Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association

SRNA regular meeting tonight (2nd Tues of Month) - you are welcome to join us at Bella Mar 7pm. Note due to Stage 5 COVID we will ask attendees to wear masks and social distance and advise high risk individuals not to attend in person - if you cannot attend and have a comment or input please email: [email protected]

Topics:
1. Parks improvement ideas to advance for exploration w/ County etc. (Jimmy Allgood, Kelly Thate / Selma Hughes); identify next steps for community involvement and ideation.
2. Periodic traffic congestion at Quinlan Park Rd and Country Trails - identify next steps.
3. Community wide meeting update : venue update, Omicron implications to timeline.

SRNA Board Meeting
Tuesday, November 9, 2021, 7pm
Bella Mar Community Center
1st in-person meeting since the pandemic began.

Topics:
Future role of SRNA in our community. The board has recognized that the largest current focus for SRNA is on traffic and safety improvements outside of our immediate area. The current proposed approach is to transition that focus to a (620 / west austin) corridor wide initiative. The board will take any input and discuss next steps for how to identify what role(s) our neighborhood association should take moving forward including how best to re-engage the broader community to shape this direction.

Notes from the Travis County Wildfire Town Hall meeting this evening. This was an informative session - thank you Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea and to the Travis County and Austin City teams who set this up. The entire meeting will be posted in its entirety at the main web site: https://www.wildfirecoalition.org/

My take-aways:
1. While Central Texas does not generally have the same risk for fire as western states typically, there are extreme conditions (mainly drought and low humidity plus winds) when the risk can become extreme.
2. The #1 thing we can do in Central Texas is for each of us to harden our houses against wildfire risk - "can almost always be completed in a single weekend"; “You have control of your house, not your neighbor's":
o Defensible space zones 0 to 5 feet around home
o 5 to 30 feet: reduce vegetation (30 feet away from a burning building may survive just scorch)
o 30 feet to 100 feet: assess magnitude of risk
o Biggest threat is Embers (up to 1/2 mile travel) igniting leaves in your gutters then igniting attics (as seen in 2011 Steiner Ranch fire jumping houses).
3. You can schedule a home ignition zone assessment for free (LTFR covers Steiner Ranch, email: [email protected])
4. There is a risk map which is good for awareness (zoom in to see your neighborhood): https://austin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=ac1072648f9a407c8170a6c254bc540d

Full meeting notes below (taken by SRNA) - a replay and MUCH more information is available at the first link below.
-----------------------------------------
Wildfire Preparedness Town Hall - https://www.wildfirecoalition.org/ (main website)

Intro: Commissioner Bridget Shea and other Travis County and Austin City officials.

Moderator:
Tony Calloway, Travis Co. Fire Marshal - [email protected]

Justice Jones, Austin Fire Dept. Wildfire Mitigation Officer - [email protected]

Goal: fire adapted community (Community Wildfire Protection Plan)
- Avoid loss of property and life
- Analysis : intensity and how quickly fire can travel in Austin/Travis county – risk is serious for entire area.
- Understand threat:
o Occur based on drought conditions
o East Austin as soon as first winter freeze
o West Austin – lower fire frequency but can be intense fire.
o Preparedness is similar
o Greatest risk “ ember storms” – can ignite and lead the fire
o About ½ of communities at risk in Austin / Travis County
- Organizations:
o Firewise Community
 Also alliance of multiple communities
 Reduce risk based on local needs and priorities
o Ready-set-go
 Individual preparedness

Melinda Mallia, Travis Co. Natural Resources Program Manager - [email protected]

People see BCCP as biggest threat, but lacking data
- Wildfire models existed, but none that worked for our area: Dr. Joseph White hired to find out how fire works here in Central Texas
o Looked a fuel type and how function
o Develop strategies to protect both preserves and private lands around them
- Like to look at typical conditions (95%) – Juniper Oak woodlands are typically safe
- Also look under worst conditions (extremes)
o Long drought, low humidity (e.g. under 20%), and high winds (40 MPH)  this was formula for 2011 fires
- Look at boundaries (forest edge against subdivision)
o Shaded fuel break
o Prevent fire from rolling into preserve and up into canopy
o Take out limbs and remove landscape debris
 Avoid putting landscape risk over your back fence!
o Clean out and limit trees – prescription varies with slope and other factors
- When working on preserve – like to partner with fire entity to work in neighborhood at the same time to defend their own property.
- Should trees (or Junipers in particular) be cut down
o Typically, a good mix of Juniper and Oak has a degree of fire resistance (e.g. alternative grass land burns faster)
o Most effective place to treat is the edge

