Planning and Zoning Commission Work Session Meeting for
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018.
This meeting has been duly posted and we do have a quorum
present and will call us to order at 504.
Our first order of business will be to receive
clarification of agenda items.
Looks like we don't have any minutes so we'll go straight
to the consent agenda.
Are there any questions on the consent agenda?
None. All right well that's easy. We'll move us to items
for individual consideration.
I will call on Haley for presentation of item 3a.
All right this is a final plat for the lot one of the
retreat at Denton edition.
We saw the preliminary plat just a couple of weeks ago for
this.
The intended use of lot one as you may remember from a
recent rezoning and sup is a multifamily.
It would be oriented for students. As a part of this plat
the right of way for precision drive is
being dedicated to extend precision from its current termin
us by Peterbilt further to the north all the
way up to Oak Street. This is an item for individual
consideration because there is a condition on the
plat approval. That condition being that civil engineering
plans for all public infrastructure
necessary to serve the proposed development must be
approved before the plat is filed. If any utility
easement locations need to be modified as a result of that
final civil engineering construction plan
review that staff would be able to approve those rather
than bringing the plans back
before the planning and zoning commission. I'd be happy to
answer any questions.
Commissioner Rozelle. Thank you. This is outside probably
the bounds of this discussion but is there
any plans to have a pedestrian walkway from that connecting
to the other side of I-35. There's not
any sidewalks obviously precision's not there but there's
not any sidewalks under the underpass from
that property. There's sidewalks on the other side where
the old bus station used to be. Is there any
plans to create a sidewalk there? None that I'm aware for
connecting under that overpass. I believe
they have been in touch with DCTA. The developer has to try
to coordinate having some sort of bus
connectivity out to here and I believe UNT also may have
plans for buses. Commissioner Ellis.
Thank you chair. Actually Haley this is probably for Victor
. So when we go to make a motion here
can we just say per staff's recommendation or do we need to
repeat what is written here?
You have proposals for it to be varied off of staff's
recommendation right?
No it would just be with that one condition about the civil
plan. So we can just say with
with that we don't have to restate at all. Okay thanks.
Any other questions on this item?
Okay we'll move us to our public hearings. Item A has been
postponed. It's going to be
there's a request for no continuance. It'll just be re-not
iced at a date in the future.
Same thing on item B. It will be re-noticed in the future.
So that will move us to item C and Haley will make that
presentation for us.
All right this is a rezoning for fire station three.
So the request is to hold this public hearing and consider
a rezoning from downtown
residential one district which is shown on the top map to
downtown commercial general as you can see
on the southern or the lower map here. The property is
approximately 1.33 acres. It's located on the
south side of Underwood along Avenue A and what is
currently McCormick Street. It's currently
developed with fire station three. So fire stations under
our code are a community service use
classification. The DR1 district doesn't permit this use
currently. The fire station's been there
for longer than that zoning has been in place and it's
currently considered a special exception.
The intent as you can see in the concept plan that we'll go
over a little bit later
is to enlarge the fire station and expand this development.
So when they voluntarily demolish
the existing station it would lose that special exception
status. So the rezoning is needed
to permit the future development of a new fire station as
well as just to consolidate and clean
up the zoning so that the entire fire station property
would have one zoning district moving forward.
So here's a little bit closer look at the property. You can
see the current fire station there as well
as the vacant property to the west. Their concept plan
would be the existing fire station would be
demolished. That current property that it's on would be
developed with parking and a drive aisle.
The fire station itself would be relocated to that property
to the west. McCormick street is
intended to be formally abandoned in this area. The
utilities that are in place under there would
remain in place within an easement and the only development
on top of that would be this driveway.
Let's see. So the future land use for this property is
actually commercial designation. You can see it's
kind of a hybrid zone as we transition from commercial into
this university compatibility area.
Commercial is applicable along most of our highways. It's
intended for auto-oriented uses.
