D.11.b - 5613 Patton Ranch Road - citizen comment — original pdf

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Gaudette, Angela From: Sent: To: Subject:   PAZ Preservation Monday, December 14, 2020 9:19 AM Gaudette, Angela FW: Review Case Number: GF 20-171534 From: Brett Schwab Sent: Monday, December 14, 2020 3:18:46 PM (UTC+00:00) Monrovia, Reykjavik To: PAZ Preservation Cc: Subject: Review Case Number: GF 20-171534  *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** We are all property owners in the Oak Parks subdivision as well as officers of the Oak Parks Subdivision Neighborhood Association. This subdivision is directly behind the land at 5613 Patton Ranch Road where the demolition of historic buildings has been requested (Historic Case Number: PR-20-159810, Review Case Number: GF 20-171534, permit/case number 2020-159810 PR). The Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods forwarded the notice of public hearing on demolition at 5:23 PM pm on Sunday Dec 13, which is why we did not sign up to speak at the meeting (since the deadline was noon on Sunday). We are writing this letter to strongly object to the demolition request for the following reasons: 1. The Oak Parks Subdivision Neighborhood Association Executive Committee as well as other interested neighborhoods were not notified in time to participate in the meeting. 2. The request to demolish is related to St. Andrew’s request to rezone the property to MF-4-NP and build a 295-unit apartment complex (2020-171561 ZC), demolishing one building (this property in question). Despite the neighborhood plan at http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=124183 identifying the house as historic and the TDOT Report for Historical Studies Survey at https://www.oakhillparkway.com/DEIS/27a_OHP-DEIS-AppendixL.pdf identitying the house and some of the outbuildings as historic, a neighborhood plan amendment was not found to be needed. 3. St. Andrew’s (the property owners) was aware of the issues with people vandalizing the building and did not try to clean up / protect the buildings until they received a code violation in July 2020 when they were selling the land to another school (that school ended up selling the property back to St. Andrew’s). One of the executive committee members, Brett Schwab frequently reported to the school every time he saw trash dumped or the building vandalized. We are not historic preservation experts so do not know whether the building can be saved. But we do know this feels rushed to facilitate the rezoning request and want to be sure interested parties have time to respond and historic experts can look at the buildings to see if anything can be salvaged before they are destroyed. St. Andrew’s has a 24-hour security guard who patrols the property in a golf cart. The guard on duty has to scan checkpoints as they drive the property. This house could be added as a security checkpoint to keep in code compliance — squatters off the property and trash being dumped — while further research is done. Thank you for your consideration of this request and your work to preserve Austin’s cultural, social, economic, political, and architectural history. Please reach out to Brett or Nancy at the emails below if you need any further information. Oak Park Executive Committee Mary Lynne Reebel, President Ralph Weston Brett Schwab, Nancy-Baker Jones, Sandi Causey, Treasurer 1