclamation month and ms. Raymond and I have been married 60 years april 2 so we'll rejoice with you for the month of april,
>> We've been happily married, we lived 38 years right here. 38 Years right here in Austin. We love Austin. [Applause]. Ear Austinites and in session right now, we pray your blessings upon t Mayor, Mayor Watson and his eire staff. You know that every need of this Council today and may every life be blessed, may your glory be shed strong in this place right now and less your presence dwell among aus. he that comes to god must believe that he is and that he is rewarded. Lord, we stand on those promises today and commit this service into your hands. Thank you for being here, your blessings, ples our Mayor and his entire staff in your name we pray, amen.
>>Mayor Watson: amen. Thank you pastor raymond. At this time I'll call to order to City Council of the Austin, Texas for a regular meeting on thursday, april t, 1998. We are meeting at City Council chambers 307 west second in Austin, Texas. First I will provide the changes and corrections to today's agenda. Item no. 24, Approve a contract with premium cuts should read: funding was included in the 1997-98 capital budget of the watershed protection utility. Item 38 approve an application for United States environmental protection agency brownfeel assessment demonstration pilot grant was recommended by the solid waste advisory commission. Items that are currently set for a time certain: at 4:30 p.m., zoning items, items 59 through 68. At 6:00 p.m., a public hearing to waive the minimum separation distance requirement for wild club inc. Located at 406 brazoria toes, item no. 69. At 6:items 14, 15, 16 and 58. At 6:30 p.m. A public hearing to amendment the Austin-Bergstrom international airport compatible land use zoning ordinance to amendment the table of comtible land use restrictions, item 7 0. And so the people will know, the 6:15 time certain, items 14, 15, 16 and 58, those relate to the health department and clinics. For those of you that are interested in item no. 70 At 6:30, my recommendation is that you not anticipate that will actually be reached at 6:30 because of the hearings that are scheduled at 6:00 and 6:15. My belief it will be more like 7:30, 7:15 to 7:30. Item no. 1 N the Council agenda is approval of minutes. That item has been pulled down. That takes us to citizens communications. General sit senses communication t first speaker is richard knowlton followed by Gus peen in a a then Richard Troxell. My request is you please make your way to the microphone so we may officially do this. Mr. Knowlton.
>> I'm going to pass today, Mayor.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you, sir. Gus pena followed by richard Troxell and joyee goodall.
>> Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, city Council members, Gus pena president of East Austin concerned hispanics. Mission statement of the health and human services department, we are committed to serving the people of our community by protecting and promoting their health, safety and well-being. It is being propose to do spend $13 million over three years for a management consultant team for if health clinics let this be on the record, Mayor and Councilmembers, Mayor pro tem, I am not opposed -- we are not oppoed to anybody coming in here to fix th problems. Obviously there are a lot of problems that we have been discussing and addressing with not only this Council but prior counsels for the past six years. Even when brackenridge -- before brackenridge was lsed to the seton system. Therere many, many problems that have to be fixed. I just do not know -- I'm sorry, I -- we feel that to the point of $1.3 million over three years is not appropriate. We do know that we need somebody to com@ in here and fix it. Let the record reflect that East Austin concerned hispanics is adamantly opposing this money amount. We are supporting somebody coming in here to fix the problem. You are spending taxpayers' money, you are spending your moy, my money, these other people's money, poor people's money that pay tir taxes, sometimes they can't pay our taxes, but the problems have to be fixed. I will listen to the presentation again this evening at 6:15. I don't know, I just have a problem with that much money amount be spent on this issue, but I do know and I do welcome people coming in here to picks the problem. -- Fix the problem. Fill vacancies, vacancy positions, clerical workers, social wkers, mursz, -- nurses, physicians, you maime it we need it at the clinics. It has been told to you time and time again. This is not a one time issue. I will defer my other comments to public hearing and Mayor and Councilmembers, I would like to thank Chief Knee for havi that meeting with us last friday, appropriate problems were fraught fort and I brought some good suggestions and I do feel we made a good collection in Chief Knee. Thank you all very much.
>>Mayor Watson: Mr. Troxell followed by ms. Goodall.
>> Good afternoon. My name is Richard Troxell, presidt of house the homeless. As we turn today to help our brothers and sisters revitalize East Austin, we are concerned that the poor, the derly and the politically weak not enter the ranks of the homeless. The bible in proverb 2918 says without vision the people will perish. We thought we would share with Council and the citizens of Austin today house the homeless' vision. Our vision is for a melt I community. It is our true goal. It is the ideal that people can live together in harmony. It is the place where people work at jobs that they like, at jobs that make them feel productive, useful and needed for as long as they choose to work. It is a place where people can make a living wage. It is a place where we can earn enough money to meet all of our needs and are given the opportunity to strive to meet our wants. It is a place where people can access safe, stable, affordable housing. It is a place where quality education is encouraged and made available to all. A healthy community is a place where people generally feel safe. It is a place where people feel secure. It is a place where people know that our children are safe and cared for by our neighbors. It is a place where folks know that if their child is seen in need of guidance, that gentle, productive counseling will come from any neighbor. A healthy community is a place where all persons are encourage to do reach their greatest potential. Y is a place where people share ideas for improvement and can@ respond collectively and openly to mutual concerns. It is a place where everyone feels nurtured. It is a place where people are free to practice their religious beliefs devoid of prejudice. It is a place where peope listen to the opinions of others and agree to disagree with respect. A healthy community is a place where everyone has a political voice an equal access to and within the judicial system. It is a place where all medical needs are met. It is a place where people are encouraged to creae and to discover. A healthy community is a place where people voluntarily and enthusiastically help one another. It is a place where all persons are respected and shown respect regardless of their differences. It is a place where we demonstrate our respect for the earth and our love for our environment. It is a place that we call home. Thank you. House the homeless.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you, Mr. Troxell. Joyee good al. as you are coming forward, several people have signed up to discuss the same item that you are coming forward to speak on and we're happy to have you here with us today. Let me just say that we as a city Council are committed to the same goals as the residents of circle c in that we want the school children there in circle c to have the shortest, safest and most efficient access to their new elementary school and we want that to be available to the children by the opening of school in september. But we're not going to allow the safety of these young cildren to be compromised and so we plan on bringing an item before the City Council next thursday that will address the safety and the convenience of these elementary school aged children and the families who live in circle c. I want you to know we're doing this because we committed during this process of annexation to do the right thing. And we're going to get it done because we belive the interest of these young children is so important and it's as important to us and so I just want to say that to you before you come forward. Thank you for being here with us today. I'll pass them on down if you want to go ahead. I can't believe he said that. [Laughter].
>> I like that.
>>Mayor Watson: I appreciate your sense of humor.
>> That was great. Okay. My name is joyee good al and here as the chair of the public education economy of the circle c homeowners association. I and seral residents are planning to approach the Council today for a road to be constructed to the new elementary school. The requested road entails the remaining 250 feet of hillside terrace. The Mayor's office has recently begun to respond the our request however give ten short ime before school starts I feel it necessa to bring it to your attention. The children will attend this school one quarter mile away from their neighborhood. Children see the school from their backyards. There is no safe direct road access to the new school requiring these 150 children to travel a 45 minute bus ride. Is bus ride goes through an intersection identified with many serious accidents. The children should be able to walk or ride their bikes to school in a safe environment and parents should be able to quickly and safely drive their children to and from school in inchrem et weather. We are asking for your assistance to build the remaining 250 feet connected to the already approved hillside terrace in the ajays september property as western observation. It is short distance and the fur lots involved already have water and wastewater, gas, electric, telephone, lights, et cetera. On February 1 the circle c homeowners association made a formal request to the developer to build a road connecting the circle c north kmun to village of western oak. There was a meeting between the developers to discuss alternatives and extending hillside terrace as identified as the best solution. There was a follow-up meeting between the City, aisd and bradley development for approval of the road. On March 6, Dr. Fox, aisd superintendent, requested approval from the Mayor and City Manager for this road. From March 18 to april 1st aisd trustee made numerous attempts to speak to the Mayor's office regarding the need for the road. I first contacted the Mayor's office april 2nd. After numerous kabts from aisd and the develop r, the City's response to request to finish building hillside terrace was application denied. After my initial contac with the Mayor's office there's indication the Mayor is looking at this issue and is committed to solving the problem. Since then there has been little information as to when the issue will be solved, how it will be solved and why it is taking so long, although recognize you indicated this next thursday and I appreciate that. The minimum amount of time to construct the 250 foot road is 117 days, not including the time the City will require to process the approval. School starts august 12. Just 124 days from today. Immediate action is required. Again, we are asking your assistance in the constructin of the road, the world is not a perfect place and any number of reasons for delaying can be imagined. I am asking you for the health and safety of our children to lead us all in reasonable action by granting immediate approval. Thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you, ms. Goodall. What we have done is Mr. Lyons who is the person signed up to spea next, he has agreed to come -- let me move him down so the people who wish to speak with regard to this school road will be able to speak in order. Ms. Simmons, followed by ms. Taylor and then Mr. Dwight
>> dodie simmons had to attend a funeral today.
>>Mayor Watson: I'm sorry. Okay.
>> So --.
>>Mayor Watson: are you ms. Taylor?
>> Yes. Mayor Watson: you will be followed by Mr. Dwight.
>> Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I am a resident at circle c and wanted to speak on the road. I want to come to you as a mother. I have threeearly perfect children who will be attendin the new school and as joyee mentioned the bus route is not a safe route. She has made that clear. The walking route is in a perfect world that would be fine, but when you try to drag a five-year-old and younger siblings out in 102 degree weather for that walk, raning freezing, it's not going to work either. So the only clear solution is to go ahead and have that road built. Now, again, I'm going to speak to you as a mother. After the road is built, I would strongly suggest that the field now surrounding the road on the two sides of the road allow that to go ahead and be developed into houses. We know what kind of bizarre and almost horrific things can happen to children even in that short of a time where there is no houses for them to run to should there be an emergency, people have been known to do really strange things, and I know I would prefer it as a mother that should my child be walking alone that I know that there are neighbors there that they could go to that house and get some aid if necessary. So I appreciate everything the office is doing, the Mayor's office and the City Council is ing to go ahead and get that road through. but I also would like you to consider going ahead and letting those lots be developed as a further safety issue for our children. Thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you and let me emphasis again we are committed to the same goals that you are talking about, which is to assure the safety and mostfficient route and again, I am -- we will be binging something forward next thursday so that we can try to achieve those goals.
>> Thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. Mr. Dwight, Mr. Dwight.
>> Yes, sir. Good afternoon. Mayor, City Council and City staff. My name is christopher dwight, I'm a resident of circle c north also and I would like -- like my neighbors I'm here to discuss the issue of school road access to joe dan elementary. as discussed by my nighbors, we're trying to get 250 feet of hillside terrace completed as a safe rte to the new school. Without the completion of hillside terrace the children of circle c will be bused on a multi mi route down 1826 and 290. This unsatisfactory solutions exposes these children to unnecessary risk, incurs an unnecessy expense to the school board and subjects the affected children to approximately 90 minutes of unnecessary travel time each qday. I realize there are many unresolved issues between the goals of City manage and the developers, and I ask the Mayor and City Council put asie these issues to address these issues of the safety. I am asking that the City and developer work together to get this road built prior to the august 12 school starting date I have been recently encouraged to hear this issue is being addressed and in developing the issue I want to remind you three thins are needed in order for this road to be built. One, a permit for the construction fd road, two, a megs of funning the construction, and three, sufficient time to complete the road prior to the opening of school. I'm not asking for a mere approval of the road since this doesn't fully resolve the issue. A please solution will address each of these requirements and result in the actual construction of the road. I've been told that circle c developers are willing to fund the construction of the road if allowed to develop thek adjoining lots found on the approved plat. This is simply one mechanism for funding the construction of the road without taxpayer expense. I am open to any other proposed solution that will adequately address the three rirts. Mr. Mayor, City Council and staff I am asking you to work with the developers of circle c and the school board to resolve this issue and get this road built. Thank you for your time and consideration.
>>Mayor Watson: and I'll say to you again that we are committed to goal of making sure that the safest, most efficient and shortest route for these very young children is available and we are committed to doing it in a way where it will be available to em when school opens.
>> Thank you very much.
>>Mayor Watson: Mr. Arredondo.
>> Hi. Good afternoon. Well, I'm here to second what my neighbors have said. I also live in the very small community of circle c north and a number of children that go to the school, the middle school and the high school and the elementary school is very, very small because the neighborhood is very, very small. I want to say hi to willie because willie, wherever you are, we worked at lockheed together and gus, maybe you remember me, I'm the -- I'm a former vice president of the Austin chapter for the society of hispanic professional engineers. I work at a small engineering company on the west side. I think the -- the Austin independent school district has changed the boundaries of the areas where school -- where kids go to school and it's -- it's adversely affected our neighborhood. And, well, it becomes a big problem, but a little help from you guys would ctainly help a lot. Something that might be able to be arranged. Thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. and I'll say once again that we're doing this -- we're going to go forward next thursday to try to deal with this problem because we did commit to doing the right thing and those young children are very important to us too. Thank you for being here and thank you all for being here and bringing this to the Council's attention. Leonard lyons followed by Kirk becker.
>> Good afternoon. I have signed up to tal about the rpf process not -- but because of the positive things I hear haepg I decided not to speak about that. I wou rather speak about the $4,000 loss at palmer hauditorium I keep hearing about. There's a misunderstanding about what the policy is of the City and I wanted to make sure I understood it by reling to you what my understanding . there is a $400,000 loss in operating, but it's designed by staff. It is approved by Council. Pre approved. Next year's will be approved also. Let me tell you where the -- where a good bit of it has come about. $90,000 Is lost every year that we have aquafest. just flat out, just lost. now, this is not a subsidy to a for-profit organization, as I just expressed it. But if you consider to hbenefits from that primarily, how about a quarter of a million dollars of beer ses. Is that what drives the $90,000 loss? we have one major booking that takes up 24% of the weekends and weekends are primary. Weekends are five times more important than say, for example, a wednesday. And they only pay 10% more for those weekends. If we reallocated that and increased the rates, we wouldn't have a $400,000 loss, but Council's policy is that we have it in this matter. And we can't blame it on operating, we've got an excellent staff doing what they are supposed to be doing, following company -- following the City process. But we also have people talking about this loss as though this is money that could be diverted. Well, it can't really be diverted because it is Council's policy to subsidize these for-profit coorations, and they are just not one of them. If we had more weekends, four times as many weekends we could fill them, but we don't, but why are we giving 25% to one company? we could eliminate the $400,000 loss merely by -- having paid parking. Every place in town for every reason, even when I visited my wife in intensive care in the hospital I had to pay for park. There we give it away for nothing. That would be $400,000 in parking. So it isn't a loss, it's a subsidy by Council to pay for benefits for for-profit corporations. Until you correct that, I think that you are going to have an awful lot of problems trying to sell the concept of city money going into any other projects. If there is any qstions, I would be happy to discuss them or give you answers.
>>Mayor Watson: Councilmember Spelman?
>>Spelman: I have to ask the $64 question, what is that kortion that gets 25% of the weekends?
>> that's not fair. I don't want to give them advertising for -- a sami show. Sore variations of it. There is also one other thing which I could have said. Here are studies of palmer and various other things. 00 Dridz of thousands of dollars spent on these studies but we don't like the results so we don't listen t@ them. But this shows a $4 million shortfall of the performing hars. Where in the hell is that coming from? let's not talk about the crumbs laying there -- I'm sorry.
>>Mayor Watson: you answered his question.
>> Plus some.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you for being here Kirk becker?
>> there is a theory about broken windows. from another perspective homeless people attract criminals without being criminals themselves. In support of this theory, the downtown Austin appliance lines sponsored a study which concluded that most of the people (. [Inaudible]. ) I guess that is considered university work these days. The study used the phrase the homeless were overrepresented among those ticketed for violating the encampment ordinance which is like saying thieves are overrepresented among persons arrested for stealing. I thought that was supposed to be the idea. Most of us wouldn't have it any other way. Now the downtown Austin alliance is using the u.t. Study as abasis for the community court resided over by judge kangaroo. There are some legal problems with that by having a single kjdge handling it the community defeats the appellate review. There is also practical reservation that a am beneficiaries lawyer might except employment in this belief that cracking down hard on defensive homeless arresties he can ear enough gratitude to finance a race for the higher judgeship. That seems like something that is inevitable. Another problem is the special community for the homeless is deemed appropriate, the principle of trial before one's pierce would require jury pools must be silarly selected. Of course that would be a gang ga radio court of different sort but it should be clear the concept is flawed. The downtown alliance has its own tax. They want an increase in the bed tax. Along with increased tax the alliance wants the comnity to send the homeless to free labor in the name of community service. Instead I would ask you to support an increase in minimum wage the a living wage so that we might all share in prosper ti. You can overlay@ the no drinking zone with a minimum wage of $10 an hour. Finally there was an article in time magazine dated september 1 on, I'll quote. Critics say it encouraging and harasses ordinary citizens for and opens waves for -- george kelly who helped drofl the idea says it has gone awri. The widely popular approach in which cops get out of squad cars to involve them in community problems much zero tolerance in sweets is not -- sweeps is not part of my vo kak you larry. The quality of life and the cooperation between cops and locals that community policing is intend to do promote. I can't help but think of cedar street there. Finally there is clearly a right way and wrong way to do broken windows. The minneapolis Mayor started adopting strategies five years ago. Thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. Items on the consent agenda -- yes, Mayor pro tem.
>>Garcia: I have a minute of personal privilege to introduce the counsel from mexico. He is here with us and we want to welcome him.
>>Mayor Watson: welcome. Thank you for being with us today. [Applause]. Items on the consent agenda are, items 18, 19, -- Councilmember Slusher what about 21? zr put it back on.
>>Mayor Watson: 18, 19, 21, 22 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 50, 52 on second and third reading, 53 on second and third reading, 54, 55, 56, 57, item no. 77 In the amount o#@ $190,000, item no. 78 Would be a resolution be it resolved by the ci+ Council of the City of Austin that the City Council appoints Paul Martin as clerk of the municipal court, that compensation and benefits for the clerk shall be as follows. One, $3,038 per pay period, two, car allowance of $106 .15 per payeriod, 3, participation in employees retirement system with 7% City contribution. 4, Choice of medical and dental plans currently covered to City empyees equivalent to that a. $100,000 Group life insurance. 6, Long time insurance available for purchase, eight hours sick leave accrual each month, 8, 12 hours of vacation leave, maximum of 2 hours, 9 paid holidays as designated by the City Council, 10, relocation expense. Item 79d which are appointments to boards and commissions. To the child care Council, roy Ramirez reappoint. The ommunity development commission, a reaappointment. Bobby Johnson, reaappointment from st. John's neighborhood by consensus. The construction advisory committee, fill up burks a construction representative by Councilmember Spelman. The electrical board, Robert smith, a reaappointment, journeyman representative by Mayor pro tem Garcia. The environmental board, hue mayfield by Councilmember Lewis. His tore being landmark twigs by consensus. The human rights commission, David Garza by consensus. The Mayor's committe for people with disabilities, nancy crather, kristin miller and don shell field. The m.b.e. Advisory committee, clifton knezek, a reaappoinment, trade association representative. By consensus. The medical assistants program advisory board, Dr. Nana lopez a dentist representative. And mary sellers, a medical assistant's program user. Both by consensus. The urban forestry board, mark baker by Councilmember Slusher. Dennis brown by Councilmember Griffith. The urban transportation commission, michael zakes by Councilmember Lewis. Any other items that need to be pulled or can be put back on the consent agenda?
>>.
>>Slusher: no. 41 Through 50 there is some financial analysis of those fumes that came in late and I talked to the City Manager about putting that off for one week so we can look at that. And that will not affect operations in an way.
>>Mayor Watson: all right. Councilmember Lewis, you had pulled item 4 4 for discussion. Do you wish to just go ahead and pull that along with items 41 through 50?
>>Lewis: yes.
>>Mayor Watson: all right. On the consent agenda, items 41 through 50 will be the motion on conse would be to postpone those items for one week.
>>Slusher: Mayor, no. 54 Can we do that on second reading?
>>Mayor Watson: in one?
>>Slusher: 54. Yes. The emotion ill be on that item on second reading. Any additiona items that need to be changed? all right of the let me read one more time through the consent agenda. The consent agenda is 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38 39, 40. Items 41 through 50 to be postponed for one week. Item 52 and 53 on third reading. Item 54 on second reading. Item 55 and 56, item 57, item 7 7 as read, item 78 as read, and item 79 the appointments as read. I'll entertain a motion. Motion made by the Mayor pro tem to approve. Second? seconded by Councilmember Spelman. We have some people that have signed up to speak. Let me just say to those of you that -- we have a number of people signed up to speak. To those of you who signed up to speak in favor and there has been no change in the consent anda try not to talk us out of it. [laughter]. Bryan rider. Bryan rider. He has signed up to speak on it 54. Tron wamack.@ do you wish to speak on this item?
>> just to vote in favor. I represent the developer, we were here for second and third ading and we would like to do segd and third if we don't in the Councilmember Slusher's opposition to third reading, but if that's what we would like to do, we would like to get it set for third as soon as possible.
>>Mayor wtson: we'll do that. Why don't you take an opportunity to give it to Councilmember Slusher.
>>Slusher: we can set that for next week.
>>Mayor Watson: we will set it on the agenda for third reading next week and you will have an opportunity to visit with Councilmember Slusher. Mr. Waller do you wish to address the Council? all right. Okay. Thank you. Rone salinas on item 57. Followed by horace. You can go ahead and come to the microphone. Followed by thomas salas.
>> Good evening, Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor pro tem and members of the Austin City Council. I'm the artistic director of the folk dance company. The folk dance company is an East Austin community based cull turtrts organize that has provided cultural services to the City of Austin for 22 years. The folk dance company has represented the rich and diverse mexican culture of Austin at international festivals around the world. Whether working with youths or children, youth and children year round are producing rich performances of latino cultures. (Speaking hispanic names) maintain an active and vital role in the skri algts of Austin's hispanic kmuchblt a growing community. The dance company is a member of the latino arts consortium of Austin and the mexico economic revitalization association. We clearly support the mack. We clearly -- today I come to you and I must reminisce of the many years in comin it has taken to launch the mack. Your efforts and support undoubtedly contribute to the development of latino arts in Austin. Austin sits as the arts capital of the southwestern region of the United States and it is only bee fitting there be a Mexican American cultural center among the pan ram ma in Austin, the capital of Texas. The unique location of the mack that east of I-35 and west of I-35 will allow hispanic culture to be celebrated enjoyed and patronized by the broad et spectrum of Austin. But more so the unique location will allow Austin's hispanic community to kbt to the economic development spurred bicultural tourism in downtown Austin. The mack began its track of development 19 years ago. It has conducted grass roots community input, econoc feasibility study, architectural renderings and community fundraising strategies. To date the mack has received commendations by several organizations. the aust downtown commission to name but a few. The time is right for the development of the mack. The mack will approach this fall's election, positioned to realize the dreams and aspirations of Austin's hispanic community. We the mack task@ force appreciate your continued support of the Austin City -- will appreciate the continued support of the Austin City Council and ensure thaw the mack will add value and richness to the dynamic and diverse fabric of Austin arts. Thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. Mr. Sadano.
>> Mayorirk Watson, Mayor pro tem g Garcia, Councilmembers, I'm the president of mexic-arte. On behalf of my executive director and the many suppotedders here today I would like to say one thing, this is an historic foment for the arts in Austin. Before you is a resolution sub porgt the development of Mexican American latino arts, an historical occasion because this resolution begins to transform into reality what up to now has been a dream for the Austin art community. mexic-arte museum and the Mexican American cultural museum represent a visual, perform ago and media arts join here under one resolution to request your support in promoting our aspirations for the future of Mexican American latino arts. Since 1988 mex-arte museum has been an integral part of the downtown cultural scene with a central location on the avenue, mexic-arte reaches out to all the community, east, west, north and south, helping Austin's economic delopment, assisting as an umbrella to over 20 individual artists and sall organizations and bringing cultural diversity to the area. We're especially honored to play a vilgt role in a growing arts district that includes other important organizations such as the Austin museum of art, the paramount, the chin children's museum and others. The feasibility study of mexic-arte's location will provide valuable information including a fiscal study. In addition the study will examine the economic benefits to the downtown area of the museum and its reld facilities. The mack located at the base of Waller Creek will provide a base for an outdoor plaza and other facilities for artists and community use in general. we envision mexic-arte museum and and course, facilitying the development of latino arts. Our two institutions are working together in cooperating with other art and community groups to ensure the respected plans of each organization come plepts each other and are appropriate to the needs of the community today and the future. Mechanics arldt and mack welcome, ncourage and support other art organizations and especially latino art organizations in whatever stage of development they may be in creating their unique way of@ promoting the arts. Today mexic-arte and the mack stand before you and declare that the time has come for mexican amerin latino arts have come to have permanent homes in Austin and yes, there ll be many homes for our cultural people are rich in their diversity. These ctural pockets through our community will be learning centers inviting all citizens of Texas and visitors to take part in appreciating and enjoying all as spebtsz of our culture. That is our vision. I commend this Council for having the conviction to support our efforts to bring about this vision for Austin. Thank you very much, Mayor. [Applause].
>>Mayor Watson: thomas salas. It's my understanding -- anybody can wrong, that the other people signed up in favor of this don't wish to speak and so what I'll do is when he finishes@ speaking I'll read your names into the record. Welcome, sir.
>> Thank you. Mayor Watson, members of the Council, thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is thomas salas, I'm a member of the Mexican American cal turl center task force and coordinator of the la tone know arts center of Austin. As coordinator it's one of my responsibilities as well as a personal honor to speak in support of all the efforts of our member organizations of which mexic-arte is one. I would like to just briefly kind of go over the vision and mission statement for a nonprofit board which has been incorporated to manage the mack sight and it is the center for Mexican American cultural arts. Our vision is to be the leading organization overseeing the development and completion of the mexican american cultural cter at 600 river street, Austin, Texas. Our mission is to develop a state of the ar cultural center for the purpose of prerving, presenting and promoting the rich rule turl and artistic traditions in america. The center for mexican american cultural arts is a nonprofit kortion chartered in the ate of Texas. Following are a few of the values we have identified. The kree ace of a much needed long awaited arts facility that will serve all of Austin with opportunities including but not limited to education, training, jobs and entertainment. The mack is a walking distance from sanch elementary and a short bus ride from several other elementary, junior a senior high schools which will make it an excellent field trip destination. The mack will complete the picture of Austin's cultural landscape. Thmack will attract tourism and boost economic development in town town Austin in an environmently friendly manner. The mack because of its proximity to the expanding Convention Center will serve as one of the amenities that will attract more con conveniences and conferences. It will serve as the corn anchor for to Waller Creek development project. The mack will be built utilizing green concepts. In this way the project will not only help protect the environmentally sensitive site t also clean up any damage that may have been done. The mack will greatly enhance natural beauty of the site and its value for the City. Let me say sewer use gratitude to the park director, the cy manager and her assistant@ Mayor pro tem, his executive assistant, Councilmember Slusher, as well as many other city employees that were so helpful in working with us to pull off the incredibly successful christmas production that was held at the mack site a few months ago. Thank you very much. [Applause].
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. The other people signed up to speak on this item and all of them have signed up in favor are:. [Reading registered speaker names into theecord].
>>Mayor Watson: thank you all very much for being withs today. Mayor pro tem?
>>Garcia: thnk you, Mayor. Let me first say thank you to the leadership of the latino groups. This effort started many years ago. It was a little bit temperamental at the beginning but the hard work of the leadership has really paid off. I think the-ee what this group has done is it s* the stage to launch into what I think will be a very exciting latino arts program and I want t commend all of them for their work. Thank you so very much.
>>Mayor Watson: motion has been made and seconded to a I proof the consent agenda as previously read. Is there any further discussion? hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Opposed? motion carries. [Applause]. Thank you all for being here. okay. That will take u to item no. 12. I'll recognize the Mayor pro tem.
>>Garcia: thank you, Mayor. We got a member random dated March 12, 1998 from Mr. Almer and I saw him in the awed against. I wanted to ask him a quick question. I don't know sue brubaker may also be in the room. She may help. The third bullet that you included, you had four bullets it says two plan holders indicated they were too busy with oth) widths and could not get to this one within the time allowed. What is the policy of the City sue may be the better person to ask this question to -- when we have only one bidder and two that appear to be interested but need a little bit of extra time, what is the rule of the City as it regards asking the bidders if they -- how much time they need or how we can facilitate getting more bid on a project like this?
>> I will try to answer the question for you. Typically what we do on a project like this, if we have quite a bit of interest from bidders, if we have bid thaers call in in advance of bid time requesting a stens f the bid date, question analysis the time involved and analysis what -- analyze what their concerns are and make a decision as to whether or not we will extend the bid date and we typically do and we have done tha on many projects. On this particular case the bidders that we -- we contacted the bidders after -- the people that picked up plans after we received the one bid. No one had called in advance of the bid requesting a bid extension.
>>Garcia: I idea. You point that out here.
>> And we t&ked to them afterwards, they said we didn't have time, we were too bs I doing other things. if they were really interested and serious in the project and wanted to submit a bona fide bid sotd City they would have called and asked for a time extension, most likely we would have granted it.
>>Garcia: okay. I guess in this particular instance because thereas only one bid I was wondering what-what the approach of the city would be towards inquiring as to what it would take for those people to submit a bid. I understand that this particular project came in within budget and I think it came -- yeah, it was within budget. It doesn't say whether it was below. I'm sure if it came within it was below the budget, but is there any way for us to inquire deeper other than to say well, okay, you don't have time, we're not going to extendt? and in particular in this instance where we only had one bid on a $6 million contract.
>> It is an important project for us. after we had just receiv d the one bid, I knew that you all would want to know why and that's why we did our research and we called all of the 12 plant holders being the coractors that had come down and picked up a set o plans and asked why they did not bed and these are the answers we have given you. If we had more time on the project, we would have suggested that we go back out to bid. Given the fact that we are short of time and we're up against a deadline, that is not moving, and t fbo's, fixed based operator for which this work is being done, they are beginning construction this summer and expect us to be advanced in ours. My recommendation was that although we only received one bid and yes, other contractors might be able to submit other bids, there is no guarantee they could actually do that and we might wind up back in the same situation again.
>>Garcia: okay. That's all the questions I have, Mayor. I move approval.
>>Mayor Watson: okay. Let me let Councilmember Lewis and I'll come r your motion.
>>Lewis: how many -- how many bids have -- how many times have we had requests for extensions and how many times have we granted them?
>> you ask me a question I can't answ right here. I will say that we have done that quite often and it's more the rule than the exception. But I can't tell you what the number is. I can find out and get that back to you.
>>Lewis: all right. All right. Thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: Mayor pro tem has moved to approve item no. 12. Is there a second? seconded by Councilmember Spelman. Any further discussion? hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Opposed $? motion carries on item 12. Item 13, oil rise the Mayor pro tem.
>>Garcia: thankou, Mayor. It appears on this particula item that there has been an agreement reached between the neighborhood, the business owners and the City, Mr. Reek? we've been getting correspondence on this one all week long and I was wondering hwhere we are on it. I have one that says that there is an original design, there is a brentwood neighborhood association design, and there is a modified design what will we considering on this one?
>>? is it the one that has been agreed on?
>>.
>> Good afternoon. Director of Public Works and transportation. Mayor pro tem, I'm not sure, quite frankly. My understanding walking into this meeting was that Council would decide which option to attach to the resolution and approve for staff to proceed with.
>>Garcia: the revised resolution that I have on my backup says that design and develop in a cooperative effort by the City of Austin staff the allendale and brentwood neighborhoods and the developer redevelopment project. For use in the north loop and burnet road intersections, so are you saying that you cannot -- you can -- you are kind of leaving the Council to pick o?
>> if you are reading from the draft resolution that I have in front of me, then I have to say that the resolution is not reflecting what actually has taken place. The attached solution has never been discussed between the neighborhood and the City of Austin. We were first made aware of this particular design yesterday afternoon when we were given a copy, a sketch of what the neighborhood representatives are proposing. There was no discussion between the neighborhood and us on this particular issue, at least not to my knowledge.
>>Garcia: well, the reason I was wondering is because I have something that looks like this that has five lanes with the middle one being a turn la going south and the other one being a -- on the oth side of north loop, another lane, also call a turn lane, but this lanes -- these lanes are nine feet wide.
>> Right.
>>Garcia: and I understand that capital metro buses are eight feet, eight inches wide.
>> Right.
>>Garcia: and the ambulances with the mirrors are nine feet two inches wide. So is this together that logically we can approve or that we should consider? I mean I have a lot of problems. I'm not an engineer, but seems to me a nine foot two inch ems vehicle doesn't fit in a nine foot lane.
>> Councilmember, that's why I'm saying that this is not worked out between the neighborhoods and us. We are opposed to nine foot lanes mainly because we would like to remind you that we worked wh capital metro and the university area partners in the pilot program on the drag to use ten foot lanes and as a result of the pilot program, capital metro is urging us to use 11 feet lanes so that their buses can safely use those lanes, but under no circumstances I think would capital metro find anything below ten acceptable and personally I don't think tha I could find an engineer who would be willing to stamp a nine foot lane on a roadway.
