Old Town, Georgetown Texas

This is a letter to the Williamson County Sun published this weekend in the June 10 edition. It was a request for the Sun to ask some hard-hitting questions about several irregularities in the Hat Creek application. The Sun made a response immediately below the letter. Both letter and response are reproduced below (with minor editing for spelling and grammar in the Sun’s response). more…

Hat Creek has formally requested to postpone the 2nd reading of its application for a special use permit to a later date. It will not happen at the June 12th council meeting.

We learned this from staff earlier this afternoon. Hat Creek say that they want to address HARC questions before they move forward to council.

What are those HARC questions? Well, among other things, did you know that Hat Creek is requesting an exception? Neither did we. When John Kiltz spoke before council at the first reading he assured everyone that he intended to do everything HARC wanted and submit a flawless design that complied in every way with city code. He forgot to mention that his architectural plan violated so many of our laws that he would have to request an exception from the standards set forth in our city codes, in order to get a Certificate of Design Compliance (CDC) for Hat Creek. more…

Council is tomorrow evening, and the Hat Creek Burger Company will either be issued its special use permit to destroy neighborhood safety and property values around 4th & 5th Streets, Main and Austin Avenue, or else denied same, depending how the struggle goes.

Either way, we have to show up and lend support if we care that Austin Avenue remain true to the elegant vision that we as a town have all agreed on for it. There’s no doubt that Hat Creek will destroy this vision, and much though we love our city government we’re also very clear that this council could muster the votes to do that very thing – unless we fight. more…

On Tuesday, December 13th at 3:00 PM the Georgetown City Council will hold a workshop to examine progress made by the Lone Star Rail District.

The District aims to connect San Antonio to Georgetown, with points in between and points beyond. Passenger rail seems to be on everybody’s wish-list in Georgetown, and it’s an obvious necessity for a sustainable future with lighter energy consumption.

But it’s also in some jeopardy. The District came under a vicious attack from three members of the council during the fierce late-night budget deliberations in the August/September meetings, and five years of work and investment were almost destroyed by the stroke of a pen. So it’s important to show support and learn more about this long-range, hugely successful to-date project. more…

Current city codes prohibit depositing grass clippings back onto our lawns, or adding any organic material. Mulching lawnmowers cutting the grass without a catcher, landscapers applying mulch, and gardeners applying compost are all breaking the law and could be subject to a $2,000 fine, EVERY DAY until the material is removed and taken to the landfill.

If you want to help change this join us at Council Council Chambers tomorrow evening, Tuesday, June 14th, at 6 pm. That’s on the corner of Seventh and Main Streets.

The mulching and composting prohibitons come from our city’s current Code of Ordinances, Sections 13.12.030 and 13.12.060. It’s a careless piece of legal drafting that just came to light because it’s about to be amended – but NOT in order to make things better. more…

On Tuesday , January 25th, the City Council will review proposed changes to the UDC that currently control how people work out of their homes. There are two main schools of thought – regulate or don’t regulate.

There are also two different geographic views: regard the Old Town Overlay District as a distinct area to be treated separately, OR treat it just like the rest of the town.

After several months’ worth of task-force discussion these two sides remain opposed. Council must decide, and if you care you should attend. Speak if possible, and email all Council members. more…