City Endorses Bond Projects
The Alamo Heights City Council voted March 25 to approve plans for new science/technology classroom building and athletic complex renovations at Alamo Heights High School.
A new structure will house Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) classes, maker spaces, and the rocketry program. For this project to proceed, work crews will be razing the current cafeteria. Some new construction and improvements will also be taking place at the athletic complex. This will feature demolition of the gymnasium nicknamed “The Muledome” and the natatorium. The athletic complex project will also contain renovations to parts of the main stadium and development of two new gyms.
The Alamo Heights council met April 8 to consider the Alamo Heights Independent School District’s request for a special use permit. The district seeks to improve the stadium press box structure to a height of 60 feet.
Council Approves Shaded Parking Structure
The Alamo Heights City Council voted on March 25 to approve the installation of a cover for a parking structure at the Cambridge Shopping Center. The metal canopy will cover five take-out parking spaces belonging to Paloma Blanca restaurant. The project did get support from three neighboring property owners, and opposition from two others.
Alamo Heights Sets Up New Restricted Parking Zones
The Alamo Heights City Council on March 11 approved the creation of new restricted parking zones in the 200 block of West Fair Oaks Place, the 200 block of West Elmview Place, and Columbine Street between Tuxedo Avenue and West Elmview.
More than 40 residents signed letters to the city, expressing concern for people parking along the curb lines of the roads in question.
According to city staff, the number of parked cars along these streets had reduced the clear visibility for residents who would watch out for oncoming traffic while trying to get out of their driveways.
The city found that Alamo Heights High School students were parking on these neighborhood roads after having been displaced for several reasons, such as parking restrictions around campus east of Broadway.
City staff explained there are other causes for the increased student parking in the neighborhood, such as bond-related construction happening around the high school, and that the number of student drivers has exceeded the number of available student parking spaces.
In late February, the city erected temporary restricted parking zones on Columbine between West Fair Oaks and Tuxedo. The zones were effective on weekdays from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays.
On March 1, the city added similar temporary two-hour parking restrictions on West Fair Oaks and West Elmview Place.
Even with the new parking restrictions, the city proposes working more closely with the Alamo Heights Independent School District to find a long-term solution to student parking woes.
Alamo Heights Backs Creation of Pocket Park
The city of Alamo Heights is looking to create a small public park on the western side of the 6000 block of Broadway, between Albany and Townsend.
The City Council on March 25 approved landscaping improvements in a triangle-shaped sliver of a public right-of-way. The upgrades would be done as part of a partnership between the city and the Alamo Heights-Terrell Hills Garden Club.
The city and club members had been considering annual flora, moss boulders, decomposed granite, mulch and Bermuda grass for landscaping the greenspace.
The city estimated it would cost nearly $7,400 to carry out the entire landscaping project.
Heights Approves Demolition Request
The Alamo Heights City Council voted March 25 to approve a request to demolish the house at 203 Grant accommodating the property owners’ plan to build a new home with a detached accessory structure.
William and Wendy Atwell, the property owners, plan to construct a new house measuring a story and a half. They presented a tree mitigation plan, too. The city’s board of adjustment endorsed the overall project.
BY EDMOND ORTIZ
