Travis County Commissioners Court
January 3, 2006
Item 20
Joe since we have you there, number 20. On 20. Consider board and committee assignments for Commissioners court members, and take appropriate action. We will get that whole list to you later today and Commissioner Davis has a recommendation for a new committee.
>> judge, I think that it's very appropriate and I think urgent that we, the Commissioners court, give t.n.r. Some type of direction to come back to Travis County -- to the court at some future date to bring back a -- a Travis County s.h. 130 growth corridor subcommittee, as you guys know that -- that growth is -- is -- in this part of Travis County is very critical, I think we as Travis County need to be and have a strong significant role in that type of growth in this particular area. I don't want to model it basically after the southwest Travis County growth corridor deal as such, but it could be something that I -- that t.n.r. Could bring back to -- to bring back more specifically some type of structure whereby Travis County would be able to participate in that type of growth. As you notice, even within the Austin american-statesman here lately, there's been a lot of conversations, a lot of discussion, you know, for many, many months we have -- we have dealt with the -- with the situation over there in the area, dealing with s.h. 130 corridor. Economic development meetings throughout the community, several of them that we have been involved in. There's a lot of unanswered questions that a lot of I’s need to be dotted and t's need to be crossed. So I think it's a good opportunity as we are looking at forming committees, assigning ourselves with committees, I think it would be a great opportunity to -- to put this on as a -- as a structure committee type that we can be involved in, just need t.n.r. At that level I think to bring back some of the things that I think that we will be looking for as far as forming some type of a direction for us to deal with any of that format. So this is basically a suggestion that t.n.r. Be a part of this as far as coming back to the Travis County Commissioners court. With some type of structure to deal with the -- help us deal with that type of growth potential around s.h. 130 corridor.
>> Commissioner, is it your intent this will an internal or external committee meaning to bring in Pflugerville, manor, creedmore --
>> no, my way of thinking is that since s.h. 130, we have about what, a little more than 35 miles of s.h. 130 within Travis County's jurisdiction itself, I didn't want to intrude, encroach on what georgetown is doing as an example as they have annexed areas within Williamson county. But I think that -- that eventually it will all have to fit and work together. As far as the regional perspective is concerned. But I think individually I think we can look at -- at what we can deal with as far as what we can deal with as far as Travis County is concerned and of course that -- that 35-mile corridor length of that s.h. 130 that does go through Travis County, I think seven miles go through precinct 2, I think 13 miles of it I thinkings to precinct 4, I think around 15 miles is right there in precinct 1. Of course I just think that we need to be on top of that, otherwise it could slip past us and we end up not getting the type of things in place that I think that we need in place. I know water is a big deal, it's no secret. So we have to look at that, as far as accommodating growth, infrastructure, mobility, land use, all of these things of -- are very much wrapped up into one big bundle. Economic development and looks into the community out there, they want economic development, how do we bring it to them, just a lot of unanswered questions. Of course with the city of Austin having their annexation capability, where are they going to have annexed, what are they going to annex, it's a lot of -- a lot of unanswered questions, what I think Travis County needs to not be sitting on the sidelines as other people dictate what's going on out there. At the end of the day, end of all of this thing, I think if we do not get involved at the level I think we need to be involved, we may miss the bull's eye and the target.
>> I don't disagree with a single thing that you just said. I’m trying to get a sense of whether you feel this is going to be Travis County inside internal committee.
>> exactly.
>> or whether it is one that is -- [multiple voices]
>> I think it should be inside.
>> not a problem.
>> inside. I think all of the other things that we look at can still fit in the mold, but inside internally just as -- as we have done other things, but I think it's an inside internal deal, I just feel that we need to really be -- put our arms around it, judge, I think that it's very critical.
>> I appreciate the explanation, thank you.
>> thank you.
>> okay, we have like a one or two paragraph summary of -- of the intention with what the committee will do, et cetera, between now and next week? Now is this for a committee a -- like a subcommittee of a Commissioners court?
>> yes, sir.
>> where --
>> we may have been doing it anyway. But this apparently is request to formalize.
>>
>> [one moment please for change in captioners]
>>
>> ...if you have questions, I want court input, if you would e-mail us individually and we will send you our responses and we can comply with the law and at the same time provide input. For my own mind -- in my own mind, there are a lot of groups doing various things, and I don't know that Travis County -- I know individual members have participated in various discussions, workshops. It may well be that as a body we want to do something that's a bit more structured than in the past. And if so, put us in place to do that.
>> more structure.
