Let's start with the weeks happenings.
ZAPCO meet in regulars session May 2, 2012.
Here is the agenda with the results of the votes - thanks Chessie! ZAPCO is the Zoning and Planning Commission, there are 7 members plus alternates, they meet monthly on all types of zoning and planning issues and are all volunteers.
CBC (City Building Commission) will meet May 10th.
Here is that agenda. The Building Commission meets twice a month and looks at requested variances and waivers plus inspects new homes and remodels to insure compliance with ordinances. The commission is made up of 7 members and alternates and are all volunteers.
City Staff met with the Lakeway Medical Village Developers Monday to discuss the eminent completion of Flint Rock Trace and 620 improvements and also looked at additional development and building issues. There will be preliminary plans in the very near future.
From Chief Todd Radford:
1. There were several officers in Basic TCLEOSE instructors school.
2. We are working on a server upgrade project that will improve functionality.
3. The LPD Color Guard presented the flags at the National Day of Prayer ceremony at the Activity Center on May 3.
4. The final tally for the drug tack back program and 337 lbs. of medications were collected!
Congratulations to Julie Oakley and her staff! For the 3rd year in a row, the City has been awarded the highest level (gold) award by the State Comptrollers office. According to their website, this award identifies "entities that are setting the bar with their transparency efforts".
The process is starting on the FY 2013 budget.
Here is a link to scheduled meetings.
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Now more City Info. I have been bombarded with election flyers and letters - most saying the City is not concerned with children and parks. Thank you to Andra Dearing for collecting this info. Here is a list of current parkland and amenities the City provides to residents, those with (GS) are considered Green Space and are currently undeveloped:
• City Park (P)
• Dragon Park (P)
• Porpoise Park (P)
• Swim Center Park (P)
• Heritage Park (P)
• Rebel Park (GS)
• Sailfish Park (GS)
• Seawind Park (GS)
• Lakeway Park #1 (GS)
Here is a list of the current trails:
• Hamilton Greenbelt I
• Hamilton Greenbelt II
• Hamilton Greenbelt Primitive Trails
• Smith Greenbelt Primitive Trail
• City Park Trail
• Dragon Park Trail
• City Hall Trail
• Hurst Creek Road Greenbelt
• Canyonlands Primitive Trails
• Lakeway Boulevard Trail
Here are the Facilities:
• Swim Center
• Skatepark
• Activity Center
• Heritage Center
• Live Oak Tennis Courts
• Sailmaster Sport Court
Here are a few of the Activities offered:
• City-wide events including Eggstravaganza, Movies in the Park, Dive-in Movies in the Pool, July 4th, The Great Goblin Glow, Breakfast with Santa, and the Annual Trail of Lights
• Opportunities for first-time employment through the Swim Center as Front Desk and Concession Attendants or Lifeguards
• Summer Camps through the Activity Center
Here is a link to a partial list of activities provided by the Activity Center, it was too long to post on the blog.
As you can see, the City and its elected officials are very interested in providing facilities for residents.
I also would like to see ball parks and larger facilities for our youth - consider, it sounds good, but large land purchases (
if available) inside the confined City Limits would be VERY expensive, almost impossible. I have spoken with County Officials and would like to get Travis County involved in more facilities. Their money has been spent on land purchases of late and none are currently being developed. Do we need to improve our facilities? Of course! Do we need to do this in a responsible manner? You bet!
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Think about what is being said, and the sources. Much is coming from individuals that have only lived in our fair City for a few months yet have been availing themselves of the available facilities and parkland for years without supporting them by paying property taxes!
When I was first introduced to Lakeway (my Aunt had a house here in 1971) the demographics were substantially different. 95% of the residents were retired and it was considered an upscale retirement community. As the demographics changed, our City has adapted to support the growing and significantly younger population, trying to represent those folks moving in in droves. The current Council continues to try to represent
ALL of the citizens of Lakeway.
I keep seeing references to "illegal" annexations - once again, the complainant's lawsuit was
dismissed at a Summary Judgment hearing - more than $70,000 billed to the residents? I'm not sure where this figure comes from, but not from our checkbook. And remember, the City is defending itself, we did not file the lawsuit! It appears this is the ultimate issue for one of the candidates.
Once again, as far as Recovery Ways is concerned, once Council found out what was going in, they made rapid decisions that stopped this from happening. They then made corrections to current ordinances to keep this same situation from happening again. The original application was written to conform to the C-1 ordinance, maybe not in the best interest of our City.
Does Council and Senior Staff look at every business application in the City? No, 200-300 applications are received every year and our ordinances handle almost all of them properly. Was there an issue on this one? Maybe, but it's fixed now.
Currently, Recovery Ways has sold the initial property and may have lost the money it used for land preparation. The high figure I hear quoted includes monies they claim to have lost because they are not open and making money. It also includes building plans that they can use if they decide to locate somewhere else.
I started writing this blog to try to give as much information to the community as I could. You can bet if I know about it and can talk about it (legal and personnel issues have some restrictions), its in my blog. I am becoming offended at the attacks directed to our current Council. I personally voted in favor of the unilateral annexation of both North Brooks Hollow and Travis Oaks Trails because I felt it was in the best interest of
ALL of the citizens of Lakeway.
There are recordings of all of the annexation public hearings on the City website. Feel free to listen to these, it might surprise you as to the statements of some of the "candidates" issues. Turns out Austin Police made a bust in North Brooks Hollow.
Here is a link to the federal complaint against two of the most outspoken.
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Thank you for reading this blog. If you have questions, please feel free to email me - I try to be open and responsive to any questions. My goal is to keep Lakeway a desirable destination and maintain the quality of life our residents have come to enjoy. Please consider ALL available information and vote accordingly - it is important to get people elected that don't have an agenda and that want the best for our wonderful City. Remember, you moved here for a reason.......
That's all for now!
Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us
