Travis County Commissioners Court
November 22, 2005
Item 2
Item 2, the public hearing I think we ought to just take another week, and the only purpose -- another week for item number 20 simply because those who don't know yet will basically hear what we have to say today, know exactly where it is and give it one more week to come down if they want to make comments. But we will have the public hearing, just postpone action. And I show the others to be ready. Number 1 we just pulled along with 19. Number 2 is a public hearing to receive comments regarding the planning, design and construction of the Travis County transportation and natural resources road and bridge east side service center.
>> move the public hearing be opened.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Morning.
>> morning. Morning judge and Commissioners. What we did at your request this week or actually last week, I’ll give you a copy of -- my name is don ward with tnr. The public notice that we handed out to the residents we by hand took by. What this is is a copy of the notice along with a map of the facility, and during this last week or two weeks I’ve only had one call, and it was from a resident out there, and they really wanted to know what the building plan was, what the design was. And I sent them a full set of reduced conceptual plans. Again, on this plan, fm 969 is right here, blue bluff is along this area, and we handed this flyer and map out to the residents surrounding the adjacent properties. And if you would like this as kind of a blowup again of the facilities with the different administration building, fuel service center, warehouse, paint shop and some storage areas.
>> the county owns how much land there?
>> approximately 125 acres, judge.
>> and we have owned that land for probably 20 years, right?
>> a good while. I believe it was purchased back in the mid '80's. I’m not sure. Before my time frame. Commissioner snel I think purchased the property.
>> and the exact location again?
>> it's adjacent to 969 on this end, and then blue bluff, we have two access points, one at blue bluff and one at fm 969 or mlk.
>> immediately east of blue bluff?
>> yes, sir.
>> north?
>> not exactly. There's a row of property that doesn't really show right here, but there's the approximate boundary of the property right here. And there are some personal residents, agriculture, just lots of different property owners along -- just right adjacent to blue bluff.
>> but it's east of blue bluff?
>> yes, sir.
>> and north of 969?
>> yes, sir.
>> and we have easements from both directions?
>> yes, sir. Actually, we have property access. We have real property that accessed both fm 969 and blue bluff. We have a little flag right here that goes out. We actually just recently purchased another 50 feet, so we'll have 100-foot entrance access off of fm 969, and approximately 50 to 60 feet on to blue bluff.
>> okay. Where is 973 on that map?
>> 973 is right down here, judge.
>> so those that live in the area would be the ones most affected.
>> yes, sir. Right along this corner here and around. That's what we did, we tried to deliver this message to as many of the residents and here as we could possibly do.
>> on that map where is our 125 acres now?
>> our 125 acres starts right here and then goes along and ends right here. It's a long rectangle, basically this undeveloped portion right here.
>> so it's quite a bit of distance between what we actually own and the boundaries of the frontage of 973 and also south of decker lake road, because they don't even get up to that point. Show where decker lake road is on there.
>> decker lake road is right over here. There's a good buffer. You can see a large buffer of undeveloped property right here. And there's really a pretty good buffer. Most of these areas right here is undeveloped. The houses location, there's a mobile home park right here, but mostly -- and our facility will be located approximately this area. So you can see there's a fairly good buffer around all the facility.
>> tom, it's been awhile since I’ve been out here, but my memory of this place is that it's very heavily wooded. There's a lot of trees. So it's not only that we are buffering ourselves, we're buffering ourselves with things that will also kind of help keep the noise down. You won't be able to see this off of 969.
>> yes, ma'am. It's a very heavily wooded area. Fortunately the area that we're proposing is not heavily wooded, there was an old structure there, a large turkey barn. It's really dilapidated, but it's a large area that's fairly clear, sits up on the highest location, so when you kind of drive up the road you have a good viewpoint of our facility and it's one of the few areas that's not as heavily wooded.
>> and my final question is, and what do we have planned for that large tract of land and why?
>> what we have planned is just to utilize a small portion of the property for the consolidation of two offices -- actually, three offices, satellite 1, our sign shop at smith road and satellite 4 facility. So that's -- in a nutshell, those facilities are way overburdened, you might say. Satellite 4 is in the floodplain. 90 percent of it. And to utilize this facility to combine our resources and force us to meet the customer needs in a more efficient manner is what we're trying to do. It worked real well on the west side. We operate the west side service center, we have a good response out of there and it's a great place to have it centrally located. The same thing, our focus is to do this on the east side.
>> we will have approximately how many workrs working out of there and approximately how much equipment?
>> one half of our operation, so you're probably looking at 90 to 100 employees, and basically half of our fleet operations. I don't know the exact numbers. I’m sure there's a report somewhere I could dig up on actually pieces of equipment about 500.
>> these are the road offices for 1 and 4, currently located on johnnie morris, 1 is, and four is located where?
>> at burleson and 183. Just south of --
>> I mean onion creek.
>> [ laughter ]
>> on onion creek in the floodplain.
>> so those with questions, especially those who live fairly close, could call our transportation and natural resources department?
>> yes, sir. That was listed -- my phone number is listed on this public notice. Like I said, I’ve had one phone call and it was a very positive phone call from the neighbor. They were quite delighted to see that we were coming out there because it would be an increase in possible sheriff's office, fire coming to the facility to fuel up since it will be a fuel facility, and also they mentioned a possible increase in their property value.
>> but there are not 10 of us coming.
>> no, they're quite aware of that, and they were very delighted to have us as a neighbor actually.
>> we will be good neighbors.
>> we'll be good neighbors, yes, sir.
>> and we will build a nice facility there. I guess we plan to start, but really complete over several years, right?
>> a two-year phase plan is what we've got. What we plan to do this year is start with the road, the site clearing. It's actually in our work plan to do this effort. And then potentially get the buildings constructed or start the constructions by summertime. And there are several phases of those, with it culminating at the same time. So we would move in at once.
>> judge, the other thing that would probably make sense is to also let the folks know at the existing offices or existing presipping offices that the -- precinct offices that the move is being anticipated, being worked on, so they can also know that this move is coming or this change is coming. And given the fact that there are still some people -- not because they don't read the newspapers or because they don't listen to the news, but there are still in the belief that we have our precinct offices out there. And so -- of course you have to explain, no, that move took place in 1986 to consolidate the offices or the operations. And so we Commissioners don't have offices out in the precincts any more. So it's just to try to make sure we include everybody and let them know that this move is coming so they won't be --
>> to save money and promote efficiency. That's what I heard joe say.
>> certainly with the precinct 1 office, all the precinct 2 operations that are on the east side come out of there as well. Anyone that has used that facility, it can be title tight when we have community meetings and sufficient parking, so this is going to give us a whole lot more space, and it is going to include, don, correct, we are going to have community space like we do over at the west side service center?
>> correct. We've enlarged the facility.
>> and there is a huge shortage of public space. I know working with esd number 4 in terms of trying to find space for them to just run their fire academy, find a place where you can have classrooms, there's not much out there. So this will be a good public facility as well in terms of having our community there.
>> I had a chance to take a little tour of the west side center and I was very impressed with the way it operated. Don, I would like to thank you and your staff for taking me on that tour. And I had an opportunity to kind of see what this would be all about as far as the completion of the eastside service center. And it can't help be a plus merging precincts together to have the type of operation and services that is needed throughout the county. And the things that I saw there, again I was very impressed and I’m just looking forward for this to happen because really that particular site there has really been underutilized, not utilized to its maximum potential. And I think this is a good way of maximizing some property that the county already owns, and of course with a small investment of money to ensure that we can promote the efficiency and services of Travis County. And again, I’m looking forward, and I have not -- my office personally have not had any phone calls as of such in opposition to this particular project because this project we've been talking about for awhile, it's nothing we threw out here this morning and the public may be just hearing of. We have been talking about this for quite awhile as far as the structure, the type of buildings that we will have, what the -- even with an administration room, the extra space that's needed for community events to be held out there. It's just a big plus. So I’m just looking forward to hear -- at the judge's request to hear what folks are saying, but from all indications that I have been able to hear in the community that they're really saying we would like to have something to enhance us and bring about a positive change in the community. So I’m really looking forward to hearing what the public say I guess at the next public hearing or whatever we need to do as far as taking action on it.
>> so residents that call and ask to see a description of the project are sent what?
>> we've got a four-page set of conceptual plans we can send them. We can also send them the aerial. We've got basically some more drawings. All these drawings that you see in the white board are what I’ve been sending to the people that call in. It gives them a conceptual idea of what the building will look like. It always gives them an idea of what -- you know, where the facility is located. It gives them a good handle on, okay, what do we expect when we drive by 969 or blue bluff, what are we going to see? And then also what are they paying their taxes for? What is their building going to look like? When we drive up is it something we want to go to and see and be a part of?
>> we can send them as much as they want to know about the project?
>> yes, sir.
>> and if they contact don ward at 854-9383, they can get that information.
>> yes, sir.
>> would anyone like to give testimony during this public hearing? If so, please come forward. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. We'll have item number 20 on the agenda next week for action. So unless we get comments, we will approve this project finally next week.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 2:41 PM