TWCNews: Several East Austin homeowners say efforts by Ora Houston to preserve homes could cost them everything they have

1

“Several East #Austin homeowners say efforts by @Oraatx1 to preserve homes could cost them everything they have”

2

@Pete_Gilcrease, my guess is that there are at least a dozen reasons for another “Friends of…” to be born in East Austin. I would be happy to share some “Local Historic District” lessons learned if contact is established, likely @RanaPierucci would be also.

3

Wow, that is really unfortunate. I am surprised the HLC is allowing this. In BBH, every demo permit requested was granted in our district while we were in the middle of the petition process, so there really isn’t a precedent for halting so many permits. The HLC said repeatedly to us that they couldn’t stop demo permits until after the district was created.

Does anyone know which historic districts Ora Houston is talking about? Sorry I have not kept up. Are they still considering districts while the city reevaluates the LHD process? Is Ora Houston’s home in a proposed district that is “on the books” or “petitioned” right now or is this a hypothetical district? Or is there something happening were Council will re-write the rules and they will be able to mandate districts? LOL - that is where my mind goes, that they are somehow going to streamline the process.

Thank you!

4

@Phil_Wiley that’s a great idea! Would you have time to try to contact them? FAN is going to have another round of resolutions soon. If they wanted us to help them, we could have some kind of resolution that supported them.

@RanaPierucci I saw something not too long ago that council was considering creating a lot of new historic districts. Does anyone have the info on that? I couldn’t find where I saw that. It might be something you’d want to keep an eye on to make sure you don’t get lumped in there somehow.

5

Hmmmm…I will make some inquiries. It sounds sort of ominous, doesn’t it. How does council simply create districts?

@Phil_Wiley if you do reach out to them please don’t hesitate to given them my contact information and I will be happy to share from our experience.

6

KUT also did a piece on this here: New East Austin Survey Tells a Story of Loss

It seems we only have until tomorrow for the Public Comment Period:

The draft report and comment forms are available here, at all Parks and Recreation facilities within the survey area, and the Terrazas, Cepeda, and Carver branch libraries. Comments may be submitted online, faxed to 512.974.9104, or mailed to: City of Austin Historic Preservation Office, PO Box 1088, Austin TX 78767. The comment period will begin on September 1, 2016, and remain active for thirty (30) days.
…
For additional information regarding the public comment period, please contact Kalan Contreras, Historic Resource Survey Coordinator, Planning and Zoning Department, at 512-974-2727, or by e-mail.

7

Thanks Alysha that confirms what I heard yesterday as well. I wonder if East Austin is aware that they might not have a choice and may just become part of a historic district? I suspect they have no idea. I also wonder if the city just plans on mandating these districts or will they go through the same process that citizens groups take to create an LHDs?

It sounds like they plan on creating districts in East Austin using the survey the city has commissioned. I thought that the person applying for the district had to pay for and acquire their own survey? That it is the “desire” of the neighborhood to have this designation, and not something the city decides for people.