BrykerWoods Neighborhood

Central West Austin Neighborhood Plan

You’re invited to join your neighbors to create a vision for the future of the Tarrytown, BrykerWoods, and Pemberton Heights Neighborhoods through the Central West Austin Neighborhood Plan. Next meeting deails and information below.

Date: Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

Time: 6:45 p.m.

Location: Austin State School (2203 W. 35thStreet) in the NEOS Bldg.

Directions: When you enter the campus on 35thStreet, follow the main street and proceed straight through the four-way stop intersection toward the back of the campus. Continue on the main street for approximately π mile past the four-way stop, and you'll see a brown wooden sign that says Community Relations on your left. Continue on the main road past thissign, and look to your left. NEOS sits away from the street and has a blackdoor with neon letters. You may park in the lot in front of the entrance, orthere is a large lot diagonally across the street to your right. There will bedirectional arrows (black arrows on white board) posted as well that will guideattendees. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AUSTIN STATE SCHOOL HAS A STRICT 10 MILE AN HOUR SPEED LIMIT FOR THE SAFETY OF RESIDENTS AND OTHER PEDESTRIANS.

Purpose: At this meeting, we will be covering traffic calming, cut-through traffic, speeding, bike lanes, and sidewalks.The City will have experts from the City's Public Works Department discuss these issues and answer your questions.The City will also have participants map where they would like to see these transportation improvements. Also, partcipants will focus on the goal statement for transportation.

This meeting and others in intended for home-owners, renters, business owners and employees, non-resident property owners, institutions such as churches and schools, non-profit groups, and anyone else interested in the Central West Austin neighborhood. If you meet any of these descriptions, you are a stakeholder in the planning process. As a stakeholder, you have an important voice in determining the future of your neighborhood. Even if you cannot attend the Kickoff, you can participate in the planning process at any time, but you are encouraged to get involved early in the process. The Neighborhood Planning Process will address a number of important issues, including:

• Parks & the Environment
• Transportation
• Urban Design/Neighborhood Character
• Land Use & Zoning (properties may be rezoned as a result of the planning process)

How else can I get involved?

• Take the Survey located at: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/central_west_austin.htm

This website will also contain other important information about this planning process. If you do not have access to a computer, call (512) 974-2865 or (512) 974-6355 and Neighborhood Planning staff will send you a copy of the survey and a return envelope.

The purpose of this survey is to provide Neighborhood Planning staff with a general understanding of the issues in your neighborhood. Preliminary survey results will be available at the Kickoff Meeting. Please complete the survey before Friday, June 15, 2007.

• Sign up for the Interest List

At the end of the survey, please provide your contact information if you would like to be notified about future meetings. A large and diverse number of stakeholders is important to a successful neighborhood planning process, so we welcome and encourage your participation.

• Attend planning meetings

Below is a list of upcoming meetings. Try to attend these and as many future meetings as you can. If you can’t attend a meeting, look for the meeting minutes on the Central West Austin Neighborhood Plan website: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/central_west_austin.htm.

Vertical Mixed Use and the BrykerWoods Neighborhood

Please see the information below and visit the city of Austin website to learn more of VMUs (Vertical Mixed Use zoning.) Documents, maps and public informational meeting times/dates are posted and made available. The issue of VMUs is important for the BrykerWoods neighborhood because the 35th Street corridor is considered eligible for such category of zoning.

The next BWNA board meeting* will be on Tuesday evening May 22nd and meeting topic will be the city’s VMU concept and how it might effect BrykerWoods. At this meeting the BrykerWoods neighborhood will officially vote to “opt-in” or opt-out” of the city’s proposed VMU overlay. Attend the May22nd meeting to learn more and share your opinion. Come to the meeting and let the BWNA know what you think of the VMU concept!

* This meeting as well as the other BWNA monthly meetings is open to all and held on the third Tuesday evening (7pm) at the Howson Library in Tarrytown on Exposition Blvd.

BWNA Neighborhood Survey to be delivered Spring '07

The Bryker Woods Neighborhood is beginning the City of Austin neighborhood planning process. This process is an opportunity for neighbors to outline how our neighborhood will go forward. The neighborhood plan is a city action and is by definition quite inclusive - all property owners (residential and commercial) will be asked for input. Bryker Woods last underwent a similar process in 1987. Since then, pressures of central city redevelopment leave our neighborhood in real need of direction as determined by neighborhood residents.

