Crestviewna - Committees

10.10.2011 Executive Committee meeting minutes

2011-10-21T21:32:00.001-05:00

Treasurer’s Report – September 2011
$13,115.98
+$30 (memberships)
+$365 (ads)
-$413 (printing)
-$46 (P.O. Box)
$13,052.06

ANC Meeting
Discussed single-member districts and short-term housing rental. They plan to vote their position next time.

CNA PayPal Account
Don asked the BNA president for suggestions on how to implement a PayPal account for the CNA. He referred him to their treasurer, but she has not responded.

Funding Guidelines
A vote was taken on whether or not to have funding guidelines. The committee voted in favor of having guidelines.

A vote was taken on whether or not to approve $7k as a reserve. The vote was tied 4 for and 4 against. Another vote was taken on whether or not to approve $10k as a reserve. This passed with 5 for and 4 against.

Deanna proposed having an annual budget so that the ex comm would know how much money could be allocated to projects, and amended the proposed guidelines to reflect that. The budget would have to be ready in time for the April newsletter, prior to the May elections. The budget would then be voted on, and amended if it does not initially pass, by the general assembly at the May meeting.

The amended guidelines were voted on and approved. Deanna will send an e-copy to Don to post on the web site.

Donation to the BNA
Emily said that the hose on the truck rented by the BNA to water the Arroyo Seco trees broke, and they had too few volunteers for their effort, so we will wait to see if they require assistance or not. They seemed to be more in need of volunteers than money. We decided to assist them with future projects, like the luminaries.

Volunteer Appreciation Dinner
This was proposed to be held in February.

04.04.11 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2011-05-02T13:28:00.001-05:00

Financial Report
+$60 (memberships)
+$522 (ads)
-$412 (newsletter printing)
Total: $11,558
About $2K/year of accrued income

We discussed the particulars of the candidate forum on 4/11/11. Kat would post a flier at the IGA, Don would publicize on the web site.

Emily will look up the price for mutt mitt replacements for our neighborhood’s dispenser.

Susan will ask someone about board insurance, since one stated reason to hold a reserve is to defend against a potential law suit.

Funding policy
$7K limit to avoid bank service fees.
Target $10K reserve. $3K always in the bank. We can go below $10K for big things to support the neighborhood plan. If we are below $10K, we can still spend money on CNA activities (ice cream social, etc.), we just won’t be donating to external projects (Violet Crown Festival, Arroyo Seco Luminarias, etc.). We also discussed increasing the reserve amount by 4% each year to counter inflation, but decided against this for now.

We discussed having separate criteria for spending of funds to go below $10K (i.e. “big things to support the neighborhood plan”), and for spending funds in excess of $10K (i.e. “external projects”). Skipped defining these until the next special meeting. We also tabled the specifics on Method for Education (formerly Method for Soliciting Requests).

Kat’s revised document:
Newsletter Profit Guidelines for Neighborhood Projects
Recommendation:
1. When the CAN account balance is greater than $10,000, all amounts will be allocated for neighborhood projects.
2. When the CNA account balance is less than $10,000, newsletter profit will be allocated at 75% for CNA, and 25% for the neighborhood.
3. Review the newsletter profitability on a periodic basis to ensure viability.
Requirements to Receive CNA Funds:
1. Person/project seeking funds should allow at least a 6‐week window before funds are needed, or at least one month after presentation at a general meeting. This timing allows for a presentation to the neighborhood and discussion by the executive committee.
2. Person must live in the neighborhood, and the project should take place within the neighborhood boundaries or be of benefit for the whole neighborhood.
3. Project leader should provide details on the project timeline, committed volunteers, estimated costs, and explain how the project will benefit the neighborhood and its residents.
4. The person/group should present their plan to the executive committee and the neighborhood, and address questions or concerns.
5. If the amount requested is over $250, a neighborhood vote is required.
6. If a project is approved for funds, the person/project leader will provide periodic updates to the executive committee, at NA meetings, as well as to the newsletter, to inform the neighborhood about the project and use of funds.
7. People seeking funds should support the NA in various ways, such as with membership, meeting attendance, volunteering for events, leading or assisting committees, etc.
8. CNA may also decide to make an unsolicited donation to a neighborhood group or project.
9. Only in select cases will CNA issue a check without requiring receipts for reimbursement.
Neighborhood Education & Outreach:
1. CNA will inform residents via the newsletter and website that there are funds available for neighborhood enhancement projects.
2. Information given will include guidelines for requesting and receiving funding.
Method for Distributing Funds to Approved Groups:
1. After a project has been approved to receive funding, they should submit all receipts at once to the President or committee leader.
2. Receipts will be reviewed and compiled, then given to the Treasurer. The treasurer will then issue a check for the total amount of submitted receipts.
3. The amount distributed will not exceed the original amount agreed upon.

Discussion on this policy will continue at another ex comm meeting in May.

02.07.11 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2011-02-25T22:14:00.000-06:00

The committee was updated on the status of Morrow and Lamar. No new recommendations to the city staff, beyond those already proposed by the small group selected by Eddie to meet with staff, had been made since prior to the last general meeting. Eddie was waiting to hear back from staff. Council was supposed to meet on the 7th, but had rescheduled for the 14th.

Marcus suggested adding a contact to the CNA web site for people to contact regarding the status of the traffic calming efforts (Peter Marshall?).

Finances:
$11190 start
+ $30 (memberships)
+ $270 (ads)
- $392 (newsletter)
$11098 end

We have received ~$2K reserved for future ads.

Tim suggested that some volunteers receive monetary reimbursement for their services (e.g. person doing mailouts for membership renewals, people using their printers to print things, etc.)

Kat passed out the initial proposed guidelines for CNA donations to be reviewed prior to the next meeting. Emily suggested that the guidelines be just that, a target but not inflexible. Organizations listed would be examples, but not exclusive.

The neighborhood in which the project would take place might not be restricted to Crestview if many in Crestview would benefit.

Emily requested funds for bags to restock the Green Mutt Mitt dispenser at Woodrow and Arroyo Seco. She also has a certificate to give to the CNA from the Friends of Brentwood to thank for the donation to the tree-planting effort.

Kat proposed changing the 6-week advanced notice requirement to 4 weeks.

Jeff, the new pastor at Crestview Baptist Church, offered their coffee shop for free neighborhood reservation and use. He would also see if it might be possible to put aside permanent office space for the CNA, if we would find it useful. They would like to offer their services to the community.

02.07.11 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

2011-02-07T15:42:00.003-06:00

7pm in the church library

Discuss CNA's feedback to the city's request for improvements to be implemented prior to the opening of the Morrow and Lamar intersection to west-bound traffic.

01.10.11 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2011-01-15T12:54:00.003-06:00

Tim distributed the financial statement for December.
+ $461 (memberships and ad revenue)
- $392 (newsletter printing)
TOTAL: $11,190.71

An event in December necessitated the establishment of CNA policy regarding newsletter article review: The president needs to be given adequate time to review an article before it goes to the newsletter layout person. When possible, articles will be submitted to DropBox by the 15th of the month and reviewed by the president by the 18th. During the review process, necessary communication between the president and newsletter editor will occur by phone. The post-layout reviewer will be given 2 days to review the newsletter afterward.

Some discussion about articles indicated that we may need to establish a policy regarding article style (objectivity, etc.). Kat already pointed out that an article content policy exists. Everyone expressed a desire to see more CNA content in the newsletter, which puts the responsibility on the entire executive committee to write articles for the newsletter updating the neighborhood on the association’s most recent business.

People expressed dismay that the CNA did not contribute to the Arroyo Seco luminaries this holiday season due to the fact that we have yet to establish our policy on determining criteria for donating to events/causes/organizations. This policy has been on the back-burner for a couple of months, and needs to be established ASAP.

Nov-Dec 2010 Ex Comm Meeting Minutes

2011-01-15T12:52:00.001-06:00

At Eddie’s house. Eddie, Don, Marcus and Susan in attendance.

Eddie wanted to update the rest of the executive committee on meetings that have taken place over the past two months regarding city staff’s recommendation to open the intersection at Morrow and Lamar to west-bound traffic.

City staff had contacted Eddie to see what improvements Crestview would want to have in place prior to the opening of the intersection. Staff recommended having a sidewalk built along the north side of Morrow. Crestview’s #1 priority improvement would be fixing the Lamar flyover at Anderson Lane. Other options included finishing the existing traffic calming plan implementation, increased lighting and additional traffic calming efforts. Should a transportation engineer be hired to do a current traffic count along Morrow, estimate the maximum safe traffic load, and propose means of preemptively reducing the load? Can we require new counts be conducted after opening at set intervals for a set amount of time to be assured that traffic does not rise above safe levels?

In subsequent meetings with city staff, there have been discussions on what can be done about the Lamar and Anderson intersection. We brought out ideas including:
1) signage to designate where to go from Lamar to get onto Anderson.
2) two lanes to exit instead of one lane.
3) easier flow of traffic onto Anderson using exit and the cross over by
a) controlling right turn traffic off east bound 183 access road to south bound Lamar access road,
b) redesign entire intersection
i) have Lamar truly intersect Anderson
ii) OR have Anderson intersect better with access roads of 183 and Lamar.
c) adding traffic light to traffic coming off Lamar and going West bound onto Anderson.

In addition to the Anderson Lane discussion, we also reiterated our concerns over Morrow.

We also asked about the down grading of Justin Lane. We reminded staff that the downgrade was necessary in order to implement future traffic calming along Justin. Paper work was submitted 2 years ago with the assurance that this was a slam dunk.

We also asked about the completion of traffic calming measures in the neighborhood. Staff promised us that we would receive a schedule of traffic calming completion by first week in January 2011.

When asked, staff did provide some information about measurable trigger for traffic analysis. We all agreed that cut-through-traffic is traffic going through neighborhood to a destination outside the neighborhood. A big trigger for the city is when cut-through traffic increases more than 20% over a typical day happening over a week period. If it is peak traffic time the percent is 30% and not more than 200 cars per hour. In summary there are two delivery dates promised to Crestview.

1) By the end of the first week in January 2011, staff would let us know the completion schedule for the traffic calming.

2) By mid January in 2011, staff would have a response for our list of 8 generic items to be addressed. We would continue our dialog after Crestview Neighborhood reviewed the city's response. Items to be addressed are:
1) Anderson Lane and Lamar intersection improvements
Morrow and Lamar improvements like painting and construction.
2) Sidewalks along Morrow
3) Lighting along Morrow
4) Bicycle mitigation.
5) Traffic and event trigger for Morrow.
6) Downgrade of Justin Lane
7) ____________________
8) ____________________

10.04.10 CNA Ex-comm Meeting Minutes

2010-11-01T15:44:00.000-06:00

Morrow & Lamar Status: No response from city staff regarding the recommendation to the transportation sub-committee. The item is not on the agenda for the 10/5/10 sub-committee meeting, but will probably be on next month’s meeting agenda. We’ve been told that we will be informed of staff’s recommendation when one has been decided on.

October Pizza & Pumpkin Carving Party: Eddie will get 10 pizzas from The Little Deli, sodas and trash bags. Emily will bring knives, sponges, and sound system. Marcus will bring Halloween music, ice chest, and ice. Kat will bring a table cloth, tape, markers. Someone needs to bring cups, power towels, something to scoop pumpkin guts and someplace to put the guts, paper plates. Will be at 7pm on the 11th in Wozniak Hall.

November volunteer appreciation party: Will be for newsletter staff, current and past ex-comm officers, neighborhood planning contact team, and the traffic calming committee. Kat and Eddie will forward contact e-mails to Emily who will do the eVite. One guest will be allowed per individual invited. Announce in newsletter that there will be no general meeting in November, but a volunteer appreciation party at an undisclosed date and location. Evites out by October 15, RSVPs due by Nov. 1.
No meeting in December. Think about ideas for Winter meetings.

How do we communicate to the neighborhood what the CNA does and why someone might want to become a member? Suggestions:
4 times per year insert a descriptive snippet of past deeds in the newsletter along with membership form.
How else does the CNA foster community with the newsletter? Suggestions:
Discount ads for neighborhood small business
Anyone can contribute articles to the newsletter
Could add a Neighborhood Resources section (babysitting, lawn care, pet care, etc.)
Annual contest
What would you like to see in the neighborhood?

How much reserve should be kept on hand in the CNA account for fast expenditures? 6 months operating expenses run about $3K. Set reserve level at $10K, and that amount increases due to inflation by 4% per year (i.e. will need $10.4K at end of 2011, and $10.816K at end of 2012, etc. NOTE: World ends in 2012.)

Still left to decide – Criteria to determine where CNA spends the excess income not covering the reserve or operating expenses, and the criteria for funding neighborhood projects.

10.04.10 Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

2010-10-01T11:49:00.002-05:00

7:00pm in the St. Louis Catholic Church school library.

- Update on Morrow-Lamar intersection
- Newsletter revenue and project donation policy discussion
- Pumpkin Carving and Pizza Party
- November meeting and volunteer appreciation
- Upcoming winter meetings

07.12.10 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2010-07-16T09:27:00.002-05:00

Link to Google Doc

06.14.10 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2010-06-18T11:27:00.004-05:00

Rails with Trails
John Michael Cortez from Cap Metro, along with Robert Okamoto (engineer) and Jolina Marshal (TOD group) came to update the neighborhood on the “rails with trails” effort. They indicated that they were still early in the process and looking for input before making decisions. They had already spoken with Wooten, Highland, and Northfield.

For the past 6 years they have been working in accord with the All Systems Go plan, Cap Metro’s plan for growing the transit system over then next 20-25 years. They are about a quarter of the way through implementing the plan. Their goal is to connect neighborhoods to their transit stations (like Crestview Station). They have implemented a pedestrian/bike thoroughfare through downtown to I-35 (Lance Armstrong Bikeway, Boggy Creek Bikeway), and their next priority would be to implement something similar from I-35 along Airport to Highland. However, they can’t afford to do that segment currently. They have received a chunk of federal stimulus money ($1.9 million) that needs to be spent in the next 1-2 years. They believe that this will allow them to implement a pedestrian/bike thoroughfare from Crestview Station up north past 183.

Because of the requirement for 50’ of right of way along the tracks, most of the rail in central Austin will not be able to have a trail running along side of it (it would encroach into people’s back yards), so the thoroughfare will mostly be along existing roadways, zigzagging parallel to and across the track through neighborhoods. Cap Metro’s effort would be to increase signage and safety at crossings, but they probably wouldn’t narrow existing roads with bike lanes. There was no support by the assembly for this plan at all. Crestview and the other neighborhoods spoken to thus far by Cap Metro favor having the trail run along the tracks through the former Huntsman tract (now including the Optimists’ fields), and Cap Metro is discussing the possibility of getting enough land from the current property owners to construct such a trail. In the event that the property owners are not willing to sell or donate the land, the proposed route to Crestview Station would go along Morrow until midway between Grover and Lamar, and then meander through the Midtown Commons before reaching the station.

They don’t want to create another crossing of the tracks at the station to allow people from Brentwood and Crestview pedestrian access to the station without going onto Lamar. Board policy is to remove two crossings for every one added. They can’t address Austin Energy’s plans for the Ryan property, and therefore could not speak to the possibility of having a pedestrian overpass/underpass of the tracks to get to the station from there. Another bicycle/pedestrian connection to the station will be along St. Johns, connecting up to Guadalupe.

Cap Metro’s budget for fiscal year 2011 is currently on-line. They are looking for feedback on how to spend their money. A 10-minute video and 5-minute survey is here until this Sunday (June 20th).

Red Home – The recipient of the recent charity home remodel in Crestview, Leona Sledge, was present to thank the community for their support and to offer her help with future endeavors. She and her husband moved into their home on Morrow in 1954. She was recently financially strained when forced to redo the plumbing in her slab home.

Traffic Calming – Traffic calming has started. Speed cushions are in along Morrow. The entire process will take about 6 months, with temporary barriers representing possible island locations to go in soon before eventually being replaced with permanent islands.

NPCT – The Neighborhood Plan Contact Team will have its first meeting next week (June 21st) at 6:30pm at Genuine Joe.

Keep Austin Beautiful Proposal – Karen Lorenzini and Cheryl Goveia presented their proposal to the association to write a grant proposal to Keep Austin Beautiful to get funding to create artistic signage into Crestview. They would like backing from the association to increase their competitiveness with others applying for grants. The signs would be open to the community for involvement with design, construction and placement. They are asking for $1000 from the association along with a letter of support. The deadline for response was stated as Wednesday (2 days). Karen came to the association with a similar proposal last year for placing a landscaped bench at an island in Crestview with an equally short deadline for a response from the association. The CNA ultimately decided to decline support at that time because of the short deadline. The executive committee was again wary of offering support because of the short deadline and having not yet created a criterion for determining project eligibility for funding or the amount of funding the association is comfortable dispersing per year. It was decided to offer financial backing of $500 with a possibility of additional money if Karen and Cheryl are unable to find additional funding from other organizations or sources in the neighborhood.

Budget - May: $9901 + $110 memberships + $187 ads - $392 newsletter printing - $100 Violet Crown donation - $30 bounced check = $9675

Newsletter – Looking for more distributors. 6 or 7 entries for the logo contest.

Membership Renewals – Needed to wait until new bylaws were voted on before monthly renewals could go out. Expect to start sending out renewal notices in August.

CNA’s Spending Policy – What percentage of ad revenue and membership dues should go back into the neighborhood? In what way? This policy needs to be in place before making future decisions on spending. As it was 9:40pm, this policy discussion was deferred for an executive committee meeting next month: 2nd Monday in July at 7pm at The Pour House.

