On Tuesday, January 19th, BCNA President Kevin Lewis spoke with Jesse Ramel, the property manager of 1401 Bouldin Ave. to discuss questions about the property. Kevin asked him to send a statement for the neighborhood introducing himself and describing the owner’s plans and intentions for the property. That statement is below.

This property and the website associated with it, www.warrenwildlifegallery.org, raise a number of questions about compliance with zoning rules, managing impacts of gatherings, etc. BCNA plans to put together a FAQ asking them to answer these questions. In addition we will seek an explanation from city of Austin staff. Additionally Mr. Ramel has agreed to provide a phone and email address (also below), so folks can address him directly. Also, I asked Mr. Ramel to speak to our Feb. 10 BCNA general meeting to answer questions in person. I will work on getting a City of Austin staff representative also to answer questions about this at our Feb. 10 meeting.

Of immediate concern: They plan to host parties over the next 5 days, Tues.-Sat. I encouraged them to do everything possible to minimize impacts to neighbors, but please know that some of the parties may be heavily attended and may bring significant parking on neighborhood streets.

In the longer term, we will be investigating whether the owner’s use of this property is in compliance with city code. Their statement is that it is a residential dwelling, and that the gatherings they are hosting are non-commercial. In forwarding their statement BCNA is not attempting either to validate or contradict it; rather but we are working to answer questions of compliance. The ultimate judge of compliance is typically city staff, so many of our inquiries will be directed to them.

We ask neighbors to report your questions and concerns, while keeping the conversation respectful and productive.

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Statement from Jesse Ramel, property manager for Warren Wildlife Museum and 1401 Bouldin Ave property

As many of you have noticed there is now a large house “mansion” at 1401 Bouldin Ave (the old church building at the corner of Elizabeth St and Bouldin Ave).

First and foremost this is a house that is zoned SF3. It is not being used as a commercial business or a home business. There will be people living in the house as their residence and per the City of Austin code there will never be more than 6 people living here that are not related to each other. We have created our own parking area with 6 parking spaced behind a gated driveway also.

The owner of the house is creating a private gallery of his taxidermy collection from his hunting expeditions from all over the world. About 7000 SqFt of the house is dedicated to this private gallery. The private gallery is part of the house and is not a separate space.

No part of the house (including the private gallery) is going to be used as a commercial event space that people can rent. The owner is passionate about creating more awareness about sustainable hunting and animal conservation, so the space will be used for parties and charitable events for organizations he supports personally. He has created a non-profit foundation called Warren Wildlife Gallery for this purpose.

The owner is also very excited about the building being finished as we gear up to start the actual install for the final private gallery build out, so we are having parties this Tuesday through Sat night starting at 5:30pm till 10:30pm to show off part of his collection. He would like to invite anyone from the neighborhood that wants to come and see the space to stop by and enjoy the gatherings.

I know everyone is curious about the new “mansion” in the neighborhood and if anyone wants more information please contact me at the email address or phone number below for future questions/concerns. I live on site and manage the house for the owner. Please do not walk onto the property or ask contractors/other people living there questions. This is a house and please be respectful of people’s privacy.

Jesse Ramel
1401 Bouldin Ave.
bouldin1401@yahoo.com
512-368-5772″