Minutes April 22, 1997468
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL
April 16, 1997
Joint Meeting of the City of Denton City Council and the Denton
Independent School District Board of Trustees on Tuesday, April 16,
1997 at 12:00 noon at the Radisson Hotel, 2211 I35-E North, Denton,
Texas at which the following was considered:
NOTE: Prior to meeting at the Radisson Hotel, the City Council and
Board of Trustees convened at 11:30 a.m. at South Lakes Park to
participate in a ground breaking ceremony for the Carroll McMath
Middle School.
Presentation of Wide Area Network Proposal
Legislative Updates
3. President's Comments
4. Mayor's Comments
NOTE: As a quorum of the Council was not present for this meeting,
no minutes were taken.
j~nnif~r Walters
C~ty Se'cretary
City of Denton, Texas
469
CITY OF DENTQN CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
April 22, 1997
The Council convened into a Closed Meeting on Tuesday, April 22,
1997 at 5:15 p.m. in the Civil Defense Room of City Hall.
PRESENT: Mayor Miller; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Members
Beasley, Biles, Cott, Durrance, and Young.
ABSENT: None
1. The Council considered the following items in Closed Meeting:
A. Legal Matters -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.071
B. Real Estate -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.072
Personnel/Board Appointments -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE
Sec. 551.074
The Council convened into a Work Session on Tuesday, April 22, 1997
at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of city Hall.
PRESENT: Mayor Miller; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Members
Beasley, Biles, Cott, Durrance, and Young.
ABSENT: None
1. The Council received a quarterly briefing from and held a
discussion with the City of Denton's representatives to the TMPA
Board.
Bill Giese stated that his report would be divided into sections
dealing with organization, operation, regulation & legislation and
litigation. In the organization section, a new mission statement
had been adopted. Scott McGough was appointed general manager.
McGough was reviewing a new organizational chart and staffing
levels with the Personnel Committee. The Audit and Budget
Committee would review the proposed chart and staffing levels as a
basis for the 1997-98 budget. Staffing levels would be reduced
below the current 137 level. In the operation level, the plant
went off-line on April 4 and would be off-line until approximately
May 18. During that time, the superheater and turbine projects
would be completed° In addition, a number of cracked turbine
blades would be replaced. It was expected that capacity would
reach 462 mwh after the Spring outage. Measurable performance
levels were to be established as annual goals. The Powder River
Coal continued to be more efficient than lignite and reclamation
activities were proceeding on schedule. Several alternatives to
the rail spur construction were currently under review. Western
coal carrying railroads enjoyed monopoly power. Both regulatory
and non-regulatory solutions were under consideration.
Regulation & Legislation included the postage stamp transmission
rate. San Antonio was s~eklng a p~rmanent injunction against the
State PUC interim order establishing the postage stamp rate. Under
this rule the four member cities and TMPA would have a net benefit
during the three year transition period and latter years. Retail
wheeling was another legislative issue and was still active. The
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
April 22, 1997
Page 2
treatment of stranded costs was critical to future TMPA effective
operations. The last legislative issue dealt with a tax on coalo
A proposed 7 1/2 cent tax including transportation would have a
very negative impact on TMPA's cost structure relative to power
producers using natural gas. In the litigation area, College
Station had suggested mediation as a means to resolve the various
disputes among College Station, Bryan, and TMPA. TMPA had made a
counter proposal for College Station to make a settlement offer to
Bryan and TMPA.
George Hopkins stated that TMPA was moving forward with the
cancellation and effect of the leverage leases. The commercial
paper rating by the various rating agencies was the highest rating
for commercial paper. Standard and Poor changed the rating from A+
with a negative outlook to A+ stable which was a very positive
rating change.
2. The Council received recommendations from and held a
discussion with the Oversight Committee and gave staff direction.
This item postponed until May 13, 1997.
3. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave
staff direction regarding the placement of newspaper vending racks
in City right-of-way.
