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Posted Dec 22, 2017, 7:02 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,273
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The council found a way to further delay action on the convention center. They are going to commission a study by UT to research all of their questions which they could have done a year and a half ago. The council members that are against it don't make decisions about issues like this based on data. The commission is going to say it makes economic sense and they are going to make the same generic arguments against supporting it.
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Researchers at the University of Texas are going to ask the question that seems to be on every Austinite’s mind these days: “Can new, programmatic spatial configurations and economic models for urban convention centers be applied to downtown Austin in a meaningful and community-based manner?”
That’s the prime mystery a study commissioned by City Council last week to be conducted by UT’s Center for Sustainable Development will seek to solve.
Researchers will take a deeper dive into questions raised by the proposed expansion of the Austin Convention Center as recommended last May by the Visitor Impact Task Force. They will compare the convention center’s competitive standing relative to venues in peer cities, model potential economic effects, identify physical constraints of potential expansion configurations, and look at alternatives for reorienting or enlarging the existing building.
The $250,000 contract approved by Council would be good for one year upon its signing.
Attorney Bill Bunch, a vocal critic of the task force’s recommendation which would fund the expansion with a 2 percent hike of the Hotel Occupancy Tax encouraged the passage of the resolution authorizing staff to negotiate and sign the contract with UT.
“It’s really great that you’re doing this and stepping back from the rush into expanding the convention center without having real information that you need (in order) to look at that real carefully,” Bunch said at the meeting.
Before the vote, Mayor Steve Adler, who is boosting the expansion as a key piece to what he has dubbed the “downtown puzzle,” relayed concerns he said he has heard from the live music sector and advocates for the homeless, both of which would benefit from aspects of his plan.
“They had a concern that this study was an attempt to preclude or otherwise stop the convention center expansion discussion and consideration, and I want to know if that’s the intent of this resolution,” Adler asked the resolution’s sponsor, Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo.
Tovo told him that the proposed study at hand would be a vehicle to satisfy a request built into a resolution passed in late September that requested from staff more information to help Council make a future decision about the proposed expansion.
“I think it’s probably of no secret to anyone who’s been following this conversation that the dais is quite divided about the discussion of whether to move forward on a convention center expansion,” Tovo told him. “So we needed some ability to help us discern what the best path is forward, and I think some additional information is helpful.”
Council approved the interlocal agreement with UT on a 10-0 vote, with Council Member Ellen Troxclair away from the dais for the vote.
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City Staff gave an update on Adler's downtown puzzle.
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Work on Mayor Steve Adler’s “downtown puzzle” policies package will be almost certainly put on hold until the spring when newly hired city manager Spencer Cronk will be able to study and work on how to execute the proposal.
That was the word from Adler on Wednesday, following a Friday memo from Assistant City Manager Mark Washington that gave an update on the six biggest components of the puzzle agenda.
In September, City Council gave Dec. 15 as the deadline for a report on how to carry out the proposal, which centers around the possible expansion of the Austin Convention Center and using funds from an assortment of related taxing mechanisms to address homelessness and pay for a series of public works and cultural projects.
Washington’s memo states, “This is an update and not a final report,” before breaking down the status of the convention center project, possible acquisition of the nearby Palm School property, potential use of Hotel Occupancy Tax or government bonds to pay for improvements throughout East Austin, the options for providing services and housing for homeless residents, the funding options for expansion of the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, and the string of parks proposed for the Waller Creek area.
On Dec. 14, Council approved an agreement with the University of Texas’ Center for Sustainable Development to study the business and development scenarios for the convention center’s expansion. The memo said staff research found that an expansion, rather than a renovation, is the action required to initiate a 2 percentage-point increase in the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax that would fund the proposed $600 million in work.
The memo said the Palm School property’s historic value makes it likely that Travis County would prefer a competitive request-for-proposal process for its redevelopment to ensure as much preservation as possible, or go through with a deed-restricted sale.
On the effort to improve sites in East Austin, staff found that the proposed redevelopment of the Travis County Exposition Center likely would not qualify for the use of HOT funds because it doesn’t meet at least three of the criteria in the state law governing the use of hotel taxes.
That means other funding sources, such as a public bond vote, are options the city supports in its ongoing discussions with county officials about that project.
The homelessness component of the puzzle was updated in a Nov. 28 memo from Interim Assistant City Manager Sarah Hensley, and a proposed 1 percent self-imposed tax on hotels – known as a tourism public improvement district – would provide some money for homeless relief as well as toward the convention center.
Staff found that the second phase of a proposed expansion of the MACC would likely qualify for HOT funds, with the first phase eligible for municipal general obligation bonds. Stakeholders of that facility are currently working on a new master plan, which will help determine the scope and cost of its expansion.
Interim Chief Financial Officer Greg Canally is studying the impacts of a possible expansion of the tax increment financing mechanism currently being used for the Waller Creek Tunnel project to pay for the system of parks proposed for construction along the waterway.
Adler said he was pleased with the information and progress staff has made on the puzzle proposal, and said individual actions like the UT study of the convention center will help sustain momentum.
“It’s forward movement, and while there are a whole lot of questions with respect to the puzzle, we need to start moving where we can and I’m glad Council approved having the folks at UT looking at the design for the convention center,” he said. “I expect the Waller Creek portion could be in a position to move forward the soonest, though we’re still answering questions on funding streams.”
The staff memo said a complete report will go to Council in February, but Adler said it will be longer than that before Cronk is able to get a handle on the puzzle’s many policy components. He added that some puzzle items will be included in budget forecasts that are being prepared for Council work sessions in April.
Council Member Jimmy Flannigan said the puzzle will be one of the bigger agenda items for Cronk once he starts the job, though his start date is not yet known.
“The new manager has got to have a substantial role because (the puzzle) crosses so many departments and parts of the city,” he said. “I remember that was one thing we discussed with him, was the need to cross cut through different silos and make sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing.”
Flannigan said he’s had some of his concerns about the puzzle addressed – specifically taking tax-generating property near the convention center off the city tax rolls – but he remains opposed to the idea of expanding the Waller TIF.
“I have lots of hesitation on using the TIF as a funding tool because those are taxes that are needed to pay the cost of police and fire (departments),” he said. “It’s not a just a matter of ‘Will the park be pretty?’ because lately we’ve had lots of items come in front of Council, like the fire department or the aquatics task force, where they just don’t have the numbers behind it.”
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