Preserving and Protecting West Austin
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.
Contact Us
Let us know about neighborhood issues and concerns! You can reach us at wang-board@westaustinng.com
WANG Newsletter
Sign up to receive our E-Newsletter! Please send an email to newsletter@westaustinng.com Latest Issue: WANG Newsletter 2024June
Special Events
Non partisan informal candidate forum Austin City Council
Monthly Meeting, Muny 6-8PM
Muny Updates
The University of Texas has asked the City of Austin to initiate zoning on four tracts of their land. The City of Austin Housing and Planning Dept. has sent letters of notification of a zoning change to surrounding neighbors and neighborhood stakeholder groups. Parts of the Brackenridge Tract to be zoned are Lions Municipal Golf Course (MUNY) and West Austin Youth Association (WAYA,) the Town Lake Tract, The Deep Eddy Tract, and the HEB tract. City Staff have not made recommendations for zoning, and have requested input from the public, prior to and during the zoning process, per a City Council Resolution which was approved in Dec. 2020.
The Brackenridge Development Agreement between the University of Texas and the City of Austin remains in effect on a rolling month to month basis with a five month notification of cancellation.
Petition
On April 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Mayfield Park will host Trowel & Error, the Spring event that annually attracts gardeners from all over Central Texas to hear experts give time-tested tips for beautiful gardens. Although lectures begin at 10:00, the event “opens” at 9:30 for those early birds who want to purchase Mayfield’s hard-to-find heirloom bulbs and perennials for their April gardens and to stroll the garden paths in the early morning peacefulness.
Sponsored by Friends of the Parks of Austin, Trowel & Error will feature three dynamic and knowledgeable garden experts including:
- Jay White (10 am), contributing editor for Texas Gardener, Masters in Horticulture, to speak on Propagating Like A Pro;
- Daphne Richards (11 am), Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Horticulturist, to speak on Down To Earth With Daphne:Your Top Questions From Travis County Extension; and
- April Rose (noon), Consulting Arborist, Rosewood Arbiculture, to speak on Environmental Health To Save Our Trees.
BRING YOUR GARDENING QUESTIONS!!
What’s a garden event without a plant sale? Mayfield has the best deals in town for hard-to-find heirlooms and other perennials perfect for the April garden. A “garden goodie” raffle for the discerning gardener will round out the day.
As always, Trowel & Error benefits one of Austin’s favorite and enchanting parks, historic Mayfield. Guests tour the restored Mayfield-Gutsch home, surrounded by stone-walled gardens patterned in the 1920’s after the cottage gardens of England. Towering palms, flowering trees and perennials line meandering paths set among ponds filled with water lilies and fish. Gregarious peacocks supervise overflowing flower beds planted and maintained by community volunteers.
TROWEL AND ERROR is the solitary fund-raiser for historic Mayfield Park. Although admission is free, a $5.00 donation is requested. For more information: 512-453-7074 , neenok@aol.com or mayfieldpark.org
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR APRIL 7!!
Land Development Updates
Joe Reynolds, a long time Allandale resident has worked on local flooding issues over the years. In 1981 he was on the Allandale Neighborhood Association Board and witnessed the destructive Shoal Creek flood. He has professional experience in modeling large systems. For his views on CodeNEXT’s impact on impervious cover see the following information.
At the HPWBANA Annual Meeting on Tuesday, November 14 (6:30 @ Chez Zee, 5406 Balcones Drive), the topic will be “How CodeNEXT Will Impact Our Neighborhood,” featuring guest speakers Ed Wendler, Jr and Barbara McArthur.
As shown in the posted here, WANG has requested that the City Council dramatically slow the process for adopting CodeNext. WANG is concerned that the proposed Code was first published very recently, has continued to be revised in the intervening weeks, and remains incomplete. While City staff and its consultants, Opticos, have had over four years to develop this proposal, citizens are expected to assimilate unfamiliar and confusing terminology and concepts in order to provide a reasonable response to the proposal. We are also concerned that the proposal has been generated with no direct neighborhood input, and we now have only a few weeks to response. Accordingly, WANG urges Council to extend the time periods for comment, demand that Opticos deliver a complete and comprehensive revised LDC, and respect Imagine Austin, the Neighborhood Plans, and our Future Land Use Map.