Travis County Commissioners Court
January 23, 2007
Items 20 & 21
20 is to consider and take appropriate action on the following. A, a final plat for recording and increasing three bridges at bear creek phase one session shun one, long format, 56 total acres, 54 residential lots, two landscape open and drainage lots, posted with traffic county sewage service by the city of Austin. And 20 b, approve a subdivision construction agreement for bridges at bear creek, phase one section one, final plat, it says this item may be taken into executive session under consultation with attorney. We'll decide that during this meeting. >> transportation natural resources department. This item has been rolled at least two times now it really is an item that otherwise meets the county guidelines for approving subdivision plats. I think we're just really standing ready for any questions that you may have about this item.
>> remember we came up a little bit ago, joe, braving the icy weather, encased in ice, we came down to the Commissioner's court and held court but the item did come up during court discussion just last week when we had that ice storm. And you all were not here to answer questions. And. Persons I thought that probably needed to be out there. This subdivision is in Commissioner Daugherty's press interest, I don't want to junk--precincts. I don't want to jump ahead of him. This is in his precinct. I don't want to do that. I am just letting you know I have a couple of questions.
>> let's go to the question.
>> okay. All right. What we discussed earlier and that was, and that was some of the points of dealing with this item as far as some of the questions that we had looked at during an earlier discussion with the brewy lane, that scenario, and the amachine tis that were to be aheard to--amenities that were to be aheard to during the process. When we look at the closure of keeping brody lane open at that time. And there were certain things that were to be put in place, I think traffic light, to deal with traffic volume, sidewalks, think on the west side of some of the streets there, and just several amachine tis, I think, that were to be made available dealing did the traffic flow out on brody lane. My question was, can you identify those amenities and also the timing of those when they come into play.
>> sure.
>> can you do that, because that's where we are in the process of those amenities.
>> when the court.
>> go ahead.
>> when court had had the item on the agenda, and it's been several months back, we were talking about in lou of closing brody lane, were there other things we can do to aleve create some of the through traffic on brody. And so we, the department had made a recommendation, and let me just go through what those recommendations were and what has taken place since then. We first recommended that we revise the traffic signal timing on brody lane at cap strano, and also brody lane at green emerald. Take would allow more of the the--that would allow more of the side traffic to enter into brody lane. That timing has been completed. We add adjusted the timing to do that.
>> you said that's complete.
>> that has been completed.
>> okay. We also recommended, we construct a sidewalk along the west side from eldough raido street to green emerald. That side wake has been complete zñd okay.
>> we recommended that we relocate the school crossing zone to the signalized intersection at green emerald. That has been done. The neighborhood offered to put in a poll mounted radar flashing light. They were going to pay for it but wanted to put on it an account poly, and that has been done. So basically it will flash the speed limit to advise them on how faster going.
>> okay.
>> that is in place. We also recommended that we put in a new traffic signal on brody lane at freight barker. The warrant study has been completed, the design is completed. We have the city of Austin install those traffic signals so that we weave or work in with their workload and this is scheduled for installation in March. It has not been completed but it's in the queue to be done in March.
>> March of this year.
>> of this year, right.
>> okay.
>> we also, one of the recommendations, is to encourage the Texas department of transportation and the central Texas rma to expedite the environmental clearance and the initiation of construction on at least two lanes of state highway 45 southwest from loop one to fm 1626. This is the highway for which the county has acquired the right-of-way. It is going through environmental clearance at this time. That process is ongoing. They still need to complete that and get clearance for the construction to begin.
>> that is from loop one to fm 45.
>> that's the state highway 45 southwest, right. And that is a critical project. We believe, to relieving traffic on brody lane. It is a state highway. It would be implemented by the state. And because it's, it is a state project, they have to go through environmental clearances before they can start construction.
>> but it's from loop one, slay slash, 45, over to 1626.
>> that's correctcorrect. We also recommend, we continue to meet with representatives of tex dot, haste county, the environmental groups to do what we can to mediate any conflict there might be between those groupsmps our maintain interest as a county is to get 45 southwest completed. And we have met with these interest groups, continue to meet with them. Again, the critical point here is making sure the environmental studies have been done and that all parties are satisfied the mitt that's needed will take place for--the mitigation that's needed will take application for the road. We also recommend that the county purchase the highway next for Texas dot to improve the intersections of fm factor market road to 16 1626 and former market road 1626 which is namchek road.
>> this particular recommendation that you are referring to now is especially looking a the freight barker situation and I guess going to manchek, is that part of what we are discussing here today ?
>> part of our overall recommendation.
>> this particular recommendationrecommendation.
>> this particular recommendation was related to brody lane.
>> the intersection point.
>> basically what we are trying to do is improve man czech road to handle more traffic at 1626. Improving the intersection at freight barker is part of that so that the turning traffic does not inhibit the through traffic. So you need an additional lane on man chak to accommodate any turner onto freight barker. That's the concept, to improve the traffic flow.
>> item a 1 is related.
>> yeah.
>> I'm sorry. Yes, it is.
>> that's what I'm saying, yeah, today.
>> well, it is and it isn't.
>> what do you mean ?
>> that project, that project is on freight barker barker. The intersection improvements on manchak road is separate than the improvements on freight barker. In other words the project on the agenda, both the item a 1 and also the one where we are selecting the consultant, that is the county's project on freight barker itself. We will be making improvements to the intersection of freight barker and man chak. The other leg of that intersection. It won't necessarily improve the traffic on man chak. That's still the state man c chak project. Both of them have to happen. We need the freight barker intersection, the approach to man chak on freight barker needs to be improved as well as the turn lane itself to freight barker. But there are typically two separate projects.
>> the overall enhancement that freight barker will witness from this will certainly, hopefully, entice somebody to use freight barker, whereas right now freight barker is with the two lane, is not a road that you know, automatically want to use. Also it has the ability to interface with hewitt, which if we are working with the developer as to how they come out of the subdivision, where we're going to line up coming out of the subdivision along with hewitt and bringing hewitt around, and then coming up to freight barker with the enhance am of freight barker and then going down to man c chak road, so all of this toes play into that. I mean it's a timing deal but certainly is all part of just offering somebody the alternative that might be a little attractive, where they might elect to go that way versus everybody coming up brodie lane.
>> what you have here is a system deficiency. I mean, anything we can do, 45, 1626, man chak, freight barker. What you have is growth occurring in the southern part of Travis County and the northern part of haste county and the additional trips are being generated by new development but we are not adding any capacity to the system of roadways serving the area. So basically there are a lot of different pieces to the solution and that's all of this addressing that. All right. Did I answer that question? Now let's, all right, the final one, not the final one another recommendation was to seek federal and state funding authorization to up upgrade fm 2304 from slaughter creek to 1626. That's man chak.
>> right.
>> also to improve 126 from the hays county lied to if f fm 2304, which is man chak. That's the elbow. You know that we acquired the right-of-way from man ch chak back as part of 1984 bond election. So the right-of-way is already there for that road. We are working with Texas dot on the possible of doing a pass through toll project, financed in part by the private sector, that would help to upgrade 1626, as well as man chak road. We will probably have something on the court agenda within one or two months that will kind of lay that out. Suffice it to say that recommendation is still cooking. We don't have thig defin the thetive yet to bring to-- to--definitive--have anything definitive yet to bring to court but we are working on it. The final recommendation is to execute an advanced funding agreement with Texas dot for federal funds, these are stp 4 c funds, to improve freight barkr from 2304 to brodie lane. That is the item on your agenda t the a 1 agenda. That is also associated with item number 13, which is the agenda to select the consult consultant who will design the improvements to freight barker. So those two, a 1 and 13 go together. The item a 1 is the advanced funding agreement with Texas dot that would provide funding for the project. So to answer your question, Commissioner Davis, we have implemented many of the recommendations that we provided to you when we were talking about brodi emp. Some still have to occur. Probably the single largest action that has to take place is the construction of state highway 45 southwest, and that's somewhat out of our control. We just need nor for the processes to be completed.
>> jury is still out on that and I guess some other, especially these others that are still pending. There are some pending one, but some are coming to closure on some of these things. But anyway, thank you for that update. Those are some of the questions that I had in my mind to get out and get before since we haven't visited this particular issue. In a little, in a timely time frame. I think all of these other things had to happen first, and then again, there are some that the jury is still out on, some things that are out of Travis County's control, sh 45 southwest, some of these other things, some stuff that may be happening in hays county as far as participation. I really don't know. My main concern is that, is that there are those amenities that have been looked at, and of course what can we do to help aleve create a lot of traffic volume down there other than having to shut down the a road or close a road, you know, because of increased traffic. This appears to be something that we are looking at, but in a timely sense, though, with 21 and 20, looking at us today, phase one, phase two, you know, situations as far as this subdivision is concerned, what is the timing for all of these things as far as when the developer, whoever is developing this and who ever is going to go through this process, of some of these other possibilities happening? Is there any mechanism to trigger certain things? Especially with connectivity of streets and things, to also help assist and alleviate traffic problems? Has the situation on plats been filed and ready to move forward? Is there any modification to also assist mthat? I really don't know.
>> we do not have any trigger mechanisms in the phasing agreement that would require any outside the site the condition of the final platting.
