A.1 - Citizen comments - additional — original pdf

Backup

PUBLIC HEARING INFORMATION and/or applicants will be conducted Although their agent(s) online meeting Email or call the staff contact hearings affecting online. your neighborhood. are expected to participate in a public hearing, you are not required and you have the opportunity to speak FOR or AGAINST the proposed no later than noon the day before the meeting for information development to participate. or change. in the public This on how to participate an interest You may also contact a neighborhood or environmental organization that has expressed in an application During a public hearing, approval continuation or denial the board or commission or continu If the board or commission may postpone of the application. that is not later than 60 days from the announcement, no further notice a specific is required. e an application's announces or recommend hearing date and time for a postponement to a later date, or A board or commission's person appeal who can appeal the decision. decision the decision. may be appealed The body holding by a person a public with standing to appeal, or an interested party that is identified as a hearing on an appeal will determine whether a person has standing to An interested interest to a board or commission by: party is defined as a person who is the applicant or record owner of the subject property, or who communicates an • delivering a written statement to the board or commission before or during the public hearing that generally identifies the issues of concern (it may be delivered and speaking primary • appearing • occupies a • is the record owner • is an officer of an environmental for the record to the contact person at the public hearing; and: listed on a notice); or residence of property within 500 feet of the subject that is within 500 feet of the subject property or proposed or or proposed property development; development; or neighborhood organization that has an interest in or whose declared are within boundaries 500 feet of the subject property or proposed development. A notice of appeal form may be available must be filed with the director from the responsible department. of the responsible department no later than 14 days after the decision. An appeal For additional information on the City of Austin's land development process, please visit our website: www.austintexas.gov/abc Written comments hearing. Your comments Number and the contact person listed on the notice. must be submitted should include to the board or commission the board or commission's (or the contact person listed on the notice) name, the scheduled date of the public before the public hearing, the Case Case Number: C14H-2020-0069- Historic Contact: Public District Cara Bertron, (512) 974-1446 Hearing: Historic Landmark Commission, July 27, 2020 Rogers Washington Holy Cross � I am in favor D !object lease print) Your address( es) affected by this application i(!� Signature Subject: Dissent to Historical District Designa/on for Rogers Washington Holy Cross Historical District (Case Friday, July 24, 2020 at 8:54:32 AM Central Daylight Time Number C14H-2020-0069) Friday, July 24, 2020 at 1:05:24 AM Central Daylight Time Taylor McDowell PAZ Preserva/on, Bertron, Cara Pamela Lim, merlioncapitalllc@gmail.com Date: From: To: CC: *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** Dear Cara Bertron & The Historic Landmark Commission, My name is Theodore ("Taylor") McDowell, and my wife, Pamela Lim, and I are the owners of record of 2011 Maple Avenue, Aus/n, Texas 78722. We purchased the property on April 30, 2020 through our limited liability company (Merlion Capital, LLC), of which we are the only members. We are wri/ng in advance of the July 27, 2020 Historic Landmark Commission mee/ng to note our objecFon to the proposed historic district in Rogers Washington Holy Cross (Case Number C14H-2020-0069). We certainly appreciate the historical nature of the neighborhood and have great admira/on for the intent behind this project. Despite the property being marketed to us as a "tear down," we have spent over $20,000 in renova/ons a_er closing on the property to improve the interior and exterior of the property and make it habitable. Unfortunately, while these renova/ons were necessary to make the home livable, they would have been exceedingly difficult to make under the historic district design standards as currently dra_ed, which we believe signals an imbalance between home preserva/on and requisite renova/on and improvement. Accordingly, we share the concerns of the Blackhurst family with respect to the design standards, par/cularly in respect of exis/ng and future development requirements. Given the difficul/es in communica/on during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding resources and means for contac/ng the Design Commigee has been exceedingly difficult, especially for new homeowners such as ourselves who have no pre-exis/ng contacts within the neighborhood. We therefore similarly request that