Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Planning and Zoning Commission work
session.
It is for Wednesday, July 28th, 2021.
Seeing that we have a quorum, I will call the meeting to order at 5.06.
Let the record show that Commissioner Smith is absent this evening.
First item of business is that we do not have any citizen comments on the consent agenda.
And then, Haley, if it's okay with you, can we go in the work session reports and then
come back for the clarification of agenda items?
Yes.
Perfect.
So we're going to skip down to work session item number three, receive a report and hold
a discussion regarding the overall development process and comprehensive planning.
Thank you, Chair, members of the Commission.
Haley, I don't know if you had an introduction to -- I'm going to go ahead and start the
presentation.
Yeah, if you want to pull that up, Ron.
So everyone knows we are kick-starting the boot camp series again, so this will be the
first of what we hope to do at least once a month moving forward through the end of
the year just to cover some very broad topics related to the types of items that come before
you all.
So tonight we'll go through, as you can see on the calendar there, just kind of the planning
101, what are our processes, what applications does P&Z see.
And then Ron will give us an overview regarding comprehensive planning.
And then you can see our intended schedule there, so if you all have any questions, concerns,
other topics that you want us to look into once we get through these, just let me know
and we can certainly add those to the future calendar.
Great.
So I'll go ahead and get started.
The DDC, the Denton Development Code, for those that don't know what a DDC stands for.
So it is the code that we use, the Planning Department and obviously the Planning Zoning
Commission, City Council, and I provided a copy to some of the new members, and so hopefully
you'll have a copy or know where one is online to reference as we often do in our applications
or our staff reports, that is, often references the Denton Development Code.
Just a couple of bullets here that kind of explain what the Development Code stands for
or what it is for.
Obviously the intent here is to promote the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens
of Denton.
It implements the comprehensive plan.
The comprehensive plan, it's the overarching document which we'll talk about in a little
bit, but the zoning and the Development Code implements the comprehensive plan.
Protects the environment, the natural environment, improves our city's appearance, improves our
mobility, our public infrastructure, making sure that we have that in place, makes sure
that we have appropriate land uses where they should be, and then establishes the procedures.
In fact, the first element or first chapter of the Denton Development Code is the procedures
and administration which sets the process for which our applications are reviewed under
and presented to you all.
I skipped the slide here.
The tools that we use that is again covered in our Denton Development Code starts with
zoning and that is chapter three.
So chapter two is administration and procedures.
Chapter three is zoning and zoning again, we have 17 different zoning districts in the
city and it is presented in a zoning map.
We won't go through each of the zoning districts, but we will talk about it briefly.
Planning is another set of applications that the planning zoning primarily is the approving
body in which you, again, approve with conditions or deny with reasons.
Plan standards go along with all the other applications that we process, specifically
site, sorry, conceptual site plans, what are they?
Zoning compliance plans, sorry, we changed it a couple times, so the zoning compliance
plan are what we also as known to is site plan.
We refer to the development standards in order to make sure that those plans are consistent
with the development code, in that sense, the development standards.
In addition, criteria manuals are not in the development code, but rather are separate
documents that mainly are engineering requirements, technical requirements, and so they're covered
under the criteria manuals.
And those are provided or available on our city's website or hard copies can be provided
to individuals as well.
Process, again, we talked about that being that is sub-chapter two of the Denton Development
Code has all the different application types, who reviews it, who approves it, and then
ultimately, if there's an appeal, who can it be appealed to?
So we'll get into that as we get through some of the application types.
But really, before we do that, the development review process, there are five steps from
feasibility all the way down to project completion.
Everything in between is covered under object applications, stage two, stage three pre-construction,
and then construction permitting inspections before we get to completion.
So we'll go through each of these stages one by one, and we'll start with the feasibility.
Throughout the development review process, there are a number of departments involved
in the review.
We have our development facilitators, and we have three really good facilitators that
help make sure that our projects run smoothly or go through the process smoothly.
They manage this process, in essence.
They include three members of development services, and in addition to the facilitators,
we also have other departments that provide input and comments regarding applications.
Engineering, the engineering department is actually supplemented by a third party, HR
Green, who does that third party review.
There's obviously coordination between them and our engineers in-house.
So again, that is a main reviewing body that plays a big role in our review process.
Planning, that involves the planners and planning technicians.
The planning technicians are really those that take in the applications.
Planners are the ones that review it and present it to the various boards and commissions,
such as the planning zoning commission.
Building safety, because building safety also has a part in the development review process,
in the end of the process, they're going to be involved.
So we have them involved in the very beginning so that they can provide input in advance
so that when we get to the building permit stage, there's nothing that's left out.
They include plans examiners, building inspectors, as well as health inspectors, if there is
a need for their review.
Public works inspections, also a very important reviewer, as mentioned earlier.
They're obviously more involved towards the end, but if we can get them involved in the
very beginning, provide the comments and review in advance, that will help the project and
hopefully limit the number of issues at the end of the project or towards the end of the
project.
We also have subject matter experts that don't necessarily have a review of every project,
but when there is a need for them, we have them for a reviewer.
Fire, watershed division, the parks department, electric, which is DME, as well as, again,
our consultant engineers in various disciplines.
So you can tell that we've got a big group that looks at every applications when they're
needed and there's a lot that needs to be covered.
