Summary Report on the Future of Barton Hills Project

It has been exciting and rewarding to have the opportunity to contribute to a final report on the future of the Barton Hills neighborhood, and to help summarize the work of our project this semester.

We have gathered and organized the results of the Barton Hills neighborhood house dialogues and the neighborhood workshop to create a Future of Barton Hills "mind map" and summary document; this work was also shaped by information captured about the neighborhood and residents' values, visions, and priorities in the key informant interviews that students completed early in the semester. We hope that this document and mind map will provide useful information to the residents of Barton Hills and will help them achieve the neighborhood that they envision and decide upon.

The Future of Barton Hills: Building a Common Vision

Introduction
Within the next few years, Barton Hills will incorporate its first neighborhood plan, as part of the city of Austin's official neighborhood planning and zoning effort. Quite uniquely, the residents of Barton Hills will offer the city not only participation in this formal neighborhood planning endeavor, but a vision of the future of Barton Hills, based on their collective beliefs, ideas, and priorities. Working with graduate students from the Community & Regional Planning (CRP) Program of UT's School of Architecture, the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association (BHNA) has utilized a community dialogue facilitation process to gather input from a broad range of fellow residents on what they value about Barton Hills and envision for the future of their neighborhood. This document attempts to capture a general vision for the future emerging from this process, which included a Community Workshop conducted in October and 12 house dialogues facilitated in November of this year. Approximately 120 residents participated in our process in total, including approximately 12 as interviewees, 15 as workshop participants, and 96 as participants in our house dialogues. It should be noted that the 12 house dialogues involved in all 7 geographic sectors of the neighborhood, as defined by the Neighborhood Association (see attached map and sector descriptions for details).


Background
The City's official neighborhood planning process for Barton Hills will begin in the Spring of 2005. As a proactive effort to energize residents about this planning effort and to help the neighborhood utilize this opportunity to advance a true shared vision for the future, the BHNA solicited the assistance of CRP Professor and Barton Hills resident, Patricia Wilson, and her students to develop a community dialogue process. Nearly 40 volunteers from the community participated in an October 18th Neighborhood Visioning/House Leader training session, hosted by the BHNA and CRP program. The event served to kick off a season of neighbors thinking and talking about the future of Barton Hills and as an opportunity to train area residents as house dialogue facilitators. Residents participating in the workshop helped to host and/or facilitate 12 house dialogues in November for their immediate neighbors (each dialogue had on average 8 participants). The training session and house dialogues were structured around 3-4 guided questions focused to perceived neighborhood attributes and resources, visions for the neighborhood's future, and choices that the neighborhood faces at present. Offered here is a brief summary and compiling of the information offered by Barton Hills residents at the neighborhood training session and subsequent house dialogues.

Methodology & "Mind Map"
At both the training session in October and during the 12 subsequent house dialogues, residents participated in a dialogue format similar to what is offered by "Let's Talk America" and "Conversation Café," two popular approaches for generating community. To capture resident values and visions, 4 questions were posed to all participants:
• What is a personal story that exemplifies what you cherish about the neighborhood?
• What does Barton Hills look, smell, sound, and feel like in the future? What are your hopes and dreams for the neighborhood?
• What choices are we facing today for the future of the neighborhood
• What one statement can we come up with that expresses our sense of the choices our neighborhood needs to make?

Using a "mind mapping" technique - an approach for organizing visually a diversity of ideas and inputs from a group or community, responses to these questions have been compiled below. To create the mind map, actual documented responses to dialogue questions were organized into clusters that reflect the values, priorities and visions of the people of Barton Hills These statements are to be used as the basis for action plans developed in a social, environmental and economic context (see mind map attachment)


Summary of Findings

To identify the priorities of Barton Hills residents regarding the future of their neighborhood, comments from the House Meetings are clustered and then organized under descriptive headings. These heading and subheadings are listed below and also presented in the Mind Map found in Figure One. The headings represent the values, priorities and vision the people of this community regarding the future of their neighborhood.
• Environment
o Greenbelt
o Pollution
• Physical Appearance
o "Public Face"
o Safety
o Infrastructure
• Social Mix
o Affordability & Openness
o Housing Mix
• Social Cohesion
o Opportunities for Connecting
o Community Services
• Transportation
o Walking
o Pedestrian Friendly
o Bikes
• Commercial


Environment
Two subcategories of interest expressed in relation to the environment during the neighborhood workshop and subsequent house meetings were the Greenbelt and pollution. Many residents expressed interest in maintaining the integrity of the Greenbelt during these dialogues, and some residents felt that the Greenbelt was the most important descriptor of the neighborhood. Dialogues clearly indicated that Barton Hills is a neighborhood concerned with "controlling invasive plant species" and "preserving the natural vegetation" - along the Greenbelt and throughout the neighborhood. Beyond the Greenbelt, the natural environment of Barton Hills is defined by the presence of massive oak trees dotting private and public property; there is a strong neighborhood desire to preserve them. Many dialogues also included comments about the wildlife that stills roams the Greenbelt and is spotted in the neighborhood - including turtles, deer and birds. There is a strong desire to continue striking a balance between suburban and "wild" needs in the neighborhood.

In dialogues and informational interviews with neighborhood stakeholders, Barton Hills residents tended to describe Barton Hills as a "green" and environmentally sensitive neighborhood. Of concern to many residents is the effect of pollution (including household) on the Greenbelt, Barton Creek, and the neighborhood vegetation, including oak trees; many residents expressed a desire for greater resources focused to education and preservation and a clean and water-filled Barton Creek. Neighbors also listed reducing light pollution as an environmental priority.

Future Vision
A major asset for the people of Barton Hills is the Greenbelt. When asked their vision for the future, continued protection of the Greenbelt was a constant theme. Through the dialogues, it is apparent that residents want to protect the natural habitat and keep the water flowing and clean - including, by "increasing awareness of the impact chemical use in the home and garden have on Barton Springs and the Greenbelt." Residents also believe that more funding is needed to preserve the natural environment of the neighborhood and "to prevent building on and around the Belt." The office buildings along MOPAC that overlook the Greenbelt are also a concern for residents - and an example of what the neighborhood does not want to see in Barton Hills in the future.


Physical Appearance of the Neighborhood
Overlapping somewhat with Environment is the Physical Appearance cluster that formed as a result of the neighborhood dialogue process. Major themes expressed in this cluster include "Public Face," Safety, and Infrastructure. Residents view Barton Hills as a "walking" neighborhood - many people walk the streets during the day and at night. A major safety concern for Barton Hills, like many of Austin neighborhoods, is adequate street lighting; quite noticeably, youth participating in the process expressed this same concern. While most residents feel that Barton Hills is relatively safe as a neighborhood, the perception of safety has been compromised by inadequate lighting.

Beyond safety concerns, nearly 20 of the approximately 100-120 residents participating in the process commented about improving neighborhood entrances Some residents would like to see signs announcing Barton Hills and design elements at traffic entrances that will "set the flow" through the neighborhood - including water fountains and sculptures on traffic islands and narrower streets. Others wanted to see the entrance to Barton Skyway improved and "cleaned up," specifically. In general, residents would like to see the neighborhood's infrastructure system completely updated, as opposed to continuing to try to patch and repair the existing.

Future Vision
When discussing the physical appearance of the neighborhood, infrastructure, including new sewers, curbs and sidewalks, are key elements that neighborhood residents would like to see. "Clean" is a term used by several residents to describe the ideal future appearance of the neighborhood. Residents also envision more trashcans in the Parks, and the Barton Skyway area "cleaned up." Residents foresee the beautification of thoroughfares and main entrances to the neighborhood. Thoughts of the future include green lawns or xeriscaping at the Barton Skyway entrance, and "bigger and better entrance off of Robert E. Lee ."a bigger and better entrance. Finally, Barton Hills residents see a future with lush vegetation, flowers and an abundance of vegetable gardens.


Social Mix
Through our Social Mix Cluster, we attempt to capture thoughts about affordability, openness/diversity, and actual housing types emerging from the Barton Hills dialogue process. The theme of Affordability & Openness covers the provision of moderate income housing opportunities which could be furthered and the need for tolerance of differences. One house meeting participant described this best when she commented that her future Barton Hills would "not be too gentrified" and still a "youthful neighborhood" - suggesting the strong desire to maintain single family housing options for people of moderate incomes. Like most of central Austin, the word "eclectic" was used by residents to describe their neighborhood and how they would like it to be in the future - eclectic in terms of tolerance towards different social expressions, if not actual housing stock.

In terms of housing types, the neighborhood clearly would like to see less rental properties - or at least no great change in the current housing stock. Acceptance of different housing options is a form of eclecticism that residents appear to be struggling with. People expressed a fear of the growth of the "transient" rental population, some envisioning future with "zero population growth" and no rental properties whatsoever. Concerns with zoning - and perceptions of city desires for higher density development in Barton Hills are major fears. Tied to housing and zoning concerns are property taxes and density. Some residents posited that if there is more multi-family housing in the neighborhoods, infrastructure demands could increase, resulting in higher property taxes and decreasing the affordability of single-family homes in the neighborhood.

Future Vision
When envisioning a future Barton Hills, many residents envisioned "no new construction," no greater density, "no increase in rental for non-families (no college students)," and no garage apartments. A compromise position was struck when considering the plight of older neighborhood residents and their desire to age in place in smaller rental units. Residents also tended to support smaller multi-family development in existing zones, including on S. Lamar. Instead of multi-family development, residents see a "renaissance of houses" in Barton Hill's future, with more restoration work, brightly colored single family homes, and lush trees - similar to what can be seen in the Zilker neighborhood.

Social Cohesion
Dialogue comments included in the social cohesion cluster fall into two categories - opportunities for connecting and community park/services. Important to many residents of Barton Hills is that the neighborhood offers a sense of community and strong social ties - including by conducting "meaningful" neighborhood meetings and activities that unite the community. Residents feel that neighbors have a "long tenure" with each other. Many residents commented on the importance of additional community services - services that will help keep Barton Hills a "family neighborhood." Neighbors are looking for a "place" to spend time outside their home, yet within the community. Many expressed interest in a community pool, a community center and additional amenities in the neighborhood play area for this purpose.

Future Vision
Maintaining a perceived status quo of Barton Hills as a family neighborhood while fighting a neighborhood tendency to become disengaged is what residents envision for the future. Residents see the neighborhood as very cohesive, but with room for improvement. To strengthen this cohesiveness, residents would like to have more opportunities for meaningful action and to see an increase in community amenities, such as tennis courts, a community pool (possibly shared with Zilker) and a community center.


Transportation
Transportation issues were at the keystone of many of the community dialogues that were encompassed by this project. When sharing the neighborhood history to outsiders, many residents mention the Barton Skyway Bridge that exists on paper, but was never built because of neighborhood resistance. Many residents greatly appreciate how their neighborhood is "a piece of the country in the city," protected on four sides from major traffic, congestion and noise. Of concern in recent years is the deterioration of this tranquility due to greater automobile use.

Based on dialogues, neighborhood transportation priorities appear to include improving traffic flow on Lamar, managing congestion on Robert E. Lee and Barton Springs, and developing traffic control measures to reduce vehicle speed and, to some degree, use (especially "cut through use") within the neighborhood. It is also clear that people cherish the "pedestrian-friendly" qualities (and/or possibilities) of the neighborhood. When envisioning services to strengthen neighborhood cohesion and transportation options, residents stressed hike and bike trails to connect the neighborhood and the Greenbelt to other trails, greater access and safer walking paths, more and better sidewalks, and more mass transit possibilities, including more frequent bus service and more fanciful visions.

Future Vision
Residents picture a future Barton Hills with more convenient links to public transit, perhaps a "jitney on Barton Hills Drive". In the Barton Hills of the future, roads are narrowed and streets are reclaimed as play and gardening space. There are more sidewalks with grades for wheelchairs and stroller, more bicycle lanes connected to an improved mass transit system and a citywide network of bicycle paths and street lanes. The lights on Lamar are synchronized and streetlights in the neighborhood have motion detectors. Traffic moves more slowly, fountains and flower boxes are used as attractive traffic calming devices and decorative elements in traffic isles.

Commercial
With their neighborhood surrounded by the Greenbelt and with few retail stores found within walking distance, some residents expressed through the dialogue process a desire for a small commercial development site in the neighborhood, with a local grocery store and a café. This type of commercial development appears to be connected with a neighborhood desire for another form of socializing closer to home; spaces where residents can "go out," yet remain in the neighborhood. Some participants took the dialogue beyond the immediate Barton Hills neighborhood to envision more diverse and local businesses on S. Lamar - and "less used car lots" - in a desire to keep S. Austin shopping "weird" and homegrown.

Future Vision
The presence of a small local coffee shop/café and a suitable grocery store within the neighborhood has a strong backing within the neighborhood. This is balanced by concerns about too much development in the neighborhood and the appropriate scale of neighborhood commercial development - not to mention fears about gentrification.

Summary
This document and corresponding "mind map" (see attached) attempt to capture the themes and visions for the future of the Barton Hills neighborhood emerging from the BHNA / CRP neighborhood dialogue process at present. While the process currently reflects the input of about 120 residents from all seven sectors of the neighborhood, there may be future opportunities for residents to dialogue about the future of Barton Hills, prior to the city's official zoning and planning process, set to begin this Spring. We hope that the work presented here will provide useful information to the residents of Barton Hills and will help them achieve the neighborhood that they envision and decide upon.