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The following information has been received from Austin ARMA:
With the increased awareness of identity theft, it is more important than ever to carefully dispose of personal records such as credit card statements, checking account records, prescription documents, and medical insurance files. The Austin chapter of ARMA along with Balcones Shred, Iron Mountain and Shred-It are sponsoring our 12th Annual Free SPRING Shred Day. Mark your calendar for Saturday, May 16th, 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at our NEW location ACC Highland (6101 Airport Blvd), in the NE parking lot along East Highland Mall Blvd. Due to increased demand, to ensure the safety of the volunteers, and to streamline the process, we will be implementing a new “Express Lane” for attendees. This speedy and secure option will allow attendees to drop off their boxes to be placed on a secure truck that will be driven by the insured and bonded shred vendors to their secure shred facilities here in Austin and will be shred within 48-72 hours. We will also have the onsite Mobile Shred Units for those who wish to wait for their items to be shred in their presence. We will only accept dry paper packed in cardboard boxes with fitting lids that are no larger than 24” x 24” x 36” (i.e. no hard plastics, no plastic bags, no electronic media and no three-ring binders). For additional specifications regarding what can be shred and how it should be prepared, please visit http://www.austinarma.com/shred-day. All of the shredded material and cardboard boxes are recycled.
Please note the location for the spring shred day will be held at the ACC Highland campus at 6101 Airport Blvd.
In 2014, our two events shredded over 80,000 POUNDS OF PAPER and collected over $9,000 for the local chapter and local charities.
ARMA International is a not-for-profit professional association and the authority on governing information as a strategic asset.
Monetary donations will be accepted with 50% of the proceeds going to the local ARMA Austin Chapter and 50% going to the Capital Area Food Bank.
For more details regarding the free household shredding, contact Debi Tadd via email at Debi.Tadd@BBVA.com or by phone at 512-453-4272 or William Basinger via email at wtbasinger@gmail.com.
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Rezoning Case # C14-2014-0157.
At their April 23rd meeting, the Austin City Council approved on a 7-4 vote the third reading of an ordinance amending City Code Chapter 25-2 by rezoning property locally known as 8528-8600 Burnet Road and 8647 Rockwood Lane from general commercial services (CS) district zoning to multi-family residence-highest density-conditional overlay (MF-6-CO) combining district zoning which allows a 5-story, 300-unit apartment complex to be built there. NSCNA had requested MF-4 zoning, which would have permitted a 150-unit complex.
The date construction will begin is not yet known.In September 2014, the developer, C.J. Sackman of Sackman Enterprises, requested that this property be rezoned from CS (Commercial Services) to MF-6 (Multifamily, Highest Density). This issue came before the NSCNA membership at the Nov. 4, 2014 General Membership Meeting. As described by Mr. Sackman and his attorney, Henry Gilmore, a five-story, 300-unit apartment complex over a 1.5 story underground parking garage containing 340 parking spaces would be constructed at this site.
Although MF-6 permits building heights of 90’, this building would be restricted to 60’, would have an open amenity space of at least 25,000 sq. ft., would generate no more than 2,000 additional vehicle trips/day, and 15% of the units would be reserved for SMART or affordable housing for 5 years.
After expressing concern about the additional traffic and high density of the project (107.5 units/acre), membership voted to oppose MF-6 zoning. Subsequently, after discussions between the Development Committee and District 7 Council Member Leslie Pool, the NSCNA Board voted to oppose MF-6 zoning but to counteroffer MF-4 (Multifamily, Moderate Density) which has a height limit of 60’ and a density limit of 54 units/acre. MF-4 zoning would allow approximately 150 apartment units to be constructed.
The case was scheduled to be heard by the Planning Commission on Dec. 9 but was rescheduled for January 13, 2015. At the January hearing, the Planning Commission approved the project with the following conditions:
1) 15% of the units reserved for SMART Housing for 10 years
2) Building size be limited to 250,000 sq. ft.
3) Height be limited to 60’
4) Number of units be limited to 300The case was originally scheduled for a public hearing before City Council on January 29, 2015 but rescheduled for February 12, 2015. At the February 12 meeting, Council voted to approve on second reading only downsizing the project to 225 units, building size of 244,000 sq. ft., and a floor-to-area ratio (FAR) of 2:1.
