City Council Regular Meeting Transcript – 9/10/2026 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 9/10/2026 6:00:00AM Original Air Date: 9/10/2026 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [9:59:07 AM] 2026 and I will call to order the Austin city council meeting for this date. We have a quorum of the city council members present. We are meeting in city hall, which is located at 301 west second street, and we're in the council chambers. So what I'm going to do is run through the order of the day real quickly. We will momentarily take up the consent agenda. Members, I don't have any item that's been pulled from the consent agenda. [10:00:36 AM] However, I want to point out item number six, and I'll read this into the record in a minute with changes. Corrections item number six has been withdrawn. So if somebody is here to speak on item number six, item number six has been withdrawn and we will not call that item up. We will then take up nonconsent items. Those are items from the committees. We have two public hearings items 30 and 31 at at around noon. We will take up a time certain of public communication. We will also recess at that point in time for music. I want to point out, however, council members, that if we have any. If we have any item, if we don't have any items other than what is left for our 2:00 time, certain. What we will do is we will probably just recess until 2:00. However, if we still have items and we may not, then we will. But if we still have items, we will come back at 110. Then of course, at 2:00 we will have our zoning items. Members, I want to read into the record changes and corrections. As I've indicated, item number six has been withdrawn. Item number six has been withdrawn. And on item number 30, when the public hearings are taken up on item number 30, when we get to item number 30, this item will be postponed to November 19th, 2026. The final thing I want to say with regard to changes and corrections is there's late back up. And, you know, you you have a listing of late back up, but one of the key items I want to point out is that on the boards and commissions, nominations and waivers, item number 25, there is an addition. [10:02:17 AM] Council member Velazquez has put Thomas Thomas Boatwright for the native American and indigenous quality of life commission. I just want to read that in the record to make sure that it's carried out. And when we take the vote on the consent agenda, that will be the motion. It will include that late backup members, unless there are questions or comments by members of the city council, we will now go to public comment, the speakers that are signed up on the consent agenda, and I will turn to the city clerk. So without objection, let's do that. [10:02:50 AM] >> Thank you, mayor, for item one. We have Phillip Fitzgerald. Sylnovia Joseph. [10:03:05 AM] >> If your name has been called, please come forward. Thank you. Thank you sir. Please begin. [10:03:20 AM] >> Hi. Phillip Fitzgerald, district one. An entire generation was raised on the simple and implicit promise. Do well in school. Get your degree and you'll build a good life. These days, austinites are waking up to find that promise has been broken. They're trapped in a job market where employers are looking at their hard earned degrees. They're looking at their crippling student loan debt. And they're saying, we don't need you. We have ai. These are people who in the past proudly posted photos on social media of their graduation day, often as the first in their family to graduate college, but now they're learning that a bachelor's degree doesn't seem to matter anymore, which means going back to school for an advanced degree and more debt as a cost to attend college continue to soar. It can't be overstated how important it is that our city offers a clear and debt free pathway forward. [10:04:23 AM] People are being squeezed right now as they navigate a job market defined by ai disruption, a job market plagued with suppressed wages, and a job market that offers little help in paying off their overwhelming loan debt. I'm strongly in favor of this item as it helps provide real support rather than empty promises. Action like this gives austinites a genuine chance to upskill and move forward into a new job. A thriving Austin is one built on two principles more chances to succeed and less debt holding people down. So don't let a job market, a changing job market. Put a ceiling on our people. And lastly, I will add. This past year we did not put enough money towards jobs programs like this. I love policies like this, but we need to get more money overall into this into these programs. [10:05:18 AM] >> Thank you. Thank you sir. Keep your seat. I think you're getting ready to be called again. Please, please, please go ahead and call. [10:05:28 AM] >> For item five. Phillip Fitzgerald. [10:05:34 AM] >> Yeah. Phillip Fitzgerald, district one. I'm against this. As I expressed in the past, we're not allocating our general fund correctly. We constantly have to maintain or cut our social services because our police, fire and ems budgets continue to skyrocket. One of the reasons for that is because we rent out our service to areas that are not Austin. Living in Austin means paying Austin taxes. The people of Austin are not paying taxes to provide services to Travis county, Westlake, rolling stone, or any other area that is not our city. Each time we extend coverage to other areas, it means hiring more first responders, training them and paying them overtime. These areas pay per use, but do not help cover the ongoing overhead expenses that are required to constantly hire new people. If we ever hope to offer the social services that people of Austin expect, we have to start by ending these kinds of agreements. Thank you. [10:06:35 AM] >> For item 11. [10:06:36 AM] >> Go anywhere. [10:06:38 AM] >> For item 11. Phillip Fitzgerald. [10:06:44 AM] >> Did you call did you call him for item six? [10:06:47 AM] >> I thought you said you removed that one. [10:06:49 AM] >> Oh you're right. Okay. Thanks for the correction. Glad you were listening to that. [10:06:53 AM] >> That's I. [10:06:54 AM] >> Just got here. That worked out great. I didn't even hear myself, but thank you. [10:06:59 AM] >> Yeah. Phillip Fitzgerald, district one. I think it's okay that we can admit nobody actually does online training. And online learning in general kind of sucks. As someone that did a portion of a degree online, even the white collar people hate it. Many of them raced to see who can click through to the end the fastest. So many companies and governments move to online modules to save money on training people in person. But what that has given us is people who know the history of a job but don't know the culture of it. Yes, the number of austinites is increasing each year. But do these new people, these new people really feel like austinites? When someone doesn't have a feeling for the culture of Austin, then when they move here, they immediately think they can do the things in Austin that were acceptable in their last city. Linkedin doesn't know what kind of training will best fit austinites. When we isolate our city workers and make them train with online modules, rather than giving them an in-person experience, not only does it limit them professionally, but personally as well. This contract is almost $500,000 for a maximum of three years, and I'd like us to use that money on austinites. [10:08:15 AM] >> Thank you, thank you. Hang on. [10:08:19 AM] >> For item 14. Sylnovia Joseph. For item 16, Philip Fitzgerald. [10:08:40 AM] >> Hi, Philip Fitzgerald, district one. I'm against this. I guess the idea for building a new convention center is to drive future revenue growth for the city, but I'm not really sure why is the idea that the city with more money would be able to get our homeless off the streets, or to have a prosperous arts and music scene again, which is more likely in the future? 100% of the general fund going to APD, or 100% of it going to supporting our parks, I don't think there's much argument for which is more likely. The city hasn't allocated the general fund or the hotel tax in a way to really impact the lives of austinites in a long time. I understand there's limits on how the money can be spent, but there's lots of creative ways we could have made it work. Why can't the city of Austin throw its own festivals and make it cheap for locals to attend, while still inviting tourists? Why can't we have a bus line from the airport to downtown? [10:09:39 AM] Just have it pick up and drop off near hotels. So that's in line with the law. But instead we're spending the bulk of this money on a convention center. This economy has been extremely tough for a lot of people, and we should be using this tax revenue to help lift financial weight off the shoulders of austinites. Thank you. [10:10:03 AM] >> For item 19. We have one remote speaker, Monica Guzman. [10:10:13 AM] >> Good morning. I'm Monica Guzman, director, speaking on item 19. While season to get around on site affordable units isn't necessarily a good option considering the lack of deeply affordable units. And according to the Austin strategic housing blueprint scorecard from 2018 to 2023, the city is behind schedule in the production of units for the 60% median family income and 3031 to 60% median family income, and considerably more so for those at the 30% and below mfi, it is good to see a draft resolution proposing the city funds be directed at income levels as low as 30% and below mfi. It strives for something the people's plan, presented to council in 2018, sought to create with a separate city low income housing trust fund in order to set lower income limits than those in federal and commingled funds. In addition, the fees in lieu need to be increased and how they are used needs to be publicly facing because the public isn't aware and it's not easy to find, and sometimes it requires reaching out to city staff. [10:11:32 AM] Make it public facing for the people are more aware of how the money is being used and where it's being used. Thank you. [10:11:41 AM] >> Thank you. [10:11:43 AM] >> Back to in-person, speaker. For item 19, we have Philip Fitzgerald, Zenobia Joseph and lyric Wardlow. [10:11:58 AM] >> Philip Fitzgerald, district one. I'm speaking in favor of this because since 2020, Austin has seen a massive influx of people making over $100,000 a year. This has driven up the median wage of Austin, which means the measurements of affordability have become distorted as well. People who made 65% of the local median income six years ago might be sitting closer to the 50% Marc. Now. The effect of these changes can be seen when we look at the number of affordable housing units that sit empty, which, according to a recently published KXAN column, numbers about 4500. And if you haven't had a chance to read this column that came out earlier this week, I really encourage you to do so. The piece quotes people who aren't homeless but are having a tough time finding housing, whether it's due to garbage wages or long wait times to fill affordable housing. People want to be in these units, but either don't make enough for affordable housing, or the city is taking forever to process their application. Around 2020, before housing prices spiked, the city of Austin bought up about 60 acres of land with the intention of having the land developed for mixed income housing. The