Apr 12, 2016 City Council on 2016-04-12 4:00 PM

Good afternoon. I wanted to welcome everyone to this Denton City Council meeting on Tuesday, April the 12th, 2016, and we will now proceed on to agenda item one, which is work session reports, and we do have a quorum by the way, and now there we are. Everybody's present? We'll go on to agenda item 1A, which is Receive a Report. Hold a discussion, provide staff with direction concerning streamlining the city right-of-way and easement acquisition process for time-sensitive projects. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll ask Paul Williamson if he would present this item for council's consideration this afternoon. Thank you, Paul. Mayor, council members, appreciate y'all's time this afternoon. Today we're going to talk about a process of... I would maybe characterize this as it's streamlining, but it could also be characterized as compressing our typical right-of-way acquisition process for a couple of projects that we're ramping up on right now. Those projects being the 2181 utility relocation project and also the US 377 Fort Worth Drive utility relocation project. Both of those projects are, for us, are ramping up basically in the same time frame. We've got engineering occurring and surveying occurring on both those projects simultaneously with two different firms. And one of the things that for us is that our typical right -of-way acquisition process does typically go between two and four years. We've experienced that on projects of late. And those kind of roll out in kind of a serial fashion where we get the surveying done and then we come back and we get title work and we roll those things out and as the appraisals are performed and we make the offers, they kind of run in a sequential process. And it really, for us, it's about, you know, how much manpower that we're alloc ating to that process. And it's really more of a serial way that it flows. And it 's happening while the project's being designed. And so that's the way we've typically done those. And for these two projects we're proposing something just a little bit different because we actually are constrained by when TxDOT needs to let these projects on both of them. They're both really very similar. And typically when we make our offers and we start working a project that we will, as we come to, if we come to an impasse with any particular property owner, we'll bring a discrete request to the City Council to authorize imminent domain for that particular tract. And we'll bring it in, we'll discuss it with City Council, and we'll typically we'll work toward being able to get the authority to acquire that whatever land rights we're needing and we 'll proceed through the statutory processes to make those acquisitions. And those time periods, again, they run serially. We'll, you know, they kind of maybe once over two or three council meetings one might come up. And what we're bringing forward here is that we're thinking that on these two particular projects, we, one, we're really focusing a lot of energies toward compressing time. We're working diligently now on a weekly basis to get all the land title work and surveys and get all these things in a very compressed period of time. And so what we're looking at is is that we're focusing on possibly making, getting those offers floated out there as many as we possibly can to the land owners that are going to be affected by these. And these two particular projects, they're easements. So they're not fee purchases, they're just going to be an easement along the frontage of these tracts in various locations where we need to relocate utility lines out of the right-of-way where they're going to conflict with typically it's the drainage catch basins or some part of the highway project that makes water lines and sewer lines conflict. And so really what we're looking for here is just an understanding that you're going to be seeing on future council agendas if how this is received is it will end up bringing kind of almost in a batch format maybe three or four five or six discrete request when we get to that if we get to that point where we're not going to be able to make settlements or negotiate any kind of terms with any particular property owner. So in these two projects instead of just basically the normal course of the life of a project where we're working these things in a serial process now we're looking at kind of almost parallel where we're going to be putting a lot of man hours out there engaging the property owners and identifying the ones that we're going to be able to make settlements with and then the ones that are going to be require that extra effort and the extra energy to get those land rights acquired. And so that's what we're here wanting to give you basically a heads up is that you're likely to see in the coming months because of the the constraints that we're under kind of an expedited approach to booking these land rights. I like that we're trying to kind of compress this but what does a discrete request actually mean? Well we won't be bundling like it will we will be looking at on a tract by tract basis like a we won't be coming at and saying okay there's ten properties in a row and we're asking for authority for all ten properties at the same time we'll have to so you might have five ordinances you're looking at but they're all going to be coming at you at the basically the same meeting. Okay. But they're just going to be kind of a spate instead of one every once in a while. And now I mean we go into these projects very helpful that we're going to be able to negotiate and settle with every property owner. Paul talking specifically about 2181 the tight time constraints is that because it was it was kind of in the plan for TexDOT and then that funding got pulled back and then it was back on with a pretty definitive early start? It's been my understanding on this particular project that you know the the energies that TexDOT was putting into their design had been kind of tied in tied out. It's you know they I know that that particular design has been on on board for could be 15 years and so it's it's gotten differing levels of energy and then and then now they're you know that I think they've gotten to the point on both of these projects where they either they they've got their plans to a percentage of completion where they can actually release them for utility relocates and that's really the thing for the city is the thing that we've always had to kind of wait on TexDOT as to when they got their plans to that percentage of completion where they're not going to change anything dramatically which would affect our relocation design so we can't really put our resources into their our design until we get a good commitment from TexDOT and that's where we are on both these projects now. Thank you. Thank you Mayor. Because of our discussion at the Mobility Committee meeting this afternoon I understand about the time-s ensitive nature of some of these because of funding that might be running out that we lose that funding if we don't act within a fairly timely fashion but I want to balance speed and expediency with thoughtful deliberations and I'm a little bit concerned about that and and and trying to think of it in terms of past experience and I'm thinking if we had maybe five or six properties in a row that we needed to acquire and we discovered that one of the acquisitions was going to be so difficult and was going to potentially be so costly through litigation and difficulties that we might decide to change the route but we've already acquired several of the other properties and this causes me a great deal of concern that that that we're going to get in a bind by having acquired a number of other properties but really not be able to continue forward with a route now on on these two particular projects I don't think that 's an issue but but are you just proposing this for these two projects are you proposing a streamline process for all future processes I think these these two are the ones that are right in front of us and the ones that are getting our attention the the McKinney Street project is that's that's the next one right and so that's out there and certainly we want to do everything we can as a group to make sure that there's not a lot of float or drawn out to any of our processes so we're always looking for ways to try to you know compress the time and one of the things that is in your backup and John Davis spoke about what in articulated was that you know days on a project is equates to money material costs absolutely so we're mindful of that and you know so we want to employ and put the resources on these projects where we where we do have you know looking at the bottom line on that but you do understand my concern about the other part of the bottom line if we if we acquire a bunch of properties and realize that route's not really the most viable route given some of the roadblocks that we have with other property acquisitions and actually we actually discussed that yesterday one of our project meetings is that the going ahead and getting this initial engagement basically with all the property owners even ahead of making them offers and and and bringing them the physical documents that we would need we're gonna we're gonna make those early on engagements with our schematics and really and work to establish that dialogue with the property owners so we can understand where they are and if and if we if we need to revisit a particular design we'll have a we'll get a jump on the curve on that so that that particular part of the process would probably lessen the likelihood of the scenario that I described okay thank you thank you Mary well one of the things I I think could be a pro of this concept is in some cases take mail for example we're looking at a particular land case a couple years ago and now we're looking at something else two years later and so I always feel as a council member that I'm kind of losing the bigger picture as I'm looking at kind of just individual one-off properties and even from a perspective of thinking through what our authorizations are what we're thinking about in terms of negotiations there is something about having a more comprehensive scope that I think could be beneficial to us thinking ahead but I just want to clarify what this does so it sounds like this is simply instead of us getting something on a pace of one to two a council meeting it just means we're gonna get more council meeting but other than that is the process very different no no it's just gonna be it's gonna be more and like I said we're gonna actually have like I'm hiring a new person we had a person retire at the end of December and I'm actually got a new hire coming on board early part of May and basically that person's gonna be dedicated to 377 that's gonna be their project welcome to Denton here's your project and so so you know that that's the kind of on all our other projects you know we've got our real estate staff and we've got 20 or 30 projects going at any one time so we 're really looking to focus on these projects so I guess my other question is and this harkens back to Joey's question about a discrete item and what that meant because on that first bullet point it sounds like what she answered to him was you're still gonna see these as separate agenda items that first bullet point seems to give the indication that all these are gonna be put into one action item we're not gonna we're not gonna really be able to do that just because to be able when you say in a single agenda item on that first bullet point I guess that's that that means on a single agenda yes correct not item okay thanks so I just want to clarify what Kevin just said so I mean as I'm reading that I had the same interpretation as you did so let's just get down to the specifics let's say we're operating under this paradigm and we have five projects a through he can't count that fast a through e and do what yeah okay that's good good idea so they come to us so on consent say it's on consent typically these are on consent so does that mean a through e will be on consent agenda item a authorizing eminent domain for a through e or are you saying that there'll still be five consent agenda items for each one of these pieces of property these would actually be on that