Travis County Commissioners Court
November 28, 2006
Item 3
Number 3 is a public hearing to receive input from residents of Travis County regarding drafts of the substantial amendment to Travis County's 2006-2010 consolidated plan and action plan py 2006 for community development block grant funds from the united states department of housing and urban affairs, office of community planning and development. Otherwise referred to as cdbg funds.
>> move to open the public hearing.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Good morning.
>> good morning. I'm meg pogue with health and human services. The public hearing today is parts of a 30 day public comment period. On October 7th the county was notified that our consolidated plan proposed to h.u.d. Was disallowed. We found out that there was a calculation error on h.u.d.'s part regarding how much our allocation was supposed to be. It was reduced from about 2.5 million to about 838,000. Because of the scope of that reduction we had to redo, reinvoices our proposed projects and also our five year consolidated plan. So we are having a public comment period on those proposed changes. The period began November 15th and the public hearing is the one opportunity for residents to come and provide comments vocally and comments can be received in writing via e-mail or mail. But comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. Tomorrow. That's the last day of the comment period. It can be sent via e-mail to -- to meg.poag@traviscountytx.gov or to the cdbg office, p.o. Box 1748, Austin, Texas, 78767. And just -- in just a moment we will receive any comments from people that are here.
>> telephone number?
>> yeah. They could call. But they need to be received in writing, but they can call.
>> I understand.
>> okay. They can call me at 854-3465.
>> okay.
>> for the addresses. And just a brief description, there were -- the projects were reduced from 8 projects down to five. There's no new projects so all of the projects that we are moving forward with were already propose and reviewed and we are going to do -- to do a roads project in apache shores, so we actually got a little more specific and figured out what roads, so that's also in the plan. And north ridge acres, the water improvements. And -- and we are also going to do in the area of -- of affordable housing development some land acquisition for the production of affordable homes. And there are two public service projects, one is for -- for an expansion of flexible funds for the youth and family assessment center. One is a social services expansion to hire two social workers at the community centers in del valle and manor.
>> for the record, we've had -- multiple public hearings on the initial amount.
>> uh-huh.
>> probably six or seven, right?
>> seven.
>> and that amount was reduced to about a third of it. This is one public hearing on that.
>> yes.
>> all right. Okay. Would anyone like to give testimony during this public hearing? Please come forward. If you would give us your full name, we would be happy to get your comments. Anybody else? We have four more chairs available. Just speak directly into that microphone for us. Good morning.
>> good morning.
>> and you are?
>> my name is connie gonzalez.
>> ms. Gonzalez.
>> the Travis County resident living in the community as a member of santa guadalupe catholic church and a leader of Austin interfaith, plainview estates is a part of hornsby bend community it consists of 40 families who have lived here for five generations. Every morning for the last six years, I wake up to the fact that I do not have running water in my home. And I have to decide where it is that I am going to go take a shower for that morning. Sometimes I have to drive at least 15 miles to my sister's house to do that. Also, a five gallon bucket has become my best friend. That's to carry water from my neighbor's house to flush my toilets and wash my dishes every day. As a community we have suffered the lack of water for more than six years. And as a community we are acting to respond to it through conversations with our local churches, other local churches, Austin colony home associations, homeowners association and hornsby bend utility company. We are aware of the community development block grant and the -- this is playing in our disadvantage. But we want to be able to work with our county Commissioner for our families, our children and our grandchildren to have water in our homes again.
>> let me make sure now. I know where Austin's colony is. And kennedy ridge. Plainview estates is where.
>> it is adjacent to Austin's colony off of hunters bend road. 969, hunters bend road, Austin colony is on the right-hand side, we are on the left-hand side of that. It's 71 acres. And like I said we have like 40 families living there. That have been living there for many generations.
>> okay. Thank you.
>> thank you for your time.
>> want to get your -- give your name. You agree with ms. Gonzalez.
>> yes.
>> your name is?
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> fees rios?
>>
>> [indiscernible]
>> okay.
