Public Notice: To Comply, or to No-Comply … That is the question as skaters try to slow ACC’s roll – News
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The front of the No-Comply Skate Shop on 12th Street (Image via Google Earth)
It was an emotional Monday night at the city’s Historic Landmark Commission, with a 2½-hour hearing about the demolition of a small building on 12th Street, adjacent to the Austin Community College parking garage, which was earmarked for a garage extension on ACC’s county campus master plan . Hence ACC’s request for demo approval – one of six that will clear the way for the “short-term” portion of the plan that has now been in place for nearly a decade. It includes the development of the entire block west of the Rio Grande Campus up to the city’s leisure center and skate park. And that is essentially the catch.
ACC officials may have expected the procedure to be a formality; In any case, they seemed astonished and confused by the flood of public testimony in favor of a historic designation of this one building that would prevent its demolition: 68 out of 70 speakers were in favor of it, Elizabeth Pagano reported on the Austin Monitor. It turned out that the building is home to the No-Comply Skate Shop, a local facility for 14 years, a kind of community center for the patrons of the nearby skate park, and also a really good corporate citizen – who supports the sport, runs fundraisers and in collaboration with the City Park Department, the Blackboard and many others. And the people they have helped over the years returned the favor on Monday evening with great force, and with a passion and dedication that visibly shook the commissioners.
All well and good, you probably think, but what does that have to do with historical designation? Well, it turned out, No-Comply had a somewhat surprising ally. City Historic Preservation Officer Steve Sadowsky – who, despite his title, isn’t always a lockstep proponent of historic preservation – also proved important in defending the small 1946 storefront as architecturally important, the type of business that was and is typical nationwide , but is surprisingly rare in Austin now. He presented the city staff’s recommendation in favor of a historical designation and even suggested building the garage over and around the existing building.
And that’s more or less where it was left. Commissioners voted to postpone their review to next month’s meeting (Mon, Aug 23) in the hope that ACC can find a way to adapt their master plan to No-Comply and the community that thrives there. Let’s be honest: Skateboarding is pretty typical of a brand for a community college. But then again – it’s a master plan, you know, with PowerPoint and everything. Will the ACC bosses want to change their PowerPoints so they can get a graffiti-covered skater hangout in the middle of their garage?
“I don’t think ACC had that on their radar until the meeting,” said Commission Chair, Terri Myers later by email, adding that the ACC representative at the meeting “seemed at least ready to talk … take the skater community seriously and try to find a compromise. It would be a shame if all this young energy died with no positive outcome. “
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