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Who We Are
The West Austin Neighborhood Group (WANG) is a non-profit organization of residents with the shared goal of preserving West Austin and protecting it from deterioration. WANG is concerned with community development, ecology, safety, and any other matters that indirectly and directly affect the quality and character of the neighborhood and the City of Austin.
Next WANG Board Meeting:
The next meeting of the WANG Board of Directors will occur on Monday, August 2, 2010, beginning at 7:00 pm, at our beloved Howson Branch Library location (2500 Exposition Blvd.). Anyone is welcome to attend, and if you have an issue to discuss with the board, please contact our President, August Harris, at 320-8808 or via email by clicking here.
Comments? Complaints? Input?
Please send us an email with any comments, complaints, or concerns about neighborhood matters by clicking here.
Neighborhood Planning Update:
City Council Hearing: The July 29 City Council meeting to consider our neighborhood plan has been postponed until August 19 , 2010. The postponement was requested by Planning and Development Review staff because they have “legal questions pertaining to the Central West Austin Neighborhood Plan that must be answered prior to the public hearing with City Council.” The principal planner, Paul DiDiGiuseppe, has refused divulge the specifics of the legal questions.
Planning Commission Hearing: On June 22, 2010, the Planning Commission conducted a hearing on the Central West Austin Combined Neighborhood Plan during which City Staff presented the draft plan along with Staff recommendations on various zoning and future land use map (FLUM) issues.
In summary, the Planning Commission hearing included a presentation of the plan by City Staff, including some contested zoning and FLUM recommendations for changes to our neighborhood. Public input was provided on the various contested items including the Brackenridge Tract, the Austin State School Tract, and other aspects of the proposed plan, including the FLUM/rezoning proposals for the 35th Street properties, Casis Village, and others.
Most of our recommended changes were accepted including detailed guidance in the “Land Use” chapter for the Brackenridge Tract. Certain tracts remain contested including Elm Terrace, several parcels on West 35th Street and in Deep Eddy.
To see City Staff’s plan recommendations for the future land use map and the “Transportation,” “Land Use,” “Neighborhood in Context” and “Parks, Open Space & the Environment” chapters, go to http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/planning/neighborhood/cw_austin.htm#Draft%20Plan. The Planning Commission has made its own recommendations concerning our neighborhood plan which adopts neighborhood stakeholder recommendations for changing the future land use map and “Land Use” chapter to address the Brackenridge and Austin State School tracts in terms of how they fit within our vision for the future of our neighborhood. Unfortunately, these recommendations have not been posted online yet. We strongly recommend that the City Council adopt these recommendations in order to to help us preserve our neighborhood. Those of us in the neighborhoods on both sides of MoPac who have been working on the Plan for the last several years have submitted detailed comments and have proposed changes to the draft plan during the process. For example, our revisions to the “Transportation” chapter are posted at Neighborhood Stakeholder Revisions to Draft Transportation Chapter _March, 2010_, and our revisions to the “Land Use” chapter are posted at Neighborhood Stakeholder Revisions to Draft Land Use Chapter.
For more information , please see our Final Open House post. Also, please visit the Central West Austin Neighborhood Planning website at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/planning/neighborhood/cw_austin.htm (a new website which does not have all of the information posted that was previously available), or contact City Staff by calling Paul DiGiuseppe at 512-974-2865 (paul.digiuseppe@ci.austin.tx.us) or Carol Haywood at 512-974-7685 with any questions (Carol.Haywood@ci.austin.tx.us).
