PhotoS by Esther Robards-Forbes

P. Terry’s burger stand is set to open June 1 in the Village at Westlake shopping center. Photo by Esther Robards-Forbes

Representatives of two long-awaited restaurant in the Westbank have set opening dates and are in high gear to prepare for their big days.
First on the menu is the newest location of P. Terry’s burger stand in the Village at Westlake shopping center, 701 S. Capital of Texas Highway. It is set to open June 1.
The new location will be the company’s largest at 3,500 square feet and will feature two drive-through lanes and seating for 100.
“We have a lot of friends, a lot of good customers that have been asking for this store for almost seven years and to be able to finally land a great location in West Lake is incredibly exciting,” said owner and founder Patrick Terry.
The restaurant has faced a few challenges over the past few months to prepare a former bank location to become a restaurant, everything from parking to staffing.
As for opening-day plans, Terry said, “We always have some surprises on opening day and June 1 at Westlake will have plenty of fun things going on. I’ll give you a hint on one surprise -we’ve added two things to this menu that are currently not at any other P. Terry’s.”
For more information, visit pterrys.com.
Just down the street at the new location of Blue Dahlia Bistro, which made a name for itself with its popular 11th street location. Crews are hard at work to prepare for the June 8 opening. The restaurant is opening in the former Wild Wood Art Café location in West Lake Court shopping center near the intersection of Westbank Drive and Bee Cave Road.
“It is the coolest thing to watch our dream of a second restaurant unfold and become a reality,” said owner Amy Ramirez.
The French-inspired bistro features elegantly simple food that uses organic and local ingredients whenever possible. The menu features breakfast, lunch and dinner options, as well as beer and wine.
“It’s been quite a rollercoaster of emotions, equally exciting and exhausting,” Ramirez said of the construction process. “We spend so much time working on the place, at some point, we broke down and bought an air mattress to keep at the location so we could get naps in.”
There will be a ribbon cutting with champagne at 5 p.m. June 8 to celebrate the grand opening, Ramirez said.
“I’m most looking forward to feeding and greeting the many people that have popped their head in throughout construction to tell us how excited they are for us to be here in Westlake,” she said.
For more information and a peek at the menu, visit bluedahliabistro.com.

BELOW: Blue Dahlia Bistro is set to open June 8 in West Lake Court shopping center near the intersection of Westbank Drive and Bee Cave Road.

Bond money paid for the renovation of the problematic Hill Country Middle School track and field that was deemed unsafe due to constant soil shifts leading to the buckling and warping of the track and dangerous holes in the field area.

Hill Country Middle School is throwing a party Wednesday to celebrate the reopening of its track and field area.

The celebration will begin with a ribbon cutting and a ceremonial lap around the track by former Hill Country athletes at 3:30 p.m. After the maiden lap, students, then staff and finally Hill Country parents will hoof it around the new track surface for  400-meter runs and test out the artificial turf covering the field inside the loop.

“The new playfields will not only increase opportunities for student use, but also provide an improved facility for community members and third-party rentals,” said Claudia McWhorter, district communications director.

The Hill Country track and field was redesigned and rebuilt using $1.53 million in designated 2011 bond money. That renovation solved a costly problem that had plagued the Eanes school district for decades. An unstable clay subsurface and plenty of underground water caused the track to continually buckle and warp, despite frequent Band-aide attempts to straighten it out. The uneven surface was too risky for runners, who couldn’t see the dips and bulges in time to avoid them. Water draining down a hill onto the track and additional water from field maintenance made the problem worse.

The Hill Country field and track renovation involved replacing the faulty subsoil with lime-injected soil, installing erosion controls, and reducing water on the field by replacing grass with synthetic turf. Hill Country wasn’t alone in its field problems. West Ridge Middle School was having its own set of issues with its track and playing field, reducing student use. The bond oversight also approved a renovation plan for West Ridge that evened out a 4-foot elevation slope change on the field, installed a drainage system and retaining wall and replaced grass with artificial turf. The West Ridge renovation cost $785,000 and was also paid for out of 2011 bond money.

Both campus field and track areas will reopen this week, after significant weather-related construction delays. Because they are covered with synthetic turf rather than grass, the fields are ready for immediate use.

As the middle school fields reopen, the Westlake High School Chaparral Stadium shuts down this week to begin its own $2.3 million renovation that will include replacing the track and sub-grade, replacing or improving the structural steel to the visitors’ bleachers and performing Americans with Disabilities Act modifications.

