By Eleni Himaras
reporter@ltview.com
Mayor Pro Tem Zelda Auslander surprised some at last week’s Bee Cave City Council meeting by announcing that she would be leaving the City Council, and the country, for two years as her husband got a temporary position with his company in Singapore.

“You can tell I’m a bit emotional, I feel like I’m losing a sister,” said Mayor Caroline Murphy after reading a proclamation from the city thanking Auslander for her efforts on the City Council and previous service on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Murphy presented Auslander with the proclamation and a small statue. Library Director Barbara Hathaway also presented two books to Auslander, bearing her name, which will remain in the library to commemorate Auslander’s work with reading programs.
“We’re looking forward to our new adventure but we will definitely miss you all and our community,” Auslander said as she announced her impending resignation.
The council does not yet know whether they will hold an election to fill the vacant position for the remainder of Auslander’s term or leave it open until general elections in May. Assistant City Administrator Travis Askey said he expects it to be on the agenda for their first city council meeting in 2009.
During what should have been Auslander’s last city council meeting, the members heard a presentation from Palisades developers on a zoning change request for a Gateway at Falconhead development, authorized a three-month extension for City Park contractors, approved Target’s zoning change requests and authorized staff to start the public hearing process on the new planning and zoning commission ordinance.
The council was uncomfortable with some aspects of the Palisades presentation and tabled the issue to this week’s special city council meeting.
Earl Broussard spoke on behalf of TBG Contracts, who is developing the city park, asking the city for a three-month extension in pay and money for the design work on a huge bridge that would connect the mid-east portion of the park to the southeast portion over Culver Creek. The bridge was initially intended to be much smaller, but after discovering issues with the flood plain, it must now be about 100 ft. long. This would cost upwards of $185,000.
“If someone were to ask me why I approved that bridge, I wouldn’t have a good answer for them,” Councilman Chad Bockius said.
The council did not make a motion on the bridge, which they said would be on a later agenda, but did approve $30,337.50 in back-pay and design fees for work already done by TBG, along with the extension.
Earlier in the meeting, the council approved a request from Target Development Board member Katie Rivard on the transfer of right-of-way for Bee Cave Parkway. In exchange for that land at no cost, the city council waived the rezoning application fee for Target’s requests to add a hotel/motel to the site, construct a two-lane connector road with Home Depot Boulevard and not have the Parkway affect the already-planned parking lot expansion.
“I’d just like to thank you for getting real involved in the last couple months,” Councilman Mike Murphy told Rivard. The council, who had seen the item in public hearing in their capacity as the P&Z, quickly approved it unanimously.
There was also relatively little debate on the wording for the new ordinance regarding term limits and appointments of P&Z commission members and the council authorized staff to begin the public hearing process for the ordinance change at their first meeting in January.