Good morning and welcome to the City of Denton's Planning and Zoning Commission
meeting for Wednesday, February 9th 2022. This is our work session and with a
quorum present I will call us to order at 10.02 a.m. Let the record show that
Vice Chair Smith and Commissioner Anderson are absent. We've got two
reports on our work session today so we'll bring up the first one which is
Receive a Report, Hold a Discussion, Give Staff Direction regarding the Draft
2022 Mobility Plan. Hello Becky. Good morning. Becky Devaney, City
Engineer, Director of Capital Projects. Thank you so much for having me today. I
am going to get started by sharing my screen. Sorry it's harder to see. There we
go. Alrighty. So as you can see from the first slide we're here to talk about the
Draft 2022 Mobility Plan update. I know we came before you I guess about a month
ago to talk specifically about the the latest update that we had made. Today
myself along with Nathan George our Senior Planner Bicycle ADA Pedestrian
Coordinator and Preetem Deshmukh of our Transportation Planning Department will
be here to present the information to you. Preetem and I will share the
presentation but of course we know there's going to be questions and so
we're all three here to help you. Brief overview I can go really quick with this.
We're going to talk about our key focus of the Mobility Plan, what we heard from
the comments that we received, talk a little bit about the types of master
plans the city has and why it's so important to have a Mobility Plan, the
function of the transportation system, that holistic view of a Mobility Plan
and then some of the comment responses that we received. I will make mention
that we've received comments from council meeting yesterday. I'll try to
update you with those. We also have received comments Sunday and Monday and
Tuesday that we're working through so we have not had that opportunity to
address comments that have come in this week completely so we're still working
through that process. It does take a little bit of time to evaluate each one.
So first things first, what we heard from council on our January 25th
presentation was safety is the key and most important component of the Mobility
Plan. So we want you also to understand that we heard loud and clear the city
council's recommendation. Although the goals were not in any kind of
hierarchical order, we did go ahead and take goal number seven based on the
recommendations we received and move it to goal number one. We understand the
travel needs and priorities of the Mobility Plan, really safety is first. So
we appreciate that comment. I will mention yesterday in the meeting with
council not only do they want safety to be first, they'd like for us to move the
language to be more proactive than reactive and so we are working on
updating that section to make maybe a little bit more of an aggressive
statement throughout that entire goal section talking about how safety is so
important and so we will share that information with you as we get that
updated. Just a little bit of an overview. I know you're all aware of this. You see
this, you hear this as you sit on this board. I'm sorry commission and really
think through you know the different types of plans the city has. You've seen
these, you've heard us talk about them. You know obviously Ditten Water Utilities
has water master plans. They're working on a wastewater master plan. Our team's
working on a stormwater master plan. Solid Waste is working on an update. We
even have an urban forest master plan. I know you're all very aware of that but
really these different plans are what make the city move in the right
direction from a planning perspective. They do exactly what they say. We plan
our work so we can work those plans. The mobility plan specifically having that
multimodal bicycle auto pedestrian. I want to make sure you understand that the
two that you see circled in red, the Ditten plan 2040 and the parks trails
master plan have been working in concert with each other really to move us through
this process. This has not been a project that has been done in isolation. This has
been something that we work as a team and I will tell you it has been really a
great experience working with everyone together to get these plans working as
succinctly as we have. The purpose of a mobility plan, I think we all know the
purpose. I wanted to hit home on this because some of the comments we received
from council on our January 25th presentation are really specific to why
are we doing this and what is all what are the next steps. So you know really I
want to make sure everyone understands it is a multimodal transportation plan.
