Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 21
Twenty-one 21.
revised: consider and take appropriate action on the following requests: land conservation program guidelines; resolution to conserve natural and cultural resources in Travis County; and setting a public hearing to receive comments regarding the land conservation program guidelines and the adoption of the resolution.
so what you have before you is a set of guidelines that my staff worked up with representatives of the community, and in addition to that we have a resolution that we've been advised will be helpful to those interested in tax purposes.
and finally I would just say that we wanted to have a public hearing on this, and after you've had a chance to digest it, we would like to establish a public hearing, which would be our public procedure for adopting policy.
so if you have questions about the guidelines, be glad to answer them for you.
>> they are pretty comprehensive.
thank you for putting these together.
as we go along, we will be able to tweak these guidelines through experience.
>> I think so.
they are going to be somewhat dynamic until things settle down.
>> I want to thank you for how t.n.r.
reached out and it's a good document.
>> that's kudos to my staff.
>> I will need at least another week.
>> okay.
>> and I suggest that we allow at least two, preferably four weeks' notice before the public hearing.
>> okay.
so in my view the court ought to have another discussion so we can indicate we are pretty close to a draft policy for the public to view and comment on so it won't be a waste of their time.
I think it's too late to get this done before the November election.
>> I would agree.
>> and folks I've chatted with have appreciated a little bit more than a week's notice to prepare for to give public comments at a public hearing on a policy document.
so -- but I can be ready next Tuesday for action and I think after that what we ought to do is plan to schedule a public hearing two -- two to four weeks later.
>> okay.
that's fine.
I did want to let you know about one applicant that will be coming forward in a separate agenda item within the next couple of weeks that because of his time constraints on federal grant moneys, he would like you all to consider a waiver of some sort to allow him to proceed through our process, but that's for another day.
>> and at least we have a suggested framework at this point.
>> that's right.
we are able to rate his proposal using this.
>> did we attempt to tailor our proposal after some our jurisdiction's policy?
>> we did look at our jurisdictions, and there are probably pieces of those policies embedded in ours.
I could try to highlight that for you if it will be helpful for you for your deliberations over the next week or so.
>> it would help me.
>> okay.
>> it would also help me to understand why a particular provision is highlighted, and what I would like to conclude is some jurisdiction has found that to be invaluable and the reasons why.
>> okay.
>> and I assume that if we were to review a lot of policies from other jurisdictions, some provisions we would find objectionable ourselves and wouldn't recommend adoption, right?
>> that's possible, yes.
>> who should I chat with for this?
>> I can ask wendy to give you a call.
>> what's her last name?
>> scaparato.
>> every time I venture to pronounce it.
I hate to call her miss wendy, that sounds southern.
>> there's miss scaparato.
>> I'll get my tape recorder and work on pronouncing that.
>> judge, wendy just stepped up if you have a question for her right now.
>> some of my questions are better for the privacy of an office since I don't know answers to them.
but I do appreciate the backup that I've been provided.
>> you're welcome.
>> anything else on this?
miss scaparato?
thank you for coming.
>> well, thank you, it was great being here.
>> [laughter]
>> 21 we'll have back on next week.
if we were to put a hearing date in c, what date would we think of?
want to compromise and say three weeks from November 1st?
>> sure.
>> that's around the 22nd.
>> that's fine.
>> that's just an opportunity to give additional notice of the hearing date.
>> the only concern, judge, I think that's thanksgiving week.
there may be people out.
you might want to roll us until after thanksgiving.
>> do you think 29th is better?
>> yes, sir.
>> okay.
>> that's after.
they may not come back.
>> [laughter] they may not be back by then.
>> by the way, I advised people I thought we would reach 23 this afternoon.
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