Travis County Commissioners Court
October 30, 2007
Item 4
4. Receive presentation from the Travis County historical commission.
>> good morning, judge Biscoe, Commissioners. My name is barry hutchinson, currently serving as the chair of the Travis County historical commission. We are here today to give you a very brief presentation of some information just concerning the commission so that you know who you have appointed and what we do. We are in attendance here in addition to me marty
>> [indiscernible], nancy hamilton, hattie hanson, may smith
>> [indiscernible] all either officers or committee chairs in our commission.
>> you all are welcome to come forward. Let us get a good look at you.
>> and we have a member of our -- of our certified local government committee, bill hamilton, who -- who you probably -- many of whom you probably know.
>> probably too well.
>> [laughter]
>> in brief, our county Commissioner is one of 254 across the state, each Commissioner appointed by county judge and Commissioners court. We have -- we have -- the purpose of this is to conduct programs with the preservation of the county's cultural and historical resources. Travis County has extra visibility because it has the state capitol top here and also is the home of the headquarters of the Texas historical commission, which is our oversight organization. We as you know, as you well know, the Commissioner -- your court members appoint our commission for two year terms beginning in January, nod number of years, we currently have 23 members in our commission, volunteers all. With oversight by the Texas historical commission. From September to June, every month, on Wednesday, first Wednesday of the month. And we have an operating budget of -- of $1,942. Which we may be asking a little bit to expand when we get into some new programs at thc or the historical commission is ordering. Our current projects --
>> I second that motion.
>> [laughter]
>> our current projects is -- is a list of a few things that we have already underway or are beginning to do. We have a cultural heritage project that -- with the elementary school students presenting papers that they have researched about their families. Those awards are made regularly. We have a -- an awards ceremony coming up on December 11th at the caruth administration building. You are certainly welcome to attend. We are in the process of updating a 1936 publication of Travis County rural schools that -- that -- when that was published, the book was published in 1936, the -- it excluded schools of african-american, for african-american children. We are trying to get that publication supplemented by a new -- a new african school group and that -- that publication should be out very soon. We are also currently working with the county staff to update and reprint the -- the history of the county courthouse brochure that we are working on. We've had it out at one time and -- we need to expand that. We currently have two historical markers in progress that we should be ready for dedication soon. The becker elementary school and seaholm power plant. Those dedications should be coming up in a few months and you certainly will get invitations to those. We have five markers, the projects in the works now, for the next coming year, so it's been -- a little busier on that front than we have done before, that sometimes requires some of our money, although these five are all sponsored by other agencies. We are also trying to update inventory and update our records on the existing markers to know if they still are where they are supposed to be and what condition they are if they need to be refaced or replenished a bit. Finally, our -- our big project involves our certified local government committee. So certified local government was formed in -- in 2004 when -- when the county successfully became a certified local government and the program is coordinated by the Texas historical commission to channel federal funds from -- through the national park service for a preservation -- for preservation projects. We have currently completed two historic survey, resource surveys that we will have here addressed briefly in just a second. Both with funding and support by the county, which we really appreciate. Both of these projects were conducted by preservation central resource agency here. And under the leadership of the principal consultant terry myers. Final two reports have been published and submitted to the Texas historical commission, also copies in the Austin history city. Additional copies will be given to the libraries in the various areas. Two project, within an update of an east Austin survey, the second was a survey of downtown manor. The next project proposals we are thinking will focus on the rural county areas, outside of municipalities so that we can document and record those features that might be in jeopardy as our county grows. And we will be submitting documents for those later -- grant documents later this summer, this year. As I say, we have worked with preservation central on our two projects and we were very pleased with the work there. While -- while our future contract work on these types of projects are -- will be bid out through the county using the regular system, we do hope that we have equally good results. I would like to introduce terry myers now, consultant who worked on these two projects for a couple of brief remarks about what those projects are and how they are valued certainly in our preservation work.
>> thanks, I am terry myers, I have worked here out of my home office which is a historic house, we got to talk or talk. The first project that I did hear for Travis County was this east Austin survey, now, some years ago I had done a survey of a large portion of east Austin from about 9th street north to 16th and east of i-35 to chicon and did this full survey and among those -- that -- within that historic area we identified a number of properties that we considered high priorities. That they were either very significant for architect your or for the historic -- architecture or for the historic associations that people had made. There was l.c. Anderson's house was among those properties. Then there was some houses and school buildings and a clique and things that had been really important to the community -- a clinic and things that had been really important to the community. When Travis County decided to do their project, what we did, we went back to those approximately 30 properties and we more fully documented them with black and white archival photographs, color digital photographs. We mapped them and made recommendations as to whether they should be listed in the national register of historic places or as local landmarks, that sort of a thing. I'm going to give you this real quick. You can pass it around. The report talks about our survey, our findings and our recommendations.
>> is that the only copy that you have?
>> it's the only copy that I have. You know what, if you would like a copy I can get you a copy.
>> I really would like to have a copy. You have brought up some good points, especially the area that you mentioned. That's the area that I was born and raised in. So --
>> that area --
>> [multiple voices]
>> one of the -- we'll get you
>> [multiple voices]
>> I would like to have it, especially when you are talking about east Austin.
>> let me ask you a question. Can you tell me -- it's a big push as far as development of central east Austin and in that area, of course, property values I guess have about just gone through the roof as far as properties are concerned. These particular properties in a you have document -- that you have documented for historical purposes, can you tell me what would be the disposition of that if -- if someone wanted to come in and of course you have these mcmansions, all of this other kind of stuff, some of it really driving folks, well the property values are going out the roof. How are those particular properties protected from that type of encroachment of the mcmansion type of high dollar homes?
>> the mcmansion ordinance does address that. If there is a series of small houses on a street and somebody wants to come in and put a three story house, but there are loop holes in that, too.
>> I have heard there was.
>> this just happened on juniper street. We have three small turn of the century houses and then somebody just built -- especially because of its siting it's just enormous, gigantic. But the mcmansion ordinance is something in that. What would really save a neighborhood from that kind of thing is having a local historic districts. Having local historic districts diminishes the ability to demolish existing buildings and to preserve existing buildings and protect them from inappropriate new construction.
>> that's another issue. Not really on this agenda item. I would like to pursue some type of historical preservation there, there is a lot of historical data in those structures, a lot of significance in that part of the city.
>> there really is. I worked there for a long time. I did a survey about -- of about 600 buildings in that area between 9th and 16th, 11th street corridors, juniper street, all of that area. It has changed so much in the 10 years since they did that original survey. Nobody paid attention to the recommendations and we have lost a lot of historic fabric. Fabric that's -- that was really significant that were landmarks to the african-american --
>> call my office on this local historical district and we will discuss that and see what we can do about it. Thank you.
>> the project that the Commissioner most recently undertook was a survey of the town of manor. We looked at 182 properties in manor. Of those we found that 15 were very significant either for their architecture or their association with the local community. And we made recommendations that manor go forward and establish a historic district, they have a little historic district and if you can see a picture of it on page 18. This is the -- this is mapping it out. If you turn to page 18 you will see the downtown commercial buildings with a big water tower in the background, that was the water town that leonardo dicaprio climbed in the movie what's eating gilbert grape. We decided it was eligible for national register just because
>> [laughter] of its engineering associations and because of the association with leo. But more importantly johnny depp
>> [laughter] so ... So that -- believe it or not, the edges of manor are beginning to blend with the edges of Austin. But still in all they have a little downtown area that just takes you right back to the early 20th century. And we're hoping to give them -- we're going to be making a presentation to -- to powerpoint presentation to their commission or to their city council to try to talk to you about ways that they can save their resources. Will be endangered as more and more development happens. If anyone has any questions, please, you know, please ask. I have a card, I can talk to you further about anything that you might be interested in.
>> please call my office.
>> I shall.
>> give me a holler.
>> I will.
>> as you can see, your historical commission is hard at work on a variety of historical preservation topics and in 2006 and in again this year the commission was awarded distinguished service award by the Texas historical commission for our work in the programs. So with your support we certainly hope -- plan to continue those efforts. Unless you have questions this conclusions or presentation, we appreciate your time.
>> questions?
>> one of the markers that you are going to put on -- what school did you say?
>> becker.
>> in south Austin?
>> yes.
>> good. That's where I twoants went to school.
>> good. You will all be getting I invitations to that.
>> barry was talking about going out into the rural areas, this is so, so important because we know that we are going to lose a lot of resources, we want to at least document them and be able to have them used as a planning tool, have our documents be used as a planning tool. If they know they are going to run a road out in that area, if they knew that the school is right there. Perhaps they could plan to move it a little bit further away and not take out, you know, the last two room school in central Texas.
>> thank you, thank you very much committee members, appreciates your service.
>> [ applause ]
>> I received an e-mail about the -- didn't I receive an e-mail about the December affair?
>> yes, sir.
>> okay.
>> we will get back with you on that, okay?
>> thank you all very much.
>> thank you all.
>> Commissioner, Commissioner Daugherty, we are always looking for opportunities in precinct 3. Let us know.
>> okay.
>> good to see you 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, October 31, 2007, 18:30 AM