Minutes April 10, 2001112
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
April 10, 2001
Work Session of the City of Denton City Council on Tuesday, April 10, 2001 at 6:00 p.m. in the
Council Work Session Room in City Hall.
PRESENT: Mayor Brock; Mayor Pro Tem 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
funding recommendations report from the Community Development Advisory Committee
(CDAC) and the Human Services Advisory Committee (HSAC) and the proposed City of
Denton 2001 Action Plan for Housing and Community Development. (Barbara Stinnet, CDAC
Chair and Wallace Duvall, HSC Chair were scheduled to provide briefings.)
Barbara Stirmett, Chair-Community Development Advisory Committee, reviewed the funding
recommendations by the Human Services Advisory Committee. These recommendations were
included in the agenda back-up materials.
Wallace Duvall, Chair-Human Services Advisory Committee, presented the funding
recommendations by the Committee. These recommendations were included in the agenda back-
up materials.
Barbara Ross, Community Development, Administrator, stated that there would be a public
hearing at the next Council meeting regarding the 2001 Action Plan.
2. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding
homeowners associations.
Ed Hodney, Director of Parks and Recreation, stated that a number of questions and concerns
regarding homeowner associations and how to maintain open space and other amenities in new
residential developments had surfaced. Council had previously discussed this topic at its January
11, 2000 and April 25, 2000 meetings. There were three main concerns dealing with homeowner
associations that included HOA structure, the need for the creation of an HOA and the HOA's
ability to perform.
Dottie Palumbo, Assistant City Attorney, reviewed the proposed mandatory HOA requirement
for new residential development. It would provide for the creation and recordation of documents
subject to the review and approval of the City Attorney and Council prior to the filing of plats.
Once established, the HOA would have to provide a perfommnce bond or escrow of funds for
maintenance.
Hodney reviewed the difference between an HOA and a public improvement district. The
advantage of a PID over direct maintenance by the City or through an HOA was a predictable
and sustainable revenue stream that was dedicated to a particular project.
Elizabeth Reynolds, representing the Wind River Homeowners Association, stated that her
experience with this association was very different from others she had participated in. She felt
that the developers had established the association only to assist in the development of the
project. Resident participation on the Board was not adequate.
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John Duffy, representing the Oaks of Montecito, expressed his concerns regarding the lack of a
homeowner association in his subdivision and the discrepancies in what had been promised by
the developer and what was actually delivered. He reviewed a survey that had been sent out to
the residents of the Oaks of Montecito.
A representative of Sundown Ranch stated the residents in the area were experiencing similar
problems as residents in other developments. He suggested implementing some type of
standards that would go in effect at the beginning of a development and not after development
had been started.
Bob Shelton, developer, reviewed some of the circumstances surrounding problems at the
Sundown Ranch development.
Consensus of the Council was to further explore the establishment of standards for homeowner
associations, looking at programs already established and draft provisions for such a program.
The Council also wanted to look further at public improvement districts.
3. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding the
use of pesticides in the parks.
Janet Simpson, Assistant, Director of Parks and Recreation, stated that the use of pesticides on
public property was governed by Federal and State law and all Park Department employees who
applied pesticides were licensed by the Texas Department of Agriculture or the Texas Structural
Pest Control Board and were subject to inspection and audits of practices and record keeping.
Emerson Vorel, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, reviewed the policy of the use of
herbicides and pesticides in city parks and the scheduled use of chemicals in the city parks.
Simpson reviewed the list of potential options for staff to pursue at the direction of Council.
These options included continue the current response with additional research on alternative
approaches and a focus group that would include a cross section of park users and citizens;
extend the temporary moratorium to future applications of pesticides; permanent Cessation of
pesticide applications in specific parks or classes of parks; continue maintenance operations
based on current maintenance standards without change.
Council discussion included using the University of North Texas for a study of the issue and
using a test location on alternative procedures to determine the feasibility of such an approach.
Ed Soph stated that he appreciated the way in which the staff worked with him regarding the
situation.
Consensus of Council was to proceed with Option 1 plus use the University resources to assist
with alternatives. There would be no increase in mowing due to the potential of increased air
pollution.
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4. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding the
process to select an architect to design the new Central Fire Station.
Ross Chadwick, Fire Chief, stated that staff was directed by Council at the January 23, 2001 work
session to re-interview the four architectural firms for the design of Central Fire Station in the old
power plant at Hickory and Bell. The Council added four members to the interview committee.
The Committee re-interviewed the four finalists and selected the firm of James Kirkpatrick
Architect as the most highly qualified architect. Staff was requesting Council authorize negotiations
with the firm for a contract agreement. If an agreement could not be reached with the # 1 firm, then
negotiations would begin with the #2 firm, etc. until a firm could be proposed to the Council.
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the staff recommendation.
5. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding the
State School Road Connector as an amendment to the City of Denton Mobility Plan Roadway
Component.
David Salmon, Interim Director of Engineering, stated that an amendment to the Roadway
Component of the Denton Mobility Plan was under consideration, adding a collector street
connection between State School Road and Wind River Lane, with a possible connection to the
east side of Sundown Ranch Subdivision. At the December 12, 2000 work session, Council
decided to postpone action due to several unanswered concerns. Since that time, staff
commissioned a study of the proposed connector system. Salmon reviewed the three possible
routes for the connector and evaluated each route based on relative traffic benefits, construction
cost, and impact on environmentally sensitive areas. Staff was recommending Option #3 that
was a combination of alignments 1 and 2 and crossed the Unicom Lake flood plain area twice.