Herb Prouty, City Attorney, stated that this was an item which was
brought before Council as a result of a letter written to the Mayor
by a citizen complaining about the placement of newspaper racks in
neighborhoods. There was a history of a few complaints from time
to time about the placement of newspaper racks but in every case,
the Council, up to now, had decided that the problem was not
significant enough to consider regulation. The question of
regulation had always been problematical because of the fact that
the placement of newspaper racks in public right-of-ways and public
places had First Amendment implications. The cases indicated that
those public places, public right-of-ways were public forums and
the freedom of speech and press was all tied up with the
circulation of information through newspapers. One of the problems
encountered in trying to consider the regulation of newspaper racks
was, in order to overcome the First Amendment considerations, three
tests had to be met. First, the regulation had to be content
neutral which meant that it could not regulate one type of media
over some other type of media. Second, the regulation had to be
necessary to achieve some sort of compelling public interest.
There needed to be some showing that the placement of newspaper
racks in various areas of the city had created a problem. Third,
the regulation had to be narrowly drawn so that it achieved its
purpose. There were three options to this issue. One was to use
Section 25-6 of the City Code to control the placement of newspaper
racks which regulated selling and vending of anything on city
streets, sidewalks and public places. This was done by permits
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April 22, 1997
Page 3
471
issued by the City Secretary. With the exception of 1983 under a
prior ordinance when the City Council approved the placement of
newspaper racks by USA Today, there had been no real regulation
under Section 25.6. Negatives of using this provision were that it
was very general and a permitting system would be necessary to
require certain administrative costs and enforcement costs and
might not be as effective as a more specific newspaper rack
ordinance. Another option was to enact a newspaper rack ordinance.
An ordinance from the Town of Flower Mound was felt to be very
good. It was more specific and effective, was not a permitting
system, could be enforced through Code Enforcement and had been
tested with a newspaper vendor. Since it had gone into effect,
there had not been any challenge to it. It enforced the placement
of newspaper racks through a Code Enforcement survey. If the rack
was not in compliance, the City issued a notice of noncompliance
and either requested the newspaper to remove the rack or removed it
by the City. A negative with this option was that the ordinance
was not one which would prohibit the placement of newspaper racks
in residential neighborhoods which was the initial concern of the
citizen. There was no general regulation of the appearance or
place of placement. There was a general requirement to relocate or
replace a rack which resulted in visual blight or excessive space
allocation in the public right-of-way. As a result of questions
from Council Members, additional research was done resulting in
another provision which could be added to the Flower Mound
ordinance. That provision was one from Highland Village which
stated that no newspaper rack would be installed, placed or
maintained on any public right-of-way which was not adjacent to a
commercial business. It also restricted one newspaper rack in each
location which was not recommended by staff. There was a Supreme
Court case which indicated that residential newspaper racks could
be completely banned however, that was from a dissenting opinion.
A final option was to do nothing at this particular point in time.
Council Member Durrance stated that he was concerned about the fact
that an outright ban might be possible. He questioned if that fit
into a content neutral issue.
City Attorney Prouty stated that if there were other ways of
distributing the information in the newspaper, that time and place
were discussed, the dissent indicated that that was content neutral
and was narrowly drawn.
Council Member Durrance asked if that might be a problem where
there might be 8-10 racks in a row on a corner.
City Attorney Prouty indicated yes that that might be a problem.
be shown to ban the racks in the neighborhood and some of those
same interests such as blocking the entrance to a residential area
or if it were unsightly might be urged by commercial
establishments. The Council would have to find that there were
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April 22, 1997
Page 4
special circumstances in residential neighborhoods that required a
ban in the residential neighborhoods and not a ban in commercials
areas.
Council Member Durrance stated that it would be permissible to
limit the racks to not being placed in a walkway or a place where
it would create a hazard.
City Attorney Prouty indicated that the best way to proceed would
be to create an ordinance similar to the Flower Mound ordinance
which centered on specific problems which were being created such
as blocking an access way, detracting from vehicular traffic or
that it was unsightly. Some of the problems which the racks caused
might be controlled under current ordinances such as a trash and
weed ordinance. If a rack caused such a problem, it would be in
violation of that ordinance.
Council Member Cott asked how many complaints had been received in
the past five years.
