Item B-11 (Old Austin Neighborhood Association Letter of Support).pdf — original pdf

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604 West 11th Street Austin, TX 78701 www.originalaustin.org 14 January 2020 Mr. Mark Graham City of Austin | Planning and Zoning Department 505 Barton Springs Road Austin, TX 78704 RE: 707 Rio Grande Street (C14-2019-0156) Dear Mr. Graham, On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Old Austin Neighborhood Association (OANA), I am writing you to express our qualified support of Case C14-2019-0156, the re-zoning of at 707 Rio Grande Street from GO-H to DMU. OANA has supported zoning change requests from GO to DMU since the Northwest District (NWD) component of the Downtown Austin Plan (DAP) was completed almost a decade ago. While our mission is to enhance and protect the historic and residential character of the neighborhood, this property has been provided professional office space use for decades and we respect the applicant’s intention to continue that use. Our support of this zoning change is also consistent with the new draft of Land Development Code (LDC) as passed by the Austin City Council on first reading last month. However, our support is qualified by the request that the following uses be prohibited through a restrictive covenant on the property. We offer below the following wording for this prohibition: “Prohibited Uses: Outdoor sound amplification devices (other than alarms or other required safety equipment) shall be prohibited at any business located at this property. This does not prohibit ambient sound, acoustic sound, music intended as an unobtrusive accompaniment to an activity, music generated indoors, alarms, required safety equipment, or electronic devices used in a day to day manner. In addition, the following uses (as defined by the Land Development Code) shall be prohibited at this property: bail bond services; exterminating services; funeral services; pawn shop services; limited warehousing services; hospital services; music venue; and cocktail lounge.” Our support is also qualified by the request that any new development of this property make reasonable accommodations to its neighboring property owners at 701 and 709 Rio Grande. We expect Mr. Blair Fox, the neighboring property owner at 709 Rio Grande to either submit a letter and/or be present at the Planning Commission on January 14th to explain his concerns and the nature of the accommodations he might need. Thank you for your consideration of this correspondence. Sincerely, Ted Siff, President Board of Directors Ted Siff, President Austin Stowell Charles Peveto Ray Canfield, Treasurer Perry Lorenz Blake Tollett, Secretary Paul Byars Michael Portman Diana Zuniga B-111 of 1