Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, February 1, 2011,
Item 6
Item 6, consider and take appropriate action on the following regarding waller creek tunnel project and amendment number 1 to the waller creek tax increment financing reinvestment zone.
a, receive status report, b, appoint or reappoint the county member of the waller creek t.i.f.
board.
if we're not ready on b, we can bring it back next week.
how are you all doing?
>> great, judge.
>> and you are?
>> > cheryl cole.
>> leslie brouder.
>> joe can tear are, city of Austin.
>> welcome to all of.
>> thank you.
we are currently watching government in a state of chaos at almost every level so we are here to express our appreciation to you for being willing to collaborate with us and make what we think will be the biggest game changer in history.
>> there must be a big request coming today, y'all.
>> there's more to come.
we are essentially doing together what our citizens expect us to do.
which is to increase our tax base, taking 11% of downtown out of the flood plain.
we are cooperating with other governmental entities like the state of Texas for even more increases in tax base for both of our revenue.
and we're also happy to report that this project has been a catalyst for a conservancy that is currently been filed to create a nonprofit to support it.
today we have brought with us a copy of the master plan that has been completed by outside consultants, and you guys didn't have to pay for that.
and it just basically shows the preliminary plans for the area.
we are also happy to report that the work that we have done thus far, the design and preliminary engineering, is on time and on budget.
we have, however, made some changes to financing plan because we don't want it to totally depend on increases and decreases in property values.
so we have created a back stop that leslie will explain further.
but I知 here today mostly to say that the city of Austin appreciates your leadership and willingness to go down this road with us.
thank you.
>> thank you.
let's get a couple -- one or two county representatives at the table with you so you don't look so lonely.
mr. Rhoades, mr. Nellis or both.
>> I致e got the slides up but I don't know if everybody can see them.
can you all see the slides?
>> yes.
>> media, can you -- there it is.
>> wastewater protection.
thanks for having us back.
I知 going to give a brief update on the status of the project and lessee and I are going to review the financing plan and in the couple coming months.
you should have a presentation with you and leslie, if you can advance the slides.
I知 going to review the tunnel project scope just for a second.
the waller creek tunnel project is just over the tunnel itself is just over a mile long.
it will start in waterloo park where the water will enter an inlet and discharge at the banks of lady bird lake.
the average diameter is 24 feet and we're looking at the effects of this project, the benefits of it taking 28 acres of downtown Austin out of the flood plain.
lower waller cream is one of our worst flooding problems in the city.
it is the worst erosion problem in the city.
we're expecting a lot of benefits from this project.
the project status, this project is made up of several contracts.
we have the first two contracts already underway including a bridge upgrade and we're now moving into the next phases of the project which are the major phases which including the tunnel project itself, the underground portion, if you want to go to the next slide.
we're looking at the main tunnel which should be starting hopefully this month.
after that the inlet starting in late 2011.
and then the outlet project starting in early 2012.
after that then the last major portion of the tunnel will be in late -- I知 sorry, early 2013 in terms of starting those construction projects, awarding and constructing.
now, the project plan that we're updating was approved in 2008 so all the work we've done in the last two years, and you've seen several presentations before on what these designs look like.
none of this has really changed over the last year, but they are new to the 2008 project plan so as we update we're substituting some of those old 2007, 2008 drawings with the updated designs.
just as reminder, these designs are really a a compilations of a lot of engineering design but also public input.
we've had over 40 public meetings, three town hall meetings, several briefings to city council and to this court and we're confident what you are seeing is really the result of a very inclusive process as we've moved forward over the last two years.
I知 going to start very briefly with the inlet project.
and again, that's in waterloo park.
the footprint on the next page is essentially the footprint that I said again has essentially been in place for the last year or two.
and essentially we've converted what used to be two buildings into a single footprint.
we have less of an impact in the park and moved it closer to 12thstreet all working with stakeholders.
the next slide is renderings of what the inlet will look like and final design elements in terms of landscaping and where paths and lighting and benches will go.
that's going to be a later phase.
we're getting the heavy infrastructure work in the next year or two.
the creekside inlet, these are two smaller inlets located between the main inlet to take additional water out of of the creek to manage the floods below 12th street.
the initial creek inlet designs were concrete intensive.
they are going to make a faux limestone bluff n talking with the stakeholders and from an environmental standpoint, the decision was made to go with more of a natural stream restoration.
this has been on the books the last year and a half so not really a change for you but a change from the 2007-2008 plan.
finally we're going to go to the outlet and again, this is where the water exits the tunnel at lady bird lake.
some of you may recall back 2006, 2007, there was a discussion about possibly having a floating amphitheater, a music venue there and a large bridge and it was just very intensive.
