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August 30, 2021 Hello neighbors,  I hope you all have had a relaxing and healthy summer. It's certainly been an odd one - we were all looking ahead to almost-normal activities this fall, but the Delta variant has changed many of our plans. That being said, we're all learning to operate in this new normal - adjusting plans and trying new things. One of those will be our next membership meeting! I think many of us are tired of Zoom, so our next General Membership meeting will be held safely outdoors, at Mathews Elementary. We hope you can join us for what will hopefully be a warm (but not too hot!) late summer evening with our neighbors. More details later in this newsletter. The City of Austin guidelines for Stage 5 recommend masks for outdoor events even for those that are vaccinated, so we will follow those guidelines and strongly recommend that you wear a mask. Thank you for your cooperation. Also in this edition of the OWL is an update on the many developments in our neighborhood, and photos of past and future events & happenings in our neighborhood Looking forward to seeing many of you on September 7! Sincerely, Adrienne Goldsberry Steering Committee Chair Forward Share Share Tweet General Meeting Info SEPTEMBER GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Our next general membership meeting is on Tuesday, September 7, at 7 p.m. It will be held on the 'blacktop' at the rear of Mathews Elementary School (906 W. Lynn St) - entrance to the blacktop is from Robertson St. We are exploring options to also offer it via Zoom. Looking forward to seeing you there! A draft agenda is below; a final one will be available at the meeting. I. Call to Order (7:00) II. Approval of Minutes - VOTE III. Treasurer’s Report IV. New Business/Announcements/Special Guests       A. APD Officer William Harvey on preventing and       reporting neighborhood crime       B. City of Austin projects            1) Water/wastewater work on 9th & 12th Sts.            2) Council Redistricting         C. Friends of West Austin Park - update   on Overlook project          D. New Steering Committee nominations - VOTE V. Committee Reports         A. Affordable Housing - Marissa      B. Zoning      C. Events      D. Membership      E. Parks      F. Technology      G. Transportation and Public Safety VI. Other Business & Announcements     A.  ACL Festival Update and ticket raffle     B.  Renaming of Lamar Beach to Volma Overton Sr. Shores - VOTE VII. Adjourn NOTE: Votes can be taken on any agenda item Tell Your Neighbors about OWANA! Please remind your neighbors and the local businesses you frequent to join OWANA. Send them to ​www.owana.org/join where residents can join online and business can download an application form. Thank you for coming to tonight’s meeting and for making a difference in your neighborhood!   Steering Committee NEW MEMBER NOMINATIONS We are in need of 2 new Steering Committee (SC) members - Ellen Justice will no longer be serving on the Steering Committee (thank you for your service, Ellen!), and as many of you know former OWANA SC Chair Brockett Davidson moved to Portland, Oregon in June. The Steering Committee meets monthly to discuss neighborhood issues and trends, plan for upcoming events, coordinate information for general membership meetings, etc. Two residents have agreed to join the SC: 1) Current Events Committee Chair Claudette Kazzoun. 2) Kevin Kimbrough, who works in the commercial/office real estate field and has two young children. We will take a vote at the General Membership meeting on having these two residents join the Steering Committee. Zoning COMMITTEE REPORT The following was provided by Rosemary Merriam & Maureen Metteauer, Chair & Member of the Zoning Committee, respectively. HR-21-101144 – 613 West Lynn Street – Application for a building permit to construct a second story, a basement addition, a detached garage and an ADU with a carport. The project came before the HLC Architectural Review Board.  The board requested that the front of the bungalow be kept as is and that the windows on the second story match the windows of the bungalow.  Zoning met twice with the representative of the property owner and agreed with the suggestions made by the HLC Architectural Review.  Once the changes were made, Zoning approved the reworked design. HR-2021-078188 – 1415 West 10th Street – Request for a building permit to build a new single-family residence with an attached garage and detached pool cabana and demolition of a non-contributing garage/apartment at the back of the property.  The neighbor on the east side of the building requested that any windows on the new house be changed to allow privacy for his bedroom windows.  Preservation of certain trees (such as post oaks) were requested by both neighbors on either side. Zoning met twice with the architect. The project was postponed a month due to HLC staff questions regarding the new construction.  Due to the size and massiveness of the property, zoning members requested that trees or large bushes be planted in front of the garage in order to soften barrack type building which fronts the property.  The architect was encouraged to put a fence at the front of the property several feet back from the property line.  The City’s Historic Landmark Commission approved the new construction on consent.   C15-2021-008 – 1308 West 9 ½ Street – Request for variance to increase Floor Area Ration from .4 to 1.0 to build an additional bedroom and bathroom in their second story.  The home is zoned SF3 and .4 FAR is the standard in the land development code.  The Board of Adjustment (BOA) met on August 9 and postponed the case. The Zoning committee met with the owners on August 19 and discussed proposed plans.        The Zoning committee voted 4-3 to oppose the variance as it may set a precedent for future developers and others to seek similar increases to build out of scale with the neighborhood. The case will be heard at the September 13, 2021 BOA  meeting.     C14-2021-0081 – Walsh and West 5th Streets – Endeavour Real Estate Group has purchased several lots at the northeast corner of West 5th Street and Walsh Street. The firm filed an application to rezone the property from CS-MU-V-CO-NP and CS-MU-CO-NP to LI-PDA to allow for a potential residential building of 450 multi-family units, OR 70,000 square feet office space with potential first-floor retail. The final use of the proposal has not been established. Initially, the applicants, as represented by Armbrust & Brown, requested 110 feet in building height. The current zoning allows for 60 feet. The City has since reduced approval to 90 feet. The firm is seeking to negotiate with OWANA to ensure smooth re-zoning process. The Zoning Committee is developing a proposal that they will then present to Endeavor in order to reach a restrictive covenant that will govern the project. The application is likely to be heard in mid-September at the City’s Planning Commission.   Neighborhood News West Austin Pool Opened This Summer! If you recall from the last OWL newsletter, OWANA had written a letter to the City of Austin Parks & Recreation Department, as well as Councilmember Kathie Tovo, advocating for the West Austin Pool to open this summer. The City of Austin hired lifeguards continuously throughout the summer, and while we had to a wait a while, the pool opened on July 27! It will be open this upcoming weekend (September 4 & 5), and Labor Day (September 6), from 12-7pm! Kudos to PARD for their hard work opening the pools despite staff shortages. As you can see from the photo below, it's a popular place to be. Be sure to visit the pool before it closes!   Neighborhood News ACL FEST TICKET RAFFLE & AUCTION   ACL Fest is back! As we have done in the past, OWANA will be holding a raffle for 3-day passes to ACL Fest! You must be a dues-paying member of OWANA, and you must be present at the September 7 General Membership Meeting to win. We will also be holding an online auction of passes too. More details will be forthcoming in an email, so keep an eye out for that! The funds from the auction go toward planning neighborhood events and other OWANA activities. And as usual, be prepared for additional noise during those weekends, as well as more foot and vehicle traffic. But it's all part of living in our urban neighborhood! Neighborhood Events 4th of JULY CELEBRATION We had an impromptu but well-attended neighborhood 4th of July Celebration. The rain held off, but made for some beautiful skies, and a good time was had by all. Here are a few pics if you missed it!

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