NSCNA Blog Archive

Dear North Shoal Creek Resident,
The Austin City Council will hold a public hearing and vote on our neighborhood plan during their Thursday, August 9 meeting at City Hall. We need NSC residents to show up and support our plan as it was written and approved by both stakeholders and city staff at the end of our planning process (“our version”). This is an important distinction because the plan Council will be voting on includes three changes made by the Planning Commission (“their version”). WE WANT THE CITY COUNCIL TO REMOVE THOSE THREE CHANGES.

What you need to do:
1. Attend the meeting. Our neighborhood plan is scheduled for no earlier than 4 PM. Arrive about 3:30 if possible, and please be willing to either speak on behalf of our version of the plan or donate time to someone who will. Please email president@nscna.org ASAP if you’ll be attending, and please say if you’re willing to speak or to donate time.
2. Wear blue. We want council members to be able to recognize us as supporters of “our version” of the plan.
3. If you can be a car pool driver, email development@nscna.org ASAP and say how many passengers you have room for. We’ll be carpooling to City Hall from the Pillow Elementary School parking lot, and carpool drivers are badly needed!
4. If you can’t be at City Hall until later in the evening, plan to come anyway. It’s possible that Council won’t get to us until after their dinner break (i.e., after 7 PM).

Please take a couple of minutes to read the section below which lists the three changes the Planning Commission made to our plan along with NSCNA’s reasons for not supporting them. And remember,
• PLEASE COME TO THE MEETING
• IF YOU CAN ARRIVE BY 3:30 AND EITHER SPEAK OR DONATE TIME TO A SPEAKER, PLEASE DO SO
• IF YOU CAN’T ARRIVE UNTIL LATER, PLEASE COME ANYWAY – WE WANT AS MANY SUPPORTERS THERE AS POSSIBLE
• WEAR BLUE
(Note: City Hall is located at 301 W. Second St. There is free parking in the garage–take your parking ticket to the City Clerk’s office to be authorized for free parking
City Hall parking changes effective Monday, March 19, 2018:
• Vehicles may exit onto Lavaca Street or Guadalupe Street
• Vehicles may still only enter from Guadalupe Street
• Exiting vehicles must yield to entering vehicles)

Planning Commission Changes To Our North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Plan:

1. Allow missing middle housing along Steck Avenue (p. 18):
a) Steck is already busy and adding additional density will make it harder for Steck residents to safely pull out onto Steck;
b) City staff did not support adding additional density along Steck;
c) The Planning Commission identified Steck as a “neighborhood corridor” and therefore suitable for additional density; NSCNA opposes this designation.

2. Allow ADUs in NSC residential areas zoned SF2 (ADUs are already allowed in areas zoned SF3 citywide) (p. 19):
If this goes through, North Shoal Creek will be the only area in Austin that allows ADUs on property zoned SF2. If this change is made, it should be done as part of an ordinance applicable throughout Austin. NSCNA does not support singling out and imposing this change on North Shoal Creek.

3. Increase connectivity (p. 71– “As redevelopment occurs along the major roadways, every effort should be made to improve connectivity between the corridor and the planning area’s interior.”)
This change comes from a discussion regarding demolishing a residential home to permit additional road access between Burnet Road and our residential interior. City staff did not recommend this proposal because residential property values make it not cost effective. While NSCNA supports improving connectivity between the residential core and our Burnet and Anderson corridors, we do not support the existing wording, in particular the use of the word “every” which could be interpreted to include demolishing existing housing to gain additional connectivity. We also oppose limiting this additional connectivity to roadways. We prefer prioritizing additional pedestrian and bike paths which are already included in our plan (Shoal Creek Trail; Ashdale/Anderson path).