For City purposes, Bryker Woods Neighborhood has been combined with the West Austin Neighborhood Group (west of Mopac) and the Pemberton Heights Neighborhood (south of Bryker Woods) to form a “greater” west Austin planning area. Although a timeline does not exist at this point, it is expected that the process will begin sometime this year and will be carried out for many months. The City will initiate conversations with respective neighborhood association leaders. After that, the City will seek input from residents and owners of the planning area. As opportunities develop for neighborhood participation, the city will notify both residents and area businesses. This process will be comprehensive, inclusive and extensive in duration. Everyone is encouraged to participate.

At this time the Bryker Woods Neighborhood Association (BWNA) is seeking to learn what is important to Bryker Woods Neighborhood residents. To be distributed is an initial neighborhood survey issued by the BWNA independent of the city. As we engage in the City planning process with other neighborhoods, it is imperative that we determine what is important to the residents. The objective is to get an idea of issues important to Bryker Woods Neighborhood and “take a neighborhood pulse” on issues with which the BWNA has been involved.

It is the Bryker Woods Neighborhood Association's hope that everyone will participate in the neighborhood planning process. Keep watch for the delivery of the BWNA resident survey - please complete and return the survey by specified date. This survey is just the start of our neighborhood planning process. Take this opportunity to let the BWNA know how you feel about various issues. Your voice is important and now is the time to express your opinion on how and in which direction the Bryker Woods Neighborhood will proceed. Thanks!

City Council Approves Task Force Recommendations for Residential Compatibility Ordinance (copy courtesy of WANG)

On June 22, 2006 the City Council passed an ordinance incorporating substantially all of the recommendations of the Task Force. In the final reading, the Council included providing for a Residential Design and Compatibility Commission which is intended to provide homeowners and developers some leeway on the building rule limits if the specific project is otherwise compatible in design and massing. For additional information on the new ordinance and the development of the Task Force recommendations, click here.

For a graphical summary of the setback envelope that is included in the new ordinance, click here. However, it is important to note that the graphical summary does not depict the full extent of the permitted building envelope protrusions, such as side gable roof structures, gables or shed roofs, and dormers.

See city of Austin website for latest information regarding single-family development regulations http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/sf_regs.htm

Shoal Creek Greenbelt Update

Shoal Creek Channel Stabilization Project Mini Tour-June 27, 10 a.m. You are invited to attend a mini tour of a stretch of Shoal Creek between Gaston and West 29th Streets on Tuesday, June 27, at 10 a.m. The purpose of the tour is to view an area of the creek where old sewer lines and concrete casings will be removed as part of the Austin Clean Water Program (ACWP). These Shoal Creek banks are being fitted with $1 million worth of limestone fillings and native plants to overcome erosion. The hike and bike trail has also been rebuilt at this location. Representatives of neighborhood associations, residents and businesses will be invited to meet at Shoal Creek Park, which is just off Lamar at the Shoal Creek Bridge, to participate in the tour and hear an explanation of the project from the project manager, Stan Evans. Light refreshments will be served. The contractor is scheduled to begin the project in late June. Call 684-3204 to RSVP.

Dedication and Naming of the new Shoal Creek Pedestrian Bridge in Honor of Janet Fish - July 25, 11:30 a.m. In the 1950s, Janet Fish and her family spent many personal hours and thousands of dollars of their own money to create the Shoal Creek hike and bike trail from Pease Park north past 34th Street. Now in her mid-80s, Ms. Fish - the daughter of the late civic patriarch Walter E. Long - still lives in the family home on Shoal Creek. She and her family chopped down weeds and brush, planted trees and wild flowers, hauled in water, picked up trash and formed the Junior Deputies to help maintain and patrol the trail. Her dedication to the Austin community will be recognized in a ceremony which will name the newly-completed Shoal Creek Pedestrian Bridge just south of West 29th Street in her honor. The bridge dedication will be held Tuesday, July 25, at 11:30 a.m., at the bridge. Light refreshments will be served. Ms. Fish will be joined by her two sons, Andrew and John Fish. The bridge construction was made possible by the Austin Water Utility's Austin Clean Water Program in concert with the departments of Public Works, Watershed Protection and Parks and Recreation. Please call 684-3204 to RSVP.

City of Austin responds to the "McMansion" phenomena!