You know we take the time to focus in on the thoroughfare plan. We're worried
about where the future roadways are going to go. You know that's one-third of
the project. It's also looking at the pedestrian and the bicycle to make that
that holistic view and the plan is really to accommodate that growth over
the next 30 years. I really like this graphic that we have. This is the cog
graphic that shows you the mobility plan 2045 that Cogs currently updating. The
reason why I bring it to your attention if you look in Denton County you're
going to see that outer loop that's connecting to 35. That's also shown on our
mobility plan. The reason why I want you to see that is it's connecting Denton
County to Colling County to Hunt County. So you understand that these are not closed
systems. These are connected systems between these different counties. You
also can see loop 288 West. Obviously we're all aware of 35 E 35 W and then of
course at the Golden Triangle where it becomes 35. But understand the reason
why we want to work together and we show these types of graphical
representations on our mobility plan are from the perspective that these are
regional transportation networks that also helps us secure the state and
federal funding that's needed to help with the growth of these projects as
they come along. Flexibility of a mobility plan. So I'll be honest a lot
of the comments that we've received not only over the last couple of months but
throughout the entire process that I've been involved with the mobility plan is
really talking about you know the road the line you show on the map shows the
road going directly through my house my pond my you know XYZ. We understand that.
We hear you loud and clear. It's the same comments that we've received also from
council. These are roadway alignments of proposed networks particularly in
greenfield areas they can be adjusted. I'm going to show you an example in a
minute you were a part of. I just I want you to understand their graphical
schematic representations that help us align with where we're going to have
future roadways. They also help us with the process of collecting roadway impact
fees because they show these are the areas of which we think future roadways
are going to need to be developed. They also align with the Denton County
thoroughfare plan and the overall tech stock thoroughfare plan. These roadways
are long time or long-term needs like I talked about it this is a 30-year plan.
Many of these roadways I may not see in my lifetime even being constructed which
is crazy to think but that's exactly what it is. They won't be constructed
tomorrow but they're going to be constructed as development comes along
and we have to plan appropriately. They'll turn in either to a project
that's done as part of a development project and then maybe another portion
of it will be a capital project or they may be decided that there's a capital
project that needs to be developed in that area. So those are the two different
ways we can deliver those. You know this mobility plans are updated every five
years. We do have the opportunities to make amendments before those five-year
timeframes. It's very critical that we get this update completed from the
standpoint that not only is it time because it's a 2015 plan that was
adopted in 2016 but it's also time because we need to get those roadway
impact fees moved to the next step and those are in the process and need to be
updated. Talk a little bit about roadway function. I'm going to turn it over to
Preetem and he's going to come up and talk to you about it. What I want to
mention to you is a lot of the comments we received from council and I'm going to
specifically focus in on an area and I'm going to turn it over to him but we got a
lot of comments about can a primary arterial turn into two secondary
arterials or can a secondary arterial turn into two collectors. There's reasons
why each one of the roadway classifications are developed in the
manner of which they can. Keep in mind the difference between a primary
arterial and a secondary arterial is really the right-of-way width and a
six-lane to four-lane but with that context sensitive design we can design
what needs to be built based on the capacity needs and the designing from
the traffic impact analysis within that right-of-way. I will mention to you
several of the concerns that we received from council yesterday. We're
specifically in the northeast quadrant where they've asked us to go back and
evaluate based on what we've shared with this message from the roadway function
and the classifications Preetem is going to go over with you. In the northeast
quadrant of town we will be making some updates and evaluating that. We've already
had several meetings since the council meeting yesterday. We've had several
conversations even today as a staff and as a team of what can we do to address
some of those concerns. We'll be bringing that back to you Monday during our
joint session but just wanted to mention that to you. So I'm going to turn it over
to Preetem. He's going to give me a breather let me get a drink and we're
going to talk through the next types of roadway classifications. Thank you Preetem.
Thank you Becky. Good morning everyone. Preeten Deshmukh, Transportation Planning.
And yeah as Becky mentioned really what I'm trying to get to is some basic
concepts of transportation planning and principles that we planners and
engineers use to define these networks. So start with a little bit of what what
are these roadways? What is their main function? And their primary function they
have two primary functions. It's access providing access to people's houses homes
or driveway on a local street or a business or a retail. That's that's
access piece is one piece. The other piece is mobility. If someone wants to go
from point A to point B or someone wants to commute to work that that is mobility.