Ice Cream Social – It was decided to hold this year’s ice cream social in front of the Little Deli on July 18th from 1-3pm. The social will be on Sunday instead of Saturday this year because the Little Deli is now open on Saturdays. We need to post something on the listserv looking for neighborhood musicians willing to play (Deanne Rene played for the Violet Crown Festival, and Christie Barry coordinated. Susan will send the contact info to Kat.). Tonia will contact the Alamo Drafthouse about tickets for raffle. Additionally for raffle, the neighborhood association will purchase $20 gift certificates for the MiniMax, the Little Deli, and Genuine Joe. A flier in July’s newsletter will serve as both a membership renewal and raffle entry. Don can bring a small pavilion for shade.

06.14.10 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

2010-06-11T10:25:00.000-05:00

General Meeting:
- Announce Ice Cream Social (sometime in late July)
- Announce NPCT meeting June 21st
- Announce Traffic Calming measures have begun
- Alissa from Cap Metro - budget development process video and survey

Executive Meeting:
- Plan the ice cream social - Jul 18th? (look for musicians, raffle,
bullhorn/karaoke machine, flyer with newsletter and CNA membership
renewal as raffle entry).
- Plan the renewal notice mail-out.
- Decide upon a policy for determining how much money the CNA is able
to spend each year on events (ice cream social, pumpkin carving party,
etc.) and in support of community initiatives or organizations.
Determine what criteria (if any) must be met in order to receive CNA
financial support (membership? meeting attendance?).

05.10.10 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2010-05-17T09:07:00.001-05:00

The formation and purpose of the Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (Paige, Heidi and Tonia) was announced. Their first meeting is scheduled for June, before which there will be an announcement of the meeting time and place.

On May 5th the transportation sub-committee (Cole, Morrison, Riley) met to hear CNA’s arguments against the opening up of Morrow and Lamar to westbound traffic. No decisions were made, and the sub-committee expressed a desire to not have to choose yes/no on opening, but rather preferred the neighborhoods work together to come up with an agreeable solution. They may assist in providing mediation for Crestview and Highland to work together on the issue.

Eddie says traffic calming will start in 1 month, after the city is through with work on Rundberg.

4-5 new members joined at the Violet Crown Festival. The festival had more art booths than ever and it was a good showing.

Rails with trails meeting will soon happen with Sustainable Neighborhoods. Susan Hensley of PARD needs to be informed that Ryan AE property is usable.

The general assembly voted on the proposed by laws amendments (see previous minutes) and all passed by unanimous vote.

All eligible candidates that were nominated were elected by unanimous vote:
Eddie Gary – President
Tonia Scaperlanda – Vice President
Don Tucker – Secretary
Tim Ramirez – Treasurer
Kat Corea – Newsletter Editor
Melinda Evans – Place 1
Susan Burneson – Place 2
Emily Wilson – Place 3
Marcus Boruff – Place 4

Friends of Brentwood Park (Emily and Hedrich) together with Walter from the city’s forestry department presented their first draft for a tree planting initiative in Brentwood Park.

Walter explained that the city needs to partner with other groups to get things done because of a lack of funding and manpower. They propose to plant 98 trees in Brentwood Park, and put irrigation in (irrigation costs the city less in terms of manpower to maintain the trees). The city would provide the trees, dig the holes, provide the mulch, and pay for the first 2-3 years of water. FoBP would have to pay for the installation of the irrigation (estimated cost $9800). The city would ask for volunteers to monthly inspect the trees’ irrigation, weed status, mulch, and insect situations, but the city would maintain the irrigation after installation. To raise the funding, FoBP is writing a proposal for a grant from the Austin Parks Foundation, which is due at the end of the month. They have been told that it will go well for their proposal if they can secure funding of 30% from other groups, so they are asking the Brentwood Neighborhood Association, the Crestview Neighborhood Association, the Violet Crown Community Works, and others to donate 30% of the estimated cost. Contributions are tax deductable. FoBP is looking for feedback from neighbors on the plan. Some present suggested adding some fruit trees to the plan.

For questions or feedback regarding the plan, please contact Emily Wilson at pamelagrierrocks@yahoo.com

Executive Committee Meeting

Treasurer Report:
+$10 memberships
+$968 ads
-$392 printing costs
-#35 ANC membership
-$10 bounced ad check
TOTAL:$9901

Newsletter issues:
It was collectively decided not to follow up with legal action against the advertiser that bounced its check.
The distribution coordinator is leaving, and a replacement has been found.
No submissions for the logo contest yet.

In response to requests from other groups for CNA financial backing, the CNA is encouraged to consider what it needs and what it could ask for in return from these organizations. There are many people we only see when they want money. Why are they not more involved in the organization?

Consensus was reached to donate $100 to the VCCW in exchange for their generous offer of having a table in the welcome tent. A vendor tent costs $50 for the vendor.

Consensus was reached to donate $900 and write a letter of support to the FoBP tree planting initiative.

We voted to continue with the combined general and executive meetings.

We selected July 10th or 17th for the annual ice cream social. Eddie will speak with the Little Deli and the IGA about how to run it.

June Meeting:
- Plan the ice cream social (look for musicians, raffle, bullhorn/karaoke machine, flyer with newsletter and CNA membership renewal as raffle entry).
- Plan the renewal notice mail-out.
- Decide upon a policy for determining how much money the CNA is able to spend each year on events (ice cream social, pumpkin carving party, etc.) and in support of community initiatives or organizations. Determine what criteria (if any) must be met in order to receive CNA financial support (membership? meeting attendance?).

05.10.10 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

2010-05-07T09:23:00.001-05:00

General Meeting [7-8pm]
Announcement of formation of Crestview NPCT. [7-7:10]
Update on May 5th city staff meeting on Morrow and Lamar. [7:10-7:30]
Recap of Violet Crown Festival @ CNA Table [7:30-7:40]
By laws amendment vote (if quorum) [7:40-7:50]
Officer elections [7:50-8]

Ex Comm Meeting [8-9pm]
Input into the Friends of Brentwood Park/City of Austin plan for
treeing Brentwood Park [Emily][8-8:20]
Treasurer's Summary [Tim][8:20-8:25]
Discussion on financial support for the VCCW Festival [8:25-8:35]
Newsletter update (Distribution update, Production offer, NSF Ad
Payments) [Kat][8:35-8:45]
Decide whether or not to continue with combined meetings [8:45-8:50]
Set a date for annual ice cream party.[8:50-9]

04.12.10 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2010-04-16T11:55:00.001-05:00

Vote on proposed by laws amendments – Only 16 people present. Vote will be postponed until a quorum (20) exists to take a vote.

Update on Morrow and Lamar – The item was last on the sub-committee’s agenda, and there was not enough time to give a full report by the task force assigned to investigate the issue nor hear from neighborhood representatives. The item will be put on the agenda for the next meeting (May 5th @ 2:30pm) so that it can receive its due attention.

Announced CNA officer elections in May – At the May 10th meeting there will be 2-3 positions without any incumbents running. Other officers have expressed a willingness to step down if other neighbors wish to run. All neighbors are encouraged to show up and to bring those in the neighborhood who might be interested in serving a term.

Announced that the Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (NPCT) by laws vote and officer elections will be April 19th at 6:30pm in Wozniak Hall of St. Louis Church.

Laura Morrison from City Council addressed the assembly and indicated that she was not satisfied with either the current state of Lamar and Morrow or the option of opening it up to westbound traffic. She said that it would be helpful to receive a small packet of well thought out suggested alternatives to consider. They have no control over the Anderson and Lamar intersection, other than to sweet talk the state into doing something. However, when state funds are low, the allocation priorities tend to be elsewhere. Steve Dobie said that he had requested accident statistics for the Anderson and Lamar intersection as he has heard that it is the 3rd or 4th most unsafe intersection in the region. Laura said that a useful outcome of the next sub-committee meeting might be to get city arbitration to facilitate Crestview and Highland working together on a mutually acceptable solution.

Laura also explained the purpose of the NPCTs. They tell the Planning Commission their views on proposed changes to the Future Land Use Map. NPCTs are formally recognized city entities mentioned in the city code, whereas a neighborhood association can be anything. She has seen examples of an NPCT being at odds with a neighborhood association, and in some cases being treated as official city entities and in other cases being treated as informal neighborhood groups. After an issue with Highland’s NPCT being denied the right to appeal a proposed change to their area, a resolution was passed that if an NPCT appeals something they should have legal standing to do so. In University Hills neighbors wanted to sue their NPCT for implementing something with which they were not in favor. In that case, the City decided to support the NPCT in the lawsuit as an official city entity. The comprehensive plan will attempt to preserve existing neighborhood plans.

Eddie will be the interim representative to the ANC for the next year.

U.S. Postal carriers asked us to promote the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive on May 5th in our neighborhood newsletter. We agreed to do so.

Violet Crown Festival, May 8th – We are offered a table at the event. Eddie will ask them if they are in need of financial assistance this year. We will coordinate time slots to staff the table and what to bring (membership forms, coffee can for dues, board with pictures, Tonia’s flyer of why to join, logo contest rules, …). Eddie and Tonia can do 10am-12pm, Don can arrive early to help set up 8-10am. Tim can do the afternoon. Marcus and Kat are also available for a shift.

04.12.10 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

2010-04-09T09:26:00.002-05:00

The exective committee is continuing the experiment of combining the CNA general and ex comm meetings. 7pm, Wozniak Hall, St. Louis Church.

General Meeting segment [7-8:30]:
* Announcements:
- CNA Officer Elections in May.
- Neighborhood Plan Contact Team by laws vote and officer elections on April 19th.
- Update on Morrow and Lamar
- Request from mail carriers

* Vote on CNA By Laws Amendments

* Councilperson Laura Morrison addresses the concerns of the neighborhood

Executive Committee segment [8:30-9]:
* How to publicize NPCT meeting (flyers?) and CNA officer elections
* Coordinate CNA participation in Violet Crown Festival
* CNA logo contest

03.08.2008 CNA Ex Comm Meeting Agenda

2010-03-05T10:06:00.002-06:00

7pm @ Wozniak Hall

Announcements and Updates to the General Assembly

* Current experiment to combine general and ex comm meetings (7:00-7:10)
* Recap on the Morrow-Lamar Traffic Analysis meeting and current status (7:10-7:30)
* Neighborhood Plan Contact Team Meeting April 19th 6:30pm - by laws vote and elections (7:30-7:40)
* Recap of the VCCW/BNA/CNA joint projects meeting (7:40-8:00)
* Presentation of CNA proposed by laws amendments and open discussion (8:00-8:30)

Ex Comm Business

* Newsletter Proposal (Kat) (8:30-8:45)
* Action Items and Plan for April's Meeting (8:45-9:00)

02.01.10 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2010-02-04T10:42:00.003-06:00

Financial
+$10 – membership
+$1026 – ads
- $392 - printing
TOTAL: $9456.42

Neighborhood Planning Contact Team Status
By laws have been completed. The next meeting will be April 19th @ Wozniak Hall, St. Louis Church, at 6:30pm for the general assembly to approve (or disapprove) the by laws. A quorum of 15 is required. In the event of approval, officers (facilitator, vice facilitator, and secretary) shall be elected.

A neighbor informed the committee that there are people forcing neighbors to have their trees cut. The committee was not informed of this, but they were supposed to have been informed. We need to follow up on this.

VCCW, BNA, CAN Joint Project Meeting, Feb. 2
Eddie and Kat will attend this. Paige will make an effort to attend.

By Laws Amendments
We agreed to modify the language of the by laws to allow a flexible start and end date on membership (rather than June 1st), and to have titled officers hold staggered two-year terms (see earlier post).

To address the issue of the number of meetings, it was decided to try conducting the ex comm. business at the general meetings in March and April as an experiment. One neighbor expressed that that was the original intent of the general meetings. This will mean that Heidi will not be able to attend the ex comm. meetings during those months, as she serves on another board/commission on those nights.

Perhaps, in the future, we should address the possibility of a contingency plan in the event that a minimum number of officers (4?) do not run for elections in a given year.

February General Meeting (Morrow Lamar Intersection Meeting)
The assembly will be split up into groups with a facilitator to discuss the issue.
Paige will attend a transportation forum that same evening instead.
Crestview’s concerns on Morrow are the same as Highland’s concerns on Guadalupe.
Morrow is designed for 1800 trips per day. It is currently carrying 3600 trips per day. Crestview Station was projected to add another 978 trips per day. The intersection should remain restricted as the existing traffic calming plan relied upon it to remain so. There would be an issue with traffic backing up at the train crossing when the gates are down, preventing people from leaving their houses. Suggest that the city work with TXDOT to redesign the Lamar/Anderson intersection.

Newsletter Ad Ratio
The newsletter is currently at the 60% content / 40% ads target ratio and still generating income.

Proposed CNA By Laws Amendments

2010-02-04T10:36:00.002-06:00

CHANGE:

ARTICLE XI. DUES: Dues shall be paid annually (“Dues Year”) by June 1 of each year, in the amount of ten dollars ($10.00) per household ( limited to four persons, identified at time of membership registration, per household) and ten dollars ($10.00) per capita for any persons in excess of four persons per household. In the case of hardship (to be determined in the sole discretion of the Executive Council) all or part of the annual dues for any year(s) may be waived. The amount of annual dues shall be set by the Executive Committee as approved by the membership.

TO:

ARTICLE XI. DUES: Dues shall be paid annually (“Dues Year”) ~~by June 1 of each year,~~ in the amount of ten dollars ($10.00) per household ( limited to four persons, identified at time of membership registration, per household) and ten dollars ($10.00) per capita for any persons in excess of four persons per household. In the case of hardship (to be determined in the sole discretion of the Executive Council) all or part of the annual dues for any year(s) may be waived. The amount of annual dues shall be set by the Executive Committee as approved by the membership. Dues shall be considered current for one year past the date that they were last paid.

CHANGE:

ARTICLE VI. OFFICERS:
Section 2: Officers shall be nominated for a one-year term at the regular May meeting of the Association. Nomination shall be made from the floor by any member of the Association. Election from the nominated candidates shall be made by a show of hands of active members at the regular May meeting of the Association. Officers shall serve one year terms with no limitation on future terms.

TO:

ARTICLE VI. OFFICERS:
Section 2: Titled officers shall be nominated for a two-year term and place-holding officers shall be nominated for a one-year term at the regular May meeting of the Association. In even years, the Vice President, Secretary, and Newsletter Editor shall be nominated, and in odd years the President and the Treasurer shall be nominated. Nomination shall be made from the floor by any member of the Association. Election from the nominated candidates shall be made by a show of hands of active members at the regular May meeting of the Association. Officers shall serve ~~one year~~ their terms with no limitation on future terms.

02.01.2010 Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

2010-01-30T18:12:00.003-06:00

All
6:30 - Distribution of treasurer's report
6:30 – 7:30 Proposed By Laws Amendment Discussion

Kat
7:30-7:35 Review of ratio of content to ads in the newsletter
7:35-7:45 VCCW, BNA, CNA combined neighborhood project meeting

Eddie
7:45-8:15 Morrow and Lamar Intersection Discussion

Eddie
8:15 Update on neighborhood contact planning team meetings

01.04.10 CNA Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2010-01-06T09:29:00.003-06:00

Neighborhood Input
One neighbor expressed a concern that e-mail dialog between executive committee members could be construed as closed meetings, which would violate the recent amendment to the by laws that executive committee meetings be open to the public. The executive committee explained its policy not to conduct business over e-mail. All private correspondence merely serves to decide what items to place on the agenda for future meetings, or to provide background material to hasten the conduct of business at the meetings. The option of a public forum on the neighborhood website was proposed, and the committee decided that it could investigate this further if there seems to be widespread concern about this in the neighborhood.

Financials
+$60 (new memberships)
+$897 (newsletter ad revenue)
+$10 (Baker Custom Homes donation to newsletter)
+$0.26 (PayPal account reimbursement)
-$392 (newsletter printing)
TOTAL: $8812.82

Meeting Procedure
A suggestion was made by a committee member to adhere strictly to Robert’s Rules of Order in order to ensure that all items on the agenda for a meeting are addressed. Recently, some items have not been able to be addressed because too much time is spent trying to reach consensus on an item before proceeding. It was decided to continue with things being run informally, but with a collective effort to manage the time at meetings in order to effectively conduct business.

Faith-based Organization Ads in the Newsletter
Currently, faith-based organizations are permitted to place line items in the community calendar of the newsletter for free, but we do not have an official policy on ad placement. After some discussion a motion was put forth to allow faith-based ads to be accepted with the same guidelines as for businesses (i.e. within our zip code, with the right to refuse any ad, and with preference given for businesses within the neighborhood). The motion was passed 6-to-3.

Morrow Traffic Study Meeting
The CNA general meeting in February will have a time and location change to correspond with the City’s feedback meeting where it will present the results of a traffic study on the effects of opening up Morrow to west-bound traffic across Lamar (not to north-bound Lamar traffic): Feb. 8th, 6:30-8:30pm, Gateway Baptist Church at Morrow and Guadalupe. Feedback from neighbors at this meeting will be taken to the subcommittee investigating the issue and the subcommittee will report to Council. Staff is not making recommendations to Council. The executive committee decided to endorse the existing Neighborhood Plan and Traffic Calming Plan, which have been produced with neighborhood input after months of deliberation. Each of these documents dictates that Morrow should remain closed to west-bound traffic across Lamar. CNA by laws also require that neighborhood safety is upheld by reducing the volume and speed of traffic on the roads through the neighborhood.

