Race track land annexed to Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) - City maps will soon take on a new look after City Council approved at its Thursday meeting annexation of the land east of Austin where the new Circuit of The Americas track was built.

The annexation of the 1,521 acres does not become effective until Dec. 15, but thousands will swarm to the site the weekend of Nov. 16 for the first Formula One U.S. Grand Prix race.

Another F1-related issue approved was in regard to fire protection at CoTA. Council gave the go-ahead for Austin Fire Department to work with Emergency Services District No. 11 to ensure there is consistent fire coverage in the acreage that is being annexed.

ESD No. 11's fire chief has asked to keep some of the sale tax revenue generated by the track to better respond to an increase in emergencies with the opening of the track.

Helicopter pads

Later Thursday afternoon, Council members will discuss the issue of allowing temporary helicopter pads to be installed in parts of the city to shuttle face fans to and from the race track.

Residents of the Barton Hills neighborhood have objected to a helipad planned for the roof of the parking garage across Barton Creek at 901 S. MoPac Blvd. due to the noise and potential for crashes or other danger. They have drafted a formal protest and presented it to City Council.

This request for installation of additional helicopter landing pads comes from an "unofficial" helicopter business that wants to also do business with race fans, McRae Aviation Services, Inc. , based in Austin.

Charlie Bravo Charter was selected in July by CoTA staff to be the official helicopter charter service for race weekend. It is a woman-owned business headed by Rene Banglesdorf, with offices based in Pflugerville, that also runs private charter planes.

Fort Worth-based Henry Aviation will manage the six on-site helistop operations at the race track.

As for overall airline traffic, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport spokesman Jim Halbrook said Thursday that they expect the heaviest arrivals of passengers coming to Austin for F1 to be on Thursday, Nov. 15.

Halbrook said regular commercial air service arrivals begin landing at ABIA at 7:30 a.m. and end at 11:56 p.m.

Other Council actions

LCRA

Council approved a resolution to ask the Lower Colorado River Authority to seek an emergency order from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for 2013 to protect the city's municipal water supply versus sending water downstream to rice farmers during the current drought.

Water sources for more than 900,000 people served by Austin Water Utility along with more than a million people in the upper basin of the Highland Lakes were only 43 percent full as of Nov. 1, according to language as written in the city's resolution.

LCRA will take up the issue on Wednesday to decide if and how much it will release to the farmers.

Coastal rice farmers began using the waters of the Colorado River in the 19th century, more than 40 years before the Highland Lakes were created, according to LCRA. Since its inception in 1934, providing reliable water supplies for rice farming has been a principal function of LCRA.

Texas produces about 7 percent of the nation's supply of rice, although LCRA does not provide water for the entire state where rice is farmed.

Homeless and housing

Also approved Thursday was an agreement with Front Steps for a rapid rehousing program for homeless people. Related to that, approval was granted to the University of Texas to evaluate federal grants used for the homeless and rapid rehousing program.

Front Steps manages the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH). During October, ARCH served an average of 403 people per day.

COPLINK

Council approved an agreement with El Paso, Houston and San Antonio to share law enforcement information among the municipalities via COPLINK.

Bicycling

Council gave approval for application for Texas Department of Texas grants for a bicycle traffic signal and detection grant and safe routes to school grant.