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Minutes December 29, 1987390 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 29, 1987 The Council convened into a Work Session at 5:30 p.m. in the Civil Defense Room. PRESENT: Mayor Stephens; Mayor Pro Tem McAdams; Council Members Alexander, Ayer, Boyd, Gorton and Hopkins. ABSENT: None 1. The Council convened into Executive Session to discuss legal matters, real estate and personnel and board appointments. More specifically to discuss litigation including Texas Utilities Electric Company vs. Tex-La Electric Cooperative, et al and Maverick vs. the City of Denton and duties of TMPA Board Members Vela and Stephens. No official action was taken. Council completed Executive Session at 7:07 p.m. and reconvened for open session. 2. The Council held a discussion regarding the status of various City projects and possible adjustments of schedule and/or approaches. Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, made a short introduction of the six initiatives outlined in the agenda packet. After an overview by Staff, th'e Manager asked that the Council give guidance as to how Staff should proceed. Steve Brinkman, Director of Parks and Recreation, addressed the problem of increased deficiency of neighborhood parks. After an outline of the problem of insufficient neighborhood parks to attain the goal of three acres of park for every 1,000 people, Mr. Brinkman offered the solution of a mandatory dedication ordinance. C.I.P. funds could be used to make improvements to the parks. Gary Kirchoff, Chairman of the Parks and Recreation Board, gave a brief history of the need for the mandatory dedication ordinance. Mr. Kirchoff reported the Parks and Recreation Board approved and recommended the ordinance. However, he anticipated a negative reaction by developers. David Ellison, Acting Executive Director of Planning, presented the need for clarification of subdivision regulations in an effort to eliminate deficient construction which must be corrected with tax dollars. After a short outline of the problem, Mr. Ellison stated that Staff expected to bring the proposed changes to Council in March or April of 1988. This ordinance would address in particular plats and replats, driveways, and street sections. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 29, 1987 Page 2 Cecile Carson, Urban Planner, reported that the Beautification Committee was recommending a Landscaping and Tree Preservation Ordinance. The result of this ordinance would make specific guidelines for tree preservation in new developments and provide for minimum landscaping. Although the negative side of this ordinance would include increased staff time to monitor and maintenance costs for the developer, it was still felt by the Committee that it would be beneficial to the City. Capital recovery fees were discussed as the solution to offset some of the costs of providing water and sewer services that would be necessary because of growth. Robert Nelson, Executive Director of Utilities, briefly discussed the effect of these fees on the developer which would be an increase in cost. He asked for Council's guidance' in reconvening the committee that had been established to study capital recovery fees and pursuing the next phase. Mayor Pro Tem McAdams expressed her concern that all of these additional costs to the developers would put the cost of a home out of the reach of low and medium income citizens. Robert Nelson, Executive Director of Utilities, also addressed the problem of the high cost of electricity which had been especially evident in some of the new apartment complexes. One solution would be an ordinance banning electric resistance heating. This was not popular with developers as was evidenced in their attendance and expression of concern at a recent Public Utility Board meeting. An alternative to this ordinance would be an energy envelope. Mr. Nelson explained that this effort would readopt some of the construction codes previously used by the City such as insulation minimums, etc. This energy envelope would allow electric resistance heating but would require a certain amount of energy consumption per 1000 square feet, and this would be accomplished by increased insulation, better windows, etc. Rick Svehla, Deputy City Manager, outlined Fire Chief John Cook's intention with proposing a sprinkler ordinance. This ordinance would address large facilities of 10,000 square feet or more or facilities which held large numbers of people. The result of this ordinance would be increased safety to the public and less manning requirements for the Fire Department. 391 392 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 29, 1987 page 3 Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, provided a summary. He stated that the Landscaping and Tree Preservation Ordinance was ready to bring to the P ~ Z in January 1988. One option would be to continue to take an aggressive stance with developers. Mayor Stephens asked for the Council's comments. Council Member Boyd expressed a desire of getting the neighborhoods involved in the beautification. Council Member Gorton agreed with neighborhood participation. Mayor Pro Tem McAdams questioned the funding and the time allotment of this ordinance. Because of the impact of all of these ordinances on the developer, she recommended that Council look at all of the ordinances collectively since they all would affect the price of homes for low and middle income families. Council Member Hopkins agreed that since these ordinances would be affecting the same group of people, Council must look at them all as a whole. Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, discussed that an alternative to the mandatory park dedication ordinance would be establishing a more hard line policy concerning neighborhood parks. Council Member Alexander stated that in his view the Tree Preservation ordinance had number one priority and the Subdivision Regulations number two. Ail the other issues addressed could be delayed a little longer. Harrell reported that the capital recovery fees could be traded out in support of other ordinances. It was the consensus of the Council that Staff should wait on this issue and observe what action was taken by other cities and the resulting impact on the development community. On the high cost of future electric Harrell felt the energy envelope concept was acceptable to the community. generation, the most Harrell summarized that feedback on the subdivision regulations had not been negative. There were some trade off situations in these regulations. Harrell also reported that reaction to the sprinkler ordinance by the developers was uncertain at this time. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 29, 1987 Page 4 Mayor Stephens asked for final comments by the Council Members. Council Member Ayer expressed concern about the Council's interest and concern for the developers. He stated that Council must make sure they had input from the community. Council Member Gorton expressed concern that comments he had heard from other people were not the same as those reported by staff. He wanted staff to be sure that their ideas were not different. Mayor Pro Tem McAdams expressed the need to look at alternatives and to compare the impact of these on the community. Council Member Hopkins expressed a need to think about the people that were going to be impacted by these ordinances and to be fair and equitable. Council Member Alexander restated his request that complete and comparative reports be submitted on all issues to aid in Council's evaluation of each of these issues. Council Member Boyd stated that the time schedules in the report looked just fine to him. Mayor Stephens directed staff to move right along. It was his feeling that the time schedule presented was satisfactory and to keep at this pace making sure that the Council was presented accurate and complete information. Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, expressed the desire of the Land Use Planning Committee to meet with Council on Saturday, January 16, or Saturday, January 23, to make its presentation. The meeting was set for Saturday, January 23. Mr. Harrell also announced that tentative arrangements had been made with First State Bank for Tuesday, January 5, 1988, for Council to view the model of their new building between 5:00 and 5:20 p.m. Mayor Stephens stated for future agenda items the need to nominate a replacement for Richard Taliaferro to the Denton County Housing Finance Corporation. 393 394 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 29, 1987 Page 5 Debra Drayovitch, City Attorney, reported that Diane Callander, Assistant City Attorney, would be leaving the City of Denton to be the City Attorney for Georgetown. All of her cases had been split between staff. There was no further business. Meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m. BETTY A~ILLIAMS DEPUTY CITY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS 3787M