For the general meeting next week, Eddie and others will produce a full page, 2-sided flyer, that shows the traffic calming map, the change in time and place for the next meeting, and a bulleted list explaining the executive committee’s position on the issue and the history behind it. Don will announce the change in meeting location and time on the web site and listserv. Another article will go out in the February newsletter with more information.

By Laws Amendment Discussion
The meeting at this point was an hour and a half past schedule, and this item was postponed until next time. Having a special meeting to discuss possible by laws changes was proposed. It was decided that people forward specific language for the possible changes to Eddie to expedite the discussion at the next ex comm. meeting. If not all of the items can be discussed at the next ex comm. meeting, Eddie agreed to have a special meeting to discuss them afterward.

This Month’s CNA General Meeting
Someone will present 15 minutes on the HEB expansion.
Someone will present 5-10 minutes on the Lamar Middle school proposed magnet program.
There will be an announcement of the Feb. 8th meeting change and a distribution of the flyer.

12.07.2009 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2009-12-09T14:29:00.002-06:00

Present: Tonia, Eddie, Heidi, Tim, Marcus, Don

Financial Report
Start: $8443
+$438 ads
-$392 newsletter
-$250 Violet Crown Community Works donation
End: $8237

Newsletter Ad Policy
We decided to table the decision on church ads in the newsletter until Kat was present.

Neighborhood Planning Contact Team
Still working on the by laws. The next meeting is scheduled for December 17th at 6:30pm in Rm 201.

Sustainable Neighborhoods Proposal
Steven Zetner was requesting endorsement from the north Austin neighborhood for various projects for which the city is supposed to already have some money (capital improvements). Steven planned to present his proposal to City Council this month. However, apart from the initiatives previously endorsed by CNA, we decided to endorse the rails with trails initiative, the pedestrian bike bridge over the commuter rail, the pocket park on Ryan, and an improved crosswalk at Burnet and 2222 for Lamar Middle School. The full list of initiatives is here.

By Laws Amendments
We discussed the possible amendments to the by laws to address the change in membership terms, and the possibility of officers having staggered terms, and the number of general meetings per year being reduced. Association members expressed their concerns over the procedure to amend the by laws, and it was decided that, first, the ex comm. needed to meet with all members to get clear on what they were proposing, then an article in the newsletter would present the proposed changes with pros and cons, and then a feedback meeting would be held for neighborhood input, before a voting meeting on the changes would ever be held.

Association Member Input
Some neighbors were against the language in the membership term proposed by laws amendment that would grant business owners and absentee property owners membership in the association.

Some neighbors would like to see meeting re-caps in the newsletter. They would like to see monthly crime stats (addresses, crime, date, etc.) in the newsletter. They would like to see more articles about things that “affect the neighborhood” in the newsletter, like zoning variance requests and items before the planning commission.

One neighbor mentioned that he had been alerted to a variance request by a hotel that was buying out the condos on Northcross Dr. to be able to have a lounge bar. Members of the ex comm. asked for the information to be forwarded on to them, if possible.

Emily Wilson spoke about her attempt to get Crestview listed as a Green Neighborhood with the city. She has 63 homes signed up and needs 540. She requested that the ex comm. members all submit their booklet answers as an example to the neighborhood. If she can get the 540 houses to send their responses in, the city can donate things to the neighborhood like trees or a sign. She also mentioned that Crestview won second place in the city’s National Wildlife Habitat Challenge, and there will be an awards ceremony on Dec 17th with the participants honored. Finally, she spoke about the Friends of Brentwood Park. They plan to have 3-4 work days each year, and they want a water bed to water trees around the playscape in times of severe drought. The city doesn’t want to pay for that, but they will offer some support if there is support from the neighborhoods (monetary and volunteer). She would like to see neighborhood associations donate a few hundred dollars, if possible, and encourage people to volunteer.

January General Meeting
Eddie was tasked with contacting the person who was willing to speak about the 2222 HEB expansion to come to speak to us about it. Marcus was tasked with inviting someone from the Lamar Middle School to talk about their initiative to start a magnet program. If, after the January ex comm. meeting, there is clarity on what is desired for by laws amendment and arguments for and against, this can be presented to the general assembly as a first “heads up” about coming newsletter articles and feedback meetings.

12.07.2007 Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

2009-12-07T10:35:00.002-06:00

This month the general meeting and ex comm meeting will be combined into a single meeting. There is no topic for the general meeting, and anyone is welcome to attend the ex comm meeting to observe, voice their opinions/concerns, or ask questions.

All
6:30 – 7:30 By Laws Vote in January
- Meeting Frequency
- Membership Period
- Term Staggering
Announced in newsletter to check web site on specifics.

Kat
7:30-7:45 Conclude church newsletter ad discussion and decide on policy.

Eddie
7:45-8:05 Sustainable neighborhood recommendations/endorsements

Eddie, Tonia, Heidi,
Marcus
8:05-8:15 Update on neighborhood contact planning team meetings

All
8:15-8:30 January general meeting

11.02.09 Ex Comm Meeting Minutes

2009-11-03T09:22:00.006-06:00

All members present

Treasurer Report:
Beginning Balance: $8342
+$60 new members
+$542 newsletter advertising
-$392 newsletter printing
-$109 pumpkin/pizza party
Ending Balance: $8442

By Laws Changes
The vote on the proposed change to the by laws at the last general meeting was invalid because the vote had not been announced 1 month in advance in the neighborhood newsletter as stipulated in the CNA by laws. The vote will be held again in January. In addition, we will possibly be voting on staggered terms for ex comm officers, and a reduced frequency in association meetings (to be discussed during the December meeting). Kat will announce the vote in December's newsletter and will refer to the website for details. Don will post the details on the vote to the web site when they become known.

December General Meeting
The December general meeting will be cancelled. Neighbors will be invited to attend the ex comm meeting on the 7th instead, if they so desire. The agenda for the meeting will be to formalizing of the language of the by laws changes to be voted on in January, and finalizing the newsletter advertising policy. Eddie needs to contact the church to see if Wozniak Hall is available for meeting on the 7th. Kat will announce the change to the meeting in the December newsletter.

Membership Drive
There will be a colored insert in the March newsletter describing what the neighborhood association does and encouraging neighbors to join or renew their memberships. An item on the January or February ex comm meeting agenda will be the establishment of the content for the newsletter insert. Tonia will begin mailing out renewal letters this week.

Violet Crown Festival
The following people have committed to the following for the Violet Crown Festival on Nov. 14th:
Kat - Will provide a table, membership forms, newsletter
Don - Will help the festival set up and staff the CNA table from 10-11
Eddie and Tonia - Will staff the table from 11-1
Heidi - Will staff the table from 1-4
Kat - Will staff the table from 2:30-4
Deanna - Will provide a poster with pictures of neighborhood activities

People with pictures of neighborhood activities (tree plantings, ice cream social, etc.) need to send them to Deanna for the poster board. Eddie needs to send the Violet Crown folks the $250 contribution that the CNA agreed to. NOTE: The need for volunteers to set up and break down and a contact phone number should be announced at the November general meeting.

Advertisement Policy
What does the CNA do if it receives a complaint from a neighbor regarding a business that advertises in the newsletter? We will begin printing a disclaimer in the newsletter that states that all advertisements are paid for and that the CNA does not endorse any of the businesses. We will also state (either in the newsletter or on the FAQ page) that the CNA reserves the right to refuse advertisement to any business for any reason. This allows the CNA to restrict advertising to local, family-friendly businesses, and to revoke advertisement for businesses that have been proven (by the police) to have committed crimes against their customers. Kat will propose language for the disclaimers and advertisement policy at the next ex comm meeting for the committee to debate. The rest of the committee should consider whether or not advertising by churches should be allowed in the newsletter and be prepared to decide this at the next meeting.

Executive Committee 10.05.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-10-06T10:51:00.005-05:00

All members in attendance.

Treasurer’s report
+$249 (4 new members and newsletter ads)
- $419 (September newsletter and annual P.O. Box fee)
Current Balance: $8342

Planning Contact Team
First meeting: Oct. 8th in large room of Wozniak Hall @ 6pm
Second meeting: Oct. 15th in large room of Wozniak Hall @ 6:30pm
Third meeting (by laws): Oct. 20th in smaller room of Wozniak Hall @ 6:30pm
Fourth meeting (continuation of by laws): Nov. 3rd in smaller room of Wozniak Hall @ 6:30pm

The Planning Contact Team will go through the Neighborhood Plan Amendment process to reflect what City Council approved for with our VMU plan.

Heidi was given the request from the city on FOR/AGAINST implementation of restrictions on parking in front yards and on mobile food vendors near houses.

Don will announce the closure of Northcross Dr. and Burnet Rd to North Loop for the 3M Half Marathon on January 24, 2010 on the web site and request feedback from the neighborhood in a poll.

October General Meeting
All were in favor of spending up to $150 for the social-oriented meeting.

Eddie will get 5 pizza pies from The Little Deli and cups, napkins, ice and sodas from the IGA.

Kat will bring candy, markers, things from Target, and membership forms for new members.

Tonia will bring an iPod docking station.

Marcus will bring an iPod with seasonal/Halloween music/sounds.

Violet Crown, Nov. 14th
Kat and Don need to solicit volunteers in the newsletter and on the listserv for set up and break down.

Kat can provide a table, membership forms, newsletters.

All: Print of any pictures of neighborhood events to post to a poster board at CNA tent, and bring them to the next ex comm. meeting.

Staffing the table (10am-4pm): Don – 10-11 + set up
Eddie and Tonia – 11-1
Heidi - 1-4
Kat – 2:30-4

Newsletter Advertising Guidelines
A motion was made to define the boundaries for businesses to advertise in the CNA newsletter to be Crestview and adjoining neighborhoods (Wooten, Highland, Brentwood, North Shoal Creek, Allandale), and to have a preference towards independent and local non-chain businesses. The motion passed 6 to 2 with 1 abstention.

A motion was made for the newsletter editor to examine the income generated from newsletter advertising if the ratio of content to ads was to be increased from 1:1 to 3:2. All were in favor.

Membership Renewal
A team produced a spreadsheet with all CNA members and their dates of membership to track expirations. Eddie will begin mailing out renewal notices to those whose memberships have expired on a month-to-month basis. All approved the expense of letters and stamps for this.

To make renewals less confusing and fair, a change was proposed to the by laws to have memberships last for “12 months from the month in which dues are paid” rather than from June to May of each year. This change will be put before the general membership at the next general meeting and voted on. Current restrictions of voting after a set term of membership still apply. Deanna will send Don text for the revision to post on the web site.

Executive Committee 10.05.09 Meeting Agenda

2009-10-05T10:16:00.001-05:00

The Crestview Neighborhood Association executive committee will meet at 6:30pm on Monday October 5th (the night before the National Night Out!) in the library of St. Louis Church. As always, members of the neighborhood are welcome to attend to speak directly to the CNA representatives. The topics of conversation for the next meeting are tentatively:

[1] 6:30-6:50: Neighborhood Planning Contact Team; 1st meeting is October 8th; Next meeting dates?
[2] 6:50-7:30: October 12th General Meeting details/planning
[3] 7:30-7:45: Violet Crown Welcome Table and volunteers for set up/break down
[4] 7:45-8:00: Newsletter advertising and revenue guidelines
[5] 8:00-8:30: System for membership renewal

08.31.09 Ex Comm Meeting Minutes

2009-09-02T10:45:00.004-05:00

Present: Eddie, Kat, Don, Deanna, Marcus, Heidi, Tonia (Tim - Absence #1, Paige - Absence #2)

Violet Crown
Violet Crown representatives asked the CNA for $250 and help enlisting volunteers for setup and break down for the Fall crafts fair in the MiniMax parking lot on Nov. 14th. CNA would be included in advertising and have a table at the fair. The ex comm discussed this and voted unanimously to grant the request.

ACTION: Eddie will contact the Violet Crown reps before the 3rd Monday this month to inform them of our support.

Neighborhood Contact Team
Margaret Valente of the Planning Development and Review Department

The benefits of having a contact team are that any proposed changes to the Future Land Use Map or the Crestview-Wooten Neighborhood plan are announced to the team, and the city attempts to facilitate dialog between the developer and the contact team.

The first step in forming the team is for Margaret to announce a public meeting where anyone can participate and decide to be part of the creation of the by-laws. Crestview would like for Crestview and Wooten to each have separate contact teams. Margaret will meet with Wooten's NA soon on the same topics. She will attempt to schedule the first public meeting on October 7th.

ACTION: Eddie will check to see if Wozniak Hall is available for Oct. 7th, and the Library available for the 21st, and Nov. 4th and 18th, and let Margaret know.

ACTION: Deanna, Paige, Tim and Kat have still not sent Don their Neighborhood Plan priority rankings.

Newsletter Guidelines
The ex comm voted unanimously to approve the new guidelines, which included limiting potentially divisive articles, such as political or religious organization announcements, to a calendar of activities, no more than 50 words or so.

Membership Renewal Notices
We need to have a membership chair to manage membership renewals. Once everyone's dues paid date is entered into a spreadsheet, they can be sent out a renewal notice when their membership expires. Currently, there is confusion over membership duration when dues are paid mid-term.

ACTION: Deanna will e-mail a copy of her work's spreadsheet to Heidi and Tonia.
ACTION: Kat and Tim will send copies of their spreadsheets showing current members paid and past members to Heidi and Tonia.
ACTION: Tonia and Heidi will attempt to create a single spreadsheet showing member status.

Once we have a status sheet, we can decide how to send out renewals.

VMU
ACTION: Marcus will contest the Planning Commission's decision to impose relaxed standards on tract #1 in Crestview's VMU plan at the Sept. 24th reading before City Council.

Revisiting the Bylaws
The possibility of setting officer terms to 3 years with having a rotating group of 3 officers up for election each year. This could ensure historical continuity within the CNA leadership, prevent the hostile take-over of a majority, and perhaps make it easier to find a few new people to volunteer at each annual election.

Also, the possibility of changing the frequency of the general and ex comm meetings was proposed.

It was decided that in January, after the Contact Team stuff had been finished, we could revisit the bylaws for possible revisions.

CNA Addressing the Board of Adjustments
Heidi will inform the ex comm and list serv on important items relevant to the neighborhood.

General Meetings
September - Will be on National Night Out and starting a Neighborhood Watch program.
October - Will give the assembled a heads up on the contact team meeting, and announce the need for volunteers for the upcoming Violet Crown festival. Will try to make this a social event with food and possibly pumpkin drawing.

ACTION: Don will attempt to contact the Austin Bible Church member who has sat in on some general meetings and expressed a desire to have churches involved by donating some food.

08.03.09 Ex Comm Meeting Minutes

2009-08-31T16:41:00.003-05:00

NOTE: We may want to have a secondary contact for the website

Present: Kat, Page, Tonia, Heidi, Marcus, Tim, Eddie; Absent: Don, Deanna

Guests: Emily Wilson (Community Member), and Bo McCarver to discuss Non-Profit

Emily purpose at the meeting was to discuss establishing Crestview as a recognized “Green Neighborhood”. She passed out “Green Neighbor“ packets which fully explain the program. The idea is to encourage neighbors to take a challenge which encourages people to put green practices in place. The City makes the program fun which is explained in the packet. There are prizes for individuals, and if enough participation takes place, the neighborhood can be designated as “Green”.

Emily wanted ideas for delivering the “Green Neighbor” packets to Crestview residence and asked CNA. to support the initiative and solicit volunteers.
Unanimous vote to support Emily in her initiative, but Emily will do the leg work.
Emily will lead the implementation of the project
Emily will attend the C.N.A. General meeting next week and present for 10 minutes on the Green Neighbor initiative.
Emily will get with Steve Cooner (sp?) to coordinate getting the packets to the newsletter delivery people so they can be delivered with the newsletters.
An idea mentioned was to have a competition with Brentwood to encourage participation.
It was agreed that Emily would write something for the newsletter for the September issue.
Emily’s contact number is 740-2790, her email Emily.willson8596@gmail.com
Tree trimming was discussed as an example of a green project, regarding when the City has a contractor trim the neighborhood trees, we as homeowners can opt. to have the mulch left in our yards. Page mentioned that you needed to sign a wavier to do this. An idea presented was to see if all the mulch could be put in one place for neighbors to use as needed. One example was to dump it at Brentwood.

Bo McCarver: Purpose was to discuss setting up Non Profit, he if from the Blackland Neighborhood
Bo discussed the history of Blackland, and the reasons they became “non- profit”.
Being adjacent to UT (tried to annex the land) property they wanted to protect their property from rising prices, and preserve the neighborhood. Did so by becoming non profit and buying land and building rental properties etc to keep out the mega corps. For 29 years they have been able to protect the community, and have community initiatives to work together on properties which also teaches skills in fixing and maintaining properties to those who are interested while getting community projects completed.
There are three other Non Profits in Austin (Clarksville, Montopolis, and Guadalupe)
Non Profit is eligible for HUD money, and has aided them at Blackland in getting Grand Money.
Non Profit can set up properties to designate for purposes like Safeplace. (One thing Blackland did.)
Setting up Non Profit
Register with Secretary of State ($25 fee)
Need 501C3, and if cash flow over 20,000 need 990. (possibilities of provisional 501C3 discussed)
Non Profit needs to be a separate entity from Neighborhood association
Non Profit cannot support or endorse political candidates
Need bi laws and strategic plan
To be Non Profit need three things
a neighborhood culture or identity
Technical experts on developers
Lawyers
Texasc-Bar (can find pro bono lawyers)
Lawyers can help to train the board of the non profit
Blackland’s goal is to keep diversity in the neighborhood and protect from rising cost/property value.
Benefits of Non Profit
Can develop pocket parks
Community building (neighborhood volunteers)

Non profit will develop enemies (example those in neighborhood not on the same page with the mission/goal of the non profit.
Example: Blackland wants to keep property value down to preserve the diversity in the neighborhood, some in neighborhood want property value to go up.
C.N.A. discussion on Non-Profit
Discussed issue of Liability
Non profit would get insurance to cover staff as well $200 per year
What are other benefits outside of housing?
Helps the moral of the neighborhood, community projects
Can go through pay pal for payment if designated as a non profit.
Local organizations are more likely to donate to a non profit
Larger neighborhoods use non profit status to help with newsletter distribution
General discussion was around may not be what C.N.A is interested in at this time, but decided to discuss further at a later date.

