Minutes of 10/5/99 VNA Board Meeting
Minutes by Catriona Smith


Board Members Present:  Lonnie Moore (LM)
Cat Smith (CS)
Erika Mott (EM)
Anne Cole-Steichen (AC-S)
Jerry Mills (JM)
August Pacharzina (AP)
Joanna Green (JG)
Jerry Adams (JA)

Additional neighborhood members present: Martha Norris, Vera Jones, Roe Fleenor, Dan Fleener, Kimberley Curry, Larry Durban


LM called meeting to order at 7pm.

Additional Agenda Items: Neighborhood members discussion re: VIP Marina new parking lot.

Minutes of September  meeting were reviewed; minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report (AC-S): $4122.18

Neighborhood members discussion re: VIP Marina new parking lot.

Roe presented information regarding the new VIP Marina parking lot, off Lime Creek Rd. 8.4 acre development. Environmental/building permits - VIP marina have stated that they were unaware that they needed a permit.
Site has been red-tagged by the City of Austin for erosion control violations.
Endangered species issue - area being cleared is potential endangered species habitat. US FWS biologist inspected site and their opinion is that it is potentially critical habitat for the golden-cheeked warbler and back-capped vireo. US FWS at present have no enforcement officer to enforce the issue. Their officer is out sick and has been for several months. They would have to bring one from San Antonio. However since the cedars have already been cut down there is little evidence to prove that they were > 8' in height which is an indicator of “old growth” trees, which are the preferred habitat for the bird species previously mentioned.
LCRA point source pollution permit has not been obtained.
EPA storm water run-off construction permit has not been obtained (note: may not be required outside the city).
There was no communication between VBC and the residents before clearing started, on a Saturday. Trees were cleared all the way to the residents property, without any consultations. Land was purchased by Redmond through a third party, who “did not know” that Redmond would be the final owner.
 Roe offered to work out a mutually agreeable arrangement with Redmond regarding the easements along side their properties, but Redmond chose to not participate in this and has chosen to use the easement which is least liked by the residents, which runs directly along beside their houses.
Channel 7 want to come out and do a feature on the issue (note: Channel 7 to present an article on 10/25/99 10pm news).
Request from residents for the board to write to whatever authorities/agencies are involved and express the board’s support for the residents actions.

JA (AC-S seconded) - motion that residents bring the board the names and addresses of who to write to in the regulatory agencies/city/county etc and the board will send out a letter in their support. Motion carried.


AC-S report on LCRA stakeholders meetings - (note: EM’s husband, Bob of Beach Front Boat Rentals, is the committee "member", and Brian Buckner from Daybreak Boat Rentals has become the "alternate"). Discussion on the consensus method being used during the negotiations. If no consensus is reached, LCRA have now said that they will look at the rules again, with consideration of the public comments which have been received and they may revise the rules before presenting them to the LCRA board.

JM discussed the LTAP opinions - they are generally in favor of some sort of regulation, although completely banning boats is not favored. Regulation of speed limits and noise OK.

Discussion re: what lake front owners want - general opinion is that dock construction standards are OK, although people would only support a dock fee if it were very reasonable.


Board authorized $125.00 for refreshments for VNA general meeting on 10/19/99.

LM: VVFD - discussion re: what fire protection the residents want, this should drive the decisions of the fire commissioners and the VVFD. Speakers for the general meeting will be John Murphy - president of Travis Co. Fire Fighters Assoc, and Assistant Chief Travis Co. FD. Very experienced in converting from RFD to ESD. Richard Wood - VVFD board. Jan Yenawine - Fire Commissioner.
Some discussion re: whether VVFD will hire part-timers to cover while volunteers are at work - there are some concerns in the neighborhood about this, VNA may need to facilitate the transfer of “wants” from the neighbors to the VVFD.
Smc-L commented that it may not pass at election. People don’t want to pay more, and the Nov 2 election is mostly tax items which people are not that interested in and so may not get them to the polls. VNA needs to stress at general meeting that it is important for people here to vote to enable us to get better fire protection through a (slightly) higher tax base.


Roadways/safety Committee

EM: no change on timetable for sidewalk on Lime Creek Road.
 EM: Wharf Cove boat ramp maintenance - Erika wrote to the county requesting they look into the VVFD issue with chain link fence at VIP crosswalk causing people to walk into ROW and see if they could do anything.

JG: 2222/620 improvements - another two weeks til completion.

LM: Jesters Zoning issue: 2222 CONA: no change, although city council meeting scheduled soon.


Membership Committee

LM: 145 members/households to date.

Post Office Change

EM: should be receiving surveys soon. Still some confusion over whether we would be in Cedar Park or Lago Vista or Leander.

LM moved to adjourn meeting at 8.50pm.
 

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