Boat race promoter pulls plug on Festival Beach proposal

Slusher, Thomas, Dunkerley signed call for withdrawal of proposal

Boat race promoter William Archer announced last night that he has given up the idea of returning boat races to Festival Beach in East Austin. Although he said he found a lot of support for the idea, those speaking out were vehemently opposed. Council Member Daryl Slusher drafted a brief statement Tuesday afternoon that read, “We have all said that we would only consider the boat races on Town Lake if there were overwhelming support in East Austin. That does not appear to be the case. In fact the opposite appears to be true. Consequently, we encourage the backers of this proposal to withdraw it.” Slusher talked to Council Members Betty Dunkerley and Danny Thomas individually and each of them also signed it.

Thomas told In Fact Daily that he had met with Archer and advised him that he needed to show overwhelming community support for the proposal before Thomas would consider the idea. Several Eastside activists visited Thomas on Monday to ask him to oppose the idea. “It was a bitter experience,” for those who lived through the races of the 1970s, Thomas noted. “I told him, ‘You would have to get 85 to 95 percent of the community to support it.’” Thomas said he was a cadet at the Austin Police Academy in 1978 when a boat race served as the backdrop for protests, rioting, arrests, accusations and painful experiences that many East Austin residents have not forgotten. Thomas concluded he did not want to “open another wound” for those impacted.

In Fact Daily contacted Council Member Brewster McCracken, who, after reading Slusher’s statement, commented, “That’s my position too. The video said it all.” The video was taken during the protests and showed police beating demonstrators. Gavino Fernandez showed it to the Council at last week’s meeting. He said, “I think this is an opportunity for this Council to illustrate equity in the policies and politics that you practice . . . You are strong advocates of protecting the Edwards Aquifer. I hope that you, Mayor, will also intervene and make sure that the boat races are not brought back to our community.” Mayor Will Wynn is already on the record as opposing the renewal of boat races at Festival Beach unless there is a great showing of community support. Veronica Briseño, Council Member Raul Alvarez’s executive assistant, said her boss would agree with that sentiment.

Archer said last night that he had been trying to call Slusher to let him know he was withdrawing the Town Lake part of the proposal, but that Slusher had not returned his phone call.

Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman was contacted by email. She responded, “The noise impact—not to mention the potential water quality and habitat impact—were significant and unavoidable then, and I would think now too. If the neighbors came out and said, ‘This will be different; they’ve accommodated all our needs; they’ve been sensitive to our wishes, planned for/committed to all the protection necessary for us during their event, and so we support and welcome this event here,’ I’d listen of course. I couldn’t consider it, otherwise.”

Archer would not say what venues he has decided to pursue in lieu of the Town Lake location. However, he said things have changed a lot since the 1970s. “That was 30 years ago. Austin’s come a long way since then. No one can give me a reason why Festival Beach wouldn’t work—not one person.” The promoter said he is still committed to helping non-profit organizations with some of the proceeds from the races, but that the cut for those groups may be smaller. “The problem is the infrastructure, . . . the additional cost is going to eat up some of the money that could be going to non-profits,” he said. Archer said he will be on the Sammy and Bob Show on KVET this morning..

Meld of city-county subdivision rules nearing home stretch

After months of labor, Chapter 30, the 167-page joint Travis County/City of Austin subdivision code for the county’s extra-territorial jurisdiction, will be unveiled today. A draft of the joint code is being forwarded to stakeholders today, with the intention of taking stakeholder testimony next week.

For those who think 167 pages of subdivision regulations might be a little much, Travis County will be drafting an executive summary, which will be presented to commissioners next week for approval. A public hearing will also be scheduled. The ordinance is on track for approval by City Council and Commissioners Court by Jan. 1, as required by state law.

At yesterday’s Commissioners Court meeting, Transportation and Natural Resources Executive Director Joe Gieselman outlined the three significant changes the code will mean to those who file subdivision plats with the county.

First, Travis County has agreed to adopt the city’s water quality regulations. While commissioners were open to those standards during the initial discussion of joint regulations, the powers of the county to enforce water quality rules has been rather limited under state law until the last couple of legislative sessions.

According to a memo Gieselman provided to the county commissioners, the county will be relying on the city’s experience to address the issues. “TNR does not currently have sufficient personnel with appropriate expertise to address the review requirements” of the environmental section of the code, Chapter 30-5, according to Gieselman’s memo. “TNR will rely on City of Austin staff for this function until adequate county resources are available.”

Adopting the city’s Drainage Manual criteria means the county will raise the bar on development. They will now judge the impact of new subdivisions on a “full(y) developed basin” scenario. The higher standard could mean greater availability of flood insurance, Gieselman said, but added that this, too, will require “additional work force with the expertise to properly manage this change.”

Second, Gieselman noted that the code reflects a change in culture for the county. City code reflects more detail in areas such as appeals, which the county has not previously codified. The changes will mean more tracking and more deadlines for county staff. With that in mind, county staff would like to be connected to the City of Austin’s computerized development-tracking system, known as PIER.

The third significant change under Chapter 30 is the delegation of additional administrative authority to Gieselman. Under the proposed code, Gieselman would be able to approve amended plats and plats with fewer than four lots without a hearing before the court. That would be on par with city requirements.

County commissioners still had some questions about the code. Commissioner Karen Sonleitner wanted to know if the city had met the higher county standard on septic systems. She also asked whether it might be wise to add an additional appeal step to those administrative approvals—just in case someone objected to the county’s decisions.

A session for stakeholder input is scheduled from 2 to 4pm on Oct. 13, in the third-floor conference room of One Texas Center. After that hearing, the joint regulations will make the rounds of the Zoning and Platting Commission, the Planning Commission, the Environmental Board and the Urban Transportation Commission. City and county work sessions on the ordinance are scheduled for early November.

©2003 In Fact News, Inc. All rights reserved

AISD becomes largest Green Choice customer . . . The Austin Independent School District has signed an agreement with Austin Energy that will make it the largest customer of the utility’s Green Choice program. The school district will receive about 30 percent of its power needs from non-polluting sources such as wind turbines. That will amount to 45 million kilowatt hours (kwh) per year, roughly double the amount of the next largest customer. “Signing on to have 30 percent of our energy from Green Choice is a wise thing to do,” said AISD Superintendent Pat Forgione during a signing ceremony at Casis Elementary. “Having a fixed cost into the future is welcomed because we want to stabilize our budget. We also do believe that buying in at this rate is going to be a tremendous economic advantage” . . . Follow-up on Keep Austin Beautiful . . . Last month, the Keep Austin Beautiful board told Executive Director Irene Guzman-Krill that her services were no longer needed. The organization receives funding through the city and Travis County and Guzman-Krill is a city employee. After the board acted, the city put Guzman-Krill on administrative leave. At the time Board President Ester Matthews said the Executive Director was asked to resign“due to management issues.” Acting Assistant City Manager John Stephens said there was never any question of financial impropriety or misapplication of funds surrounding Guzman-Krill’s dismissal and Matthews confirmed that. The former Executive Director says there were “staffing issues,” but says difficulties with staff were exacerbated by “gossip.” The problem for KAB will not be resolved by hiring a new Executive Director, she said. The crux of the problem for her: “I was constantly being shuffled back and forth between the city and the board,” receiving contradictory instructions from her two bosses. She calls the relationship “dysfunctional” . . . Vote on consultant delayed . . . The City Council vote on a consultant for the South Congress Avenue Streetscape Improvement Project has been delayed until Oct. 23. A community advisory group began meeting to discuss South Congress this month, according to planner Pollyanne Melton. She told the Design Commission that reverse angle parking and parking meters were the first topics of discussion. Local merchants, who are a bit leery of the use of reverse parking, are expected to talk to merchants in Salt Lake City, Tucson and Seattle, where such a parking configuration is now used . . . ECT to be honored . . . Scenic Austin will honor Envision Central Texas at a fundraiser on Oct. 22. Neil Kocurek will accept the honor on behalf of ECT. The event will be held at the bar and terrace of the Stephen F. Austin Hotel, from 5:30 to 8pm . . . Courthouse project review . . . The review of the proposed Federal Courthouse project has been put on the Design Commission agenda on Nov. 3. The touchy subject of use of Town Lake parkland for development has been referred to the Design Commission’s Urban Open Space subcommittee. Another issue from the past that may be dead before it get to the committee, use of park land for commercial purposes, will also be on the agenda.