04 NPA-2024-0015.01 - Gunter Street Rezoning; District 1 Public Comment — original pdf

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Meredith, Maureen To: Cc: Subject: EMLKCT Chair; Howard, Patrick - BC; Hempel, Claire - BC; Haynes, Adam - BC; Cox, Grayson - BC; Ramirez, Nadia - BC; Cohen, Jessica - BC; Maxwell, Felicity - BC; Phillips, Alberta - BC; Anderson, Greg - BC; Woods, Alice - BC; Haney, Casey - BC; Skidmore, Danielle - BC; Johnson, Ryan - BC; Azhar, Awais - BC; Hunter, Candace - BC; Tomko, Jonathan Lawler, John; Brown, Destiny; Mays, Sharon; Ms. Angela Benavides Garza; Dianna Holman; Byrd, Eric RE: 1143 & 1145 Gunter Street & Abbate Cir Rezoning - PC Nov 12 From: EMLKCT Chair < Sent: Monday, November 11, 2024 9:17 PM To: Howard, Patrick - BC <BC-Patrick.Howard@austintexas.gov>; Hempel, Claire - BC <BC- Claire.Hempel@austintexas.gov>; Haynes, Adam - BC <BC-Adam.Haynes@austintexas.gov>; Cox, Grayson - BC <BC- Grayson.Cox@austintexas.gov>; Ramirez, Nadia - BC <BC-Nadia.Ramirez@austintexas.gov>; Cohen, Jessica - BC <BC- Jessica.Cohen@austintexas.gov>; Maxwell, Felicity - BC <BC-Felicity.Maxwell@austintexas.gov>; Phillips, Alberta - BC <BC-Alberta.Phillips@austintexas.gov>; Anderson, Greg - BC <bc-Greg.Anderson@austintexas.gov>; Woods, Alice - BC <BC-Alice.Woods@austintexas.gov>; Haney, Casey - BC <BC-Casey.Haney@austintexas.gov>; Skidmore, Danielle - BC <BC-Danielle.Skidmore@austintexas.gov>; Johnson, Ryan - BC <BC-Ryan.Johnson@austintexas.gov>; Azhar, Awais - BC <BC-Awais.Azhar@austintexas.gov>; Hunter, Candace - BC <BC-Candace.Hunter@austintexas.gov>; Meredith, Maureen <Maureen.Meredith@austintexas.gov>; Tomko, Jonathan <Jonathan.Tomko@austintexas.gov> Cc: Lawler, John <John.Lawler@austintexas.gov>; Brown, Destiny <destiny.brown@austintexas.gov>; Mays, Sharon <Sharon.Mays@austintexas.gov>; Ms. Angela Benavides Garza < >; Dianna Holman < >; Byrd, Eric <eric.byrd@austintexas.gov> Subject: 1143 & 1145 Gunter Street & Abbate Cir Rezoning - PC Nov 12 External Email - Exercise Caution Hello Commissioner Howard, Planning Commissioners, District 1 City Council team and City Staff, The EMLK Contact team Co-Chairs has participated in several applicant and neighbor meetings to understand the Gunter & Abbate Cir rezoning project. This message is in regards to items 4 & 5 on the Nov 12 Planning Commission meeting, case numbers NPA-2024-0015.01 and C14-2024-0109. We understand the neighbors concerns to be as follows, and we have observed the following steps they've taken in the last couple of months to facilitate input from their fellow neighbors:  The density of the project as proposed by the developer (MF3) is a safety risk for drivers or cyclists travelling down Gunter St, a small road between two larger arteries, Oak Springs and Springdale, which already gets significant traffic. The road is full already with parking on both sides, and only one lane of car or bike traffic gets through. Infrastructure, including water pressure and fire safety/access to emergency vehicles, would be stressed beyond capacity or safety and is a significant concern of the neighbors.   The neighbors request the zoning stay as it is at SF3, and believe that under this category, more housing could be built than is currently on the properties, which would allow for improved density goals as well as neighbor considerations to co-exist. They desire for the zoning to not jump so 1 significantly, from the nearby properties of SF3, up multiple categories to MF3, and for the units to be for sale, rather than for rent.  There have been issues with notices not going out to nearby neighbors, and several of the neighbors have gone door-to-door multiple times, and provided fliers in English and Spanish, to ensure that everyone was aware and had the opportunity to make their opinion known. We appreciate and applaud their efforts to include everyone in this area!  There was an offer by the applicant of a donation to a respected nonprofit, the East Austin Conservancy (in lieu of affordable units provided inside the project), and we do appreciate this effort from the applicant. However, the boundaries of this organization's property tax support do not extend to this zipcode, and therefore, that addition to this project does not help minimize the impact of multiple dozen market rate units putting pressure on longtime residents in this area. Please note, our next meeting of our full membership is a week from today, so we haven't heard from as many of our members as we have for other cases. We do not think the position of the Contact Team would be changed significantly though, as our membership looks to the nearby neighbors for input. Thank you, Nadia Barbot and Dianna Dean -- Thank you, Co-Chairs, East MLK Neighborhood Plan Contact Team Angela B Garza, Melonie House-Dixon, Dianna Dean, Alexandria Anderson, Nadia Barbot 2