Typically the properties designated as commercial are not
suitable for residential or even mixed
use development because of that proximity to our major road
ways. We found DCG to be consistent with
this future land use designation. It permits a wide variety
of commercial and service uses
such as this at a more intensive scale than we would
typically see in our neighborhood areas.
So it felt that that was appropriate along the freeway in
this location.
To look at the compatibility of the rezoning, DCG would be
an extension of existing DCG that exists
surrounding this property to the north and the west. The
uses permitted within DCG would be
generally consistent with what's in this area already.
Aside from the existing fire station,
we had a hotel that was recently demolished with the text
outwidening. There's multifamily in this
area as well as a couple of fuel stations along the freeway
.
As I had mentioned, there are some existing utilities in
the McCormick Street right of way.
Those would remain in place. There's also utilities to
serve the property along Avenue A and Underwood.
Notification was sent about the request. We received one in
opposition. That's the property
outlined here in red that was included in your backup. And
before the meeting, I handed out
an additional response in favor of the request that I
received today.
The staff is recommending approval. Based on our criteria
for approval in the code,
we found this to be consistent with the future land use
designation under the Denton Plan 2030.
And we also found it to be compatible with the existing
uses and zoning in this area.
I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Commissioner Smith.
Thank you, Chair. Give me one second as I look up. The
current height and the current zoning is 40
feet for the building height. I know whenever they did
station two, the new station went upwards in
elevation. Is there a plan for station three in the remodel
, the rebuild? Is it to go larger that
way, go upwards? It might go a little bit taller. I haven't
seen elevations for it recently to know
exactly what height they're proposing. But I believe it
will be a little bit taller than
the current station. Just because the 40 feet in the
current zoning and then 100 feet in the
proposed zoning, I don't think it affects neighborhoods.
And it's obviously a good use.
It's really hard to fight against fire services. The
building itself would be on the lot that's
already... Sure, of course. Just the increase in the height
, anything that might affect the way of
neighborhoods and everything else. We got some of the
assistance to bring up. So I just wanted
to know, see if there's anything planned in the cities. But
okay, that's fine.
Commissioner Ellis. Thank you, Chair. Haley, just curious,
did the opposition give as to why? I
didn't see that in the backup just that they were opposed.
Did you speak to them at all? I don't know
if there's any rationale provided on that. Okay, I'm just
curious. Thanks. Commissioner Rozelle.
Thank you, Chair. You said you haven't seen the elevations
recently. Do you have access to the
elevations? I believe they may have provided them at a pre-
development meeting last year.
With this rezoning, we just had those concept plans. But I
suspect they'll be submitting for
that site plan and replanting the property soon. Perfect.
Thank you.
Commissioner Bet. Thank you, Chair. I just want to thank
the staff for providing these affidavits
for the site. The pictures and everything. Boy, it saved me
in a trip out there. So I do appreciate
that. It's good to see. Thank you. Okay, any other
questions on this item?
Okay, that's going to move us to our public hearing item 4D
. And I have a conflict of interest on this
item. I'm a partner in the partnership that's developing
this. And so I'm going to recuse myself
both during the work session and in our public session. And
I'll turn it over to Commissioner
Rosell. Thank you, Chair. Haley, this one's yours as well.
Now while that's loading, this is a replant that we saw
last week. There were some concerns about
the drainage note that was on the plant that has since been
revised to clarify that the HOA will
be responsible, own and maintain the drainage areas with
the exception of this lot 38, if you noticed
on the southern part of the property abutting Hercules,
that lot 38 is intended to be sold to
DME for their power station that exists there currently. So
that lot would of course be
maintained by them once it is owned by them. And as with
the other plat, there is a condition on our
recommendation for this one as well relating to the civil
engineering plans. So I'll read that just
for clarification. Civil engineering construction plans for
all public infrastructure necessary to
serve the proposed development must be approved before the
plat is filed. If any utility easement
locations need to be modified as a result of the final
civil engineering construction plans,
the development review committee approval should be
required prior to filing.
Be happy to answer any other questions you all may have on
this.
Commissioner Ellis. Thank you, Vice Chair. Just to say
thank you for clarifying it.
That's well done on the notes and you can clearly
understand who is to maintain it. So thank you.
Thank you, Haley. Clarification, can I just close out work
session since that's the last item?
At 5 16, we will close our work session and reconvene in
council chambers at 6 30.
Good evening and welcome to the city didn't planning and
zoning commission meeting for
May the 23rd, 2018. This meeting has been duly posted and
we do have a quorum present.
Now we'll call us to order at 6 33. Our first order of
business will be to stand and give the
pledge the US and Texas flag.
Okay.
The next item on our agenda will be our consent agenda and
the chair would entertain a motion.
Commissioner Smith. Okay.
Commissioner Roselle. Second. Okay. Have a first and a
second for approval. Any further discussion?
Nope. Okay. We'll call for a vote on the board.
Motion carries six to zero. That will move us to our items
for individual consideration
and I will call on Haley for presentation.
Good evening. This is a final plot for lot one of the
retreated denton edition. This
plot is for property that's intended to be developed with a
multifamily use as part of
the plot. The right of way for the northern extension of
precision drive is being dedicated
and staff is recommending approval of this plot with the
condition that civil engineering
construction plans for all public infrastructure necessary
to serve the proposed development be
approved before the plot is filed. If any utility easement
locations need to be moved as a result of
final civil engineering construction plans, the development
review committee approval shall be
required on those easement locations prior to filing. I'd
be happy to answer any specific
questions you may have about this. Any questions for Haley?
No? Okay. Thank you.
This is an item for individual consideration. If there's
anyone who would like to speak on this
item, you're welcome to. Seeing none. I don't know if the
applicants here would like to speak
on this item or not. No? Okay. Well, then we will open for
discussion or motion.
Commissioner Ellis. Thank you, chair. I will move to
approve with staff's recommendation.
Okay. Commissioner Sanchez. Okay. We have a first and a
second for approval. Any further?
Commissioner Beck. Sorry. Thank you, chair. I just wanted
to share with my fellow commissioners. I'm
going to vote no on this. Technically, it meets all the
criteria, but as you know, I oppose the
zone change for this. I thought it was a bad idea then. I
still think it's a bad idea. So, as a
protest, I'm going to be voting no on this. Okay. Any other
discussion? Okay. We have a
motion on the floor. First and a second. We'll call for a
vote on the board for approval.
Motion is going to carry five to one. That will move us to
our public hearing section.
Our item A, this item has been postponed. There will be no
continuance. It will be
renoticed at some point in the future. Our item B, same
thing. It has been postponed.
There is no continuance on it, and it will be renoticed at
some point in the future.
That will move us to our item C. At this time, I'm going to
open the public hearing for Z18-0006B,
and I will call on Haley for a presentation.
Good evening. This is rezoning for fire station number
three.
The request before you is to hold a public hearing and
consider making a recommendation
to a council regarding a request for rezoning from downtown
residential one, which is the district
reflected on the top map, to downtown commercial general,
which is reflected on the lower map.
The subject property is approximately 1.3 acres, located on
the south side of Underwood Street
along Avenue A and McCormick. This site is currently
developed with fire station three.
In our zoning code, fire stations are considered a
community service use. The downtown residential
one district does not permit this use. The fire station
predates our current zoning code and is
currently considered a special exception. The intent is to
demolish the existing fire station
and redevelop this site along with the property directly to
the west of it. Once that fire station
is voluntarily demolished, it will lose that special
exception status. For them to redevelop
and include anything related to the fire station on this
property, the rezoning is necessary.
Rezoning to DCG will also consolidate the zoning across the
entire property where the fire station
will be located in the future, which would just facilitate
their development, having one set of
standards to follow. Just a closer look at what's on the
site currently, we have fire station one,
McCormick Street, and then to the west is a vacant property
that was formerly a hotel.
This is the concept plan for the fire station. As you can
see, the right side of the screen is
where the existing fire station is. That will be a parking
lot and a drive aisle. McCormick Street
will be formally abandoned. The utilities will remain in
place with an easement to allow access
to those. Then the new fire station will be reconstructed
on that lot to the west that I
discussed earlier. In looking at our criteria for approval
for this, the main criteria being
that it conforms to the future land use map within the Dent
on Plan 2030. The future land
use designation for the property is commercial. This is a
designation intended for those commercial
auto-oriented uses that are typical along highways like we
have in this location.
DCG we found to be consistent with this designation because
it permits a very wide
variety of commercial and service uses at a more intense
scale, such as taller height,
more lot coverage that is typical along freeways. In
looking at the compatibility of this request
with the surrounding area, DCG would be a continuation and
an extension of the DCG that
exists in the area currently. It's shown in the darker
green on the map, so we have DCG to the
north and west of this property. The uses permitted within
DCG are generally consistent with the
mixture that we have in this area currently. Not just the
fire station, there's also multi-family
in this area as well as fuel stations along the freeway.
Looking at the infrastructure that's in
place, you can see utilities available surrounding the
property, so no concerns there were identified.
As I mentioned McCormick Street, it is actually a
resolution has been passed by council to close
that street when necessary and it will be abandoned as this
development proceeds if the rezoning is
approved. A notification was sent about the request. We
received one opposition and one
favorable response. Those are highlighted on the map. Staff
is recommending approval of the request.
We found this to meet our criteria for approval being that
it's consistent with the future land
use map and generally compatible with the zoning and uses
in the surrounding area. I'd be happy to
answer any questions. Do you have a question? Commissioner
Beck. Thank you, Chair. Hey, just
curious, is the city going to put out on their means of ing
ress and egress on Underwood and Avenue
any flashing lights warning when they have a... Not aware
of that at this point. Wasn't any plans to do that?
Right now we just have that concept plan. I believe they're
finalizing the site plan, so they would
have those things planned in a little further detail a
little more down the road. Just curious. Thank you.
Hey, there's a follow-up to Commissioner Becks. Will that I
assume at some point this will be
replatted into one lot probably? That is the intent. And so
when it comes back for probably replat
some of those questions? Yeah, we may know a little bit
more detail about the site plan at that point.
Great. Commissioner Sanchez. The exits for the fire engines
will be off onto Underwood, is that
correct? And onto Avenue A? Is that where they'll be... If
they have to go out in an emergency,
they'll come out... Which will be the main road they'll be
using? Because this morning when I drove
up by Underwood, they're building the apartment complex
right there, and there was a whole bunch
of cars parked on the side of the road. I was just curious,
is there going to be any kind of
designation where people can't park on Underwood is being
the fact that that would
may block some of those fire engines going in and out? I'm
not aware at this point of any intent to
establish no parking zones on Underwood. I believe the flow
of traffic would be coming in off of
Underwood, because they do have their public parking in the
dumpster located on this side of the site,
and then the trucks would primarily exit onto Avenue A.
Okay. Is my understanding of how the
flow would work as it's proposed here? Any other questions
for Haley?
Thank you, Haley. This is a public hearing. Anyone who
would like to speak on this item,
please come forward at this time.
Anyone want to speak on this item? Seeing none, I'll close
the public hearing.
Commissioner Smith. I have a question for the applicant, if
he's present.
Hello all. I'm Brad Lehman with MJ Thomas Engineering, 3973
West Vickery Boulevard,
Fort Worth, 76107, or the Civil. Great, thank you. Site
plan now, or the conceptual that you
guys do have, height of the building, the new proposed
zoning would increase up to 100 feet,
as where it's currently zoned, it's 40 feet maximum. Do you
guys have a rough estimate on
height of the building when you guys re- The height of the
building will be limited at 30 foot.
Perfect, thank you. Any other questions for the applicant?
Well, is it the mic?
Okay, thank you, sir. We've closed the public hearing. So,
Commissioner Beck.
I move we approve Z180006B. Okay, Commissioner Rozelle.
Second. Okay, we have a first and a second for approval.
Any further discussion?
Seeing none, I'll call for a vote on the board.
Motion carries six to zero. I will move us to our item D on
our agenda. I have a conflict of
interest on this item. I am a partner in this partnership
that owns this piece of property,
and so at this time I'm going to recuse myself and I will
turn the meeting over to the vice
chair, Commissioner Rozelle. Thank you, chair. I will open
the public hearing for FR17-0024A
and ask Haley for presentation. Good evening. This is a
final replat for the Beale Way addition.
The property is generally located on the west side of Loc
ust. Beale Way will be extended along
the north perimeter of the property. Hercules runs along
the southern boundary of the property.
This is a replat of what was formerly La Hacienda Heights
subdivision. The eastern part of this
property was once plotted for residential development that
just never occurred. So,
when those plans fell through, this subdivision was
proposed so it would be a replat of that
existing subdivision and also take in unplatted land on the
western side of the property.
Just a little bit of a description about the property. It's
intended for single-family
development. The lots are generally 50 by 120 feet on
average, about 6,000 square feet in size.
The applicant did hold a neighborhood meeting. They
reported that they had 12 to 16 residents
from the surrounding area in attendance at that meeting.
Staff is recommending approval of this
plant with a condition similar to the one we had earlier.
Civil engineering construction plans for
all public infrastructure necessary to serve the
development must be approved before the plot is
filed. If any easement locations need to be modified as a
result of those finalized engineering plans,
the development review committee would approve those prior
to filing so the plot wouldn't have
to return to this board for consideration for minor
adjustments. I'd be happy to answer any
other questions you have about this and I believe the
applicant is also here. I do not see any
questions. Thank you, Haley. This is a public hearing. If
anyone wishes to speak, you may do
so by filling out a card. I do have one card. It's the
applicant, Lee Allison. Mr. Allison,
your complete group has up to 20 minutes to present if
needed. Hopefully I can do it in less than two.
Good evening. I'm Lee Allison with Allison Engineering
Group representing the applicant. David
Marks, one of the owners, is here with me this evening. H
aley mentioned a couple of things and
I'd like to add some clarifications. This is a single-
family residential development with homes
generally in the 6 or lots generally in the 6,000 square
feet and up. It might be a few a little
larger. I'd say our average is easily 6,000 square feet.
The price range of these homes will be in
the 225,000 to 325,000. Typically entry-level homes are
running $140 a square foot. I won't rule out
the possibility of some homes in the 190,000 to 200,000
range, but you're going to be looking
at 1,400 square foot homes, something of that nature. I
think some of the confusion came because
the seller of this property was also a client of mine. At
that time, we were working on some
townhome concepts for him. Never really got in front of the
city other than pre-design meetings,
but I think the all-seeing, all-knowing Google discovered
some of those documents and rumors got
out around the neighbors that we were looking at townhomes
or apartments over there, which we had
with the previous client. That is absolutely not the case
at this time. Another question came up in
the neighborhood meeting had to do with the construction of
Hercules Street, and we pointed
out that Evers Way had been sitting there for years, and
this client picked it up. They're moving
forward. Hercules, well, actually the city had started
planning and preparing for the construction
of Hercules. The developments came along, so the developers
ended up taking over the lead on
Hercules. Since this is a perimeter street for both Evers
Way and Beale Way, this is getting
constructed, but instead of doing the second house half
later with Beale's, we're constructing the
entire length, entire width of Hercules Street with the E
vers Way process, which is in advance of Beale
Way, of which Beale Way is dedicating some of the right-of-
way for. It's kind of a joint venture
effort between the city and one developer on two different
development projects. Hercules Road is
getting constructed up front. We do not know of any plans
at this time to have a light at the
corner of Hercules and Locus. That is a tech stock
controlled road, so that is subject to a warrant
study and beyond our control. We have coordinated turn
lanes, waterline adjustments, etc. Another
big question was what's going to happen to that big area
underneath the power lines? Many of the
neighbors would like to see that be a city park. We had
presented that to the city for that
possibility, but the Parks Department had no desire for
additional land at this point in time,
even for soccer fields or practice or anything else. It
will be a common area lot in a homeowner's
association. I think you discovered last night, or last
couple of weeks, we cleaned up some
language regarding the maintenance. That's really about all
I have, unless you have questions.
I took a little over three minutes, not quite two. We have
a question. Commissioner Beck.
Thank you, Vice Chair. Thanks, Lee. I appreciate the
information shared there, because I look
forward to seeing this development go forward. I'm glad to
see that area that's just been
bearing so long finally filled up, and I think this is a
good project for it. But I'm also delighted
to finally see Hercules making its way all the way across
there to make an easy access from
point A to point B, where it was harder before. So I'm
definitely planning on voting for this one.
Very good. I don't see any other questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
This is a public hearing. Does anyone else wish to speak?
You may do so.
Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and open for a
motion or discussion.
Commissioner Smith. A motion for approval with staff
conditions.
Commissioner Ellis. Thank you, Vice Chair. Second.
We have a first and a second. Seeing no discussion items, I
will call us for a vote on the board.
The motion passes 5-0 with one recusal. Thank you. Then I
'll move us on to
agenda item five, and I'll call the chair back in.
Welcome.
That will conclude our public hearing section, and this
will move us to our project matrix.
Commissioner Ellis. Thank you, Chair.
Just a couple things. First of all, thank you, thank you,
thank you for the information
with regarding signage and the way it appears in our backup
. Love it. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Issue I'd like to put in, it has to do with the sewer
downtown at like the Hickory Street industrial
area. I have gotten several complaints from business owners
, have experienced it myself
working down there, the horrible smell often throughout the
evening down there. I guess I
want to try to understand what is the city's maintenance
with regard to that? Does it need to
be looked at? Do these business owners have an avenue with
which they can make a complaint?
It's terrible for business down there. Something's not, to
me, not functioning right. I don't know if
I can get information or a work session to know how things
are maintained there. I'd appreciate it.
I'll get a response. Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Roselle.
Thank you, Chair. I would just
ask that at work session upcoming, can we get clarification
on what's going to happen with
the situation that happened two weeks ago with the agenda
item where there's legal confusion on
what happens when there's a 3-3 tie that will seemingly
forever be a 3-3 tie? Just because it
seemed like there was maybe a legal interpretation of the
intent of the rule. I don't know if
city ordinances can update that. I know Victor and I had
sidebarred with that, but
maybe just an update so the commissioners know what happens
in those situations.
So on that, we are working, I think, to propose, along with
Clarion, maybe drafting something
or sooner within the DDC or, like Richard was saying, maybe
earlier to make that clarification
specific to this board. This board adopts the council's
rules, and so maybe it appeared that
in this case, maybe there should have been a special rule
about these recommendations going
forward to council. So staff's working on it, and it'll be
coming up. Thank you.
Any other items for our project matrix? Go ahead.
Just wanted to give a quick update because I know we've
talked about the tree code
before. We did present, staff presented at the committee on
the environment this past Monday,
just some overall policy questions. So we're going to be
taking a draft back to the committee
within 30 days, and then after that, it'll be coming back
to the commission. What I will do,
though, is as soon as that draft is given to the committee,
I'll make sure that everyone
gets a copy, too. I'm just going to email it directly to
you. I won't wait to include it as
part of the matrix, and once it's done, you'll have it in
advance. Great. Perfect. Anybody else?
Okay. With that, we will close at 6.55. Thank you, everyone
.
[ Silence ]