City Attorney Prouty stated that since 1983, there had been only
three or four complaints.
Mayor Pro Tem Brock stated that there was a more immediate problem
that if the Dallas Morning News had a program of putting a lot of
racks in residential areas, an entire row of racks might appear.
City Attorney Prouty stated that staff had been advised that that
was happening in some areas.
Council Member Biles stated that he drove in a particular
residential area today and counted eight Dallas Morning News and
six Denton Record-Chronicle newspaper racks. It was his
understanding that the Circuit Court made an affirmative finding
that a ban on newspaper racks in residential areas did pass the
three Constitutional conditions.
Council Member Young stated that there had been only one complaint
regarding this issue. There were more serious items the Council
needed to consider. He suggested leaving the ordinance was it was
and if more complaints were received, then proceed with further
study°
Council Member Beasley stated that the local newspaper indicated
that it would like to have racks banned in residential areas
because it felt it was a blight in the neighborhoods and would
raise the costs to the local paper as it would have to compete with
larger newspapers putting the racks in residential areas. She was
in support of looking at an ordinance including residential areas.
Mayor Pro Tem Brock indicated that she shared concern that citizens
have access to newspapers but it was cheaper to take the paper at
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April 22, 1997
Page 5
473
home than buy it from a rack. She felt it would be appropriate to
restrict the placement of a rack in a residential neighborhood.
That would not be restricting the way news was reported or
collected. She would support a combination of the Highland Village
and Flower Mound ordinances but not restrict the number of racks.
Biles motioned to direct staff to prepare an ordinance for Council
consideration which combined the findings of the necessity, safety
and public health and employed the items 1-12 out of Section 103 of
the Flower Mound code which restricted the placement of newspaper
racks within a certain number of feet from crosswalks, sidewalks,
driveways, etc. and included the prohibition in the Highland
Village ordinance that indicated that racks could not be placed
anywhere which was not adjacent and contiguous to a commercial
business and to not include that portion which limited it to one
rack.
City Attorney Prouty stated that staff was also recommending not to
charge for the permit. Staff would recommend that the city Manager
provide a report six months from the day such an ordinance was
enacted and based on that report determine if a charge should be
made for administrative costs.
Council Member Biles stated that his motion did not include any
permitting or fees at this point in time.
Council Member Durrance seconded the motion.
Council Member Cott stated that this was a classic increase in
market share and Council was now restraining that. There might be
a restraining of trade problem here. He felt the local newspaper
was against this due to competition problems.
Mayor Miller stated that the citizens brought this issue to
Council. He felt that the racks were unsightly in neighborhoods.
To restrict the racks in residential areas was not restricting the
ability of newspapers to sell papers as there were many places to
purchase the newspapers. Denton was not so large that a citizen
could not get a newspaper from a convenience store. He was
concerned that if something was not done, there might be a campaign
to see which newspaper could out do the other.
Council Member Durrance stated that Council had a duty to protect
neighborhood rights. The ordinance should be framed correctly in
order to protect Constitutional rights. There might not be a
widespread problem but it was the duty of Council to protect
neighborhoods.
Council Member Young felt that not enough research had been done in
this area. When such a process was started, it limited the access
people had to newspapers. More research should be done in this
area.
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
April 22, 1997
Page 6
On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "nay",
"aye", Young "nay", Biles "aye" and Mayor Miller "aye".
carried with a 5-2 vote.
Durrance
Motion
4. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave
staff direction regarding a briefing on the Police Department's
SAFE Team.
Sergeant Scott Jenkins stated that SAFE stood for support,
abatement, forfeiture, enforcement. The support was for property
owners as they improved their properties, abatement of properties
used as a base for criminal activity, forfeiture of the assets from
criminals and non-compliant owners and enforcement of criminal and
civil laws. Today's situation in Denton had people and groups
engaging in organized criminal activity, criminal street gangs,
prostitution and drug use that often went unchecked. This program
could be utilized to fight these problems. The mission of the
Denton Police Department was to positively impact the quality of
life throughout the community. The SAFE Team would integrate every
enforcement arm of the city to neutralize property used as a base
of operation for criminal activity. Departments involved included
police, fire, legal, code enforcement, building inspectionsv
consumer health and other outside agencies such as TABC and the
Attorney General's office. The Team would target properties with
high calls for service from police, fire and other departments
which drained city funds. The Team would start with the worst
problems in every district in the city of Denton and closing or
seizing properties from non-compliant owners. The Team would be
assisting compliant owners in making the required improvements to
revitalize their properties which would improve neighborhoods.
Improved neighborhoods could bring in additional tax revenue due to
increased property values. Current law established non-traditional
methods to deal with continual problems which plagued Texas and
Denton alike. Crimes targeted included distribution and use of
controlled substances, organized criminal enterprises,
prostitution, criminal acts at sexually oriented businesses, street
gangsv gambling, reckless or discharge of firearms, distribution of
pornography. People held responsible were owners of property,
owners of businesses, renters of property, managers of property or
any combination of these.
Council Member Cott asked if this was a new program.
Jenkins stated that other cities already had implemented this
program.
Council Member Young asked if this was this giving the police too
much power and inf~in~in~ ~n Fi~t Amendment ri~ht~.
City Attorney Prouty stated that police officers would not have the
authority to do that. Before action was taken, there would be an
effort to get the individuals to comply with the law. If not, a
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April 22, 1997
Page 7
475
warning would be issued and then start legal proceedings. This
type of program had been used before and was within the legal
ramifications of the statutes.
Jenkins continued with the process involved in the program. First,
problem locations were identified by officer observations and
citizen complaints. Once a complaint was received, a preliminary
investigation was started which examined the calls for service.
Statistics were compiled on arrests and offenses which occur on
these properties with an analysis on calls for public safety
services. A completed investigation was then sent to the SAFE team
coordinator to make a decision to open a case. That decision was
based on at least a 3 arrest minimum. A case could be referred if
it did not have the minimum number of calls or criminal arrests.
The SAFE team officer would coordinate with other city departments
to prepare for an inspection of the property. The owner, manager
or tenant would be informed of the investigation and would be asked
for permission to inspect the property. Property inspections could
be done by permission or by a search warrant. Each code violation
would then be documented. Life-threatening violations were dealt
with immediately with citations. A date for an accord meeting
would be set. At an accord meeting, the owner would be informed of
all the criminal activity with a complete list of the violations.
Compliant owners would sign an agreement to take measures to
correct the criminal and code problems and would agreed to a
reinspection of the property. Non-compliant violations would be
documented, citations issued or arrests made. Additional
inspections would be conducted as necessary. The last resort would
be filing a civil suit which would be a legal case presented in
District Court. The City would request an injunction against the
owner to stop the criminal or civil offenses. Consequences
associated with the proposal included fines of up to $10,000 and
the property vacated for up to a year. The owner could sign the
property over to the city, a property management company or a non-
profit organization for revitalization. Ninety-eight percent of
activated cases were resolved before going to District Court.
Results of the program included revitalization of neighborhoods,
criminal enterprises eliminated, reduction of crime in target
areas, reduction of calls for service in the target areas.
Council Member Cott asked if this was new system and had it been
through the City Attorney.
Jenkins replied that the City of Dallas had been doing this program
for over eight years and other agencies had been doing it longer.
Denton was not creating a new program and no new personnel would be
used. This was doing business a different way by utilizing the
same people and funds in a different way.
Council Member Beasley felt that the City should proceed with the
implementation of the program.
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
April 22, 1997
Page 8
Council Member Durrance stated that this was a necessary and
forward looking program. These programs provided better
cooperation of law enforcement and encouraged compliance with
current laws. This program worked with the community service
programs already started in departments.
Council Member Biles stated that this was a multi-disciplinary
approach. Often these types of problems were not an isolated
violation but multi-violations.
Council Member Young stated that he supported the program but felt
it needed to be done all over Denton and not just in southeast
Denton. People should be given fair warning before legal action.
Mayor Pro Tem Brock stated that there were some areas along the
highway near where she lived where drugs were sold and other types
of problems using traditional policing that was not effective.