The Mayor and City Council recently unanimously passed an emergency ordinance establishing interim development regulations for single family uses that will put temporary measures in place while the new regulations are being developed. The Council has also requested that residential compatibility standards and/or new development regulations be prepared to limit scale of new homes and avoid having scraped lots sprout super-sized McMansions that are happening all around Central Austin. See city website for ordinance details http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/sf_regs.htm

Contrary to initial public reports, these regulations do not prevent homeowners from expanding their homes by remodeling or new construction (see link above). Instead, the interim regulations are intended to provide a flexible allowance for new construction and remodeling, while at the same time temporarily preventing excessively large structures from being grandfathered prior to enactment of any permanent residential standards. The purpose of these interim development regulations is to preserve the status quo while the residential compatibility regulations are prepared, and as such, these temporary rules are a critical tool that would check the rush of building applications that want to beat the new standards that are being drafted. (copy courtesy of WANG)

Taming The Teardown Trend (copy courtesy of WANG)

Across the nation and throughout our neighborhood, there are growing concerns that teardown trends are irreparably changing historic neighborhoods as fine historic homes are demolished to make way for much larger, new houses. Too often, these oversized structures disrupt the architectural and historic character of the existing neighborhood, diminishing livability and destroying the amenities that originally made the neighborhood an attractive place to live.

For this reason, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has released “Protecting America's Historic Neighborhoods: Taming the Teardown Trend,” a comprehensive report on strategies and best practice solutions being used in communities today to control teardowns. This booklet, which is available by clicking here , empowers property owners, once defenseless against the changes sweeping through their neighborhoods, with necessary preventative tools to combat teardowns. The report also offers viable alternatives for preservationists and local governments seeking to limit the teardown trend.

Read the comprehensive report ! > Teardowns.pdf
Click > here < to read more about inappropriate redevelopment in BrykerWoods and what you can do to help preserve our neighborhood's quality of life!

Shoal Creek Wastewater Improvements Project (archived content)

Residents and property owners living near and on West 32nd Street, West 33rd Street, Churchill and Kerbey Lane will experience construction of a replacement wastewater line in their streets during the summer. This project is necessary to eliminate sewer overflows, and is one of about 00 wastewater construction projects taking place citywide. Construction is taking place on the Bryker Woods neighborhood part of the project during the 2005 summer break to prevent disruption of Bryker Woods Elementary School personnel, students and parents. The contractor will begin to mobilize after Memorial Day (May 30) with intent to conclude (except for final street repairs) before school begins in mid August. The construction of the replacement wastewater line includes reconnection of residents’ home services to the replacement line in the street. Residents will be able to enter and exit their driveways during construction but through traffic will be diverted. Streets and driveways will be accessible to emergency vehicles and trash pick-up will continue as normally scheduled. Full road closures with detours will be necessary as part of the traffic plan in addition to some opportunities to use only partial lane closures as sewer lines are replaced. Construction activities will move from block to block so that road closures do not impact the entire street.

See neighborhood ACWP construction map
The Project Manager is Stan Evans at 479-1636.
The Construction Inspector is Brian Reese at 554-3218
The Austin Clean Water Program hotline is 684-3204
To report sewer overflows, please call 972-1000

For information about this and other community construction projects, please go to http://www.cityofaustin.org/ca.

Bailey Park Clean-up & Picnic Saturday, April 23 (archived content)

This year the BrykerWoods Neighborhood Association has volunteered to do a clean-up of Bailey Park. It's My Park! Day is an annual community service day focused on improvements to Austin's park system. Bailey Park is located east of Shoal creek within the vicinity of the Seton Medical Center & St. Andrews Episcopal School. It is a small urban park with beautiful trees and quaint facilities (including bathrooms). The Bailey Park clean-up event begins at 11am followed by a volunteer picnic. If you have never visited Bailey Park, make this opportunity to discover a small, convenient and wonderful park! Contact Edward Tasch edward@brykerwoods.org for more info. Should the weather be questionable, revisit this website for updates ect. So on Saturday April 23rd, bring your gloves to Bailey Park along with a lunch for a post-cleanup picnic!

Intrusive Development within the Neighborhood

Resources available to help neighborhood residents preserve BrykerWoods

The BrykerWoods neighborhood continues to experience the construction of new homes, the remodeling and sometimes removal of older ones. While our neighborhood fully respects the right of property owners to do what ever is permitted within the SF-3 zoning restrictions, our neighborhood will see to it that builders and individuals desiring to remodel remain honest and true to the SF-3 restrictions. The BrykerWoods neighborhood has become extremely “sensitive” to developers coming into the neighborhood and flagrantly violating SF-3 building restrictions. Of particular concern are some developers purchasing properties and scraping the homes (i.e. tearing the home down) without a city permit. The goal of the BWNA (BrykerWoods Neighborhood Association) is to protect and preserve aspects of our neighborhood which make the BrykerWoods neighborhood such a desirable place to live.

For more information, please see the BrykerWoods neighborhood development webpage.