All right, phase, I'm sorry, stage one, feasibility.
This is really understanding if this project is feasible or not, and what we offer the
community is a pre-application conference, and some of you may have heard of them.
They allow the applicant the ability to come in, speak to our team, which is the individuals
that I just discussed or presented, and have an opportunity to sit down and identify what
things that they need to be looking at.
There are sometimes more planning-related items.
There are sometimes more engineering-related items, but we all work together in identifying
what those comments and those issues are, and hopefully we resolve them so that when
they submit an application, it is as smooth as possible and as less comments as possible
so that they can get through in a quick manner.
The way the pre-application works, just to kind of give you -- it's a very simple -- it's
a free option for developers to do.
They basically go online, submit their requests.
A facilitator will contact them, verify if it is a pre-application or if it's something
that can just be answered by the facilitator or planner or an engineer, but if it requires
a little bit more discussion and is a little bit more complex, one will be scheduled.
They're typically set for Wednesdays.
We have them as much as we can, but we do have a running list because we can't have them
throughout the whole day, so we try to schedule them, and obviously the first come first serve,
and we let them know when they're scheduled so that they know in advance when that is,
and then at the end, a nice package of comments, summary of what was discussed at the pre-application
conference is provided.
They have their next steps.
Hopefully they have the direction that they need to move forward with their project, and
we can, again, see their application in a less -- more complete submittal.
Applications, these are the list of applications that we have available, and when I say applications,
these are projects.
We don't have listed here the permit types.
Those are something separate.
We're going to focus on projects, so under applications, obviously annexations, we are
actually in the process of presenting one to city council next week.
We received an application for this just a couple weeks ago, so we're moving forward
with an annexation.
Entitlements, the zoning changes, the comp plan amendments, you've seen some of those
already.
SUPs, I think there's ones that are coming up.
Here's the zoning compliance plan, which I messed up earlier, again, site plan.
Polymer plots, which is an approval by the planning zoning commission.
Civil engineering plans go after polymer plots and before final plots.
Civil engineering plans are primarily a staff-approved application.
Final plots, you've seen these come through the planning zoning commission and then building
permits.
So those are typically the process or sequence in which one submits an application.
If they don't need a zoning change, a comp plan amendment, or a specific use permit,
they go straight to a zoning compliance plan, and if the property is already plotted and
does not need to be plotted, they can go straight to building permits.
So again, it's just dependent on what the situation is on that site.
Sometimes they need all of it, sometimes they just can go straight to building permits.
We also have supporting application types in the form of an alternative ESA plan, and
that is where the established ESA designation on our ESA map is where an applicant wants
to develop over or through.
In order to have that done, they have to submit an application for an alternative ESA plan.
Now, that is not guaranteed.
That is something that goes through this, the body, as well as the city council.
Ultimately, the planning zoning commission makes a recommendation, and city council makes
the decision on either to approve or deny the alternative ESA plan.
The traffic impact analysis, the drainage studies, the tech stop permits, are all staff
approved applications.
You don't see them, but they are applications that are submitted and reviewed.
Variances go to the zoning board of adjustments, they do not come to the planning zoning commission,
and then the easement, right away abandonment, and encroachments are all applications that
are submitted, and if it includes a utility easement, they do go to the public utilities
board for their recommendation, but ultimately, city council considers and approves or denies
the application.
I'm going to stop there, and is there any questions before I move on to the next slide?
Just want to make sure we have an opportunity to ask questions.
Okay.
We'll go ahead.
Ron, just for clarification, not all of those applications will come to P&Z, correct?
No, not all of them.
We're going to get to the next slide, and it will illustrate which ones do come to the
planning zoning commissions and which ones do not.
So perfect segue, Chair, we're going to talk about those application types a little bit
more in detail, and again, identifying which ones do come to the planning zoning commissions
and which ones do not.
First one is annexation.
This does not come to the planning zoning commission.
It does require a public hearing, but it is a public hearing with the city council only,
and the city council is the decision-making body.
A comprehensive plan amendment is one that we look at either the future land use map,
the mobility plan, the infrastructure plan, any housing plan, any plan that's under the
comprehensive plan will need to be brought forward through the planning zoning commission
for their recommendation and ultimately city council.
Again, if they're trying to amend, they being the applicant trying to amend the comprehensive
plan.
Again, all of this is reviewed, and I think we'll discuss the comprehensive plan a little
bit later, but again, the amendments do come to the planning zoning commission for your
recommendation.
Just to show you a little bit more on what is in the city in terms of what is our jurisdiction,
you can see to the left, the colored area that is outlined in beige color is properties
that are within the city limits, and then the area outside that is more of the gray
is what we refer to as ETJ, Extraterritorial Jurisdiction.
This boundary follows the city limits of the city in terms of if a property is annexed
into the city, and the outskirts of the city that is, our ETJ grows along with it as well.
The radius in which it expands is five miles, so for example, if a property were to be annexed
on the northwest corner of the city around I-35 and say the loop somewhere around here,
if it expands westward, so will the ETJ boundary, it will expand westward as well.
The only thing about that is if there is an existing ETJ there already, it will not expand
further west, so it can only expand where there is no ETJ or city limits.
You can see that Crum, Ponder, Sanger, and to a certain degree, Pilot Point all have
established ETJs as well, and so as we expand our annex and expand our ETJ, we basically
surround them and go around their ETJ boundaries, and that's what has happened with, again,
those cities in particular.
Hey, Ron, before you move on, I just wanted to touch on the yellow areas on that map.
Those are areas where we have non-annexation agreements in place, so you might hear us
use that term sometimes with platts.
Those are areas that are technically still in our ETJ, but council has approved an agreement
with them to allow them to stay in the ETJ if they ever try to develop their property
with more than a single family or agricultural use.
They've agreed that they would annex into the city at that point, and Ron, we're currently
at 20-year?
20 years, yes.
20-year agreements, so.
Last year, the city council approved an extension of those agreements to 2040, August 1st of
2040.
I won't be here, but someone will be, and you know, when they consider that again.
But no, thank you for that, Haley, and you're right.
If there is a development proposed in those non-annexation areas, that is not single family
or agricultural use.
The agreement states that they will voluntarily annex, and that is what has happened in the
annexation I was referring to earlier.
They're wanting to develop that site, and therefore would require to be annexed into
the city.
So they're voluntarily annexing their property into the city because they're wanting to develop
that property.
And again, that property has a non-annexation agreement, and that's what Haley's referring
to.
Zoning amendment, or rezoning, often referred to.
As you guys see, not often, but often enough, where a property owner wants to develop a
property, does not have the allowed uses allowed under that zoning district.
So they have to go to a different zoning district in order to develop that use.
Or their dimensional standards, their setbacks, their building height, or their lot dimensions
are not in compliance with a zoning district.
They can choose to apply for rezoning to get to a zoning district that does allow for that.
So those are options for the applicant to apply for a zoning amendment or a zoning change.
We also have the development code amendments under this category.
We also have any map and use regulations that is under Subject 5, can also go under this
category of the zoning amendment.
This does go through the Planning Zoning Commission, as you already know that, as for a recommendation,
and then ultimately the City Council.
And again, if I go through this fairly quickly, if there's any questions, please let me know.
Again, the public hearings, specifically to some of the zoning, particularly, you know,
if there are any oppositions by the properties within 200 feet, they don't affect your recommendation,
but they do affect the City Council's voting for approval.
If there are more than 20% in opposition of land area adjacent to the subject site within
200 feet, they will require a supermajority at City Council.
And similarly, if the Planning Zoning Commission denies an application, the City Council will
require a supermajority to approve that application.
This slide here just illustrates the zoning districts that we have in the City.
You can see from the top row here, it goes from residential, rural residential, all the
way through the residential zoning districts, mixed use, corridor, other non-residential
zoning districts, only to PF, which is public facilities.
Within this table, you can see that the uses are listed to the left.
And if there is a P associated with it, that means it's permitted, that that use can be
developed in that zoning district.
If there is an S, that is a specific use permit, which we will touch base on, will require
the Planning Zoning Commission for your recommendation, and ultimately City Council's consideration.
If there is a plus associated or next to the P or the S, there are additional site, sorry,
use specific standards associated with that requirement or that use.
So, for example, we use, let me see, medical office, for example.
Medical office in the MN zoning district is permitted but has a plus associated with it.
What that means is a developer or whoever is requesting to develop that medical center
will need to also go to Section 534H, again, because of the plus, and look at additional
use specific standards associated with that use.
It may be business hours, it may be a certain amount of, you know, a limit in their size
of development.
So, there's an array of use specific standards that go along with each of these different
uses.
So, just kind of give you an idea what the staff goes through when we get an application
or a pre-application and someone wants to develop a medical office and they happen to
be in the zone MN, we refer to this table and provide that information to them as well
as the use specific standards.
If they want to develop in the R7, for example, a medical office, and you can see it is blank,
they are not allowed, but at least have an idea of where they can develop or if they
choose to, pick a zoning district in which they would, you know, consider rezoning.
And, again, that is an option for them or they can choose either another property or
choose another use in which to develop.
Plan development, we see this as well, not as often.
The idea of a plan development is to allow some flexibility where the developer may not
have the ability to meet all the requirements, but is willing to provide enhanced design,
enhanced open space or any other land use concepts that would be better as far as quality
for the development.
In doing so, the PD gives us the opportunity, when I say us, the city, the ability to provide
that flexibility to said developer, but also require and ask for additional enhancement
in which the developer hopefully will agree and if we are in agreement, we can bring it
forward.
This requires a planning zoning commission recommendation and ultimately city council
consideration.
Just as an example of a plan development, this is off of Teasley in Robinson, it is
a PD.
It's a PD that has been in place for some time.
You can see that the area has fully developed.
This area right here, if you're familiar, there's the Kroger, there's the Sprouts over here,
and so this area is a PD.
It has mainly single family home, they've got a number of open spaces shown here, as
well as a commercial component at the corner of Teasley and Robinson again.
So this development came in with commercial, residential and open space.
We proved as part of the PD, the subdivision or the development, looking at not just the
layout, the drainage, but all of the other amenities that it offers to the city.
Specific use permit is what I spoke about earlier.
So again, there is an S associated with that use.
A specific use permit is required and really it's just an opportunity for staff to review
the land use that's being proposed in order to develop or to identify any potential impacts
that it may have on adjacent properties and if so, there's opportunities for the Planning
Zoning Commission, the staff as well, and ultimately City Council to provide or ask
for conditions so that it would mitigate whatever impact that may have come up associated with
the review.
For example, if there is a traffic issue, there could be a mitigation or a condition
to add a certain amount of lanes or right turn lanes.
That's just something that can be done.
There's a lot of other requirements or conditions that can be placed.
Again, that specific use permit allows you the ability to do so.
This is a little bit more formal.
There's also obviously the PD that offers you to provide those additional enhancement
of those requirements, but this calls it out specifically in that table of allowed uses.
So that's why it's sort of dealt differently.
Again, this does come through the Planning Zoning Commission and your recommendation
is forwarded to the City Council.
With a specific use permit, we require the applicant to submit a site plan, a landscape
plan, and any infrastructure analysis as well.
We want to make sure that the specific use permit fits and is able to comply with the
requirements of the Denson Development Code, Criterion Manual, and other codes associated
with development.
Because once it's approved, the site plan, the landscape plan will be subject to de-ordnance.
It would be binding.
That's the word I was looking for.
It would be binding, and any development that comes in would have to comply with the site
plan, with the landscape plan.
Now there are opportunities to deviate, but not much.
There's about 5% that you can deviate in terms of open space, landscape, any site design
requirements.
The applicant can deviate 5%, but anything more than that, it would have to come back
to the Planning Zoning Commission and ultimately again City Council.
Environmental sensitive areas, we talked about the alternative ESA plan already.
We do have a number of ESAs that are identified in our ESA map.
Cross Timbers Upland Habitat, riparian buffers, and other water-related ESA, and the undeveloped
flood plain.
Those are all identified in our ESA map, and as development comes in, and again part of
our pre-application conference, if they show any encroachment or any building over ESAs,
we let them know that that is not allowed, or there are certain mitigations that you
need to comply.
If they, in their efforts to develop the property, want to continue with that encroachment, the
alternative ESA plan is an option for them.
Again it's not guaranteed, it is still a process, and there is information that they share and
we also provide that will either affect how they move forward or not in terms of how much
they can impact.
So the idea here is to limit the impact to ESA as much as possible, but still give the
opportunity if there is a way to do it, the ability to develop their property again without
fully increasing the impact to the ESA.
This is the map I'm referring to.
This is a screenshot of our ESA map, and you can see that the areas in green are your upland
habitats, the areas that are in the lighter purple and towards darker purple and blueish
color are your riparian water related habitats.
So you can see that the city of Denton has a number, or a lot of areas within this area,
within the city that is, that have ESA.
Again, any development that encroaches or impacts an ESA designation will not be allowed
or have to go through the alternative ESA plan.
All right.
Next is our subdivision applications, preliminary plat, final plat, replat, and vacating plat.
As part of a House Bill, House Bill 3167, a couple sessions ago, a bill was passed in
which the city, the approving body, in this case the Planning Zoning Commission, which
is the approving body for these plats, has 30 days to consider a plat.
That means when they submit it, the staff has 30 days to review it and get it to you
before that 30 days.
If for whatever reason it does not, it automatically gets approved.
We have not had that opportunity or that situation before happen, but we tried very hard to make
sure that we schedule our applications, our submittal applications, so that we have the
time in which to review the applications.
And given the 30 days, there is about two reviews built in.
So the applicant comes in, has a review, we provide comments, one review, they have another
opportunity to resubmit, we then review and then provide comments again.
By then, if they haven't addressed it, then, you know, we have to bring it to the Planning
Zoning Commission.
And if they haven't addressed all their comments, it's a recommendation of denial.
They have the option for a one-time 30-day extension.
Most applicants do take that option, because if they do not, and say the Planning Zoning
Commission denies the application, the denial is basically given to the application.
They can resubmit that application after it's been denied, but would have to pay half the
fee in which they submitted that application.
So say, for example, a preliminary plat, say it would cost, you know, let's say $5,000.
If it was denied by the Planning Z, the applicant has the opportunity to resubmit, and when
they resubmit, they have to pay the $2,500.
So they should take that 30 days, but hopefully by then, they have addressed all their comments.
So the idea here is to get through their application in a timely manner, and as less amount of
reviews as possible.
I'll go through the preliminary plat is really the very first stage in the platting exercise.
It's just to overall plan the area, site layout, identify where the infrastructures are, identify
any access and the like.
In between the preliminary plat and the final plat is civil engineering plans.
You get a little bit more finer details, a little bit more analysis, and then that turns
into a final plat.
That information is then put into a final plat, and again, both the preliminary plat
and final plat are a Planning Zoning Commission consideration, approved with conditions or
denied with reasons.
We also have replats where a plat of a property is already platted, and the applicant wants
to subdivide that.
In order to do that, they would need to apply for a replat.
So that is where that comes in.
We also have minor replats.
Any subdivision of four or less lots can submit under a minor plat, but anything more than
that would have to come in for either a final plat or a minor replat, that is.
We also have vacating plats, which we don't do often, but when we do, it does come through
this board, and it is the Planning Zoning Commission's final decision.
You've all seen plats, and we obviously have several in our backup this afternoon.
The main things that we're looking for here in this final replat is really, obviously,
the location of the plat.
What are the encumbrance in terms of easements or dedications?
What are the lot dimensions in order for us to identify if it fits the zoning district
dimensional standards?
Other administrative needs or requirements include a north arrow, approval block, a legend
in order to read the map, the other most important thing is the title block in which it provides
the information of each of the final plats that you receive, dedication, and then a meets
and bounds legal description.
Again, important to establish the boundaries of this plat or a plat.
All right.
Before moving forward, are there any questions related to the type of applications we've
already discussed, platting, SUPs, rezonings, or comp line-up?
Yes.
Christian McDade.
Yeah, I just need you to go through something for me.
Yes.
When you were talking about the 100-year plan, the FEMA 100-year plan, I really don't
understand that.
Is that something you can walk me through, because that comes up in the area of town
that I live in, and they ask me questions about it, and I have no way to tell them what's
going on?
Sure.
Obviously, FEMA is obviously the jurisdiction that controls the floodplain within the United
States, and so they have a map that shows where those 100-year floodplain or 500-year
floodplain and then our floodway, so really the floodway is where water runs, and then
the 100-year floodplain is the area outside of that floodway where in 100 years there
could potentially be a flood, and so they've mapped that out and put it in a map that we
refer to as well when we look at any development, so any development that comes in, we want
to avoid the floodway.
We want to minimize our impact on the 100-year floodplain, and we also have a 500-year floodplain
that they've identified on a plan that, again, in 500 years there'd be a flood, most likely
not happening within 500 years, but the 100-year floodplain is more likely because it could
happen within 100 years.
Is there a certain, I mean, if that individual wanted to look into that, I mean, what department
would they go to to get that?
So we have a floodplain administrator in the city, but our drainage department, again,
they would obviously work with them.
We also have the opportunity to have maybe some of our engineers to look at some of their
questions, but we'll definitely start with either a call to the development services
and see if we can try to answer it and then ultimately direct them to our drainage engineers.
All righty, thank you.
Okay, so stage three, that is pre-construction.
These are all, you've gone through the zoning, you've gone, if you even needed a zoning,
you've gone through the platting stage, you're ready to start the construction or the next
phase of your development.
In order to start either the public or the private utilities, there are needs for these
documents or these contracts in order to protect the city's interests.
Before anything is done, a pre-construction meeting is held to, again, to identify what
fees are necessary, what areas of work can be done in order to move forward, and at the
end, after the pre-construction meeting, after all that's been discussed, a notice to proceed
is provided and they can start working on their development in terms of installing utilities.
Of course, that usually goes in prior and then following that, the building permit,
which is stage four, construction permitting and inspections.
So during the construction, there's obviously onsite inspections to make sure that the roads
are laid out, the paths are established, any change orders, follow-up questions.
The building permit is reviewed and issued.
Again, this is all building code related.
There's nothing to do with the development code.
It is reviewed under a building safety department.
They have their building codes, their fire codes, electric codes.
So there's a number of codes that anyone that has to or wants to develop in the city would
have to make sure that they comply with those codes.
Once it starts to develop, it starts to be constructed, there are onsite inspections
and then ultimately, any questions that needs to be addressed will be done during the construction
stage or phase.
And then finalization, obviously there needs to be an inspection, final walk-throughs,
punch lists, and for those that have built a home before, you know that that's something
that is often done towards the end to make sure that everything is done to code into
the specifications.
There's a final walk-through and ultimately, the inspector giving the project their final
review inspections will then, we will issue a certificate of occupancy in which they can
now occupy the building from that point on.
Okay, so that was basically the application of the development review process from pre-application
all the way through platting and then building inspections or building permit review.
I wanted to pause there and again ask if there are any questions on the overall development
review process before I go into comprehensive planning.
Again, I know most of you have seen a lot of the applications, but I just want to offer
to our new planning zoning commissioners if there are any questions related to application
types, processes, or anything of the like.
Commissioner Pruitt.
Yeah, just one.
I know in the last few years, we've gone through a cost recovery model for many of the applications.
Yes.
Are the pre-development and the pre-construction meetings, is there a charge for those or are
those offered free?
Those are, there are no fees associated with it, no charges associated with the pre-application
or the pre-construction.
Thank you.
Ron, to that end, it might be complicated to do in this one, so maybe I can add it to
the matrix for another planning session, but I think it would be interesting to have a
developer come in and talk about their end of the process so that there's a totality
of context of how the project's walked through because there might not be any costs associated
with the city, but they are incurring engineering costs, planning costs, all those services
to understand there's a pathway that's happening with the city, but on the back end, the applicant
is doing a lot of significant work.
It might be helpful to understand that level of work that's happened behind the scenes
on both the city and the applicant side before it comes to P&Z.
No, I think that's a great idea.
I think understanding the full development review process from both sides is important.
Great.
Thanks, Ron.
Okay, so we'll go into comprehensive planning.
I'll just share a quick story.
When I joined the city back in 2005, gosh, it was almost over 15 years ago, I was hired
as a senior planner to work on our comprehensive planning.
At that time, development review was obviously the main thing, and it still continues to
be the main thing, is really what really drives the city, but in my heart, my passion is really
comprehensive planning, and so what does that mean?
What is comprehensive planning?
So I just listed a number of things that I feel is comprehensive planning and how I've
used that in the city of Den, in what I've done.
Obviously implementation of the comprehensive plan, when I first joined the city, the comprehensive
plan that was done was done back in 2000, 1999 specifically, so it had been already
five years and already implemented.
There was a lot of actions and strategies in that comprehensive plan.
ESA was one, the tree preservation was one that kind of came out of that comprehensive
plan, so a lot of work was being done to implement that, so I just wanted to make sure that we
carried that forward as well, or carried forward the comprehensive plan.
We'll talk a little bit more about comprehensive planning as we know that there is a comprehensive
plan update currently being done.
We'll get to the details of that in later slides, but again, just to emphasize that
the comprehensive plan is the overarching document in which we, the city, and when I
say the city, the City Council, the staff, the Planning, Zoning Commission, and other
boards and commissions should refer to in order to understand what the city's vision
is and make sure that we're implementing that.
It is a very broad and very comprehensive plan.
It does have a lot of information and we'll talk about that.
It can be taken one way or the other.
I think the most important thing to take out of the comprehensive plan is that the community's
vision of what the city should be and how we accomplish that can be a number of different
things, but if we pay attention to the vision and what we want to see the city to be, I
think that would make our jobs a lot easier.
With that, area plans are also comprehensive planning.
It is, again, a guiding document, but it's a little bit more refined.
It's a little bit more down to, say, the 10,000 elevation as far as looking at an area.
You get a little bit more defined boundaries, defined uses.
You're working with certain folks specifically in that area.
The illustration I have here is the Oak Gateway area plan.
Out of the comprehensive plan, the larger overarching document called out for neighborhood
university compatibility areas.
Well, what does that mean?
We wanted to make sure that we establish a way to provide more opportunities for these
areas to develop in more of a compatible way.
We know that there are neighborhoods and we know that there are universities within the
city, we've got two, three if we count one downtown.
But the area surrounding the university is what the future land use called out as a neighborhood
university compatibility area.
So taking that direction, we started the Oak Gateway area plan and some of you were actually
part of that effort and we came up with recommendations and identified the areas that you see here
as those areas that are applicable to those recommendations.
We first started with the north part of the area, north of the university, but we soon
found out that the issues that we're having in the north were also happening in the west
as well as to the south and to the east to a certain extent.
So the area is what you see here.
It is a large area, but again, it is an area that has similar characters, attributes and
issues and we hope that we've developed some recommendations to address some of those issues
and concerns.
Neighborhood planning is another set under comprehensive planning.
We try to work hard with our neighborhoods.
We meet with them as often as we can.
There are established neighborhoods such as Sedna and Dena and East Oak.
There's also others that we don't have, does not have an established area, but we know
that they're there and so we try to work with them.
Our community development department also works with these neighborhoods.
So between community development, ourselves, the police department and other departments,
there's coordination between all departments in order to help and again, back to what we're
here for is really to improve the quality of life of our citizens and neighborhood planning
can do that as part of that effort.
Population projections, we want to know where we're going to be, how are we going to grow
and again, it goes back to the comprehensive plan.
If we want to be as big as we want to be or do we want to be able to manage that growth,
that's going to dictate our population and understanding that population growth is important
because that in turn establishes our infrastructure needs, our budget needs and the like.
So population projection is important.
Coordination with local and regional entities.
As we grow, also does our universities, our county, we need to make sure we're working
and growing with them, DCTA, all of these entities are important in an effort to make
sure that we're all on the same page and we share the same vision for our city.
Coordination with other departments.
The comprehensive plan is not just planning, it involves all other departments.
I mentioned community development, the police department, you know, transportation as well
as infrastructure and utilities, the water, waste water, all of these departments must
understand the conference plan and use the conference plan, but we need to work together.
So part of the comprehensive plan effort is to make sure that we're coordinating everyone's
plan as we move forward.
Updating plans and codes.
Our plans are always, are going to be outdated once we adopt them and we want to make sure
that we are in line with the existing conditions, what's happening today.
So the current comprehensive plan was adopted in 2015, it's 2021, we're already six years
into it.
There are a lot of things that are still valid, but there are certain things that need to
be improved on.
So we're looking at that as part of the comprehensive plan update.
Annexation plan, we started this back in 2010, 2009, the non-annexation agreements is a result
of what happened with the annexation plan.
We were looking to annex property, however, there were folks that were given the opportunity
for a non-annexation agreement and that's why we have those today.
It was supposed to last five years, that it got extended another five years and then as
I said earlier in October of last year, the council extended it for 20 years.
So the plan is to bring those properties into the city for the reasons that they're completely
surrounded by the city and so the services that we provide already are provided to those
areas, therefore we feel that it's necessary to bring those into the city.
And then special studies and projects, projects that are fun, some projects that are just
needed.
Parking studies, wayfinding for example, is another project that I was able to work on.
So studies like that are always needed and then again, small area plans or area plans
is something important that we hope to see more of in the near future.
I won't go into this, I think most of you already know this, but for those that are
not familiar, the comprehensive plan is again, the plan that's overarching, has the vision
for the city.
It manages growth, it promotes reinvestment, improves the quality of life, we've heard
that a number of times, but it really is subdivided or broken up into 10 elements and these are
the elements from land use to economic vitality, community character and urban design, what
our public should look like, our public areas should look like, parks conservation environment,
mobility, housing, public safety and services, infrastructure and utilities and as you can
see from this list, there's a lot of departments that are involved in this list or these elements.
We all play an important role and we all work together in order to make sure that the vision
that the city has established complies or is consistent with those actions that we take.
The comprehensive plan is made up of goals, policies and actions, so there are goals that
basically sets the general direction, policies in which how we establish that and what decision
makers use in making decisions and then the actions that help implement those policies
and ultimately achieve those goals.
Again, those are all within each of those elements.
Each element has a set of goals, policies and actions again in order to achieve the
vision that is set forth.
The comprehensive plan sits sort of again overarching, it applies to the various elements
and you can see under this illustration that the plans or documents under each of those
elements all again fall under the comprehensive plan.
So you see the mobility plan, you see the parks and rec and trails master plan, you
also see capital improvement plans all are under the purview of the comprehensive plan
and again the hope is that it's working together in succinct and that the vision is met.
I think some of you have seen this already.
When it comes to development review, the comprehensive plan plays a role as well.
When you look at zoning cases, area plans or site plans, you also want to make sure
you're looking at the comprehensive plan.
Coming off of that, any infrastructure or utility improvements come from again starting
with the comprehensive plan but also could be informed by an area plan or site plan and
then all the way up from building plans to certificate of occupancy, all of which fall
under again this illustration.
As I said earlier, we're in that phase of the comprehensive plan update.
It's been six years, going on seven, just want to make sure we reflect what is going
on today and hearing from what we've heard so far, there are things that are already
in place.
I don't think we need to amend it as much but there are certain things that we want
to address and we are working on them as we speak.
Initially our scope was to have our public, I'm sorry, the adoption of the comprehensive
plan in October, however, due to the opportunity to have more in person meetings, we have scheduled
public open houses in the month of September so we're working on that now.
That meant that the adoption would be extended, which is fine.
We feel that making sure that we hear from everybody and have the opportunity to get
input not only virtually but also in person, so we've scheduled a number of those meetings
coming up again in September, potentially in October, and so therefore our schedule
has been shifted down a little bit to November, hopefully with the holidays, not past December
and hopefully within this year we'll have an adopted comprehensive plan update.
And that is it.
I appreciate the opportunity and if there's any questions or any other information that
you would like to hear from us, again, this is really to benefit you all and as Haley
mentioned we've got a series of boot camp topics to discuss and hopefully that helps
you guys in when you make decisions in terms of the applications that you see come forward.
Any questions?
>> Any questions or additional topics you'd want to see?
Ron I have a couple.
I mentioned the developer presentation as being helpful.
The other one, and I'm looking at the schedule and maybe this is embedded somewhere so correct
me if I'm wrong, but what would be imminently useful and I have found in my own experience
to be useful is a breakdown of the resources that are available to planning and zoning
commissioners, especially maps.
So going over flu, preferred growth plan, mobility, zoning, those types of maps, as
well as the GIS system where we can do the interactive overlays so that the commissioners
know where to overlay a flood map onto a road map, as well as the resource that allows for
individuals to go and look at current projects that are outstanding, that map, just a breakdown
of those resources, those maps, because oftentimes staff will use flume and it would be helpful
to have an anchor point of what that is or a LOMAR or those type things.
>> Right.
And all of those are great points and just quickly I know Cody Yates with our department
presented at one point of all the different maps that are available online, the interactive
maps, and we can certainly do a similar presentation, kind of refresher and show you where those
are on our website.
If there are ones that you need a little bit more details, we can go into that as well.
I heard the FEMA map was one that we probably need to focus a little bit more and hopefully
Haley, you got some of the other ones listed on your notes.
>> Yeah, I think we can definitely come up with that and maybe even incorporate that
with our next topic on zoning, show where some of those maps are available and how to
use them.
>> And if Cody's presentation was a video, just send out a link to that, I think would
be maybe the most useful of time.
>> Sure.
Yeah, we can do that.
>> Any other questions or additions for Ron?
Awesome.
Thanks for the presentation, Ron, most helpful.
The next item of business on our agenda is to clarify and work through our agenda this
evening.
There are no minutes to consider, so we'll jump right into item two, items for individual
consideration.
Haley, you're listed as the first one with PP21-0014.
>> Correct.
I think Ron is probably getting that pulled up.
So the first plat on the agenda tonight is for the Primaris Service Corporation.
This is one that's recently had a zoning change that some of you may remember located on the
north side of town near Barthold and I-35 north.
There we go.
So you can see their preliminary plat here on the screen just for a single lot for a
future warehouse and office campus type development.
They are requesting an extension.
As outlined in your backup, staff is recommending denial at this time due to a few remaining
outstanding comments, so they've requested that extension which could be granted to a
date of August 18th.
Unfortunately, we don't have another meeting in early September that would fall in the
30-day range, so they would get that two-week extension with this.
And I'm happy to answer any questions.
>> Any questions for Haley?
All right, seeing none, we'll move to the next item, 2BFP21-0017.
This is Julie Wyatt's item.
>> Good evening.
Julie Wyatt, senior planner.
This is a final plat within the Robeson Ranch neighborhood.
It is consistent with the detail plan for Robeson Ranch and the preliminary plat that's been
approved.
They do still have some outstanding comments they need to work through, so staff is recommending
denial of the request.