again, going through the stakeholder process, there is a resounding sentiment from the public that they wanted to keep the shores of lady bird lake as natural as possible.
and so what you are seeing with this outlet design over the last year and a half we've been working on a design that really tries to retain the natural character, having a lot of natural wetlands and trying to preserve as much as possible the native plants that are in that area.
again, in terms of updating the project plan, we're also updating some of our references on the planning framework.
the project plan is required to talk about any planning done within the district.
the original plan had references to the fact we are going to start a master plan.
two years later we finished it so now we're just referencing in document we have finished that plan and listed some of the major elements of the plan in the document.
finally we are also updated reference to our comp plans and building codes, things required to be put into the project document.
and then lastly, before I turn it over the leslie, we're also updating the project budget.
if you look on the slide, the original finances plan estimated that the total cost of the project including construction, engineering, inspections, right-of-way management -- I知 sorry, real estate acquisition, all of those items cost $127.5 million in $2,006.
the plan allowed inflation to 2010 which was estimated to add another $9.3 million.
so we had a 2010 cost estimate of $136.8 million.
now, last year in 2010 our cost estimate for the project was 137.8.
so we were working very hard to stay within that budget.
now, when you look at the actual bidding of these projects being the fact we're hoping to award the tunnel contract in the next month or two and the other three major parts, the inlet, outlet and 8th street inlet in later in 2011, 2012 and 2013, we're advancing that 2010 cost for each of those components to those bid times.
our current estimate at bid adds another 6.2 million which brings total cost to $144 million for the project.
again, that's really representing the fact that the original plan assumed a single construction package in 2010.
and when you go back and look at the time needed to do all of the federal permitting, state permitting, the design, real estate acquisition, it was really the actual design time and permitting time really allowed for a phased approach which was more official in terms of rushing these projects out to bid, but at the same time allowing enough time for all the design and all the other work to be don't right now we're looking at a budget of 144 million, which is inclusive of a land sale where some of the property owners as we have tried to acquire some of the land, some of the easements for the construction project really did not want to sell easements, they wanted to sell their property outright.
when we did the cost analysis, we were going to have this easement in hand for four to five years while we build the tunnel, renting it out and also purchasing permanent easements for the actual facilities, we were already payingings 70 to 80% of the purchase cost.
we are purchasing those properties at the request of those landowners, but we're expecting to sell that property back to the market at the end of the project to recoup those costs.
that's why you are going to see a net cost of 144 million.
and leslie --
>> money from the sale would -- would that be dedicated revenue?
money from the stale of property that you acquire?
>> the plan states the money from that sale will go back to the project.
>> and this 144 reflects that off set or not?
>> it does.
and leslie is going to be into more detail on that.
>> so I知 -- where does it reflect that because I see costs of 137.8, inflation of 6.2, where is the off set?
>> the off set is in the cost.
that is a net cost, netting out that 2.5 million.
if you wanted a gross cost on the project, that would be adding another roughly $2.5 million to that cost.
>> okay.
thank you.
>> and then moving on to the next slide, I think we've actually shared this one before, but we thought it would be good just to recap the -- kind of the history of the t.i.f.
and the basic terms. It was established in June of 2007.
there's a 20-year t.i.f.
life he -- it's referred to as reinvestment zone number 17 in the city's records.
the city and the county adopted project and financing plans in 2008, and under the terms of the t.i.f., the city is contributing 100% of our tax increment and the county is currently contributing 50%.
now, the plans are that we will -- the city actually issue debt, specifically certificates of obligation to finance the design and construction of the tunnel, and then the debt service will be funded primarily through the t.i.f.
tax revenues.
and then we've identified some other sources, as councilmember cole talked about earlier, to help cover the cost of o&m and to do that back stop during the early to the mid years of the t.i.f.
as the property taxes build.
so this next slide shows what we went through to update the financing plan, and we've been keeping leroy and rodney in the loop as well as we move forward.
originally the market research that was completed related to the waller creek t.i.f.
was done in 2006 based on the property tax values that were in place then.
so we've updated that going with 2009 property values.
we started undertaking that work in the fall of 2009 and published the report in 2010, and it does reflect the approved waller creek master plan.
and then along with that effort shortly after we completed that review we moved into evaluating the other funding sources that we might have to supplement t.i.f.
revenue.
and these are just -- this is just kind of a summary of the major items that we're looking at.
and we actually, again, kept in touch with rodney and leroy on this, sent a memo over to both of them which they forwarded to you back in September that kind of lines this out in a little more detail.
but basically the highlights are on the tunnel operations and maintenance side, we had originally planned in the approved project and financing plan to fund that with t.i.f.
