Travis County Commissioners Court
October 30, 2007
Item 2
Number 2 is a public hearing to receive comment regarding requested amendment chapter of the Travis County code regarding public notice of non-residential developments. I move to open.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> would you like to summarize for the staff to summarize again the --
>> very quickly.
>> this has been to court a public of times. Public notice goes to every owner with -- no, over homeowners association, fire marshal, applicable esd within 1,000 feet of the subdivision. It's being proposed that the notice is sent by the applicant. With t.n.r. Looking over the mailing list and the letter. And I've had discussions with people, but I vice-president gotten anything back from anyone in writing -- but I haven't gotten anything back from anyone in writing except for the original information that I got from hva, this has been posted in the paper twice, most recently this Sunday and two weeks before that. And that's -- that's basically -- that's basically it.
>> 1,000 feet would be roughly what --
>> quarter of a mile.
>> about a quarter of a mile, yeah.
>> would anyone like to give testimony during this public hearing? If so, please come forward. Please come forward. Give us your full name, please, we would be happy to get your comments.
>> good morning, judge, members of the court, my name is harry savio, executive vice-president for the home builders association of Austin. I'm here for a couple of reasons. I realize this does not apply directly to residential subdivisions but we are concerned about the precedent it sets. We don't feel like it's a good use of tax dollars for a number of reasons. First of all, even if the adjacent property owners are notified or property owners within a thousand feet, given that the county has very limited authority within the e.t.j., aren't you really just raising false hopes or false expectations. Commissioner eckhardt I know that you I have spoken a number of times about the lack of authority and possible statutory solutions that may be down the road, but those are down the road. Second of all, we're concerned and probably most concerned about the impact that the workload is going to have on staff. Which could ultimately or would likely put residential projects behind. I think already the county staff is at its physician cam limits trying to balance the work with mandatory statutory processing requirements, limits or time frames.
>> I have one last comment that was not provided to you in writing. It was given to me at the last minute. The comment was one thing to consider and mention is that the neighborhood associations in the county are not registered. And there is not a resource that I know of to go and find out what associations are there and what areas they cover. In Austin they are already plugged into the gis system so that it is simple to query the system to get a list of the associations. If we miss someone on an application, they speak up later in the process, does that the application was invalid and gets thrown out because we failed to notify
>> [indiscernible] not registered and has no legal say over what the development looks like anyway. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. And we did discuss the -- how one would find out whether a neighborhood association exists and if so who the contact person is and remind me of the answer that we received?
>> we will be using the city of Austin's data base. To the best of my knowledge, it does extend into the extra territorial jurisdiction. At least for the five miles beyond the corporate limits the data base should be, should reflect the current homeowners. There is an issue then once beyond that point where it's totally outside the e.t.j. And in the rural areas, whether or not we will have a data base that has all of those registered or homeowners association. We typically find that homeowners associations will be formed out of more dense developments. You are not as likely to find them in rural areas. Although they are -- like the -- like the prairie association up in new sweden, we know of them, there are some in the rural areas. Hill country alliance is another one out in the far southwest. But so we believe that we can at least point the applicant to those groups, that we know about. Even if we are not registered with the city of Austin. It is our intent to use the city's data base for the main purpose of this ordinance.
>> I know that even in my precinct in
>> [indiscernible] joe mentioned the black land prairie folks, but not only that, we have several other groups such as park springs and that's a good example of one, park springs neighborhood association. As neighborhood associations come before the court in the e.t.j. Areas, we make note of that, I know I do in my precinct, I know the other Commissioners do in theirs. We share, I know that I share my information as far as the neighborhood association with t.n.r. So I don't see that that would be a down side I guess in this proper process as far as notification is concerned. Especially letting you know that we -- that we have a -- an -- access to those groups.
>> thank you, Commissioner. Does that mean that the counties are assuming utility liability for verification on the list. That if the -- if the property owner makes a good faith effort to provide that notice and do the listing that -- that their projects will not be -- will not be -- held in jeopardy because of the failure to notify?
>> I think that's a fact question. I think we will have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Fact in the facts show that there was a good faith effort to contact all of the homeowners associations that are relevant, that's going to be -- that's going to be a fact question, certainly. But I think to -- to use that as an argument not to make an effort to improve our notification procedures, is -- is putting the cart before the horse.
>> it will take some time to perfect implementation of the policy. It does seem to me that we ought to check the area outside the five mile e.t.j. Ourselves, try to determine whether a neighborhood association exists and so for keep a list of them. So if we -- by partnering with applicants, I think we can work our way through this. But our -- our goal is not to have a gotcha. It basically is to give interested neighborhood associations notice in advance. So if they want to take action they will be able to do so.
>> I think it's really been -- thank you for coming down. It's good to see you here. But in the interests of -- of I think good public policy, I believe that this is a step I think in the right direction to -- to -- to notify accordingly. I just really believe that. This is the right step to take. So -- but I hear you and if there are any glitches that are in this -- in this initiative, from jump street, I would -- I would work diligently to make sure that those glitches are addressed. So if you see any glitches, I want you to call my office and let me know, hey, Commissioner, in your precinct, in precinct one, blah blah blah blah blah, I will definitely find out exactly what we can do about that situation. How is that?
>> I think that's very good Commissioner. Also, I -- I always hate to say good things about staff with them sitting right next to me
>> [laughter]
>> you don't think joe --
>> he may think I'm trying to kiss up or something. But the staff really has been very good about working with us.
>> exactly.
>> we hope that will continue in the future. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> this is action item no. 16 on today a's agenda. Move that the public hearing be closed.
>> that passes by unanimous vote.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, October 31, 2007, 18:30 AM