the Historic Landmark Commission delay their decision on the historic district designa9on so that we, the Blackhursts, and other dissen9ng voices may collaborate with the City of Aus9n, the Design CommiAee, and other community members in modifying the design standards and ensuring there is communal inclusivity in this process. We feel that this accommoda9on is especially important in light of the current pandemic, during which 9me methods of communica9on have been stalled due to infrastructural challenges. As an alterna/ve, we would also like to propose the slight modifica/on of the proposed historical district parameters to exclude our 2011 Maple Avenue address. We believe this could be a quick and easy solu/on given that our property is the northernmost property in the proposed historical district; the address of the proposed zoning change already indicates that the zone is "roughly bounded by East 21st street," meaning that our property's removal would not contravene this descrip/on. Further, the proposed historical district parameters exclude a number of proper/es located on Chestnut Ave and other homes that are otherwise included in the Rogers Washington Holy Cross neighborhood map on the City of Aus/n website, meaning the exclusion of 2011 Maple Avenue would be similar to the exclusion of these other homes. We also do not believe the exclusion of our property would derail the preserva/on of the remaining historical district, as 56 homes would s/ll remain in the district and 46 would be "contribu/ng" (i.e., there would s/ll be an 82% contribu/on rate). We feel that excluding our property from the historical district would be an effec/ve and expedi/ous way of resolving our objec/on that relieves /me, cost, and administra/ve burden for ourselves, the community members in favor of the historical designa/on, and the Historic Landmark Commission itself. We look forward to speaking further on this issue during the July 27, 2020 mee/ng. In the interim, you may contact us at theodore.mcdowell@gmail.com or at MerlionCapitalLLC@gmail.com. Page 1 of 2 Best regards, Taylor McDowell -- Theodore N. McDowell III, J.D. theodore.mcdowell@gmail.com | 404-695-7757 CAUTION: This email was received at the City of Aus/n, from an EXTERNAL source. Please use cau/on when clicking links or opening agachments. If you believe this to be a malicious and/or phishing email, please forward this email to CSIRT@aus/ntexas.gov. Page 2 of 2 Historic Preservation/Downtown Revitalization Consultant Kate Singleton 1602 Ashberry Dr. Austin, TX. 78723 July 10, 2020 Ms. Emily Reed, Chair and Historic Landmark Commissioners City of Austin Landmark Commission Historic Preservation Office Planning and Zoning Dept. P.O. Box 1088, Austin, Texas 78767 Dear Ms. Reed and Commissioners, Re: Rogers-Washington-Holy Cross District Preservation Application Please accept this letter of support for the Roger-Washington-Holy Cross Neighborhood Association (RWHC) Historic District Designation Application. As you may know, when I was Executive Director for Preservation Austin, I worked closely with the neighborhood to gather information and begin the process of designation. The Rogers-Washington-Holy Cross neighborhood was identified in the East Austin Historic Resources Survey (2016) as a potential local historic district and as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The history of the neighborhood tells a rich story of the development of East Austin in the Post- War years. The neighborhood was developed for the African American community returning from serving their country in World War II. It was developed for and by professors of Huston-Tilloston, principals and teachers of the local schools and business owners. The architecture speaks to the time period with houses that vary in style from John Chase’s Modern Phillips house to handsome split-level and one story ranch homes. Many of the residents have lived in the neighborhood all their lives, bringing a pride of ownership and history that is being lost in Austin. The neighborhood has worked hard for this designation. I should know as I attended numerous meetings with them! Over the past three years, they have done extensive outreach to and communicated with everyone in the neighborhood—from homeowners to renters to businesses and landlords. Austin is quickly losing much of the fabric that tells the history of the city. East Austin has been especially hard hit, losing historically and culturally significant places. In this time of our City’s history and our Nation’s history it is important to preserve places like the Rogers-Washington-Holy Cross neighborhood. We must be able to see the physical manifestation of our full history, not just read a plaque about it. Again, I hope you will support the neighborhood’s request for local historic designation for this neighborhood that clearly meets several of the designation criteria as established by code. The neighborhood has worked extraordinarily hard for this because they believe their history is worth saving too. Sincerely,