Results of the January 23rd meeting

Mayor Don Baker opened the meeting at 5:30 pm, and Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard gave the invocation.

Then the time for visitors to speak came, and there were two who chose to.

Pete Peterson came to say "thank you" to the City staff and Council for helping Woodway be a great place to live. He went on to describe his candidacy for Justice of the Peace. Checking this out later, I found a You Tube video here. I do not know Mr. Peterson personally, and this does not constitute an endorsement. But he strikes me as very likable person, has many years with the Highway Patrol, and I appreciated that he made the effort to speak at the meeting.

Then Parnell McNamara came to say that he is running for County Sheriff, and feels that his approx. 33 years with the U.S. Marshal's office was good experience for the job. I checked around some and found this and this on You Tube. Again, I do not know him personally, but he seems to me to be a very impressive person, and someone I think would do a good job as Sheriff.

Next came Jed Walker to make a second presentation on the proposed Colonnade apartments project (adjacent to the Hollywood Theaters). I blogged about this after the December 12th meeting (see here). At that time, the Council was concerned about a portion of the land in question being reserved for planned commercial development, and also that adding more rental property to Woodway was less desirable than individually-owned properties. Mr. Walker described a few changes, mainly that the plans had been re-worked to leave the section mentioned above as planned commercial. This required decreasing the number of units from 277 to 240. I asked how developing for individual ownership (rather than rental) would influence the project. The answer was that market research had shown that there was nowhere near a demand for 240 condominiums in Woodway. Then four major figures in the area (Linc Harris of First National Bank of Texas, Dr. Michael Thrasher, Dr. Mark Barrett, and Dr. Everett Watson) came to speak in support of the project. In particular, Dr. Barrett stated that the project would afford convenient housing for the medical staff working at Providence. The Mayor then polled the Council, and six of the seven were in favor of the development, largely because it was so well planned and would be using space surrounded by unsightly Waco industrial areas. Mayor Baker remained against the proposal because (a) a new zoning type would have to be developed to allow this, and (b) the project goes way beyond the currently allowed density of six units per acre (this project requires about 16 per acre). This presentation was intended only to get a sense of the Council's level of support for the project, and did not result in a vote of any kind. Given the Council's support, the City Manager will proceed but with some caution.

Then was a quarterly financial report by Financial Director William Klump. This covered the last quarter of 2011, and there were "no surprises". Revenues are in general up somewhat, including sales taxes (which had taken a hit in the past year or so).

Then was a quarterly report on the Arboretum by Janet Schaffer, Director of Arboretum, Tourism and Recreational Services. Arboretum rentals had been about the same as last year, with 89 events (52 of them paid rentals) in 2011.

At that point I had to leave the meeting to get to a commitment at Baylor. If you are interested in the remaining agenda items, there is audio of each meeting posted a day or so later. (Added 1/26: the audio is available here, along with that of all the earlier meeting for the past year or so).

An early peek at the Arboretum pavillion

I had an opportunity to see the Arboretum maybe 60% complete today, with the rest of the City Council and many others. The building is impressive, able to seat about 350 or so, with space for catering, etc. It is very well designed (in my opinion). What follows are three photos I took (front, main room and from rear).

Agenda for the January 23rd meeting

The agenda has been posted at the City website here. Looks like a fairly uneventful meeting to me.

Job openings with the City of Woodway

The City posts job openings here.

Results of the January 9th meeting

Mayor Don Baker opened the meeting at 5:31 pm and called on the Reverend Charles Packard of the First Presbyterian Church in Woodway to make the invocation.

Then holiday decorating awards were given to the Corley, Waggener, Treese and Morris families (the last three were all present). Neighborhood awards were announced for the Wooded Crest, Buckingham Court, Ridgepoint Drive and Forest Oaks Circle areas for multi-family Christmas decorations.

Next was a time to hear from visitors, but none present chose to speak at this time.

Then were the quarterly presentations by the Public Safety Department (vehicle and home burglaries are up, as are assaults, but several categories of crimes are down) and the Community Services Development (14 homes or businesses are under construction in Woodway).

Then was a public hearing on an application to develop in a planned zoning area. This concerned details of the plans submitted earlier by representatives of John Cawthron to develop a lot near the Hollywood Theaters for a single story retail/medical building. The Council had requested a change or two from an earlier plan, which the developer provided. The Council voted to approve the application.

Then the Council discussed and voted on the meeting schedule through June, basically every second and fourth Mondays with a few changes to avoid holiday conflicts.

Then there was discussion of the Master Fee Schedule with respect to commercial and construction-related POD storage modules. The Council agreed with a staff recommendation to have no restrictions on either one, but to limit residential non-construction related POD usage to no more than 60 days per year with a permit.

Then came the consent agenda. Most noteworthy were:

(a) Bids to repair roof damage to the Community Services Building. Council member Jane Kittner suggested using more reflective shingles, probably at somewhat higher cost. City staff will investigate the cost of this and the Council will re-consider this item in the near future.

(b) A discussion of an "interlocal agreement" between the City and the County District Attorney's office on the division of the value of crime-related property and money seized by the Woodway Public Safety Department. Basically, this is a reaffirmation of a long-standing agreement that gives the City between 50-70% of such proceeds (depending on the details of the case), and the remainder goes to the County. This was necessary because of the change in County DAs recently.

(c) Appointment of Randall Riggs and Mitch Davison to the Bluebonnet Board, a water-related council of some relevance to Woodway water supplies.

The Council approved the consent agenda, exclusive of the roof repair item, unanimously.

In Council Reports, Councilman Scott Giddings reminded the group of the "Bound for the Brave" 5k/1K fun run being held on January 21st. This is a fundraiser by the Woodway Youth Commission to benefit the families of police officers who died in the line of duty. Registration is $20 ($25 on the day of the event) and includes a T-shirt. The event is announced on the City website here.

The meeting concluded at 6:20 pm.

Agenda for the January 9th meeting

The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted to the City website here.