idea was the city would own the land, and thus property taxes would not have to be paid, and a developer could build the units and rent them out at a lower price. Fast forward to 2026 and very little if any housing has been built. [10:13:21 AM] If Austin wants to truly help people, then making it fast to apply, easy to get approved and quick to get them moved into this affordable housing is extremely important. Our city has to get out of its way and start delivering results, and we can start here by targeting people, targeting support to groups, making less money. Thank you. [10:13:42 AM] >> Please. [10:13:45 AM] >> Good morning, Mr. Mayor and council. My name is lyric Wardlow. I serve as the community development commission, public sector vice chair, and I'm the communications and public policy manager at echo Indian community homelessness coalition, where I work with Austin's homelessness response system. And I'm speaking today at my in my individual capacity, as I understand, items 19 and 31 are intended to strengthen how the citywide density bonus program delivers affordability, including prioritizing fee and lieu dollars towards deeply affordable housing. At 30% mfi, and determining when affordability should be provided on site versus through fee in lieu. I support that direction, but I also think that this is the moment to really ask a simple question how will we know if it actually worked? I spent a lot of my time at our housing crisis from two different sites at echo. I see what happens when someone simply cannot reach the housing that exists. And on the CDC, we spend a lot of time digging into whether policies and programs are actually producing outcomes our communities intended. That's why my dream is that accountability and transparency are built from the beginning. If a developer is allowed to provide dollars instead of affordable doors on a particular site, we should be able to follow those dollars all the way to the affordable doors that they eventually create. We should know how much was collected, where it came from, where it was invested, how long it sat before being used, how many homes were produced or preserved, their affordable affordability levels and bedroom sizes, and whether the homes are located across Austin. I would encourage council to bring community development commission into that process. The CDC already asked a lot of these questions, and we would love to get more information. Let us look at the implementation and let us ask those hard questions to create helpful recommendations. This isn't about creating more bureaucracy. Five years from now. We shouldn't have to reconstruct the story. [10:15:51 AM] >> Thank you very much. Appreciate your being here. [10:15:56 AM] >> Okay. For item 21, we have Phillip Fitzgerald and Zenobia Joseph. [10:16:06 AM] >> Yeah. Phil Fitzgerald, district one. I'm speaking in favor of this because I'm a firm believer that we should be giving every chance that we can to our kids to succeed. In the year 2000, the population of black people in Austin was just over 9%. And in the 26 years since then, that number sits at under 7%. Not only are black people increasingly moving out of Austin, but the ones that move here aren't staying long term. And the answer for that is the same. They are often made to feel like they don't belong here. Whether it's from a young age where predominantly black schools are funded or aren't funded at the same levels as their peers across the city, or when they become adults and see a lot of restaurant and entertainment options that do not even attempt to cater to their interests. If Austin wants to support black austinites, it must begin doing so early in life, starting with the funding of social services that make sure our kids stay in school, don't end up in jail, and develop strong personal relationships with their friends, family and neighbors. [10:17:08 AM] These are children of Austin. It's important that we keep giving our kids a chance. Thank you. [10:17:14 AM] >> For item 23. Sylnovia Joseph and Philip Fitzgerald. [10:17:20 AM] >> You're going to get it one of these times. So I'm in favor of this. Oh, sorry. Philip Fitzgerald, district one. I'm in favor of this because I, I pretty recently went through an experience I just described, and it really had a pretty profound impact on me. But there's going to be a time when everyone in here will end up in a hospital, whether it's your own sickness or the sickness of someone that you know and care about, you might have questions and be given answers that don't make sense. You could be unconscious and alone with nobody there to ask questions for you. Without someone there to speak for you, you'll be left in the hands of people who don't know you. This fear can be intensified for people who don't have a great grasp of the English language. The Austin Asian community health initiative offers a range of health services, including medical advocacy and. If you're unaware of a. Medical advocacy is. It's essentially. If you end up in a hospital and you need someone there that can, you know, guide doctors to, to, to, you know, decisions that would best suit you, whether it's, it's, it's, hey, can we try a different medication or can they stay here longer? [10:18:28 AM] Whatever it is, just having someone there that that can really help you and support you. They offer to translate and help voice medical and help voice medical concerns for people who need a little help navigating our complex health care system during a frightening time. This agreement helps shore up services that provide familiarity, guidance and support for a growing portion of our city's population. So I'm totally in favor of it. Thank you. [10:18:54 AM] >> Next is item 25, Rita Thompson and Zenobia Joseph. [10:19:10 AM] >> Good morning. Good morning. Thank you. I want to thank city clerk's office and council members who provided backup on this. I've come here before to discuss appointee waivers or any waivers that have to do with boards or commissions. I don't have a problem with the particular waiver, or certainly not the persons being addressed in the waiver. I want to make that clear. It has to do with an opportunity to address process the manner in which deliberations and decisions are being made on the boards and commissions. You have had concerns about transparency and potential ethical violations with regard to council practices. However, please know that these concerns are carrying over to boards and commissions as well. I know the mayor's talked about wanting to rebuild trust, and I think it's important that, you know, constituents are concerned about this. You only have to look at the zilker vision plan and home one and home two. As it moved through the Austin parks board and planning commission. This is hard for me to talk about because I've had the privilege and opportunity and honor to sit on a commission before. I imagine that many of you, being lawyers, know how to navigate the rules. [10:20:39 AM] However, that does not translate into best practices. Just because something may legally pass the test doesn't mean that it's the best thing to do. If you want to rebuild trust, and if you want to have your constituents served, please make sure you're addressing the guidelines given to these boards and commissions and look beyond being legal. But look at the opportunities to utilize best practices. Thank you for your consideration. [10:21:11 AM] >> Thank you. [10:21:14 AM] >> For item 26. We have one remote speaker, Dewey Smith. [10:21:22 AM] >> Yes. Good morning, mayor, city manager, and all of the city council. I'm coming to you today in my capacity as the vice chair of the millennium youth entertainment complex board. And I just want to remind us of the history and make a few comments. The nyse came to life through a collaboration of community, youth and the city of Austin. As a reminder, in 1992 to Micah Ross was murdered and this led to a demand for safe spaces for youth. In 1996, Juan cotera, who was a teen activist serving on the council appointed advisory board, was also killed, so the millennium was dedicated in their memories. Additionally, the community showed up in the ar CDC board and its current iteration on which I sit. It was necessary to secure the hud funding, but the board members have invested so much more, with some of the members being active since 1992. I share this to say that the history is a reminder of what we have done together, and an expression of my hope that this mission and history will not be forgotten. [10:22:40 AM] I share the hope that the future of the millennium will continue to be shaped through community connections and contributions. I believe that community plus city can continue to be the formula for greater impact. I would like to say a special thank you to council member harper-madison. Thank you all. [10:23:02 AM] >> Thank you. [10:23:04 AM] >> Back to in-person, speaker. For item 26, we have Philip Fitzgerald and Francis Jordan. [10:23:16 AM] >> Phil fitzgerrell, district one. I'm always going to be in favor of providing support to our local rec centers, but in this case, it's for a different reason. I've always loved movie theaters. People that know me well know that I have a passion for being in a theater and watching a movie. I love them so much that whenever I've been able to travel in the past, I've always made sure to catch a movie at a local theater. But an interesting feature of east Austin and east Austin is there's no movie theaters up until you go north and hit the Alamo at Mueller, around 40 blocks from here. The only one marginally close is the one on the west side south, the other Alamo on south Lamar. Thankfully, though, about two years ago, the east side saw the return of its native son, east side cinema, which is located at the millennium entertainment complex. The theater, originally opened in 1999, is the only single screen theater in Austin the only one. [10:24:18 AM] And having heard that movie watchers across Austin just felt a shiver run down their spine, that's a big attraction. It's the only single screen theater in Austin. Regular theaters are offering $18 movie tickets, $8 cokes and $13 bags of popcorn. But east side cinema gives film lovers the ability to get out of the house, watch movies, and have a snack at an affordable price. And if that's not enough, the millennium also offers bowling event spaces and arcade games in a time of eye popping bills at restaurants, $80 tanks of gas and $75 haircuts which I'm guilty of paying, it is important we maintain and enhance our local rec centers to be current, safe and welcoming. This advisory board will hopefully allow the space to be shored up with needed oversight and funding. It's time the city invest more into the millennium and gives east Siders a world class experience. Thank you. [10:25:13 AM] >> Yes. [10:25:15 AM] >> Hello, my name is Frances Jordan. I serve as the chair of the Austin rosewood development corporation. I want to begin by thanking council member harper-madison and the district one office for bringing this resolution forward. This resolution follows nearly three years in which the a rcdc worked diligently to support the millennium through detailed reporting, additional review measures, and consistent oversight. Our board members are dedicated volunteers who care deeply about the success of the millennium, but we were never positioned to manage staff or daily operations. It has