Consensus of Council was to proceed with Option #1, identifying Option #3 alignment with a
neighborhood meeting of area residents.
6. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding the
selection of a Sister City for Denton through the Sister Cities International program.
Michelle Cunningham, Community Relations Coordinator, stated that the Denton Sister Cities
International steering committee had looked at 78 cities for consideration of Sister City status.
Two cities were selected to visit in order to complete the criteria information worksheets. Many
of the cities were dropped from consideration because they did not have a university or already
had U.S. Sister Cities. The committee was recommending approval of San Nicolas de los Garza,
Nuevo Leon, Mexico as Denton's first official Sister City based on the selection criteria results.
Consensus of Council was to proceed with San Nicolas de los Garza as Denton's Sister City.
7. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding
proposed Mobility Plan 2025 Rail System changes as drafted by the North Central Texas Council
of Governments (NCTCOG), and regarding proposed state legislation related to commuter rail.
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Dave Hill, Assistant City Manager for Development Services, stated that there were three policy
issues that required Council's attention. Those three items included the rail system, freeway and
tollway system, and proposed state legislation. The rail system had an additional corridor added
showing the Atchison, Topeka, Santa Fe Railroad as a connector between Denton and
Lewisville. The draft freeway and tollway system map contained two proposals that differed
from the approved Plan. Proposed state legislation dealt with HB 682 that would require the
preservation of rail facilities by the Texas Department of Transportation. HB 3323 proposed the
creation of a county transportation authority for public transportation and transportation related
services in counties adjacent to a county with a population of one million or more. Staff was
concerned that one route might be selected without any feasibility studies or other analyses to
support such a decision. Staff felt that the changes in the freeway and tollway system reflected
changes needed to expand system capacity for roadways based on population and employment
growth and should be supported by the City. HB 682 was intended to prevent the dismantling of
rail corridor rights-of-way and should be supported. Staff did not have a recommendation
relative to HB 3323.
Consensus of Council was to proceed with staff recommendations and present a resolution for
Council consideration.
8. The Council received a staff report, held a discussion and provided staff direction
regarding the regulation of vehicles parked on residential lawns.
Scott Langford, Police Department Support Operations Lieutenant, stated that the City had no
ordinance that specifically prohibited the parking of vehicles on residential lawns. A proposed
ordinance presented to Council in 1985 prohibited the parking or storage of any motor vehicle,
boat, travel trailer or trailer on an unimproved area of the front yard of any one-family, two-
family or multi-family dwelling. A clause grandfathered the dwelling if it was constructed prior
to the adoption of the ordinance and there was no asphalt or concrete space on the lot. Council
did not adopt the ordinance at that time. Options included preparing an ordinance that would
prohibit the parking of any vehicle on an unimproved area of the front' yard of a residence;
prepare an ordinance that would restrict the parking of specific vehicles on an unimproved area
of the front yard of a residence; direct staff to conduct further research and consider this issue at
an later date; or direct staff to take no further action on the issue.
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the drafting of an ordinance with particular
attention to contacting neighborhood groups regarding the proposal and allowing the citizens to
help develop a citizen friendly ordinance.
9. The Council received a staff report, held a discussion and provided staff direction
regarding vehicles on parking lots with "For Sale" signs.
Scott Langford, Police Department Support Operations Lieutenant, stated that the City did not
have an ordinance restricting vehicles on parking lots with "For Sale" signs. He reviewed the
current enforcement procedures that if the owner of a lot had given permission for vehicles to be
parked there and the vehicles did not qualify as junk vehicles, then there was no violation.
Consensus of the Council was to not proceed with the drafting of an ordinance.
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City Council Minutes
10. The Council received a preliminary assessment, held a discussion, and gave direction to
staff with regard to the proposed voluntary annexation of an approximately 120.4 acre tract on
the north side of Loop 288 between Stuart Road and Sherman Drive. (A-01-0001)
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the annexation.
11. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction on the
appointment of a task force to study racial profiling in Denton.
Gary Matheson, Chief of Police, presented an approach to the appointment of a racial profiling
task force. Those recommendations included the appointment of a committee with no more than
10 members including 2 police department representatives; Council should designate a
chairperson for the task force; the committee would meet weekly for the first two months;
minutes should be taken for documentation/referral; adherence would be required to the written
agenda; the adoption of an attendance standard, adoption of a decorum standard such as the
prohibition of negative behavior and verbal attacks; formally define racial profiling; identify
relevant data to be collected for valid study; determine the best method to collect the data;
provide input on department racial profiling policy; determine pertinent department training
needs; identify/implement public education and information needs; collect the data for a
minimum of one year; and suggest a third party conduct statistical analysis at UNT or TWU.
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the staff recommendation.
12. New Business
The following items of New Business were suggested by Council Members for future agendas:
A. Council Member Kfistoferson asked for a review and possible alteration to the
development code schedule.
B. Council Member Cochran asked for a discussion on the dissolution of CDD #1.
C. Council Member Young asked for discussion regarding the children playground
equipment at Fred Moore Park.
13. There was no official action on Closed Meeting Item(s) under Sections 551.071-551.086
of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:15 p.m.
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
EUI,INE BROCK, MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS