Meeting started at 7:03pm – Minutes from meeting on June Meeting accepted (end of this meeting)
Travis County Presentation
Mark Gilbert and Karen Thigpin with Travis County are contacts for this project and kicked off the presentations.
Previous presentation was given in October of 2015; Travis County is currently in purchasing negotiations with the developers. See attached overview and slides for more details.
Below are the architects and developers on this project.
- Nelson Partners: Architects and Planners are Local Austin Firm
- DMA Companies: Developer for Multifamily, Affordable Housing, local Austin firm
- Southwest Strategies Group: Tenant & Owner representation for commercial real estate, local Austin group
The mixed used residential portion of the building will provide meeting space for Ridgetop Neighborhood. Nelson Partners will look into rainwater collection system. Building will be under Austin Green Energy program.
You can watch the video of the presentation by selecting “video” for the September 6, 2016 meeting date and then clicking on Item 32.
http://traviscountyclerk.org/eclerk/Content.do?code=Commissioners
The parking garage will be in the center of the building complex and will have housing and retail surrounding the garage blocking visibility. There are planned 350 parking spots for residents and Travis County employees. Entry and exit will be separate with flow going onto 53 ½ Street with direction exit toward Airport.
DMA is working with Travis County offering affordable housing to it employees at this site.
Suggested a traffic study for 53 ½ Street and working together with Ridgetop Neighborhood, TxDot and Travis County Planning team to improve traffic flow and safety in our neighborhood.
Commissioner Court Precinct 1 is supporting this project.
https://www.traviscountytx.gov/commissioners-court/precinct-one
Draft timeline is attached. DMA is hopeful to have multi-living starting mid-year 2018.
Treasurers Report
$654 in the bank after dues and crawfish boil
$10 dues are yearly and can be paid at the below link:
https://ridgetopaustin.org/join-the-rna/
Austin Community Tree Program
Important Dates and events
On September 17th trained volunteers canvased the entire neighborhoods (Northfield and Ridgetop) and identify locations where new trees would be appropriate. Locations were flagged and door hangers with instructions for opting into this program were left at the homes
October 1st: Last day to contact the city to opt in and request your tree(s). This establishes the number and types of trees the city will provide so it’s very important that home owners call in.
October 28th (Friday): trees and mulch are transported to Ridgetop Elementary.
October 29th (Saturday): “THE BIG DAY”. 100 volunteers, pick-up trucks, breakfast tacos, coffee, shovels, and people with clipboards……..it all comes together and we distribute and plant up to 400 trees on that day.
Details:
1) We need a lot of volunteers and community engagement. There are many types of volunteering options on several dates. Kris Schludermann is the volunteer coordinator. Volunteer for the Oct. 29 tree distribution day. We will be soliciting volunteers at UT Austin and other locations, but a big neighborhood draw would be very helpful.
2) Tree types: Tall trees are: Pecan, Bur Oak and Texas Ash. Understory trees are Possumhaw Holy, Red Bud, and Mountain Laurel. Please see attached door hangers for more details.
3) Essentially all open land can receive a tree assuming it meets the requirements (i.e., A tree could survive there). We need to solicit permission from owners, and this could take some leg work. Look around the neighborhood, and if there are obvious locations you think trees would benefit the neighborhood, please contact the owners and make them aware of this program. In the case of renter homes and apartments, we should engage the tenants early to contact the property owners. One efficient scenario is to contact owners of multiple properties. My take on this is: if there is a location that you really want a tree, your leg work will help accomplish this.
4) Houses will need to be surveyed by Austin 8-1-1 for buried pipes PRIOR to October 29th. This is necessary for the volunteers to be able to dig in yard.
5) Owners of the trees do accept the responsibility of maintaining and watering the trees so the trees will establish. But all the work of planting the trees can be done by trained volunteers on October 29th.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:20pm
Ridgetop Neighborhood Association 