Heidi Update on Neighborhood Planning Contact Team
The current plan from 2004 has us combine with Wooten
The City will mail out to all households information regarding a meeting to discuss/educate on Planning Teams. At the meeting we can decide if we want to have a Planning Contact Team.
Whether C.N.A. decides to have a planning team or not, other neighbors can decide to have one.
Discussion regarding whether or not the Planning Team would be in competition with neighborhood association. (would association lose their voice)
There was a lot of discussion and concern regarding the purpose/goal of the Neighborhood Planning Contact Team therefore we (Heidi) will contact the city contact and invite her to speak with the exec. Com. Team next month. Since the first Monday is Labor day, we will meet when she is available, possible dates to look at are Monday August 31, or Wednesday September 2nd. The Gerneral Meeting will not change. It will remain the 2nd Monday.
Page suggested we talk to Brentwood and Allendale to find out the pro’s and con’s of the Planning Contact Teams.

Heidi update regarding variance requests etc. (General discussion, no votes or consensus.)
Does C.N.A. want to send an opintion in support or against different things to the Board of adjustments.
We do not want to start getting into other peoples business, but an option is to form a subcommittee
Subcommittee would contact immediate neighbors (within 300 ft.) of whatever project is in the works would affect, as well as discuss the project with the homeowner to get an understanding of what the project entailed.
We would only oppose if there was a good reason found to oppose otherwise take non opposition
Heidi can formalize process of C.N.A involvement.
Heidi will report that the planning exists as they occur, but cannot lobby one way or another.
Heidi will contact someone at the City so she can get the notices directly.

Other Discussion:
Page wants to invite Jim Cotton, the owner of the new 7000sq. ft bar (The Fault) going in by Hobby Lobby to present his plan for the establishment to the General Sept. Meeting.
Newsletter Update:
Kat handed our info on newletter ad’s and the newsletter Vision, Goals, and Guidelines for everyone to review and provide feedback.
Give any suggestions to Kat prior to next exec. Com meeting, and Kat will consolidate and bring suggestions to review at the next exec. Com meeting at which time we can vote on any changes.

Membership Renewal:
§ Tim will send Tonia current membership, residence, and past membership information

08.31.09 Ex Comm Meeting Agenda

2009-08-31T10:02:00.004-05:00

Susan with Violet Crown

Margaret with City of Austin
Regarding Neighborhood Planning

Newsletter
Calendar of events
Religious and Political articles

Modifying bylaws regarding Term of each office?
Three year terms, alternating two members each term

VMU
Defending particular parcels (1 and 100)
Subcommittee’s Role

CNA role in making recommendations to the board of adjustments. (what role to we want to play
Heidi to draft a neighborhood protocol for getting involved and determining which situations we will get involved in

Sept. NA meeting
National Night out
Neighborhood watch

Mailing out of CNA membership renewal notices

Results of non-profit status meeting?

Executive Committee 07.06.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-07-07T15:14:00.006-05:00

All in attendance.

Karen Lorenzini approached the committee with a request for endorsement, and potentially funding, from the CNA for a proposal for a grant from Keep Austin Beautiful to beautify unused median space (such as with a bench and some trees) in Crestview. The committee declined to endorse the proposal as the deadline for the proposal to be submitted was July 10th, and some members felt that the proposal needed to be more detailed, and that the general assembly should be notified with the opportunity for counter proposals to be submitted before official endorsement could be approved. It was recommended that Karen contact the Violet Crown Community Works in case they did not feel the need to act as methodically.

Budget:
Total expenditures: $1161
Total revenue: $1234
postcards for ice cream social ($145), stamps ($544), newsletter copies ($182 + $229 for inserts), ad revenue (+$1234)

Newsletter:
3 advertisers renewed for 1 year
3-month rolling average of ad revenue is $250-$550/month
This should cover existing costs.
Looked at other printing quotes, and found some places for $40-$50 cheaper.

A copy of the newsletter will be sent to Eddie prior to print for approval/suggestion of additional content.

There needs to be a phone number for advertisers to be able to contact the newsletter staff in case they don't use e-mail. Deanna volunteered to add an extra number to her cell phone that e-mails voice mails to an e-mail account.

The suggestion was made to provide a small stack of newsletters at advertisers' businesses, as we have extra copies at the IGA now.

Crestview-Wooten Neighborhood Plan Priorities:
Don will send out a reminder for those who have not yet submitted (Kat, Paige, Deanna, Heidi) their top ten list of recommended priorities to send them to him.

Crestview Planning Contact Team:
Heidi said that there is a reason for a contact team to be separate from the executive committee: The planning contact team CANNOT appeal site plans. Heidi will look into the requirements to be on a contact team, and Kat will add a request for qualified volunteers in the newsletter. We still need to submit the neighborhood VMU recommendations to the Planning Commission once this team is chosen.

CNA Membership Renewal Notices:
Paige and Eddie will figure out who is current. Paige will come up with a new marketing method to effectively encourage former members to renew and present this at the next CNA ex comm meeting in August.

CNA Non-profit status:
Don will look into setting up an interim on-line membership payment system without non-profit status. Paige knows someone (Bo) from another neighborhood association that has good reasons for becoming a non-profit and has helped walk other neighborhood associations through the process. She will speak to him and request him to present at the next CNA ex comm meeting in August.

August General Meeting:
Paige will talk about Community Supported Agriculture and will see about getting someone else to talk about wildlife habitat.

NOTE: Don and Eddie will not be present at the August meeting.

Executive Committee 06.01.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-06-02T11:39:00.005-05:00

Paige (Absence #1), Heidi (Absence #1)

Treasurer Report:
May: +$640 ($420 from new members), -$775 (Mar-May; April Newsletter insert = $411)
Balance: $7675

Newsletter
Kat and Danielle proposed adding more pages to the newsletter with an inserted page each month. They are currently chopping articles down to fit them in. They proposed a new ad structure to be able to support the added page and to be able to print the newsletter on recycled paper (+$50). Business card ads are currently $20/month. Proposed reducing size, but inserting them in among the content. The newsletter is currently at 50% content/50% ads. Kat wants to keep it at that level or go 60/40. Kat will visit local businesses (in the neighborhood) to see if more were interested in placing ads. Continue 10% discount on ads purchased for 3 months or longer. Kat looked at mailing the newsletter out, but it is too expensive to do with our current ad revenue ($650 just to put together without postage), so hand delivery will continue.

All proposals passed by unanimous vote.

The previous handler (Stephanie) for advertisers and invoicing has retired and Kat has taken that on until a new volunteer can be found. Stephanie will continue to do the bulletin board display at the IGA Shopping Center, and she will also continue to be a bulk distributor for the newsletter.

City Organization Meeting Reports
ANC - Paige absent
Sustainable Neighborhoods - They met to discuss the Lamar & Anderson intersection. The topic of opening Morrow was raised. Eddie is continuing conversations with City Council to stop the City from considering this.

Ice Cream Social
A neighborhood mailing list was procured. Postcards will cost $150 for colored stock. We estimated up to $400 for postage, and a total cost of $600 for the mailing was unanimously approved. Kat will design the postcard. The postcard will have a question, "Are you currently receiving a copy of the neighborhood newsletter?" a list of raffle items, and the notice to bring the postcard to the social as a raffle entry. Kat will have by Thursday night and Eddie will take to the printer. Eddie will arrange for pickup so that we can put stamps and labels on them next Monday. Deanna will print out the labels.

Tonia has a committment from the Austin Children's Museum for tickets to raffle. She is still waiting to hear back from IMAX and the Art Museum. We'll need to know the items to raffel before taking the postcards to the printer.

Deanna will bring paper hats.

Violet Crown will have a table there. CNA will have a table there with copies of the membership form (20 - Don will print off).

Eddie still needs to talk to the IGA about donating ice cream and Jennifer Henson about music. He has already spoken to the Little Deli, and they are open to us holding the social in front of their establishment.

Marcus suggested dry ice to keep ice cream from freezing. Keep an eye out for cones.

July General Meeting
Traffic Calming

Membership Renewal
It seems that the past mail outs did not consistently happen, so although we are late getting the renewal notices out, it seems that a prior precedent has been set. Past memberships will be honored until we can get the renewal notices out within the next couple of months.

Neighborhood Planning Priorities
Eddie will e-mail out the spread sheet to everyone to choose 10 top priorities. These will then be e-mailed to Don to combine the results.

ANC Resolution
ANC is voting on whether or not to request the City to appoint a task force to study single member districts. The CNA will abstain from the vote.

Paige's e-mailed comments
Eddie will e-mail Don info on the City's solid waste survey to post on the web site.
Paige will organize the neighborhood wildlife habitat challenge competition between Crestview and Brentwood.
Paige will head the rails with trails effort along the Crestview Station track. Marcus expressed his desire to assist with that effort.

Executive Committee 06.01.09 Meeting Agenda

2009-06-01T10:04:00.001-05:00

The Crestview Neighborhood Association Executive Committee will meet at 6:30pm in the St. Louis Church Library on June 1st. The meeting is open to the public. The following is a tentative agenda:

Neighbor input
Treasurer's report
Newsletter report and discussion
City/organization meeting reports
Ice Cream Social planning
post cards
General meeting planning
membership renewal planning
CIP update
misc. items (Paige's and others requests , time permitting )

Executive Committee 05.18.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-05-19T09:55:00.003-05:00

Present - All

The executive committee met at 6:30pm at FUEGOS! to discuss the upcoming ice cream social. It was decided that the social will be held on June 20th at 11am-1pm in front of The Little Deli.

Eddie will talk to the IGA and The Little Deli about the possibility of them donating something.

Paige will organize a concurrent vegetable swap, and arrange for there to be filtered water and cups.

Marcus has 3 ice chests he can bring.

Kat and Tonia will see if any non-profit organizations will donate up to 3 items for a raffle.

It was decided that instead of spending a lot of money on a band, we would use that money to print and mail out a postcard announcement of the ice cream social. The postcard will indicate that it will serve as a person's entry into the raffle and should be brought to the social. It will have a place for a name, address, and a check box for the answer to, "Do you regularly receive your monthly newsletter?"

Where the raffle entries are received there will be a membership table with membership forms, newsletters, and someone to inform the curious about the CNA.

We will also need tables, chairs, good ice cream scoopers.

Kat mentioned that it will also be the 45th anniversary of J.D. Harper's pharmacy at Crestview Center - the oldest family-owned pharmacy in the city. It would be nice if we could somehow celebrate that as well.

There will be no general meeting on June 8th, and this will need to be announced in the newsletter and on-line. The next ex comm meeting will be June 1st at 6:30pm in the Library at St. Louis Church.

Executive Committee 05.04.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-05-12T10:04:00.000-05:00

All members present.

Elections – Tim will bring a list of current and new members, in case we need to verify membership status. Jonathan will run the elections. We will meet afterward to discuss the future structure of the executive committee in the event that some positions are not filled.

On-line Membership Renewal – As we were reluctant to select board members for the non-profit status application, or for incorporation, in light of yearly executive committee turn-over, and as Deanna has indicated that RG4N is required to file a complicated yearly tax return as a non-profit, we have tabled this for now. Eddie believes we might be able to someone handle on-line transactions without dealing with the taxes.

Jonathan was given the OK to spend money on stamps, envelopes, labels, etc. for annual membership renewals. He and Tim will try to get them out next week. Past members are current through the end of May, and may vote at the election.

Jonathan expressed the need to put together a manual of procedures that can be passed on to future executive committees in the event of turn-over (when to pay the post office box fees, where the keys to the church rooms are, contact info for various groups, signature authority for checks, etc.).

Executive Committee 04.06.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-04-13T11:04:00.000-05:00

All in attendance (Eddie 15 minutes late, Dave 1 hour late).

Steve gave an update on the status of traffic calming. They have been meeting with the city’s engineer three times so far this Spring, and they will have a final meeting on the 28th. They are trying to find a balance of having enough initiatives to be effective at traffic calming, but not so many that the neighborhood will reject the proposed initiatives. 4 of the last 6 neighborhoods did not approve (60% of those responding to the questionnaire being in favor) the proposed traffic calming plans. There will be an open house later to show the proposed plan and information at a booth at the Violet Crown Thing in the Park.

Tim delivered his financial report. There have been no deposits or expenditures since the last meeting, except for $0.26 deposited by PayPal to test that the bank account that we’ve declared as CNA’s is really CNA’s.

Kat presented several ideas for increasing participation in the neighborhood association:
1. Public relations makeover
2. Contest coinciding with new website redevelopment
3. Change meeting schedule and provide advanced agendas of the meetings in newsletters, website and listserv (2 weeks in advance).
4. New content and format for newsletter.
5. New Welcome Committee
6. New Beautification Committee
7. Participate in and Sponsor Violet Crown Community Works
8. Annual CNA Neighborhood Interest and Community Engagement Day
Each of these was detailed with numerous suggestions. The executive committee chose 3 items to spearhead the initiative:
[1] Eddie and Don: will approach the pastor at the general meetings, who has offered to organize church-sponsored food at the general meetings, about organizing that effort.
[2] Jonathan: Formation of a new Outreach Committee and offer Kat the position of chair.
[3] Dave: will man a booth at the Violet Crown Thing in the Park to provide sample newsletters and offer information about joining to neighbors.

Eddie motioned that dues paid from now on will count for the remainder of the current term as well as toward the June’09-June’10 membership year. This passed unanimously.

Tim indicated that in order for Crestview to achieve non-profit status, which is required to offer on-line membership renewal via PayPal, that there will be a $300 fee. All agreed that on-line renewal was worth this fee. Eddie suggested looking into Google Checkout to see if they require the same documentation. Chip mentioned the reasons other NA’s have incorporated (to prevent any particular officers from being sued), and how in Texas this is necessary prior to getting non-profit status. Jonathan, Tim, Don and Mike will meet soon to decide what the next step forward will be.

Eddie had no alternatives to GoDaddy, and Don will instruct the volunteer web designer to proceed with GoDaddy.

There will be 10 out of 12 candidates at the candidate forum, each speaking for 7 minutes and then answering two questions for the remaining 3 minutes. The two questions will be on open space/livability and traffic along Burnet. The room for the forum will be available for setup at 4pm next Monday evening. We will need to man a table for the CNA at the forum. Eddie suggested that Jonathan rent an audio system. The executive committee will meet this Wednesday at 8pm to discuss what needs to be done to prepare for the forum, and how each neighborhood will present themselves at their tables.

The Highland VMU plan is currently being put forth before the Planning Commission. No properties in Crestview are impacted.

Jerry, Jonathan, Mike and Eddie will not be running at the officer elections in May. We need to make announcements on the listserv and website about the elections, non-contested positions, need to have dues paid 1 week before, etc. Write an article for the newsletter and have it out before the 1 week deadline before the next election. Ask for past ex com members to contact us, and if none do, new people are eligible for president.

April '09 Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

2009-04-04T09:38:00.000-06:00

Executive Committee 03.02.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-03-10T08:20:00.001-06:00

Present – All except Dave

Steve gave a recap of the last ANC meeting: Overview of the new fire chief, city’s bicycle plan online, city comprehensive plan status, wild flower center development over the aquifer, S. Zettner’s room to live initiative, ANC candidate endorsement process, Lady Bird Lake boardwalk.

Finances:
$7282 – start of month
+$195 - memberships and ads
-$182 – newsletter
-$102 Arroyo Seco Luminaries
$7192 – end of month

Jonathan announced that he will not be running for CNA President this year in the May elections. No one else on the executive committee has yet to express an interest in running.

The bike trail access to the Crestview Station has approval from all interested parties except for the Optimist Club. The Optimist Club’s contact was e-mailed again Feb. 26th on the issue, but has yet to respond.

Candidate Forum Status: The request for questions from the neighborhood seemed rushed. Jonathan was hoping to gather more questions from the executive committee. Jonathan also requested volunteers to assist with running the candidate forum.

Web Site:
Don Tucker briefed the committee on the requirements and options for implementing an online neighborhood association membership renewal. PayPal will do what we need by charging those who wish to renew online an additional $0.59 fee to their $10 membership dues. It was suggested to add instructions to the site where the “Buy Now” button will be to assist in the formatting of the supplied names and addresses being consistent with the format that the Treasurer already has in his spreadsheet. The issue was raised of PayPal being able to seize the account to prevent access in the event of a dispute. The likelihood of such a dispute was seen as low. In order to implement this Don and Jonathan will need to get together to scan in evidence of the CNA’s tax exempt status, a voided check from the account, and a description of the CNA’s function.

Don Tucker presented the plans of a neighborhood volunteer to redo the neighborhood web site with a more user-friendly layout. The new web master would like to use Wordpress to do the layout, and suggested that the server be run from and the site be hosted from GoDaddy for $5/month. The option to pay for this by web ads was proposed and voted down, due to the lack of such ads on other neighborhood association web sites and the additional headache of coordinating the web master with the Treasurer to keep track of advertiser payments, etc. Since the web services would be paid for out of existing CNA funds, it was asked what the maximum such fee the association would be able to pay for such services. $10 was set as a reasonable amount, but if we can get all the services required for less, she should attempt to do so. Eddie said that he would look for other web hosting services besides GoDaddy.

General Meetings:
We must make sure to alert the neighborhood about the need for a quorum on the March 9th general meeting in order to vote on accepting or rejecting the new proposed bylaws.

Deanna’s boss’s house was featured in a This Old House episode. The idea of getting a DVD of the episode, and having her boss come to talk about it, while showing it at a future general meeting, was proposed.

Recap of Last General Meeting:
We discussed some of the ideas proposed at the last general meeting to encourage more neighborhood participation in the CNA. The idea of more food at CNA functions seemed to be popular. A gentleman for the last meeting offered to coordinate organizing the neighborhood churches to donate food for association meetings. Serving kolaches before and during the meetings instead of after was proposed. The possibility of having part of the meeting be social and part business, having some meetings on Saturdays, or supplying day care was presented to encourage people with families to come.

Executive Committee Meeting 02-March-2009 Agenda

2009-02-26T13:09:00.000-06:00

The meeting will be called to order between 7:15 to 7:30 depending upon if we have any public input. The meeting will be held at St Louis Church at 7601 Burnet Rd, Austin, 78757 in the library.

Agenda - we will start at 7:30 pm

1) Financial Report [5 minutes]
2) Announcement [10 minutes]
3) Review Forum Status [30 minutes]

We need to review current status of the Candidate Forum meeting. We need to ensure that Crestview Executive Committee submits questions on the proposed topics to the forum committee. Please bring your questions to the meeting.

4) Web Site Direction [20 minutes].
Don has been reviewing options for our website. We have a web designer who is willing to take on a lot of the web page work. There is a recommendation to look at going with a different hosting company, with a different web design tool and also options to add income from the web site to pay for the web site. We are also looking at online membership renewal using PayPal or the like.

5) Announce next General CNA meeting topics [10 minutes]
Here is the information and agenda for the 9 March 2009 General CNA meeting. Deanna will provide the ByLaws and comparison on a poster board.

7:00 to 7:20 - Neighborhood will vote on ByLaws

There will be time for residents to review the bylaws printed in large font on a poster board with highlights on the changes between versions. We will vote toward the end of the 20 minutes.

7:20 to 8:00 - Texas Gas will present

Teri Green, who is the head of the Texas Gas Service Conservation Program, will speak with residents about how they can conserve and save money in the process. He will bring a weatherization kits to hand out as well as a chart detailing the rebates Austinites can receive both from Austin Energy and Texas Gas Service.

8:00 to 8:40 - Green Energy

Jessica Galloway from Austin Energy Green Building will present information regarding DIY energy efficiency upgrades, information on remodeling, maintaining comfort, and lower electric bills.
6) Review previous meeting results [15 minutes]
Review notes from previous general meeting to

7) Using Lions Club as a meeting location [5 minutes]

Executive Committee 02.02.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-02-10T12:11:00.001-06:00

Present: All Ex Comm members in attendance

Adam Turner, newly elected president of the Wooten Neighborhood Association, introduced himself in the interest of working more closely with the Crestview Neighborhood Association on common interests in general, and the Neighborhood Plan Priorities to be submitted to the Planning Commission in particular. Their Ex Comm meets every other month on the 2nd Mondays of the month. Jonathan is also looking to build larger neighborhood coalitions in North Austin to apply pressure on City Council on topics of common interest.

Adam described Wooten’s top priorities as being crime and code enforcement, having been the prior sub chair of their committee on crime and code enforcement. They are currently working to establish ties with Wooten Elementary and Burnet Middle School to learn more about volunteer opportunities and to provide points of contact for issues that might arise with students in the neighborhood. Wooten is currently #1 or #2 for car burglaries in the city, competing with the West Campus neighborhood. Adam views his duty as a facilitator of communication from the neighborhood to the City and vice versa.

His secondary priority is to improve Wooten Park. He would like to see a new soccer field, a running trail, nature-based playscape, and an improved dog park area for neighbor socializing.

Financial Report
Dec:
+$275 revenue
-$182 newsletter
=$6617 balance
Jan:
- ANC Dues, - Newsletter, + advertisers =
$7282 Balance

Membership
Jerry needs to announce the membership drive and the dues needed in the March newsletter.

Don will present to the ex comm at the next meeting on options for handling on-line membership payment of dues and registration.

Arroyo Seco Luminaries
Our portion of the Arroyo Seco Luminaries over the holidays was $102.35. We unanimously approved this expenditure. We would prefer that the cost estimate be provided in advance for this next year.

General Meetings
Announce the February General Meeting. We want a large attendance for the open house/free association. Also, proposed bylaws are frozen that night at midnight.

Deanna will print a poster board for the new bylaws which will be voted on at the March general meeting.

We discussed when the new bylaws would go into effect. It was decided that they would go into effect in March, but that there would be time allowed for the changes required to give signature authority on the checking account to the treasurer.

Austin Energy Pole Upgrade
Dave is serving as the neighborhood contact to Austin Energy about the new electric line running along Morrow and Grover. They are putting in new lines along each side of Lamar and one line along Morrow-Grover-Cullen. The latter line is between the Koenig substation and the new Crestview substation. The line will be upgraded from 750kV to 1250kV, and raised from 40ft to 50ft in height. There will only be larger, metal poles, at corners of the line, such as at the substations and at the corner of Morrow and Grover.

Candidate Forum
In the past, candidates have not answered the neighborhood’s questions, but have delivered their canned statements. It was proposed to partner with other neighborhoods in north Austin to choose 3-5 issues of importance, and tell the candidates what is important to north Austin instead. The candidates this year are for mayor, and place 1 and 3 on the City Council.

A motion was made to participate in a candidate forum organized by Steve Zetner, but still hosted by Crestview, instead of doing our own Crestview forum, to include more north Austin neighborhoods. This passed 5 to 2 with one abstention. The executive committee will need to know by the next meeting whether or not we will be able to achieve consensus on the issues with the other north Austin neighborhoods.

Tentative Agenda for 02-February-2009 Executive Committee Meeting

2009-01-27T16:20:00.003-06:00

There will be an executive committee meeting 02-February-2009 starting at 7:15pm at the St. Louis Catholic Church Library (St.Joseph/Morrow and Burnet Rd).

- 7:15 to 7:30 pm is open for any resident to approach the Executive Committee.
- 7:30 pm the Executive Committee meeting will be called to order.

Agenda for the Executive Committee Meeting on 2-Feb-2009

0) Meet Wooten's neighborhood president Adam Turner. Briefly discuss how we can work together as neighborhoods. [25 min]

a) Planning Contact Team.
b) Anderson Lane at Lamar intersection.

1) Financial Status Report from Tim. [5 min]

2) Approve payment of Luminary Cost to Brian Hanley [5 min]
Our total, once I confirm the sand bill with Elizabeth in Brentwood is $102.35.

$31.35 Candles
$51.00 Jugs/supplies
$20.00 sand

3) General Meeting [5 min]
Feb - Ideas for the neighborhood association to improve participation and growth for the organization. Open House to discuss current and past issues in the neighborhood.
March - Vote on ByLaws. It is up or down. There will not be a discussion of changes to the ByLaws at the meeting. After this vote we will hear a presentation from Texas Gas Service on how to trim energy use.

4) Austin Energy - Dave has been communicating with Austin Energy. What is the latest on the new poles and wires for the Crestview Neighborhood. [10 min]

5) Candidate Forum discussion. How does Crestview see this happening? What is our Vision and how will we work with the other 6 neighborhoods. [40 min]

Executive Committee 01.05.09 Meeting Minutes

2009-01-12T09:47:00.002-06:00

Attendance: Steve, Jerry, Tim, Eddie, Jonathan, Don, Mike

Tim is taking the CNA post office box key, CNA stationary, stamps, and account receipts in order to better fulfill the new responsibilities of the CNA treasurer.

The Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department has requested that the neighborhood association opt in or out of increased restrictions on parking in front and side yards and on the hours and locations of operation of mobile food establishments in the neighborhood by the end of February. It was decided to question the general assembly for their stance on the issues at the next general meeting.

Two traffic calming engineers were lost in the Transportation Department, so the Crestview traffic calming effort has been delayed. The plan submitted by the working group is expected to have been reviewed by the department in early January.

The committee discussed how to handle the resignation of Pam. It was decided to offer a temporary place position to Deanna McMillen until the next election for officers in May.

$35 to renew at ANC. Jonathan needs to somehow arrange for Steve to have voting rights.

$102.35 for Arroyo Seco luminaries.

We discussed the new bylaws and made a few minor edits to allow the general assembly to hold meetings without the executive committee, to make explicit that dues may be paid at any time, etc. We discussed how the bylaws would be presented at the general meeting. It was decided to have a limited number (20) of handouts of the old and new bylaws and a poster-sized blow up of the document for on-the-fly markups, together with an announcement beforehand and posting of the new bylaws to the web site for people to review. Input and changes to the bylaws will be allowed up until midnight February 9th. The final version will be presented for acceptance (3/4 of quorum) or rejection by the general assembly at the March general meeting.

12.01.2008 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

2008-12-09T12:27:00.001-06:00

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?

Executive Committee 11.3.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-11-06T22:04:00.002-06:00

Meeting called to order at 7:35 pm

There were 5 executive officers in attendance
1) Mike K.
2) Pam M.
3) Jerry S.
4) Tim R.
5) Jonathan L.

There were 2 presenters with Sustainable Neighborhoods
1) Steve Zettner
2) Mary Arnett

We follwed the agenda:
1) Heard presentation from Steven Zettner about Open Space and how Sustainable Neighborhoods is helping to coordinate efforts in North Central Austin to increase Open Space in the area. The Executive Committee decided to invite Steven to present at the CNA General Meeting. He is requesting support on a resolution for incresed Open Space in VMU developments. A motion was made and passed to present this resolution at the November General CNA meeting. However a vote will not be taken until December's General CNA meeting.

2) Round Table Discussion: Pam brought up the continued illegal parking at Hardy and Morrow / Cullen. We discussed that we should encourage residents to call 311 to report these illegal code issues such that these concerns will get attention. We discussed the crime rate in the neighborhood. We dicussed reported issues and resolutions to the association about noisey pigs.

3) Discussed finances. We are covering all our expenses.

4) We Discussed the emails from resident to Jerry about advertising many businesses at once. The executive committee recommended that Jerry deny these two requests. The discussion included the follwoing:
a) The newsletter already has a mechanism for advertisement.
b) There has been a precedence that inserted pages in the newsletter have been from church organizations or the like.
c) There is an effort to keep the ratio of articles to advertisements at current levels. We do not want to turn this volunteer newsletter into volunteers delivering most advertisements.
d) We are curious as to the expense to hire someone to deliver advertisements door to door verses using our delivers. We are not a business and do not want to compete with other businesses. We have advertising to cover costs of producing a newsletter and not in delivering it.

5) Discussed Mondays general meeting with Marc Ott. Reviewed topics and actvities for December's general meeting. The executive Committee Voted to spend no more than $250 on no more than 10 signs to advertise the Neighborhood Association General meetings. The signs will be re-usable and will include the text:
Crestview NA Meeting
Next Monday

for details see
www.crestviewna.org

6) Reveiwed the responses to the questions sent out in late summer. There were 23 respondents. Please see website for numeric tally of results.

7) Voted to collect remaining Neighborhood Planning Area priorities at meeting this Monday. Pam will collect all the forms and compile the results for us to vote on at the December Executive Meeting.

Adjourned at 9:20 pm

Minutes provided by Jonathan Locklin

Executive Committee 10.06.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-10-18T12:23:00.002-05:00

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

Sonny Poole from Austin Energy came to answer questions regarding the new power line poles going in along Morrow and Grover. Sonny is open to questions from concerned neighbors and can be reached at 332-6442. [NOTE: Some of the information provided below has been updated/corrected by information handed out by Sonny at the following CNA General Meeting. Please see the Austin Energy FAQ link under the Neighborhood Documents section of www.crestviewna.org for more up-to-date information.]

· The poles will be wooden poles, raised an additional 10 feet in height, except for at the corners where the line makes a turn. The poles at the corners will be metal, but they will be buried in the ground and affixed to a 24-36” base, not bolted to an aboveground cement base.

· The new lines will carry three times the current voltage, mainly to support the new retail stores at Crestview Station.

· The poles cannot be moved closer to the street because waste water lines are there.

· The lines will not be buried because, unless there is safety issue with going overhead or the cost of going overhead exceeds the cost of going underground, Austin Energy does not pay for that. The cost of going underground exceeds the cost of going overhead by $200-300 per foot, with a manhole cover every 200 feet. The lines will be underground at Crestview Station because the developer paid the extra cost to have them buried.

Current CNA financial balance is $6671, after $633 in expenditures last month for P.O. Box rental and newsletter printing.

A resolution in support of a hike and bike trail along the east side of the rail through Crestview Station to be presented to the Planning Commission was voted on and passed 4-to-2. More resolutions regarding alternative uses and areas for parkland are desired. These resolutions will need to be drafted prior to the station site plan going before the Planning Commission (sometime before January).

Steve attended the Austin Neighborhoods Council and Crestview is now a member neighborhood. The meeting addressed primarily code enforcement. Steve was voted unanimously to have voting rights at ANC on behalf of the neighborhood association and was given the duty of providing summaries of the meetings to the CNA executive committee.

Those present were asked to rank the Neighborhood Planning Area priorities before the general meeting on October 13th.

Ideas were discussed for general meeting topics for December. Historical slide show, social, donation of canned goods, Cap Area Food Bank coming to talk, Care Givers or other organizations coming to talk were all possibilities. Also, the idea to have a presentation to educate the neighborhood on the function of the Planning Contact Team, and the need for careful bylaws formation, was proposed. The current form of the CNA bylaws were proposed as a January general meeting topic.

Preliminary Agenda for the Executive Committee Meeting 06-October-2008

2008-10-05T12:52:00.001-05:00

The meeting will be called to order between 7:15 to 7:30 depending
upon if we have any public input. The meeting will be held at St
Louis Church at 7601 Burnet Rd, Austin, 78757 in the library.

1) Austin Energy will present changes to electric infrastructure along
Morrow and Grover [30 minutes]

2) Financial Status [10 minutes]

3) Announce next General CNA meeting topics [15 minutes]
a) Laura Morrison will present at 13-October-2008 meeting
b) Marc Ott will present at 10-November-2008 meeting
c) Discuss December's topic

4) Review and vote on Neighborhood Planning Area priorities [30 minutes]

5) Review Neighborhood Planning Contact Teams and vote on next steps
[15 minutes]
a) Need to either
i) Create Neighborhood Planning Contact team with or without
Wooten with a new set of By-Laws based on City Ordinance. The first
step would be to create a committee to perform the tasks necessary to
forming this Contact Team.
ii) Write a position statement on what the will of the CNA
executive committee is on this issue.

Executive Committee 09.08.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-09-19T09:47:00.001-05:00

Present: All executive committee members

Mantissa developers:
Heidi from the Land Use Committee introduced Mantissa developers (office at 2008 W. Koenig Ln., 373-3888, contact – James Bridges) who have multiple projects going throughout the neighborhood (currently on Justin and Watson). They explained the way they do business and expressed a desire to work with the neighborhood [rather than going through the city as an intermediary via the issuing of fines]. They are approached by customers/investors for desired projects, and 80% of their properties are built for investors. They are from Houston and recently parted ways with their construction manager who, apparently, was responsible for a number of decisions on previous jobs that resulted in complaints (no front doors, worksite cleanliness, etc.). Heidi volunteered to work with them by offering suggestions at the design stage for maintaining neighborhood compatibility and providing feedback from the neighborhood on ongoing development.

Financials:
August +$460 ($10 new member, $450 advertising). Current balance: $7304.
Jerry requested that Tim provide the list of the current advertisers that were paid up at the end of each month in a particular spreadsheet format and Tim agreed to do so.

Bylaws:
Mike recommended that the executive committee read the current version of the bylaws that he e-mailed out and provide feedback to him.

NOTE: Eddie mentioned that he has not been receiving e-mails. His old personal e-mail does not work anymore. Use his gmail account for future correspondence.

Justin Lane Status:
Jonathan sent an email to City staff at NPZD to proceed with the amendment to downgrade Justin Lane from a minor arterial to a neighborhood collector in the Austin Metropolitan Area Transportation Plan (AMATP). Don pointed out that the existing neighborhood plan has a recommendation to downgrade Justin from a 4-lane minor arterial to a 2-lane minor arterial. Hopefully, this improper language will not be propagated elsewhere.

VMU Status:
The VMU application was revised and resubmitted following unanimous executive committee approval last meeting. Jonathan will call a meeting in next couple of weeks with the VMU committee to discuss the presentation to planning commission.

Survey Status:
Pam has not yet tabulated the results of the survey from residents in the neighborhood regarding the pedestrian and bicycle path along the Lamar side of the rail track. She indicated that she would have it done this month. Jonathan has met with the Bicycle Advisory Council and the League of Bicycle Voters, who support the trail.

Morrow Street Status:
City staff (the Station Area Plan (SAP) Council) is recommending to City Council that a study be conducted to investigate the opening of Morrow Street to west-bound traffic across Lamar [but NOT left turns off of Lamar]. Eddie volunteered to head the effort to meet with City Council to explain why the neighborhood is against re-opening up Morrow to westbound traffic. Steve and Dave agreed to assist.

Neighborhood Planning Contact Team Status and priorities:
A motion was passed to request that the Land Use committee list the top 10 priorities from among the recommendations listed in Crestview-Wooten’s combined neighborhood plan (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/wooten.htm) by the next executive committee meeting. Jonathan agreed to send soft-copies of the spreadsheet listing the recommendations to the executive committee members to review in advance. Don compared the spreadsheet with the plan and found a few discrepancies.

Future General Meeting Topics:
The possibility of a volunteer fair was discussed, or an “education day” where people can ask the various Crestview committees what issues they are working on. It was eventually proposed to have a future newsletter article listing the various unaddressed issues that face the neighborhood and request volunteers there.
Jonathan or Eddie will approach Mark Ott (the new city manager) or Laura Morrison (new city council member) to speak in October.

Executive Committee 08.04.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-08-15T10:11:00.001-05:00

Present – Jonathan, Steve, Tim, Mike, Jerry, Pam, Don

Finances:
June +$940 (790 – newsletter ads, 150 – new members); balance $7189
July +$440 (340 – newsletter ads, 100 – new members); -$884 (600 – ice cream social band, 197 – newsletter production, 87 – stationary); balance $6844

Contact Team:
Margaret Valente (city staff w/ planning and zoning) is again requesting a list of contacts to serve as those to be notified regarding changes to the neighborhood plan, development, etc. Crestview does not have a contact team, instead the executive committee serves that function. Other things are still TBD on the neighborhood plan.

Carolyn Sprock from Wooten met with Jonathan on bylaws lessons learned for the contact team (since the neighborhood plan includes Wooten). In Dawson, developers came in and took over the contact team in one meeting and did things like use their children to vote since the bylaws did not specify that you had to be 18 to vote. People are changing bylaws to require members to be active for some period of time in the neighborhood association before gaining voting rights.

Ice Cream Social:
The consensus was that there was good attendance and that people liked the band. However, because most people showed up at the end when all of the ice cream had already melted, we considered starting later and perhaps going for only 2 hours next year.

Next General Meeting:
Elaine Dill will talk about turning your yard into a wildlife habitat.
Possible September general meeting topics: Wall of Welcome video, have the Wall of Welcome artist talk, or the Violet Crown Foundation talk about possible future projects.

Newsletter Announcement:
We need to announce in this and the next newsletter that the September general meeting will be on the 15th because of Labor Day shifting everything 1 week ahead.

Opinion Survey Responses:
20 responses received. Pam will tally the results. Jonathan will find out when Phase II of the Crestview Station plan goes before the planning commission. That is our opportunity to push for pedestrian/bicycle access. Jonathan has support from local bicycle activist groups and some city staff.

VMU Committee Results:
The executive committee voted unanimously to accept the VMU Committee’s recommendations.

Justin Lane Downgrade:
Steve will bring the planning commission response regarding the downgrade to the attention of the engineer (Peter Marsh) with City of Austin traffic calming.

Power Lines of Grover:
+10-ft high poles are going in. No one is willing to create a committee to fight this.

Ryan Austin Energy Property:
Heather, who presented on behalf of affordable housing last meeting, is looking for feedback on whether or not the neighborhood association is willing to push for affordable housing on the property. CAN is awaiting the effects of Crestview Station. It is too soon for come to consensus on a desired use for that lot. There will be no response by December.

Newsletter Committee 08.05.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-08-07T22:27:00.002-05:00

In attendance were Stephanie Philips, Jonathan Locklin, and Jerry Schmidt

1) The Newsletter Committee meetings are scheduled for the first Tuesday of the Month. In order to have the articles in the upcoming newsletter it was determined that they need to be in by the preceding Friday.
Deadline to printer -- Monday before, (the first Monday)
ad & copy deadline -- the Monday before that, (the last Monday of the month)
Also we need to work out a "news budget," a list of articles, etc., at our committee meeting, so George will know what to be planning for.
2) We received two letters from Faith Lutheran Church about two bazaars that they have coming up in November. One is for Travis Extension Education Association and the following week the next one is for Faith Lutheran Chruch High School Youth trip for a youth gathering.
3) An article for the upcoming Violet Crown Fall Art Festival was received and will be placed in the September newsletter.
4) The website http://middtowncommons.com was posted on the listserv for Crestview. This website shows an artist’s conception of what the Huntsman property will look like.
5) Stephanie will go over Tim’s list of advertisers and compare with hers.
6) For the September meeting we would like to set up to show the documentary “A Community Mosaic” about the history of Brentwood and Crestview. We will need to contact Jean Graham and Susan & Rob Burneson about being the featured speakers. The September meeting will be moved back one week to September 15th due to Labor Day.
7) Articles are coming in slow for the newsletter.
Ask Don to post on the listserv or website that we are looking for articles.
The information that was on the listserv recently about chickens would make a good article if someone would step and volunteer to write it.
Also if would could obtain histories of some of the businesses in the Crestview Neighborhood would be appreciated. We have quite a few businesses around our perimeter plus the Crestview Shopping Center.

Submitted by Jerry Schmidt

VMU Committee 07.30.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-07-31T09:47:00.003-05:00

Present: Jonathan, Heidi, Pam, Don, Kimberly

Mike was not present, so there was no feedback yet from the church on whether or not they wished to be included in the VMU overlay.

Pam had not heard back from the owners of the Dallas nightclub (and adjoining businesses) properties regarding their desire for inclusion or exclusion in the overlay.

The remaining properties along Burnet from Richcreek to Justin were considered, and the tabled properties from last meeting were reconsidered. The consensus was to keep ALL properties currently in the overlay district except for the property at the corner of Anderson and Lamar, the Top Notch property, and the the Dallas nightclub and adjoining strip mall lots. The decision was also made to include three lots at the corner of Burnet and Anderson that are surrounded by the VMU overlay district, but not technically in the overlay district due to facing Anderson Ln., within the overlay.

Reasons for exclusion:
Anderson and Lamar - current complaints by neighbors of parking along their street, no buffer between property and residences.
Top Notch - character, historical significance
Dallas and adjoining strip mall - surrounded by many residences with no buffer

The church was seen as desirable to exclude so that if a developer wished to redevelop it the neighborhood would have more leverage to request parkland. That plot is the best place for parkland (of the lots considered) in the neighborhood. The neighborhood is believed to have less bargaining power with a VMU development [why?]. It might be excluded or included depending upon the results of Heidi's percentage calculations (see below).

Action items:
Pam - Get feedback from the Dallas property owners.
Mike - Get feedback from the church.
Heidi - Create a spreadsheet with each of the overlay district's property's linear footage along the transit corridors for the purpose of determining the percentage of properties included in the overlay. The target is 60-80% inclusion.

Next meeting: TBD, likely early September - agenda will be to decide who presents to the planning commission and what the speaking points will be.

Electronic Communications Committee 07.16.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-07-17T09:20:00.002-05:00

Present: Paige, Don

Committee Purpose:
The purpose of the committee is to provide a supplement to the newsletter and CNA general meetings in keeping the neighborhood informed of events and issues that affect the neighborhood in general, and ex com activities in particular. The committee will endeavor to provide more timely and/or detailed information than can, at times, be provided by the newsletter and CNA general meetings. Finally, due to the digital nature of the information distributed by the committee, it will also serve as an archive for past announcements, meeting minutes, city documents, poll results, etc. that may be available to everyone for research.

Short-term Goals:
[1] Provide a pdf version of the newsletter upon release (as some neighbors report not receiving a paper copy) - DOING
[2] Upgrade the existing CNA web site to improve navigation
[3] Post announcements of CNA ex com and general meetings, agendas and meeting minutes to the listserv and web site - DOING
[4] Provide a contact list for committee members on the websites - DONE

Long-term Goals:
[1] Provide an on-line means of renewing membership in the CNA
[2] CNA annual election support
[3] Increase representation at and coverage of city meetings by "on call" reporters
[4] Formalize committee responsibilities and procedures for inclusion into bylaws
[5] Archive: outside presentations given to CNA, newsletters, meeting minutes, documents of historical interest (aid future ex comms in understanding reasoning and history behind decisions)
[6] Recommended businesses section to website, updatable/commentable by general public

Member List:
Chair – Don Tucker (don.w.tucker@gmail.com)
Web Administrator - Paige Hill (designbarefoot@gmail.com )
Listserv Administrator - Ramona Brush (ramonabrush@yahoo.com)
Expressed Interest - Valerie Tyson, - Ami Hooper

Meeting Dates:
Last Wednesday of each month (starting in August) @ 7pm.

Procedure for article submission:
Jerry (Newsletter Editor) already has a procedure implemented:

"Call for submissions
Crestview Neighborhood Association (CNA) members are welcome to submit objective articles for the CNA newsletter that are relevant to the neighborhood's history, land, current events, and residents. Articles will be edited for style and grammar, and published on a space-available basis. Submissions should be in Word or plain text format, no longer than 700 words, and include a title and author name. Illustrations or photographs may be submitted in JPG format that are at least 300 dpi. Submissions should be sent to [e-mail address deleted]."

I suggested that we adopt the same submission guidlines and only alter the contact e-mail address.

Action Items:
Paige - Look at how to handle posting/archiving documents for the website; make sure she has administrator access to existing neighborhood sites; begin website upgrade
Don - Talk with Jerry about how to coordinate the newsletter and the website content.

Executive Committee 07.07.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-07-16T09:44:00.002-05:00

Present:
Jonathan, Steve, Tim, Jerry, Eddie, Don, Mike, (Dave showed up later)

Ice Cream Social:
Steve asked for volunteers to assist with the ice cream distribution at the ice cream social on the 12th. He also asked for people with water coolers to bring them to the social.

Affordable Housing and Ryan Austin Energy Property:
Eddie introduced Heather Way who represents groups working for affordable housing in Austin. Her organization’s goal is to get 25% affordable housing in new developments. 10% of this can be achieved with developer incentives for higher density. The remainder can typically only be accomplished through the acquisition of public lands donated specifically for affordable housing. The 25% is their goal because, at that level, federal funding can be received for a project. Because of the ongoing discussion with the city on the eventual use of the publically-owned Austin Energy site on Ryan Dr., Heather wanted to suggest that we consider working toward having that site be donated by the city for affordable housing development. For her organization to be able to apply for federal grants for next year, they would need to know by December of this year what the eventual use for that land would be. This item was tabled pending further discussion regarding the effects of developing this property (park land in Crestview, land swaps, pedestrian access to the TOD, density increases, etc.).

Variance Request:
Heidi, Chair for the Land Use Committee, presented a summary report regarding the owner’s request for a variance of the property on 1713 Justin Ln. The executive committee voted unanimously not to oppose the request for variance.

ANA Experience With VMU Application Process:
Members of the Allandale Neighborhood Association discussed their experience with the city regarding their neighborhood’s VMU Opt-In/Opt-Out Process Application. They were originally encouraged to be creative with their application response, coming up with their own incentives and conditions for VMU on various properties in their neighborhood. They later learned that the Planning Commission did not want any deviation from the application as laid out (i.e. property by property exclusion, or opt in/out). They have had a negative experience – 5350 Burnet Rd - with a developer promising 80 condos and changing to 160 apartments, and there was nothing they could do about it under the VMU overlay. They believe that the VMU overlay process was illegal as it was a zoning change that denied/denies the neighborhood right to petition. They are working on one hand to restore the neighborhood right to petition, while continuing on with the application process. They have had some success excluding properties from the VMU overlay that are shallow lots (less than 200 ft.), or have historical importance or contribute to neighborhood character. Other properties may require the property owner and others within 200ft to petition to be excluded. It is believed that the Planning Commission will respond favorably to 60-80% of properties along the transit corridors (percentage by linear feet of frontage) being included in the overlay.

Can the ANC help with this?

ANA also recommends adding a conditional overlay to some VMU-overlay properties to protect neighbors from unconscionable development. Brewster McCracken is holding meetings looking at alternative equivalent compliance requests from developers and conditional overlay requests from neighborhoods to consider changes to the ordinance as currently specified.

Allandale has 5 different methods to react to VMU:
a) Continue with VMU application process.
b) Attend Brewster McCracken meetings to influence changes to the design standard ordinance, which contains VMU.
c) Exert political pressure to remove small lots from VMU zoning.
d) Challenge the legality of the VMU zoning change which did not allow for the right of petition when changing zoning to VMU.
e) Help build a common image for north central Austin.

Neighboring NA’s:
Jonathan met with the surrounding 5 neighborhood associations leaders to discuss issues of concern. Most of the other neighborhoods big issue is the lack of code enforcement.

Hangtown Grill:
Hangtown Grill requested permission to distribute vouchers to neighbors at the Ice Cream Social for a free meal during a pre-opening training exercise. The ex comm voted unanimously to deny their request.

VMU Committee 07.08.08 Meeting Minutes

2008-07-10T17:20:00.003-05:00

Present:
Heidi, Mike, Larkin, Pam, Jonathan, Don, +? (father and son team, left early)

Jonathan explained the VMU application process.

Heidi presented the results of her property-by-property research, listing the addresses, owners, zoning, and places of business for the properties included in the VMU overlay.

The committee went over part of the list of properties, those along Lamar Blvd. and those along Burnet Rd. north of Richcreek Rd., to decide which properties should be excluded from the VMU overlay. It is believed that 60-80% (percentage by linear footage of the lots along the transit corridors) of the properties must be included for the application to be accepted by the Planning Commission.

All of the properties considered were voted to be included in the overlay except:
* St. Louis Church - Mike will ask the church on their opinion of being zoned civic, GR, or VMU
* Top Notch - This property was viewed to possess historical/neighborhood character qualities that makes it an asset worthy of preservation in Crestview.
* Corner of Lamar and Anderson - Some contention led us to table this property pending further discussion.

The next meeting will discuss the church and the Lamar & Anderson property along with those properties not yet considered (i.e. along Burnet Rd., south of Richcreek Rd.). Pam will ask the owners of the Dallas Nightclub (and nearby businesses) property of their desire for inclusion or exclusion into the VMU overlay.

The next meeting was scheduled for July 23rd.

Land Use Committee 6.25.2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-07-10T09:39:00.003-05:00

present: Heidi, Brad, Cheryl

discussion items:
- I brought new member Brad up-to-date on our committee (He's an attorney who works with cities - not Austin - on land use issues) and invited him to join in on the VMU meetings - he's interested.
- Cheryl reported that she has followed up on the KAB grant info, and plans to apply.
She is considering projects for tree and / or wildflower planting along Arroyo Seco behind the Minimax. If this project comes to pass - we'll need to organize some volunteer help - a fun neighborhood project? More on that later?
- Cheryl is also doing some work in conjunction with the Crestview Baptist Church
and Tree People. She has organized a project to plant trees in the right-of-way along the South side of Dartmouth, and may need volunteers for this as well? I asked her to write up a little blurb about this project and submit it to Jonathan for possible publication on the website / newsletter? (As I think I am not doing her proper justice here in my brief summary)
- I also suggested that the traffic calming project might result in a few new islands / opportunities
which could benefit from her interest in, and talent for beautification / planting. So as that process
moves along, we should look for ways to collaborate.
- Cheryl also suggested that a project she would like to undertake is one involving some nifty Crestview signage - similar to the Brentwood markers? She will talk with the Brentwood folks about what it took to get this done in their neighborhood and maybe start formulating a budget / plan?
- We briefly discussed the variance request on Justin Lane. Brad and I will meet with the applicant next week and review the particulars of the case with him. We will forward a letter to the Executive Committee and to the Board of Adjustment ultimately. Our main point of concern is to verify that the adjacent neighbor has no complaints.
- Brad and I discussed formulating a zoning / code / permit process FAQ list for the website.

Submitted by Heidi Goebel, Land Use Committee Chair

CNA Executive Committee Meeting 2-June-2008

2008-06-09T12:34:00.005-05:00

CNA Executive Committee Meeting
June 2, 2008

Exec. Com. Members Attending: Pam Mathison, Steve Kuehner, Tim Ramirez, Eddie Gary, Jerry Schmidt, Mike Keenan, Johnathan Locklin,

Absent: Don Tucker, Dave Considine

Others attending: Chip Harris, Heidi Goebel, Steve Dobie

Notes: Steve Kuehner

7:00 – 7:25 Public Comments (none)

Johnathan opened the meeting at 7:30, introduced Heidi Goebel who presented update from the Land Use Committee

Heidi shared some committee ideas about the areas the committee will address and its function. 2 pieces...

Zoning & Variances: Committee intends to keep up with zoning change requests and variances. Will get on City notification list. Committee will do initial research into requests and make recommendations to EC. EC would respond to Planning Commission or Council as appropriate. Seek membership feedback and or action as appropriate. Will work on method to get notification in a timely fashion so association can be proactive.

Beautification: undefined at this time. Committee seeks feedback and ideas for projects.

Johnathan introduced Steve Dobie of the neighborhood Traffic Calming Work group.

Steve provided an update of the work group's efforts.Group has been meeting since March. Meets twice a month. Identifying streets with the most problems with the goal of calming the traffic in the entire neighborhood. Also looking at problem intersections. Around “70%” through with this part of the process.

City will offer input as to what can be engineered. Plan will be developed and presented to neighbrohood at an open house. City will send ballots to all households and property owners for a yes or no vote on the entire plan. Approval requires 60% positive vote. No time set but looking at August or September for plan presentation. Speed cushions and islands the tools of choice to reduce speed with the bonus of less cut through traffic.Justin Lane is being addressed but may not be part of Crestview's plan, pending down grade from arterial to neighborhood collector. If it is not included on our plan then recommendations will be forwarded to Brentwood for their future traffic calming efforts.Group

Financial Report (Tim Ramirez)

Gathering financial information in order to updated report.

Commanders Forum (Jerry Schmidt)

Jerry attend APD Commanders Forum. Crestview is located Baker 3 District. Currently 3 vacancies for officers in our area. APD looses around 4 officers a month. Information contact Sergeant Edward Peek, 974-5795.

Austin Neighborhood Council (Steve Kuehner)

Steve will start attending ANC meetings once his efforts with the Traffic Calming group end. Johnathan will attend on 6/25. Eddie proposed that CNA.. join ANC. Approved by EC. Membership fee of $35.00 approved.

Ice Cream Social (Steve Kuehner)

Scheduled for 7/12 from 10:00 to 1:00. EC ok'd Steve to use his discretion to find music and negotiate a reasonable fee.

Committee Reports

Johnathan asked that all Committee chairs send meeting notes to him. He asked that each committee put together a description of their purpose and goals as well as membership list. This information will be shared with membership via newsletter and web site. Notify EC of meeting dates.

Newsletter (Jerry Schmidt)

Stephanie is handling advertising and posting of info. at the Mini-Max. George Sutton is helping with the layout. Draft copy of June newsletter shared with EC. Discussion of size of newsletter. EC prefers a majority of space to go to articles and news. Advertisers may have ads run every other month depending on size of newsletter. Focusing on businesses in the neighborhood and on the periphery.

Electronic Communication (Don Tucker)

Discussion of access and control of content. Participation in local list serve as one way to share information and receive feedback.

Bylaws (Mike Keenan)

Mike has proposed a process for the committee to look at the bylaws. Goal is to keep it open and simple.Goal of having updated bylaws in place June 1.

Land Use (Heidi reporting)

see notes about Heidi's presentation.

VMU (Johnathan Locklin)

Awaiting availability of Pam and Don to participate. Dates for revisiting VMU by City to take place after Council completes hearings on Crestview Station TOD. Time frame unknown at this time.

Discussion of process and procedures regarding articles in the newsletter and web site. Jerry and Don's committees to put together recommendations to present to the EC.

Updated on Crestview Station (Johnathan)

Johnathan and Paige Hill met with Council aids and Sonya (Planning Dept.), Ricardo (Parks),

Trammel Crow reps. Discussed concept of Rails and Trails for the development. Shared information. No negotiations at this time.

Johnathan has contacted Highland NA leadership to start discussions about trails and other issues regarding Crestview Station.

Executive Committee Meeting adjourned at 8:55.

Next meeting scheduled on 7/7/08.

Newsletter Committee Meeting Agenda for 4-June-2008

2008-06-04T14:08:00.004-05:00

Submitted by Jerry Schmidt

1) George is publishing the newsletter and Sharon at Quikprint is the contact person. They will print the newsletter at the North Shoal Creek location. They will contact George, or Jerry, or Stephanie when they are ready to be picked up on Thursday.

2)Stephanie will be contacting the advertisers. She will be billing and also requesting new artwork, as the artwork needs to have more resolution for the newsletter. Stephanie also is posting the notices about the Crestview executive & general meetings on the Crestview shopping center bulletin board.Stephanie will contact some of the schools for information on events.Stephanie also is one of the bulk newsletter distributors as well as a route distributor.Stephanie will pick up the newsletters Thursday and remove her portion and give the remainder to me for the bulk distribution.

3) When sending the articles to George, they need to be in Word, Word Perfect, or text messaging in order to reduce the time to set up the newsletter.

4) Stephenie will be out of country the first week of July. Jerry will need to pick up the newsletters and do the bulk distribution.

5) The newsletter committee meetings will be on the first Tuesday of the month. Normally this will be the day after the executive meeting.

6) For advertising we will approach additional advertisers on an as needed basis. When we expand to 8 pages, we may solicit additional advertisers of ten to twenty. They will generally be businesses on the perimeter of Crestview where they would have an interest in contacting residents of the neighborhood.

7) For articles, we need to request ideas from the neighborhood on some of the information that they would like to see. It will need to be non-controversial. Ideas for some of the articles areList of online neighborhood resources (Susannah has a list of the resources - one of interest would be gardening) They had a garden tour recently. Also information about habitat gardening.Violet Crown Community Works (Shayla Fleshman 467-8980 had published something in the listserv)National night outTOD & info on the Crestview Station.brief committee reports from some of the committees.List of new neighbors or members.Link for the proposed Farmers Market at 7001 Burnet & Cullen (Texas Healing Arts Institute)Police report of crime in the area. (www.spotcrime.com)Brief items of happenings or items of interest to the neighborhood. (need to stockpile these so that we can use as fillers.Swimming pool hours for Brentwood & Northwest parks

Newsletter Committee Minutes for 27-May-2008

2008-06-03T17:08:00.004-05:00

Submitted by Jerry Schmidt

George Sutton has volunteer to work on the newsletter w/desktop publishing.

What type of information do we want to put in the Newsletter? Do we want news about events that will have an effect on the neighborhood such as:

TOD (Huntsville Property)
VMU (Vertical Mixed Use)
Security
Traffic
History
Activities at local schools (Brentwood, Lamar, & McCallum)
Walmart
Domain (How will their tax breaks affect smaller businesses what will locate in TOD)
Condolences

How to access the CNA website and join the neighborhood listserv.
How many pages do we want the newsletter to have?
How many advertisers should we have for the newsletter?
How many advertisers are on the Crestview boundaries?

INFO
The present newsletter file is pdf. (Kolache Shop has coupon requiring expiration date change)
The file is delivered to Quikprint on Congress. They approved emailing the newsletter to them.
The Logo shape is a map of Cressview. Would hate to see that changed.
The ads are business card sized except for the church.
Two ads are free (Kolache Shop & Quikprint)
We charge $20 per issue for each business card size ad.

We need someone to be the collection point for the articles. They will need to bring articles or email to the committee for the committee's approval. We need to have a slight backlog of articles so that we have news.
We need someone to contact schools, churches & organizations for events that are taking place in the neighborhood.
We need someone to be the contact person about condolences about residents of Crestview.
Information for upcoming meetings to be placed in the newsletter.

Crestview Neighborhood Association Executive Committee Agenda for 2-June-2008

2008-05-30T20:54:00.006-05:00

I expect this to only take us 1.5 hours. The meeting will be called to order at 7:15 for agenda item 0. The meeting will be held at St Louis Church at 7601 Burnet Rd, Austin, 78757 in the Library. Please see map at bottom of the agenda for a map and red circle around where the Executive Committee will meet.

If you want to speak to the Executive Committee on an agenda item at this meeting please contact Jonathan Locklin at jslpublic@gmail.com . The public will be silent observers of this meeting unless they have scheduled to speak. This meeting is open to the public. We only have room for 12 members of the public, because of room limitations.

Agenda

0) Take time to hear public comments, if needed (15 minutes)

1) Financial Report from Tim (5 minutes)

2) Commanders Forum Report from Jerry (10 minutes)

3) ANC Meeting report from Steve (5 minutes)

4) Steve will be in charge of organizing the Ice Cream Social (5 minutes)

5) Committee Reports (25 minutes)

Newsletter Committee by Jerry
Electronic Committee by Jonathan (Chaired by Don)
Bylaws Committee by Mike
LandUse Committee by Jonathan and/or Heidi
VMU Committee by Jonathan

6) Guidelines for newsletter publication and electronic publication of articles and advertisements. (10 minutes)

7) Update on Crestview Station Area (15 minutes)

Map with red circle where meeting will be

Commander's Forum

2008-05-18T23:35:00.001-05:00

Austin Police Department
Central West Area Command

You are cordially invited to attend our Commander's Forum. We want to share information and discuss those issues and concerns that are important to you. Our desire is to open lines of communication in order to improve the quality of life within your community.

Esta invitado para atender nuestro Foro De Comandante. Deseamos compartir información y discutir problemas y preocupaciones que son importantes para usted y su comunidad. Nuestro deseo es abrir líneas de la comunicación para mejorar la calidad de la vida dentro de su comunidad.

Thursday May22, 2008
Highland Park Baptist Church
5206 Balcones Drive
Austin, TX 78731

Agenda

6:30pm – 6:35pm Introduction of Central West Area Command Staff

6:35pm – 7:10pm Code Enforcement Presentation

7:10pm – 7:45pm Questions and Answers

7:45pm – 8:00pm District Representative Breakout Sessions

Adjourn

For more information, please contact Sergeant Edward Peek, 974-5795.

Crestview NA and Brentwood NA join forces to reclassify Justin Lane

2007-11-08T15:29:00.000-06:00

November 7 ,2008

Teri McManus, Principal Planner
Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department
City of Austin
PO Box 1088

RE: Classification of Justin Lane in the Austin Metropolitan Roadway Plan

Ms. McManus

Please let this letter serve as a joint request from Brentwood Neighborhood Association (BNA) and Crestview Neighborhood Association (CNA) to have the city reclassify Justin Lane in the Austin Metropolitan Roadway Plan.

Currently, Justin Lane is classified as a minor arterial in the plan and we would like the city to consider charging the classification to that of neighborhood collector which would more accurately reflect the function and design of the road.

Justin Lane is a short thoroughfare that only runs between Lamar Boulevard and Burnet Road. It is predominately residential in character with a small element of commercial at either end. Crestview neighborhood children attending Brentwood Elementary School must cross Justin twice a day and the elderly must cross it if they want to visit a park as there is no parkland in Crestview. Residents living in Brentwood and walking to the grocery store in Crestview also cross Justin. As you can tell, it has quite a bit of pedestrian use.

Thank you for your consideration. Please contact us if you have any questions or comments.

[signed by Brentwood NA]

[signed by Crestview NA]

Crestview Steering Committe votes to support Allandale with North Loop and Burnet property

2007-11-07T15:07:00.000-06:00

Permit/Case: 2007-146614 ZC
Zoning Request: CS-MU-CO zoning for Vertical Mixed Use
Reference File: C14-2007-0161
Property Address: 5350 Burnet Road

November 1, 2007

Austin City Council members:
The steering committee of the Crestview Neighborhood Association has voted to oppose a change of zoning status at 5350 Burnet Rd. from CS-MU-CO to VMU, due to the dangerous precedent it sets for all future VMU along Burnet Road and Anderson Lane.

The developer proposes to increase residential density to 68 dwelling units per acre, a level approaching downtown density of 75 units/acre, but without adequate transportation infrastructure, connectivity, and walkability. We are strongly against downtown density along Burnet Road, especially downtown density unsupported by adequate transportation infrastructure and planned walkability.

We feel that the lack of density caps appropriate to the area of town is a key flaw in the current VMU ordinance. City staff has confirmed that VMU allows “as much density as physical limitations allow”, and our impression from the City’s Planning Commission is that this is just fine. That concept goes directly against New Urbanist and Smart Growth principles. The example of 5350 Burnet succinctly illustrates how developers will attempt to maximize density in exactly this way, with no regard for transportation impacts or connectivity with the surrounding neighborhood.

Using the proposed density for 5350 Burnet and applying it to all proposed VMU sites along Burnet and Anderson, we know that 18,616 new households could be added to our area of the city in the coming years, translating to 111,694 new vehicular trips per day. The developer at 5350 Burnet is targeting young professionals, who, being in a hurry, are unlikely to use existing mass transit options. Most of this traffic will go onto our streets. VMU, as currently implemented, will destroy our neighborhoods.

We think that the density levels, density zones, and walkability requirements described in the TOD and TN zoning categories may be better suited to certain locations along Burnet than the VMU ordinance alone. And properties not supported by robust mass transit and adequate walkability, in particular properties on shallow lots backing SF-2, should be dropped from the VMU overlay district entirely.

We know that there are plans over the coming two decades to improve mass transit along Burnet Road and Anderson Lane. We strongly feel that these plans need to be closely coordinated with plans for added density, in order to avoid traffic chaos along these streets and in the surrounding residential streets. When we see how mass transit will work, then we can better understand how, and how much, density can be accommodated. For now, we urge you not to gamble the future of our neighborhoods on a laissez faire approach to new density.

Thank you for your attention and support,

Chip Harris
Crestview Neighborhood Association Officer - President

Steve Keuhner
Crestview Neighborhood Association Officer – Vice President

Jonathan Locklin
Crestview Neighborhood Association Officer - Editor

Voting was held on November 5th through 6th 2007 and passed with 6 yes votes. The remaining 3 steering committee members were not available to vote at this time.

TOD and the future of Crestview - article from newsletter

2007-09-27T19:54:00.000-05:00

TOD and the future of Crestview

Last month when the Crestview community met, Mike Blizzard and Sonya Lopez presented information about the development on the old huntsman site and the changes that Transit Oriented Development (TOD) will bring to the Crestview Neighborhood. Mike Blizzard represents the developer of the old huntsman site and Sonya Lopez is the city's principal planner for the Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Please see last month's newsletter and our web site for more information (http://www.crestviewna.org/)

To continue this discussion, over the past month there have been many new developments regarding land around the huntsman site and how influential TOD is to Crestview's future. Below I included a few of these new developments:

First – The Planning Commission (http://www.cityofaustin.org/smartgrowth/pc.htm) voted to recommend Mixed Use interim zoning on 6909 Ryan Drive to the City Council. This will allow TOD style development on property adjacent to single family homes. Several Crestview residents (including a petition from residents around the Ryan property) presented evidence and support to tone down the development as it encroaches into the interior of the neighborhood. Some on the commission realized this and tried to find ways to lessen the impact. However words from Cid Galindo reminded the commission that density was the number 1 priority for this land predominately because of its closeness to the rail stop. Cid Galindo was nominated by Will Wynn and is an executive with the Galindo Group, real estate developers from Bryan College Station (http://www.galindogroup.com/). In the end, TOD's recommendation will influence the permanent zoning for the Ryan Drive property.

Second – The Planning Commission (http://www.cityofaustin.org/smartgrowth/pc.htm) showed great concern after learning that Crestview had NO PARKLAND in its boundaries. Even commissioner Jay Reddy made a proposal to turn the 6909 Ryan Drive property into park land (with an inventive way for the City of Austin Utilities to purchase the land they needed rather than swapping it with the land on Ryan)! Jay Reddy was nominated by Betty Dunkerley and appears to work for or be associated with Dell in Austin. However Jay's proposal only received 2 votes.

Third – The neighborhood association found out that CAMPETRO and the developers for the old huntsman site do not want a road to connect the huntsman development with Justin Lane. HOWEVER the TOD is still recommending the option to bring a road called “Alligator” across the tracks connecting it to Justin Lane.

Fourth – The neighborhood association found out the TOD is not recommending a parkland trail between the huntsman development and the rail track in the Crestview neighborhood. Instead the TOD wants to recommend that all pedestrian traffic and bicycle traffic be carried on one or more of the roads in the development.

TOD will bring more development and density along Lamar. Crestview will be the first to see and experience this change, because of the Crestview Station development. An example of the type of issues Crestview will face is related to what happened with the Ryan Drive property. The property at 6909 Ryan Drive is capped at 2,000 car trips per day. Ryan Drive connects to Justin. Add that information to the recent traffic numbers showing Justin has around 5,000 to 6,000 car trips per day. Yes, this is a large increase to traffic on Justin. How are we going to handle this situation? One tool is to influence the TOD.

TOD has the power to recommend that parts of the Crestview Neighborhood be re-written/over-written or supported/emphasized. Thus TOD is very influential to Crestview's future. It is important that TOD hear Crestview's voices clearly and with presence - be there and be heard.

A summary list of general issues and concerns I am hearing are
1) Increased traffic with Crestview Station and TOD development,

2) Traffic flow of Cars, Trucks, and Buses around and in TOD (especially in the Crestview Station area and Justin Lane),

3) Parking in and around the Crestview Station and in TOD development,

4) Parkland and preserving the existing Open Space that the Optimist Club manages,

5) Infrastructure strain because of intense development,
Parkland – No parkland exists in Crestview today.
Drainage – Water will flow south to south west on the old huntsman site.
Sewer – Do we have capacity?
Water – Do we have capacity?
Electricity – Do we have capacity?

6) Intense development creeping into Crestview's interior, and

7) walkable and bikable community.

What do you have to say about these issues? Do you have other concerns? Please voice them at our next Crestview General meeting AND at the next TOD meeting. Please stay tuned to the Crestview newsletters or our web site (http://www.crestviewna.org/) for more information.

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) - article from newsletter

2007-09-02T12:36:00.000-05:00

Transit Oriented Development (TOD)

Many residents have asked where is TOD, how will TOD affect Crestview, what issues does this pose for Crestview, and how do I get involved?

Where is TOD?

TOD covers all commercial property along Lamar starting at Morrow and going south to Densen. It includes the Crestview Station and all development on the old Huntsman site. It also includes the entire shopping mall on the north east corner of Lamar and Airport. To see a map of the area go to the http://crestviewna-transit.blogspot.com/ to find a link to a google map (called “Crestview Neighborhood Map with TOD area added”) of the TOD area.

How will TOD and Crestview Station affect Crestview?

First, there will be an increase of 1472 housing units or an 77% increase to Crestview's existing 1898 housing units. The types of housing will range from apartment/condo type homes mixed in with “commercial use” along Lamar and in the Crestview Station area (southern portion of huntsman site). The northern interior of the huntsman site will be a mix of single family and row homes. This is an impressive density achievement compared to other Austin neighborhoods.

Second, TOD can recommend and has proposed changes to the roads in Crestview. There have been proposals at the TOD to extend Justin to Airport either directly or by connecting up to Canion Street. There have also been proposals to allow left turns from Lamar onto Morrow.

Third, there will be a CAPMETRO rail station inside the southern tip of the Huntsman site (called Crestview Station). Those of you wanting to ride the commuter rail into east downtown can use this station. However there will be NO parking at the rail station. You must walk or have someone drop you off. There may also be a trail along the rail line from Morrow to Lamar.

Fourth, there will be more commercial. There is no way of knowing what businesses will open in the TOD area. However we all know that there will be more commercial representation. Maybe a new grocery or doctor's office will open in the TOD area.

Fifth, the TOD is supposed to bring Crestview neighborhood into the modern environmentally respectful world with pedestrian/bicycle friendly trails and streets, commercial space within walking/biking distance, and a more residentially and commercially dense lifestyle.

What issues does this pose for Crestview?

I can't list off every issue that a Crestview resident may have. However here are a few of the top issues that have been discussed at neighborhood meetings and steering committee meetings.

There will be increased traffic in general TOD area, on Justin Lane, and on Morrow. With all the new commercial and residential, there will be more traffic in the general area. This is just a fact of dense development. However it does concern many residents that any TOD decisions to change the Lamar/Justin and Lamar/Morrow intersections would bring intense cut-through traffic on these roads.

Will we really get a walkable and bikable community from TOD? The TOD ideal makes a lot of promises about walkable and bikable communities. However when the rubber mets the road, it is the Crestview residents who will have to enforce this requirement. It is too easy for projects to cut corners for a higher profit than address these concerns especially when no one is looking.

Reduced parking requirements and no parking for rail station will spill parking into neighborhood. Much of the TOD development can take advantage of reduced parking requirements, since the commercial development is supposed to serve just the surrounding community. In addition to this, CAPMETRO will not provide any parking for the rail stop at Crestview Station for similar reasons. Thus as this development grows many residents predict that people wanting to go to the commercial services or rail station will park along residential streets. TOD has proposed some solutions to this using signs and/or parking permits for the street. What do you think?

Increased strain on infrastructure including utilities and open park space. We hope that the city is doing the detail planning needed to support the dense development. Will we experience a drop in water pressure? Will we get gray outs? The Crestview steering committee requested but has not heard what and how the city is planning for infrastructure in this dense development. Infrastructure needs also extends to park land. Where do we in Crestview go for a neighborhood park? Where will 1472 new households go for a neighborhood park? We cannot use the Optimist ball fields located in the northern portion of the huntsman site, since it is a gated and controlled entry park and not open to the general public.

How do you get involved?

If any of these issues concern you, the only way to influence the process is to participate in the TOD and Crestview neighborhood association meetings. Please stay tuned to the Crestview calendar on http://www.crestviewna.org/ , mailings, or the Crestview newsletter for the next TOD and neighborhood meeting dates.

Second TOD (Transit-Oriented District) Charette - June 28th

2007-07-22T19:23:00.001-05:00

Below is a report about the second TOD meeting produced by Heidi Goebel, resident of Crestview and participant in the Transit Committee. TOD or Transit Oriented Development affects Crestview Station and all the Huntsman redevelopment. So pay attention!!

Report - Second TOD (Transit-Oriented District) Charette - June 28th

The turnout was great - thanks to all who gave up their Thursday evening to attend and contribute their feedback in the interest of being active participants in planning the future of our neighborhood - hopefully everyone felt good about their involvement at the end of the night.

I noted participants (including residents, business owners and property owners who are not residents) from all 3 surrounding neighborhoods (Crestview, Brentwood and Highland) and maybe a few others as well (a fellow from Skyview was at my table). I was pleased to make a few new acquaintances, and I hope others were able to do the same.

Here’s a link to the city webpage on TOD planning
(www.ci.austin.tx.us/planning/tod)
and info on the Lamar Blvd. / Justin Lane ‘neighborhood center TOD’
(www.ci.austin.tx.us/planning/tod/downloads/Crestview.pdf)
Take a look there for the TOD planning area boundaries and lots more information!

Here’s a description of general TOD planning efforts and goals - from the City webpage

TOD is a way for Austin to make long-range coordinated transportation andland use decisions that will provide a variety of housing and mobility options and create active places where people can live, work, shop, interact and recreate.

The City's mission with respect to Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is to create transit-supportive communities by optimizing the use of land around high quality transit and help Austin achieve some of its social, environmental and economic goals:
Support publicly funded transit investments and enhance transit ridership.
Create greater mobility choice through improved travel options (walking, bicycling,transit, etc.).
Decrease auto use and lessen the negative impacts of the automobile: contribution to traffic congestion and air pollution, high household spending on transportation, consumption of fossil fuels, and excessive parking needs.
Create interesting and active places to live, work and play.
Improve the design quality of the built environment.
Increase housing options suited to a mix of generations and incomes.
Achieve healthier lifestyles due to increased walking and bicycling.
Foster economic development, an enhanced tax base and the potential for Revenue from public-sector real estate assets.
Increase the predictability and consistency of the development process
While there are advantages to linking development and transit, it is necessary to recognize that TOD is not a panacea to solve some of Austin's most challenging issues like traffic congestion, air quality and housing affordability; there is no singular solution for these issues. Transit-oriented development is one part of the solution to a range of transportation, social, and environmental problems, with potential to contribute to improving the quality of life in both Austin and the Central Texas Region.

The June 28th session began with a welcome from Sonya Lopez (City of Austin) and Tom Ryden (PB Placemaking - a Portland-based planning firm). Donna Carter (Carter Design Associates of Austin) and Camille Pahwa (Diana McIver & Associates of Austin) talked about various aspects of plan implementation. Then Brian Newman (PB Placemaking) stepped up to recap the first charette and to present the schematic plans that were generated as a response to the neighborhood input collected at that event.

The central problem that planners set out to address was the challenge of connectivity across Lamar and Airport, 2 very busy streets - as we all know. 3 conceptual plans were presented, but discussion soon focused on one, the ‘street grid’ plan which proposed a network of smaller scale streets around this intersection which could be used by folks on foot or bicycle to move around and through the TOD district.

The plan also proposed future land uses for a number of parcels in the TOD district, again culled from input gathered at the first charette event. There are a number of ‘menu options’ for uses and building types (live / work buildings, mixed-use retail, various density types of housing units, etc.) which are part of the TOD land-use palette.

A realignment of the Airport / Lamar intersection was presented which proposes to reconfigure the current Y-shaped formation (with sketchy pedestrian crossings) into a more conventional T-shaped intersection with proper crosswalks and refuge areas. The free lane traveling north onto Airport from Lamar would be eliminated. (along with the high-speed cars that currently travel without any impediment making pedestrian crossing risky at best) It seems that this would be a major improvement in terms of safety and pedestrian usage and as it turns out, the right-of way is already in place to allow for this reconstruction, so it could be one of the easier elements to realize.

Another item that was discussed was the current Austin Energy property on Justin Lane and Ryan. Apparently there are talks in the works to do a swap. That is, the Justin Lane property would be included in the Crestview Station development, and in return, Trammel Crow would provide a parcel within the Huntsman site for a new Austin Energy substation. We also heard a little bit about various affordability incentives and goals, although it is my understanding that affordability benchmarks cannot be required (by law?) but may be implemented as part of the overall scheme at the discretion of the developer. (Trammel Crow).

So, after all the introductions / presentations, we all got to work. There were 10 tables, each with a note-taker and a facilitator. The purpose of this charette was to get neighborhood reaction to the ‘street grid’ plan. The Planners wanted to know what we liked, what we did not like, and also invited any new ideas or additional comments.

Here’s a summary of the results:

Definitely the most discussed element of the plan was the extension of Justin Lane east across Lamar to Cannion Drive and the grade connection (across the tracks) from the Crestview Station development south to Justin Lane. The purpose of this connection was to allow secondary circulation around the TOD district, circumventing the Lamar / Airport intersection. Many Justin Lane residents were in attendance and expressed their opposition to this element of the plan because of the worries over increased traffic on their street.

Participants were generally in favor of the Airport / Lamar intersection reconstruction.

Several tables suggested that the inclusion of a greenbelt / trail along the RR tracks was an important park / recreation element and would facilitate pedestrian connectivity from the Crestview neighborhood to the rail stop. Currently there is not adequate right-of-way to accomodate this, so perhaps some appeals to the developers are warranted in order to obtain the land necessary to implement this feature.

Overall, participants were in favor of the inclusion of the Austin Energy property in the Crestview Station Development, and many suggested it would be a good place for a small park along with some live/ work building types.

Some tables expressed that they would like to see residential affordability standards included in future development.

Next Steps?

It’s important to note that we are at the midpoint of this process, there are still opportunities for input and review, nothing has been finalized.

The planning teams will review the feedback from this latest charette and produce another round of documents / draft plan.

There will be another meeting to review these documents and get more feedback. Additionally, lots more work will be going on in the background - feasibility studies for affordable housing components - market assessments - transportation, parking, infrastructure and financing analysis.

Eventually - and I am unsure of the timeline for this - the complete package will go before the Planning Commission and finally the City Council for approval, but certainly this is months away.

You may get on the notification list for announcements (regular mail / email) by contacting Sonya Lopez at 974-7694 or sonya.lopez@ci.austin.tx.us And of course meeting reminders will be published on the Crestview website (http://www.crestviewna.org/) and on the listserv: crestview-neighbors at Yahoo Groups (requires registration).

FYI

Some of you may be wondering about the term charette - here’s what it means in this context:

The term “charette” evolved from a pre-1900 exercise at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in France. Architectural students were given a design problem to solve within an allotted time. When that time was up, the students would rush their drawings from the studio to the Ecole in a cart called a charrette. Students often jumped in the cart to finish drawings on the way. The term evolved to refer to the intense design exercise itself. Today it refers to a creative process akin to visual brainstorming that is used by design professionals to develop solutions to a design problem within a limited timeframe.

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Charrette Two

2007-06-09T11:42:00.000-05:00

It is time again for another Transit Oriented Development (TOD) meeting. The Lamar/Justin Lane Station Area Planning Charrette Two will be held on Thursday, June 28, 2007 at the Koenig Lane Christian Church on 908 Old Koenig Lane from 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

If you are part of Crestview and would like to meet before the TOD meeting to catch up or review pertinent information, please email me at jslpublic@gmail.com.

For more information on the TOD process, go to the City of Austin's TOD Web Site .

Charrette Design Images from TOD Meeting on 4/26/2007

2007-05-21T19:11:00.000-05:00

Each of the tables at the last TOD meeting on 4/26/2007, drew up how they would like to see development happen in the TOD area. Below are 8 designs from the TOD meeting. The various colors on the map mean:

1) Green == park or open space/land
2) Red == Vertical Mixed Use
3) Brown == Multi-Family Development (e.g. MD-3)
4) Yellow == Single Family (e.g. SF-3)
5) Purple == Apartments or Multi-Family Development (?)

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 6

Table 7

Table 8

Table 9

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Meeting from 4/26/2007

2007-05-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

I don't have much to report from the TOD meeting held on 4/26/2007. There was a sizable crowd of developers, business owners, and neighborhood residents from the surrounding neighborhoods. We focused on where to put Vertical Mixed Use, Multi-Family development, parks, pedestrian, and bike trails. However I think the city is more interested in the first 2. The effort was very high level and does not provide any detail as to what will actually be developed.

The neighborhood needs to be vigilant about our ability to influence development in the area. There is a growing concern from some neighbors that this process will allow unchecked development. If we review how little influence we had on the Wal-Mart deal, then we have much to be concerned with the added liberties for development in the TOD (Transit Oriented Development) and VMU (Vertical Mixed Use) areas.

Another issue of note is that one of the 8 (plus or minus) groups at the TOD suggested that Justin be connected to Airport Blvd. The supporter(s) thought that this would improve the Lamar, Airport, and Justin intersection. However there were others who thought that this would bring too much traffic to Justin, since Justin is and should remain a neighborhood road.

The next TOD meeting has not yet been announced, but it should be in mid June. Below I copied an image showing the general idea of the TOD process. Click the image to get a better view.

Station Area Planning Community Kick-Off for Transit Oriented Development (TOD)

2007-04-06T00:30:00.000-05:00

There was a crowd of over 50 listening to many presentations made by

Group Solutions RJW –Why are we here?
Capital Metro – What is the latest on commuter rail line and stations?
City of Austin – How the city of Austin can make TOD "legal" and to what extent can it go?
Parsons Brinkerhoff – What is TOD and what will it look like? What are the arguments for TOD and good examples of TOD?
Diana McIver and Associates – How to bring affordable housing and who will live in affordable housing.

The Station Area Planning Community meetings will be focusing on 3 TODs.

MLK, Jr. Blvd. TOD
Plaza Saltillo TOD
Lamar/Justin Lane TOD

In these meetings, participants will help recommend design standards and development goals for the TOD in Station Area Planning (SAP) meetings. These plans as stated in the Transit-Oriented Development Guidebook published November 2006:

Will establish permitted and conditional uses.
Will prescribe site development regulations.
Will stipulate requirements for street, street scape and other public area improvements.
May amend the location of a gateway. midway, or transition zone.
Will include a housing affordability analysis and feasibility review that describes potential strategies for achieving housing affordability goals (refer to TOD Ordinance for specifics pertaining to the individual TOD districts).
Will include an analysis of the need for public parking.
May include consideration of public and civic art in or near transit stations.
Must be included (via the adopted neighborhood plan amendment process) in an adopted neighborhood plan, if any.

The Crestview neighborhood is directly affected by the Lamar/Justin Lane TOD. In the map shown below, Crestview’s border is colored red and the Lamar/Justin Lane TOD is colored blue.

What are some of the concerns for Crestview?

How will the Crestview neighborhood plan be changed?
How will TOD affect Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Auto traffic in the neighborhood?
How will current Crestview residents access the TOD and the rail station?
What will the TOD development look like?
Who will live in the TOD?
Who can afford to live or continue to afford living in the Crestview neighborhood as the neighborhood increases in density?

During the meeting the following interesting points were made

The TOD standards will supersede the VMU (Vertical Mixed Use) standards.
The TOD will use incentives and zoning to mitigate how the TOD area is developed. TOD is intended to make development of the land easier.
The TOD process is a 9 month process.
Parsons Brinkerhoff will be leading the Station Area Planning (SAP) meetings. There will be 3 SAP meetings.
According to Parsons Brinkerhoff, good examples of TOD are
a) Eastside Village in Plano, TX.
b) Center Commons in Portland, OR.
c) Courthouse Hill in Arlington, VA.
d) DelMar Transit Village in Old Town Pasadena.
Parsons Brinkerhoff contends that there has been up to a 45% reduction in traffic near a completed TOD site.
According to Diana McIver & Associates, good examples of Affordable housing are
a) Lyons Gardens, 53 unit affordable senior community in East Austin.
b) Southwest Trails, 160 units located west of MOPAC.
Diana McIver & Associates wanted to point out that affordable house is more than just a roof over an individual or Family’s head in that it attracts and promotes responsible individuals and Families.
Because of state law, the city of Austin cannot require inclusive zoning. In other words, the city cannot force developers to build affordable housing units. Thus these goals will be met with incentives.

The NEXT MEETING will be the
Station Area Planning Group 1 Charrette 1 for Lamar/Justin Lane TOD.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
6:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Old Koenig Lane Christian
908 Old Koenig Lane
Ample parking is available in front of the Church. A light meal will be provided

Contacts
The City of Austin Station Area Planning project manager is
Sonya Lopez
512-762-6617
Sonya.lopez@ci.austin.tx.us

OR

The Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department
512-974-7694

Disclaimer -- These are my notes and could contain errors or misunderstandings. I will do my best to clarify if needed.

2007-03-24T11:42:00.000-06:00

I just talked with Mr. Ross at CAPMETRO. He told me a lot of what is going on with CAPMETRO these days and said he would email with additional information soon. He also offered to meet with the neighborhood as a whole or with a sub group of officers from affected neighborhoods. He is in charge of the track along 3 to 4 stations starting with the Lamar station going South. Here is a summary of topics discussed:

1) They have a $90 million budget for all work on this project.

2) CAPMETRO did not set aside funds for sound or visual barrier Mitigation.

3) They are building an operations facility on the tracks just north of 183 for rail cars and buses.

4) AllSystemsGo is on hold
a) Board wanted more information on the rapid buses, since they are 3 times the cost of a regular bus
b) The street car concept from old Muller Airport to downtown is on hold. I think because of funding
c) The commuter rail from Austin to San Antonio is on hold for funding and additional negotiations with Union Pacific.

5) I asked Ross about people still accessing the track area. I told him the neighborhood had concerns about kids playing back there. He told me that CAPMETRO was going to meet with every Elementary school within 1 mile of the track to go over Safety. I asked him to send me the safety document so that our neighborhood can review.

6) The "Rails with Trails" research is still going on and CAPMETRO plans to implement this where they have money and where they get acceptance.

7) The "North Lamar Station" located at old Huntsman site is not yet finalized. Depending on money, CAPMETRO still has 2 options (1 being more expensive than the other). The more expensive one has a "glass" canopy -- WOW.

8) I also asked him to clean up the dead tree from behind my neighbor's house.

Disclaimer -- These are my notes and could contain errors or misunderstandings. I will do my best to clarify if needed.