Travis County Commissioners Court
December 19, 2006
Item 30
What number is that? And --
>> if I can get john kuhl and
>> [indiscernible] to come in.
>> did you get any correspondence at all from folks that -- that said they just got the change on this particular -- did you get any phone calls or e-mails or anything like that.
>> may I call the item up, first.
>> yes, judge. 30. Consider and take appropriate action on the following: 1. Chapter 82 of the Travis County code relating to conservation developments; and b, conservation development design manual okay.
>> what I was saying, though, is that I did receive from -- from ms. Samuel son, in fact, saying they just received it, they would really like a chance to review this. That the roll stays wouldn't be the appropriate time to deal with it. I'm just wondering if any of you all received that. Of course give them a chance to look at the changes and stuff like that.
>> I have not received an e-mail or telephone calls from mrs. Samuelson.
>> okay.
>> > the changes have just been put fort, we just got them yesterday for an example. And they are saying that they -- you know, according to what she's saying, that they need a chance to review them over the holidays. I wondered if you all received similar requests.
>> I will say that the recent changes were very minor, tiny changes from the last drafts.
>> I think it would good to note that your shop, let ms. Samuelson and them know exactly what those changes are because they were pretty adamant about letting them review it over the holidays. I think it would be a disservice for not to let them know what the changes actually are. Kind of cumbersome, also, to go through those documents when there have been changes made. So that's my concern. So -- so I would like for that to happen and I would like to maybe hear from her before the day is out.
>> how would you like to proceed? We have had this item on several items. I need direction on how much presentation that you want this morning.
>> I hear a request to hear what the changes are.
>> sure. Why don't we briefly go over the changes to the design manual.
>> the major thing is this is still voluntary.
>> that's correct.
>> only for those participating in -- if they hear of this or read about it, or read it, they need to contact staff, figure out how their particular property would fit into this, determine their level of interest, we would pretty much take it from there.
>> that's right. I think any agreement that results from -- from a -- an application will come back before the Commissioners court and it's at that time where -- where any type of negotiations and agreements that have to made between the property owner and the court are done. Including any type of incentives. We also expect, because this is such a new ordinance, that if we have some property owners that come through and we go through this process with them, we will know better what needs to be tweaked and either the code -- in either the code or the design manual as we go through. We are expecting a little bit of a learning experience on our property as well as the -- on our part as well as the property owners so we can nudge this thing to get it to work better perhaps.
>> that's my major point of this. This is a living document. Certainly any kind of action that occurs on this as we just did in our public private partnerships, we are going to learn and we are going to tweak. So as more sets of eyes take a look at it, there will be suggestions. But we have got to get something in place. I'm hopeful, is it mr. Huffins, will be our first person and that's a person in western Travis County. But to me it's like let's get something in place, tweak it as we go on, there's just no way that anyone will ever read this to their satisfaction and not say I want this word rather than that word. Let's get it going. This is -- this has been out here for -- for months and it's ready to just keep -- let's just get -- let's go.
>> it's pretty significant. In eastern Travis County we have prairie grass, this ordinance do impact them one way or the other, because this is part of the conservation movement. We are not just talking about western Travis County. We are talking about other portions of the county. I know there were minor changes done to this particular conservation development ordinance. Very minor.
>> [indiscernible] things like that. But other minor changes. Is there any way possible if the court decides to move forward with this and the -- ms. Samuelson and folks in the prairie grass area have an opportunity to look at these minor changes and come back and to amend what they -- in other words recommend for things to be amended in this particular ordinance at any given time -- everything is etched in stone, none of that can be modified. Is there some basis of entry into this process whereby those folks that have not had a chance to go through this, would actually have a chance to entertain those concerns at a later date?
>> certainly. It's part of the Travis County code and the Travis County code is never etched in stone. You can amend it any time that you like.
>> okay. Well, I want to make sure that gets across clear to the public, you know. We are aware of certain things, but the public sometimes needs to be educated on a lot of things we're doing. So but my concern still is to address those minor concerns, they got I think joe do they have a copy of the -- of the -- of the draft prior to this draft?
>> they have a copy of the draft prior to this draft and this draft, also.
>> okay. And this draft? Okay. Because like I say, I got a call that she did not have that -- that was just as recent as yesterday evening. So -- so I'm kind of concerned. We will -- we are having trouble getting in touch with them right now. What I would like to have y'all -- what staff to do is to make sure that those modified changes in those documents that we are looking at here today, actually get in the hands of those folks who have a chance to look at them over the holidays and then if there are some modifications that need to take place, then that can come up later. I don't have any qualms about that, it's just the fact that it need to be done.
>> Commissioner Davis, I can commit to not only getting her a copy, making sure that those changes are highlighted. I will meet her at rice's crossing, I will go through the document with her, all right. If we can get this thing through --
>> I want to make sure all of the bases covered, I's dotted, t's crossed with the folks in the prairie grass area that have legitimate concerns.
>> we feel deeply indebted to their commitment. We would like to do that. We have no problem with that. I think also that -- that she will be relieved to find that most of the stuff has just been technical editing, cleaning up of the document. Tightening little things up to make it more presentable and coherent. That's all.
>> I understand.
>> give us some examples of those.
>> I would say the main things are formatting to try to make sure the outline works better. Moving things around slightly, that's from -- from several drafts back. I would say generally trying to make it flow better, to make sense. Adding some more helpful resources in the back. We deleted a lot of -- of definitions in the last two drafts because the definitions were already either in the code or they were in the interim rules. And so these are very minor edits. From the draft that you saw a week ago, that there have been almost nothing changed. Very tiny things.
>> I move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion?
>>
>> [indiscernible] seconds.
>> joe will figure out which one to give credit to. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> we cannot thank you enough.
>> thank you all very much.
>> joe, everybody back here, all of the folks, members of the public that have helped out on this. This is a long-time coming, I look forward to you all acting on this in the future.
>> we will let you know, Commissioner, the first person that takes advantage of this thing.
>> I bet they are from precinct 3.
>> let me know --
>> all right. Thanks so much to everybody.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all, staff fla
>> looking forward to it.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, December 19, 2006 8:51 PM