>> my name is ruben flores.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> thank you. Young lady, would you tell -- would you tell her to come back to the -- to the -- we -- let me say this to you. We -- I know that is kind of been floating around as far as a lot of wells and a lot of other things that are going dry out there. What we have tried to do, my office have been looking at alternative ways to get water in that way. Before -- before Travis County used to be in the water hauling business. Travis County is not in that business anymore of hauling water. We had a major project right across the street from where you are down at the kennedy ridge subdivision. Of course that was a situation where an agreement was worked out with the hornsby bend persons to -- to look at, providing water, along with the -- with the bluff subdivision just adjacent to kennedy ridge. They worked out a deal where they could get -- tap it into the main line of that -- of that line that exists at the hornsby bend water supply. So that particular water solution was basically taken care of. But it's a lot of pocket situations out there which we are trying to address now. What I want you to do, I sent a copy of a lot of information of alternative ways to get water since Travis County does not haul water anymore as we used to in the past a long time ago to provide water in the area. What I want you to do is check by my office and get some information that we have already sent one resident who is looking into this whole area, who is assisting in trying to help as many folks as we possibly can out there. But get that same information that we have already sent out, about two weeks ago, we sent out some information to both -- to folks out there in pocket type of situations and if you can do that for us I really would praesht it. It's kind of a little unique situation where we do have a water line for you to hook up into. But it's a tap fee that's required for you to purchase that -- that would have to -- which is the hornsby water supply corporation. So I know exactly what you're referring to. Of course we are looking for alternatives because the way I'm understanding it the tap is kind of expensive and persons can't hook into the main water smie line with the hornsby bend water supply corporation, even though it serves -- it serves Austin colony entirety. But there are pockets of -- of property in that -- in that areas over there that really don't have access to water. For whatever reason still some of them on wells and stuff like that. So I understand that. But again I would -- like I say Travis County is not in the water hauling situation as we used to be years ago. We really are looking for ways to address that concern. Check with my office and there are other alternatives that I think we can look at to try to get you some water. Can you do that for me.
>> I sure could.
>> I'm on the fifth floor, room 510.
>> if I may could I comment on that? I did receive that packet and I have read over it and I've contacted some of the -- of the grantors and the issue that we are having is that they are saying we must be an organization and their definition of organization I'm not clear on and they say we are not an organization. To apply for that assistance.
>> what I'm going to try to do is get t.n.r. Since you did -- one of the recipients of that packet, I'm going to try to get transportation natural resources department. Go to my office before you leave this building, fifth floor, room 510, go up there and tell my staff, if you have already got the information, now I need you to look at t.n.r. See if there's some way that we can coordinate that to maybe assist you a little more than what's going on here now. Can you do that for me?
>> yes, I will.
>> thank you very much. Thank you, ms. Gonzalez. Mr. Pena.
>> yes, sir, good morning, judge, Commissioners, gus pena again speaking. On the issue of not -- not for anybody. It is -- it is very, very sad. Again the relationship to poverty, not having running water for areas that do pay taxes. Remember kenneth schnieder, I didn't know him before, all of these many years he advocated for north ridge acres. I do believe that Commissioner Davis you will take the lead in this, you will help them out any way you can. Dan also did a good job. We need to acknowledge people that help out, you know. They have been very helpful in this issue. I'm not here to talk about that, but to support them in trying to get running water for the family. United states of america, I don't believe that. Anyway I just my concern is this, as mentioned to not only the city council boss or the school board because they have a lot of tie ins, the definition of affordable housing, this is not too much funding to purchase land because, you know, land is very expensive. And what the definition is of affordability, when I say we, we had a delegation go to visit h.u.d. In washington. The definition of affordability that we came back with from hudnell is not what the community wanted to hear. If it's in excess of $100,000, it's not affordable for a lot of people here in Austin, Travis County. My question to you is this, I would like that question answered from sherri's office excuse me is what is the definition of affordable housing? We have heard many, many definitions and we would like a clear cut -- on this issue also with san antonio h.u.d. Also, we have been pushing for transitional housing for homeless veterans, their family, other people that need housing also to reenter, you know, society. But if I could get that, you know, I would appreciate it very much. Let's not lag on this issue, this issue has been going on many years. I have been dealing with this type of issues many years, city side, county side, also at the legislature. If you can do that for me I would appreciate it. I appreciate the output they gave us.
>> gus, if it's any help, this is working on getting land and working with habitat for humanity. Who I think all of us can agree is absolutely in the business of bringing in affordable housing. What habitat has told us is that one of the biggest hurdles right now is the land. If they can get the land then they can surely move ahead in terms of the affordability, in terms of bringing something in well below the market and using the sweat equity and so this is to basically work on getting that hurdle out of the way in terms of the affordability factor. So it is a partnership that we would be doing with habitat for humidity who I hope that you would agree is absolutely in the business of affordable housing.
>> oh, absolutely. I do agree with that. I'm glad that you defined that because it's not defined as a backup or in any backup that you have or on the agenda, people need to know when you speak about affordability that you are going to be working with entities. I agree habitat for humidity, also gmdc mark rodgers and their group are doing a lot of good over there in the guadalupe area. But yeah still the affordability definition that comes about h.u.d. Because a lot of this funding is from hudnell the government, you know. Being a former i.r.s. Investigator we know about the specific parameters that's why I asked for the definition. Thank you for explaining that's very good for the people to know. Just to read the agenda it doesn't tell you anything.
>> no. Just to let you know that the land that we purchased must be in the unincorporated part of Travis County. So there are definite needs in the guadalupe neighborhood but we would not be able to purchase any kind of land in the city of Austin.
>> I mentioned the conviction of affordability. Thank you very much for that. I do have family living out there. I am not representing them. My mom asked to speak about this issue, you know her very well.
>> I sure do.
>> thank you, gus. Would anyone like to give testimony during this public hearing?
>> judge, let me say something, if there's no one else that needs to come up.
>> [indiscernible] okay. Let me say something to the cdbg. That is this, you heard testimony from folks out there this morning, I understood that there had been a meeting earlier that had also brought some of the concerns about them not having adequate water. Because I mentioned earlier that we kind of resolved the kennedy ridge situation out there. They didn't have water, nor wastewater. God roads and everything else out there, but that was a little different deal, that program doesn't exist anymore. Under the cdbg scenario, could those -- could those -- would the qualification of what they mentioned hiroshima this morning -- what they mentioned here this morning, could theycal phi.
>> at this point, I asked, explained to some other residents, at this time they don't qualify due to living in a census block group that has -- you have to have at least 51% of the population to be living at low to moderate income and right now they are in a block group because they are surrounded by people with a higher income that the average income in that block group is too high.
>> but that's -- I guess my point is, are there circumstances whereby -- you see here's the situation. You have Austin college sitting there that have all of the water, the development project, Austin colony, who has the -- the excess to -- access to water from hornsby bend for that particular subdivision. These particular folks are adjacent to the subdivision but they own wells. Is there any way that they can be separated whereby they could maybe receive some attention. I really don't want to see that thrown out just here on what you are saying. I want to make sure that everything is exhausted to the point where there may be some funding available to help them in their needs because most of that stuff really is tying into the main, the water main that's supplied out there from hornsby bend within the Austin colony subdivision. That's basically the point of the deal. So I'm just posing a question and I just think that it -- that it needs to probably be continually looked at. That's one of the reasons why we -- I try to look at alternatives because of what you just stated. We needed to keep the movement going to supply water. So -- so I'm putting you in a position where you -- where you hopefully will be able to respond because of the unique circumstances, they are really not of the Austin colony subdivision. How did you look at that?
>> executive manager for health and human services and veterans services, sherri flemming. This issue relates back to previous discussions regarding the census block groups that h.u.d. Requires us to use in order to determine an area's eligibility, suitability for the use of federal funds through the community development block grant program. Staff has previously discussed that -- that in order to dispute the census block grant, we have to actually get on the ground and do primary surveying, which means that you actually go and knock on doors and you -- you perform eligibility functions on the actual families who live in that area. That's the kind of surveying that took place for north ridge, that allowed that area to potentially qualify for the use of cdbg funding.
>> was that done for this area.
>> it has not been done to date. No. It has not been done.
>> well, I this I with he need to consider that. I really do. We need to look at the alternatives, but that needs to be considered as far as the survey is concerned. I don't know why it was left out with the survey. Especially when we had contact with the persons that were telling us about that problem and of course -- of course not included in the survey. Because I know we brought it up.
>> the survey for north rim was done in the -- in the mid '90s, I believe. So that -- that was completed prior to the time that Travis County entered into the cdbg process. Because of cdbg funding that was accessible through other entities. Now, the hornsby bend project, I believe, came up during some of the public hearings, but it did not advance to the point where we -- where we got any indication from court that you were interested in that for the first year. Now as we go forward with the action plans for subsequent years, if that is a project that the court has interest in, then we can outline for you the -- the necessary steps. As you know, it has been the court's interest to minimize the -- the add administrative burden of this program. When you talk about areas where primary surveying is going to have to take place, those kinds of things start increasing the administrative contribution that you would supplement for the program. But if that is a project that the Commissioners court identifies for the second or subsequent years, then staff could move forward with the necessary work that would require us to get inside of that census block and be able to demonstrate for h.u.d. That there are in fact areas which qualify.
>> okay.
>> could be that because of just how narrow it is and difficult it is to deal with cdbg funds, that it may be that there are other better programs out there to try to help these folks along in relation to what we did in plover place, other kinds of things. We need to explore all possibilities. But I think in terms of where we are today, this was not one that's in our first year plan, but it certainly can be talked about for future years. But I don't think it's part of what we need to have happen today. Certainly we need to work --
>> yeah. There's been a significant cut back in the funding. What I do not want to see is them ignored and want them to be included in the process whether that be the alternative solution that I have already presented to the community looking for situation whereby they don't have to rely strictly on well water, of course maybe being able to tie into mains of the water supply corporation out there. So I'm putting it on the table for you all to investigate and look at for future funding and things like that. Not to be ignored.
>> we will be happy to do so Commissioner.
>> that's what I'm doing.
>> anyone else like to give testimony during this public hearing?
>> thank you.
>> I move that the public hearing be closed.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you, sherri.
>> this is not on the agenda today for action. It will be on next week.
>> yes. We will be asking the court to approve the -- the substantial amendments next Commissioners court on Tuesday.
>> okay. Thank you all.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 07:48 AM