Minutes July 30, 1997CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL M1NUTES
JULY 30, 1997
The Council convened into a Joint Work Session with the Planning and Zoning Commission on
July 30, 1997 in the Central Jury Room of the Denton Municipal Complex.
PRESENT:
Mayor Miller; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Members Beasley, Kristoferson,
Cochran, Durrance and Young.
ABSENT: None
1. The Council continued the review and discussion, schedule of topics, and gave staff
direction on Vision, policies, and the comprehensive and Denton Development Plans.
David Hill, Director of Planning and Development, reviewed a summary of the July 19th meeting.
It was felt that it was necessary to organize the discussion topics to avoid unnecessary delay,
referring some items to staff and commissions for implementation, and keeping others for further
vision and/or policy discussion. Those topics that were referred for implementation included
scenic corridors to the Planning and Zoning Commission; park dedication to the Parks and
Recreation Board; and landscaping/tree preservation requirements to the Planning and Zoning
Commission. Implementation tools included overlay districts in which the applications were
uncertain at the current time; development impact fees with possible application for drainage,
water, sewer or roadway costs with the Utilities Department providing separate briefings. Master
plan issues included drainage system capacity that dealt with the impact of new development and
the need for a comprehensive plan. Issues held back for further deliberation included
transportation impacts, density/quality, neighborhood preservation, City/DISD,
architectural/aesthetic standards, and intensity calculations. Consensus building included public
involvement procedures and public education with both items interrelated and needing to be
addressed through the process. A second procedure was to develop more fully the proposed
process by reformatting the existing Vision document as appropriate, reformatting the DDP
documents, merging the Vision and DDP to allow comparison and identifying statements suitable
for policy consideration. A proposed schedule would be presented at the next meeting in order to
work out details of addressing these topics. This meeting would work on the Vision and policy
level discussions.
Council Member Beasley asked about the schedule for considering the scenic corridors issue. She
asked if it was ready for Planning and Zoning Commission consideration.
Hill stated that staff was trying to find a sequence to refer these items to Council. A sequence of
events was needed so that there would not be a work session with too many items on it at one
time.
Rick Svehla, Deputy City Manager, stated that staff was attempting to move forward with the
schedule at regular work sessions for discussion rather than on Wednesdays.
Hill stated that the process of reformatting existing documents would involve taking the ideas
discussed and organizing them in a manner that would go from the vision stage to the
implementation stage.
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July 30, 1997
Page 2
Council Member Cochran felt that the Vision statement had changed somewhat over the years
due to a change in the community.
Council Member Young stated that high-tech, high-skill jobs were still a priority for him. He
wanted to keep it where it was on the list. As other skill jobs were brought into the City, property
taxes could be reduced and the tax base broadened.
Mayor Miller stated that there was no intent to try and prioritize the items from the Vision
statements. He felt that none of those items were more important than another on the list.
Council Member Cochran stated that the Vision statement was not a marketing tool for the City.
The document was not a marketing document. It was a way to have citizens become comfortable
with the Council's plan for the future.
Hill stated that it was important to have statements that were sufficiently broad to take in all
issues.
Council Member Young stated that this statement indicated that the burden of taxes was on the
homeowners and if they wanted Denton to be a bedroom community, there would be higher and
higher taxes. The statement indicated that it was possible to have lower taxes and take some of
the burden off the citizens with more jobs. In planning, the Council should not plan so as to be a
bedroom community and not consider the working class of citizens.
Elizabeth Gourdy stated that everyone would like to have high-tech, high paying jobs in Denton
but she would like to make the statement more general for all those working in Denton.
Bob Powell stated that hundreds of people from all parts of the City, all economic strata,
contributed to this vision. It was everyone's and took years to complete. Much thought had
gone into the Vision statement.
Mayor Miller felt that the statement should be put in terms of what made Denton unique and a
vision of getting to the next level. The City would always have people commuting out of Denton
due to their employment circumstances. Denton was an employment center.
Carol Ganzer stated that part of her wish was that Denton was still small from a sense of
community. Part of her was glad that the city had grown so she could work here. Her vision was
to have Denton come back together in a sense of community.