>> at no time, and I want folks to understand this very clearly, no way in the world I'm supporting freight barker connectivity to sh 45 southwest. And I think I made my position very clear on that. Of course the jury is still out on some very sensitive environmental areas there. I want to make sure that the folks realize that moi position really hasn't changed, especially on the back freight barker side. That's what I would like to refer to that as. It appears that freight barker would end up tying into brodie lane and going to slaughter lane and some other options that you proposed, especially with the pass through financing, where you get other participants if that type of mechanism in place to deal with some of these problems down there. And it is a real serious congested problem and we really need to address and do something about it. Those are my last comments and all the questions that I had. Thank you.
>> yes.
>> hi. Sorry, don't mean to interrupt.
>> no.
>> okay. Hi. My name is stephanie miller and I live at brodie and akm akmak. And I like to welcome Commissioner ekhart. First time we met. Since the last hearing I did come in opposition. I think Commissioner Davis had a good point. What will be the trigger mechanism. If there isn't a formal one, it will be me. And I wanted to let you know that we have met and we have discussed with, I have met with the bridges of bear creek representatives and they have, we have talked about how we are going to leaf the traffic that this would bring on, the new bridges. This actually is one of the first phases, from what I understand there's going fob another phase. We estimated at the last here, 1670 new vehicles up and down brody. And the numbers since then have reflected that since 2002, to 2005, the new release of the numbers, just norts and south of my house traffic has increased, on the north side, 14 percent, and on the south side 22 percent. So what we met about was leave creating congest-- congest--alleviating congestion by helping 2478 get over to man chak road east west, using the freight barker, which is on the camp owe plan to be widened, and now it's looking for funding funding. So I am in favor of execut executing on those plans and the sooner we, --that we execute on those plans, and the sooner we do that, it will help alleviate brody as an authority fair and help alleviate some of the new traffic coming to the road to get to man chak road quicker than going north or south on brody lane. So, I appreciate the time I was given to express my concerns, and I actually am looking forward to seeing some of the things that we have been talking about for years, sounds like they are going to be coming to fruition over the next few months, to maybe two years, which I think when we spoke with bridges, that would be about the time we would start to see residents as well. So hopefully everything comes together at the right time and finishes off all the promises that are going into the work that is now out there.
>> stephanie, I appreciate your involvement on this thing. A lot of times it just takes kind of activism as you have shown in order to bring some things to the forefront. Quite frankly, I mean, you talked about a lot of ideas that bee know that we need to--that we need that we need to work with the developers I think we have their commitment that at least their engineer is shaking his head, yes, sir, we are going to work with this. We do know that there are some that we can do immediately. Like really aligning the hewitt and making sure that that gets done. Then whatever we could do at hewitt and freight barker to make sure that that movement is something that is not an impediment for somebody that is going to choose to do that. But let me say this. I know it's been mentioned, and when I first came on the court it was something that I was told by a number of people, don't go there. But if we are really talking about movement, mobility, the ability for people to get around in southwest Austin, we cannot rule out some things like connecting freight barker over to 45 southwest. It is irresponsible for this I think, the Commissioners court to say rewith not going to do that. The community passed overwhelmingly to put a road between 1626 and over loop one. Now, we know that part of the proper that bee have got at brodie lane are the number of people that have to come to the junior high school. And if you live in circle c, the only way for you to get to bailey middle school is to go to loop one right now, come slaughter lane, come down brodie lane. That is the most ridiculous thing to force people to do. Maybe we will have another junior high school to be built over there and you won't have to come through the neighborhood. But I think that we will have to work with the city of Austin because I know that's water quality land. We know how sensitive it is. We are not talking about going out there and putting a lot of access off a road. It simply is the ability to be able to get from something, I mean--
>> as the crow flies.
>> five iron is, you know, distance one, your five iron not mine, judge. You know, I to want us to be mindful. And I'm willing to start the work with the city. Quite frankly, the environmental community. I was really pleased that so sos, you know, went with me and a number of folks, I think joe, weren't you at the meeting when bill bunch went with us to Texas dot and wanted to make it clear that bee really are not your problem with 45 southwest. Ununfortunately, what we have got, we have rules now, I mean, federal highway administration, that secondary impacts things like this really do mean something to fish and to the highway department. And so we have gotten kind of caught up in that but we are working through that. But I do think that if we going and asking for reason reasonable things, I would hope that we would be willing to go, and I am very willing to partner with the city and go and say, hey, I understand that you don't want just roads all over there water quality land. At some point in time I do that we can get reasonable people at the table and say all we are looking for are alternative ways to get from point a to point b. Quite frankly, there are probably two or three things that if we can get 1626 done over to 35, I'm confident we can do that, that fix along with man chak, and then 45 southwest, and then if we can look, because we are going to be doing the up upgrade with brodie, and finding some sorts of an access or capability of getting from brodie lane, actually over to 45 southwest, I don't think those are unreasonable requests. I do know that we have some lift to go do with that. I think stephanie, unless she moves out of the neighborhood, will stay at the table and we'll work with that. And we'll work with that in a very sensitive and calm way. I think everybody understands, nobody is trying to be threatening with what we are doing out there.
>> no.
>> even though we may go to the legislature and get some help with what we need to be doing with subdivision planning.
>> right.
>> right now I have gone out out. You all, hank, you live out there. Stef, you certainly do. When you go to neighborhoods and say do you mind opening this road so we can go through here to get over here, you get resistance. One of the neighborhoods, I think the one that hank lives in, I mean, they were stopped. Correct me, or explain how that was done with barker ranch. So you would have like to have tide so you could have gone from barker ran of through the estates of shady hallow. And that's a direct link over to bailey middle school of but that got stopped.
>> my name is hank smith. I'm the engineer for this project. I also live in shady hallow and have lived out there since 1988 and have driven that for 25 years or however many that is. When we moved into barker ran of I was the engineer to that develop am. We had a street on the back side that account through to the estates of shady hallow to provide a direct link for the neighborhood to go to the middle school, to bailey middle school. The estates of shady hallow neighborhood association filed a position to not allow us to make the connection. The roadway is there and there are still ballards so you can't drive through.
>> who did you say would not allow ?
>> the neighborhood association came to the city of Austin and at the meeting filed a petition to not allow us to make the connection. After they spoke we had to get a variance from the zoning and platting commission from the city of Austin. They granted the variance and us not to make the connection and that was pulled off the plat. That was prior to the single office time frame. We also went to the county and said look, we can't make the connection. The roadway is there, the right of way, but there are barricades blocking from you driving. You can walk or ride a bicycle but can you not drive across the roadway.
>> those are some of the things that I wants us to work with. Absolutely we we--we need to work with. I think it's wonderful that you brought up that example and asked for that example to be explain. Stephanie, I thank you so much for being here. I was watching you on tv before I was here. It's like I know you. This is a prime example of why this body and other major metropolitan counties so desperately need zoning and subdivision plat regulatory power. At this point, despite your good efforts, I'm not flagging the development community when I say this. It's not their fault. But time and again, we are behind the eight ball of development, playing catch- catch-up to market forces that have become the de facto policy makers. So that we don't have the ability to zone, regular late the subdivisions and protect the environment. Those three things could be balanced. We don't have the power to balance them.
>> right.
>> so please tell all your friends to call their legislators. This is a real need. This is a prime example of not being able to put that, make that connector between two subdivision plats. A prime example.
>> right.
>> in the absence of that, think it's really important that the neighborhood, the staff, other people with interest in the area, to get together, come together and try to work something that works for everybody.
>> so that we can put the public interest above the narrow personal interest.
>> yeah.
>> this is 20, or is it 20, 21? All together.
>> I only read 20 but we can call 21 real quick.
>> if you would.
>> 21 is consider and take appropriate action on the followinging, 113 residential lots, six lands scape, opened and drainage lots, 71.91 acres, brodie lane, fiscal posed with Travis County, sewage service to be provided by city of Austin, city of Austin e tz.
>> and b.
>> a subdivision construction agreement for bridges at bear creek phase 2 section 1 final plat.
>> I would move approval of 20 and 21.
>> second the motion.
>> any legal questions? I'll put time on notice that we may have some. We think we have any? That's for the court, tom from the county perspective, we meet these requirements. What we are saying is other things need to happen, we think we put some of them in place, include ago couple of items on the agenda today.
>> yes. And can I add actually, I want to compliment the court on how far they have gotten on the original list from July. If you look just like joe read, he is going down, we're doing this, doing this doing this. So I appreciate the efforts that you all are putting forth.
>> complement to tnr.
>> unfortunately we are not decreasing the numbers, but we are out there making every stab that we can at trying to be very conscientious with the neighborhoods. You all really do live in a tough spot. You especially because you live right there.
>> yeah.
>> I think the community, the things that have been said here today, we really need to understand how we are actually hand cuffed, this Commissioners court, is handcuffed in a lot of things that we try to do in the best interests of all, including neighborhoods. The environment and a bunch of other things. We do our best with what we have to work with. We just do not have the authority to a lot of things that I think wobe paramount in my mind that would make things a little smoother than we have experienced in the past. Hopefully this legislature, with the help of everybody here, can give us a little more authority for lands use a a bunch of other things. A whole category of things that I think needs to happen happen. To help us out a lot.
>> anymore discussion of the motions on 20 and 21? All in favor. That passes by unanimous slote.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
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:
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 8:33 PM