Government
BY EDMOND ORTIZ & ERIC WEILBACHER
Hill Country Village rejects rezoning The Hill Country Village Zoning Commis- sion will take another crack at a controversial rezoning proposal. The big picture City Council voted unanimously July 18 to indefinitely postpone action on a recom- mendation made by the zoning commission June 26 to rezone 205 W. Bitters Road from residential to business and office space. Local leaders and residents have long debated what to do with the abandoned residential parcel, which has an 1,805-square- foot home built in 1952, before Hill Country Village formally became an incorporated city. The house is vacant, and some residents have said it is an eyesore. Hamid Azari is listed by the city as the current property owner. Commercial real estate company CBRE is offering to broker the sale of 205 W. Bitters Road as an ideal setting for a small medical office building. Many residents opposed such requests in the past, citing concerns about traffic in the residential surroundings.
Voters to decide fate of 6 city charter proposals San Antonio voters will decide several changes to the city’s charter during the Nov. 5 election, as City Council finalized the six charter amendments during an Aug. 8 meeting, including two that would extend elected leader tenure and pay. Major takeaways The proposed changes to the city’s charter are the result of findings from the Charter Review Commission that was established in November. The changes include term limit and compensation changes for the mayor and council members; whether city employees can participate in political activity with protections from retribution or job loss; and other proposals. Council voted in favor of propositions A through D unanimously. City Council voted on adding propositions E and F separately from the rest of the propositions. Proposition E passed with council members Melissa Cabello Havrda, Manny Peláez and Marc Whyte voting against. Proposition F passed with Marina Alderete Gavito, Peláez and Whyte voting against. In their own words Each council member spoke on the proposed amendments, including Proposition C, which removes language limiting the city manager’s length of service and pay so council may deter- mine both. District 9 council member John Courage spoke in favor of retaining council’s ability to hire and set the terms of the city manager’s employment— should voters approve Proposition C—as a way for the city to remain competitive and attract talent.
Proposed charter amendments
A Adds a definition of “conflicts of interest” and was revised to now keep term limits for Ethics Review Board members. B Revises charter language to address outdated and superseded provisions. C Authorizes City Council to set the full terms of the city manager’s employment, including tenure and compensation. D Allows city employees to participate in local political activity while protecting employees against political retribution. E Sets salaries for council members and the mayor at $70,200 and $87,800, respectively, tying each to area median income. F Extends the terms of all elected City Council members from two to four years, and change term limits to two full terms.
SOURCE: CITY OF SAN ANTONIO/COMMUNITY IMPACT
“I think when this commission decided to recommend that the council retain its ultimate authority to hire or fire or pay the CEO for the city, that that was a good move for us,” Courage said. Mayor Ron Nirenberg commented on the impor- tance of the changes to council salaries. “Let me tell you exactly what’s happening with this amendment. We are forevermore taking the power of setting wages for City Council members away from City Council members. We are indexing it to the average median income for the HUD [Housing and Urban Development] level of San Antonio families,” Nirenberg said. “So in essence for the representatives that serve our San Antonio families, the only way that their economic status will improve is that if this body, in this commu- nity, was able to improve the status of San Antonio families. I think that’s a good thing.”
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Area for rezoning proposal
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Adding spaces Two options are being examined to expand Shavano Park City Hall’s parking, which include: Increasing parking space to 134 from the current 79, saving some clusters of trees Increasing parking spaces to 173, eliminating the remaining tree clusters
Shavano Park mulls expanding city hall parking Shavano Park’s leaders are considering two options for expanding parking at city hall. What’s happening engineering firm, broke down the two parking expansion options for council.
One option grows the total number of city hall parking spaces to 134, with 79 existing and new paved spaces, plus 55 existing unpaved spaces along De Zavala Road. Otto said that saves one cluster of trees but would force the removal of several other trees, and could prompt relocation of the surrounding public walking nature trail and a rain garden.
SOURCE: CITY OF SHAVANO PARK/COMMUNITY IMPACT
City Council met July 22 to review the options, which according to local officials, came from recent discussions about an increasing need to accommodate crowds of community members attending city-sponsored events at city hall. Chris Otto, geographic discipline leader for Col- liers Engineering and Design, the city’s consulting
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