Second reading was scheduled for April 16. At that meeting, Council Member Pool made a motion to change zoning from MF-6 to the next lower level of multifamily zoning, MF-5. That proposal was defeated. A proposal by Council Member Zimmerman to pass MF-6 zoning on both second and third reading was also defeated. Instead, Council voted to retain the 225 unit,
2:1 FAR limitations and, in order to give both NSCNA and the developer a final opportunity to find a compromise, set the third and final reading for April 23rd.At the April 23rd reading, the developer offered a written agreement to commit to 15% SMART housing (or 45 of 300 units), in the following mix of sizes: twenty studio apartments; fifteen 1- bedroom; seven 2-bedroom; and three 3-bedroom units. Council Member Casar made a motion to raise the number of units from 225 back to the original 300. Council Member Pool made a motion to change the zoning from CS to CS-V which would require 15% affordable housing at 60% rather than 80% Median Family Income, with commercial on the first floor and approximately 225 residential units above. Her motion was supported by Mayor Adler and Council Members Houston, Kitchens, and Tovo but failed 6-5.
Council then proceeded to vote on Council Member Casar’s motion to increase the number of units back to 300, which passed 7-4. Council members Houston, Kitchens, Pool, and Tovo voted against the MF-6 zoning.
This link will take you to the April 24th Statesman article on the April 23rd meeting, titled
“Divided Council Oks Apartment Complex”:The Austin Monitor also has an article titled “Burnet Road Tract Gets New Zoning” which you can read at this link: http://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/whispers/
Sharon Justice, Chair
Media Committee
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The second and third readings for the rezoning of 8528 Burnet Road (Crump-Gordon properties), case C14-2014-0157 are scheduled for the April 16 City Council meeting. The draft agenda for the meeting lists the case as Item 10 in the session beginning with item 7 at 10 AM.
Rezoning the property from CS to MF-6(CO) was approved on first reading by the City Council on February 12, 2015.
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The Land Development Code Advisory Group will hold a special meeting April 6 to solicit public comments about CodeNEXT.
Recently, the advisory team concluded its series of working group meetings to discuss key issues (listed below) related to the existing land development code. The CAG now asks for public comment on the subjects covered.
The April 6 meeting will take place from 6 to 8 pm at the Pleasant Hill Branch Library, 211 E. William Cannon Drive, Austin. Attendees are encouraged to review presentations and materials prior to the meeting.
Click on the following links to review presentations from past meetings:
* Code issues related to affordability (http://www.austintexas.gov/department/working-groups-affordability)
* Infill, compatibility and missing middle housing (http://www.austintexas.gov/department/working-group-missing-middle-compatibility)
* Obstacles to small businesses (http://www.austintexas.gov/department/working-group-small-business-obstacles)To access audio recordings of each meeting, visit http://austintx.swagit.com/planning (http://austintx.swagit.com/planning/) .
A SpeakUpAustin page (https://austintexas.granicusideas.com/discussions/codenext-co-creation-with-working-groups) allows the opportunity to offer feedback on concepts covered in each meeting. Deadline for comments is April 16.
Materials for the CAG working groups are located on our CodeNEXT Bloomfire site (https://codenext.bloomfire.com/) .
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North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association has been requested to survey the neighborhood to get feedback about neighbors’ views of the Planned Unit Development (PUD) proposed for the Austin Oaks property Southwest of the MOPAC Blvd and Spicewood Springs Road intersection.
This proposed re-development is within the Northwest Austin Civic Association (NWACA) neighborhood. If you are not familiar with the proposed re-development of the Austin Oaks business park into a PUD, please go to the NWACA website for details:
https://sites.google.com/site/nwaca2org/
https://sites.google.com/site/nwaca2org/committee-overview/zoning-committee/austin-oaks-pud-documents or
http://tinyurl.com/PUD-documents
http://www.austintexas.gov/faq/planned-unit-development-pud-what-itAny resident of the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood may take this survey, whether or not you are a member of North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association.
• The boundaries of North Shoal Creek Neighborhood are Hwy. 183 (north), Anderson Lane (south), Shoal Creek Blvd. (west) and Burnet Rd. (east).
• We ask your name and address to validate residency. No IP addresses are being collected, so there is no link to you or your computer from your responses. There will be no association of name and responses in our analysis. This information will be used for residency validation.
• One response allowed per household.
The survey contains additional information and must be completed by Friday, March 20.
To complete the survey, please select this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NSCNAPUD1