Dr. Rebekah L. Fox, PhD, Texas State University Department of Communication Studies Professor, Texas Forest Service- [email protected]

- Communication in the Austin area and what you can do
o What do people typically know about wildfire: general lack of awareness.
o Hub of information:
 Wildfirecoalition.org (main website / hub)
• Learn how to protect home, community, business quickly
• E.g. plan for evacuation
• E.g. plan for pets
• E.g. make a go bag (emergency back to take with you
• Preparing children
• Teacher / educator tools such as lesson planning / materials
 Share website location widely and be bold to share “Are you prepared for wildfire”
- Awareness : Texas wildland firefighters are deployed nationally

Will Boettner, Travis Co. Fire Education Outreach Coordinator - [email protected]

- Most ways to protect ourselves are easy to do
- Many resources between fire departments and fire marshalls office
- Call fire Travis Wildfire Department
o Do wildfire risk assessment for community or single home scale
o Identify if it can come into your community
- Prescribed burns – preventative – and study how vegetation burns to help people prepare
- Look at each subdivision and look at connections with wildland.
- House may be more vulnerable than trees due to embers
o Homes can easily travel ¼ mile or even ½ mile
- Home ignition zone assessment – happy to come out and look
o Confidential and private visit to assess individual home
o Want to “harden” against wildfire
- “You have control of your house”, not your neighbors, etc
o Defensible space zones 0 to 5 feet around home
o 5 to 30 feet: 30 feet away from a burning building may survive just scorch
o 30 feet to 100 feet: assess magnitude of risk
o Biggest threat is leaves in gutters  into eaves  into attics
 Example was Steiner Ranch fires where fires jumped house with this method.
- Biggest risks can be fixed on a weekend
- This is not Colorado, Arizona, California
o Juniper trees don’t burn same
o Hillsides good for minimizing fires
o Bastrop fire: relic pine fire not found anywhere else in Central Texas
o Steiner fire: We saw fire up hill into house – then went house to house
o Manage vegetation
- Homeowner based action is the most critical and can be done in a weekend

Select Q&A:

Where are plans and schedules for BCCP border risk?
- There is a staff who manages different areas – contact county for more information for a particular area
------------ END --------------

-- Brian Thompto (note taker) ; I suggest you explore the website and/or watch the recording to learn more.

Wildfire risk map (very detailed), link: https://austin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=932469866be741559894b7b1b3bcac96

Wildfire Preparedness Town Hall starting SHORTLY.
6:30 - 7:30 PM Wed August 25. Sponsored by the Austin Wildfire Coalition

This will be recorded and available for playback but you can join with questions or to see live discussion.
https://www.traviscountytx.gov/news/2021/2096-join-us-for-the-virtual-wildfire-preparedness-town-hall

Link to actual virtual meeting: https://bit.ly/wildfiretownhall

We will post a summary after the meeting.

Join conversation

Power outage impacting Steiner Ranch area:
https://outagemap.austinenergy.com/external/default.html

The construction on RM2222 has recently gotten more dangerous: dramatic lane turns and regular close calls on the sharp curves and narrow lanes. SRNA confirmed with TXDOT that they were sending out staff Thursday to assess how to improve the safety. Noted and agreed issues included: the need for much more clear markings on the curves, issues with ghosted "old" lane lines and high speeds at the turns. In addition there are noted issues at Sitio Del Rio with confused traffic going the wrong way and blocking unclear turns from 2222.

Unfortunately, this new traffic configuration is expected to stay this way until November - the improvements in safety that TXDOT is urgently working will be very important to get us all safely through this time-frame.