Having a whole set of approaches would help to resolve those
problems.
Chief Jez stated that the real benefit was the opportunity which it
provided for long term resolution rather than repeated violations.
Mayor Miller stated that the program would be one way to work to
reduce and eliminate criminal activities.
Beasley motioned, Cott seconded to proceed with the program. On
roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "aye", Durrance "aye",
Young "aye", Biles "aye" and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried
unanimously.
5. The Council receive a report, held a discussion and gave staff
direction regarding off-premise signs along highway entrances.
Rick Svehla, Deputy City Manager, stated that the Vision Project
and the Denton Development Plan were looking at scenic highways
bills and the limited use of signs along entranceways as approved
by the Scenic Highway Act. In 1990 Denton became certified by the
State to do permitting for signs along highways in Denton. There
had been some successes in two areas. One was that there were not
quite as many large signs and the second a reduction in size.
However, signs wer~ still being built and permitted along highways.
Many cities used the right-of-way and regulated space along or
parallel to that right-of-way. That distance could vary which
would still allow signs 1,000 feet from a right-of-way. Staff felt
that if the Council wanted to pursue the proposal, the 1,000 feet
should be used for placement. Public hearings would be held at the
Planning and Zoning Commission and a% Council prior to amending the
sign ordinance. If such an amendment were made, it should be
written to not allow an appeal to the Sign Board of Appeals. Staff
had also explored the issue of amortization. In the past it was
possible to amortize signs but in 1978 a billboard lobby got an
City of Denton City Council Minutes
April 22, 1997
Page 9
477
amendment passed which did not allow amortization along Federal
highways. It was possible to amortize signs along farm-to-market
roads which were State roads.
Council Member Cott asked if the Chamber of Commerce had seen this
recommendation.
Svehla replied no.
Mayor Pro Tem Brock stated that there were two issues which made
this proposal urgent. One was caused by the race track which would
have various kinds of businesses wanting to advertise along the
highways. Fort Worth had already created a scenic highway corridor
which was something Denton needed to move ahead with. The second
issue was the concept of overlay zoning along the major corridors.
This would be a beginning and would be appropriate to tack on to
the current sign ordinance.
Council Member Biles'stated that he asked to have this item on the
agenda as a matter of timing because the City was currently
considering the Denton Development Plan as well as the zoning
ordinance. Both of those were trying to establish a signature
identity of Denton. The entranceways would be key to that. He
asked if a billboard could be put up as an on-premise sign or was
that prohibited.
Svehla stated that if the sign were free standing, it would be
limited in size as opposed to one attached to the side of a
building which could be billboard size.
Council Member Biles stated that the present sign ordinance limited
the height and square footage of the signs. If a scenic corridor
were adopted coupled with the present sign ordinance, billboards,
except for current ones, would be eliminated. If amortization was
followed for area highways, there would be a time period by the end
of which billboards would have to be taken down and be eliminated.
He asked if the amortization could be expanded beyond Loop 288 to
such streets as Carroll Blvd.
Svehla replied it could apply to any street so designated.
Council Member Young asked what signs would be eliminated.
Svehla replied that it would not eliminate the existing signs on
the freeways or federal highways. It would not permit any more to
be built. On roads which did not have federal funds, a district
would be set up in which, after a period of time, existing
billboards would be eliminated.
Biles motioned, Brock seconded to direct staff to prepare an
ordinance for consideration first by the Planning and zoning
Commission and then by Council to designate I35E, I35W and I35N,
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
April 22, 1997
Page 10
U.S.380, U.S. 377 and Highway 77 as scenic corridors. A special
designation for amortization would be made for Loop 288, farm to
market roads and other major arterials in the city. The corridors
would be measured 1,000 feet from the outside of the right-of-way
and would include off-premise signs and billboards.
Council Member Young stated that signs attracted business and this
proposal would attack business. That would send a message that
Denton had enough business. Everyone who voted for the motion was
saying that.
On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "nay",
"aye"~ Young "nay"~ Biles "aye" and Mayor Miller "aye".
carried with a 5-2 vote.
Durrance
Motion
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
ACC00381