Milwood Neighborhood Assoc.

I'm running out the door, but I wanted to jot down some notes from the planning meeting today. Overall the project establishes zoning for mixed use commercial and residential.

The plan will go before the planning commission (may?) and ultimately council later this spring. It is a plan, not a proposed development, so it may not take shape in a meaningful way for decades.

I think the plan could bring a lot more destinations and value out of that area of town, and I'd think it would have a positive impact on property values, but…

The most disappointing thing is that they are not yet recommending any alternate consideration for the braker/duval exits as it relates to Domain, although other road improvements have been recommended. They gave a reason why a previously discussed suggestion of a connection of the braker exit to domain via a frontage overpass turned out not to be feasible from their perspective, I'm going to ask for that documentation.

Also they mentioned intention of CapMetro to do a circulator study when the plan was approved, I'll look for more information related to that.

Occasionally we'll ask our local realtors to pull out some stats from MLS as indicators of the housing market in Milwood. Here are some recent snips of information.

Milwood-April Sales

April Stats
Average List Price $182,475.00
Average Sales Price $178,555.00
Homes Pending 14
Average List Price $177,028.00
Active Listings 14
Average List Price $182,020.00

Tomorrow, the 24th at 9am, you should consider attending the North Burnet Gateway Plan presentation. Location information can be found here. The area south of us may well turn into a second downtown, with all the services that makes available, but also with the need to be involved in quality of life in the surrounding neighborhoods. The plan includes city recommendations for substantial improvements to Burnet and Braker, new bike lanes that are directly helpful to those of us who do that, new flyovers connection 183 and 360, new flyover across mopac connecting Gateway to south of Pickle Campus. Also included is new information in regards to mass transit in the area and the potential to redefine the skyline in North Austin. I was involved in the plan advisory board, and I plan to attend, with my soccer clad son in tow. Consider attending.

Keep in mind is that this is a plan, not a proposed development, so this is a 20-30 year view for the whole area of the plan. But the Domain is going to be heavily developing, and we should be very interested in traffic issues, including getting understanding of when road improvements on the mopac frontage road by the Domain may come, and when a connector of the feeder road from Braker over the railroad tracks might come.

The Statesman has an article on the meeting today. From the article:

A broad swath of low-rise commercial buildings, aging industrial properties and surface parking lots in North Austin would be transformed into a vibrant, mixed-use community rivaling downtown in height, population and density under a preliminary North Burnet/Gateway neighborhood plan.

Read more here

The City of Austin announced today that the public will have an opportunity to visit with the five finalists for the police chief during three community forums in June.

The Chief of Police will oversee a department that employs approximately 2,000 uniform and civilian personnel and has a current budget of more than $183 million. The final candidate selected will succeed former Austin Police Chief Stan Knee who left the department in 2006.

The community meetings will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, June 11, and 8:30 a.m. and noon Tuesday, June 12. All three meetings will be at the Lester E. Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road.

The public is encouraged to attend any of these meetings and visit with the five police chief candidates. Feedback from these sessions will be utilized in making a final recommendation for the position.

Information on the five candidates available here…

John Irwin of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center will be giving a Virtual Tour of the Wildflower Center at the Milwood Library on June 6 at 6:00pm. A question and answer session will be held after the presentation. Come and find out how you can incorporate native plants into your garden and yard.

The event is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served.

Our third annual workday in the Park is coming on April 14. We'll have two projects this year! We'll meet at at the children's play area in the park off of the main parking lot at 10:30 am.

For those who want something light, or with small children, we'll do litter pickup using the kid's play area as a jumping off point.

This year we've also been asked to take on a slightly bigger project than in years past- Streambed clearing at Balcones Park nature trail.

We'll be moving rock and debris out of the creek and using it to protect sensitive cliff-side areas. In some areas, the creek has gotten so full of rubble and brush, it can no longer flow down its course and has flooded the trail instead. This, in turn, drives walkers to tread on sensitive plant life growing alongside the trail. We'll try to help out with both issues by clearing the creek. There will also be some trash cleanup to be done. Bring a shovel and work gloves, if you have them. If there is water in the creek, expect to get wet! Wear water shoes. For questions, please fill out the contact form to the right

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