Commissioners choose two

Projects for highway funds

Travis County must compete with neighbors for STP4C money

Travis County Commissioners will submit two projects as candidates for the region’s next round of federal STP (Surface Transportation Program) 4C funds: right-of-way for State Highway 130 and Serene Hills Drive just outside Lakeway.

STP-4C funds are designed to help smaller-scale city and county projects that are deemed a priority by the region. Joe Gieselman, executive director of Transportation and Natural Resources, told commissioners the county will pick up $21.4 million in STP-4C funds for Fiscal Yyears 2003 and 2004. Travis County will compete against all cities and counties that sit on the CAMPO board.

The recommendation of SH 130 was driven by the commissioners’ wish to find sources of alternative funding to supplement the $66 million bond proposition the county will present to voters in November, Gieselman said. The expansion of Serene Hills from two-lane rural to two-lane collector from Flint Rock Road to Lakeway Drive was the suggestion of the City of Lakeway. Lakeway and Travis County would share the cost of matching funds.

Commissioners approved the choices unanimously. Commissioner Margaret Gomez was absent. The court also approved a resolution asking the City of Austin to include US Highway 183 at Technicenter Drive and the freeway lanes of US 290 West through Oak Hill on its list of recommended projects.

Commissioner Ron Davis, who represents the area around Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, expressed some concern that funding for US 183 South at Technicenter Drive was being delayed. Just last week, CAMPO brought back new estimates that doubled the cost of that span of highway from $11 million to just under $23 million. Funding on the project might now be pushed back to 2005 or 2006.

“This is a big deal for the congestion in that area,” Davis told Gieselman, asking whether the project was a priority for Austin. “We need a better way to get to ABIA. People can’t get to the airport and people can’t get home in the evening. There is an encroachment of the traffic in that area into the neighborhoods, and I want to voice their concerns about that.”

The project, however, is in the city limits of Austin, Gieselman pointed out. It would have to be Austin, he said, to bring it to the table. However, US 183 and Highway 290 are both state roads. The state could step in to set priorities for the road construction. The city also has $90 million in bonds it can now leverage for larger road projects, he added.

STP-4C will require 20 percent matching funds from the county. Under the Travis County proposal, STP-4C funds would provide $18.4 million for right-of-way on SH 130. Travis County would offer $4.6 million in funds. On Serene Hills Drive, STP-4C funds would provide $3 million. Travis County and the City of Lakeway would kick in $375,000 apiece.

CAMPO does have a number of stipulations for projects suggested for STP-4C funding. They want roads that are located within the metropolitan area that are consistent with the CAMPO 2025 plan adopted last June. They also must be ready for construction, with right-of-way acquired and utilities relocated, in the fiscal year for which the funds are requested. The project must have 20 percent matching state or local funds.

Projects will be presented to the CAMPO Policy Advisory Committee on Oct. 8. CAMPO will vote on the projects on Nov. 19 and present them to the Texas Transportation Commission next February.

Judge Sam Biscoe also proposed a bi-monthly status report on CAMPO proposals at Travis County Commissioners Court to keep those members who do not serve on the commission up to date on developments. Those briefings will be held two weeks prior to CAMPO’s Monday meeting.

Committee wants to look at

Different Brackenridge option

Some pushing city to take over second floor

Members of the Brackenridge Oversight Committee Tuesday night expressed some skepticism over the city’s plans for changes at the facility in response to new directives from the Catholic Church. Seton, the Catholic-affiliated charity that operates Brackenridge, is under church orders to stop performing medical procedures that go against church doctrine, such as tubal ligations. (See In Fact Daily, Aug. 22, 2001). The current proposal is to offer those reproductive health services on the fifth floor of Brackenridge in a “hospital within a hospital” run by the city. Staffers are still working out the operational details and the financial impact, but members of the oversight committee had reservations about how the theory would play out in practice.

Currently, many women’s health services are offered on the second floor of Brackenridge. Under the plan in development, some of those services would have to be moved to the fifth floor while others remain in their current location. “I’m still struggling with the inevitable complications that occur in what appear to be normal deliveries or the high risk patients, many of whom would want C-sections,” said committee Chair Dr. Jim Brand. “I’m going to have a hard time with how that’s going to be okay, but I’m willing to be convinced.” Brand said the possibility of shuttling doctors and patients between two different floors didn’t seem practical. “I’ve never heard of a facility that delivers babies three floors apart from each other. Clearly, it’s best for the babies to be delivered close to the N-ICU.” Board member DeAnn Friedholm also had some pointed questions about the logistics of the split between the second floor and the fifth floor. “We who support reproductive services are being asked to look at a bifurcated system with regard to tubal ligations,” she said.

Assistant City Manager Betty Dunkerly provided the committee with as much information as she had available, but noted that the staff was still working to find answers to many of their questions. “We really are just to that point where we’re trying to analyze how the patients would flow and how that would be handled,” Dunkerly said. “We’ve had two public meetings and received a lot of good input. One of the reasons we’re not further along in our analysis is that we keep getting ideas, good ideas, that we incorporate.” Dunkerly also told the committee that some of the key staffers working on the plan had been traveling last week and were affected both by the nationwide shutdown of air travel and the impact of Hurricane Gabrielle in Florida.

Committee members also had questions about the possibility of the city assuming responsibility for all reproductive services at Brackenridge, not just those that would be prohibited by Seton. That proposal could involve assuming control of the hospital’s second floor, not the fifth. Dunkerly pointed out that that option might have unanticipated financial consequences. “I think Seton wants to have a complete hospital, one that provides a full range of services,” she said. “We don’t want to weaken them financially, and yet we want to work together to address this issue of reproductive services.”

Activists who had called for the city to break its lease agreement with Seton are now shifting their focus to the details of the hospital within a hospital plan. “I think we need to ask which is the best floor for the city to take over as the hospital within a hospital,” said Peggy Romberg with the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas. “I think it’s imperative the city look at all those possibilities, not just the fifth.” She found some support on the committee from Friedholm. “To me, the question is why split this function in two parts,” Friedholm said. “If there is a good reason that needs to happen in order to maintain the integrity of the relationship with Seton, then let’s understand what that is so people can understand what the financial imperative is.” She asked for a cost analysis and an appraisal of potential legal and medical risks should the city decide on another option than taking over the fifth floor.Brand steered the group away from making a recommendation without data on cost and information about day-to-day operations. “I’m a little bit fearful of making a decision without having some of these details worked out,” Brand said.

The Brackenridge Oversight Committee meets again in the first week of October, but the information from city staff may not be available by that time. Dunkerly repeatedly told committee members that their goal was to have the material ready “this fall,” but could not predict an exact date.

UTC wants to meet with

Environmental Board

Task will be to help define "environmental suitability"

Members of the Urban Transportation Commission will be contacting the Environmental Board to reactivate their joint subcommittee to discuss “environmental suitability”. One of their tasks will be to come up with a definition for the term, which was referenced by the City Council without a full explanation.

As part of the Council’s adoption of the Austin Metropolitan Area Transportation Plan (AMATP), they directed staff to work with various boards and commissions to evaluate the environmental suitability of the various roads and highways listed in the plan. “We have talked a little and struggled to get a definition of what is environmental suitability,” Teri McManus of the Transportation Planning and Sustainability Department told commission members. “The City Council left it open for boards and commissions to work through this.” McManus did present commission members with a sample suitability matrix covering how much of the roadway ran through the desired development zone, how much was in a flood plain and how much ran through endangered species habitat. “We’re trying to determine . . . should certain roads be in the plan or not?” McManus said. “And if they should, are there ways that the plan can reflect the policies of the City Council in terms of Smart Growth . . . and still meet regional transportation needs?”

Assuming the Environmental Board agrees, the joint subcommittee and staff will likely meet several times over the next few weeks. The Council has set a deadline of January of 2002 for the commissions and staff to submit their environmental suitability analysis before they consider changes to the AMATP next year. The Environmental Board is scheduled to get a briefing on the request for its participation in the environmental suitability analysis when it meets on tonight.

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We got knocked down . . . The nimda virus overloaded a number of servers yesterday, including ours. We got it fixed in a few hours, but it was an inconvenience for both ourselves and our readers. Thanks for your patience . . . It’s official . . . Former Mayor Pro Tem Gus Garcia filed for Mayor with the City Clerk’s Office Tuesday. A friend of former Council Member Eric Mitchell said with some confidence that Mitchell does not plan to run . . . No parking on the grass . . . Members of the North Austin Civic Association are asking for a new city ordinance to prohibit people from parking their cars on their front lawns. Council Member Danny Thomas hosted a meeting on the subject last night. “We think this is not only an eyesore, it’s also an environmental issue because if your car leaks oil or other fluids into the ground it could get into the drinking water,” says NACA secretary Linda Moore. Moore says a majority of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas already have similar ordinances and the city legal staff has already reviewed the draft ordinance they’ve proposed . . . Transportation meeting Thursday . . . City staff will present preliminary findings of the Downtown Access and Mobility Plan at a public meeting Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road in Room 325. The discussion is expected to center on the expanded park on Town Lake and the future of Riverside Drive . . . GBRA hosts kids’ fishing event . . . The Kidfish Foundation plans to stock the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority Lake Wood Recreation Area for local kids to catch fish this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. For registration information or to volunteer at the event, contact Kidfish at 877-733-5646 or the GBRA Lake Wood Recreation Area at 830-672-2779, or check it out at http://www.gbra.org