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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 Tuesday, August 31, 2010, beginning at 7:00 pm, at 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:
Central West Austin Neighborhood Plan Details: Details on the proposed plan are posted at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/planning/neighborhood/cw_austin.htm, including:
- Draft Future Land Use Maps (FLUMs) recommended by Staff for the Windsor Road Planning Area and the West Austin Neighborhood Group Planning Area; and
- Draft Chapters as Recommended by the Planning Commission from their June 22, 2010 Public Hearing, including the:
Vision Statement and Top Priorities as Voted by Participants at the Final Open House
Neighborhood in Context
Land Use
Transportation: Including the list of proposed bicycle and pedestrian improvements
Parks, Open Space & the Environment
Community Life
City Council Hearing: On August 19 , 2010, City Council met to consider our neighborhood plan on first reading. The second reading on our plan will occur no earlier than September 23, 2010, so there is still time to provide input to Council.
Based on Council’s decisions, we had mixed results in achieving the two planning goals we had for this plan: (1) protecting our existing residential neighborhoods, and (2) planning intelligently for increased density and retail development at the Brackenridge Tract and Austin State School properties. While we had pretty good success on the first goal, we were not able to achieve our second goal because the Council decided to exclude the neighborhood’s (and Planning Commission’s) planning recommendations for the Brackenridge Tract.
The City Council members need to hear from our neighborhood, especially on their decision to exclude the Brackenridge Tract from our neighborhood plan. If you don’t care what UT does with the land, or if you are not concerned about having the density of the WANG planning area more than doubled by UT’s proposed development, or if you would like to have twice as much traffic coursing through our neighborhood streets, then by all means, tell City Council that you like their decision to exclude the Brack Tract from our neighborhood plan. However, if you think that our neighborhood should be able to include our objectives and interests in the plan for this tract to help prevent a doubling in density and traffic here, then LET COUNCIL KNOW! Council Members Morrison and Riley have been very supportive of our planning efforts, but you can convey your desires to Council members to let them know your position from this link: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm.
A more detailed summary of the results from the Council’s first reading is available at our posting at http://westaustinng.com/2010/08/26/city-council-first-reading-results-for-central-west-austin-combined-neighborhood-plan. At this posting, we explain that we are most concerned with Councils’ decision on Motion 2 (Austin State School land use language), Motion 3 (excluding the Brackenridge Tract from our plan), and Motion 8 (designating the Tarrytown Shopping Center as “Neighborhood Mixed Use”). We also explain how the decisions on these motions can be fixed or changed.
