North Austin Civic Association

July 26, 2008

Update: As of February 27, there has been no substantial change in the situation as originally described. See David Buttross' response to our efforts below Mr. Williams's article:
An Open Letter from NACA President Anthony Williams
Hello NACA friends and neighbors:

There is a recent issue of concern that I would like to inform you about: A "boarding house" has popped up at 9052 Galewood Lane. This building used to be the old vacant nursing home complex. There are handwritten signs out front that advertise renting out rooms for $395 per month.

When I called to inquire about this, the person I spoke with said that they were renting the rooms for $395 a month, no contracts, no income verification, no credit checks, nor criminal background checks, and free cable and utilities. They are also offering "community showers" as the complex only has about 4 showers altogether. I did not tell them who I was, as I was trying to get as much information about exactly what they are doing there as I could.

I visited the property earlier this week with Mr. Dean Smith of UrbanConnectionAustin.org, and the manager gave us a tour of the facility (only the areas shown by her.) What we saw is not very promising at all. There are no plans for any social services/rehabilitation services on site. The property looks like it could turn into a motel for indigents of questionable means and habits. There are people living in there currently, and the proprietors plan to have the entire complex full by the end of this month. The funny thing is that the manager told us that they DO credit and background checks. I'm not sure if they are telling prospective tenants one thing, then telling city officials another... but that's just my own impression.

So far I have contacted Code Enforcement, and learned that the property is NOT zoned for multi-family, and that the Code Enforcement investigation/case is pending.

[Preliminary research yielded this specific information from Christopher Johnson, City of Austin - Development Assistance Center:

["The property at 9052 Galewood is currently zoned GR-NP - Community Commercial-Neighborhood Plan. According to the permit history, the current legal use of the property is for a Congregate Living facility (i.e. a nursing home). In order for the use of the property to be legally changed to a Multi-Family Residential (apartments) or Group Residential (dormitory or boarding house) the property must first be rezoned to a multi-family or mixed-use zoning designation. If the property is rezoned, the owner/developer will then need to go through the property permitting process to change the use, which includes demonstrating compliance with off-street parking requirements for the new use, which for a multi-family or group residential use, is based upon the number of bedrooms / beds." ~KNH]

Upon further research by Officer Lee Davis, this is what we have established as FACTS about the "boarding house":
  • The property is in the early stages of development and have not planned for the potential threats that have been identified and prevalent in the past.
  • The security on hand is not a licensed security guard, but rather a resident who will be acting in the capacity of a security personnel. He will be on duty from 11pm-7am.
  • There will be a limited background search for registered sex offenders only.
  • No credit check will be performed.
  • The property is in between renovation but plan to be filled relatively quickly.
  • A temporary certificate of occupancy for 90 or more persons has been obtained.
  • The property is willing to undergo an intense security survey and meet with neighborhood associations
Mr. Davis, and Mr. Smith and I are planning on meeting the owner, a Mr. David Buttross on Monday evening [July 28]. Some of the concerns I will be addressing:
  1. What are the short term and long term aspirations of the facility and is there a mission statement adopted by the property owner?
  2. How does the facility plan to partnership with the Austin Police Department and the neighborhood associations?
  3. How does the facility plan to enhance the community as opposed to hindering the efforts of the citizens and the police department?
  4. What types of screening processes are in place to discourage known criminals from taking up residence?
  5. What types of security do you plan to provide?
  6. What types of management do you plan to provide?
  7. Historically are the other properties managed by the company in good community standing?
If you have any input, question, comments or concerns about this matter, please reply by e-mail at your earliest convenience. I need to show some proof to the owner when I meet with him that this is not just a group of a 2-3 people who have concerns about this property, so the more feedback I have about it, the better.

Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Anthony Williams
President, NACA


Anthony's e-mail is williams762@earthlink.net.You may also send to the NACA e-mail address, naca_austin@hotmail.com , and Keith Huntsman (currently home-bound) will forward it.

Ed. note: This email was sent shortly after Mr. Buttross attempted to speak at the August NACA meeting. As he was uninvited and was not on the agenda, he was not allowed to interrupt our guest speaker, Mike Levy, who was then considering becoming a candidate for mayor. This was Buttross' followup, sent to the NACA webmaster and our then-president:



The NACA board of officers has taken no action on this notice.

~compiled by Keith Huntsman

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