Neighbors,

The Barton Hills Neighborhood Association has scheduled a special meeting for next Tuesday November 14^th at 7:00 PM at St. Mark’s church to address the zoning and land development code changes (HOME initiative) that our city council is currently trying to push through.

Austin certainly needs affordable housing, but these proposals are just another big present to developers that the rest of us will end up paying for with higher taxes and a lower quality of life.

I’m not sure if the city is listening to us anymore, but they certainly won’t listen if we don’t say anything.

Please join us on Tuesday to discuss these issues and consider the attached resolution (revised 11/13/23), written by Larry Akers, opposing the proposed changes.

We need to do what we can to protect our neighborhood and the community that we’ve built from being completely destroyed by our city leaders’ insatiable appetite for growth and their misguided belief that if we just build enough, some of it will be affordable.

Thanks,

Stan Ostrum
BHNA VP, acting president

Neighbors,

Our last Neighborhood Association meeting of the year is coming up next Tuesday, October 24^th, one week from today. As always, we’ll be meeting in the fellowship hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at the corner of Barton Hills Drive and Barton Skyway. Social hour with light snacks starts at 6:00 PM and the meeting starts at 7:00. Please plan to join us if you can!

On the agenda this month: Barbara McArthur from Community Not Commodity will be discussing the implications of the proposed Land Development Code (LDC) and zoning changes that city council are currently trying to push through. We heard a lot about this from our councilperson Ryan Alter at our last meeting in July, shortly after these proposals were announced. This time we’re going to hear from an expert in the field with a different perspective, one which I personally feel is more realistic and truthful, but please come listen to her speak, ask questions, and make up your own mind.

We’ll also have updates on the Barton Hills Community Park, Greenbelt Guardians, and our Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and we’ll be electing 2024 BHNA officers.

Thanks,

Stan Ostrum
Vice-President, BHNA