portion of the agenda that are they're called out that's somewhat like a hearing okay so so that and there would be five discrete ones but it would be on one project okay all right okay that's good and there's nothing that's changing we're still conforming to the statute on eminent domain it's just a clumping together yeah yeah and just to give get the council some advance notice that that we are changing basically kind of our internal processes and that they're going to be coming with with a high order of frequency if we get to that point I mean it like said I'm very optimistic that we'll be able to typically easements are or as it comes to negotiating land rights they're just less obtrusive int rusive to a property owner especially along a text on highway they're they're pretty implicit and and in both of these corridors text dot has already acquired the right of way that they they need so just about every one of the property owners that we're going to knock on their doors have text out has already visited them all right questions if y'all had any yeah that that yeah that will be repeat that repeat that comment for the record the the authorizations for final offers will be embodied in the ordinance requesting authority to file eminent domain so how is that different from our current procedure they well the current the current procedure is that the the authority that we got back in 2013 it also it encompasses offers and final offers in in the authority but since we are since we since we're if we get to that point where we 're getting the ordinance for eminent domain just as a matter of course we 'll include that the final offer in there to kind of bundle that now when you say the ordinance in 2013 where you gave authority yeah that that's just the the one that we that was for offers to give the authority to make you know make it offers on projects okay now is that was that just related to the electric electric transmissions projects and things like that or was that overall utility projects and street projects that are impacted by the delegation in light of the multiple takings because of the high volume of work that we've been doing so this will still be in play as we work through these projects that Paul is referencing so it's it's still out there and we will still continue to use this but it's my understanding too that the limitation in that is that if it's a certain percentage over appraised value that that that's the limiting factor of that authority is it which I think if we were to do an analysis I'm not so sure that probably most of the offers have exceeded that I think it's 10 or 15 percent of a set of appraised value is what that authority is limited to as far as designated to the city manager to execute right there is a specified authority it's 20% okay and it's a little different for DME projects and that's how we'll make our offers based on that authority it you know Senate bill 18 we wanted to firm up that we had authority to make offers to purchase and that were bona fide offers and so that's how we'll make all all of our offers to purchase on both of these projects and linear projects but in no way does this circumvent a property owners rights to a commissioners hearing to move forward I mean in no way does this circum vent no any of that process it doesn't rob them of any rights it doesn't reduce a time frame that's that's prescribed by law in other words it they still have the same rights and privileges prescribed by law as before yeah and and I would say probably the the the main differences is it like in our prior projects you know we've the the lead time and the the courtesy time and the interactive time with the property owner that is has accrued over those projects where you know we we work out in calendar days like well we haven't heard from that property owner in 45 days therefore we're gonna go ahead and I mean we're going to get on the very next council agenda right for eminent domain we've those have kind of precipitated as they really kind of needed to for the project in this particular these two particular projects we're gonna be watching the calendar as much as we're gonna be interacting with the property sure okay all right yes Councilmember Rodin it also occurs to me that part of streamlining as we're thinking about the potential of having ten items before us from a closed session point of view that could significantly increase our the time we would need to get through those so I'm just asking the question if there's a way to think through streamlining how we get that information perhaps even ahead of time to review to be able to flag for what other sorts of what issues we have so if we come into a closed session some sort of attorney client privileged backup which we typically don't have for these sorts of items right if it's the council's desire we can certainly give you some information in addition to what's in your council backup packet in the status report on Friday so we're glad to do it just suggest that maybe we think through how to make that streamlined as well to avoid having look at that and as we identify issues try to give you as much of a heads-up and lay time as we perfect thanks anybody else any other questions seeing none you did do it in 30 minutes thank y'all thank you good evening I wanted to welcome everyone to this special called meeting of the Denton City Council it is 5 p.m. on Tuesday April the 12th 2016 if you would please stand with me if you're able to pledge allegiance to the US and Texas flag honor the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to the Texas one state under God one and in business I'll be coming down front we have a pro clamation come on up everybody with served in and mayors day of concern if you would introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the mayor 's day of concern sure I'm Pat Smith executive director of served in and I'm Tom Newell with the Denton Community Food Center and we are here to talk about the mayor's day of concern for the hungry which is going to be on April 25th and it's a community wide food drive that's the preceding week April 18th of the 22nd and it's really an opportunity for them to come together and to help multiple agencies that help people that were hungry to stock up for the summer when supplies tend to get low and really to make people aware about the struggles that many of our citizens face with the guarding hunger well I'm gonna sound like a broken record because I say this every time we have a proclamation like this but the city of Denton is such a great compassionate and caring community as evidenced by you guys here and what you stand for and what we're gonna be doing in the food drive and how that's gonna benefit people who have food insecurity in our city so thank y'all so much for just day in and day out helping those in our community that they really need the help this is a proclamation by the mayor of the city of Denton Texas off focus whereas the city of didn't recognize is adequate nutrition as a basic goal for each citizen and whereas no parents should have to send a child to school hungry no baby should be without the comfort of feedings needed for mental and physical growth and no elderly person's health should be jeopardized by lack of appropriate foods and whereas each day more than a hundred and nine thousand people in Denton County struggle with food insecurity I'm gonna read that one more time whereas each day more than a hundred and nine thousand people a hundred and nine thousand people that's almost the population of the city of Denton in Denton County struggle with food insecurity which means they do not know where their next meal will come from and in the Denton Independent School District alone there are 900 homeless children 900 homeless children ten thousand two hundred and thirty three students on free lunches and one thousand six hundred and sixty two students who are on reduced price lunches and whereas the Denton Hunger Coalition in partnership with Tarrant area food bank serve Denton and and other local organizations work to stem the rising tide of hunger in Denton and whereas every resident and business in Denton can help address hunger in our community by donating food to these organizations by dropping off donations April the 18th through the 22nd throughout the city at participating businesses schools nonprofits and university locations which are available online and it served in dot org and so now therefore I Chris Watts mayor of the city of Denton Texas do hereby proclaim April the 25th 2016 as concern for the hunger day in the city of Denton and ask the citizens of Denton to join me in donating food to or volunteering for these organizations within our community that are serving those in need so thank you so much for what you guys do and your organizations and all the organizations in the city and how much did we have last year right at 30,000 pounds 30,000 pounds we looked to do better than that this year thank you all very much every citizen and business participate every citizen and business participate we go on next to our agenda item 3 which is public hearings 3a is hold the second of two public hearings for annexation of approximately 23. 24 acre property generally located on the weast west side of Gisling Road reading too fast approximately 700 feet south of Eastern University Drive US 380 this is a public hearing so I would now open the public hearing thank you mayor and because this is the second of two public hearings miss Bissett is going to make a very brief presentation and I'd like to ask our director of development services to do that thank you Amy it will be very brief this is a the second public hearing to consider a voluntary annexation the applicant is Randall Smith it is will be annexed as RDX I'm sorry RD 5x and then the applicant will come back in and ask for a rezoning this is part of the 2010 annexation plan and this property has an existing non annexation agreement on it until 2020 but because there is an intent to develop the owner is requesting annexation so that development can occur and the first reading of the ordinance will take place on May 3rd and the second reading on June 7 th and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have any questions of staff all right thank you this is a public hearing anybody wishing to speak on this agenda item please come down state your name and address your time will begin anybody wishing to speak on this item seeing no one I will now close the public hearing and there's no action to be taken on this public hearing agenda item agenda item 3b is hold the second of two public hearings to consider annexing eight properties identified by the following property identification numbers we've got DH 3 and several listed there and so I will now open the public hearing this is again the second of two public hearings but each of the properties identified here have been there have been non annexation agreements approved by the council for those so there but the public hearing is on here in case there are anybody in the public wants to speak to this item we do not have a presentation I don't think planned for the public hearing and I have no cards so in essence all of these properties listed for annexation all have non annexation agreements therefore not requiring or extending their non annexation agreements right all of the properties do have non annexation agreements we last week at the first public hearing gave the public an opportunity to make any comment they chose to make we did have one speaker last week upon the closure of this public hearing we will not be bringing back an annexation ordinance because of those non annex ation agreements so we can take public comment if there is any but there will be no further action until 2020 when those non-accession agreements expire okay this is a public hearing anybody wishing to speak on this item please come down state your name address and your time will begin this is a public hearing anybody wishing to speak seeing none we will now close the public hearing no action be taken on that agenda item brings us to our concluding items agenda item number four concluding items council members any concluding items for this council meeting seeing none thank you we've reached the conclusion of our agenda so we will now adjourn [ Silence ]