However, we don't have any objection to their requested extension, which as the previous
item would be August 18th.
>> Great.
Any questions for Julie?
All right, seeing none, we'll move to item 2CPP21-0015, and this is Ron Manguita's item.
>> Yes.
Chair, members of the commission, this application is for preliminary plat for area just in the
airport area, sorry, south of Jim Crystal and just north of the airport.
The applicant just submitted preliminary plat, however, their comments, there are still comments
that are outstanding, specifically related to drainage and gas well-related comments.
Therefore, staff is recommending denial.
However, the applicant has requested an extension, a 30-day extension, and again, as mentioned
earlier, because of the schedule, the date certain would be August 18th if the commission
were to accept the extension.
>> Great.
Thank you.
Any questions for Ron?
Okay.
That ends our items for individual consideration.
On the public hearing front, when we're in regular meeting, this item is being requested
to be postponed, but I will open the hearing and ask for a motion to extend to a date certain
of the 18th?
>> August 4th.
It says that there.
I can read.
Sorry.
With that, that concludes our agenda for this evening.
I will close the meeting at 6.06.
We'll be back here at 6.30.
Thank you.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Planning and Zoning Commission regular
meeting for Wednesday, July 28th, 2021.
Seeing that we have a quorum, I'll call the meeting to order at 6.31.
I just want to let the record show that Commissioner Smith is not with us this evening.
The first item of business this evening is to stand and provide a Pledge of Allegiance
to the U.S. and Texas flag.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for
which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Under the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the Texas state for which it stands, one
nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The next item of business is the items for individual consideration.
The item is item 2A, PP21-0014, with Haley Zagurski presenting.
All right, I think Julie is coming down to pull up that presentation, but just very briefly,
this is a preliminary plat for a single lot for a commercial or light industrial type
use.
It will be an office campus with some warehouse components.
At this time, the plat does not meet all of the requirements, so staff has recommended
denial for the reasons outlined in your backup, however, the applicant has requested an extension
that could be granted to a date of August 18th, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
Thanks, Haley.
Any questions for Haley?
Seeing none, we can do a motion.
Commissioner Anderson?
Make a motion to postpone to date certain of August 18th.
Date 18, and just to clarify, you wanted to deny the motion to extend the 30 days, got
you.
Well, recommend the postponement to the date, right?
Yep.
We're good.
You again, I was saying, yes.
Yep, we're good.
Commissioner Ellis?
Second.
We have a first and a second to deny the application and grant the 30 day extension to a date certain
of August 18th, 2021.
Seeing none, I call for a vote via roll call.
Commissioner Pruitt?
Aye.
Commissioner McDade?
Aye.
Chair is an aye.
Commissioner Anderson?
Aye.
Commissioner Ellis?
Aye.
And Commissioner Cole?
Aye.
Motion carries 6-0.
The next item is item 2B, FP21-0017, and this is Julie Wyatt's item.
Good evening, I'm Julie Wyatt, senior planner with the City of Denton.
This is FP21-0017.
It's a final plat for a residential subdivision within the Robeson Ranch development.
They do have a couple of other items they need to correct before staff can recommend
approval.
However, they have requested an extension and staff has no objection to that extension
to the August 18th meeting.
Great.
Thank you.
Any questions for Julie?
Okay.
Commissioner Ellis?
I want to move approval of the applicant's extension request to a date certain of August
18th.
Great.
Commissioner Anderson?
Second.
We have a first and a second to deny the application but approve the 30-day extension to a date
certain of August 18th, 2021.
Is there any discussion on this?
Seeing none, I call for a vote via roll call.
Commissioner Pruitt?
Aye.
Commissioner McDade?
Aye.
Chair is an aye.
Commissioner Anderson?
Aye.
Commissioner Ellis?
Aye.
Chair carries 6-0.
The next item is item 2C, PP21-0015 and I'll invite Ron McGuida for presentation.
Thank you, Chair, members of the commission.
This is an application for Pilmer Platt for an area south of Jim Crystal, just north of
the Den Airport.
Due to items or comments not fully addressed by the applicant specifically related to drainage
and gas well, the staff is recommending denial of this Pilmer Platt application.
However, staff has no objections to the requested extension, which is to grant it to a date
certain of August 18th.
Great.
Thank you.
Any questions for Ron?
Okay.
Seeing none, we can entertain a motion.
Commissioner McDade?
Were you raising your hand?
Nope.
Gotcha.
Commissioner Ellis?
I'm going to move approval of the applicant's extension request to a date certain of August
18th.
Great.
We have a first.
Commissioner Cole?
Second.
We have a first and a second to deny the request but approve the 30-day extension to a date
certain of August 18th, 2021.
Is there any discussion?
Seeing none, I'll call for a vote via roll call.
Commissioner Pruitt?
Aye.
Commissioner McDade?
Aye.
Chair is an aye.
Commissioner Anderson?
Aye.
Commissioner Ellis?
Aye.
Second.
We have a first and a second.
Any discussion?
Seeing none, I'll move for a vote on the 30-day extension request to a date certain of August
18th, 2021.
Is there any discussion?
We have a first and a second.
Any discussion?
Seeing none, I'll call for a vote on the 30-day extension request to a date certain of August
18th, 2021.
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