>> it's kind of like a train going down the road. The train will keep going whether we upset the tracks or --
>> in that light, I really look at perhaps the clean air coalition being more of a model than necessarily the southwest growth --
>> I just used it as an example.
>> but as a certain urgency, things have to be done, you have existing jdz that have a -- jurisdictions that have a stake in the outcome. And that's where these local governments came together and developed a plan of action and actually got buy in from everybody. And I think that's one of the models I’m thinking of, which is a little bit bircht than what we did -- different than what we did in southwest Travis County.
>> the reason I said southwest Travis County is because of the growth. I was trying to put the growth aspect -- as I stated, not using that as a model. I think I stated that in my testimony. I just wanted to wrap my arm around growth, and that was the key word, growth, in there. And it's still the same thing over here for the sh 130 corridor, growth. And I think you brought a good point up when you mentioned the clean air taskforce, stuff like that, something similar to maybe something like that. But anyway...
>> and then there's the ect, which already is working with citizens on what their vision is. So there are ways to comply.
>> right, right.
>> it's kind of a way for us to formalize our participation because I think as the judge said, I think each person on this body has participated in some individual way, and it's just a way for there to be some vetting and to focus our intention that that is something in the same way we've got an e.m.s. Committee, in the same way that we've got various committees working on various issues. It puts a face and a focus on it.
>> ... We have park green space while the growth is going.
>> plan the pieces.
>> I think they'll get it done for us. A one pager I think would help. There's a whole lot going on. I think we would do our favor in '06 by being a little bit more up to speed on what the others are doing. The other thing is that it's almost like business people who would be affected are involved, but I’m not sure the average, everyday resident who would be impacted by this for years to come has any inkling of what's developing. The question may well be what responsibility do we have to advise them. And it seems to me if they are residents of Travis County, as best we can we ought to share our information with them, assuming we have information. Joe, is that enough direction? We'll give you two pages instead of one. [ laughter ]
>> judge, since we did pretty extensive look with the southwest dialogue program that we had, the one thing that we did find out is that this thing can pretty easily ratchet up to taking some resources to pull this off. Because the eastern thing is -- you know, it's a big deal because you've got so many jurisdictions and we didn't have that issue west. But lcra I think is very interested in being integrally involved in this, and they are always very good about providing some resources. And I know that you, Commissioner Davis, and I did attend the first meeting that they had out in the Round Rock area. So it may be the natural place for us to go and find where they're going with their deal because they're wanting to be all -- to embrace all of the different jurisdictions and deal with all the different folks out there, so no use talking this thing to death, but there is at least something going on where you might be able to make a phone call and say, hey, can we piggyback or how do we do this in conjunction with it?
>> I’d like to recommend that we have a mid March work session on sh 130. If nothing else, let's just summarize what the different groups have concluded, findings they've made. I know there was a summary of the ect discussion out at tds, right? We got it by e-mail. But if there's like a hard copy of that, a backup for the court, then lcra and any other discussions that have taken place during that March discussion, it may be a good idea for us to get all that collected for us and just have a discussion so we see exactly where we are.
>> judge? I’m going to shut up here in a little bit, but I know during the course of several of the economic development meetings that I’ve held in the community over a period of time, participants of the meeting being the folks that reside in the area, the residents, and also several elected officials in the area one I’m thinking about right now and I think Commissioner Daugherty attended at the expo center banquet hall along with many other elected officials. And I guess when you brought up the March work session as far as elected officials -- such as elgin, the mayor there, along with the manor folks, the mayor of manor, the mayor of Pflugerville even attended one of them, and also webberville elected officials and as far down as caldwell county and others that didn't attend, hays county, but I just wanted to bring a point up, would there be anything inappropriate for those local elected officials who have expressed some legitimate concerns on on the growth in the area which they will be impacted, will that be anything inappropriate for them to attend the work session?
>> that's fine with me. I just kind of threw it out and extend the invitation. And especially those who have specific ideas and recommendations and to also hear the reason why.
>> sounds like a good plan.
>> I would ask if I could have another week on the organization design instead of next week, about two weeks so I can talk to some of these other entities.
>> I think a lot of the other appointments will be fairly routine, but as long as you know we're leaving that open.
>> we need to talk about the organizational design of this entity. I don't know whether it's one appointment. We're talking about a whole lot of different things here. So it could be we're a party to a much larger group, and it sounds like where we're headed. Anyway, that's --
>> sounds good to me. Anything else on number 20? We'll have it back on next week and make sure we have those current assignments out today.
>> thank y'all.
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, January 4, 2006 10:36 AM