been a long journey to bring this entity to a place where real structural change is possible. Despite its vital role in the community, the millennium has faced persistent management and funding challenges. The work has not been flashy or newsworthy, but has been often left unseen. But it was necessary when I joined the board over six and a half years ago, distrust between the black and brown community and the city of Austin regarding the millennium was deep. Agreements had fallen apart, money had been left on the table, and any conversation about meaningful change felt impossible. But through commitment of the board members and city staff, those relationships were repaired. I want to acknowledge the city of Austin staff who did their job with excellence, former pa director Kim Kimberly Mcneely, Suzanne piper, Patricia rosette, Denise cox, Mary Moreno and our liaison Tim Baumbach, whose guidance was essential into getting this resolution before you today as we transition to acme, Candace cooper and director Angela means have continued this support. And just last week, general manager Kim Wright described the new synergies emerging under direct city management after ending the 20 plus year third party management arrangement last fall. The millennium's resolution was passed over 30 years ago, and as this new chapter begins, I hope the city deeply invests in this east Austin gym. Just last year, staff reduced the deficit to 81,000, which had been as high as 600,000. As the responsibilities officially shift from the corporation to the city, this new advisory board is created. I hope we honor the legacy of Tamika Ross and Juan catera and invest in the future of east Austin youth. [10:27:19 AM] >> Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. Appreciate your work. [10:27:24 AM] >> Item 28, Philip Fitzgerald. [10:27:30 AM] >> Yeah. Philip Fitzgerald, district one. This is for for 27 and 28. In general, I'm always going to be in favor of refunding services to anything that's local to Austin, especially outdoor events. Since the start of this year, Austin has seen a close of local businesses, including recently that I that I read about paco's tacos, Lamy's candy and satellite atx, which had about 170 years of operation between them. The people of Austin are seeing, feeling and mourning the loss of our local establishments and traditions. Since 2020, we have seen Alamo drafthouse be sold to private equity. South by southwest and nada have recently gone the same route. We feel the squeeze as prices have gone up, portions have gone down, inner city has been overrun by influencers and corporate slop. Bat fest has been a reliable source of fun and a way to experience our bat population for over 20 years now, I'm fully in favor of supporting local Austin traditions like this, and hope we do more of this to support businesses that have grown in our city and been faithful to our people. Thank you. [10:28:41 AM] >> Mayor, that concludes our speakers. [10:28:42 AM] >> Thank you very much, members. As you've heard, that concludes all the speakers on the consent agenda. Let me ask, is there any other item that a member would like to pull off of the consent agenda? All right. That being the case, then I'll entertain a motion in a second and then we'll go to discussion motions made by council member harper-madison. It is seconded by council member qadri. If you wish to be heard on the consent agenda before we take a vote, please let me know. Councilmember harper- madison. I'll recognize you. [10:29:10 AM] >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. [10:29:12 AM] >> There you go. [10:29:13 AM] >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I realize that she left. Maybe she's still in the building, but Francis, there she is. Francis Jordan was just speaking on behalf of her. The the role that she played on the a R C DC. I just I really want to put heavy emphasis on how some of our boards and commissions really do require a lot from volunteers. These folks showed up when we really needed them to. And the truth of the matter is they were doing things to help get the millennium established officially and, you know, sort of some legal capacities and otherwise, and really dug in their heels to do the work. I'm not going to lie. I begged and I pleaded six years ago, and Francis was a busy attorney and has a lot on her plate, was more than happy to step up and do the work. And I just want to acknowledge Francis and Dewey Smith called in earlier and all the other board members past present. I just really want to say I recognize very much what we're asking for volunteers to deliver in the way of services to our community. This isn't a capacity that a paid member of city staff could serve in. So having them give. So you guys don't know how many hours I'm talking early mornings and late nights to keep the structure afloat. And when there were things going on that were I mean, the building is old and it has issues, pretty persistent issues sometimes. [10:30:34 AM] And the truth of the matter, to Francis's point, it's not sexy work, but it's got to get done. And sometimes it's got to get done in the quiet so that we can make sure that we don't paint our very important community assets in a negative light, and also so we get the work done without there being much fanfare, if you will. And so I just like to say in continuation, after recognizing those folks and their stewardship and how it helped to ensure the maintenance of the facility, I'd also like to say their most valuable role today is being the community voice. We can't hear from everybody all at once, but having a diverse board offers us the opportunity to hear those diverse voices. I think we should listen to the board when it says where they can be the most effective, and I'm really grateful that we have an entity like in acme to be the steward for these resources moving forward. Ultimately, I know that the partnerships are going to be stronger. It's reassuring to hear that Kim over at the millennium feels like the partnerships are going to be stronger. I have one question that can absolutely be answered offline, director means or otherwise, just wanting to know what the transition is going to look like and make sure everybody's fully prepared to serve in whatever capacity is, is best for us to make it as turnkey as possible and to respect the work that's been done to date. [10:31:53 AM] And so I look forward to following up with you on that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. [10:31:57 AM] >> Thank you. Thank you, councilmember Siegel. [10:32:00 AM] >> Thank you, mayor. I just want to quickly acknowledge a few items on the consent agenda. First of all, item one. Mayor, I want to thank you for all of your leadership on the infrastructure academy, which is an absolutely critical program to make sure local high school graduates get access to these great infrastructure jobs that are popping up around the city. So really thankful we're continuing to support that. Item 22 for safe alliance funding. Item 23 for Asian American community health navigator program. These are great social service investments the city is making. And finally, I just want to thank Austin water for item 24, which is the galvanized water service line replacement program. This is a really important effort to serve customers by replacing or reimbursing the replacement of pipes that were previously connected downstream of a lead pipe. Staff has told us that this item represents funding to complete all of the remaining pipes in the city, which is really good news for the city and Austin water customers. Thank you mayor. [10:32:53 AM] >> Thank you, council member members, I'll say I want to speak on item number one, and I appreciate councilmember Siegel recognizing item number one. People will remember that we created the Austin infrastructure academy to bring together employers, educators, community organizations, and workforce partners so that we'd be in a position to strengthen and grow Austin's workforce when it came to mobility and infrastructure projects, transportation, construction, other skilled trades. We worked very closely with the skilled trade unions, and they were the key part of helping us craft this infrastructure academy and have been consistently involved since. And of course, a key part of our goal was to evolve the economic development paradigm where it's not just about at the end of every year, counting the number of new jobs created, but counting the number of people were actually getting into jobs that are austinites. And that was a big part of the Austin infrastructure academy with, you know, around $25 billion worth of mobility and infrastructure projects. This was this is the probably the biggest economic development sector we have. And it creates the opportunity for people to move into those jobs in such a way that they can then afford to stay in Austin, in most instances, being paid prevailing wages. Since launching in March of 2025, the infrastructure academy has accomplished several key first year milestones. It connected 1856 austinites to career opportunities. It enrolled over 1600 participants, participants in the academy and awarded and this is important 210 training scholarships, which you all will remember, was a key part of what we were trying to do meet people who need the training where they are, and in some instances, providing scholarships. I could go on and on about it. It is imperative that for Austin to remain an open, creative, dynamic and complete city. We have programs like this, and so I want to say thank you to workforce solutions, where we're joined today by the leadership of workforce solutions and the leadership of the Austin infrastructure academy. And we appreciate the work you're doing, and we look forward to even greater success going forward. Members, anyone else that wishes to speak on the consent agenda? Okay. Yeah. Councilmember Laine, I'm sorry. [10:35:16 AM] >> Thank you. I appreciate that. First, with respect to item number one, I, I also want to thank you for your leadership, mayor, on this, and I certainly can't say anything better on it than you already have. But I do want to acknowledge Anna and appreciate that this is an area in which Round Rock ISD is collaborating effectively with the city, and I really appreciate your efforts to ensure that that happened. As it relates to item 22, the safe alliance contract, I would like to note that I'm pleased to see this extension of the contract with safe alliance. The safe alliance does incredible work for women, children and families, from exams to advocacy to the core part of supporting women and children seeking safety. The work organizations like safe alliance do literally translates into saving lives, and it's a critical and valuable investment for our city. I look forward to continuing working with both safe and brave alliance to create a comprehensive, trauma informed network of support and protection for our most vulnerable and. And here, I also would like to acknowledge your leadership on getting us to the solutions that we have so far found on this. Mayor. Thank you. With respect to item 23, the Asian American community navigator restoration, I'll note that during the recent budget conversations, one of my biggest priorities was ensuring that the Asian American community health navigator program would not be reduced, given their effectiveness, to help a targeted population