2020-064 Forestar- ESA and CanopyDate: July 17, 2020 Report No. 2020-064
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT:
Provide a project status update regarding the Forestar/Rayzor single-family residential
developments located at the northwest corner of Roselawn Drive and Roselawn Drive.
BACKGROUND:
Forestar Group, Inc. is under contract to purchase approximately 236.8 acres of land located at the
northwest corner of Roselawn Drive and Roselawn Drive for a proposed residential development
consisting of 770 single-family detached lots, open space, amenity center, parkland, park trails,
and connections to adjacent Borman Elementary and nearby Denia Park. An initial ISR regarding
this project was included in the June 5, 2020 Friday Report.
DISCUSSION:
Provided below is a summary of the current zoning entitlements, existing approvals, pending
approvals requiring a public hearing, and next steps as it relates to the Alternative ESA request
and tree preservation within the Upland Habitat ESA.
CURRENT ENTITLEMENTS & APPROVALS
Existing Zoning
Single Family (R4) Single-family residential is the intended use and is consistent with the
Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Map single family residential
designations.
Existing Approvals
ESA Assessment Application ESA19-0028 was for an assessment of the existing ESAs on
the site, including Upland Habitat ESA. The Upland ESA is the tree
canopy associated with the cross-timbers. As reflected on the map below
in red, some areas of the Upland Habitat were removed as they were found
to not be consistent with cross-timer forest. Approximately 30-acres of
canopy or Upland Habitat ESA remain.
Under the 2002 DDC, a
residential development
is permitted to remove
50% (or 15-acres) of
Upland Habitat ESA
(tree canopy) without
having to mitigate or
provide an inventory of
what is being removed.
An Alternative ESA is
not required for the
removal of Upland
Habitat ESA.
Date: July 17, 2020 Report No. 2020-064
Preliminary Plat Application PP19-0019 was approved on 2/5/2020. The application was
submitted on 8/14/19, prior to the 10/1/19 effective date of the 2019
Denton Development Code (DDC).
Tree Preservation The tree preservation plan was submitted for review along with the
preliminary plat and was reviewed under the 2002 DDC.
Tree Inventory Plan - The 2002 DDC does not specify what is to be
included as part of the Tree Inventory. Additionally, the 2002 DDC
allows for preservation of DBH or percentage of canopy. In this case, the
ESA Field Assessment served as the basis for determining existing
canopy.
Required Preservation - Properties 2.5 acres or greater and developing as
single-family residential are required to preserve 20% of the DBH or 20%
of the tree canopy. Because 50% of the Upland Habitat ESA canopy was
already being preserved, the 20% tree preservation requirement was
already met.
Required Mitigation – Mitigation is only required for removal of Protected
Trees; any healthy tree with an eighteen (18) inch or greater DBH and not
in a Quality Tree Stand. Because all the trees were part of the Upland
Habitat ESA canopy, they all qualified as being in a Quality Tree Stand,
and as a result don’t meet the definition of Protect Tree.
PENDING APPLICATIONS
Alternative ESA Application AESA20-0003 was submitted to disturb 0.63 acres of ESAs;
0.39 acres of Water-Related Habitat ESA and 0.24 acres of Riparian
Buffer ESA in order construct 4 storm water drainage channels.
Staff Review - Environmental Services staff reviewed the Alternative ESA
application and determined that the mitigation for the installation of four
(4) storm water channels meets the established criteria.
Neighborhood Meeting – A neighborhood Zoom meeting was held
regarding the Alternative ESA request, however most of the concerns
raised had to do with removal of the trees within the Upland Habitat ESA.
An Alternative ESA is not required for removal of Upland Habitat ESA
(canopy).
Public Hearings - The Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to
hold a public hearing on this item on July 22, 2020 and the public hearing
with City Council is scheduled for August 18, 2020.
Date: July 17, 2020 Report No. 2020-064
City Council Action – In accordance with Section 2.8.4 of the DDC,
Council may approve, approve with conditions, or deny the Alternative
ESA in based upon the review criteria in that section.
Should Planning and Zoning Commission vote to deny, or 20% of the
property owners surrounding the area object, a super majority would be
required for approval.
Staff has indicated that two options have been presented by the applicant
regarding the storm water drainage channels with the Alternate ESA being
one of those options. If the Alternative ESA is denied, the second option
would involve further removal of trees within a Quality Tree Stand that is
outside of the Upland Habitat ESA.
NEXT STEPS
Development Services and the Parks Department staff reached out to the applicant the day after
the neighborhood meeting to discuss the possibility of increasing tree preservation within the
Upland Habitat ESA. While no definitive solutions have been finalized, the applicant did agree
to work with staff over the next two weeks to explore options.
It is staff’s intent that once these options are established, an item for discussion would be place
on the July 28, 2020 City Council Agenda for discussion/direction on the options. This would
ultimately be memorialized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would be a
companion item to the Alternative ESA request.
While the MOU is technically unrelated to the Alternative ESA request, the applicant has agreed
to postpone the Alternative ESA request from the July 22, 2020 Planning and Zoning
Commission meeting, to a date certain of August 5, 2020. The item would remain on the August
18, 2020 City Council Agenda.
CONCLUSION:
This ISR has been provided for informational purposes.
ATTACHMENTS:
None
STAFF CONTACT:
Richard Cannone, AICP
Director of Planning and Deputy Director of Development Services
(940) 349 – 8507
Richard.Cannone@cityofdenton.com