Special Neighborhood Meeting - Tuesday, October 20

At our regular meeting last Monday, October 5th, at the Walnut Creek Baptist Church on North Lamar, residents voted to accept the offer of Austin Energy to remove the seven (7) live oak trees in the North Star Green Belt, contingent upon GWNA committee reaching an agreement about a mitigation plan.

The oaks are located in the North Star Greenbelt near Swearingen. A mitigation plan would include a landscaping design, plantings, and irrigation.

On Tuesday, 10/20, the GWNA committee will meet with the Austin Energy Forester to discuss mitigation plan requirements and options. The public is invited to attend. Walnut Creek Baptist Church Hall (north Lamar) at 7pm.

THIS IS AN OPEN MEETING. ALL RESIDENTS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND.


Background on the Trees to be Removed

There are seven live oak trees in the greenbelt between Swearingen and Bittern Hollow that were severely trimmed this summer. This greenbelt area is owned by Austin Energy. They also own a set of power lines running down the middle of the greenbelt. Austin Energy is responsible for the safety of these power lines, and for trimming the trees to a safe clearance distance from the power lines. Four years ago, neighborhood representatives and Austin Energy signed an agreement stating these trees would be trimmed every four years, and offering to remove and replace these seven oak trees for smaller native trees sometime in the future.

Recently, Austin Energy received several complaints about the agreed trimming project. GWNA was approached to review this situation and decide if the community wanted to continue having these trees trimmed every four years, or to have the trees removed now and replaced with other height appropriate native trees.

(Please do not call Austin Energy. They will be attending the meeting.)