So roadways have two primary functions and based on those two functions they
are categorized into four different types. And if you see on the map on this
graphic on the right side you can see it's a graph that actually represents
axis on the y-axis the vertical axis and then mobility on the x-axis horizontal.
And if you look at the actual curve it's comprised of different colors. The first
color on the top is blue and that represents local roadways. These are
roadways that are in front of your houses. These are roadways that are really
small roadways that just have driveways and axis on them. And majority of the
roadways within the city 75% of them are these local roadways that that's their
primary function is provide access. The second class is collectors. Those are if
you look at that those are the orange shaded area of the map. But it comprises
approximately 10% of roadway systems. And if you see them they have a little bit
of higher mobility in built in them. So not only they provide access but also
they provide that mobility from from taking someone from their home or in
there from their neighborhood to a place where it connects to a higher
denomination of a classification roadway system. So those are collectors. If you
move to the next step which is yellow it's minor arterials they constitute
about 10% of our system approximately. And now you see that their function is
slowly getting more into mobility and less into access. And then the last one
which is principal arterials or primary arterials their function is more of
mobility. Getting a person from where they live to their destination where
they work or where they live to if they want to visit someone or if they want to
go to a specified mall or a shopping complex destinations throughout the
region. So based on all these classifications when a roadways design
when you actually get into design we have to define the function. If we don't
define the function and design appropriately that's where we have
issues. In older communities you see the function was defined differently by the
time growth happened and things happened around it now the function has
changed and that's why you have some areas that don't function the way they
were supposed to because the access and the use or the function itself has
changed. So that's why it's very important to at the planning level to
make sure that all the design features are are intended to match what that
roadway will be functioning as. And as Becky mentioned context sensitive design
when we talk about that when we are defining some of these roadway types for
example in arterial when we were talking about the function the speed itself the
the actual classification does not necessarily relate to the speed. So we
can have a classification that is higher higher classification that provides
mobility that provides that larger roadway or capacity but it can still be
designed for lower speeds it can still and that's exactly what context
sensitive design so that's part that so there that needs to be an appropriate
balance between these competing functions because they're competing when
you have access people slow down to get into someone's driveway and when you have
mobility people want to move a little bit quicker so that's where we have to
design them appropriately. Getting on to the next slide why do we need all of
these different types of functional classification roadways so we need them
to actually provide the greatest degree of safety and efficiency so there are
two aspects as I mentioned there are competing functions if we provide a
network that is just providing access and in slower speeds there will be a lot
of congestion if there if we just provide freeways and larger arterials
there'll be a lot of speeding around and less access people won't so there has to
be that balance and we have to define when we're planning roadways and
communities that we have to define that there is an appropriate balance so if
someone wants to live in Denton and they a lot of people don't necessarily live
and work at the same place they do so when they have to go from point A to
point B there has to be a system that lets them do that and if we start
converting all these larger materials into collectors or secondaries a person
trying to get out to the destination will have that much difficulty because
of the congestion so these are all the different things that need to be taken
into account when we're planning the system and that's why this is just a
quick update on the transportation planning concepts and now I'll turn it
back to Becky. Thank you. Thank you Preeten. So I wanted to talk about you all
know my favorite buzzword is holistic I use it all the time you know my partner
and deputy director Rachel Wood of Capital Projects I know you all know she
recently took on a new position but before she left she gave me a bracelet
with the word holistic on it because it's our buzzword so it's our word
together so I have to continue to use it and share so thank you for letting me
share that story but the holistic view of a mobility plan I mean I mentioned
this when I first started the presentation it's not just lines on a
map right so we take the time to really focus in the thoroughfare plan the lines
on the map the bike and ped and all the efforts and I'll tell you the the
lineshare of that's been done by Nathan because he has a lot of great ideas of
how we can make this a multimodal community and so it's not just the map
if you take the time to read the plan there's a lot of goals of it in