revenue to the extent that it was available after debt service had been covered, or to actually fund that for several years, I believe probably for about a period of ten years with excess earnings that were generated from the city's hilton hotel project.
and that revenue source has proved to be kind of similar to sales taxes and hotel occupancy taxes.
it really floats with the economy.
so as an additional back stop, we are including in the t.i.f.
amendment the ability for the city council to move that into the drainage utility fund, which would be appropriate for a flood control type project.
and that will -- it won't have a major impact on the affordability fees and will provide a more stable funding source.
another area that's change ready the debt services cost, and when I get into the next slide, you will actually see the amounts that are to be financed after applying all of the project funding sources that we've been able to identify so far.
we are anticipating, and you'll see this on the next page, additional interest earnings.
you'll recall that the city issued about $25 million in debt back in 1999 for the waller creek tunnel project, and that has been earning interest since that date.
so that -- that has been -- it's generated more interest earnings than we initially anticipated so that has been good news.
we have actually reforecast our debt service cost.
originally the -- the project and financing plan that was approved in 2008 assumed that we would issue the debt all at wouldn't and that the tunnel contract would be awarded as one big whole.
as joe indicated, it's going to be phased so we'll be phasing the debt as well to, you know, hopefully match our project spending.
we are anticipating on lower interest.
that's the only good news in terms of some of the impacts that we've seen in recent years.
then about a year ago, the city sold some bonds and we've been receiving subsidies on an annual basis related to that debt and bond counsel has told us we can set that aside to help make waller debt service in the early to mid years should we need that.
and then finally I don't want to indicate that we will, you know, not see excess earnings from the hilton hotel project.
again, those are expected to become available again as the convention activity begins to improve and tourism as well.
and I think what I was hearing from the Austin convention and visitors bureau is this last quarter they are starting to see an up tick in hotel occupancy taxes.
so that will remain a potential project backup source and it will probably start to kick in again, I壇 say, probably in 2013, 2014.
>> so the hilton hotel project is just revenue to the city.
>> yes, after they meet all of their o&m related to though tell and debt service and the amount that's remaining the referred to as excess earnings.
and when we first -- after we refunded the debt in 2007, the next two years we saw about, I壇 say, $2.5 million a year from that source.
and then in 2010 we didn't see a lot there.
>> that's the hotel north of the convention center?
>> yes.
>> okay.
>> and then this is just a summary of the amount to be financed related to waller creek.
and this gets back to councilmember -- Commissioner elkhart's question about the tunnel.
this is the gross cost of the tunnel here.
ann then the real estate cost recovery is shown in the other funding sources that off set.
and as you can see, the 1999 bond proceeds has provided seed money for design as well as project management and other project related costs.
this last slide is our time line.
in December of 2010 we noticed all of the taxing entities of our intention to amend, and really just primarily update the project and financing plan.
we published notice of our intent to hold a public hearing this past Saturday in the Austin american-statesman, and then, of course, we're here before you giving up an update today, and we will be going to aisd on February 14th to give them an update.
that's required under the state law.
related to t.i.f.
then in February we're planning to do a public hearing at the city council.
that would be on February 17th at 4:00.
and we would present that to you for consideration by both the city council and the Commissioners court.
and that is our presentation.
>> questions or comments?
>> yeah, judge, I have a couple of questions.
when you appeared before the court for your last presentation -- and thank you for your presentation.
you gave a real good overview of what's going on.
however, I asked at that time what type of impact would this particular project have on parking because if you look at the dynamics and the brokedown of this, you are looking right like ih-35 all the way down to the river from 12th.
we have a lot of neighborhoods aligned along that corridor.
and, of course, there are problematic things occurring now with big events that go on even at the football stadium, baseball stadium whereby the folks are just overwhelmed, the residents are overwhelmed with parking that -- that left in front of the homes, illegal parking, a whole lot of things that go on as kind of a hardship for some of the residents.
my question at that time was what are you going to do, and I didn't see it in the presentation, and when I know it's just basically covering the things that you have brought forth, however, I would like to know has there been any update to minimize the hardship of a venue such as this as far as parking problems that would encroach into the neighborhood streets in that area.
guadalupe, chestnut hills, right on down the line.
and, of course, Commissioner Gomez has neighborhood associations on this other side of 7th street all the way down to the river.
so I知 concerned about that, and can someone answer that question for me and see what you've done since we have discussed this before in the past?
>> sir, one of the elements of the master plan looked at the aspect of traffic and parking, and a lot of discussion really focuses on the fact when you look at the waller creek district right now, what you see is really a lot of surface parking lots that really could be optimized by the vertical construction once the project is completed.
because that's in the flood plain, it's almost impossible --
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners] I know that our transportation deputy is looking at -- our transportation department is looking at how best to make them aware of the fact that there are structured parking garages both publicly and privately owned and encourage our downtown drivers to take advantage of that structured parking.
>> I知 not a city official, per se, but part of that is in my precinct, so I have to respond when people call me about the problem, even though the city may be created by the city.
what you're doing I have to respond.
so I知 trying to figure out how to respond.
I知 going to need your help because right now they're being overwhelmed with a lot of parking problems all along in that area, all along that corridor.
it extends pretty far out east.
I知 just concerned about that and how are we going to address it.
I heard you say it, but how do I answer the folks and they call me and they say Commissioner Davis, we're having problems, da, da, da?
and of course, I have to direct them the best I can to the see and see if they have some answers.
right now I知 just looking for an answer.
I heard what you said, but as far as the actual activity going on the city residents and streets in those neighborhoods, I知 still concerned about how do we respond and when we do respond, how are we going to offer relief to a projected problem that I think is going to occur with what they already are dealing with now?
just added on stuff that we're talking about.
>> before you answer that, unfortunately I致e got to run to another meeting and announced when the meeting started.
we appreciate you coming over.
Commissioner Gomez will preside in my absence.
appreciate you coming over.
>> thank you, judge.
>> thank you, judge.
>> the city council has approve and the transportation department has what we call a parking enterprise system where downtown is one of the priority areas that we're trying to grapple with the parking situation.
and we're grappling with it with the parking situation, and it doesn't just involve waller creek, it involves the university of Texas, rail and many of your employees.
and looking at the increases and the comprehensive plan and your plan and the downtown plan and where that growth is and where it's supposed to go.
I can tell you that we have had some inquiries already into redevelopment and expansion and hotels in the waller creek area.
and we are anticipating those to provide some parking and even some potential overflow parking.
and just last week we passed a resolution dealing specifically with the issues on rainey street and the parking situation.
but -- so I guess the short answer is that we're working on it.
and then for the long-term there will probably be some changes because the idea is for waller creek to become more of a walkable community.
>> and I guess -- my point is if anyone called me and direct me, I hope you don't mind necessity saying I値l have you -- you don't mind me saying I値l have you call councilmember cole because I知 really talking about the area -- I understand the rainey street situation, but I知 talking about the area east of i-35.
that's where a lot of activities is currently happening now and it appears that what's going on now would be something that's going to even be -- have more of an impact in the future.
so I知 just trying to look at that and see what proposal that the city is coming up with since this is -- and I know the county involved with this also because of our financial involvement with this particular project.
however, it's in the city limits.
so my concern again, I guess, is to give me a real good definite answer on how we're going to lessen the projected future impact on those particular neighborhood residential streets east of i-35 from this particular development.
so that's the answer I知 looking for.
so thank you.
and the only other question I have was the second question, this goes to pbo.
, our staff.
what type of situation -- does this amended portion of what we're dealing with here today that have been a financial impact on -- we're looking at 50% participation as far as the county is concerned, however, what kind of financial impact, if any, would we look and project as far as what is being amended here today?
can you give me an answer on that?
>> yes.
the county's participation by the original agreement was set at 50% of the tif revenues, and that does not change under the proposed amendment one.
so there's no financial impact.
>> so as far as the checks that we have to end up paying, has there been an increase or decrease?
what's the deal on that?
>> the check that we pay each year is determined by the values that are finalized by tcad and then we do our tax rate and essentially take 50% of that.
so the answer to the question is the amount of the tif will obviously increase as the property values increase, the absolute amount that we pay.
we pay $292,907 last year, and I知 sure that amount would be more as the appraised values increase and the recession let's off.
so -- but it will not -- the amendment 1 that the city is proposing has no financial impact on the county?
>> is it a correct characterization that our contribution is capped by time because our cutoff is a straight 20-year cutoff?
it's not capped by amount?
>> that's correct.
that's correct.
whatever the appreciation in those properties that are identified within the boundaries of the tif we will each year calculate that based on tcad's appraisals and then forward the money as provided under the original agreement so the tif fund.
>> thank you.
>> other comments?
>> just a comment that this is a fine illustration of intensive investment in the centers.
this is most definitely a center.
there's no doubt about it.
the reason for the intensive investment in the centers is two fold.
it's to incentivize a land use pattern that clusters around existing centers and proposed likely centers.
and also for the economic vitality of all residents in the region.
I really appreciate the effort.
>> and then it addressed the flooding issue, which had been going on for many years.
and that's a good -- that was the reason I was very supportive is to try to take care of that issue as well.
thank you all so much.
>> thank you for doing a good job.
>> thank you.
appreciate your presentation.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, February, 2011 2:19 PM
