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November 3, 2008 Minutes CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES November 3, 2008 After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas convened in a Joint Work Session of the City of Denton City Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday, November 3, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. in the Council Work Session Room. COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Burroughs; Mayor Pro Tem Kamp; Council Members Heggins, Moreno, Mulroy, and Watts. ABSENT: Council Member Thomson PLANNING AND ZONING PRESENT: Commissioners Watkins, Eagleton and Thomas. PLANNING AND ZONING ABSENT: Commissioners Anderson, Lyke, King and Schaake 1.The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding Development Review Committee (DRC) Process Improvements and Reorganization and a variety of topics related to development regulations, procedures, and other matters within their mutual responsibilities including but not limited to work programs, code amendment process, and plan updates. Mark Cunningham, Director of Planning and Development, stated that he would be reviewing a status report of the March 25, 2008 meeting, the reorganization and process improvements in the Planning Department, the formation of a Developer’s Committee, proposals, project updates and direction on proposals. Status Report of the March 25, 2008 meeting A comprehensive review of initial applications and the sending of all review comments to the developer/property owner/applicant had been completed. Including the applicant/developer/owner at the DRC to discuss review comments had been completed. The implementation of a mandatory developer’s orientation/pre-submittal conference to provide information required for a project submission was completed. Not allowing certain tree plantings in the water/wastewater line easements or electric utility lines was in process. Using ADPs site plan design was in process. Allowing staff administrative waiver authority that was project specific with an accompanying plat was in process but was not advisable from Legal. Providing both staff and Planning and Zoning recommendations to the Council was completed. Applying time limits to variances that ran with a preliminary plat was in process. Creating an Ombudsman position with the Planning and Development Division was completed. Reorganization and Process Improvements Commissioner Schaake arrived at the meeting. Chair Watkins announced that the Commission now had a quorum. City of Denton City Council Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 2 Cunningham indicated that Brian Lockley had been appointed the Development Review Committee Administrator/Ombudsman and P. S. Arora had been appointed the Development Review Engineering Administrator. He reviewed the DRC administrator duties and responsibilities plus the duties and responsibilities of the Development Review Engineering section. Process Improvement Cunningham reviewed the following improvements: Reduction of the project intake processing time. Creation of a Customer Service area. Applicant/Owner attendance at the DRC meetings. Relocation of the DRC meetings. Creation of an Ombudsman position Development of a review Engineering Administrator Development of a Developer’s Committee Council Member Moreno asked if an applicant was given a time line for the completion of a project. Cunningham replied that they were given a flow chart during the preliminary review process. Council Member Heggins asked how the ombudsman position was chosen. Cunningham stated that the position needed someone who knew both sides of the planning department and development community. Mayor Burroughs asked how this was different than before. Cunningham stated that the position was not just limited to development review. The ombudsman would help a developer through the process. Mayor Burroughs asked about the authority of the position. Cunningham stated that the ombudsman would make the resolution happen in a timely manner. Commissioner Schaake felt that applicants were not always given vital information all at one time. There needed to be a thorough review in the beginning of the process. Cunningham stated that the process would be happening with this position and the new process of the mandatory pre-orientation process. Commissioner Schaake felt it was important to have the whole overview at the beginning and not do it piece meal. City of Denton City Council Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 3 Mayor Burroughs stated that if a process was not moving as it should, Brian could identify those points and look at the process. Commissioner King arrived at the meeting. Commissioner Schaake asked why an engineering consultant was used instead of doing in-house evaluations. City Manager Campbell stated that Freese & Nichols was considered an extension of staff. It was difficult to hire qualified engineers and the firm was used to try to keep continuity in engineering. Eventually the function would migrate to in-house. Another factor was volume and dealing with peaks and valleys in the review process. Council Member Watts stated that some feedback he had received from the development community was that using an outside firm allowed breaks in review time. He agreed that it was worth a good look at how to bring the function back to an in-house function due to cost effectiveness and timeliness. He asked with a minor plat error if the new position would be able to address those types of situations and not pass through the normal 10 day review. City Manager Campbell stated that the ombudsman position was not intended to be a position to override the decision authority of the engineers. There needed to be adequate communication between the various departments of the city. It was felt that Brian could improve that communication. Developer’s Committee Cunningham stated that the committee would consist of volunteers from the development community and key DRC staff. The committee met twice each month with the meetings facilitated by Assistant City Manager Fred Greene. The goal of the committee was to work together in enhancing the development review process by discussing suggested changes the City and development community could evaluate and implement. Staff was receiving good feedback from developers on the new process. Action plans were being developed on how to resolve any concerns. Mayor Burroughs asked if the members of the committee were set. Cunningham stated that in order to have continuity on the committee, they were keeping the same members but did allow for others to attend. Assistant City Manager Greene stated that volunteers were asked for and the committee was set up. Membership was not closed and new attendees were welcome. He had positive feelings about where this group was going. The committee presented concerns and then ranked them for priority. They were also developing a plan to satisfy concerns both current and ones that might come up in the future. City of Denton City Council Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 4 Proposals Minor development plan approval – a minor development plat that did not require any infrastructure improvements, variances, waivers, SUP, ADP, LOMAR, CLOMAR, rezoning, etc. would require only staff review and DRC approval with no Planning & Zoning or Council review or approval required. Council Member Watts questioned the number of plats that would fall in this category. Cunningham stated that staff anticipated that as the city continued to grow, there would be more straight forward applications. This proposed process would greatly improve the time frame for these types of plats. Mayor Burroughs asked if there were any risks involved. Cunningham replied no more than with a regular subdivision. Council Member Moreno questioned whether there could be some type of infrastructure improvements. Cunningham replied that the key would be that no infrastructure would be needed; everything would already be in place as the applicant would be merely subdividing a piece of property. Mayor Burroughs felt that it would be important to make sure the definitions were clear when preparing the changes. Council consensus was to proceed with the development of the regulations and ordinance. Request Direction Brian Lockley, Development Review Committee Administrator/Ombudsman stated that staff was requesting direction on infill development/redevelopment. Current regulations were that a lot with no prior development would be eligible to be developed under current infill conditions while a lot with prior development but now vacant could not. The lot with no prior development could be developed with infill requirements because it had never been developed. A lot that had been developed but now was vacant, could not use the infill requirements. Staff felt that both types of lots should be treated the same as both were now vacant. How the lot arrived at being vacant did not matter. Council Member Mulroy stated that the original proposed ordinance was for infill redevelopment. Because of comments from the public the plan was to separate infill development and redevelopment and do an ordinance for new infill development, then a separate ordinance for redevelopment. He suggested staff look at past comments on the original ordinance. Lockley stated that situations existed where an existing lot platted into three lots would allow all three lots to be eligible for infill development. But a second lot subdivided into 3 lots, could not use infill development. City of Denton City Council Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 5 Mayor Burroughs asked about taking down a current buildings and wanting incentives for infill. Lockley stated that the area looked at had to be a lot in existence for several years so as to not just plat to take advantage of the infill regulations. He stated that staff would look at the discussion on how the current ordinance was created and at the interpretation or a different ordinance for these situations. Commissioner Thomas stated that there were situations that were unique as far as infill and redevelopment. They looked at cities that fell within Denton’s peer group such as same age, certain tax basis, having separate redevelopment codes and a distinction between infill and redevelopment. Commissioner Lyke arrived at the meeting. Project Updates Historic Preservation/HLC – The Planning Department had assumed the duties of historic preservation. Planning had staff members with extensive historic preservation knowledge. Downtown Implementation Plan - staff was working on a request for proposals to review the parking master plan and expand it to include an update on the creation of an arts district or corridor to connect the rail station with downtown. The proposal would also include architectural design guidelines for the entire downtown area and standards for redeveloping structures in the downtown area. Stakeholders and downtown merchants would be included in the discussions. The proposal would be coupled with current plans for the other rail station to keep a unified theme throughout the corridor. Council Member Watts questioned when the document might be completed. Lockley stated that they had feedback from 5 consultants who want to be involved. He would anticipate the process would be done in about 6 months or sooner. Council Member Watts asked about the boundaries for the downtown architecture. Lockley stated that the boundaries were similar to the proposed TIF boundaries but not identical. Commissioner Thomas stated that much of that area was already developed so it was important to move ahead with the redevelopment standards. Lockley stated that one of the other components was to identify opportunities for green space. Perform a survey of existing land uses and what the Development Code stated the uses should be. An overlay district or change in zoning for the areas might be required. Council Member Mulroy asked about the project concept. Lockley stated that there would be a downtown core with a certain set of standards. A block beyond the core would have a variety of uses with different standards and then the fringes would identify the types of uses more conducive to creating a thriving downtown area. City of Denton City Council Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 6 Council Member Mulroy asked about a time frame. Lockley stated that staff had asked for each specific phase to be broken out for a level of detail. Parking was the first deadline to be completed. Each area was also linked with the others. Parking was first, and then land uses and zoning analysis, an arts corridor and then design standards. Commissioner Thomas stated that the southeast quadrant had serious problems with redevelopment due to the flood plain. He asked if there were anything in the plans to try and get property removed from the FEMA standards. Jim Coulter, Director of Water/Wastewater, indicated that there was an ongoing project extending the PEC 4 drainage project to help protect that area. Tree Preservation and Mitigation Code – the consultants had compiled the information and submitted a master plan framework for draft language for the code. Staff was working on the development of the code. A draft was to be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission this week. Following that it would be presented for feedback from the pubic and then to the Planning and Zoning Commission for a public hearing. After that it would go to Council. The plan was to get the draft to Council in January. Commissioner Schaake suggested data to go with current projects under the old code and then under the new code. Lockley stated that staff was working on examples to present. Council Member Watts asked if the community would be invited for input on the downtown plan. Lockley replied correct. He clarified that the ombudsman position would facilitate communication and direction from developers. Developers wanted to comply with the city’s requirements; they just needed to know what they were. The city was not here to a design project but could provide direction on an issue. They needed to be clear on what was needed, what section of the Development Code was involved and what processes were needed to do the project. Commissioner Lyke stated that currently Economic Development was paying the fees associated with historic preservation. It was rumored that as the function moved into Planning, the cost would be passed on to the neighborhoods. Most of the older neighborhoods did not have a neighborhood association and such costs would be a burden on older neighborhoods. Lockley stated that in the past no fees were required as the city absorbed those costs. Staff was looking at a supplemental package to continue to absorb those costs or whether to pass them on to the requestors. Staff would not determine that policy. Mayor Burroughs felt that the mission needed to be designed as a "can do" attitude for solutions. Keep the energy in a positive attitude. He felt redevelopment would require a number of City of Denton City Council Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 7 ordinance changes and that a sub-department for small infill and small redevelopment projects should be established sometime in the near future. Commissioner Schaake agreed that it would be a good idea as there were areas needing redevelopment. Commissioner Lyke suggested including aesthetics for the areas; the blending of areas for redevelopment/infill. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m. _________________________________ MARK A. BURROUGHS MAYOR CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS _________________________________ JENNIFER WALTERS CITY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS