What follows are some notes from ANA's 9/28 meeting:
Speed Enforcement Efforts on Shoal Creek - Calvin Smith, Central West Austin Area Commander and David Crowder, SPO, talked about enforcement efforts along Shoal Creek in response to citizen complaints. They are using a stealth camera/unit to measure traffic and speeding, a speed trailer for motorist to see their speed, and increased patrol efforts to monitor and ticket violators.
In a three-day period, they recorded approximately 9,600 cars
traveling Shoal Creek. Six percent of those were going above the speed
limit (6% of 9,600=576 or
192 speeders a day). While SCB does not have a high incidence of
serious injury accidents or fatalities, APD's recent monitoring
efforts confirms speeding is a problem on Shoal Creek and it has
stepped up enforcement efforts. The photo at the right shows a parked
police car 9.29.05 at 6:45 p.m. facing the intersection of SCB and
White Rock.
Emergency
Response in Travis County - Peter Freeman of the City's Health and
Human Services Department talked about the department's emergency
response-related programs and services, its role in the National
Response Plan, available resources offered through the department,
family disaster plans, volunteer opportunities, and more. You can get
the details at the Health and Human Services Department's web site. He also suggested the city's Office of Emergency Management and the FEMA web sites as helpful resources.
Covenant Presbytarian Food Drive - Rick Gerber announced the church's upcoming food drive program conducted by it's youth program. They will be distributing grocery bags on doorsteps Sunday, October 9th. The food collected will be donated to Meals on Wheels and the Capital Area Food Bank.
Zoning
Variance Request - Ken Carr, Carr Development provided an overview of
his proposed condominium/retail project that would be built where the
current Antique Marketplace is at Burnet and Lawnmont. Mr. Carr owns
the property and would like to move forward on the development plans he
presented to and that were agreed to by the neighborhood five years
ago. To get the project underway, however, he will need to get a
variance from the council to an existing city code that would limit
the height of the structure facing Lawnmont to 40 feet. He'd like to go
up to 60 feet. Those in attendance voted in favor of a motion to
support the variance provided that if any other changes to the plans
were made he would bring them before the neighborhood executive
committee for review.
SCB Resolution - Although not on the agenda, a question was asked regarding the city council SCB meeting scheduled for the following day. The general consensus from those present was they did not want the city to make any further decisions about SCB without citizen input. A resolution was presented and approved (ANA Resolution to the City Council).
