City Council approved a $34,000 agreement Dec. 20 with Austin-based planning and urban design firm Asakura Robinson for conceptual design and public facilitation services for the Uplands project. Mayor Rose Cardona said the process could result in the city selling the property, establishing desired community uses on the site or doing nothing.
Uplands tract usage weighed[/caption]“This gives us an opportunity to figure out, ‘What do the residents want?’” Cardona said.
Starting in January, Asakura Robinson will conduct a survey, interview residents, and coordinate workshops and town hall meetings to gather community members’ input on the use of the property and identify goals, according to city documents. The company will then work with the city to develop a plan to implement a project at the Uplands site if that is how the city decides to proceed.
The vote passed 3-1, with Council Member Rudi Rosengarten opposed. Rosengarten pointed to city efforts to develop permanent police and public works facilities as something that should take precedence over Uplands planning.
“Number one, we are spending $34,000 to have someone mediate and talk about ideas for the Uplands. Number two, we still do not have an idea where we are going to move the temporary public works and police buildings, and the Uplands would be an option,” Rosengarten said during the meeting.
Sunset Valley resident John Frick, chairman of the city’s arts commission, said he supported the city moving forward with a third-party contract.
“As far as putting the buildings there temporarily for the construction going on [at City Hall], I don’t see why that couldn’t still happen because once we have that concept it doesn’t mean we’re going to start it right away. We will then have something more concrete than what we have right now, and to me it’s a shame to have that opportunity just sitting there.”
Some residents, including Dave Lapham, said they did not want the council to approve the contract.
“I’m just surprised that this is coming up at this time when we’re already spending a lot of money on other, I think, very much more important projects,” he said, citing the city facilities project.
Council Member Ketan Kharod, who was elected to the council in November, noted the funds were actually allocated in the city’s fiscal year 2014-15 and 2015-16 budgets but not spent.
“I think this is an investment in making sure more people’s voices are heard,” he said.
This is not the first time the city has considered what to do with the Uplands tract. Cardona has said she would prefer to clear the property and establish minimal trails, and the city’s arts commission representatives had previously requested developing concepts that would allow for uses such as community events, art, fitness and education. The site was also considered as a potential fire station site but was eliminated as an option for a potential fire station in 2012.
