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Minutes August 25, 1998 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES AUGUST 25, 1998 After determining that a quorum was present and convening in an open meeting, the City Council convened in a closed meeting on Tuesday, August 25, 1998 at 5: 15 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Miller; Mayor Pro T em Beasley; Council Members Burroughs, Cochran, Durrance, Kristoferson, and Young. ABSENT: None 1. Closed Meeting: A. Conference with Employees - Under TEX GOV'T. CODE Sec. 551.075. The Council received information from employees during a staff conference or briefing, but did not deliberate during the conference. Work Session of the City of Denton City Council on Tuesday, August 25, 1998 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Miller; Mayor Pro T em Beasley; Council Members Burroughs, Cochran, Durrance, Kristoferson, and Young. ABSENT: None 1. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding a resolution amending and replacing the current tax abatement policy of the City of Denton to establish guidelines and criteria governing tax abatement agreements; and declaring an effective date. Linda Ratliff, Economic Development Director, stated that in February the Council readopted the current tax abatement policy and at that time Council asked staff to work with the joint Committee on Tax Abatement to amend the policy. Input had been received from the DISD, the County, and staff. It allowed for flexibility in the amount of abatement that could be given. There were five factors for receiving credit for an additional 5% abatement as detailed in the agenda materials. The amendment allowed the DISD to participate at a different rate and addressed the fact that the County had its own abatement policy. The City had the right to require a project to purchase power from the City of Denton. Portions where application questions were listed were removed and placed in a formal application form. Council Member Cochran asked about the DISD wanting to use a different percentage rate from the City. Ratliff stated that a portion of the City's ETJ was in the reinvestment zone and that allowed the DISD to use a different rate. Adoption of these amendments would require a super majority vote by Council. Council Member Young stated that the old policy used $5 million for a project to receive the abatement. He felt the figure should go down to $3 million instead of going up to $10 million. There had only been one project at $5 million and felt there would be no projects at the $10 million level. He felt the policy was killing abatements as no one could reach that level. City of Denton City Council Minutes August 25, 1998 Page 2 Mayor Miller stated that while there was only one tax abatement given over the last eight years, there had been a number of companies in Denton with smaller investments. The purpose of abatements was to be competitive. Council Member Young stated that at the higher rate there would not be any companies that would apply and that it eliminated smaller companies coming to Denton. Other cities would have a better abatement policy. Council Member Burroughs asked if there was a consideration of putting in a factor that the investment was going to be made in an economically distressed area or in an area that had a material advantage in the City. Council Member Durrance stated that that was discussed in light of the State's enterprise zones. The abatement had to apply to the individual business and not to a particular location. Mayor Miller felt that if Council wanted to make changes to the policy, it should be returned to the Committee for a joint decision. Mayor Pro Tem Beasley asked if the County voted to bring the amendment forward as it had its own policy. Ratliff stated that the County looked at its own policy and what would qualify and then took it forward to Commissioners Court. All the entities did not have to agree to participate on a project for it to be considered. Mayor Pro Tem Beasley stated that the original policy was done ten years ago and with economic conditions then that did not allow for an abatement. She felt that an abatement should not be done with every company that came to Denton. It should be done for selective companies that made significant contributions to the community. Council discussed the pros and cons of the abatement policy with specific questions regarding portions of the policy. Council Member Cochran suggested receiving a list of benefits that the City hoped to get from the entities as part of the application process. He also suggested an estimation of property taxes that would be lowered by every abatement that was granted. He felt that information would help remove negative reaction to tax abatements. He felt that the Tax Abatement Committee should provide back- up materials for Council review. Kristoferson motioned, Beasley seconded to move forward with the resolution as presented. It would be in effect for only 1-1/2 years before Council would need to look at a new policy. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Burroughs "aye", Cochran "aye", Durrance "aye", Kristoferson "aye", Young "nay", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. 2. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding resolutions for the 1998 Texas Municipal League Annual Conference. City of Denton City Council Minutes August 25, 1998 Page 3 Betty Williams, Assistant to the City Manager, stated that the City of Denton had representatives on the TML Committees of Community and Economic Development, Finance and Administration, and Personnel. There were eight resolutions that the City was proposing before TML. Those eight resolutions were detailed in the agenda back-up materials. Mayor Pro Tem Beasley suggested moving forward with all of the proposed resolutions. Council Member Durrance suggested a new resolution supporting proposed changes in the annexation policies in anticipation of development during the next legislative session. Such a resolution would supplement the approach by TML and would be a more affirmative statement. Mayor Miller stated that a resolution would have to be prepared for TML consideration along with a presentation to the Legislative Committee. Council Member Durrance felt that it should be a separate considered area and wanted a more positive statement in favor of what the legislature was doing, Consensus of the Council was to proceed as proposed. 3. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding Code Enforcement inspection and notification procedures. Dave Hill, Director of Planning and Development, stated that the Council had received a report indicating that improvements could be made in the Department. He presented a process that would begin immediately and that would allow for more contact with violators of the Code and allowed for reduced costs. The agenda materials detailed short term and long term provisions suggested for changes in the department. Council Member Durrance suggested putting this information on the City's web site. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the suggested procedures. 4. The Council received a report held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding possible revisions to the Landscape Ordinance. Dave Hill, Director of Planning and Development, stated that this was a staff generated request for Council information on six items. It was felt that the landscape ordinance was performing in the spirit of the intent. One major problem was monarch trees that caused a misunderstanding of the definition and whether the staff was carrying out the intent of the ordinance. Another issue was grandfathering. The clearing and grading permit review process was not an issue with the proposed changes but staff wanted Council to know that there were certain factors that were being evaluated. Tree preservation credits, alternative landscape plans, exemptions for municipal landfill were also issues to be considered. The Council had also received additional information from the Chamber regarding their comments on the landscape ordinance. Council Member Durrance asked for an explanation of option #3 for monarch trees. Hill stated that when monarch trees were discussed, Council seemed to indicate to staff that trees City of Denton City Council Minutes August 25, 1998 Page 4 should be examined by someone who would see if the tree could be saved instead of clearing that tree. There was also a discussion as to why the Planning Director had so much discretion in deciding the issue and why anyone should have the ability to nominate a monarch tree. For every development site, someone would want monarch trees nominated. The thought was that monarch trees were only unique trees and not on every site. It was felt that the size threshold for monarch trees needed to be addressed. Some thought that developers could be told to move a building if a monarch tree was in the building site. Council Member Durrance felt that a developer should not have to build a building around monarch trees. If it caused undo economic hardship to protect such a tree, a developer should have other means to mitigate. Even monarch trees had a life span and what would happen when such a tree died. Mayor Pro Tem Beasley stated that she would like to see flexibility and mitigation with extenuating circumstances. There needed to be some way to deal with those types of situations. Hill suggested that Options # 1 and #3 could be combined. Council discussed the various options that were listed in the agenda materials. Consensus of Council was to work on combining Options # 1 and #3. 5. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding Growth Management Strategy issues and priorities. Mark Bowers, HOK, stated that they were under contract with RUST to determine a preferred growth scenario for the City of Denton. They were to identify growth management strategy issues that would be used to construct a community survey and set the preliminary scope of work for the draft Growth Management Strategy. Renee Jaynes stated that she had had interviews with department heads and asked for information on issues that would affect growth of their departments. She also asked for larger issues relating to Denton's growth. Those responses provided the growth management strategy issues that were detailed in the agenda materials. She reviewed the major issues under each category as shown in the agenda materials. There were four central themes - controlling the quantity of growth; quality of growth; controlling the location of growth; and controlling the timing of growth/phasing of growth. Council Member Cochran asked about the procedure to arrive at a consensus in the community. Bowers stated that it would involve more neighborhood meetings and getting a feeling of neighborhoods concerns. Council would provide individual input into the process by changing wording on the issue questions. They felt that the survey needed to be constructed in such a manner to ensure the purpose of the information needed. Mayor Pro Tem Beasley felt that it was necessary to focus regionally, as issues in other areas of the country might not apply to Texas. City of Denton City Council Minutes August 25, 1998 Page 5 6. Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding possible affordable housing exemptions to the water/wastewater treatment impact fees. Dave Hill, Director of Planning and Development, stated that there was a way for existing staff to handle a more detailed standards program for exemptions that would get at the linkage between what exemptions were meant to do and who they were meant to benefit. This would be a program with limited exemptions using a community development type of approach to this issue. Council Member Cochran suggested simplifying the process by making grants from the general fund to handle this. There were not that many not-for-profit organizations. Hill stated that staff was still looking at the differentiation between not-for-profits and profits. Council Member Young stated that to make the process simple, a set value on a home should be used such as $90,000 and under. That would settle the issue of not- for-profit and profit and the issue of possible lawsuits. Council Member Cochran stated that such an impact on a smaller house would be less than on a larger house. They would be paying a smaller amount than others would. Mayor Pro T em Beasley stated that she was not in favor of giving exemption to homes sold for profit. She was concerned that with any house $90,000 and under receiving an exemption, there would be too many exemptions and the point of the entire process would be missed. She felt that exemptions should only be given by Council and a request should be by a non-profit organization. Beasley motioned, Miller seconded that there would be no exemptions unless given by Council and had to be a non-profit organization requesting the exemption. City Manager Benavides stated that the economic development statute allowed a city to pay the impact fees from the general fund and then could differentiate from non-profit and for-profit. Mayor Miller stated that he would like to start in that direction using the general fund for non-profits. Mayor Pro Tem Beasley asked about limiting the number of exemptions given in a year. City Manager Benavides suggested finding the money to do the program for one year and see how many requests were received and then evaluate the program. Mayor Miller stated that the proposal was to exempt non-profit organizations and re-pay the utilities through the general fund. Council Member Burroughs stated that setting a cap on the number of grants available was not a means he could support. He did not feel it would be fair to those falling under the cap. He felt a pilot program should be done with only non-profit organizations and no cap. Council Member Kristoferson suggested 20 grants as a cap for the number of grants for the pilot program. Council Member Young felt that the impact fees would hurt low income people. He felt that if the City of Denton City Council Minutes August 25, 1998 Page 6 program were done any other way other than with a set dollar amount for the cost of the home, it would hurt the lower income people. Mayor Pro Tem Beasley withdrew her original motion. Burroughs motioned, Cochran seconded to set exemption standards to the impact fees as new owner- occupied single family housing for low income households and low-income elderly or disabled households. Not-for-profit developers who met the exemption standards would be eligible to receive impact fee exemptions in the form of pre-construction waivers. Any property subject to City of Denton W ater/W astewater Treatment Impact fees would be eligible for the exemption. The price cap of the unit would be tied to the annual requirements of the City of Denton Homebuyer's Assistance Program administered by the Community Development Division of the Planning and Development Department. The grants would come from the General Fund with a cap of 50 applications. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Burroughs "aye", Cochran "aye", Durrance "nay", Kristoferson "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. 7. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding a proposed amendment to the Solid Waste Ordinance relating to unauthorized use of solid waste containers, disposition of bulky household items, adequacy of solid waste service, contamination of recycling sites, and provision of penalties for non-compliance. Howard Martin, Assistant City Manager for Utilities, stated that this report would be addressing several issues impacting his department's ability to deliver commercial service and included theft of service, collection of bulky items and collection of recycle containers. Officer Greg Hedges, Denton Police Department, stated that the Department had taken several different roles in recent years in dealing with this problem. Part of that role was to work towards improving people's perceptions on where they lived. A problem in Owsley Addition was that there were 300 families living in a 10-block area. Dumpsters were a problem in that they often were overflowing with items. There was a need to look at various means to improve this condition. Charlie Watkins, Superintendent of Solid Waste, reviewed the major issues ofthis problem as detailed in the agenda materials. Part of the solution was to revise the current ordinance to include a provision of theft of service for improper disposal, review collection services to determine if an area was receiving inadequate service and address the problem of contamination of the collection sites. The proposed ordinance added a theft of service provision that would make it illegal to place items in someone else's dumpster. The proposal also included the continuance of picking up bulky items but included a charge of $10 per item. Council Member Burroughs asked if a neighbor dumped bulky items at someone else's container, would the other person have to pay to have those items removed. Watkins stated that if the dumpster customer knew who was illegally dumping at his dumpster, he could follow up on that with the Police Department. Enforcement of theft of service was very difficult unless it was seen in progress by an officer. City of Denton City Council Minutes August 25, 1998 Page 7 Council Member Kristoferson felt that the enforcement capabilities of the police department would be very limited and that the program would work better if apartment managers made residents aware of the regulations. Watkins stated that staff was planning on contacting all apartment owners and managers. Mayor Pro Tem Beasley asked how the program would be enforced and would the burden ofproof be on the owners of apartments. Council Member Cochran felt it was unfair to city operations to have to take the burden of removing these items. Council Member Young did not like the idea of the police department having to guard garbage cans. He felt it was a good idea to clean up the area but the proposal needed more research. Mike Bucek, Assistant City Attorney, stated that one legal problem was absentee landlords. He suggested having the violators change to a larger dumpster after three violations. Kristoferson motioned, Cochran seconded to move forward with the ordinance with the removal of the bulky item provisions. Mayor Miller suggested keeping those provisions in the ordinance and review the ordinance in a year to see how effective it was. Kristoferson agreed to reinstate the fee in the ordinance. Cochran withdrew his second. Durrance seconded the motion. Council Member Durrance called the question. On roll vote, Beasley "nay", Burroughs "aye", Cochran "nay", Durrance "aye", Kristoferson "aye", Young "nay", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried with a 4-3 vote. 8. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding the 1998- 99 proposed budget. Kathy DuBose, Assistant City Manager for Finance, stated that the proposal in the budget was to reduce the grocery store fees as would the other fees as stated in her memo in the agenda materials. The net effect on the building inspection fee would be zero. Consensus of the Council was to proceed as proposed. DuBose stated that the CIP program would move up several projects in the plan. Consensus of the Council was to proceed as proposed. DuBose stated that the recommendation from the Hotel Occupancy Tax Committee provided two scenarios. Both scenarios included funding all applicants except the Main Street Association and City of Denton City Council Minutes August 25, 1998 Page 8 Parks and Recreation Department's Civic Center renovation project. The Committee suggested that Council consider other sources of funding for these projects. She reviewed the funding scenarios as indicated in the agenda materials. Mayor Miller stated that after this year there would no longer be any carry-over funding. DuBose replied correct. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11 :30 p.m. JACK MILLER, MAYOR CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS JENNIFER WALTERS CITY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS