Travis County Commissioners Court
July 19, 2005
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next, and five citizens have signed in. Number one, john hutchison, number two, christine kubek. This gives residents an opportunity to address the court for up to three minutes on any item not on the agenda. Good morning.
>> good morning, Commissioners and judge. My name is john hutchison. I live off of spring dale road in walnut place neighborhood association. And I知 here to address the bond package that's coming up. Apparently the arterial a appears to not have made it into the general package. And i'd like you all, since apparently you all are going to be voteogit, to reconsider that. Right now northeast Travis County is probably the fastest growing area around here. We've got sh 130 coming that's out towards manor. And we've got nothing else between the two between our neighborhood and sh 130 that's a north-south corridor that isn't already there. In other words, spring dale road is crowded and we've got rouse houses growing on that street already. And then we've got 3140 houses coming in north of springdale road on sprinkle cutoff, which the two of them will generate around 33,000 cars. That is on a road that only handles 7 to 8,000 cars a day now. So what we're looking at is a possibility that there's not enough roadway to suffice for just that. Ms. Kubek is going to talk about some of the things we found after meeting with county staff at tnr last week. Basically there's an issue that's going to compound the complexes of arterial a which you know about. I notice ms. Sonleitner has rolled her eyes. The interference with the landfills. I've discussed this with upwards with 20 of the neighbors just in doing walks in the evenings and most of them understand that the landfill is going to move eventually. That's in negotiation between tceq and the landfills. How you guys come down on it may have some influence on it, may not have some influence on it with the state. The simple fact is these houses are coming, they're not going to go away, they're not going to disappear, and those cars are going to be in our neighborhood. Right now the people at harris branch are already cutting back through my neighborhood because as they put it, it's 10 minutes faster to cut through my neighborhood than it is to go down harris branch boulevard and take 290 because they keep getting caught at all the traffic lights because all of the 18-wheelers are so slow to gain speed. The other issue is a lot of the people will not drive on 290 if there's any rain because if it's raining on 290 there's a wreck on 290 and you're late for work. The simple fact is if we got the trucks a better way to go north, which is arterial a, we gave the people from harris branch a nice sweeping road to get back on 290 that didn't have all the stops and was maybe a blended road where it had access on like an access ramp instead of a traffic light, maybe it would solve some of their problems too. But what's happening now is the 3100 on houses, the 200 houses and all the developed area around pioneer farms that isn't part of that project that are being platted and designed out right now are just phenomenal. There's land that's not even being designated yet. If the county could see its way to putting that back on the bond package, we would really appreciate it and hope that county could solve the problem with the waste management issue through negotiations somehow. Thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> hello. I知 christine kubek from walnut place. I agree with john hutchison that it's very important for arterial a to be on the bond package so that when the time comes that the -- there will be a road built, there will be money available for it. When we were at tnr a week or so ago, we discovered that there's three more developments just north of us with 2,000 more on top of what he just mentioned. And then we've driven out there and seen others that we didn't even see on the plat, so the plan -- nut plans that the city of Austin has for annexation of various things out to sh 130 and stuff is a good plan, but it's not going to happen fast enough. We're going to be buried and just stomped by traffic with all the homes going in. It's just not realistic that you could have that many houses and no roads for it. So please reconsider putting arterial a on the bond package. It's a much needed road. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> we have a whole new series of bond hearings starting next week. I know the precinct 2 hearing is in Pflugerville. I would encourage anybody to go ahead and get these into the public record so the bond committee can look at it.
>> I made a very bad tact ta kel mistake that the bond package would include this road. I regret not going to more bond package meetings. I really blew it this time.
>> you have another opportunity next week.
>> i'll be there.
>> mr. Bar stow is next. And then after him is Karen pope.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners. I知 bob barstow. I represent the barstow family that owns and manages windy point park on Lake Travis. And I知 here again urging that you expedite doing something to make people safer in your park next door to mine, which is bob wentz park at windy point. We own an easement to go through there to use the lake, and we use motor boats through there, and you don't allow motor boats to go in and out of your park for your patrons. But I want to call your attention to a finding of the lcra board of directors in 1990 when it said, congestion and intermingled use of motor propelled watercraft with sale craft and/or swimmers poses a substantial risk to the health and safety of the public utilizing bob wentz park. So we already have a finding in place that mixing boats, swimmers and sail craft threatens public safety. Now, I知 here to suggest that you do something, accept that finding and act accordingly. You're not giving up anything that you own. What you're giving up is something you're trying to steal from us anyway with your police power without compensating us for it and that's called property. And that easement is my property to use, and you have an obligation to work around it. I suggest that you put a buffer zone next to that channel so that people cannot get in it. Now, I understand your parks department wants to put up more signage in spanish. Well, we've had signs up there for several years in english and they haven't done any good. People still go in it and they speak english. Why would they think that spanish signs would do any more? Something more must be done to accommodate this. It needs to be done soon because this is a daily threat. And doing nothing is increasing the risk to your customers. And you've promised them a safe environment and you're not able to produce one. It's a matter of land management first and then supplemental water use management. Manage your land to prevent the problem. You've leased the land subject to my easement. It was a mistake apparently. You didn't know that I owned the easement when you did it and you've been trying to stop me with your police power ever since. Now, that's not constitutional use of your powers. If you want my property, then condemn it. Or negotiate with me for a license or what have you to work this thing out. But don't just try to find shortcuts to get around this problem. They don't work. Attack it directly, deal with it directly and honestly and forthrightly, and that's what I知 here to ask you to do.
>> thank you, mr. Barstow. And how do you spell your last name, ms. Pope? Paup?
>> thank you, judge Biscoe, Commissioners. My name is Karen paup. I知 co-director of the Texas low income housing information service. We're a nonprofit statewide research information and advocacy organization. We do not own or operate any housing, but we work on low income housing issues, and that is why I知 here this morning. I知 here this morning to ask you to consider squeezing a small amount for affordable housing into the bond package. People have told me that this is late in the process, but I wanted to come this morning because it's only going to get later. And I believe next week during your public hearings there will be people with more detailed presentations, but I just wanted to suggest three areas where the county has particular housing needs that might be -- that you might begin to address by including funding for affordable housing in the bond package. And these three areas are people who are leaving the jail and trying to get back into regular housing. The da has a program that's been successful and perhaps that could be expanded. Second, the county has done work in the so-called colonias, and the next step after getting water and sewer to people would be something to improve housing. And thirdly, the county has transportation corridors such as 130 and they're going to be jobs locating along those corridors, they're going to be lower paid workers and it will help them if they can have quality affordable housing close to where they work. And so I just wanted to make that suggestion. Something maybe along the lines of five million dollars that would be a way to squeeze that into the bond issue. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. Sky johnson is last.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, hi. I was here to speak to y'all a couple of weeks ago, but a couple of Commissioners were not here. I wanted to reiterate my interest in promoting a program that is actually a state statute that already exists that can be enforceable, but it's not enforced well by a.p.d. Nor Travis County sheriff's office, and that is a statute when a vehicle emits smoke for 10 seconds continually, whether at idle or moving and if it does, warnings or fines can be assessed by local law enforcement personnel. I'd like to ask the court's support in having me send a letter and give it to the staff or to the Travis County court to send on to the sheriff to say we need to enforce that rule, this statute more. Let me explain why. The new emissions testing program that you all are very well aware of starts in September. Diesel vehicles are not going to be tested under this program because the lack of technology to test those type of vehicles. This is one tool that the community has to try to limit pollution from diesel vehicles, trucks, buses, etcetera. Is that an opportunity that you see that you all or the staff can offer. I have talked to chief knee over the years at a.p.d. I知 not asking for your help with a.p.d., but with the sheriff's office.
>> you have the right as the sit 10 to do that. We have a very weird relationship in terms of being able to tell independent elected officials how to do their jobs. We get to set the budget, we're certainly in that window here but I think your testimony today is helpful and you can write your own letter to get to that same perspective.
>> thank you. Secondly, one of the items that's on the agenda today about taking action to enact a Texas heavy duty vehicle idling rule, this is important, but what the court should know is this does not apply to off road construction equipment. The reason why that's important is the county and city and txdot are allocating millions of dollars each year to build roadways within this region and this is the largest source of pollution that's unregulated, meaning there's no national standards right now for the construction equipment as it builds the roads and the houses that we use. And it's particularly important that the court knows this so that when the bond offering is put together, if we could set high environmental standards and write in the bond language that when these contracts are let that we should follow high standards and set standards for the fuel used and for the emissions rate possibly of the vehicles or of the construction. This is very important. And so there's a loophole in the rule that exists that the state implements that's your item number 22. This is a huge opportunity. The county has spent money on diesel and you should try to continue to do that which is within your budgeting authority. I would be happy to answer any questions about that.
>> thank you mr. Johnson.
>> thank you very much.
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:
Wednesday, July 20, 2005 11:18 AM