This was a very disappointing - but for those who have been following Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association, not a totally unexpected result. The data and people have weighed in on the importance of 620 / Anderson Mill Rd. which out-scored $172 million worth of other projects CAMPO leapfrogged in front of the $25 million overpass project. This 620 project garnering the top marks of any cat-7 roadway in project scoring and has repeatedly garnering highest public input for 5 years. But most of the CAMPO board looked the other way and funded their local projects 😞

Was important to see Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea speak up strongly "You have an overwhelming request from the public [to complete the project]. You have traffic data that supports the 620 projects, and you have a public promise that was made. I can’t support this.” Jimmy Flannigan also cited the RM620 inequity in his decision to not support the CAMPO plan.

The CAMPO board did agree to keep deferred projects at the top of the list for future funding - the real question - will they re-fund RM620 at the nest possible chance? There was zero acknowledgment or discussion about whether skipping over the top ranked project was a good decision and no mention of it from the board minus Shea and Flanningan's protest and a sympathetic indicator from another along the lines of "nobody got what they wanted". Well, this is not about the board members getting what they wanted - it should be about improving the region and prioritizing funds to align with the most urgent regional priorities - just as was done for IH-35. Lets hope CAMPO can return to that posture the next time funds become available.

A big thank you to all who took the time to write CAMPO - once again RM620 got the most input by far.... this time to a deaf target audience. But your track record for speaking up cannot be ignored. We will get RM620 projects funded again. The most important thing will be to do it without moving the construction date planned for 2024 - this is still possible and is the right thing to do.

Regional board defers RM 620, other projects despite opposition from most Austin, Travis County officials The six members of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board who voted against deferring the projects were all Austin City Council members or Travis County commissioners.

Things took a bad turn this week as CAMPO released an updated 'scenario" list which abandons the scoring criteria they had agreed on and the "Ranking list" from May 27th which had included Anderson Mill and RM620. The new "June 1 scenarios A-C" instead go back to tweaking their original list and leaves the 620 / Anderson Mill Rd. overpass off the list to maintain funding.

Note that the 620 / Anderson Mill intersection overpass was the #1 roadway in consideration on the score based "ranking list" and costs $25 million, but is now proposed to be passed up for $172 million worth of other projects that scored (often significantly) lower.

What to do - let CAMPO hear you - find email list on action item #2 here and contact them! The vote is Monday June 8th: http://steinerranchna.org/campo-ih35-funding-rm620-impacts/

The 620 corridor is already expected to suffer continued growth through 2024 - the current let date for the Anderson Mill overpass project. Any delay beyond that will be more than painful. A project with a similar time-frame is the $75 million to fund frontage roads on toll 183a between Avery Ranch Rd. and 1431 - which somehow made the list ahead of 620 / Anderson Mill and over a dozen other projects totaling another $100 million. Let date should not be the dominant decision factor here if within the funding window (which goes through 2024 already). These lower scored projects should not all jump in line in front of the top road on the list - none of these are comparable with the 620 / Anderson Mill as far as addressing current traffic backups, safety, evacuation issues and lacking alternatives.

620 at Anderson Mill also has major safety issues as it is the ONLY north-south corridor in the the West Austin metro west of 360. That means NO alternatives and it means emergency responders can't reach people in time when traffic is frequently grid-locked. RM620 is also right in the middle of the brightest standout wildfire risk corridor in the region and is the only major evacuation route for 10's of thousands in the event of major fire event - which Austin is assessed as the #5 at risk for nationally as a city. These safety issues are real and scary to imagine not getting fixed for years to come. These stack on top of the existing delays and level "F" intersection ratings are only getting worse with continued growth. (see fire risk map here: http://steinerranchna.org/campo-ih35-funding-rm620-impacts/). Also note that RM620 has consistently topped all requests from citizens in the CAMPO region for many years. Anderson Mill & 620 is in a multi-jurisdictional area (literally splits cities and counties), so it also doesn't have a motivating "partner funding" arrangement from a single local entity - that shouldn't be held against it but seems to be part the consideration from CAMPO.

Note that all projects on the CAMPO list are worth doing - they wouldn't be on the list otherwise - but when we have limited resources we need to triage the most urgent projects and give them the highest priority for funding. That is exactly what CAMPO is doing w/ IH-35 (and why they are taking $633 million from previously funded projects) and it is what should happen here as well for 620 for the betterment of the region. note that CAMPO policy board members acknowledged that roadway importance was critical and before making a decision they held off the vote on the project list for month so they could score projects. Now that 620 / Anderson Mill is the #1 scored road project on the list under consideration it is hard to understand why CAMPO would now go back to ignoring road importance and priority and make it the only "Ranked list' road not to be included in their updated scenario proposals.

Also note if federal dollars from stimulus come in, then the lower priority but shovel-ready projects can always be funded at that time - since these funds typically favor quick start projects for stimulus. That is quite different than strict priority funding which must ensure the most important projects like 620 will get done with the money in the budget.

Take a look at the picture of cat 7 projects sorted by evaluation score (highest on top):
Key for the image:
* Green colors are part of latest CAMPO June 1 scenario a-c recommendations; light green are non- road projects; dark green are roads.
* Red-ish, brown-ish were projects in the May 27 Rank / score based list but are no longer recommended. Note the lighter colors are not roadways - only the Anderson Mill / 620 is a roadway construction project which is now exclude but made the score based cut.
* Grey are out of consideration for other reasons

Note this is just a sorted and colorized version of CAMPO's posted deck here: https://www.campotexas.org/resource-category/meeting-agendas/ under "June 2020"

Encouraging news! RM620 / Anderson-Mill Rd. overpass scored well in CAMPO's re-assessment of which projects should be maintained while funding IH-35. They have updated their draft proposal to maintain funding for this project! This is a great turn of events - but it's not over yet!

Thanks to all of you who have written in to CAMPO reps in support of this project. You are encouraged to re-affirm your support to maintain this critical improvement in the funded list - as voting on the list is not until June 8; i.e. nothing is final until then! You might also encourage them to re-fund the other 620/360 projects ASAP as funding becomes available and keep them as a priority.

Again - you can contact CAMPO board members by clicking on the email list found at this link under action step #2:
http://steinerranchna.org/campo-ih35-funding-rm620-impacts/

https://www.wevideo.com/view/1712814507

Travis County has wrapped up the design phase for the “Route B” evacuation route for the Steiner area and is now conducting an open house to get your feedback. The open house runs through May 22. Please take the time to study the plan and provide your input:
http://steinerranchna.org/steiner-evac-open-house

Virtual Open House for Steiner Evacuation:
https://spark.adobe.com/page/mHMbpCmzkm1Ig/

COMMENTS: Accepted until May 22, 2020 via online comment form (click at end of open house) or mail to:
Travis County TNR
Attention: Katharine Hardin, P.E.
700 Lavaca
Austin, Texas 78701

The proposed construction ONLY adds a portion of the original “Route B” improvement that was recommended and approved back in 2017.

Under this current plan. Flat Top Ranch Rd. to Montview Dr. would be emergency only; however, there is no improvement along the route from Montview Dr. to RM620: Does this now constitute an evacuation route, an “evacuation portion”, or maybe “half an evacuation route”?

In the event Steiner Ranch needed to evacuate, the route appears to need at least some minimum improvements to be effective. Along Fritz Hughes Park Rd. there is a cattle guard at the low water crossing that is in poor shape and slows cars down to no more than 3mph (suv’s might fare better, but that doesn’t matter much when traffic will only move as fast as the slowest vehicles; during an emergency – time is of the essence).

Also, the low water crossing itself is perilously narrow and would not be safe for anything coming in (like a first responder vehicle or large equipment) while traffic is going out. None of these shortcomings are being addressed by the County’s current plan.

Are you comfortable with this path’s ability to save your loved ones, children, and grandchildren in the event of a large wildfire? West Austin is the #5 at risk metro area in the nation for a big fire and Steiner is right in the middle of the highest risk areas. In the event of an evacuation, traffic from Steiner would need to actually get to RM620 along the route at a decent pace to be effective.

There is a significant and understandable sensitivity by neighbors along Fritz Hughes Park Rd. to any changes that would disturb area homes or properties or generally improve the nature of the roadway. There is no need to disturb area properties or violate these wishes in order to implement a minimum set of improvements for safe passage along this route.

We are also still missing clear public education on how an evacuation would take place and how to be informed in the event of an evacuation emergency. These were cited as part of the consulting project with the County originally, and these elements should still be addressed before this project is concluded.

Read and see more at the link below -
http://steinerranchna.org/steiner-evac-open-house

Steiner Ranch Area Virtual Open House thru May 22 Created with WeVideo