>>Garcia: I also asked you yesterday if in essence we stayed with four lanes and we were to say that the two inside lanes will be strictly turn lanes, what that would do to that intersection for the north-south burnet road traffic.
>> As we have stated in if memo that was provided to you, by having dedicated signal lights -- I mean by having the left turn facilitated through traffic signals and a dedicated lane would result in the intersection the move from a level of service c to a level of service e, which we would consider unacceptable.
>>Garcia: that's all the questions I have and I'm not a sponsor of this particular item so I'm going to back off and let the sponsors take over.
>>Mayor Watson: all right. Councilmember good man?
>>.
>>Goodman: I want to ask something before I get into the discussion of the language because the language is not meant to say what the Mayor pro tem was thinking it said so we maybe need to put some commas. But our nine -- are nine foot roads not deemed acceptable quote unquote in the City's book of roadway standards?
>> to the best of my knowledge no. As a matter of fact, we looked at the standards that are used nationally nd for a road with a low traffic volume, the minimum that's recommended is three meters or nine@ feet -- feet, which is about 10 feet. And that's with a low traffic volume. I would not consider burnet to meet that particular requirement. [One moment please].
>> And in a cooperative effort to develop this design, is the 8reason that all of the -- the stakeholders are identified in the language. This cooperative effort has not yet happened. It's a direction that we are trying to give all parties as they look at this. And if you will note, the nine foot lanes are not on a single lane highway or anything like that. When an emergency vehicle is en route, other vehicles are supposed to pull to the side and give as much of the roadway to that vehicle as is possible. So they wouldn't have to necessarily stay between the lanes in such an emergency situation.
>> This is bigger.
>> Yeah. Goodman: conceivably the medians could be made even narrower, although they are getting down to about five feet now. But that psychological bience as well as the safety stop for pedestrians could be made narrower and still function. That's -- that's my explanation of the proposal.
>>Mar Watson: is there a motion with regard to item no. 13?
>>Goodman: that would be my motion.
>>Mayor Watson: okay.
>>Goodman: revised item no. 13.
>>Mayor Watson: so I am clear on -- let's walk through it, make sure that I get all of the revisions. help me with that.
>>Goodman: in the be it resolved, there is additional language. The City Council directs the City Manager to adopt the design plan as developed, meaning the modified design, which is the third in your packet. In a cooperative effort by city of Austin staff, the allendale -- although that's spelled wrong, allan. Alan dale and brentwood neighbors: for use in the north loop and burnet road intersection improvements as shown in attached exhibit a and made a part here of. And for our purposes attachment a includes all of the designs but a modified neighborhood ... Is the one that we are saying, go out and work together and try to make happen.
>>Mayor Watson: okay. So the language of the resolution, but we would take out the
>>Mayor Watson: I'll call the Austin City Council back to order. We have a time certain on items related to zoning and approval of ordinances and those are items 59 through 68. I' recognize ms. Glasgow.
>> Good afternoon Mayor and Councilmembers. Zoning cases for today are as follows starting off with item no. 59. Case no. C 149791 located at 2108 to 2110 thrasher lane and 65 o five to 6601 riverside drive. The applicant has requested an indefinite postponement. This is a case where in the past we had anticipated that there would be shar ret that would look a a person period of time where there would be a brainstorming and planning session to look at what was appropriate in this particular area, more particularly this tract. So the applicant would like an opportunity to participate in that planning session. And since we did not have a definite date and time, the indefinite postponement would then allow them to plug into that process. I'm going to proceed to consent items. Item no. 60, Case no. C 1497157, namely south land oaks 3. This is a case that was initiated by the City of Austin. The planning recommendation to you is to grant single family 1 zoning, single family 1 with a conditional overlay. Single family 2. The commission had asked staff to look at the appropriate sizing of lots in order to recommend the aropriate zoning. We have done that. And all the lots that the commission asked us to look at are appropriately zoned for single family 2. And then they also recommended a limited office zoning p public with a conditional overlay and that encompasses the land area that was annexed december 31st of 1997 for the south land oaks no. 3. And this case is ready for first reading. Item no. 61, This is the village at western oaks. And it comprises lots or tracts 37, 38, 39, 41 and 42. These tracts were severed from the remainder of the site which you approved today at your earlier meeting for second reading. The cases again, the tracts are recommended to you by the Planning Commission, pat murphy had given you an overview two weeks ago. He would like to give you an update of where we are regarding environmental features and also he will include some conditions to include in the conditional overly. So pat murphy will give you a brif overview on the status of the environmental features.
>> Just a brief update on where we are on the village of western oaks. The section that was broken out last week which contains the preserve area shown in green on the aerial that greg just put up. We have sce the last meeting conducted a geologic study for the features and we have had those features mapped. We have met with fish and wildlife service regarding the threatened species which occur in one of the games, named get down alf. And we have their consensus on thur proposal. So I believe that we are certainly confidenthat we have done what we need to do there to protect the threatened species that occur as well as walt quality. -- Water quality. I also have worked with lumberman's and we have an agreement that they will impose some conditions as a restrictive covenant for those sections that surround the preserve. Those include basically a cave management plan that we will be developing within the next six months after the ordinance is approved. That would have to e approved by the City of Austin and also would include other interested parties as well as a w pond facility, an agreemen@ to construct a wet pond for water quality in the preserve area. There are se other conditions which are basically dealing with sear scape, integrated pest management and restriction of certain types of uses in this area which will all be rolled into the cave management plan o carst management plan. That includes my comments. If you have any questions I will be available. Thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you.
>> And Mayor -- in summary, Mayor, item 61 we would like to offer that as a consent item based on the conditions that Mr. Murphy just read into the record. And that would be a first reading. Continuing to item 62, the citizens signed up to speak against that. On item 63, case no. C 14-98-9 located at albert street, the request request is from development reserve to single family 1. The commission recommends the zoning sq request and this case is ready for all three readings. Item no. 64 Located at 9146 to 9170 research boulerd. The request from zoning is from cs to cs general commercial services, the request modifies some conditions that were imposed on the property previ5sly and the Planning Commission recommends those modifications with the conditional overlay and this case is ready for all three readings. There are citizens signed up for item 65 and 66 and 67. The next consent item is item no. 68. Case no. C 14-90-17 located on the slaughter lane from single family 2 to single family 3. The request is recommended to you by the Planning Commission for single family 3 and the case is ready for all three readings. And that concludes all the zoning cases for consent.
>>Mayor Watson: let me make sure 'm clear. Item 66 is consent for first reading only. Item 61 consent for first reading only. Item 63 consent all three readings. 68, Consent on all three readings.
>> That's correct.
>>Slusher: would you do that more slowly one more time?
>>Mayor watso: item no. (Reading slowly) always ink to compromise. Item no. 60, First reading. 61, First reading. 63, Three readings. 64, First reading.
>> Three. That's three, Mayor. 64 Is three.
>>Mayor Watson: 68, three readings.
>> That's correct.
>>Mayor Watson: I'll entertain a motion. Motion is made by Councilmember Goodman, seconded by Councilmember Lewis to approve on consent the items that I just read. 8Is there any discussion? myor pro tem?
>>Garcia: on item no. 62, Alice, I had requested that -- I had sent a number of items to the Council requesting that that one be sent back to the Planning Commission so we could look at compatibility issues. Mayor, is it possible for us to consider that as a consent item or do we have speakers that are on both sides of the issue?
>>Mayor Watson: let me look.
>> Mayor pro tem, t reason I left it open is because there are I think 15 speakers signed up to speak and I wanted to let Council decide.
>>Mayor Watson: you're talking about item 62. 62 We have several speakers, but some say against, some say for. And I can't tell what that might mean in terms of referring back, but we'll visit that immediately when we get to that.
>>Garcia: okay. You did say 59 for indefinite postponement, right?
>> that's correct.
>>Garcia: but on the consent motion, right?
>>Mayor Watson: item no. 59 For an indefinite postponement. We do have some people signed up to speak on item no. 59. I will tell you the motion is going to be for an indefinite postponement, so I will ask you for you don't need to speak not to speak. Ifou agree with that action. Let me just double-check a couple of things before I -- all right. Motion has been made and seconded to approve on consent. Councilmember Goodman, you made the motion. Do you consider adding 59 for an indefinite postponement as a friendly amendment?
>>Goodman: I guess we didn't really hear how we were going to go about causing some date to be in the expectations for that charrette. Is that something we can hear about before we do that?
>> my understanding is that as soon as the shar ret, we've postponed the case several times in preparation of this meeting to take place and the plan here is to give it enough time to be planned and occur and then we will provide notice to property owners when this case is ready to come back for hearing.
>>Goodman: are we going to sponsor the meeting?
>> at this point I'm not sure who's sponsoring. I know -- the Mayor pro em may know more about it. Gar ga the City has been asked by the montopolis cornerstone cornerstoneston corporation to do a meeting in the area. The City Manager has negotiated with the university and I think is ready to bring something to Council to move on it. And the area to be covered is the area bounded by 183 on the north, ben white on the south and I think --.
>>Goodman: I would consider it friendly.
>>Mayor Watson: Councilmember Lewis, you were the maker of the second. Would you consider adding 59 to the consent agenda for an definite postponement as friendly? lewinsky yes. --.
>>Lewis: yes. Mayor on item no. 59 You have a definite postponement. We have two people signed up to speak on that item. Having heard the discussion I will ask you if you need to speak. Okay. It you all. On item no. 60, The motion is to pass that on consent on first reading. We have six people that have signed up in favor and I'm going to assume that you don't need to speak. Bob white, bryan rider, dawn bossy, henry gilmore, Charles wood rough and lisa porter. Do any of those people need to speak? well, Mr. White signed up on no. 60. I'm sorry, Mayor pro tem.
>>Garcia: on item no. 60 I understand I was -- there is a restrictive covenant that has been agreed to by the apicant and the neighborhood. Is that part of this?
>> yesthat's correct. I think that's part of the packet that we've provided.
>>Garcia: and I suspect the motion includes that, Mayor?
>>Mayor Watson: it does. Councilmember Goodman and Councilmember Lewis, do you agree with that?
>>Lewis: that it includes the restrictive covenant.
>> I think it's a prior covenant that they have signed. We would not enforce it but recognize we have received it. Mayor the recognition of the private covenant. Okay. Bryan rider, dawn bossy, henry gilmore, Charles wood rough, do you need to speak. Those are all the people that have signed up on items that have been put on consent. The consent is item fwiend an 60 on first reading, 61 on first reading. 63 On all three readsings, 6@ and 68 on all three read eggs. Is there any further discussion. Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Opposed? motion carries. That then takes us to item no. 62. And I'm going to recognize the Mayor pro tem.
>>Garcia: yes, thank you, Mayor. Earlier in the week I sent you a memorandum on this particular issue. This item came up I think from March the 12th I think or sixth, a meeting in March. And we postponed this item because the neighbors had wanted to look at compatibility issues. In the back you have a map that shows this tract zoned li adjoining multi-family zonedding, but single family use. What the neighborhood has requested is that because they were not notified of the Planning Commission meeting when this was discussed and the Planning Commission, incidentally, approved this site plan on a vote of eight to zero, there was a restrictive covenant on this particular piece of property that was signed by some residents in 1984; is that correct, alice?
>> yes, Mayor pro tem, that's correct?
>>Garcia: that restrictive covenant signed by those people that lived there said that they were to be notified at the time that a site plan was presented. None of those people who live in the - none of those people live in the area any more. Other people live there and they were not notified. So my request is that this item go back to the planning commission so that they can look at the compatibility issues and -- and it may require a rol back in zoning. I don't know at this time. We will have to look at the issue. But this is light industrial use, limited industrial use right next to single family residential. And it appears to me that they need to be some transition between that use and single family. So if a motion is in order or at the time that a motion is in order, I would like to make ta motion consistent with the emorandum I sent.
>>Mayor Watson: for purposes of the people who have signed up to speak, I think with that motion in particular I would say that a motion would be in order now and that way those that I call on to speak will know what the specific motion is.
>>Garcia: the mion is to send this item, no. 62, Sp-97-04 will 6 c to the commission with instructions for them to look at the compatibility issues in this particular application and also if -- for them to look at whether this particular tract needs to have a roll back of zoning.
>>Mayor Watson: all right. The motion has been on item no. 62 To send it back to the Planning Commission with instructions to look at the compatibility issues raised by this zoning and to consider whether roll back would be -- would be appropriate. Is there a second? seconded by Councilmember Slusher. All right. We've got several people that have signed up to speak. You've now heard the motion that the Council voted on. And so if you need to speak, please do. If you don need to speak on that motion, don't. Marie govea? gold followed by sylvia herrera.
>> Hi. I'm one of the contact persons for the area. And if I can make a correction qon the petition that we did receive that we did get for the neighborhood -- for the residents in our area was that there are add least five residents still there who did sign this petition back in '84, still livin in the same area. And when I received this letter, I was upset at the fact that they wanted to put warehouse behind my home and I did go -- contact susan and she's the one who helped us op what was going on. I went and talked to -- I did a walk through in the block, in the neighborhood, and I talked to all of the residents that are there and no one was contacted by the planning commission on what was being done -- what as going to happen there. And apparently the only letter that anyone received was the one that there was going to be a Cityouncil meeting here to approve that. And that was very upsetting that we had not been notified before that. And had I not sent this letter to susan in a, maybe you all would have passed it without knowing that we residents had not known what was going on in our neighborhood. No, we don't want -- we do not want the warehouse there and yes, we do want it to go back to the Planning Commission because I think it's only fair that we have a chance to voice our opinions of having that warehouse behind our homes. And I really hope that you all, you know, will send this back to the Planning Commission. And thank you very much.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. Sylvia herrera.
>> Mayor, before --.
>>Goodman: yes, Councilmember Goodman. After everybody speaks can we find out in a restrictive covenant I think that the property owner takes the responsibility for notifying everybody, right? and we notify when there's going to be a Council or the neighborhood, just a regular neighborhood. Isn't the owner responsible for --.
>> We are, the City of Austin is responsible. The applicant pays the fee for notification. Maybe we notified the record owners of the property. In this particular case we notified I think three or four times, we notified the first -- when an application is filed the first time we sent send out a notice to every property own other, record owner within 300 feet. in addition in this particular case we also notified the nine -- the 10 individuals who signed ret strict active covenant because it was very clear that we were required at the time of the site plan before the hearing to send the notices out. So we notified those people. I realize that some of them have moved, may not be there, but we did accomplish both so that if ownership has changed over time and it's the record owner of the property, that we would have captured the property owners within 300 feet of the site, whether they resided there in '84 or now. So we accomplished both notification forhe planning commission, for the City Council and another notification also. Now, there may have been -- I don't understand what the -- what occurred as far as either the receipt of the notice or if one is not the record owner of the property they ma not have then received the notice because we did not notify the non-property owners.
>>Godman: maybe we can just double-check later on how we did the process of notification since we just heard that five people listed didn't get it. I mean, that's a large enough number to double-check on.
>> I'll certainly verify that.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. Ms. Herrera.
>> I do a lot of the research. I walked with marie that evening that we had the signatures on the petition. And as marie stated, these were for the most part the property owners. And I did in addition to the petition that marie was talking about, I did a little survey and asked the people directly in terms of if they had received Written notification of the planning commission meeting and everyone told me no. They had receivedritten notification of the City Council meeting and I think they had received two different letters on that, on the City Council meeting. I also asked them if they're name or a relative's name was on the petion, the initial petition requesting the zoning change in '84, so that's where we -- we had a copy of the original petition and then compared it to our list. That's where we came up with the numbers. And also if they were told what would happen when they agreed to the change from general retail on commercial in 1984. And I don't think that people were really fully explained what happened. And plus, one of the property owners does not read or write english and she, you know, was not aware of what she was signing and had not I guess been translated to her in terms of what she was signing at the time. And again, she's one of the residents, one of the property owners that signed this petition that we've presented to you this evning. So that was what I wanted to provide to you tonight.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you very much. Susan naalmanza.
>> I think this case has raised several issues. For one thing it's not part of the East Austin overlay ordinance and so one of the things that we need to look at is expanding the East Austin overlay district ordinance because then if you have all@ this out lays around single family, the notication process is not going to happen and so we're going to leave a lot of people coming at the last moment at the City Council meeting. The other thing that we've also come to see is the whole issue of the restrictive covenant. And bringing a valid petition. Ani think that now that the land development code is being addressed that we need to look at that a valid petition can come forward on a site plan and can be registered according to a site plan@, especially since here's a case again of a restrictive venant and does it fall into a valid repition. Is it looked at as a zoning case or is it not since it's a restrictive covenant and if so because the site plan is coming forward, then there needs to be a means for the !mmunities to be able to do a valid petition on a site plan since apparently we have some of these on file. So that's another issue that needs to be addressed here also. And we've also brought to you the whole notification process, is that as the land development code is being looked at is that the notification process needs to go out not just to owners, but to renters, to all people who live in the area. They need to be made aware of what's coming into their neighborhoodegardless of if they own property because a majority of people in Austin are renters and so we're leaving out a mass amount of people out of a public participation process by saying if your in the an owner we don't need to notify you even though you're going to be impacted by by what isited there. So those are some of t issues that have been brought forward. Again, the whole issue of light industrial, we also found that Johnston high school is zoned single family in this process, so there's a lot of zoning that doesn't match here. And so we definitely think that this is a case that needs to be rolled back. Thank you.
>>Mayor Watsonthank you. David wise? go ahead and come forward. Bryan builder back. If you will come forward to this microphone as soon as he finishes. Mike girdeen if you will make your way up.
>> Mayor, skoubs, during this perlting process we have met and exceeded all requirements by the ski building code. We have staff support for this recommendation. Since this site is restrictive !venant we have required to come here for your approval. Restrictive covenant for this site has -- requires the following. Access prohibited to gardener road. Our access is only going to be going to bottom road. A 20 foot -- boum road. All non-movable machinery will be enclosed in the building. Weave already had support from the Planning Commission. I know that the City Council would usually like to step down the zoning or roll back the zoning from commercial to a residential neighborhood zoning. Right now our zoning is li. We're willing to change our zoning to cs if the Council initiates this process. We are also willing and have been willing to go the extra mile to make this site compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood. So the touth is zoned li, office warehouse. To the east it is drainage easement. To the ea of that is another office warehouse facility. To the north is multi-family zoning and duplexes and residences. This property has been zoned li since 1984. April 20th the City Council approved a light manufacturing facility for this site. This is not a manufacturing facility. This is construction, supply, office warehouse with hours from seven to 5:00 p.m. Monday through friday. There I little traffic for this ranging from 20 to 50 trips a day including the people that work there. This building we plan on building is only 12,000 square foot on 2.5 acres. Under the comprehensive watershed ordinance we are -- as you see in the handout, it will show that we are preserving the majority of trees to the site. Not torth and east o the project we are putting a privacy fence. We are willing to go to seechb foot if need be. If we need to have additional seening, -- screening, trees, shrubs, we are willing to do that too. There are no doors facing the residents. Nothing facing the residents. We appreciate your consideration forpproving the site plan. Thanks again for your time.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. Mr. Builder back.
>> Yes. I'm one of the owners of Texas contractors supply, which is the company that will be occupying the warehouse on this space of ld. We've been in business for 65 years. We have warehouses in dallas fort worth rea, san antonio and also currently in Austin down the road on smith road. We are not a manufacturer. It is strictly warehouse, construction supply, accessories and materials. I reiterate the fact that our hours are seven to five during the day Monday through friday with minimal traffic of 20 to maybe 50 cars per day. Like I said, it's not like t warehouses that are across the street. We are not a manufacturer. And that's it. I thank you.
>>Mayor Watson: thank you. Mike girden.
>> Mayor and Councilmembers, I appreciate your att
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