objectives within there of course we want to facilitate alternate train
transportation opportunities that's that bike and ped we want to prioritize
safety you heard me say and we heard from council safety is their top
priority that's the reason why we moved the goal we want to deliver an
effective network of travel you just heard pre to him talk about it when you
think about how you leave your neighborhood and you go from a
residential street a collector on to a some type of arterial eventually maybe
to get to I-35 you know to commute to wherever you're headed to that's the
common travel pattern and then leverage leveraging innovation of course that's
always something that we want to do to evaluate so with each within each one of
the goals and you know we have nine goals we also have multiple strategies
we have multiple objectives that we want to work through I did mention like I
said with councils ideas yesterday and comments that we received not only are
we going to move goal one goal seven to go one we're also going to go ahead and
be very much more aggressive with the language that we use on that goal so
this is really just to try to help you understand yes we have a plan yes it has
beautiful pictures and a lot of pretty words and a lot of goals yes we have the
maps but really essentially these are working together in concert with each
other to make this to make this a successful plan hey Becky can I interrupt
you for a second absolutely on that note because we seem to get caught up in that
number and what should be one and that kind of thing did anyone think of making
it ABCD dot dot dot instead of one two three so we don't get lost and what
might be a priority and not since it's all a priority you know we've thought
about several different things of how do we approach that do we bowl you know the
word safety you know what do we do but no right I think we're getting stuck on
it and it's kind of silly because obviously that's a goal I mean they're
all goals it's all part of this holistic look at this it has to be so yeah I've
just in just didn't know if that yeah it was thought about that like let's get
rid of the number because people seem to get stuck on well if it's not number one
it can't it's not the best thing but right so they don't make it one two
three so people can think differently no I understand and I think that's a very
valid comment and I appreciate that you know I think that in general we think in
number order and that's the reason why we got well why is number seven you know
and that's the purpose of it wasn't a hierarchy you know it was really just a
list of an order of goals so basically a bulleted list is I'm sure what the intent
was it was originally yes and then you know it's like well how do we make this
be organized in a fashion where it's understandable okay but I do like I do
like that idea so we're gonna continue to kind of work work through those so
and that's really why I took on that on this last slide I'll tell you you know
these are the four categories that then break into the separate individual goals
and of course as you can see you know safety is of course one of those four
major categories that we then break into those individual goals but no I
appreciate that comment so I wanted to move from that holistic view that
mobility plan that map that plan that talks about how are we going to do these
goals how are we going to use these strategies how are we going to move
through this process this is a 30-year plan to how do we go from a plan at a
policy document into a design so what I want to focus in on is when we move from
that planning level document and this happens to us every single day right we
see oh yes there's a line on a map we know there may be a future roadway there
we as staff then take it from being a plan and that's the reason why I wanted
you to see there's so many different plans that the city has we start to work
that plan how we start to work that plan is not only using that as our guidance
document our policy document to then work through looking at the Denton
Development Code what does the code say what are the land use assumptions how is
that area supposed to grow what is the transportation criteria manual say how
is that roadway supposed to be designed what are the options we look at you know
safety we look at the different the different speed you know the different
roadways need to be you know we then we move from you know the different
classifications of lanes etc into that specification book that's the third
thing you see that tells us how we're going to build the road to what type of
material it's going to be and ultimately the standard details you know those show
all the different types of roadway cross sections and really you know is it a
modified primary arterial is it a standard primary arterial so there are
wonderful guidance documents and I know y'all have seen these because you approved
the criteria manuals and I know you're aware of the specifications and the code
of course and the standard details but that is how we go from the process of
taking something from a plan and moving it through whether it's the development
process or the capital planning process from an idea and a plan through that
design phase to really get the engineering that's needed to make sure
that that road is designed I will mention to Commissioner Prud I know
you've made a lot of comments we've also received a lot of other comments