We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

Members of the Eanes community met in April sessions at Westlake High School to discuss future education ideas.

Local residents who helped plan a series of community dialogue sessions in April are reviewing a draft report by the E3 Alliance that summarizes the ideas about future education that arose during the meetings.

“We are still collecting comments on the draft,” said John Havenstrite, who along with fellow area resident Julia Webber headed the dialogue steering committee. “A final version will be presented to the EISD trustees in a couple of weeks [May 30], and it will be available to anyone who wants to read it at that time.”

The 95-page draft report is detailed and captures everything session participants brought to the table during the four nights of dialogue, Havenstrite said. The report will begin with an executive summary estimated to be 12 pages long. The balance of the report will be background material.

“I think there are a few take-aways from the report, but there isn’t much doubt that the ‘meta theme’ is balance,” he said. “For example, it is clear the community recognizes that science, technology, engineering and math are key to ensuring students are positioned for the tomorrow’s challenges. However, it is equally clear that the community wants curriculum that helps students develop creative, problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills. Balance is key.”

Susan Dawson of the E3 Alliance gave Eanes school board members a peek at the underlying tenets of the report during a special board meeting on May 14. She identified key themes that resonated throughout the meetings. Participants stressed that relevance to the future and foundational skills for the workplace are important. They want the whole community to be more involved with the education of its children. Opportunities for all students, not just the high-achieving ones, were stressed. Participants feel learning should be more fun for the new kinds of students evolving in the high-tech world and they want to see the district look at finding new ways of assessing success.

Havenstrite and organizers were pleased with the high level of community participation in the dialogues and at the energetic ideas that arose.

“I was surprised by how often project-based learning initiatives showed up,” Havenstrite said. “It seems folks really like the opportunities that sort of collaboration presents.”

Now that some clear themes have risen from the dialogue sessions, Havenstrite hopes it will be easier for all members of the community to work together to offer students the best possible education for the future.

“The district is about to revisit its strategic plan,” he said. “I expect that the experience of the dialogues and the themes discussed in the report will be a resource to the trustees, administration and community as that initiative rolls along.”

The open session portion of the May 30 Eanes school board meeting at which the dialogue information is expected to be released will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the board room of the district administration building at 601 Camp Craft Road.
We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

Barton Creek Elementary School

Barton Creek Elementary School is ranked second out of 246 elementary campuses in Central Texas in preparing students for secondary education. That ranking was released Sunday in the annual Children at Risk evaluation of Texas metropolitan schools.

“As a parent, I feel fortunate that my child is being taught by such a talented, creative, caring group of educators,” Bryan Shippey, Barton Creek principal, said in a letter to parents Sunday afternoon. “It is nice that the dedication I see them demonstrate on daily basis is being recognized and rewarded. I could not be any prouder of our teachers, staff and students. Our Blue Jays are truly receiving the best education, and we could not do it without all of us working together.”

The number one elementary school spot on the CAR list went to Canyon Creek Elementary School in the Round Rock school district. Two other Eanes elementary schools ranked in the top 10; Forest Trail ranked seventh, followed by Cedar Creek at eighth. The remaining district elementary schools earned rankings in the top 20 percent. Eanes Elementary ranked 28^th, Bridge Point ranked 42^nd and Valley View ranked 49^th.

Westlake High School was named fourth out of 51 high schools in Central Texas, after Chaparral Star Academy in Austin, Westwood High School in the Austin school district and Not Your Ordinary School charter school in Austin. Eanes school district middle schools also earned top spots among Central Texas’ 89 middle schools, with West Ridge ranking number eight and Hill Country ranking number 12.

A different set of criteria is used for elementary, middle schools and high school rankings. Every campus with at-risk students receives extra credit, the assumption being that those students require more effort to bring to high-performance levels. To determine how well high schools prepare students for college, CAR uses 16 variables, including various Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills scores, advanced placement courses, number of AP students, number of AP students who pass year-end exams, attendance and graduation rates, SAT and ACT scores and reading and math changes.

Middle schools are ranked based on TAKS scores, attendance and retention rates and math and reading gains and losses. Elementary schools are based on similar variables and class sizes. Data used by CAR is compiled by the Texas Education Agency.

We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

Wednesday’s unanimous council decision follows weeks of debate about the structure of the city’s water rates and how much pressure should be placed on high-volume users, both residential and commercial, to cut back.

The new rate structure, one of 10 proposals, will raise the water demand base charge from $13.08 each month to $14.87.

Under the new rates, the first 2,000 gallons incurs no additional charges.

Customers using less than 35,000 gallons a month will see only slight increases. Those using over 50,000 gallons a month will see more drastic increases.

Under current rates anyone using over 35,000 gallons a month is charged $7.54 per thousand gallons used in that bracket. Under the new rates, customers using 35,001-50,000 gallons a month would be charged $7.92 per thousand gallons used in that bracket. The rates climb faster in the subsequent brackets, with customers using more than 100,000 gallons a month being charged $20 per thousand gallons used.

The rates are charged to the amount of water a customer uses in each of the rate blocks. If a customer uses 15,000 gallons in a month, there would be no charge for the first 2,000 gallons, the next 8,000 gallons would be charged at a rate of $4.13 per thousand gallons and the next 5,000 gallons would be charged at a rate of $4.53 per thousand gallons.

Commercial water rates are staying the same, but commercial irrigation rates will move from a flat rate of $7.54 under the old rate to a tiered rate that charges between $5.38 and $10.95 per thousand gallons used.

“I don’t know if it will cause anyone to cut back, but I hope so,” said Alderwoman Sara Hutson, who has been a strong advocate for higher rates for high-volume users and pushed for a tiered rate for commercial irrigation.

The new rates go into effect June 23 and should be reflected in the July water bill.

New Water Conservation Rate Structure (old rate shown in parenthesis)

Water Demand Charge: $14.87 ($13.08)

Residential usage charges

0-2,000                $0 ($0)

2,001-10,000      $4.13 ($4.03)

10,001-20,000   $4.53 ($4.53)

20,001-35,000   $5.38 ($5.38)

35,001-50,000   $7.92 ($7.54)

50,001-75,000   $10.95 ($7.54)

75,001-100,000 $14.95 ($7.54)

>100,001             $20 ($7.54)

Commercial

0-2,000 $0 ($0)

> 2,000 $5.38 ($5.38)

Commercial Irrigation

0-35,000 $5.38 ($7.54)

35,001-50,000 $7.92 ($7.54)

>50,000 $10.95 ($7.54)
We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman

Motorists should expect little or no relief in the number of traffic jams along Loop 360 such as this now that the Texas Department of Transportation is backing off its plan to install “Michigan lefts” along the busy thoroughfare.

The Texas Department of Transportation is backing off plans to install “Michigan lefts” along the Loop 360 corridor, a department spokesman said this week.

“Last November, we had a meeting at Westlake High School,” said John Hurt, a spokesman for TxDOT. “At that time, we made a commitment to the folks along the corridor that we would not force this if we didn’t have public support. We listened to what they had to say, and it was clear the public support wasn’t there. The point was to listen to the people that live out there and use that road.”

The approximately $1 million project was designed to be a simple fix to traffic congestion along the heavily traveled commuter corridor. It would have stopped traffic on side streets along many of Loop 360’s intersections from turning left onto Loop 360 or crossing over. Instead, drivers would turn right and use signal controlled left U-turn bays.

A consultant working for the agency estimated that the suggested changes, by allowing more green light time for northbound and southbound travelers on the road, would have shaved 11 percent to 29 percent off the time it takes to drive Loop 360 during peak traffic hours, depending on which section of the road a driver was on.

While commuters who use the corridor to get to and from work were in favor of many of the improvements, people living in neighborhoods along the road were mostly opposed.

“I’m nervous about it,” Kathy Chesner, who lives in a neighborhood off of Loop 360, told the Picayune at a meeting last year. “Our concern is that with the continuous flow, we’ll never be able to get out of the neighborhood. We kind of rely on that light to let us out, but if they get rid of it, it’ll be a lot harder to get out.”

TxDOT still plans to improve the Loop 360/MoPac Expressway intersection, as funds become available, by extending turn bays on Loop 360 and possibly adding an additional turn lane from the MoPac frontage road onto Loop 360.

The money that would have been used on Loop 360 needs to be used in the Austin district before August or it could be moved elsewhere, Hurt said. TxDOT officials have recommended that the funds be used on expanding State Highway 71 between Bee Cave and Spicewood to a consistent stretch of four lanes and a protected center turn lane.

As for reducing traffic congestion along Loop 360, Hurt said the agency is continuing to look at all the options. A planned signal synchronization that was linked to the “Michigan left” project will continue, which could shave a few minutes off local commutes.

The agency is also considering a study that will look at the corridor as a whole and examine a variety of options, including overpasses at some intersections. That option is an expensive one, Hurt said.

“We’ve gotten a mixed reaction to overpasses,” Hurt said.
We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

Bill Hamilton, right, chats with Jim and Janet Beneke Saturday near the end of his door-to-door campaigning in the Rollingwood mayoral election in which he lost by 12 votes to Barry Bone.

With a narrow margin of just 12 votes, Barry Bone is the new mayor of Rollingwood.

Bone, a first-term alderman, defeated incumbent Mayor Bill Hamilton in Saturday’s election. A total of 502 votes were cast in the small town of about 1,500 people.

“I want to thank my supporters for their vote of confidence,” Bone said following the announcement of the results. “I know the election was close and I will represent the citizens of Rollingwood equally and responsibly.”

Bone had a strong lead of 8 percentage points coming out of early voting, and while Hamilton had slightly more votes in Election Day voting, Bone came out on top. The final count from the town’s single precinct was 257 votes for Bone and 245 for Hamilton.

“I was proud of the record that I put out there and I’m very thankful to those that supported me,” Hamilton said. “I’m proud that we’ve been able to make progress on a lot of issues that are important to the city.”

Hamilton, who has been active in city politics and on numerous boards for the past 20 years said that he has no plans to remain actively involved in city government and that he will focus on his consulting business.

“We’ve set the stage for a lot of positive things in the future,” Hamilton said.

Rollingwood also passed its $12.8 million wastewater bond package on Saturday, something both the outgoing and incoming mayor said they are happy with. The council now has until June 23 to finalize the sale of bonds and close the sale with the Lower Colorado River Authority with a new mayor and new alderwoman, Shelly Bain, coming on the dais and a vacancy left by Bone’s elevation to mayor.

“That is a highly critical project that we have to do right,” Bone said.

Another important step for the city, Bone said, is to hire a city administrator, a role that was largely filled by Hamilton and City Secretary Robyn Ryan since the last city administrator left in 2009. There is also a vacancy on the municipal court that needs immediate attention.

Barry Bone, left, expressed appreciation to voters who elected him mayor Saturday by a narrow margin over incumbent Bill Hamilton.
We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

Winners in the May 12 Rollingwood City Council election included Sara Hutson, left, and Shelly Bain.
Incumbent Alderwoman Sara Hutson and newcomer Shelly Bain captured the two at-large Rollingwood City Council seats in Saturday’s election.
Hutson, who will be serving her second term on council, had the most votes at 323 and 34 percent of the overall vote. Bain had 282 votes and 30 percent of the vote.
Pam Opiela had 180 votes and 19 percent of the vote. Mark Welker had 154 votes and 16 percent of the vote.
“I think that we’re going to have a really good council,” Hutson said. “I’m looking forward to making some progress on some important issues for the city.”
Those issues include the purchase of the city’s wastewater system from the Lower Colorado River Authority, which Rollingwood residents resoundingly endorsed by passing the bond package enabling the sale by an 80 percentage-point margin. Hutson said she also hopes to tackle improvement projects for the city’s aging water system and hiring a city administrator, which the city has been without since 2009.
“Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word about the bond election and everyone who supported me in the election as well,” Hutson said. “We certainly hope that everyone feels welcome at the council meetings and feels free to provide their input in during the open and respectful discussions in front of us.”
Bain praised the positive nature of the council campaigns in Rollingwood.
“It was a great way to end what I thought was a really positive campaign on all sides,” Bain said of her election win. “I think we all ran positive, good campaigns, and I’m looking forward to working with everyone.”
Bain seconded the need to finalize the wastewater purchase, update the water system to ensure adequate fire protection and hire a city administrator.
“Hiring a city administrator will make for a more efficient city and a more efficient city council,” Bain said.

With Alderman Barry Bone’ victory in the mayoral election on Saturday, his at-large City Council seat will be open. In the past, the council has appointed people to fill council vacancies until an election can be held. Attention is typically paid to people that have run in previous elections.
We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines