Commission work session. This meeting has been duly posted
and we have a quorum
present and I'm going to call the work session to order at
five o'clock. Our
first item this evening is going to be to receive
clarification of agenda items
and I'll turn to Manal for the presentation of those. Thank
you
Commissioner Strange. We're going to go ahead and start
with our plots. We have
two plots on the consent agenda and Mike Bell is going to
present them and
explain why they're before us tonight. Yeah these might
look familiar to you.
We've seen this plat before. It was previously approved by
the P&Z but it
turns out that the owner of this parcel here actually had
ownership claim to a
strip of about 30 feet in between where Alamo Place ends
and where they want to
extend it. So the developer had to go purchase that 30 feet
and now they've
included in this plat and are dedicating it as public right
of way. So the whole
purpose of this was just to dedicate this little patch a
public right of way.
But nothing else has changed. It is in the historic
district so they'll be coming
before the HLC to do any building permits. Mike would you
just go over
access on how these lots will be accessed? Yes sure. These
six plots here
facing Oak Street will get access directly from Oak Street
but through
shared access driveways and then these four lots in the
back will get each get
their own access off of the Alamo Place cul-de-sac.
Commissioner back. Thank you.
What is block A? Is that just for maybe future use to break
down into smaller
lots or has that got a purpose now? No the entire subdiv
ision is block A. So if
they were typical symbology for plats is if there's a road
way dividing two pieces
of property one be block A and one be block B and each lot
within that block
has a number. So block A lot 1 through 10, block B lot 1
through 10. Okay so they can be
broken down into smaller plots. Thanks.
For clarification. Commissioner Rossell. Were you speaking
specifically of the
larger lot 10 within block A? Yes. Block A yeah the big.
You're speaking
specifically of lot 10. Is there a reason why lot 10 is so
much more sizable? This is the
original owner and he's keeping it for himself. Gotcha.
Thank you Mike and then of course this is the preliminary
plot and then you have
the final plot that follows. We're just hearing them. We
also have we can move
forward with our SUP request a specific use permit for a
multifamily development.
Mike is going to walk us through this one and address all
the questions that
you may have regarding this request. Thank you. This is S-
15-9 for McKinney
Denton Apartments. It is a request for a specific use
permit so essentially it's a
request to allow this specific use in this district and the
request is for a
multifamily development. The developer is NRP Apartments.
They're doing this in
cooperation with the Denton Housing Authority. Will be 100%
subsidized units.
No market rate units as part of the low income housing tax
credit. The subject
property is shown here in yellow on the south side of McKin
ney Street. This is
Woodrow here to the west. It is a 16 acre site heavily
forested. You know McKinney
Street is currently a two-lane undivided roadway. To the
left we have the DME
substation. Some of y'all sell that SUP and then further to
the left is the
recently approved SUP for the majestic at McKinney Apart
ments. To the south down
here is property that's undeveloped but it's zoned for
single-family. To the west
there's actually a parcel in between the subject property
and then Mack Park and
it's undeveloped but zoned for mixed-use. It has the same
zoning as our site of NRMU.
And then to the north their collection of properties Mack
Park, the Summerwind
single-family neighborhood. There's a law office here. F
ountains of Denton
apartment complex, some single-family and then a small
patch of mixed-use zoning
that's also undeveloped. As I stated the current zoning is
NRMU. This whole site
used to be with the 2002 citywide rezoning was all NRMU 12
and in the past
we had a developer come in who wanted to develop the site
in 2008 and he rezoned
it all to NRMU and actually had an SUP for multi-family
approved but he never
developed and so our code says if you didn't develop within
two years it's
expired so that SUP has expired and now that's why we need
a new one. Completely
new developer, completely new applicants, completely new
project.
This is the site plan here. I'll break it down for you in
just a minute but
there are 11 apartment buildings that consist of 322 units.
They have two
community centers and some amenities, business center,
fitness center, pool,
after-school program. The applicants for Denton Housing
Authority or the
representatives for Denton Housing Authority and the
developer will go into a little bit more
about the programming. They should be here for the regular
session so if you
have questions about how their operations are going to run
I would like
to leave that for them and I'll answer the specific site
plan related questions.
There are several building types. There are three type A
which are three story
buildings with 30 units each. Two type B buildings also
with three stories with 30
units each. One type C three stories with 12 units. Two
type D buildings two
stories with 10 units. There are two type E buildings these
were very similar at
first. We worked with the applicant to change up their elev
ations so they were
they'll look different from the street and those are also
two stories with 12
units and then lastly they had to go vertical four stories
116 units in this
one and this was probably their biggest change from their
original application
because there are a large number of trees which are going
to in a minute but
they had to go vertical so they could preserve the amount
of trees they needed
to meet our tree code. And lastly there's two amenity
centers shown here and here
as well as they did provide 35 bike racks one for each
building and then
they also provided some enhanced sidewalk along the street
which I'll go
to in here in a minute as well. I'm not going to show you
all the elevations but
these are generally what all the buildings are going to
look like. This
kind of design style with stucco and the stone and wood s
iding or hardy board
siding. Generally they'll all follow this design scheme. I
did provide the actual
elevations in your backup in case you have questions on
that. In terms of
access it is located off McKinney Street which is a two-
lane undivided roadway
owned and maintained by TexDOT. It's currently planned to
be widened to a
four-lane divided road. Current date is anticipated 2018
that could get pushed
back further. Because it is a, I should go back and say
that currently the
capacity of McKinney Street is about 9,000 trips per day
and recent counts by
the city estimated we're about 14,000 trips per day so it
already is kind of
over capacity as it stands but we do anticipate that once
it's widened it'll
hold about 24,000 which is enough to hold this development
as well as
Majestic and the other developments along McKinney. But in
the meantime to
kind of mitigate some of those impacts the applicant will
be required to
construct a left turn lane in this location to turn into
the site as well
as a right turn lane in McKinney and this aligns with the
future median
opening once it's widened. The purpose of this is that we
can keep the through
traffic flowing, people aren't stacked waiting to turn left
and people are
waiting behind them who intend to go straight. And the
secondary access is on
the west side this will be emergency access only. The
reason for that is in
the current state is just two yellow stripes on the road
and we want to force
people to use these turn lanes as well as they didn't align
with the drive
across the street. When the road is widened there'll be a
median here with
no median opening and so at that time it can be changed
into a full right in right
out for the residents to use. Like we said 2018 so it may
be just a temporary
situation. Here's the landscape plan a little. Can I just
ask you a question for
clarification purposes? You said that there was going to be
a right turn lane
and that was a condition that you're placing but I don't
see it in your
conditions here is it just the first one where it has to
substantially comply
with the site plan? No I believe in the recommendations at
the bag it states
there are four criteria. Are you seeing in recommendation
section? Yes. Number? Number three is the emergency access
but we do need to include this element as well.
Well turn lanes are required if I'm plotting. It wasn't
really something that
we they're gonna build now. The reason we put the western
access in there
for a condition is so that when people pull the ordinance
they know it's there
it's not hidden it's not a surprise if say this train
changes hands and another
developer wants to build it and they say we didn't know it
's had to be
emergency only. Well it's clearly written in the ordinance
everybody will know.
But you're saying that the right lane needs to be added to
the conditions? No. I
just want to make sure for a vote time. Because of the
requirements that they're
going to have to follow again this site plan is tied to the
SSUP so that is
reflected there and with the plotting and with the
engineering requirements they
have to meet that. What we're conditioning is the emergency
access that
it will be it's a temporary access and so should the
conditions once the
conditions change from McKinney Street there will be a
change and so when
people do research for recordation purposes they know what
happened with that.
Yeah it's important to clarify this is a requirement anyway
so we're asking you
to make it a condition but really we're asking for that
reason just so it's
stated in the ordinance everybody knows it's there but if
you don't approve the
condition it's a requirement anyway so it's really just to
benefit everybody in
the long run. Going back here's the landscape plan I'll
zoom in on this a
little bit. As I said this is a heavily forested site they
completely
redesigned their site a number of times to work with the
trees. Here in this
kind of light green are all the trees that are existing on
site that they're
preserving and they've clumped a large number of trees here
in the open space
around building F, around the playground and the pool,
along the open space this
area and along McKinney Street as well as they've
incorporated where they
can into the buffers that are required. You can see it as a
large amount
trees. Our tree code requirements are not in canopy acreage
it's by cal per inch
so this may seem like it's you know based on the entire
site being an aerial
looks like it's a lot of trees when they're clustered close
together there
may be a lot of inches right next to each other and so they
're meeting the
inch requirement even though when you look at it in an
aerial the canopy may
not seem like it's 20% or whatever does that does that make
sense to you? Yeah so
one of the questions I had... Commissioner Bruegel. Thank
you thank you Mr. Chair. So I had I
had emailed earlier today to ask specifically about the
trees and I think
I saw somewhere in the narrative that they were going to
exceed the tree
requirements for this development. Can you can you get into
that a little bit more?
Yes they are required to preserve a certain amount of trees
in cal per
inches based on the number of existing trees on site. They
can also choose to
to remove half of those if they pay into the tree fund but
they're not even going
to use that option they're going to preserve above the
minimum amount that
is required by our tree code and they design their site
specifically around
those trees because it would have been very expensive to
cut them down. They
could have took they could have cut down more honestly and
paid for them but it
was going to be very expensive. So the trees that they are
cutting down are
smaller and they don't have to pay for those or they don't
have to
mitigate? They do they do anything under six inches they
don't have to
mitigate but there are some between six and 18 that are
certain species that are
less expensive to mitigate than others. It's kind of a
complicated formula. I
can say that they work diligently to save as many trees as
possible. If we if
we want to I can probably delve a little deeper into the
tree preservation plan
that's actually the kind of next stage in the process we
didn't we didn't count
every single tree for this site today we just did inventory
and they just showed us
where they were saving. That really comes with the final
plat when we actually
dig down deeper in the numbers and give you an actual
percentage. Okay so you're
saying that they they're preserving more trees than they're
necessarily required
to with this and then with this the smaller trees they are
and whatever
trees they are cutting down they are paying into the tree
fund in addition?
Correct there's just preservation requirement and a
mitigation requirement.
They are required to preserve so many amount of trees for
certain species. They
are meeting that preservation and actually going to exceed
it. There are
other species where if you cut them down you have to pay
for them. It's not you
don't have to preserve a certain amount of them. If you cut
them down you pay for them and
all the ones that they are moving in that category they are
paying for.
Or planning back on site. And then the very small ones that
are less than six
inches those don't have to be paid? Correct. Okay thank you
. Commissioner Beck.
Thank you Chair. Let me get back on hers. Once they're in
there are they
responsible for maintaining the trees, making sure they're
trimmed properly, watching for
disease and stuff like that? Yes they are and they are
required to irrigate them for three years and
we can go out and do inspections on that anytime. Okay
thanks. Then maybe let me
show you the next slide here before if we have more
questions. So the light green
trees on here are what they're preserving from the existing
trees on
site and in addition to that they're also planning a
substantial number of
trees along the streets. They do have a 15 foot buffer to
the substation on the
east and a 10 foot buffer to the residential zoning on the
south. So
they're actually exceeding the tree canopy coverage
requirements for the
zoning district as well and the reason for all these trees
is our code requires
private street system with street trees for multi-family
development and so you
can see all the trees around the street that they in
combination with the
existing trees that they've provided. So it's very heavily
treed. They also saved a
bunch of trees along McKinney Street and kind of routed
their sidewalk through
them to make it more scenic and pretty and it's a little
bit wider sidewalk.
That was something that we kind of when we met with them
initially we said you
know there's been problems on McKinney with sidewalks maybe
a little bit
further east but you know it's addressed the problem here
as well. And Mike are
there? Commissioner Bruegel. Thank you chair. Oh I'm sorry
did I jump in Andrew?
You got the floor. Thank you. Are there are there many
trees on the west side of
the west side of that property? I don't recall seeing many
on the area. I was
just kind of curious. I'll go back to the area we can show
you. There's like it's
patchy right through here. Okay. So they're really
preserving the bulk amount
right here and what's great is a lot of times we see people
shoving to the
corner and they're not really usable. These guys actually
designed them into
their open spaces so the residents can use them. So we
thought that was great. Thank you.
I'm sorry Commissioner Bruegel. Commissioner Bruegel. Thank
you. I have a question about
new tree planting. It might be ignorant. What is the
requirement for a new tree? Is
this a certain inch that has to be planted or it could it
be a seed or how
does that work for new trees? I want to say it's a two inch
tree. I can confirm
that for you. You're required to plant a young tree that
way it grows into a more
mature size. Okay. Thank you. All right if there's no more
questions on the
landscape plan. Just the comprehensive plan does call this
area shown here in
black as moderate residential. That's a change from what it
previously was. It
was more neighborhood mixed-use and now with the compound
we wanted to add more
density downtown and within the loop and so this was one of
the few large
undeveloped areas in town that we could squeeze in some
moderate residential. So
that's why it changed. Also we have a center at McKinney
and Woodrow and a
center at McKinney and Loop and so just having a
neighborhood strip we could
kind of lead towards strip development. So that was kind of
the purpose of
changing this. Now moderate residential is typically single
-family six to twelve
units per acre but the DIN plan does say that apartments
could be allowed as long
as they're high quality design and maintained well. So it's
this one is a
little bit higher I think it's about 20 units per acre if
you you count it but
it's well below the 30 that's permitted in the current
zoning district that
they're entitled to now until the zoning is changed. So I
think it's a it's a fair
compromise between the two.
Just some considerations we did review the site plan
landscape and elevations
they are compliant with all requirements the DDC and no nu
isances are
anticipated. We did preliminary review of public
infrastructure and determine the
site will be served adequately with transportation, water,
sewer, drainage.
We talked on this a little bit but we did they did design
the site to reserve
existing trees. The minimum tree code requirements will be
met or exceeded and
again we'll determine exact numbers upon platting. That's
to be determined. They
did provide bicycle and pedestrian facilities. They
provided a wider six foot
side of Oklahoma Kini as well as 35 bike racks. It is
moderate residential but like
as I said it is a fair balance between the current zoning
and the future land use
plan. We'll be required to construct turn lanes to mitigate
any access or
mitigate any transportation issues until McKinney is widen
ed and we're going to
have that access point on the west to be emergency only.
Lastly the Dinton Plan 30
has a lot of providing your backup a lot of information
about the shortage of
affordable housing in Dinton. I'll let Dinton Housing
Authority can really
elaborate that a lot more so we have a big shortfall and
this site was was
chosen by Dinton Housing Authority for several specific
reasons. Again I'm gonna
let them elaborate on them on that more than I can but the
site was specifically
chosen for several reasons. Lastly we did like are they
going to do that
presentation here in work session or in it was our intent
that they be here for
work session perhaps they got caught in traffic or
something and are late but if
they come in maybe we can squeeze it in. Okay thank you. We
did send out notices
to property owners been 200 feet and the physical address
has been 500 feet. I did
provide you with the one response that we got today but
they didn't list the
address that was within 200 feet. I got that today so I'll
do a little research
and I could probably find out who it is but I don't have it
on the map because
the form was incomplete. We'll do a little digging on that.
Based on the consideration. Another question Mike. Was
there any feedback from
Majestic since they have been recently approved? I know
they're in the
500 feet but not the 200. I know they can't. I'm not aware
of any. Okay so no feedback from them
whatsoever. Okay thank you. And lastly just based on
everything I've covered and
the considerations listed in your staff report we do
recommend approval
subject to the following conditions. One that the site plan
shall
substantially comply with or that the development shall
comply with the site
plan landscape plan provided. The maximum number of units
shall be
capped at 322 units. In restating the western access is for
emergency access
only until the street is widened and the median is
installed. And lastly we would
like to add a condition that the building facades facing
McKinney Street
shall have a minimum of 60% masonry building materials and
that gables
windows doors and related trim may be excluded from this
percentage. That's
that's standard code language. Our minimum requirement in
the code is 40. We'd
like to dress that up a little bit on McKinney and do 60%.
And Mike we've
spoken to the applicant about this. That's correct. And
they're amenable to this commission.
I'll ask one other question on that. Is that similar to
what we did with
majestic or this above and beyond what we required of them?
I have to look into
that I'm not sure we did from majestic. I think they
exceeded on certain they
were higher. If I'm not mistaken. Yes. Okay follow-up
question. Why if our code is 40% are we
requesting that they do 60? To enhance the I'll show you
the sides facing
McKinney. So this is an example of a side facing McKinney.
What the comp plan
stresses is high quality materials for buildings and
moderate for apartments
and moderate residential. We initially met with them we
wanted to enhance the
entire side up to 60% and they said you know well they had
cost concerns with
the knob trees they have to save as well. And so we said
okay well I think the most
important side is that we get it on McKinney Street enhance
that visual
corridor along McKinney. Provide a little bit more stone a
little less stucco
and siding. So that was really the request. Well I guess
thank you for the
answer. I'll follow up my question again. If our code says
40 why are we requiring 60?
Mike if you'd allow me to answer that question. We have had
several meetings
with the applicant to discuss their elevations and we have
worked through
many iterations of elevations because the facade the front
facades there were
concerns where they weren't complying with the ordinance in
terms of relief
and providing that relief to those elevations. Secondly
when you look at the
congregation and the conglomeration of the buildings we
needed to provide the
additional relief and to reflect this as a prize project as
well. And we sat and
we discussed with the applicant and in order to provide the
relief especially
along McKinney Street we suggested we said could you
consider increasing the
masonry requirement and they looked at it and they thought
about it and they
were amenable to that. And that's why it wasn't staff's
recommendation saying you
must comply with this we actually had discussion on what do
we do with the
elevations how do we break the elevations up how do we
decrease the
monotony of the building elevations. So the code does
require that you have
relief in these elevations and it was just through
conversation that we came
up with the 60% so it was in constant communication with
the applicant.
If I can kind of just summarize I guess what I heard the
compromise to go from 40 to 60
has more to do with the elevation that they presented based
upon more of an
aesthetic how it overall looks and staff's opinion was that
there wasn't
enough relief and how the elevations were and so rather
than them redesigning
the project to provide that to meet staff's interpretation
or opinion of
that they elected to trade off to upgrade from 40 to 60
percent the
building materials and accomplish the look by upgrading the
materials rather
than redesigning the architectural part of the building. We
didn't want them to
have to go back and do numerous iterations just to try to
meet the intent of the ordinance so we
worked together to come up with a solution. I think that's
a good solution
and that answers my question as to why we required
obviously an entity that's
trying to provide services at a cost-effective manner to go
from 40 to
60. It makes us not in my opinion sound good to require
them to go from 40 to 60
when our code requires 40 but the explanation makes that
more to me
reasonable as to why that's taking place so thank you for
the explanation.
Commissioner Hertzmith. Thank you. First I am I'm excited
about this project just
because one it's in my neck of woods and two for someone to
put something next to
a substation you know is promising. My question is the and
just as an aside
because I think this maybe jump-starts that area what is
the access to that the
large area behind it but how does that become developed
what's the
access to it I see kind of a path on the other side so what
is that never eat
so the east side of the substation but I'm not sure how
that works. Sure and I'm
gonna pull up our mobility plan here for you because I don
't have a map big
enough far enough out but the short answer is that Dutchess
Drive to the
south is going to extend between lip 288 and Woodrow and
now provide the primary
access to those properties so I'll turn on the zoning so
you can see what we're
referencing so the NRMU here is our subject property it's
our site and if I
turn don't do that sorry if I turn on the mobility plan
here you'll see
Dutchess Drive extending to the south off from Woodrow to
look 288 and that
would be their primary access. And then another question so
they're putting in
the sidewalk does that get lost when they widen McKinney
and then replaced
what is the the plan for sort of putting in the sidewalk
McKinney's obviously
gonna go you know double its size I'm assuming that gobbles
up the sidewalk
is text art committed to not that we haven't say so I'm
just curious what's the the
plan after it's widened for the sidewalk correct me if I'm
wrong but I believe
the plans have a sidewalk in them that text out was gonna
build since there's
already be a sidewalk here they'll either move it or try to
design where
they can keep it is that correct girl so the plans are to
have a sidewalk either
way text on if they if this development come in text out
was gonna build it
well but I guess my question is will the sidewalk they're
putting in survive the
street widening that's that's a question I honestly don't
have the answer to it
may be impacted by the widening we can what's probably
gonna be more in fact
not the writing of the widening of the road but the
movement of utilities
further outside of the road when they have to remove some
trees to to do those
utilities but that's standard with any easement along all
our text off right away
Commissioner Rozelle thank you a couple questions about the
mobility plan in
terms of traffic it says in the information no date has
been set for the
widening of this project regarding McKinney I thought I
heard a 2018 was
this confirmed that text lots plans are always three years
out so the current
date is 2018 but they can typically push back and push back
and push back so no
firm date like no the design plans haven't been bated out
to contractors to
start building in 2018 that's just the tentative date and
then can you speak to
4,000 strips per day on a road over the capacity of 9,000
that sounds like a
significant amount to me is that deemed a significant
amount of extra traffic or
is that is that feasible I have a question because there's
a fire station
not a half a mile to the east of this property and if so if
there's a lot of
traffic build up on this road specifically that is the main
thoroughfare
for station two and so I have some concerns about how that
looks our
engineering manager is over here so he probably better to
answer that than I
would
the 4,000 excess amount of traffic it's not really a major
concern there is some
fluff when we say a street has a capacity of a certain
amount and the
actual traffic is a little bit above that the key issues
really is the
auxiliary lanes to keep that traffic away from the through
lanes and so when
we when we look at a development we look into that in terms
of possible
mitigation items to to compensate for the impact that they
're going to have on
those travel lanes and also on we also evaluate
intersections as well because
those are the major bottleneck areas whether it be that
turn lane movements
or the intersections so it's not a really a concern in
terms of the through lane
traffic in terms of capacity okay and I'm not sure this is
a question for you
or mr. Bell is the apartments required to have both a right
and left turn lane
on exiting because it seems like a left turn across McKin
ney could be created
back up so is there a way that someone could turn right
directly from the
property I didn't I don't know on the site map if it exists
in the property or
entering the property exiting so if someone's come out and
there's a car
needing to turn left across traffic with the car behind
them be able to turn
right instead of waiting or is there gonna be a backup into
the apartment
complex there will most likely be a backup I don't know if
you have a copy
of a site plan but there is there are two lanes exiting the
site one for right
turn movements and one for left okay perfect thank you
Commissioner back thank you chair first let me commend the
staff on the way they
put this together I had questions as I started going
through it and before I
got done they were all answered so excellent job and I
assume y'all always
do that but I just I need to highlight some kudos thank you
the only thing I
didn't find and I thought you're gonna hit on it when you
talked about the
widening of the wall and now I see the trees are gonna be
there too at night
that darkens that area are they required to do any extra
lighting along that walkway
for nighttime or is there ample lighting there now yes and
what we'll do at the
building permit stage it's a little bit too detailed for
this stage but we do
have requirements for lighting for pedestrian areas a
minimum of I believe
it's one of states of foot and a half one and a half foot
candles of all
pedestrian areas and so the street lights will be provided
either by them
or potentially by textile at some point okay good thank you
Commissioner Hatchbeth thank you chair and I think just to
touch on your
concern I I think well I know I know read that they're
putting a park in on
the property so I'm assuming that too they'll illuminate
the area for that
purpose as well just so their safety of their residents get
into the park so I
think a lot of that will be captured there as well if you
all just
information we have in our code a requirement for minimum
requirement for
where you have pedestrian areas sidewalks parking areas and
then we have
a maximum lighting at the property lines that there's not
too bright to impact
adjacent neighbors so that's the balance of the two all
right any other questions
for staff
that takes care of those I guess we have one other item it
looks like it's to be
continued yes the amendment to the razor ranch overlay
district that item will be
continued to the November 18th planning and zoning
Commission meeting do we need
to have a motion for that no course I'd already been taking
care of continued to
the next meeting we don't need to do anything on that
we're going to cover the project matrix or we're going to
come back up here to
the work session report if I can go back to the work
session report the
Commission would choose I just wanted to note that there's
an item to discuss
regarding the planning and zoning Commission city initiated
rezoning
committee we provide some informational information for the
PNC
specifically indicating or iterating what the roles and
responsibilities would
be Ron if you wouldn't mind just a brief two minute update
on what we're
anticipating and can be when we'll be convening and all the
sure thank you for
the opportunity really sounds like or looks like
Commissioner Rizal since
you're the only member that's up committee you can make all
the decisions
the opportunity tonight is related to let the Commission
know that we're going
to be meeting soon at that meeting we'll go over the roles
and
responsibilities we'll also select the chair and vice chair
and also start
beginning work on identifying some locations which staff
has already
developed some ideas and some locations that we would like
to target with the
help of the subcommittee we can hopefully move forward when
we meet at
that meeting the subcommittee will be making
recommendations to the planning
zoning Commission so that we come back with a rezoning
effort that the
Commission can then recommend to City Council for their
ultimate decision and
approval of that ordinance really don't have any more than
that maybe a question
to the Commission I may have to reach out to the individual
subcommittee
members to find out what time and date they would prefer to
meet I know some of
them specifically commutes from Fort Worth I believe so we
may have to
identify a date maybe coinciding with the planning zoning
Commission meeting
or maybe some other date that that we can all meet and can
meet on a regular
basis it may not be every or twice a month maybe once a
month however we can
decide on on those dates so okay really since they're not
here and except for
you I'll probably reach out to you all individually and
then we'll schedule a
time for the subcommittee to convene thank you okay
Commissioner Griggle
thank you chair are these are these meetings of the sub
committee going to be
posted in accordance with the Open Meetings Act and all
that yes okay yeah
that was it I just was just curious because it was only
three people but I
guess still has to be posted okay thank you
do we have anything else we're gonna close our work session
we can close it
unless the Commission would leave it open because the
housing authority shows
up to make a presentation okay we have food okay at this
time it's 5 35 and the
work session this time is going to be a pause for recess
and for food and we will
be back shortly thank you
it's 6 13 and we're going to be back in session following
our recess and I think
we have a presentation from the housing authority
thank you don't mind when you get started if you'll give us
your name and
address and anybody else that would like to speak after you
the same thing sure
sure thank you again mr. chairman members of the Commission
for this time to before
you tonight my name is Lance Vanzant address 512 West Hick
ory Street in in
Denton Texas I'm the representative of the applicant the N
RP group in
partnership with the Denton Housing Authority for this
project that mr. Bell
is summarized in his staff report and summarized for you
tonight as you may
know we kind of began our pre-application process in late
spring
early summer and filed our formal application in July for a
specific
use permit for our project on on McKinney Street in McKin
ney Denton
Denton apartments and we've been through several iterations
of our of our initial
plan one of the primary challenges that we'll have some
some folks here that can
answer specific questions if you have any one of our
primary challenges for
that side is if you've seen it at all you see it's a it's a
really a beautiful
forested area the entire 16 acre site so we've and we
wanted to utilize that to
our advantage to have a really a unique looking multifamily
project there and
protect as much of the forest canopy as we could that
presented some challenges
for our engineers and architects but after you know several
revisions we were
able I believe to really come up with a product that the
city and and the
clientele who will be served by the project will be really
proud of I think
that that was that was summarized well and in mr. Bell
staff report and that
was the one of the primary issues that we had to deal with
but once we once we
got through some of those issues it's been a it's been a
really good process
to go through I did want to thank Mike Bell and his staff
and a lot of the
departments who came to many of the review meetings it's
you know any
project of this size is fairly complex and we had a lot of
code compliance that
we had to get through and and and mr. Bell and his staff
and everyone involved
was just really went out of the way to if we needed a
meeting on short notice
we were able to get that and meet all our deadlines and we
just appreciate
them in working with us it was really a it was really a
good process and I know
that you're probably an important element of the staff
report that you
have before you you have a recommendation for approval with
four
conditions and just wanted to let the Commission know that
we're we're happy
to comply with those conditions so we're not we're not
asking for anything
inconsistent with what his staff is recommending I guess
and we have a
PowerPoint presentation here that I'm going to introduce N
RP's representative
Deborah Guerrero and and Sherry McDade with the Denton
Housing
Authority if either one or both of them want want to speak
to this and take you
through the project they can kind of describe the
partnership between Denton
Housing Authority and the NRP group so thank you again for
your time.
Good evening my name is Sherry McDade I'm the CEO for Dent
on Housing Authority
our address is 1225 Wilson Street I just wanted to tell you
a little bit about
the Housing Authority and what we've experienced with
affordable housing the
Housing Authority currently administers 1,526 rental vouch
ers and those
vouchers allow our families to search for housing within
the community we're
currently the families use those vouchers to pay about 30%
of their
income towards their renting utilities and we're about 95
to 98 percent leased
up on that program excuse me the Housing Authority also
owns and operates two
senior housing properties which is about 138 units total we
have a newly built
Renaissance Court which is a low-income housing tax credit
property that's 150
units that's on Roodale Street and if some of you may
remember that property
replaced the old Phoenix apartments that was there and
again that property is at
about a hundred percent leased up we've been continuing to
serve the community
for the last 45 years by providing housing and housing
assistance and this
summer we opened up our waiting list for one week and we
received over 3,500
applications for assistance over 1,700 of those applicants
or families had a
preference which is they were elderly handicapped or
disabled they were a
veteran they were homeless or they were a victim of
domestic violence and so as
you can see there is a big need for housing here in Denton
we continue to
look for ways to expand our housing stock and our programs
and one way for
us to do that is to build or develop affordable housing
along with partners
like NRP group they are a professional development company
that assist housing
authorities and building and developing affordable housing
and the main thing is
to building it's building quality affordable housing and
making it
affordable for low-income families and the community one
problem that we're
having with our section 8 program is when families are
looking for rental
housing it's hard to find a landlord that will accept the
voucher and then
once they find that it's hard for them to come up with
security deposits and
also for the rents to be within the fair market rent that
the voucher program
that will cover so this development will assist us in
helping those families but
also the many families that are on our waiting list and so
we just ask for your
support and your approval of our permit to do the
development and I'll answer
any questions that you may have. Commissioner Beck. Thank
you chair I just
like to make one comment I the Dent housing authorities
come a long way. Yes sir.
In fact I was one of the first section 8 inspectors back in
the early 80s. Norm
Schroeder was the director and we officed out of what's the
Cracker Barrel
store over on Bell and Coronado. I've heard that story. So
you guys have grown
and you've done an outstanding job. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Commissioner
Bruegel. Thank you chair. This is a really exciting project
it really is. Thank you.
Can you elaborate a bit on why these particular 16 acres
were chosen for the
site given that there are the challenges with the future
widening of McKinney the
fact that it's next to a substation that's a heavily treed
why this
particular site? For a housing authority to even be able to
find a piece of land
in the city of Denton that meets all the qualifications for
the low-income
housing tax credits that's one of the big things for us so
NRP came to us with
the site already in hand. The housing authority has for the
last five years
tried to develop other sites that we currently own here in
town and we've not
been able to meet the criteria for the low-income housing
tax credit to even
qualify for and so when they came to us and already had the
site that worked
much better for us. Another question too about the
attendance at Lee
Elementary and I see that Dr. Wilson you could have a great
lineup here of
letters of support great job. But I was kind of curious how
that might impact
the attendance at Lee Elementary usually when we see cases
of large-scale
projects like this there's something in the backup that
will say you know there's
going to be projected these many students at these
particular schools and
I didn't see anything that like that in the backups I just
wanted you to talk
about I'm sure you've been in conversation with the
principal there at
Lee Elementary how's this going to affect attendance there?
If I'm not mistaken
Lee Elementary is not the elementary school it would be it
would be Rivera
Tomas Rivera and and my developers do have some information
for you regarding
the school school district so I'm sorry. That's all right
and I'm sorry I got
that school wrong. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank
you.
Good evening my name is Deborah Guerrero I work with the N
RP group and we are
very proud to be in partnership with the Denton Housing
Authority on this
particular development and do I just press oh good and just
to let you know
a little bit about ourselves. Yes ma'am. My name is Deborah
Guerrero San Antonio
Texas 200 Concord Plaza Suite 900 San Antonio sorry. Again
I'm with the NRP
group my colleague Jason Arrechiga is here as well as our
entire team that
have been working on this development very proud of our
partnership with the
Denton Housing Authority. The NRP group we've been here in
Texas for over 11
years we've built over 10,000 units in Texas our company
itself was created
back in 1995 that's when it was founded but we got smart
and came down here I
was already here so they came to me but this is where all
the growth is in
southwest of the United States and we really felt like this
was a great
opportunity to bring in a quality company into Texas. Since
2004 NRP group
has developed over 2100 units of affordable housing in
partnership with
Texas Housing Authorities and we're very proud of that
because we provide not
only development services quality construction and quality
management and
as you know management is really the key to a lot of this
not only do you create
a sustainable development construction wise but then you
need to make sure that
it's managed properly. The good thing is that all three of
those entities are
under one umbrella. Again as Sherry just mentioned with
over 3,000 families on
the waiting list we felt that it was a great opportunity to
partner with Denton
Housing Authority why we chose this particular site it was
zoned with
the exception of course going through this
process for the specific use permit. It is its proximity to
amenities is
absolutely fantastic especially for the families living
there. When we did visit
with the school districts and in fact one of the commission
ers Miss
English here was was very instrumental in that. They were
very supportive I
mean they were supportive of it as long as we met the
characteristics that they
outlined and ordinarily just to answer your question on the
number of
school-aged children that usually live in our residence we
average about one per
unit school-aged children because we do see that a lot of
our families are young
families with kids that that haven't yet gone to school and
we have a lot of
seniors too so so that's why it averages about one per unit
. What we are proposing
over here on 2105 East McKinney are 322 units at a cost of
about 45 million
dollars in investment 44.6 but I'll round up. It'll include
one to four
bedroom units with rents ranging from 569 to 1,035 a month.
We do another reason
that this particular site was located is because of the
financing. It lies within
a qualified census tract which allows us to boost up the
amount of equity that
can we can receive to actually finance a community like
this. So that's another
reason that this particular site was selected. We as Lance
mentioned we've
been working very closely with your city staff to be
consistent with the city
code. We've taught we we worked really hard to make sure
that we were
consistent with the letter and spirit of your plan and your
guidelines and one of
our highest priorities was preserving so many of the
existing trees and we did
that in by where we located and sited buildings the way
that we had our
parking lots and driveways meander through the site and and
just I'm sure a
lot of other a lot of other ways that that Mike will go
into in more detail
later but we're very proud that we were able to to keep so
many trees and
honestly not only because we wanted to exceed the tree
ordinance but because it
makes for a nice property it makes for a nice place for
families to live. Sorry
we're also more than just housing as Sherry mentioned there
are so many
families that are really just looking for a great place to
live for their kids
so we provide more than just a roof over their heads. We
have a number of
amenities or it is a gated community we have a swimming
pool a health and
fitness center again the on-site property management we
also because the
Housing Authority and it was a priority of theirs added an
additional community
conference space an additional space for families to gather
together. We have a
children's playground, multiple laundry areas and again
that natural green open
space that's all complemented by the trees the the mature
trees that exist
there. We have a business center that is available to and
equipped with Wi-Fi
computers and printers that are available to our residents
free of charge
and we also have a resident service program because again
it's more than
just housing it's about sometimes being able to help
families when they just
want to step up whether it's through financial literacy
whether it's through
computer training and one of our most important programs is
our homework first
program where we actually have somebody that's available to
tutor after school
every day and then even during the summer somebody that's
there so that
children are not left as latchkey children just at home
that they have
somewhere safe and that their parents know that they are
somewhere safe and so
we're very proud of our resident service program especially
the homework first
program and our community housing resource partners which
provides these
resident services all over the United States I'm sorry all
over the state of
Texas they actually connect with local entities and serve
as that clearinghouse
that referral service because nobody wants to replicate
what you already have
here we just want to connect families and people to all the
great programs you
have here this is a site plan that again I'm sure Mike will
go into more detail
about as we mentioned it's 16 acres 322 units the density
is at 20 units per
acre our parking ratio at 1.94 with a total number of
parking spaces 626 and a
total bike parking of 35 again community support because
that's absolutely
essential in in any development that's coming into
neighborhoods we we just we
just built upon the goal of DHA which was to meet the need
of working
families in the city of Denton and to provide quality
affordable housing
through their board meetings through meetings with elected
and community
leaders and a formal public meeting we provided information
about the
development and we've received letters of support from the
United Way friends
of the family Denton County MHMR and Denton ISD as was
mentioned previously
and and and as we mentioned the students the the children
of the residents the
students will be attending Tomas Rivera elementary school
Betty Myers middle
school and Ryan High School again we want to thank staff
for working with us so
closely and we are proud to be here as a member of a
partnership with the Denton
Housing Authority and we're asking the city of Denton now
to join us in
supporting excellent housing opportunities and we're asking
you to
approve our specific use permit and we actually have our
engineers and
architects here to answer any questions you might have as
well as anybody else
from the Denton Housing Authority and from the NRP group
thank you thank you
any questions Commissioner Beck thank you chair that those
rent figures you gave
this does that include any utilities at all or is that just
strictly rent that's
strictly rent okay but all the other amenities you were
talking about the
services and everything that's free I mean that's part of
what you provide
absolutely okay absolutely very good thank you not nothing
is at an
additional cost no parking no anything else Commissioner H
ussbaston thank you
chair I just have a general question I'm not sure if it's
but with respect how
will the once it's built how the is there a selection
process is it that
current residents will get an option to transition how's
that going to be managed
I'm going to let Sherry address that but just in general
though what happens is
because of fair housing everybody anybody that wants to
live there can
come and apply there's an application process and everybody
has to go through
anybody that's over 18 in any unit even if they're not the
name on the lease
they they have to go through a criminal background check
they have to go through
a credit check and they have to make at least two and a
half times the amount of
rent I mean that because these are for this is for working
families this is not
any public housing free housing I mean this is working
working families and
people and so so they'll they'll go through that screening
process now Sherry
can speak more specifically to how the vouchers work but
those vouchers are
counted towards the income towards that two and a half
times two and a half time
need a requirement for the rent a family who's a current
voucher holder they will
be able to move into this development but they would still
have to meet those
same guidelines and qualifications in order to move in so
it's the same
background check on everyone and we're not going to take
the first 322 people
from the top of the waiting list again it's whoever it's
open for anyone in the
community to apply for but Commissioner Hotspeth will be
able to go to them
though and market and we can specifically market along with
Denton
Housing Authority to those very families so that they know
the minute everything
opens up that they can come and apply how the opportunity
to apply probably
before other folks know about it sure sure okay thank you
sure yes
Commissioner back for sure thank you chair I meant to ask
you all ago will
y'all have an on-site manager 24/7 and what about security
yes there will be
on-site management at the property there won't be on-site
security but there'll
be there it's a gated community and so one proper one at
our property and
Renaissance courts we have a police officer who actually
lives in a unit so
that's something that we'll probably look into also yes we
have courtesy
officer programs and and some of our other residential
communities and that's
something we definitely would want to work with housing
authority to create
that opportunity great thank you very much thank you thank
you it is 633 and
that's our final presentation in our work session so we're
gonna close the
work session again at 633 and we'll reconvene in council
chambers thank you
good evening and welcome to the city of Denton planning and
zoning Commission
for November 4th 2015 it is 643 this meeting has been duly
posted in a
quorum and is present and I'm gonna call the meeting to
order and our first item
of business is going to be to give the pledge of allegiance
to the US flag and
the Texas flag
to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God
indivisible
liberty and justice for all
first order of business is going to be the consent agenda
and chair would
entertain a motion
the first from mr. Brubel would you like to make your
motion thank you chair I
move approval of the consent agenda items Commissioner H
odge but thank you
second okay I have a first and a second any discussion
saying none I'll call for
a vote on the board
motion passes six to zero that moves us to our public
hearings I'm going to make
a change in the order of our public hearings we have one
item item B that we
will hear first this particular item has been continued and
it will be heard on
our November 18th meeting okay with that note we will then
so anybody that was
here for that particular item just for your information
that will not be heard
tonight so if you're here for that item they will not be
heard tonight that will
move us back to our item a s-15 - 0 0 9 and I'm going to
open the public hearing
for that item and a column and all for presentation thank
you mr. chair I'm
going to ask Mike Bell our senior planner to make this
presentation thank
you been all mr. chairman members of the commission this
project is s-15 9 for
the McKinney Denton apartments the request before you
tonight tonight is to
consider making a recommendation to City Council regarding
a specific use permit
for a multifamily development on 16 acres on the south side
of McKinney
Street this is a multifamily project the African is NRP
group and partnership
with the Denton Housing Authority this will be a low-income
housing tax credit
development the site here is outlined in yellow you can see
it's undeveloped but
heavily forested it's a located along the south side of McK
inney Street Woodrow
Lane is to the west loop 288 is further on down to the east
it's located along
McKinney Street which is currently a two-lane undivided
roadway owned and
maintained by text dot we'll get into that a bit more in a
bit to the east is
the recently constructed DME substation and the recently
approved majestic at
McKinney Apartments that received its SUP approval a couple
months ago to the
south is some undeveloped properties owned for single-
family to the west is
Mac Park City Park in between the park and the subject
property is actually
another parcel it's undeveloped and zoned for mixed use and
to the north we
have Mac Park we have the summer wind neighborhood of my
law office the
fountains of Denton Apartments some additional single-
family and may believe
homes and some undeveloped mixed-use zoning property
currently the property
is owned neighborhood residential mixed use that's the
color here in red this
site as well as some additional parcels along with it were
originally zoned in
our mutual which is the orange you see here but in 2008 a
developer came in
with a multifamily project rezone the site to NRM you and
had an SUP approved
they never ended up developing and so that SUP has expired
this project is a
new applicant a new developer and now they're coming in for
the SUP under the
current NRM you zone this is the proposed site plan and I
'll go into a bit
more detail but it does include 11 apartment buildings 322
units two
community centers some amenities including a business
center fitness
center swimming pool after-school program as well some
additional amenities will
get into there are a number of building types the first is
the a type which is
three stories and 30 units will also be to type B which are
also three stories
and 30 units one type C building which is three stories and
12 units to type
D buildings which are two stories with ten units and then
to type E buildings
which were two stories and 12 units there was some
discussion in the work
session about the 60% recommendation that we'll be talking
about for the
purpose of that really was these two buildings up front
were very similar
when we started and we've kind of worked with the applicant
to differentiate with
them to meet the intent of the code and part of the 60% was
to help us meet that
intent and then lastly we have a type F building which was
a which is a four
story building with 116 units this was probably the biggest
change from their
original plans they they went vertical so that they could
save a large number
of trees in this area we'll get into that with a landscape
plan but that's
the reason for four stories there also as I said there are
two amenity centers
one here and this is a laundry slash community room they'll
also be providing
35 bike racks and enhanced sidewalk along McKinney Street
this is what a
typical elevation would look like each building type has a
different elevations
but they'll all be generally consistent with this kind of
design scheme which is
the masonry masonry here siding and stucco wall again they
vary in height
and in dimensions but they're all generally this design
scheme access to
the property will be from McKinney Street it's currently a
two lane
undivided roadway owned and maintained by text dot it is
planned for widening
in the future the current date is estimated at 2018 but
that may change
it's estimated that the capacity of the road and current
condition is around
somewhere around 9,000 trips per day city counts estimated
around 14,000 but
once it's wide we will have capacity for up to 24,000 so
maybe in a few years
we'll have that needed capacity but in the meantime we're
proposing some
mitigation measures here and that's at their primary access
on the east east
side of the property we will require a left turn lane into
the site and a right
turn lane into the site and this lines up with the future
median opening once
the road is widened the purpose for these turn lanes is so
that people
entering the development can can sit and stack without
blocking the through
traffic as they move east and west across McKinney Street
the secondary
access is on the west side and it will be an emergency
access only the reason
for this is we really there's without a median just the
center strap people
could cross illegally to the left or cross illegally coming
into the side
crossing those stripes so to prevent that and to force
people down to the
turn lanes and help help the traffic situation this will be
emergency only
once Teasley or excuse me once McKinney is widened then
then there's a median
placed here they can change that from emergency access to a
fully operating
right in right out for use by the residents this is the
landscape plan I'm
going to a bit more detail we the most challenging part of
this side was it was
without doubt the the tree code requirements that is heavy
very heavily
forested side the trees shown here in green are the
existing trees that
they're planning to preserve and these tree these trees do
exceed the tree code
requirement for preservation and mitigation you can see
that they
clustered preserved a lot of trees clustered inside the
type F building
inside the open spaces and along McKinney Street so that
they're not just
preserving the trees but there's preserving them in areas
that are useful
to the residents in these open spaces and create a unique
field unique tree
site in addition to the trees are preserving they're also
adding quite a
bit a few new trees the one shown in the darker green and
those trees include a
15 foot planted buffer adjacent to the substation and a 10
foot landscaping
strip adjacent to the single-family zoning to the south as
well as a large
number of what are being named street trees along the
interior streets of the
development future land use plan for this area the site
here is kind of
outlined in black is for moderate residential moderate
residential's plan
for primarily residential uses primarily single-family from
6 to 12
units per acre but it does the comp plan does say that
apartments should be
allowed if they're of high quality and maintained just to
summarize some of the
considerations we talked about here staff did review the
site plan
landscaping elevations and all are compliant with the
requirements of the
DDC we don't anticipate any impacts on adjacent uses we did
review preliminary
infrastructure and deemed that they will be adequate under
future conditions we
also found that the the athlete design the site to preserve
the existing trees
and our minimum tree code requirements will be met and we
wanted to stress the
design aspect of how they designed around those trees
really made it a solid
effort they also are providing some bicycle pedestrian
facilities by
providing enhanced sidewalk along McKinney as well as 35
back bike racks
within the site although the side is moderate residential
under the current
zoning they can add up to 30 units per acre so this is kind
of a good
compromise between what is currently zoned and what the
future might hold to
mitigate some of those impacts with McKinney in the interim
they're
required to construct those turn lanes at the primary
entrance and make the
secondary access emergency only again once it's widened
that can become a
full fully servicing right in right out access and lastly
didn't plan 2030 has a
lot of good good things to say about a lot of good
information about the
shortage of affordable housing and in it's one of the goals
of our comp plan
to help increase the the amount of affordable housing that
we can provide
in the city and to go in more information about this
project in housing
authority and how their program in the side I will I will
recommend you reserve
those questions for didn't housing authority I think they
're very well
equipped to answer those questions we did send out notices
to property owners
than 200 feet and physical addresses within 500 feet as of
creating this
presentation I did receive one notice in opposition you'll
receive that in your
backup they did not provide an address so we have to do
some further research
to see exactly where they were we did receive that notice
and it's been
provided to you lastly based on everything we've talked
about and the
requirements of our didn't development code staff does
recommend approval of
this SUP subject to the following conditions first is that
it shall
substantially comply with the site plan and landscape plan
attached second the
maximum number of units shall be 322 units third has
discussed the Western
access shall be emergency access only until McKinney Street
is widened in the
median is installed and lastly that building facades facing
McKinney Street
shall have a minimum of 60% Mason you building building
materials gables
windows doors and related trims may be excluded from this
percentage
calculation with that I've concluded my presentation and I
'll stand for any
questions the applicant is also here to answer any
questions
any questions for staff thank you Mike this is a public
hearing if there's
anyone that would like to speak we'll need you to fill out
a yellow card I
would invite you if you would like to come up and speak
please fill out a
yellow card especially if you're going to speak in
opposition we would like to
get that card in as well
I'm gonna go ahead and call first card that we have hope
you got that back in
the back this is a public hearing I'm gonna call the first
card we have to
speak which is going to be I believe it is Rob or Bob Rain
er at South Locust
thank you mr. chair commissioners I represent the owner
that owns the land
immediately to the west of the desired property runs the
full length of the
west side and also the full length of the south side of the
property concerns
that they have are as they were looking at and I had very
nice meeting with mr.
Van Zandt concerning this and I presented the information
to them they
were a little apprehensive with the number of units being 3
22 with
approximately roughly give or take maybe as many as 1200
people could be out on
16 acres and they're going to be using one curb cut
possibly two after the
development or the widening of McKinney Street this
concerns our client my
client in that his property merely to the west might be
affected as far as
being able to get a curb cut on his property because of the
curb cut on Mac
Park and then this curb cut looking at the distances and
all we would be
violating the curb cut distances and we we can't allow that
the development that
we have is approximately 400 acres and that is south of
that of that about 135
of it is residential which is north of the creek and we're
looking at having
development being done and we've always looked at that
particular track as a
major arterial leaving of that property going on to McKin
ney Street we also are
concerned about the two back buildings that are four
stories if this is
approved we would like to see that those story four stories
be moved over to the
substation side since nobody's going to see that when they
have their yard built
and they're grilling and they look back and they see the
four story apartments
by having them moved I think it helps us with marketing
that we will be doing
with our residential developments as they come along that
primarily takes
care of what our concerns are at this time and I'd be glad
to answer any
questions that you may have just for clarification could we
get the map
pulled up and you would you mind pointing out which pieces
of property
you're representing happy to thank you
can you point it out that track and then would you also
just push that it's this
track also so does that help you all seen what we're
talking about now so
it's not only this one but it's also the track and that
runs the entire south
side of the property okay just for our clarification is
there one owner that
owns that or yes there is one owner okay yes yes ma'am
question commissioner
Dudowitz yes sir you mentioned the four-story building yes
I'm not
mistaken I think that's if I read the maps correctly it's
on the far east side
of this property but enough against the electric station I
hope that's the case
I thought I saw it on the south side when they were talking
could you clarify
please yes the only four-story building is right here
correct all right that was
my understanding thank you once again it there is it is a
budding on that south
side we'd like to see it moved a little further on the east
side so that it
isn't so that it is not as visible on the south side of the
property that we
have and I think I heard staff recommend that position
because it saves more of
the current trees on the property remember your comes your
presentation
right correct the applicant and originally had several
buildings here but
needed to go needed to combine them into one to save the
trees so this design was
you've been with landscape plan there's a large cluster of
trees here so it's
designed around those trees I also might add the benefit of
everybody's knowledge
we do have in our code of residential proximity slope
requirement for when
multifamily is next to excuse me single-family and this
does meet the
meeting exceeds the requirement for the minimum slope Mr.
Reiner and follow up
the plan development and to that west side is single-family
multiple family are
you talking about our track on the west side sir it's a NRM
you I believe zoning
as well correct thank you can I just ask for clarification
purposes are you
making an objection we are today or are you just seeking
clarification of some
of the items that you mentioned my instructions are to
object to the SUP
today I'm working with mr. van Zandt on some other
information and I'm sure that
I'll have that as soon this is is approved and I don't know
if it will be
or not but right now my instructions are we are not we're
asking for not
approval of this because of issues that adversely we feel
like adversely affect
our land which is around it and do you have something from
the owner just
showing your representation or authority to speak or their
their actual objection
I believe I furnished when we received the public hearing I
had the owner's
sign okay so mr. McCormick is the owner yes okay okay we'll
have that put into
the record thank you my pleasure
I think there's some more questions on certainly come on
Commissioner Rizzo I'm
not sure who the best person to address this question is
but you you brought up
the issue of curb cutting yes and that there might be a
fear that a curb cut
would not be permissible based on the the applicants
construction is that
correct and this is concerning our land that we have to the
west of this track
understood can someone speak to the requirements would that
be precluded
given the current curb cutting I'm not sure who could best
answer that I think
Earl Escobar can address that question
the city cannot deny access to a property to a public right
away so
whenever this property to the west does develop they will
be permitted access to
McKinney Street there is actually a proposed future median
opening on at the
intersection of Mack Drive and McKinney Street anyway so
that the ideal location
for this curb cut for this property to the west would be at
that median opening
lined up with Mack Drive to the north thank you our concern
on that simply was
there's more than one access for this land also Woodrow is
another one and
that was the concern that we've had with not obviously you
all but previous
commissioners and City Council we've had some issues with
curb cuts on tracks of
land because there is access elsewhere so the view at least
at that time I'm
glad to hear it different that it's quite possible that a
curb cut could not be
allowed on that track because we do have access to move
traffic elsewhere so I'm
glad to at least get this on record so that we can be
assured to have a curb
cut on this track okay well that fit attorneys without fit
legal counsel's
view you can put what you like on the record but you're
still objecting
correct even with that information that you just received
yes ma'am but that
didn't answer my question I'm sorry what was your question
does that with the
city staff making that comment do you feel that within the
city's third the
attorney legal side that a curb cut would not be denied our
track to the
West well I don't think that I can make that determination
here I didn't think
so either that's why we still object to it okay
commissioner back yes - thank you
chair follow-up on Commissioner Donahue which is question
the two areas you own
to the West and to the South it is your intention to build
single-family homes
was that my I find that whenever I make a statement like
that I've been in real
estate for 30 years I usually have to crawfish eat cold
crow something of that
magnitude will follow the zoning's that we have and right
now we're looking at
doing a residential use to the south primarily and then to
the west side
whatever the zoning and the market will let us do okay but
in residential use
multi-family single-family we'd love to get whatever we can
some of the
developers that we are currently talking to some are doing
single-family some
duplex multi-use like that just for the maximum use of the
land that we have okay
thank you my pleasure commissioner husband thank you chair
thank you for
your input I guess my question kind of is in line there's
no plans concrete
plans in place am I hearing that right and there's nothing
that you're working
towards so obviously this projects been in the works for a
while been up to
speed at some point early on but there's no plans for your
the party you
represent to build anything there's no concrete plans in
place we have no
contracts okay and what is your clients thought on there's
a substation right at
the back of your property as well and so I find that to be
harder on the eyes
than a four-story building that's that's well maintained if
you will would you
agree the substations on the extreme east side of the
property where this is
more this property is centered closer center to the bulk of
the land that we
have to the south of you so I'm sorry do you agree that the
substation I'm just
curious if what your clients position on a substation do
they agree that that is
more that's harder on eyes than a maintained building or do
you disagree I
can't answer that I don't know I would I would I would like
to interject
something about fracking at this point but I won't do that
either but the
substation obviously is something different from
residential's but I can't
address that fair enough thank you Commissioner Brigham
thank you chair I
have quick question for you I don't think I heard you state
your address for
the record oh I'm sorry it was 607 South Locust and Denton
76201 thank you and a
question for staff and for legal I guess we're tasked with
making a
recommendation on this particular project and I know that
one of the
things that we look at in in our final vote is how it will
affect the
neighborhood how do how does a future proposal go into it
because there you
just admitted there were there were no final contracts
there was nothing you
are not moving dirt yet to develop anything so I understand
your your
clients opposition and concern to a large development like
this but how
might that play into our final decision since this isn't an
established
neighborhood that were that this project would be affecting
this is a this is
somewhere down the line how does that affect you have to
work with the
property adjacent properties as they exist at the time of
the hearing so it
can't be a speculative thing that happens later on in the
future that's my
understanding as well yes and just to add on to that
Commissioner Brigham when we
receive a zoning change request a request for a specific
use permit we look
at the surrounding zoning we look at the built-out pattern
we understand the
compatibility of the uses and our analysis as you've seen
in your report
addresses the surrounding zoning and land uses it addresses
the compatibility
with surrounding zoning and those land uses but the report
goes further to
explain to yourselves and of course the community that the
analysis also
requires assessment of the current development code and in
this instance
Mike Bell also iterated that we have specific multifamily
development
requirements and standards such as if you know adjacency to
residential your
sloping requirements of that multifamily unit so that you
're not
literally leaning into the backyard of potentially of
existing residential
homes or if there is a single-family zoning designation
what if that builds
out in that manner so those interests are looked at in the
term in terms of
access and infrastructure those elements are also addressed
and we address them
with this site and obviously our DRC manager engineering
manager has also
indicated that we do not deny access to two properties and
there is existing a
median opening or curb cut excuse me so we look at all
those parameters and we
don't single out the site and just look at the site in a
vacuum of what's in and
around the area right that's very helpful thank you very
much I don't see
any other questions thank you for your time this is a this
is a public hearing
so I'll go ahead and call on Dick Kelsey
just a point of order just a second for the record do we
need to get something
else from this gentleman about yes actually sir could you
get with our
planning staff mr. Mike Bell I don't know if you've met and
let him know mr.
McCormick's company name or the name in which he holds his
property please thank
you thank you sir please state your name and address thank
you my name is Dick or
Richard H. Kelsey I live at 206 Richcrest Circle Denton
Texas now for last 48 years
we own the property which is immediately to the north law
office there's
approximately four acres in there about 80 percent 85
percent we believe of the
traffic that comes to see us comes from Denton downtown to
our property and turns
left into our parking lot if we cannot get some relief on
the proposed raised
median problem then people who are trying to come to our
property will have
to go almost an entire mile before there's a place to turn
around that's on
other than private property what what I'm addressed is I'm
in favor of the
project I think it's a great project something the city
needs it's been well
planned we did go to the neighborhood meeting and I was
pleased with what we
heard but they're going to turn loose somewhere around 300
or to 600 cars and
there is no way out of this to turn left into town there is
no light there is no
double lane there's no center lane to turn left you cannot
get out of this
property at 8 o'clock in the morning the traffic is already
backed up past the
fountain apartments on our East and you can't the people
cannot get out of Mack
Drive I can't get into our office property it's a mess and
what we would
like to ask you to do and I know this may not be
appropriate I don't know if
it is or not but if you could make some kind of notation we
would love to have
the two lanes put in east and west I mean would be fine and
we would like to
have a non raised median because if you could have the
yellow marked median like
we have on Dallas Drive seems to work well all of these
properties front on
McKinney and there are no backstreets there is no way to
get to any of these
properties without coming off of Mack Drive so if you look
at the actual if
we could pull up and I don't know how to do this sorry I'm
not very technical
staff will help you thank you want to see the over yes
there you can see where
the law office is the open area which is on the oh is our
parking lot if you can
see to the northeast corner of this property that and it's
across from the
fountain apartments that is the only access to this piece
of property and
there is not planned to be a light there how are these
colors going to get out of
there going to them and there will be a lot of them and if
you go right which
you can do if you think about you know that area you can't
get back to Denton
without going extremely up to north which would be Audre
line wandering your
way back that way or extremely south down to Spencer Road
and then that area
is an extremely difficult problem and what we would like to
have you do is
make the notation on this that that is a problem and do
what you can I know that
this is a state highway I know that there's a limited
amount of input the
city can have on a state highway however it's been my
experience before that when
you have something like this that you can get fairly good
cooperation because
we've got raised mediums all over town they create problems
number one the
maintenance issues the cost issue they plant them and they
die they plant them
and they die if you go down on Teasley you can look at the
stumps where they've
all been planted and now cut off it's a very big expense to
the city to build
and to maintain those raised those raised mediums so rather
than I understand you
can't just put a curb cut because we want a curb cut I
understand that but if
we had the center lane which was like doubt designed like
Dallas Drive where
you could mark your left turn areas that would solve almost
all of the problems
of all of the properties that are fronting on McKinney so
this is a major
problem I would ask you to address it if you can't address
it here if nothing
else at least make some kind of notation I have talked to
traffic for the city
we get a kind of attitude well there's nothing we can do
well that's what I was
going to point to you I think we have a gentleman here if
he'll raise his hand
mr. Earl Escobar yes and I believe Earl can get with you if
you'd like to get
with him obviously you've presented that he's here with the
city to hopefully
address your concern on the curb cut or the yellow striping
and that would be a
great point of contact for you on that item thank you very
much he was courteous
enough to call me back we have had a discussion great but
his basic attitude
is there's nothing I can do it's a text-up road I think it
's a text-up road
well I know from other experiences in town that there can
be input from the
city so you can't I'd ask the city not just ignore this
problem because if you
put those raised medians in that's going to be a continuous
problem whereas if
you put the painted medians in problem goes away and the
cost factor would be
much less thank you for your patience thank you sir
thank you chair I have a question of Earl please yes yes it
was stated that
you mentioned that there's nothing the city can do in what
reference was that
made and why I don't believe I said that there's nothing we
can do I just
informed him that is a text out right away okay the text
dot already has a
design for that road and it does show a median design and
so it's also my
understanding that you have conversations with text dot and
that you
with all people within the department are most noted to
have more discussions
and with text and other city staff members the city has a I
guess you can
call him a liaison and represents his gentleman's name is
John Polster okay and
so have you directed any anybody to him at all on this
issue I wasn't aware that
the citizen wanted to pursue a stripe I guess a continuous
left turn light is
what he's referring to versus a medium design not to put
you on the spot but
sure is this Commission has been been sitting through a
number of these
situations if we get thrown up against text odd issues
Teece Lee and Geyer High School and a number of other major
arterials and it's
become a constant problem and I've been very vocal about
trying to get someone
from the city to address us on the issues of the liaison
situation and what
we can do in certain circumstances and how we can escalate
issues that our
citizens bring to us where it goes it's a text on it's a
county's County Road
and these these issues are going to come up more and more
as we expand and there
are some other other things going on that have always come
up against this so
that's why I'm asking him put it on the record and there's
there's also talks
about the city possibly taking ownership and responsibility
for for McKinney
Street anyway from Woodrow to the east side of town or just
east of Ryan Road
Ryan High School and what's the I don't know what the
status is on that I think
it's could you find out and report back to us please thank
you
information to mr. Kelsey so they'll have another point of
contact right if
you'll take a look going east where we would have to where
people would have to
come all the way past this law office you can see there is
no place to turn
around it's not on private property unless you get into the
back streets and
then you'd have to get in front of us driveway or do a
circular turn at an
intersection none of which is a good idea thank you very
much thank you for
your input I'm sorry mr. Commissioner Hudson apologize
thank you mr. Kelsey so
I have a question I think and then but you first what are
your thoughts just as
a as a stopgap Matt Park is there to the right so assuming
I'm coming from Luke
288 trying to find your law firm and I see it I miss it
that is a perfect you
turn if you will because it's a straight shot I turn in
turn left and I can turn
out of there get back on the road and then make a left turn
into your law firm
and if I miss it going the other way then there's an
opportunity at the signal
light which is a few blocks down as a as a stopgap but my
question to I guess for
Earl or staff is when we say text on are we talking about
the future road that's
2018 ish and if so what is the what's what bridges the gap
between now and
then what's going to be there or is the city going to put a
fixture in until
Texan expands the highway may I respond to that
Commissioner husband yes sir if
you'll look it's actually double yellow all the way from
the light double yellow
line that is don't cross over it all the way from the light
all the way down past
us passed before Mack Park and so all these businesses that
you see on the
corner there where the light is on Audra and Woodrow yes
sir if you go east that
is all a double yellow line and people pull into those
businesses over the
double yellow lines right now okay just but people are
patient they just drive
around them on the right I mean people are very nice and
very courteous but
right now if you're trying to get out of Mack Park to go to
work either right or
left if the if the courteous drivers don't give you a gap
you cannot get out
of there thank you very much thank you okay this is a
public hearing well do
you follow up yes well no I didn't get a I was curious if
the tech stop curb
we're discussing is at a later date who's responsible for
the cut the turns
that will be affecting this property is my question I think
to answer your
question I think at this particular time there's there's
nothing for text I
believe in our presentation part of the improvements are is
for there to be a
left turn in line and then also a right turn in line that
are part of the
improvements for this particular project that were
presented in the
presentation if I'm if I'm incorrect please correct me on
that that's correct
the left turn lane and right turn lane will be built by the
applicant at this
time whenever they construct the apartment built being curb
or painted I
mean because that's the issue right if are they gonna put
in a curb no I think
at this point it'll be a temporary guy that's what I thank
you sure
Commissioner back yes Mike when you say the applicants
gonna create this left
turn they actually doing are they paying the city to do
that that development
loop will be responsible for the financial for the
financial but the city
will actually be doing the work no no they'll hire a
contractor okay work
okay so they'll be financially responsible to put in both
the left turn
and the right turn lines to serve their development okay
that kind of negates
my second part so thanks I don't see any other requests for
this particular
yellow card so we will move forward again this is a public
hearing if
there's anyone that would like to speak please fill out a
yellow card and come
down we have next Yolanda Vela at 2201 Geneva Circle and
she is in support yes
please come down and as you approach the mic if you'll give
us your name and
address and your comments and you'll have three minutes
thank you thank you
my name is Yolanda Vela Voral I reside at 2201 Geneva
Circle in Denton Texas
Mr. Chairman Commissioners I'm here representing the Vela
family we're very
excited about this project and you've heard the
presentation from NRP I'd like
to add a couple of things we've heard a lot about traffic
tonight I was kind of
curious myself and so I contacted the director of
transportation had a
little conversation with him he did say that TechStop has
this on schedule
McKinney widening for 2019 but he also stated that the city
was in fact in
negotiations and exploring the possibility of taking this
widening on
themselves for several reasons I can assume that's the need
of her sidewalk
and because we have schools and down that road I do
understand that the city
will have to take on the maintenance at that time but I
think it's much needed in
this area I do understand the issues that mr. Kelso has it
is a dangerous road
to drive I drive it frequently but I'm hoping that the city
will take this on
and I hope that you guys will support them in that decision
I also have a lot
of experience in presenting projects to the city and this
is an infill lot and
there's good reason why we develop infill lots and that's
for revenue I have
not kept up with any of the tax incentives that may benefit
this project
but I need to know for a fact that the ad valerian taxes
will be more than they
are now for a vacant piece of property I also know that the
city will benefit
from the revenues of this project DME water and wastewater
solid waste and
parks parks will gain some development funds for parks and
parks amenities that
are much needed in that area these are just a few of the
things on the list
that I've heard over the presentation tonight and I wanted
to add to that we
would as a family like to join NRP and asking you to
support this SUP we do feel
that it meets the spirit and the codes the DDC and we would
ask for your support
and lastly I would really like to thank all of you for your
time and effort in
our community thank you thank you for your comments we have
another card Lance
and Vans and 512 West Hickory in support thank you mr.
chairman just if I could
just briefly speak to a couple of points that were brought
up in the opposition
the first the first item that the adjacent owner had an
issue with were
the number of units and I'll just point out in that and I
'll try not to be too
repetitive I think some of these questions have been
answered but within
the within your staff report you'll see that this was that
the number of units
we have was well within range of the moderate residential
as indicated on
your future land use map regarding the curb cut we
obviously positioned our
curb cuts in a way as you saw from the site development
that would maximize the
number of trees we could save and just simply to be in
compliance with with
curb cuts there on to onto state highways this doesn't prec
lude any the
adjacent owner or any other adjacent owner from accessing
their property in
the future but I think as Commissioner Hudson and
Commissioner Brighill pointed
out any development that might occur on that property is
purely speculative and
we have before you tonight and an application that is in
full compliance
with the spirit and intent of your of your of the Denton
code and of your of
your development code we haven't asked for any variances
and we are not asking
for anything inconsistent with staff recommendations we're
willing to comply
with all the conditions requested by staff in their report
thank you very
much thank you again this is a public hearing there's
anyone else that would
like to speak please come down at this time
while we're waiting if anyone else would like to speak we
have some other letters
of support I want to just acknowledge those and read those
as part of the
record we have one letter of support from the Denton
Independent School
District from dr. Jamie Wilson a day in October excuse me
August the 12th in
support we have also from Denton County MHMR Center Pam Gut
ierrez letter stated
June 16th in support we have a third letter from friends of
the family dated
June the 3rd from Tony Johnson Simpson that is a letter of
support and we have
another letter from in support this is from Gary Henderson
of the United Way
dated May the 29th again this is a public hearing if there
's anyone else
that would like to speak please come down at this time with
a yellow card
I'm not seeing any additional requests to speak at this
time we're going to
close I'm sorry we have one other Commissioner Briegel no
please go ahead
and continue I'll wait for you to finish okay this is a
point of order I want to
confirm we're going to close the public hearing at this
time yep we're going to
close the public hearing at this time and due to some of
the letters that have
come in since this was originally before our meeting we're
going to need to take
a short recess 10 minutes 15 10 to 15 minutes max to do
some recalculations to
see how much opposition we have on this project so at 730
we are going to take a
short 10 to 15 me that minute recess and then we will recon
vene in these chambers
thank you
good evening we're back from our recess it is 745 and I'm
going to call on staff
to to give us their new calculations on opposition I'm
going to ask all
commissioners to make sure your mics are back on thank you
chair since we have
determined on break that mr. McCormick does own the
property to the west and
the south the amount of area that falls within the 200 foot
buffer for the
purposes of chapter 211 of the Texas Local Government Code
has exceeded 20
percent in its objection which means that that does call
for a super
majority vote and since we are missing a member tonight
that means all of the
people present would have to vote in favor for this SUP to
pass
Commissioner Bruegel thank you chair I am very excited
about this project for a
number of reasons first I would like to talk about the the
traffic concerns that
were brought up they're valid concerns but I would like to
remind this
Commission that we often approve developments along Teasley
even though we
have many traffic concerns along that road it also is a
text dot road where
uncertain when construction is going to begin and so I
would hope that we would
not single out affordable housing because of a traffic
concern whereas we
we regularly approve large housing projects along in a more
affluent part
of town so I just would like to put that out to the
Commission I think this
development does meet the requirements of the Denton
development code fact it
exceeds them in many ways though I am I will say I'm heart
broken to see the loss
of so many trees I am encouraged by the number of trees
that were saved in this
project you saved more than than we require you to in
addition planting many
trees along the perimeter of the property and in the
parking lots and it's it's
very promising so I'm very excited about that it is a it's
a good project
Commissioner Hudspeth and I served together on the
Community Development
Advisory Board for a couple of years in fact I think
Commissioner Hudspeth you
chaired it for a while I'm not correct yeah and and when we
go to these public
hearings prior to when we meet to determine how to allocate
these these
federal block grant dollars the number one concern we
always hear always is
affordable housing affordable housing and we there's
clearly a need in this
community this addresses this need it's just a drop in the
bucket I understand
that there are thousands more that are in need but it is a
step in the right
direction I'm in favor of this project and I would like to
make a motion to
approve it with the staff recommendations as listed in our
backup
Commissioner Dunwoody's I too would like to support this
this motion and and that
since we have to have a super majority that I find the
opposition has very
little little merit in with regard to what what we're
looking at here so I
second the motion I have a first and a second Commissioner
Rozelle thank you
chair I too echo the the excitement for this project I'm in
favor of it and and
sure hope that it passes tonight what I wanted to just go
on record stating as
the council looks to approve this as well is whether or not
it's it's noted
or acknowledged there's a measurable homeless community
that currently resides
in that property even if on Google Maps you can kind of see
the trails that the
homeless community has built in those woods and their makes
hift houses and so
as we look to displace those individuals I just urge the
city to take note of
that that there is a plan in place for the taking care of
those individuals as
as they're not already displaced enough they're going to be
further displaced
with this and so I just hope that there is plans in place
to address that
concern going forward
okay we have a first and a second we have any other
discussion just for a
point of order and clarification do you have all four of
the conditions yes what
you would like we have a first and second no more
discussion I'll call for
a vote on the board
the motion carries six zero that will move us to our item
number four we have
our planning and zoning Commission project matrix or future
that it's
purely for reference and if the Commission wishes to add
complement or
delete any items we can do that with the future agenda
items that's fine with
chair we will then move on to item number five concluding
items Commissioner
Bruegel thank you chair I was just wondering if we could
get an update from
staff about our upcoming meeting for the mobility the
mobility plan thank you
Commissioner Bruegel we anticipate the agenda and
associated reports with the
mobility plan discussion that we had from last week we
anticipate to have
the meeting on November the 11th tentative start date time
at 530 p.m.
and as soon as we have the packet ready we will make sure
that everybody gets it
I'm sorry what was that date November 11th tentatively for
530 p.m.
anyone else if not at 852 excuse me 752 excuse me 752 I
close the planning and
zoning Commission meeting thank you