Council Member Beasley felt that the discussion was getting bogged down on the first sentence of
the document. It was necessary to think bigger than that and get past it and to look at the bigger
vision.
Hill stated that if there were some discussion the Council was not able to agree on, they could
move on to the policy level and break it down later. There was a need for broad categories and
to fit some of the policies already present into the categories.
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July 30, 1997
Page 3
Mayor Pro Tem Brock felt that the statement should indicate what Denton wanted to be, what
Denton thought of itself.
Council Member Cochran stated that the document had more to do with physical planning rather
than economic/cultural planning. It dealt with how the physical community would function and
react and not the economy.
Hill stated that in the draft DDP, the committee realized that the old plan was difficult to manage.
Topics such as neighborhoods, mobility/transportation, economy, culture identity/image,
recreation/aesthetics plus historic nature were good topics.
Council Member Beasley suggested diversity as a topic.
Hill stated that he had seen many plans that dealt with governmental relationships. External
influences might also be a topic for consideration.
Council Member Cochran suggested the environment as an area.
Jim Engelbrecht stated that the difference between the current DDP and the proposed document
was that the current DDP had a strong downtown emphasis. That was the group that indicated it
wanted a center to the community and to save that area.
Council Member Cochran stated that the basis was for the way policies should proceed. There
were basic assumptions about growth. In the past it was assumed that all growth was good and
that it was necessary to have in order to keep expanding the economy or it would collapse. He
felt it was necessary to develop an economic model for the cost of growth and the entire picture.
It should be some sort of idea of what Denton needed to sustain it. He felt it could be discussed
as a separate issue at a separate meeting.
Hill stated that data was a way to keep the vision in focus. A market analysis could focus on how
it would be effected.
Mayor Miller suggested receiving the statistics developed by COG in terms of projections of
population for Denton and projections as to employment centers. There were also projections
from the Regional Transportation Commission, which showed congestion models within the
region which Denton, could take advantage of.
Hill stated that another resource could be the school district and coordination of information with
them.
Council Member Young stated that Denton was going to have growth no matter what but that
there was a need to balance that growth.
Mayor Pro Tem Brock stated that standards were needed in which the City could reject growth if
it was not in balance.
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July 30, 1997
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Mayor Miller stated that growth brought many of the amenities that were now easy to obtain in
Denton.
Hill reviewed the 1988 DDP as compared with the 1997 draft DDP as included in the agenda
back-up materials.
Council Member Young expressed a concern that this new proposed development plan was being
done by Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission. He felt there was a need to have
citizen input.
Mayor Miller stated that at some point there would be public hearings on a proposed document.
City Manager Benavides stated that no matter what type of document was proposed, there should
be a review and comment period with public hearings.
Council Member Beasley stated that public education and public participation would be essential.
No matter what the Council decided on she would like to have public review and public
comments.
Rudy Moreno felt that the structure that was being proposed was good as was the tentative list of
policy areas. He was concerned that the individuals who worked on Vision and the draft DDP
would feel that the Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission had a better idea.
Council Member Cochran stated that he had been on the committee and the draft was not
something that could not be changed. There had been prior public hearings regarding the draft.
The Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission were now improving the document drafted
from that committee.
Mayor Miller stated that they would be taking information back to the public. The Planning and
Zoning Commission and the Council had to have a document to use to make decisions over the
next 5-10 years. A format was needed in order to make informed decisions. The Council was not
rejecting what had been done but was reformatting it to a usable document.
Hill stated that if the Council desired, staff could organize some of the Vision statements and the
draft DDP according to topic headings to produce a document for Council to consider.
Engelbrecht stated that he served on both task forces and was also concerned until Hill developed
this approach as it addressed the problem of the DDP with too much policy in with vision plus
local area policies. This offered a better approach. This process would divide those pieces out
into their proper places.
Mayor Miller stated that Council needed to complete the vision statements so that staff could
prepare blended documents.
Council Member Beasley felt that at some point, it would be valuable to have the committee back
together for comments.
City of Demon City Council Minutes
July 30, 1997
Page 5
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
JACK MILLER, MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS