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5/31/2015 Meanwhile, the PUD sales pitch to the Neighborhood Community is scheduled by Drenner GroupRead NowPUD Community Meetings June 11, 5:00P-7:00P Dell Jewish Community Center
June 15, 5:00P-7:00P Dell Jewish Community Center
At this point, all we know is the time and location; as more information is available, we will publish that.
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2 HIGHLIGHTS ON TIMELINE FOR PUD and MEETINGS IN JUNE:
1. 6/16/15 - Zoning & Platting (ZAP) meeting: City will ask for a status report from City Staff and the Applicant. No decision will be made at this time, since Environmental Board has not voted yet and City review won't be done (they might set a date for a ZAP hearing or agree to an extension of deadlines). 2. 6/17/15 - Environmental Board (EB) meeting: Staff unlikely to have completed its review by then; not likely they will take action; 3. 8/5/15 - First ZAP meeting with zoning cases (light only, no PUDs); 4. 8/18/15 - First ZAP meeting where Austin Oaks PUD could be voted on (assuming Staff review is complete and EB review is complete); 5. Typically 2‐4 weeks between ZAP decision and City Council votes.  Well folks, its clear this is high stakes poker. Austin is either a community or a commodity. You decide. The latest news is that the Austin Oaks owner, SPIRE (a.k.a. Twin Lakes, Jon Ruff) have hired a PR outfit to help with the PUD "marketing" effort and bolster the Steve Drenner Group lobbying of city hall effort. You can read all about it here: http://impactnews.com/austin-metro/northwest-austin/developer-revises-austin-oaks-plan/ This news story reads like it was hand prepared for the journalists over at Impact Austin by the developer's PR firm. The diagram is what you may want to pay particular attention to... The building footprints don't even come close to what Twin Lakes submitted to the city's zoning dept. See below the contrast of the building footprints vs the parcels of land. Once they get their PUD, there is NO REQUIREMENT that they build what they have in these drawings submitted. These are MOCK UPS. The final drawings are a long way away. The platt notes are the key thing to read on the documents submitted. They contain all kinds of caveats to what is being itemized in their fancy charts that they have provided to the neighborhood folks at NWACA. Be sure to read the fine print, as they say. One thing remains true: the devil is in the details.  Spire/Drenner, the AustinOaks PUD Applicants are " push polling " the neighborhood and Districts tonight to try to confuse folks about what a PUD will allow or won't. Tell them no PUD (planned unit development). Withdraw the application Spire. Then we'll talk. Don't fall for the lies & spin friends! They have zero credibility now. First it was payoffs for schools, then parks, then roads. Still an incomplete application. No traffic study submitted. Very sneaky operation to "slow roll" the neighborhood. STOP the PUD. Conventional Zoning folks. Save the oaks! Keep to the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan! When will city hall demand developers follow imagine Austin plan we paid for??? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/push+poll https://www.facebook.com/NoPUDinNWHills/posts/786543414785875:0 If Spire & Drenner are really "good guys" they claim, and not the greedy birds we suspect, they can design & build a park and save trees without a PUD. More simply put: They don't have to have a PUD to do the right thing for the locals. This is about the future value of this property folks. PUDS give unlimited height & density possibilities to the property FOREVER. Don't fall for the "locals are just anti growth crap". It's just their only defense.  5/11/2015 In the news: New North Austin mixed-use plan dangles transportation incentives, but will residents buy it?Read NowThe biggest new incentive has to do with Spire offering to contribute $10 million for traffic mitigation. Funds would be administered through a trust over the course of development — 15 years or so. Drenner said he believes the concept is unprecedented in the Austin real estate community and possibly across Texas. The question for the citizens is WHO is managing the trust funds and will be accountable financially & legally for making sure the money is spent on roads and not a neighborhood association slush fund? The city can't manage the trust or its contract zoning which is illegal.  Photo: the latest mock up for the Austin oaks PUD. It's mostly huge parking garages. 3,000-5,000 jobs and cars are planned. This is over half of all the jobs defined for a neighborhood center in imagine Austin's comprehensive plan.  Fast forward the clip to 2:23 to skip the fal-de-rol to get to the presentation.
The Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) is still not completed by the applicant. Recall, December ZAP meeting Drenner Group and the Austin Oaks owner had the City of Austin Zoning staff asked for a continuance so that they (the applicant) could get the TIA completed. It was due this past month. It didn't happen. 5/7/2015 (UPDATED) Commissioner Rahm says the Neighbors against the PUD are engaging in "Identity Politics" and need to be Educated...Read Now  The City of Austin ZAP Meeting Video from May 5, 2015 in on this link. See item C1 to to right to the Austin Oaks PUD Application. https://austintx.swagit.com/play/05052015-595 (UPDATED at 7:45 PM 57-2015) Commissioner Rahm speaks, clearly to Mr. Drenner, the paid consultant for the developers of AustinOaks, and requests they take a step in the right direction to educate folks on their PUD proposal. All folks, not just the neighborhood associations. Rahm says local Citizens have little knowledge or understanding of the complexities of zoning and are in need of education. Sadly, the City staff and Council and Commissions have been overly dependent on the developers and their consultants to lead the discussions in most Austin zoning cases. This in essence becomes the fox watching the hen house. Councilman Rahm McDaniel contacted us to clarify his position and we THANK him for reaching out. He is the first and ONLY person in this process, besides the local district 10 and 7 council persons to reach out to groups besides the neighborhood associations. We applaud Commissioner Rahm McDaniel and pray that other ZAP Commissioners will follow his leadership. The message remains clear, in terms of how the City typically operates in these Zoning cases: If you are a paid consultant for a big high-powered developer you have more credibility and are given deferential treatment when speaking up. And, if you are an average citizen speaking up to protect your city and community from harm of over-development you are a hobbyist or a grandstander. We seek to bring about change and we will work with any and all who will have a civil meeting between all parties to discuss real and NEW solutions, not foregone conclusions or pre-determined outcomes. What you STILL need to do: Folks, send your letters to city council today with your views on this REZONING project. The link to email ALL City Council and the Mayor is here: https://austintexas.gov/email/all-council-members The reasons to NOT grant this PUD to AustinOaks are many. The amount of traffic on MOPAC this PUD will cause (15,000-22,000 additional car trips per day) between the Domain and Downtown is reason enough to VOTE NO. Keep the regional centers as hubs for density. Stick to the Imagine Austin plan and stop allowing developers to manipulate the city's planning. Otherwise, why did we bother? _______________________________________________________________________________ Here's a sample letter you can use to send to the Mayor & Council: Dear Mayor and Council - Please vote NO on the Austin Oaks PUD. The current attempts at a forced negotiation to arrive at a foregone conclusion of a PUD is simply not a principle this country was founded on at all. We all are educated enough to know that PUDs are suited best for property that is out of town that will be annexed; or land that is raw and undeveloped but within the city limits. To REDEVLOP existing developed properties that are inside the city limits we need a better way. Something other than a PUD. Something that has a mechanism within it that includes the expenses built into its zoning designation for infrastructure and road redevelopment and such. Fees for infrastructure in exchange for the zoning designation of PUD wont' work because that becomes CONTRACT ZONING (unconstitutional and dicey business practice). Hence the need for a new zoning category for REDEVELOPMENT of large previously developed parcels within the city limits. Its time we put our thinking caps on and came up with a better solution. This is why we ask you to VOTE NO on the PUD and to work hard on our behalf for better government. Those of us in the neighborhood who have voted no (80% of us) would be willing to negotiate if something OTHER than a PUD were on the table. But to have a forced outcome is not a negotiation at all. ZAP is currently encouraging the Developer's representatives (Drenner Consultants) to work with the neighbors (all of them) to negotiate and compromise. And, once again as in previous zoning cases in this city, we have neighborhood volunteers trying to negotiate with the Developer’s lobbyist. Neighborhood volunteers do this for free because we love our neighborhood and we want to protect our quality of life. The developer’s lobbyist is a professional and paid healthy fees to get this through City Council. Negotiations/mediations should never be held when there is an imbalance of power and/or the outcome is predetermined. There is a huge imbalance of power in this scenario and the city continues to neighborhood people negotiate from a position of weakness on an issue that is considered a foregone conclusion, ie there will be a PUD, but we will pretend to let the volunteer citizens think they had some input into what goes in the PUD. Anyway, let's not let the developers make a mockery of Austin any longer. Please choose to represent the folks who elected you and not just the big money developers and real estate folks in Austin. Let's get some real, and tough zoning rules in place and then let's make a united decision to ENFORCE them. I'm thankful for the environmentalists and local citizens speaking up on behalf of homes and communities. Its time more of us stood together. Compromise is great, and possible in this situation if we have more options than a PUD as the pre-determined outcome and result. Using the "current zoning" scare tactics argument and saying that a car dealership "could go in there" if we don't give them their PUD is basically setting the tone for lunacy that will follow in the discussions. We all know the Austin Oaks owner won't put in a car dealership...why? Because it doesn't have RECURRING RENT income $$$$ they require. Ok, enough. Just please Vote NO. The traffic JAM on MOPAC between the Domain and downtown is reason enough. Sincerely, Austin Citizen and Voter 5/1/2015 New Information for the Austin Oaks Application for the "PUD" Received at City of Austin TODAY - we are reviewing it now. Docs here. Summary to follow.Read NowThe application keeps trickling into the city's zoning department as the Drenner Group and Spire Realty keep slow rolling this project. We're reviewing the docs here in context with what has already been submitted to date. It may have improved. Stay tuned. Here are today's docs for your own review: 
Survey completed 3/24/15; report generated 4/9/15 |
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| results_report_-_march_2015_nwaca_pud_survey.pdf |
| survey_results_-_q8_-_comments.pdf |
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