'Confused' and 'brain dead' council okays new bridge over Town Lake

Bicyclists and pedestrians to get separate span

A bridge over troubled political waters will finally be built. With Mayor Kirk Watson absent, the City Council voted 6-0 at 12:45 a.m. this morning to approve a construction contract with Jay-Reese Construction of Austin for $6.9 million for a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Town Lake, east of the existing Lamar Bridge. The bridge should open around Mother's Day next year, much to the relief of joggers, walkers and bicyclists who have been sharing an elevated and dangerous sidewalk that's three and a half feet wide and drops off sharply to main traffic lanes over the heavily traveled Lamar Bridge. A jogger on the west side of the bridge was killed recently when a driver lost control of his vehicle.

The vote to approve the contract came immediately after a motion had failed on a 2-4 vote to amend the design contract awarded to HDR Engineering Inc. in April 1994. The motion would have added $82,000 for load-rating analysis services to determine if the existing Lamar Bridge is capable of supporting cantilevered sections on each side for bicyclists and pedestrians. Only Council Members Bill Spelman and Beverly Griffith voted for the motion.

A preliminary analysis of Lamar Bridge's capability to support the cantilevered sections by engineers Jerry Garcia and Chuck Naeve indicated the bridge could easily carry the additional load. These engineers were not retained by the city but were working in conjunction with architects Sinclair Black and Tom Hatch, who fiercely advocated the cantilevered option. More tests would be needed, however, to determine if the arch ribs, main pier columns and traverse floor beams are strong enough to allow enlarging the existing 3.5-foot-wide sidewalks to up to 12 feet. That's the work that would have been performed by HDR had the council so ordered. Black contended the Lamar Bridge could carry the cantilevered sections and could be built faster and save "not less than $5 million" compared to the cost of the separate bridge.

Council Member Spelman said the cantilevered option would save between $500,000 and $2 million compared to the separate bridge. Peter Rieck, director of Public Works and Transportation Department, said the cantilever would take somewhat longer to build than a separate bridge. The estimated schedule Rieck gave the council shows the separate bridge should be completed May 15, 2001, while the completion of only the cantilever on the west side of the Lamar Bridge would not be completed until June 25, 2001.

Lamar Bridge was built in 1942 as part of the Texas highway system under a Works Progress Administration program. In 1994 the bridge was listed in the National Register because, according to the Texas Historical Commission (THC), "it is a finely crafted and unusually late example of an open-spandrel design, and it has survived virtually unchanged since its dedication." Lyman Labry and Jamie Wise of the THC told the council that attaching cantilevered sections to the existing bridge would significantly alter the key defining characteristics of the structure and thereby constitute an "adverse impact." Lyman said constructing the separate bicycle and pedestrian bridge immediately east of Lamar Bridge would not be an adverse impact. If an adverse impact were declared the city would lose a $953,000 grant previously allocated for the project, Labry said.

"We would hope we could talk you out of (the cantilevered option)," Wise said. "It's the last surviving art deco bridge in the state. All the others have been altered." Aside from withdrawing the funds, if the city insisted on building the cantilevered option, Wise said, "We could take it to court, but I doubt that would happen."

Architect Girard Kinney, who designed the pedestrian and bicycle additions to the side of the Drake Bridge over Town Lake at South 1st Street, argued that even 12-foot cantilevered sections on each side of the existing Lamar Bridge would not be adequate for simultaneous use by bicycling commuters, joggers, walkers, dogs and people stopping to take pictures. "A separate bridge allows for vigorous two-way traffic," he said. (By way of comparison, Kinney told In Fact Daily the walkways on each side of the Drake Bridge are 10 feet wide. Rieck told In Fact Daily the pedestrian bridge under MoPac Expressway is slightly less than 12 feet wide.)

The separate bridge approved by the council for construction will extend from the south shore of Town Lake at the intersection of Lamar Boulevard and Riverside Drive to the north shore of Town Lake and will include connections to the hike and bike trails. The contract is a stripped down version of the complete design; it will not include the portion of the bicycle and pedestrian bridge that would have extended over Cesar Chavez and Sandra Muraida Way to the railroad bridge at 3rd Street.

The funding source for the project was general obligation bonds approved by voters as Proposition 18 in 1984, plus $953,252 in ISTEA funding.

In response to a question from Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman, Rieck said the City Council had voted on matters related to this project at least six times.Rieck told In Fact Daily those votes began in September 1996, when council ordered staff to examine the possibility of adding vehicular lanes to the Lamar Bridge. Ultimately the council rejected the extra vehicular lanes, rejected the cantilever, and opted for the separate bridge. When the original bids for the separate bridge came in at $8 million–about $2 million over the construction budget–the project was rebid with bid alternates requested for the northern extension to the railroad bridge and other items. It was this rebidding due to cost considerations that allowed the cantilevered option to surface once again at the request of advocates.

The council had been meeting continuously for nearly 16 hours when the final vote was cast this morning, and had spent more than an hour and a half debating the bridge options. The council members were tired and admittedly not up to par. "My brain is dead," Goodman said about 12:20 a.m. "I'm just as confused as everyone else," Council Member Gus Garcia said at 12:40 a.m.

Even at that late hour a squad of bicyclists were on hand and nettled they were not allowed to address the council. Virtually all of them, as well as some bicyclists who had signed up to speak and left earlier, were opposed to the cantilevered option and they applauded loudly when the separate bridge was approved.

Avery Ranch PUD gets City Council go-ahead as roadway problem surfaces

Cedar Park's plans to extend arterial into PUD would slice through park land

Avery Ranch Planned Unit Development (PUD), which has sailed smoothly through the city process, gained final approval from the City Council for zoning and annexation Thursday. But the PUD's developers still face a challenge because Cedar Park wants to extend Arterial A, also known as Lake Creek Parkway.

Avery Ranch is in Williamson County, north of the intersection of FM 620 and Parmer Lane between Cedar Park and Round Rock. Attorney Henry Gilmore who represents the developers, Pebble Creek Joint Venture, told the City Council that his clients are meeting with a group that is pushing for the roadway extension. However, Gilmore said the road is not in the master plan for the PUD and will not be included unless and until the City of Austin places the road on its roadway plan.

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) roadway plan is currently undergoing changes. CAMPO's policy advisory committee is scheduled to consider the changes June 12 .

Under questioning by Council Member Bill Spelman, Gilmore said, "We think there are significant environmental, park land and trail issues that have to be addressed as part of the discussion."

Spelman agreed, noting that the developers would be donating a substantial amount of proposed park land to the roadway, "and there's no route for Arterial A which could help but go through that park land." Spelman said the park land that would be lost is along Brushy Creek. In addition, he said, the cost of building a bridge across Brushy Creek would be high. Council Member Gus Garcia said he had heard that the bridge might cost $8 million.

Spelman asked Gilmore if he could talk to his clients about not filing plats in the area of the roadway until after a decision is reached on the fate of Arterial A. Gilmore said he could ask, but would offer no assurance that Pebble Creek Joint Venture would agree. If the plat were approved without the road, it would have to be amended if the road were then added to the plan.

Garcia said even though the staff of CAMPO has requested the cities of Austin and Cedar Park to work together on the roadway question, the policy group has not made such a request. Garcia said, "The city ought to take its time and take time to do it right."

Spelman said he agreed that the Environmental Board and Parks and Recreation Board should look at the roadway question, "even if it does cost us an extra 30 days."

Council Member Daryl Slusher said he was glad the developer had environmental concerns. He said he was "a little uncomfortable asking them not to file plats."

Gilmore told In Fact Daily that a toll road is slated to be built only about 500 feet away from the proposed extension of Arterial A. "It doesn't make any sense," to build another road, he said.

Garcia and Spelman hope to boost pay for those remaining on council

Council salaries already the second highest in state

Two outgoing members think the pay and car allowances for the City Council aren't enough. Council Members Gus Garcia and Bill Spelman served warning yesterday they will bring a resolution or ordinance, whichever is appropriate, to "adjust council salaries and car allowance to give effect to the compounded CPI ( Consumer Price Index) from the date of the last adjustment through the date of the most current CPI available. The salary and car allowance will go into effect July 2, 2000."

Council members currently earn $30,000 a year plus a car allowance. The mayor earns $35,000 a year. Spelman tells In Fact Daily that he has not gotten a fiscal note on the cost of the adjustment but thinks the pay raise, if implemented, would boost council members' pay to $45,000 to $50,000 a year.

Garcia and Spelman will officially leave the City Council June 15 as their successors are sworn in. Due to a prohibition in the Texas Constitution on state employees drawing a salary from the city, Spelman has served since June 1997 without pay. Garcia was elected in 1991 and is finishing nine years service.

As reported by In Fact Daily Aug. 3, 1999, the Charter Revision Commission's work that led to a recommendation for single-member districts included a review of mayoral and council pay in the state's seven most populous cities. Austin council pay ranked second behind Houston and far ahead of the larger cities of Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso. (See chart below.)

Council Salaries in Large Texas Cities

Houston

Dallas

San Antonio

Fort Worth

El Paso

Corpus

Austin

Population @

1,744,000

1,053,000

1,067,000

480,000

600,000

280,000

540,000

Size of Council

14 plus mayor #

14 plus mayor

10 plus mayor

8 plus

mayor

8 plus

mayor

8 plus

mayor

6 plus

mayor

Council Salary

Member $42,800

Mayor

$160,500 (strong mayor system)

Member and Mayor $50 per diem for each meeting

Member and Mayor $20 per meeting, $700 per month expenses, and $400 per month car allowance

Member and Mayor $75 per meeting and $2,500 per year expense allowance

Member

$17,000, Mayor

$27,500

Member

$6,000, Mayor

$9,000,

Member

$30,000

and Mayor $35,000.

@ Population estimates as of July 1, 1996. # Add two council members if Houston's population exceeds 2.1 million

Hyde Park plan approved…In a proceeding so amicable it shocked the council members, the Hyde Park Neighborhood Plan gained approval yesterday on a vote of 5-0-1-1, with Mayor Kirk Watson absent and Council Member Bill Spelman abstaining because he lives in the neighborhood. Karen McGraw, neighborhood planning chair for the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, said, "This is a wonderful day for Hyde Park. We started planning 15 years ago." Richard Naylor, representing Hyde Park Baptist Church, said some provisions of the plan seemed unfair to the church and were changed. "I hope (the plan) will provide a harmonious link between the neighborhood and the church in the future," he said. This was the fourth neighborhood plan adopted by the council and Spelman held it up as an example of the fact that such plans can be prepared "without the kind of handholding" that accompanied the first three ( Dawson, Cesar Chavez and Chestnut)… No historic zoning…At long last the City Council has made a decision regarding the historic zoning that neighbors wanted applied to the Cater Joseph House at 2824 Rio Grande St. The cost of repairing foundation problems and collateral damage of such work ranged from $100,000 to $275,000, a burden too high for most council members. A motion to approve historic zoning failed on a vote of 2-3-1-1, with Council Members Bill Spelman and Beverly Griffith voting yes, Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman abstaining and Mayor Kirk Watson absent. Council Members Gus Garcia, Willie Lewis and Daryl Slusher all voted no, saying they were loathe to impose such an expense on the owners… Partial flood relief…The City Council voted 6-0 yesterday with Mayor Kirk Watson absent to approve only part of the work that would keep homes in the LBJ Neighborhood from flooding. The neighborhood opposes the Crystal Brook Flood Control Project that would take 150 homes out of the five-year floodplain and protect them from a 100-year storm event. The project involves some 5,000 feet of earthen levee and 700 feet of reinforced concrete wall. The council voted 6-0 to approve $825,000 be added to the contract of Raymond Chan & Associates Inc. to design and manage construction of only the upgrading of the existing storm sewer serving the Crystal Brook area. Staff was instructed to work with the neighborhood and come back to the council by June 8 with an agreed solution to creek flooding. LBJ Neighborhood Association President Ike Williams said neighbors were willing to accept the risk of flooding from the creek to work this out.