Old Town, Georgetown Texas

By Ross Hunter There’s a HARC extended meeting happening today, this afternoon at 4:30. That’s about 4 hours from now, I don’t expect people to be able to attend, but if you can come down to show support please do. The meeting is an extension of last Thursday’s meeting. Note that it’s NOT in Council [...]

By Ross Hunter In a landmark test for Georgetown, following a hearing before the Zoning Board of Adjustment on Tuesday, December 15th, the historic Leavell House at 803 College Street will not now encroach upon its property line setbacks, thus avoiding the “McMansion” effect feared by neighbors. The 130-year old mansion can be seen from the [...]

By Ross Hunter Tomorrow evening’s meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment has on its agenda the fate of the historic Leavell House, 803 College Street, at the corner of Eighth and College. The house is 130 years old with a magnificent aspect, visible from the square looking down the length of Eighth Street to the [...]

By Ross Hunter The council voted down the proposed amendment to the UDC on Tuesday night. So electronic signs are dead for the moment. The city is safe – until the next business asks its next favor from the council. Dale Ross and Keith Brainard were the two suprises in the vote, ripping apart the [...]

By Ross Hunter Electronic retail signs along Georgetown’s frontage roads will be coming soon if the Council approves an amendment to the UDC proposed at tomorrow’s meeting. This meeting decides if our frontage roads will remain scenic or start looking like Round Rock. Your attendance is important. Simply showing up is valuable because numbers matter. [...]

By Peter and Sherry Dana We attended Tuesday’s City Council meeting to support the Georgetown Historic and Architectural Commission. HARC had denied a request for an amendment to the Tamiro Plaza building’s Master Sign Plan. Many speakers asked the Council to affirm HARC’s five to one vote so that HARC would retain its autonomy and [...]

By Ross Hunter The Georgetown City Council on Tuesday night broke its own law. Council voted 4-2 to overturn the legitimate decision of HARC, the city’s Historic and Architectural Review Commission, without hearing any new evidence. This was a violation of Title 17 of the Georgetown Code of Ordinances, the Unified Development Code, or UDC. [...]

City Council Speech by Rick Williamson for delivery on September 22, 2009 I take issue with even the idea of this Council over-turning its own HARC commission’s denial of the Merrill-Lynch sign application, for several reasons. Most notably, for even thinking that boldly reversing HARC’s near-unanimous 5-1 decision without direct evidence of wrongdoing would be [...]

Testimony to the City Council regarding the appeal of a HARC decision related to the Tamiro Plaza building, 501 S. Austin Ave. Sept. 22, 2009 By Ellen Davis Mr. Mayor, Members of the City Council: Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I just wanted to say that I was at the HARC meeting [...]

Peter Dana of Old Town asks in a graphic presentation, are we sure there’s no compromise in that Merrill Lynch sign design?

In this picture you’re looking at a sign that Merrill Lynch wants to tack up on the Tamiro Plaza’s wall on Austin Avenue, 2.5 feet tall, and lit up at night and weekends – to advertise that it’s closed! Merrill asked HARC – our Historic and Architectural Review Commission – to amend the Master Sign [...]

Be sure to keep on eye on things here: http://udc.georgetown.org/ The City of Georgetown Unified Development Code (UDC) has begun its Annual UDC Review Process. For the 2008-2009 Update, City staff has enlisted the help of a task force to review and craft new language for the UDC.  This site will inform the task force, as well as the [...]

A Guest Opinion by Gary I. Currier I think Georgetown citizens should ask the City of Georgetown to adopt ordinances to regulate persons and organizations that leave all sorts of unsolicited advertising materials on the property of Georgetown residences. It seems like every day I have to remove unwanted advertising flyers, business cards, newsletters, telephone [...]

Notice sent by the Heart of Georgetown Neighborhood Association on April 23rd. This is to inform you that Mr. Lee McIntosh’s application to HARC for a Certificate of Design Compliance regarding the Wesleyan redevelopment is being postponed for consideration until the May meeting of HARC. The HARC agenda still shows the proposed removal of the [...]

Notice sent by the Heart of Georgetown Neighborhood Association on March 31st. This is to inform you that Mr. Lee McIntosh has withdrawn his application to the Planning and Zoning Commission, and also the City Council, regarding the Wesleyan redevelopment, and if you were planning to attend the P&Z meeting tomorrow, April 1st, this will [...]

This letter was sent to the Williamson County Sun on Sunday, March 23, 2007. By Ross Hunter Wesleyan Retirement Center on University Avenue has been sold for redevelopment, but where we had hoped to see an exciting new amenity for Georgetown, we now face the prospect that a designated historic home will be physically relocated [...]

By Ross Hunter With the election for City Council upcoming on May 12th, the Williamson County Sun published its editorial endorsements for the various positions on Wednesday, May 2nd. However, this year was a little different, for the Sun’s use of its editorial space to present a review of one of the challengers, Chris Damon, [...]

The Georgetown City Council tonight – Tuesday, October 24th, 2006 – will consider the motion to remove from the Planning and Zoning Commission’s Board of Adjustment, jurisdiction over the appeals process from a HARC ruling, and to hear such appeals directly itself. What follows is OldTowners.com’s open address to the Council, arguments against their motion [...]

The Council meeting on Tuesday, October 10 yielded mixed results. The motion to abolish HARC was defeated. The motion to remove appeals of HARC decisions away from the P&Z Board of Adjustment and directly to the Council itself, passed. An amendment to require a super majority vote (majority plus one), which was in line with [...]

Georgetown residents are invited to attend a brief neighborhood meeting on Sunday October 8th, to discuss the upcoming City Council motion to abolish HARC, and ways and means to fight the great Square giveaway. The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and ends at 8:30 pm. The meeting is at 705 East 3rd Street (between Walnut [...]