in the city with no alternative service available. The services we choose to invest in can only be as helpful as they are accessible, and this program helps strengthen access to medical care. I'm very pleased that this contract is coming to council, so thank you, Austin public health staff, for moving this forward so quickly. And finally, as it relates to item 28, that fest, thank you, councilmember alter, for leading on this fee waiver. And also to our public commenters on this topic. That fest is one of the many city wide live music traditions that help contribute to Austin's artistic and musical identity. On its 20th anniversary, I was very pleased to be able to attend and to be able to co-sponsor, and I would like to double my contribution amount from $750 to $1500. I'm able to do that because we are approaching the end of the fiscal year, and if any of my colleagues have additional fee waiver funding available, would certainly I know that they would appreciate the show of support. If you have anything available to pitch in. Thank you so much. [10:37:49 AM] >> Thank you. You might start looking for somebody to put the additional $750, because I think it's fully covered. So you have oh, you do all in one fell swoop. You gave away money and you made money. That was pretty cool. [10:38:05 AM] >> Any better every day, right? [10:38:07 AM] >> Yeah. Anyone else wish to be heard on the consent agenda in that case, is there anyone wishing to be shown abstaining from any item on the consent agenda? Anyone wishing to be shown recusing themselves from a vote on any item on the consent agenda. Anyone wishing to be shown voting no on any item on the consent agenda. Hearing none. Councilmember Laine if you would hit your button again so we can, we'll take a vote. Hearing none without objection. The consent agenda is adopted. Thanks, everybody. Now we'll go to our consent items item number 29, and I'll turn to the city clerk. [10:38:49 AM] >> Thanks, mayor. For item 29, we have Zenobia Joseph. [10:38:54 AM] >> Miss Joseph, miss Joseph, she has not been here. So let me. Members, this is an item that's referred from a council committee. It's referred from the audit and finance committee. So as chair of the audit and finance committee, I will move adoption of the item number 29. It is seconded by the vice chair of the committee. Council member Ryan, is there discussion on item number 29? Hearing none. Without objection, item number 29 is adopted. Council member Laine do you wish to be shown voting on item number 29? All right. Item number. Item number 29 is adopted. Members. We will now go to item number 30. If you'll recall item number 30, the item number 30 is a public hearing. Item number 30 is being postponed until November. A date in November. We don't need to have public comment on that because of the postponement, but I want to make sure if there's somebody here, they can speak to the merits of the postponement and we'll we'll let them do that. [10:40:04 AM] >> Item 30. We have Victoria Haas and Rebecca yocono. [10:40:10 AM] >> You'll be speaking on the merits of the postponement. [10:40:15 AM] >> Good morning, mayor and council members Victoria Haas with rubber design on behalf of the girls school of Austin, along with our request to postpone this item to November 19th, we would ask consideration that this item be placed either at a 5 P.M. Time certain, or to be placed on the 2:00 agenda as the last item taken up on that day. This will allow the faculty, staff, students to participate in civic duty outside of their responsibility and commitment to their education. [10:40:45 AM] >> Thank you. [10:40:45 AM] >> Thank you. [10:40:47 AM] >> All right. Item number. I appreciate you being here. Item number 30 is postponed. That'll take us to item number 31, which is a public hearing. Without objection, we will open the public hearing on item number 31. The public hearing is now open, and we will go to speakers for the public hearing on item number 31. [10:41:03 AM] >> For item 31, we have Patrick Fitzgerald, Rita Thompson, Brad Massingill, Zenobia Joseph, and lyric Wardlow. [10:41:22 AM] >> Just to be clear, you meant Philip Fitzgerald, not Patrick. Correct. Or is there another. [10:41:27 AM] >> No, she meant Philip. [10:41:28 AM] >> Yeah. Okay. [10:41:31 AM] >> Patrick, your twin brother. [10:41:32 AM] >> Yeah. I was like, maybe I'm Patrick. Yeah. Yeah. Philip Fitzgerald, district one. I was really confused by the wording of this item because it says we're going to amend this to allow for in lieu tax payments instead of the requirement for affordable housing. But then the funding said the opposite. So I'm going to be assumed that we are wanting to allow. Payments of fees rather than building affordable housing. So I'm pretty against that. The people of Austin often see zoning changes happen for housing development that comes with affordable housing promise, which is often far short of what is needed. But even still, it's something. But now with this item, we also want to give these developers an ability to pay a fee to avoid having to build units. So not only would they not have to build affordable housing, but because the developments would then be 100% market rate, they legally would be allowed to not have to accept housing vouchers from austinites. I understand we have this fee in lieu arrangement for other types of development, but why in the world would we be allowing this for new projects being thrown up, often in areas where people, quite frankly, don't have the money to afford to live in these apartments? Is the goal to just drive more people out of the city? I think if we if we pass these items and allow this development and we say, hey, you need to build this affordable housing, then we should not be giving them an out to building of that housing. [10:43:02 AM] People in Austin are having a hard time making money. A lot of people are being laid off. I don't know how aware you guys are of that or how what the proximity is to people that are being laid off right now, and they're out of work for 8 to 10 months. They don't have a lot of money. So the least we can do is ask our deep pocketed developers to build some housing that those people can afford. Thank you. [10:43:24 AM] >> That concludes our speakers members. [10:43:26 AM] >> That concludes all the speakers for this public hearing on item number 31. [10:43:30 AM] >> Mayor, my apologies. We have one remote speaker, Monica Guzman. [10:43:36 AM] >> We've not closed the public hearing. So, miss Guzman, you have the floor. [10:43:45 AM] >> Thank you. Mayor. Good morning. I'm Monica Guzman, Garza policy director, speaking on item 31. The draft ordinance is a small mitigation measure. It does not prevent the loss of affordable housing units along the transit line and could be used to justify newer, larger developments. It is a small improvement in terms of on site income, restricted units gained in larger new apartments and condominiums. We urge you to protect and preserve existing affordable units with 1 to 1 replacement units for redevelopment of income, restricted or naturally occurring affordable housing along the transit line. Thank you. [10:44:27 AM] >> Thank you. Members. That now concludes. All the speakers have signed up for the public hearing on item number 31. So without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number 31. The public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion and then we'll have discussion. Motion is made by councilmember alter, second by councilmember duchen to adopt item number 30. The ordinance in item number 31. Councilmember qadri, you're recognized for discussion. [10:44:51 AM] >> Great. Thank you. Mayor. Just wanted to comment on this item. Really quick density bonuses have been a significant way. We have received low and moderate income housing on the ground to advance our housing goals. As a city, we especially have a hard time getting any new low and moderate income housing in my district along major transit corridors, because the land is just really expensive. So this item ensures we continue to encourage on site units near the near project connect light rail alignment like we did with the density bonus. And I, you know, definitely look forward to hearing more from our professional staff on the impact of this requirement and the fee in lieu option elsewhere, once they have completed the study of high opportunity and displacement risk areas in partnership with with UT Austin. So those are my comments. [10:45:37 AM] >> Thank you. Councilmember qadri. Councilmember alter. [10:45:40 AM] >> Thank you very much. I am, you know, kind of councilmember qadri said, you know, fee in lieu allows for us very often to generate more units either nearby or even sometimes right there adjacent. You'll have two projects that are on the same property, but you, when you allow for those dollars to be grouped together, you can usually get more affordable housing out of it than when you do on site, which is why I generally support fee in lieu. I don't have a formal amendment here today, but I do just want to ask the housing department as this rolls out, as we see this area in the eto does not allow for fee in lieu and other density bonuses do provide. If you could provide some kind of. Whether it's reporting or just showing what those differences are in terms of unit generation so that we can see what the impact of this policy decision we're making here today. I think it would be really helpful, and I know that's going to play out over a number of years, but I just think we need to see what the actual results are of this decision, because the last thing we want is people to underdevelop the tods because they don't have this option and they just choose to go develop elsewhere. [10:46:57 AM] So thank you very much. [10:46:58 AM] >> Thank you, councilmember members, with no further discussion on item number 31, without objection, item number 31 is adopted. That concludes all of the business that we have, except for items that are set for a time certain. We have a 12:00 time certain for public communication. So without objection, the Austin city council will be in recess until 12:00 promptly. It is 1046. The Austin city council is 1047. The Austin city council is [12:00:22 PM] it's 12:00 and I will call back to order the Austin city council. We have been in recess, but we now have our 12:00 time certain, which is public communication. For those in the public that are going to speak during our public, our public communication time, you have signed up so you know you're signed up. We'll have the clerk's office call out your names. But if you're going to be if you're a speaker, please start making your way down and we'll call you in the order that you've signed up. And then please find a spot to sit and we'll hear from you. So with that, I'll turn it over to the clerk's office to start making the calling of names. And Mr. Robbins has already shown up, so should let her call your name. [12:01:06 PM] >> Paul Robbins. [12:01:07 PM] >> Can you can you? [12:01:10 PM] >> You need to push the button. [12:01:13 PM] >> Okay. [12:01:15 PM] >> Hello? Test. Can you please queue the the powerpoint? Yes. Count. [12:01:25 PM] >> There you go. [12:01:26 PM] >> Council. Good afternoon. In 1980, a great movie was screened called the formula. I urge you all to see it. So I'm not going to give away the plot. But at the beginning of the script, the explanatory