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Minutes November 11, 2003CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL M1NUTES November 11, 2003 After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Planning Session on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 at 4:00 p.m. in the City Council Work Session Room at City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Brock; Mayor Pro Tern Burroughs; Council Members Kamp, McNeill, Montgomery, and Thomson. ABSENT: Council Member Redmon 1. The Council received outcome statements and held a discussion regarding long range (50 year) planning issues for Solid Waste, Wastewater and Water. Mike Conduff, City Manager, stated that Council had reviewed water and wastewater 50-year concepts at the last meeting. Outcome statements included the 50-year disposal outcome for solid waste. He reviewed the concept of reasonable interpretation and the concept that the vision was the state to arrive at in the future. The statements should be written as though they had already been achieved. He asked Council if they wanted to revise any of the water, wastewater and solid waste outcome statements from the prior planning session. Council discussion added the following out-of-bound statements: Failure to explore/utilize regional solutions Unsightly refuse containers in public view Council Member Redmon arrived at the meeting. Council suggested the following topics for future discussion: Privatization of solid waste functions Creation of a reserve fund for acquisition of additional capacity from the disposal of waste from outside the city Council also discussed the need for feedback to citizens regarding how outcomes have been interpreted and what was being done in regards to the outcome statements. 2. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding downtown and implementation of the Downtown Master Plan. Linda Ratliff, Director of Economic Development, stated that Council had been provided a copy of the Downtown Master Plan and a section of the TIP strategies relative to Downtown in the agenda backup materials. Council discussed the recent economic/transit trip they took to Dallas. A list of items of interest/ discussion points from that trip included: Streetscapes and water features Public/private partnerships Use of Requests For Qualifications Development agreements as zoning ordinances Infill development City of Denton City Council Minutes November 11, 2003 Page 2 Community involvement, particularly directly affected parties Use of external experts for city advocates Importance of quality Need of continuity of elected leadership Planning and Zoning support Access to the regional transportation system Access to downtown linkages Even with improvements, there were still problems Public art Variety in rail stations Mews approach Interior parking Open-air concept Compatible existing to new development Property acquisition Need incentive programs Multi-use spaces Real cities need great downtowns Downtowns are linked to economic development and general well being Big vision, small projects Nice doesn't have to be big Transit as a partner Stops as assets to the community Council also discussed the newly formed Economic Development Board relative to task force assignments and assignments based on the TIP strategies recommendations. 3. Council made suggestions to the Agenda Committee on future agenda items and/or placement of items for upcoming agendas. Council did not have any suggestions of items to be moved from the Consent Agenda to Items for Individual Consideration for the November 18th agenda. Mayor Brock suggested holding a discussion on the Civic Center Park master plan during either a planning session or a luncheon session. Mayor Brock suggested a discussion of the proposal by A1 Grones regarding drainage areas. Council Member Montgomery suggested Council determine a small project to be completed in 2004. Council Member Redmon suggested Council do some streetscaping along the new sidewalks on Bell near their adopt-a-spot. Council Member McNeill requested a discussion regarding gas well revenues. Other areas of discussion included: City of Denton City Council Minutes November 11, 2003 Page 3 Council Member McNeill suggested using some of the fourth Tuesdays for shorter discussion sessions rather than trying to hold those discussions in work sessions. Council Member Thomson indicated that he had plans already made for some of the fourth Tuesdays. A suggestion was made to lengthen the time of the luncheon meetings an extra half hour to allow for discussion of smaller topics. General consensus of the Council was that this would be acceptable. Council Member McNeill questioned why not all of the Council's suggestions were included in the Future Items Chart. Mayor Brock indicated that some of the suggestions were merely requests for information from individual members and not topics for future items. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:05 p.m. EUL1NEBROCK MAYOR CITY OFDENTON, TEXAS JENNIFER WALTERS CITY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS