Sometimes the Right Thing Happens
There are pages and pages on the Internet dedicated to what is wrong with Austin: traffic, uncontrolled sprawl, affordability, gentrification, Californians :).... All of those things have their place in the puzzle, and they are all microcosms of larger issues at play in all of our cities here in the U.S. But sometimes diverse groups of people come together to create something truly good, and these efforts don't seem to get as much attention.
RBJ Groundbreaking
Luci Baines Johnson, Mayor Adler, Pio Renteria and others celebrating a good thing.
There are pages and pages on the Internet dedicated to what is wrong with Austin: traffic, uncontrolled sprawl, affordability, gentrification, Californians :).... All of those things have their place in the puzzle, and they are all microcosms of larger issues at play in all of our cities here in the U.S. But sometimes diverse groups of people come together to create something truly good, and these efforts don't seem to get as much attention.
In my job at Nelsen Partners, I've had the opportunity to be involved with the redevelopment of the RBJ Senior Apartments, a 1970's residential tower on the east side that was built by LBJ and named after his mother, Rebecca Baines Johnson. After years of planning, it seems that the project is finally moving forward, and the official groundbreaking was held on Tuesday. Luci Baines Johnson, LBJ's daughter and well-known Austin resident, gave an inspiring speech about the legacy of LBJ's vision to take care of America's most vulnerable citizens, and praised the amount of collaboration between many different City constituents to make the project happen.
Councilman Pio Renteria and State Representative Eddie Rodriguez took that point further in their speeches, and it was a point that needed to be heard. I won't bore you with the details of how this project is going to be funded and built, but this effort involves private developers, government officials at the City and State levels, neighborhood activists, bankers, real estate lawyers, design professionals, and most importantly the senior residents of RBJ themselves. All of this to create what will become a mixed-income, mixed-use, multi-generational neighborhood out of what is currently an isolated tower in a park.
There is a growing amount of research to support the idea that seniors benefit from living in close proximity to other generations of people, with access to activities in their immediate neighborhood. I suspect this is true for all of us. There are many problems in the City to solve, to be sure, but projects like this give me hope that the various residents of this City - whatever age, income bracket, or ethnicity - will be able to live together and benefit from each others' company. Let's stay hopeful..
Building Permits
As in most cities, Austin requires a building permit before you can begin construction. The permit process can be very daunting, but we found out that the City currently offers an expedited process for a little extra money.
As in most cities, Austin requires a building permit before you can begin construction. The permit process can be very daunting, but we found out that the City currently offers an expedited process for a little extra money. The process is billed as being incredibly fast and geared at getting home owners into construction as fast as possible. We prepared the required drawings, I stamped them and we submitted for a Completeness Check, which involved some full-size drawing sets and a pile of paperwork. About two weeks later, we got a response letting us know that we had to prepare a Tree Protection Plan showing how we were going to protect the Heritage Pecan tree that is in the backyard.
The pecan tree.
At 24.5" diameter, this tree is considered a Heritage Tree in the City of Austin, and must be protected.
We drew up the Protection Plan and scheduled a review meeting for the following week. First we met with the arborist to review the tree plan, which passed. Then we sat for about 20 minutes with the building reviewer, and we were good to go. I guess it helps to have done our homework beforehand! One catch is that we didn't have a printed half-size set, so I had to run to the office to print one out and Alyson ran it back to the permit office. Within the next few hours, we were called back to the office to pick up the building permit, and that was that.
Or so we thought...
Building Permit Review!
Since we had a full set of stamped drawings and opted for the expedited review, the process was relatively quick and painless.
The tree was protected and the site was prepared for construction, and it was time to schedule the first inspection. It turns out that we didn't receive the stamped, approved drawings with the permit, so when the inspector showed up for the preconstruction review at the site, he wouldn't sign off without them. Alyson had to run down to the permit office (again) to request the official approved drawings, which they kindly and quickly produced. Now to reschedule the inspector!
