20 Jun Travis County Conservation – 2011 bond package – Speak up today

Hill Country Alliance Friends in Travis County:  We have a fantastic conservation opportunity before us and we need people to show up and speak up TODAY (Monday, June 20th) as well as at upcoming meetings throughout the county.  We’re particularly enthusiastic about the Pedernales River Conservation project and the Conservation Easement funding!
 
Please reply to let me know if you can help out Monday and also feel free to forward to others.   Call me or email if you have questions or need more information.   Thank you.  Christy 560-3135

Public Meetings on Travis County Parks, Land Conservation and Transportation Bond Package (attached).

Travis County is considering a 2011 Bond Program that could make a significant contribution to land conservation, not only by expanding the County park system, but also for the first time ever to purchase development rights (PDR’s) from willing landowners through the use of conservation easements.
 
The proposed land conservation proposition amount is $7.5 million and will allow Travis County to work in partnership with private landowners and other public agencies to protect water resources, working farms and ranches, wildlife habitat, scenic views, and to help manage growth.
 
Also under consideration in the bond package are several park and trail projects, roads and other transportation needs that include bike and pedestrian projects. A 15 member Citizen’s Bond Advisory Committee (CBAC) has been meeting since March and has scheduled a series of Public Outreach Meetings during the last two weeks of June.
 
Below is the schedule of public meeting places and some talking points you can use to illustrate to the public benefit of conserving lands for our growing county.
 
Please try to make one of the public meetings to make a strong case for the need and public benefit of conserving land through conservation easements. You may also submit comments or questions to: 2011BondCommittee@co.travis.tx.us or call the CBAC hotline at 854-4899.
 
PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULE
Link to online schedule and maps: http://www.co.travis.tx.us/citizens_bond_committee/public_hearings.asp

Monday, June 20, 2011 – 6:30 p.m.
Downtown Austin
Commissioners Court
314 West 11th Street, Austin
 
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 – 6:30 p.m.
Precinct 1
East Service Center
6011 Blue Bluff Road, Austin
 
Thursday, June 23, 2011 – 6:30 p.m.
Precinct 4
Del Valle High School
Opportunity Center
5301 Ross Road, Del Valle
 
Monday, June 27, 2011 – 7:00 p.m.
Precinct 2
Wells Branch Community Center
2106 Klattenhoff Drive, Austin
 
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 – 7:00 p.m.
Precinct 3
Lago Vista Council Chambers
5803 Thunderbird, Lago Vista
 
Thursday, June 30, 2011 – 7:00 p.m.
Precinct 3
Lakeway Council Chambers
1102 Lohman’s Crossing, Lakeway
 

TALKING POINTS

• Thank you to members of the Citizen Bond Advisory Board and to the County staff for your dedication and hard work these past months to determine the County’s needs for parkland, conservation land and transportation improvements.
 
• Texas leads the nation in the number of high-quality acres of land lost every year.
I’m concerned about rampant development and land fragmentation of family-owned farms and ranches in Travis County.
 
• Travis County is on the right track to have a program to fund conservation easements as a way to protect open space and keep farms and ranches working in our community.
 
• Conservation easements are a flexible and cost-effective tool for achieving land use goals at the county level without the use of regulatory power.  
 
• Counties can make the most of limited public dollars by leveraging them with federal, private and other local resources when conservation easements are used with the voluntary cooperation of private landowners.
 
• These are tough economic times, but the County can’t stop taking care of business and its citizens with roads and parks. I want the county to be smart with our dollars, spend wisely.
 
• Conservation easements represent smart spending.  By working in partnership with other public agencies, private donors and willing landowners, the county can match our tax dollars by as much as 400 percent to conserve land. The land stays in private hands, but it also stays productive and on the tax roles — and there are guarantees of quality stewardship as part of the easement contract.
 
• There is public benefit to preserving open space – certainly for water quality protection, but also to preserve places for our wildlife to roam, to keep farms working and producing a local food supply, to have scenic views, and to help define our values and give us a special sense of place.
 
• With the certainty of development that will take place on the east side of Travis County around State Highway 130, it will be important for the County to have some green spaces to balance the development and protect the eastern creeks. Purchasing development rights cost us less than buying land outright and keeps land on the tax roles.
 
• We must protect our water resources. The best way to do that is to protect the land around our creeks, streams and rives. We can buy that land or conserve it by buying only the development rights. Do it now, before it’s too late.
 
 
Christy Muse
Christy@HillCountryAlliance.org
The Mission of the Hill Country Alliance is to bring together an ever-expanding alliance of groups throughout a muliti-county region of Central Texas with the long-term objective of preserving open spaces, water supply, water quality and the unique character of the Texas Hill Country
 
15315 Hwy 71 West                           
Bee Cave, TX  78738
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