Travis County Commissioners Court
November 25, 2008
Item 4
>> 4.
>> number 4 is consider and take appropriate action regarding the new site location and building footprint of the new precinct 1 office building at 3705 heflin lane, Austin, Texas.
>> good morning.
>> [inaudible].
>> good morning,.
>> amy is product manage other precinct 1 office building.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> if the
>> [inaudible] about four months ago we came to the court and we presented the option for the new precinct 1 office building. And the court did approve that the plan on the far right side, you know, to have a l shape and close to heflin lane and springdale. En also the layout and the program, but we took it again to our neighborhood in that area and we met with them about three times. And we discussed the layout, discussed the location, discussed the landscape and all of this project as a whole. And they decided that, you know, they should be -- located on the back side of the property rather than in front. And a lot of discussion went back and forth with the -- with the neighborhood and finally unanimously they approved the new layout which is two wings which is a connection between them. I would like to ask now our project manager to go ahead and give you more briefing about the layout and the program and for the jp 1 and constable 1. Go ahead.
>> amy lambert, project manager for the precinct 1 project. The initial floor plan program was conceived with -- in our department with the double of judge scott and constable mercer at the site over several months. And so they worked very closely on the program and the offices they would need, the square footage they would need and came up with this plan that articulates the corner at heflin lane and springdale south of mlk. Mlk runs 8:00 ting the on that far corner, the upper left-hand corner of the plan. When we presented it to the neighbors, however, they had very serious concerns about the security of the building being right there at the corner. That's a very active commercial district. And they were worried about the security of the employees, they were worried about the sight safety, they were worried about people gathering on the site and crossing it on all sides. They were also worried about the proximity of the building to the very heavily trafficked springdale road and mlk is also heavily trafficked area. So they had very strong concerns. And felt that if the building were pushed into the site more, they would feel a lot more secure. The neighbors would feel a little bit better about it and the employees would feel a little better about it. So what we did over the course of three meetings was ultimately come up with a new footprint for the back part of that site that uses all of the spaces that we have agreed upon were necessary for the program of the building and all of functions and keeping the same space relationships, but creating a new building that instead of being joined by a lobby and a courtroom at the junction of two l-shaped wings, that we would make kind of a h-shaped building and the central adjoining lobby would be in the middle. And the neighbors -- they liked that plan a lot better. Also, even though we're closer to the neighbors, the folks who are on the cul-de-sac to the east of the site would get two short ends of the wings and the folks who are on oak cliff to the south side, they would be as far away from the longest site of the elevation of the building too. Also one of the aspects we would like to bring to the building is sustainability. We would like to make this a green building. Whether we go with leed or Austin energy, we have yet to decide. But with this plan we have a better site orientation that is in alignment with a lot of the green building site orientation issues. The longer side, the longer exposures are at the north and south side with shorter exposure to the east and west elevation and that's definitely worth several points no matter which green building program we go with.
>> if I may add, this building right now is going to be designed right now for a 10-year spans horizontally. Right few, as you can see, this is going to take 10 years from now. If constable 1 and (p 1 expand, they will expand within the building. In the future if there is going to be expansion, it's going to be vertically. We're going to go ahead and design the foundation to carry two levels for the future. The location is a great location, you know, for the buildings and retention and -- in time of quality -- term of quality water ponds and detention ponds, we're going to work with the city on that. The other things as the schedule, the schedule was originally to be completed by December 2009. Now we are trying to move it toward January 2010, about five months of an extension on the project because we -- from the time -- because we met with the neighborhood and now we have different -- all the planning right now for the geo technical. Also the budget was approved on this for $3,029,000, and I believe we're going to keep it constant and reach what we did in order to take care of the extra square footage between the two wings. We cut down on our contingency and I think we can do it within the same amount of dollar you approved for us to build these new buildings. And I believe I would like you for today approve the location, the new location and also the layout as a h-shape and l-shape so we can get direction to move forward with the design and build this building.
>> I move approval.
>> second.
>> and I'd like to thank the neighborhoods, in fact the judge attended several meetings of the neighborhoods and this is really what I consider coming together on some issues that they have -- that they had. Of course, they have agreed with this particular concept and I think we need to move forward with that. But, of course, there will be a delay so, in fact, I was attending a funeral the other day and one of the constituents came to me and asked me, well, Commissioner, when will we get the final version and completion of the precinct 1 office building. And I told them that it will probably be a delay since we've had so much neighborhood input into this process, it kind of had to do some redesign and rethinking. Of course, I would like to thank everybody that participated and I think, judge, you participated in -- I think maybe a meeting more than I did, but we did have representatives there. And judge scott, of course, who has been involved with this and judge -- well, constable mercer and, of course, the new elected constable danny thomas. So we've all come together on this and I think it's a great project and let's see if we can get it in by the completion date of June of 2010.
>> what impact will this project have on the new tax assessor's office?
>> there will be no impact on that because the entrance and exit for the new building is separate than the entrance and the exit of the tax office. Totally separate. But one thing about -- the good thing about this build ing is right now on the back side of the property, now the existing building, facility management no longer recommends demolishing this building in the future to be used for other program. It's a good building, nice building. We can't renovate for whatever the Commissioners court wishes to provide and it's good solid, structurally.
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners] now I understand that -- that the -- there is a recommendation in c. That we authorize the purchasing agent, agreements of this kind information of telecommunications director, that would require a new agenda item to be brought back.
>> oh, okay.
>> but we can take a and b.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:37 PM