line was, quote, the world's going to be one big happy corporation. No more secrets, no more enemies, just customers. More and more. That is what Austin has become a city run for the benefit of large corporations, and nowhere can you see a better symbol of this than the new city seal slide. Here is a copy of the new seal on the left, replacing the old one created over a century ago on the right. Now there is a lively debate in Austin about how misplaced the new seal is. [12:02:26 PM] I personally think it looks like a bad attempt at a corporate trademark. Others think it is trite and others think it is cartoonish. There seems to be almost universal agreement, however, that it is expensive about $200,000, with the transition campaign costing another $900,000. With all the pressing financial issues Austin faces, I do not know anyone who is clamoring to spend this kind of money on something this flawed. Personally, I don't want to live in a company town flying the flag of a corporate trademark. So I want to make a positive suggestion. Slide. Replace the heavily criticized city seal with another one. I had the idea to replace the seal back in the 1980s, and I asked a few artists to come up with ideas. This was the best one, drawn by someone you might know. The late mayor pro tem Jackie Goodman Jackie gave this to me and I will give it to the city for free. Should you need more confirmation of ownership. [12:03:46 PM] I've talked to her surviving heir, Janice Morgan, who has told me she would also donate it to the city as well. You can't beat the price. To save on cost. You can phase the new seal in as stationery is reprinted, as vehicles are replaced, as buildings are remodeled. The artwork was not drawn for money. It was created because Goodman cared about this city. She symbolized the best of Austin. Accept this contribution from one of our own and from one of your own. Thank you. [12:04:28 PM] >> Yes, sir. Are you Mr. Kevin? [12:04:34 PM] >> David? Kevin. Jacob. Clemente. [12:04:37 PM] >> Okay. Is Mr. Kevin here? All right, sir, if you want to, please go ahead. [12:04:46 PM] >> I'm Jacob clements, I'm from Houston, Texas, and the Houston dynamo football club is superior to the Austin football club because I have the major league soccer championship ring. And so that proves to me that my point that we are better than y'all. So I want to say this, that Sylvia Garcia and Rodney Ellis have honored me before with a congressional certificate and a Harris county resolution. Now, both of them are pro-choice, but hey, I'm pro-life. I can go on and on about that, but I leave for y'all guys up there, all of y'all. Some Emily Anderson. Suntan lotion. So y'all can prevent skin, skin cancer and. [12:05:52 PM] Oh, I want to mayor Whitmire, who used to be senator, state senator, like captain Kirk at Watson, was a state senator and he. He of the public. Policies. God bullies. Used to be the Dean and then. And then went here I go about the. Proclamation from the city of Houston. It says here in one part it says. And that drawn from his lived experiences to champion policies that recognize the dignity of human life through his active civic and political participation. And now, please excuse me for my nervousness, but it's not nervousness. It's I had a disability. I was hit by a car when I was 14. And so I had to serious brain injury, but I then I have improved. I've come from a state where I could not walk or talk, and now I can walk and talk and I've come a long way and I like I, I, yeah, I, I have been in the paralympics and the Barcelona paralympics and the London paralympics and now I also cheer on the home teams of Houston, such as the Houston Astros, the Houston dynamo, the Houston Texans and the Houston rockets. They're all good, especially the rockets and dynamo, because they're. A put together through woman ingenuity. Well, I have 987654321. Blast off. [12:07:56 PM] >> Thank you for being here. By the way. You mentioned congresswoman Sylvia Garcia and you mentioned county commissioner Rodney Ellis. We all served in the same senate together with mayor Whitmire as well. So tell them all I said. Hello. Thank you for being here. [12:08:11 PM] >> Yes, sir. Oh, and wasn't come here. [12:08:14 PM] >> Yeah. There you go. [12:08:15 PM] >> Yeah. Alexander graham bell. [12:08:17 PM] >> That's exactly right. I've never heard that one before, but that's great. Thank you for being here. Yes. Why don't we start with you? Just state your name for the record. [12:08:28 PM] >> Hi, my name is Judy Perry. I'm here to speak about concerns with the planning and development of 6200 manchaca. I've lived next to 6200 manchaca for three years. I moved here to be close to my daughter's family and my two grandsons. My oldest grandson is seven and attends Cunningham elementary, which is right next to this parcel of land. My youngest grandson will walk through those same doors in a few years. These decisions, about 6200 manchaca, will shape the daily lives of three generations of my family and countless others like it. I want to be very clear at the outset. My neighbors and I support affordable housing at this location. What we oppose is mf for density. That's the level of density that's being requested. And just as important, I'm concerned about the process by which the city has pursued it. We were promised genuine community engagement, but the timeline tells a different story. Two drop in open house events were scheduled to gather our community input. The first was held on August 24th. The second is scheduled for September 23rd, but the affordability unlocked pre- qualification letter for a 275 unit mf for development was posted on August 14th. Before even open house either open house had even happened. So if we do some quick mental math, that's ten days before the first open house was held. The decision was made before we said a single word. This is not community engagement. This is a decision dressed up as a conversation. When the city's own timeline shows the outcome was locked in before the public input was gathered. It opens the process to legal challenge and undermines the legitimacy of the decision. It tells every neighborhood in this city that engagement windows are theater, not substance. Aside from timeline, density is the issue. [12:10:23 PM] Our south Austin combined neighborhood plan identifies this area as a maximum of mf one density jumping to mf four density skips over two entire intermediate zoning categories. This is not a modest adjustment. This is a leap the adopted plan never intended. We believe there's a better path, a lower density option that can still deliver meaningful, affordable housing while respecting the neighborhood character as we were promised. We're not asking you to abandon affordable housing. We're asking you to honor the process that you promised us. Pause. This plan for 6200 manchaca. Allow time for community engagement that you initiated to actually inform the outcome. Lower the density in line with what your own neighborhood plan calls for. Because a city that only listens after the decision is made isn't listening at all. Thank you for your time. [12:11:17 PM] >> Thank you. Yes, please. [12:11:21 PM] >> My name is Laurie Costello. I live in Independence park neighborhood, which is next to 6200 manchaca road. I have lived in south Austin for 30 years and moved into Independence park in 2014. We intended this to be our final home. A small one story with a small backyard. Like many of our neighbors, we have added simple landscaping to the backyard, which allows us to enjoy shade and sunlight and a view of the sky. This is our little oasis for aging in place. When we first saw that the city had purchased the property at 6200 manchaca road, I assumed it was to build affordable housing and was very pleased. However, the recently released information about the development shocked me. I never would have imagined that the city would propose to put a five story, 275 unit building in that location, in the middle of residential neighborhoods that consist of one and two story homes. For those of you who don't know, 6200 manchaca is not a corner lot. Imagine being in your backyard with a five story building directly behind you on the south side. [12:12:31 PM] In summer, you no longer feel the southerly breeze that cools your yard just a few degrees in winter, when the sun is low in the south sky, you no longer get any sunlight in your yard. Your plants die and your soul isn't nourished. Next time you drive around Austin in neighborhoods with 1 or 2 story homes, look around. Do you see a five story building plopped right in between houses? I have looked around south Austin and not seen any five story buildings in the middle of residential neighborhoods. The only ones I've seen have been in commercial areas or on corner locations with large buffer Zones around them. The many people who contributed time and effort to the 2014 south Austin combined neighborhood plan recommended that the residential core neighborhoods maintain their character and livability by having residents and apartments with mf one only and narrow transition circumstance. Personally, I would not even object to a three story building provided there is adequate buffer zone included, including vegetation, and that the building be constructed in a manner that fits within the adjacent neighborhoods. I fear that the mf 4np approved will set an unfortunate precedent that could greatly change our livable south Austin neighborhoods. In closing, please help keep the south Austin manchac corridor within the established neighborhood plan by voting down the proposed mf for rezoning. [12:14:02 PM] Respect the south Austin combined neighborhood plan and have empathy for the surrounding neighbors that would significantly be impacted by the proposed five story building. Thank you. [12:14:14 PM] >> Thank you. [12:14:15 PM] >> We have one remote speaker, Tiffany challis. [12:14:24 PM] >> Oh, good afternoon everybody. My name is Tiffany chalice, and I live in the neighborhood right next to 6200 manchac. So you've just heard from my neighbors about many of our concerns. I just like to leave you with something very simple. We definitely support affordable housing. We just don't believe mf four mp is the right zoning for this property. And here's why. The city's own south Austin neighborhood plan puts 6200 men in residential core. That's the lowest level of density in the plan, mainly one and two story homes, duplexes, small homes and cottage style development. From there, density goes up step by step. You move through neighborhood transition, then neighborhood nodes. And it's not until mixed use activity hub and corridor that you get to mf four mp. But that's not what's happening here. This proposal goes directly from sf two and P to M four mp. That is such a huge jump and it skips the transition. The neighborhood plan was designed to provide. That is really the heart of our concern. And there's one more piece that is very important here. This project is also pursuing affordability unlock type two for the zoning you approve really matters. With that layered on top of mf four mp, the scale of what can be built here can increase significantly. [12:16:08 PM] Now we understand why 6200 manchac makes sense for affordable housing. Near transit, schools. ACC and the library. We're not saying don't build here. We're asking what level of development belongs on this particular property. And the city's own neighborhood plan helps answer that. It takes the broader goals of imagine Austin and applies them at the neighborhood level. We're not asking you to choose between affordable housing and our neighborhood. We actually believe you can have both build affordable housing at 6200 manchac, but build it at a scale that respects the city's plan and provides a real transition to the homes around that. So we're asking you to not approve mf four and P, and instead ask the applicant to come back with a lower density proposal that follows the neighborhood plan. Affordable housing matters, and so does good planning. Austin shouldn't have to sacrifice one to achieve the other. Thank you for listening. [12:17:22 PM] >> Thank you. [12:17:25 PM] >> Back to in person speakers David Lianes, Sean Smith, and Shannon Murphy. [12:17:50 PM] >> Hi, my name is David Caleb and my family owns and operates float on boat rentals. We have 18 boats and employ 25 people. I'm a born and raised austinite. My family immigrated from Colombia and Mexico and this is a first generation family business. We rely on lake Austin to pay our team and feed our families. We only receive 53 days notice that lake Austin will be shut down from October 12th to December 1st, unless city council acts to change this. All boat ramps on lake Austin will be closed during UT football season, peak wedding season and formula one with dry river banks like this photo. Why are we closing lake Austin and why are we rushing it? City staff confirmed they made no attempt to measure the economic impact. One riverboat operator has six weddings getting canceled, and this will cost his business hundreds of thousands of dollars, the city's press release says this is being rushed to lakefront. Property owners can work on their boat docks. That work can be done when the lake is full. It just costs less during a drawdown. If the city wants to prioritize wealthy homeowners saving money on their boat docks versus public access to the lake for seven weeks, this can be done in the winter, when every drawdown has been done for 50 years. We've been told this will protect hydropower during the winter, but 99% of hydropower is not affected. [12:19:04 PM] During a drawdown of lake Austin, I was surprised to learn that the big Mansfield dam next to lake Travis keeps flowing during a drawdown and power is not reduced. The small dam by hula hut just drops water ten feet less and results in a 1% reduction in total hydropower. Lcra policy treats all Lakes and dams the same, but other cities aren't hosting f1. If the city is not willing to ask lcra to consider the unique importance of lake Austin, and the fact that 99% of hydropower wouldn't be affected, then move to fall of next year. Give everyone a year's notice so they can plan for it. So weddings don't get canceled and people don't lose their jobs. The biggest surprise is that city council didn't vote on this. Closing a public lake for seven weeks is a decision the people we elected should make. Please put this on your next agenda. Ask the city manager to measure the economic impact. Ask lcra to confirm that 99% of hydropower is not affected. Ask lcra how much it would cost to buy a contract for backup power for the 1% hydropower reduction. So this can be done in January like it always has, and then vote on it. If city council doesn't vote on this, we assume you all unanimously support closing lake Austin during peak season without regard for the impact on the public, small business or Austin's reputation. [12:20:20 PM] Thank you. [12:20:22 PM] >> Yes, sir. Please. [12:20:25 PM] >> Thank you, mayor and council members, for the opportunity to speak here today. I'm Sean Smith, I'm the owner of Austin rental boats and lake Austin lights. My business is also operate on lake Austin, employ local residents and bring families and tourists out to enjoy everything like Austin has to offer. What I'm asking from you all here today is to postpone the October lake Austin drawdown and fully evaluate moving it to January, February and then bringing that decision before council for a vote. Before you lower the lake, please measure the full cost to the people who depend upon it. My business across my businesses, we're facing over 300 zero zero $0 in lost revenue. But behind those numbers are captains losing paychecks, employees losing shifts, and customers whose plans we have to cancel. For lake Austin lights, that means taking away holiday traditions that families have planned around and enjoy every year. [12:21:23 PM] That Thanksgiving tradition cannot simply be rescheduled, and the damage doesn't stop when the water returns. We still need time to set up, install equipment, prepare our operations, and bring staff back on board. Roughly seven weeks notice leaves us scrambling to notify customers, rearrange bookings and to help employees find work so they can put food in their mouths and a roof over their head in such a short period of time, that's very difficult. You cannot simply turn small businesses off and back on like a light switch. When when that happened during covid, we had economic relief. This time there is none. You have the ability to provide us with relief moving forward. Please vote on pushing this to January and February. Please vote on this. And to my knowledge, I'm not sure if there has been a vote on this. So I'm asking you guys here today, please vote on this. If this drawdown is intended to allow repairs and maintenance, property owners also need enough time to figure out what they need to do obtain permits, line up contractors. Seven weeks isn't really a realistic timeline, hence the expedited permit process that they did. [12:22:39 PM] Please bring the lcra relevant state agencies, city staff and affected businesses to the table. Give January and February a full public evaluation. I feel like if you do that, you can see the impact is much less in January and February, and all parties will be on board. If electricity reliability limits the winter operations. Explain those limits and what it would take to address them. Compare those costs of moving the work with the consequences of keeping this schedule, including the lost paychecks and lost revenue of businesses. A cheaper date on the city's calendar can be a far more expensive date for the community. If moving this draw down can meet the lake's needs while protecting the livelihoods, that option deserves serious consideration. Please vote on this before the damage is done. Hear from the people affected and make the compare comparison public and bring this before council for a vote before this drawdown begins. Give us some time so we can make plans. Thank you. [12:23:45 PM] >> Yes, ma'am. [12:23:48 PM] >> Hi. Yes, my name is Shannon Murphy and I work with lake Austin calm, which is located at mozart's coffee roasters. I'm here today to ask you to reconsider the timing of the lake drawdown and move it to January or February, when the economic impact of the on the businesses and employees would be significantly smaller. For over five years, lake Austin has operated at mozart's and grown into a year round attraction for locals and tourists and community groups. One of the groups that we host on a weekly basis is recovery outdoors, which joins us every Monday. And these are not just temporary and seasonal jobs down at lake Austin. Com we employ workers down there year round, and they depend on the income of the upcoming season. I've already had multiple staff members reach out to me very distraught about being out of work. One of our managers that we recently hired moved to Austin with his wife to start a new chapter and adventure in their lives. He has been gainfully employed with us for months, and now he is trying to understand how he will manage six weeks without normal work and income. And he is just one of the many employees that is facing uncertainty. Timing. The timing also directly impacts our annual holiday event. This coincides with lake Austin lights, where the lake staff is employed through the Christmas activities. Families return year after year for these activities. We continue to grow them on the lake and they have become a staple in the community. This is a tradition and I've already personally had messages and emails brought to my attention that people are looking forward to booking with us and asking when and how they can book. This extends far beyond our businesses, boat companies, restaurants, tourism captains, hourly employees, contractors and other businesses up and down the entire lake will feel the impact. We understand the need for the drawdown. We are simply asking the city to reconsider the timing. Moving into January or February would allow the necessary work to happen while protecting jobs, local businesses and holiday traditions. Please remember that behind every affected business are real people who depend on these jobs and support themselves and their families. Just in one area of oysters landing, this isn't going to be including mozart's the restaurant. The restaurant hula hut, more Eric Moreland real estate, Austin rental boats as well as lake Austin. [12:26:23 PM] Com this is going to be a loss of over 200 jobs and $2.5 million if this drawdown is done in October to November. Thank you. [12:26:36 PM] >> And follow up to the testimony we heard today. Can the city manager's office please get us more info on the timing of this drawdown and and speak to the concerns that have been raised today. [12:26:46 PM] >> Yes, ma'am. [12:26:47 PM] >> Thank you. [12:26:48 PM] >> Did you call David Ferguson? [12:26:52 PM] >> He told us he didn't want to speak. [12:26:55 PM] >> Fair enough. That would explain it. All right. That concludes all the people, members that have signed up for the 12:00 time certain on public communication. I'm going to recognize the mayor pro tem for just a second. [12:27:06 PM] >> Thank you. Mayor, I just wanted to say hello to our visitors from the Ohio state university. If you. [12:27:12 PM] >> Why are. [12:27:12 PM] >> They here? Something going on this. [12:27:15 PM] >> Weekend? I don't know. [12:27:16 PM] >> I can't remember what it was, but they and their football team are apparently in Austin this weekend. [12:27:21 PM] >> But good to know. [12:27:23 PM] >> Welcome to Austin city hall and look forward to chatting with you all in a bit. [12:27:27 PM] >> Welcome to Austin. Glad you all are here. And I would be remiss if I didn't say welcome to Austin and hookem. That being said, members, we will have our. We will recess. We have our live music coming up and because we have no other items on the agenda other than our 2:00 time, certain the city council will be in recess until 2:00 time. Certain. But hang around for the live music. And with that being said, it is 1227 and the Austin city council is in recess until 2:00. [2:00:07 PM] Good afternoon. I'll call the Austin city council back to order after a brief recess. It's 2:00 on Thursday, September 10th. The item on our agenda is our time certain for zoning and neighborhood planning. And I will recognize miss harden. [2:00:27 PM] >> Thank you, mayor and council. I'm joy harden, the interim assistant director with Austin. Planning your zoning and neighborhood plan amendment agenda begins with item 33. Ed pa 2022 0005.01. This item is offered as an indefinite postponement by the applicant. The related rezoning is item 34 C one for 2022 0107. Again, this item is offered as an indefinite postponement by the applicant. Item 35 is N pa 2023 0002.01. This item is offered as an indefinite postponement by the applicant. The related rezoning is item 36 C one for 2024 0010. Again, this item is offered as an applicant. Indefinite postponement another related rezoning to items 35 and 36 is item 37, C one for 2024 0017. Again, this item is offered as an indefinite postponement by the applicant. [2:01:23 PM] Item 38 is C one for 2026 0043. This item is offered for consent on all three readings. Item 39 is C one for 2026 0014. This item is offered as a postponement to your September 24th council meeting by mayor pro tem vela. Item 40 C one for 2026 0035. This item is offered for consent on all three readings. Item 41 is C one for 2026 0049. This item is offered for consent on all three readings. Item 42 is C one for 2025 0064. This item is offered for postponement to your September 24th council meeting. By councilmember Ellis. Item 43 is C one for 2026 0038. This item is offered for consent on all three readings. Item 44 C one for 2025 009 for. This item is offered for postponement to your September 24th council meeting. By councilmember Siegel. Item 45 is C one for 2025 0089. This item is offered for postponement to your October 8th council meeting by councilmember Ellis. Item 46 is na202400 18.01. This item is offered for consent. Third reading the related rezoning is item 47 C one for 2024 0036. [2:02:47 PM] This item has the following motion from mayor pro tem fellow, which reads in part for the draft ordinance to read as follows. Part four. Except as specifically provided in this part for the property may be developed in compliance and used in accordance with the regulations established for the density bonus item. Db Todd combining district and other applicable requirements of the city code. 45% of the building frontage along the principal street must contain one or more commercial or civic uses, and must comply with the dimensional requirements found in section 4.3.3 C in subchapter E, design standards and mixed use. We were prepared to offer this item for consent. Third reading. But since the mayor pro tem has additional. Since the mayor pro tem has additional direction, we can pull this item for consent. I think what we'll do. Okay. And so this concludes the reading of the zoning and neighborhood plan amendment portion of your agenda. And as always, this is at your discretion. [2:03:50 PM] >> Thank you. Anybody have any questions or comments for miss harden? All right. What I'm going to do is I'm going to read the consent agenda into the record, and then I'll seek a motion in a second. And we will go to citizens communication. 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 indefinite postponement 38 on all three readings 39. Postponement to September 24th, 40 and 41. All three readings 42. Postponement to September 24th 43. All three readings 44. Postponement to September 24th 45 postponement. October 8th and 46 all three readings. Members again, 47 is going to be. It will not be on the consent agenda because there's additional direction that the mayor pro tem would like to do. And I just want to make sure our record is clear. Well, so you've heard the consent agenda. Is there a motion to. [2:04:41 PM] >> Approve, mayor? Can I just interrupt? I'm sorry. 46 is third reading only. Not all three, but just third reading. [2:04:46 PM] >> Okay. [2:04:47 PM] >> Thank you. [2:04:52 PM] >> Very good. So third 46 is third reading. Only. With that being said, is there a motion. Motion is made by the mayor pro tem second by councilmember harper-madison to approve the consent agenda as read. And I will now turn to our clerk to call speakers. [2:05:13 PM] >> All right. On the merit of proposed on the merit of the postponement for item 33, we have Philip Fitzgerald, Rita Thompson and Brad Massengill. [2:05:26 PM] >> If you wish to be heard on the merits of the postponement, we're going to postpone this. If if you want to talk about the merits of the postponement, please come forward. [2:05:56 PM] >> So I just need to make sure my charge is working. Okay. Great. Hi. My name is Philip Fitzgerald, district one. I didn't realize this was going to be up for postponement. I actually think that's great news. The reason being is that I go through this city council agenda, and I see 15 items for zoning, and I feel like we're constantly focusing on zoning, zoning, zoning, and we eat up so much of the agenda with with zoning stuff that we ignore some of the broader issues that our community is facing right now. That being some of the surveillance technology, ai in general. [2:06:39 PM] >> You need to speak on the merits of a postponement. And I think you've done that. We're not going to get into other items right now. [2:06:46 PM] >> Do I not have my two minutes to speak? [2:06:49 PM] >> You have two minutes on the merits of the postponement, whether you're for or against the postponement, not on whether or not you think our agenda. But do I screwed. [2:06:56 PM] >> Up to speak. [2:06:57 PM] >> You have two minutes to speak on the merits of the postponement, not on irrelevant items. As to the postponement. [2:07:03 PM] >> Well, it's a broader discussion, is it not? [2:07:05 PM] >> It is not. [2:07:06 PM] >> For you. [2:07:07 PM] >> Or for me. The merits of the postponement, sir. [2:07:10 PM] >> Interesting. Then I guess we can just sit here and take my two minutes. [2:07:19 PM] >> No, your two minutes. If if you don't have anything else to say, we'll go on to the. [2:07:24 PM] >> Well, you just told me. I have nothing else to say. Correct. [2:07:27 PM] >> What I've said is you can speak for two. [2:07:29 PM] >> Rush to the microphone. Are we in a rush? Perhaps an extra lunch? [2:07:33 PM] >> Your time has expired. [2:07:34 PM] >> Thank you. [2:07:35 PM] >> So much. Thank you. [2:07:36 PM] >> On the merit of the postponement for item 34, we have Rita Thompson, Brad Massengill. [2:07:43 PM] >> I don't see anybody coming forward. [2:07:49 PM] >> Hold on. [2:07:52 PM] >> I can't. [2:07:53 PM] >> Get this to more aggressive. You can just go. [2:08:05 PM] >> What are we doing? [2:08:13 PM] >> All right. [2:08:14 PM] >> We have other business for the city. [2:08:17 PM] >> Okay. For item 42 we have Rita Thompson. Jeffrey Bowen, Susan Spataro, are you here? Okay. Thank you. You have time donated. You have four minutes. Mr. Bowman. [2:08:34 PM] >> Again on the merits of the postponement, please. Yes, sir. Directly to the merits. Well. [2:08:43 PM] >> Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Mayor, council members. Jeffrey Bowen, district eight, Singh Israel. If you can go to slide two, that'd be great. I'm here to speak in support of the postponement. During this entire process, which I've been involved with as representing a and C, and also because the, the, the residents of circle C are also members. We've uncovered all kinds of different issues. Thus the reason for wanting this postponement. The neighbors are actually working on trying to get roads that were removed from the a, S, M, P. And for those that are not aware what that is, the Austin strategic mobility plan, they're in the process of trying to get those roads put back in in order to make this a doable situation. So we bear and we ask for the postponement on that. And we at a and C as the president of ANC representing them today, we are in full support of that postponement. But there are some there's a lot of issues with this entire process that still need to be addressed, and I hope that the council will take the time to make sure that those processes are being taken care of. They can be a dramatic impact to the taxpayers on the roads that we may end up having to pick up on that. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for your time today. [2:10:09 PM] >> Thank you, Mr. Bowen. [2:10:11 PM] >> Okay. Next is Lisa Lyons, Brad Massingill, Bobby Levinsky. [2:10:25 PM] >> Good afternoon, mayor and council members. My name is Lisa Lyons, and I'm here on behalf of the protect circle C coalition to support the postponement, as proposed by council member Paige Ellis. Thank you. At the August 18th zoning and planning commission hearing, the commissioners recommended approving the rezoning of tract 110 from office to multifamily. Up to 1000 apartments. I should make it clear that we've never been opposed to the apartments or the rezoning. It is. The protect circle. C is consistently opposed the zoning as drafted, because it calls for routing the development traffic through interior neighborhood streets and for reversing ordinance 020801-31, which currently prohibits development traffic from accessing doll green avenue. That prohibition exists and was put into place at the time of the development agreement in 2002 in order to protect elementary school, which sits on Dale green avenue under the original 2002 development agreement, traffic from the development was intended to route onto south bay, giving residents direct access to mopac. The commissioners recognized the traffic and safety concerns and recommended that our neighborhood work with tpw to reinstate the previously withdrawn circle C road. Work into the a smp. We agree that that is the right path, but that process takes time. The next amendment window isn't until summer 2027, and we believe that that won't affect the developer's timeline. [2:11:51 PM] Additionally, a traffic impact analysis hasn't even happened yet, and that's why I support postponing making decisions about roads that should wait for the traffic impact analysis and the a smp process to play out. You're also being asked to weigh in on the funding for the south bay extension. Stratus, the developer, is currently responsible for funding a portion of south bay. Under that 2002 development agreement. A postponement gives the city time to evaluate the fourth amendment to the development agreement and to make sure that stratus funding obligation, which is approximately $5 million, isn't waived because if it is, it costs it shifts the cost to the city. [2:12:30 PM] >> Thank you very. [2:12:31 PM] >> Much for your time. [2:12:32 PM] >> Appreciate you. [2:12:33 PM] >> All right. Moving on to item 43. We have Donna Osborne. [2:12:52 PM] >> Good afternoon, mayor and council members. I'm Donna Osborne representing a neighborhood association. We are in support of the proposed rezoning of the cotton ventures bungalows at 1409, 1411 and 1413 west sixth street. Our support as a result of collaborative process involving the applicant, cotton ventures, awana and neighboring property owners. Throughout the rezoning discussions, the adjacent residents of vela west condominiums dedicated a significant time and effort to identify practical solutions that address their concerns. Their thoughtful participation was instrumental in shaping and the accompanying rezoning request. We also appreciate the valuable input of the neighbors on the north side of west sixth street, whose perspectives help strengthen the final agreement. Awana and cotton ventures have finalized and signed a restrictive covenant that will incorporate many of the commitments reached during our discussions, including operating hours, deliveries, parking management, traffic circulation, lighting and other operational standards. Also, the proposed conditional overlay includes both prohibited uses and conditional uses that further address compatibility and help ensure that the future development