12.01.2008 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

Present: Jonathan, Steve, Tim, Jerry, Don, Pam, Eddie, Mike

Jonathan mentioned that he had heard that Trammel Crow had presented before City Council members today regarding lessons learned.

The Northstar subdivision application (for the new Taco Bell) was approved by the Planning Commission by consensus. There was no real opportunity for public input on the matter. When it was pointed out that the subdivision is significant because once a property is less than 5 acres, it is no longer required to dedicate 2% of the land to open space upon redevelopment, it was suggested to bring the issue up with City Council to influence future policy.

It was decided to continue placing signs up before CNA general meetings. Jerry has 3, Steve has 1, Eddie has 2, and Dave has 2.

There will be no traffic calming presentation at the next general meeting. Steve Zetner(sp?) will present the resolution for open space from Sustainable Neighborhoods of North Central Austin. NOTE: The link to the resolution on the Crestview NA page was broken. It is now fixed.

The possibility of absentee voting for future resolutions presented before the general assembly was proposed. General consensus was that people should show up to the meetings to vote.

The general resolution process was discussed. This process will be codified in the new CNA bylaws. It was decided that the executive committee will vote on resolutions. This vote will stand until the resolution is then put before the general assembly for a final vote. On time-critical issues, the resolution will be presented before external entities (City Council, etc.), without the confirmation of the general assembly, but such resolutions may be overturned at a later date by the general assembly.

Ideas to bring more neighbors into the general meetings was discussed. One possibility was a “Meet the Neighbors” meeting where long-time and new neighbors could be introduced. Also discussed was the plan for a future “State of the Neighborhood” meeting where the general assembly brainstorms with the executive committee on issues relevant to the neighborhood and considers strategies to address them. We also want to have a “Candidates’ Forum” for City Council and Mayoral candidates to speak to the neighborhood on their positions and to hear neighborhood concerns in April. Eddie will lead the latter effort.

Bylaws were discussed. Mike requested that everyone read the bylaws and get back to him with feedback by Sunday December 7th, 2008. Don suggested that permanent committees’ responsibilities somehow be codified in the bylaws, and Mike suggested that each committee come up with their own list to be approved by the executive committee.

The VMU Committee will meet this month to discuss strategy before the Planning Commission.

The Planning Contact Team was discussed. It was decided that Crestview and Wooten would have separate contact teams. Some members of the executive committee would also serve on the contact team. As one member of the contact team must be a renter, Eddie said that he would look for someone that could serve on the team. Bylaws for the contact team will need to be written to prevent hostile takeovers by developers as seen in other neighborhoods. Mike said that he would look at the provided bylaw guidelines, compare them with the existing CNA bylaws, and come up with something that would work.

The Planning Commission went through its second reading on TOD. It was suggested that a plan be put forth to acquire land for a trail and open space.

The next executive meeting will focus on the Huntsman Tract and decide on a strategy to pursue. What are our priorities? Open space and pedestrian/bicycle connectivity. How do we go about achieving these? Meeting with council, the developer, local activist groups?