Travis County Commissioners Court
September 15, 2009,
Item A1
We have in one of our executive session items, residents come down, a-1, consider and take appropriate action regarding acquisition of certain real property for habitat by humanity as part of the Travis County 2006 and 2007 community development block grant plan.
and we would take this into executive session under consultation with attorney and the real property exceptions to the open meetings act, but if you all would like to give comments on this one, now is the time.
and this is one of the matters that as we know has been pending for some time and habitat has been working through a variety of issues and just introduce yourself and tell us who you are with.
>> good morning, judge and members of the commission.
my name is vera mesaro, with qualico communities.
we are the owners of 41 lots that Austin habitat for humanity has expressed interest for purchasing in our Austin's colony sub subdivision.
this thing has been tossed around, I think we're going on year 2 that we've had discussion with Austin habitat, understanding that the federal process is quite lengthy and certainly understanding that reach to go the point where we have the -- or you all have the subrecipient agreement was lengthy.
and then in the middle of all this, we had our wonderful surprise of the t.x.i.
application.
and I think that that may bring up some red flags for y'all, and we've had some discussions with the judge basically pointing out the location of those lots in relationship to the t.x.i.
project.
those lots are located -- they are the furthest away from the proposed t.x.i.
location than any of the existing and proposed Austin colony lots.
now, we represent roughly existing there's 300 residents out of the Austin colony that we represent.
obviously there's hundreds and hundreds more of those.
and then we also have an additional 1300 lots that are planned between this Austin habitat site and the t.x.i.
location.
from a qualico perspective, they are literally in our backyard.
our property lines match.
however, this specific piece of property is further to the west and it actually abuts the new proposed -- there's a new middle school that del valle is building and so it is right adjacent to that and then the rest of it is just -- at this point just empty land.
so just some consideration to get this thing to sort of move forward.
i know that there is a schedule on the spending of the money, if I've got that correct, and so there's public notice requirements that need to go out and all sorts of things.
so just sort of trying to get this thing to push through one way or another.
any help that you can give us we would greatly appreciate.
>> and I put it on the court's agenda so it would be on our radar and so staff would give us a briefing in executive session.
>> okay.
>> because when we tried it a couple weeks ago, I said I would do that.
plus, I think the court should be mindful of it and there are other pressures on us regarding the contract, the subrecipient agreement with habitat of which we need to be mindful.
>> right.
>> and so this gives us that opportunity.
>> I do have -- judge, I'm sorry.
i don't know whether you were able to print out the maps, and I did not -- you all did get the maps because if you didn't I certainly have a copy of those.
and there should be three or four of them that actually show the location.
the lots that we're talking about will always be referred to as Austin colony 5-.
phase 5, section 3.
so whenever you see that relative to those -- the proposed t.x.i.
location.
and I'm sure we'll be here on -- but if you all need copies, I would be happy to --
>> what is the plan for the remainder of the property that sits between the plans developed portion and t.x.i.?
>> sure.
i don't know what map you are looking at because there's several of them.
could you describe what map you are looking at?
>> yeah, pull it up.
>> is this the one that is sort of purple over an aerial?
>> yeah, that will work.
>> okay.
if you look at -- we have Austin colony 5-3 to the far left and all of those streets that are basically in red on there where you have 10 existing Austin habitat and Austin colony 6-a.
is that -- is that the map?
are you looking at this map?
>> why don't you bring it up because I would like one myself.
can we have more than one?
>> yeah, I think I have two or three.
>> I've got two.
>> close enough.
i can figure it out from there.
>>
>> [inaudible].
>> no, I don't have any colored maps.
>> you don't have any colored maps and you've got --
>> yeah, with the handwritten piece.
>> is that the one?
>> uh-huh.
>>
>> [inaudible] just kind of give you an idea of how -- you can pass those around.
and I can walk you through this.
that base map was basically a notice map that t.x.i., the map that you are looking at, that t.x.i.
actually submitted during-of their public comment process.
but if you go through here, the colored maps that are getting passed out are actually more informative.
but everything from what's labeled Austin's colony 5-3 over to where you see dunlap creek road and milo, all of that is planned for residential.
we have an approved -- there's some existing houses out there, but we also have an approved preliminary plan that's called Austin's colony 6 through 13.
and in addition to that there's also a site plan for a project that we have at chapel crossing.
>> the western and the northern boundaries of t.x.i.
>> [inaudible].
>> right.
that's right.
but back to your comment, all of that is residential.
approved, existing, site plan or preliminary plan.
>> okay.
>> do we know the distance between the t.x.i.
proposed site?
>> it's a little over half mile as the crow flies.
you know, just direct, just drawing a straight line.
but obviously if you were to get there, it would probably be well over a mile because you would have to toss and turn.
you've got trees, fences, houses, you've got all sorts of things that obviously separate the two.
and one thing I wanted to point out, Austin habitat closed on some lots and actually do have about 10 existing houses on one of our subdivisions that is actually 6-a of Austin's colony, and that is much closer to thet.x.i.
project.
>> okay.
thank you much.
>> thank you.
we'll discuss this with staff in consultation with attorney and real property exceptions to the open meetings act.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 2:14 PM