is consistent with the intent upon our agreement. We believe these commitments reflect a balanced approach and support appropriate commercial activity, while protecting the quality of life for the nearby neighbors. [2:14:16 PM] We appreciate the willingness of all parties to work together in good faith to reach a good outcome. We respectfully request your approval of this rezoning application, including the proposed conditional overlay with its prohibited conditional uses. Thank you all for your work. [2:14:32 PM] >> Thank you. Appreciate you being here. [2:14:35 PM] >> On the merits of the postponement. For item 44, we have Barbara Macarthur. [2:14:42 PM] >> I don't see her. [2:14:44 PM] >> Okay. On the merits of the postponement for item 45, we have Christie Schultz and pat Chapman. Are you here? All right, Christie, you have four minutes. [2:14:58 PM] >> Thank you for allowing us a few minutes. I'm Christie Schultz, president of the woods of Westlake neighborhood association in the city of Austin, district eight. It sounds like our councilwoman Ellis wants more time on this matter to obtain more information, and we fully support that as we believe all parties could use more time to fully be informed and engaged on this matter. Importantly, October 8th is the beginning of the fall break for the eanes ISD, so that date is not a good one for the constituents in district eight, and I'd like to put that on record and ask, respectfully, that we consider that the city can consider this vote for November 19th instead, to give all parties an appropriate amount of time. As we have learned that many of the stakeholders didn't even know about this until this week. [2:15:50 PM] >> Thank you very much. Thank you. [2:15:54 PM] >> Next we have Scott Smith, Bob Smith, Matthew Burt, Brad Travis Scoggins, Marvin Hecker. [2:16:10 PM] >> Okay, why don't you go ahead and begin? You bet on the merits of the postponement. [2:16:14 PM] >> Yes, sir. Well, hello, mayor and council members. My name is Scott Smith. I'm on the board of the lost creek neighborhood association, and I'm here speaking on their behalf. I just want to thank the members of council and particularly your staffs, who have taken time to meet with residents affected by the proposed city view redevelopment. Those conversations have been very helpful, hopefully in both directions. We appreciate the willingness to listen and to better understand the concerns of the people who live with the consequences of the zoning decision. We respectfully invite those council offices that have not yet had a chance to meet with neighborhood representatives, to find time to do so. When we contact you, a direct conversation with affected residents will provide important context as you evaluate this application. With regards to the postponement, we respectfully request that the council set the new hearing date of November 19th. The additional time will allow council and its staff to study the zoning request, carefully with the affected neighborhood and fully consider and address the applications impacts before you take action. So with that, thank you very much for your time. [2:17:14 PM] >> Thank you. [2:17:17 PM] >> On the merits of the postponement for 45, we have anil mahendra, James catfield, Ben hogan. Devin Duvall, Matthew Barron, and you have time donated from Becky. Okay, you have four minutes. [2:17:43 PM] >> Thank you very much. Good afternoon, mayor and city council. My name is Matthew Barron and I live nearby the city city view rezoning project. As you may not know, you may or may not know, the developer and city of Austin have yet to discuss the rezoning project with txdot or eanes. This is surprising to us based on the impact of the entities that are near the 475 apartment complex sorry, 475 unit apartment complex that are there. In my opinion, it would be prudent for there to be time. So definitely support the the postponement. As I mentioned, I think it would be prudent for there to be time for eanes to evaluate the impact of the transportation of students and for txdot to determine if there's ways to mitigate the impact to the evacuation routes of the west lake fire department and response, and to make sure the response times of ems are not lowered again due to the open items. My suggestion. Our suggestion is to postpone for several council meetings to give the time necessary to the November 19th date. Thank you very much. [2:18:45 PM] >> Thank you. [2:18:47 PM] >> Continuing with the merits of the postponement for 45, we have Rosie yappari, Ben hogan, Delvin Duval, Michael Duval, Walter Richardson, Douglas Keenan, Galen. Heckler. Okay. Okay. For item 46, we have Zenobia. Joseph. [2:19:23 PM] >> And that's it. [2:19:27 PM] >> I don't believe she's here. Okay. Miss Joseph. [2:19:31 PM] >> That's all for consent. [2:19:33 PM] >> All right. Thank you very much. Members. That concludes all the speakers signed up on the consent agenda. And I'll. Now we will go to discussion on the consent agenda. We have a motion and a second, and I'll recognize anybody that wants to speak on the consent agenda. Council member Ellis. [2:19:53 PM] >> I hadn't even pushed my button, but it's like you read my mind. I appreciate the folks from district eight coming out to be able to come and speak with us today, even though both the items are being postponed, it is not that often we get to see this many district eight folks out here. So I really appreciate folks engaging, appreciate my colleagues taking time, those who have been able to so far to be able to talk with the neighbors. They're actually both quite similar cases because a lot of the conversations coming around traffic impact and I happen to know these intersections very well because I live particularly close to the lost creek intersection. And so I appreciate the circle. See folks coming out and being willing to postpone that item. It sounds like some of that language is being ironed out through legal right now, but that one should be able to be postponed for two weeks. Lost creek, I still want to keep it on October 8th. I realize that creates some scheduling issues with folks. We can always see where we are at that moment, and if that's the appropriate time to look at where the discussion is at. But I do think there's been a number of different instances where this case has come through zoning and planning, and want to make sure that we're doing our due diligence. We could always take more time, if that's appropriate, but I do want to set a deadline of solving some of these traffic issues, and I think that zoning cases are the perfect time to bring txdot and van eenoo ISD to the table. And so I want to make sure that we are buttoned up, that we get those conversations, we have those meetings on the book rapidly so that we can continue to look through these traffic impacts. [2:21:20 PM] >> Thank you. Thank you, councilmember, we have a motion and a second on the consent agenda as read. Is there anyone wishing to abstain from any vote on any item on the consent agenda? Is there anyone wishing to recuse themselves from any vote on the consent agenda? Anyone wishing to be shown voting no for any item on the consent agenda? Hearing none. Without objection, the consent agenda is adopted with council member Laine temporarily off the dais members that will now take us to item number 47. Item number 47 was read into the record by miss harden. Recall that she also read a specific motion sheet that came. That came via the mayor pro tem S office. What I'm going to do is I'm going to ask for a motion. And second on item number 47. Then I'm going to recognize the mayor pro tem for a further comment with regard to item number 47, which is direction to city staff, is there a motion? Motion is made by the mayor pro tem to approve item number 47. It is second by councilmember Ellis. I'll now recognize the mayor pro tem. [2:22:25 PM] >> Thank you very much, mayor. I have just direction on item 47. Just to give a tiny little bit of background on this. This item is a property that is between highland park and Guadalupe street, and it is a unique opportunity to create a connection between highland park and Guadalupe. Right now, the only connection to highland park is on saint John's. A pretty good run away from that. This is going to give a lot of folks that are to the west of highland park access, you know, more direct access when the the property develops. And so the item that I have is just direction to staff to, you know, work toward creating an access again, just to a ten foot wide path on at least a 14 foot wide easement. The applicant has been also supportive of that. [2:23:25 PM] They that's why we've worked with them on putting commercial. The idea would be that they want to put a little dollop of commercial. Whether that be a little coffee shop or some kind of, you know, small restaurant. And we've, I think we're, we're there. I just want to thank a handful of people because we've put a lot of time and effort into this. And Alejandro de la Vega, the chair of the highland contact team, really appreciate all his time and work. I also want to note that there's a memorandum of understanding between the neighborhood and the applicant with regard to moving this direction of the applicants themselves, Jerry Perales and Julia Leask and Desanctis Scott Grantham, Randy Scott with parks, Lee Sherman with watershed protection, T little with Austin energy and Justin Norvell with urban trails. We've done site visits on it. We've looked at it, and I think we're we're to a very good place and look forward to when this location is redeveloped. Look forward to it. Adding that that easement and providing access to the neighbors to the park. So with that, I would offer my motion as a direction for item 47 members. [2:24:31 PM] >> Mayor pro tem moves to add direction to the city manager for item number 47. Is there a second by council member Ellis? The discussion will be on the motion for the additional direction. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Without objection, the council member, the mayor pro tem motion to add direction to the city manager is adopted with council member with council member Laine temporarily off the dais. Members that will take us back to the main motion, which is to approve item number 47. With this additional this amendment of additional direction. Let me turn so we can call out the name of the person that has signed up to speak on item number 47. [2:25:11 PM] >> Zenobia Joseph. [2:25:14 PM] >> Miss Joseph, miss Joseph doesn't appear to be here. Members. Those are all. She was the only person that signed up to speak on item number 47. Is there any further discussion? Yes, mayor pro tem. [2:25:24 PM] >> I neglected to mention my own staff member, Timothy bray, who has been speaking to all of the other people that I mentioned and coordinating everything. So I just wanted to give him thanks for all the time and effort he's put into this. [2:25:37 PM] >> He was looking pretty forlorn. I'm glad you did that. No, thank you for doing that. Mayor pro tem on item number 47 as it's been amended. The vote without objection, item number 47, as amended, is adopted, with council member Laine being temporarily off the dais. Members, that concludes all of the business to come before the Austin city council at this meeting on September 10th, 2026. So without objection, the city council of Austin, Texas is adjourned at 2:25 P.M. Thanks, everybody.