specifically related to the Vision Zero and the safety measures all of those
weren't able to be incorporated in this year's transportation criteria manual
when we made the update but we know we're doing the citywide speed study we
know that that information should be ready towards late summer August
September timeframe for us to be able to prepare and bring that information back
we do anticipate there's going to be some updates to the criteria manual
knowing that safety is a priority speed study is going to help us with that
information we're working with pre-tem on those Vision Zero ideas as we work
through those ideas we'll work to incorporate those into our guidance
documents that we use this is really our playbook I guess you should say so I
told you I was going to give you an example of how a line on the map becomes
a project you know this is an existing area this is 35 and loop 288 West and
you can see this green line right here on the map and it was a pretty you know
fairly straight but it was connecting point a to point B so winds are on the
east across on over on the west what you see is when this development came
through they came to the city and said if we try to design that roadway in
alignment with the way that it's shown on the map we think we're missing the
mark would you consider looking at an evaluating and changing that roadway to
the line with some existing roadway structures that are already in that
area and we said yeah that makes a lot of sense it's just a lot on a map let's
evaluate it let's see what happens so we were able to evaluate it that and say
you know what that does make sense we're not only bringing from the eastern side
as the Windsor improvements are going to be made we know 35 is going to have a
bridge at Windsor and then we know that as you can you traverse across that
area it makes more sense to go within an existing roadway area and not cut this
individual's property in half and make it where it's a little bit less
developable so that's a good really good example from our mind as to how a line
on the map actually worked itself through the process during that
development phase that then turned into you know you know something that this
project could move forward with the comment response log was included as
exhibit 3 in your backup I know we got a lot of comments our team worked the best
we could with receiving the comments to address the different classifications of
roadways that safety is that number one priority talking about some examples
that we saw there were some specific examples on ideas of Thunderbird was one
of them per se that the question was well why does it turn up north and
connect to Windsor instead of continuing east and just connect to
Bonnie Bray you know what valid point we looked at it we evaluated we think that
we are going to look at making that update to connect directly to Bonnie
Bray also similarly I just showed you a few of the other examples Mingo Road came
up a lot of questions about Mingo Road you know it's currently a CIP project
that we have at about 30% design so a lot of the questions that were asked
Alma Locas was also asked I'll mention to you on a previous mobility plan it
was shown as a primary arterial and we're working through and on the the
current mobility plan it's a lower classification and we're working through
as a city looks to possibly take that as a turn back from text dot how do we
change the character of Alma Locas Nathan has a lot of ideas of how to get
the bicycle and pedestrian network through that area so a lot of the
comments we received were specific to that a lot of them were design related
so that's the reason why I wanted to show you the criteria manuals and and
really talk a lot about that there were some questions about some of the
interactive map tools and and some of the traffic patterns changing etc these
are plans these are the best guess with our crystal ball based on fact and data
well you know what we see that's going to happen in the future so like I
mentioned we still received a few comments that came in on Sunday and
Monday and then we had a couple of comments yesterday from council
specifically related to that nor three North Eastern quadrant and then of
course some comments about safety and making that language a little bit more
aggressive so we'll be working through that anticipate seeing that if not I'm
in the Friday report definitely in the presentation on Monday we're gonna work
the hardest and best we can to get all that in the Friday report but definitely
expect to see that as a part of the conversation with our joint council and
planning and zoning Commission meeting that's happening on Monday so with that
I'm gonna end with the most important side of it all so the key focus of the
mobility plan we've talked about this over and over and over you're gonna get
sick of hearing me say this it's a multimodal plan you know this it's
bicycle pedestrian and auto friendly yes we heard loud and clear number seven is
not number seven it's number one it's letter a you know it's whatever it needs
to be but yes it's the top and most important thing we also understand
there's contact-sensitive design in each one of these areas we know in some of
these areas we show primary arterial secondary arterials but we understand
that the engineering design that's going to be going into each one of these
roadways based on the criteria the code the specifications and the standard
detail is going to work to design that roadway based on the surrounding areas
so with that I'm going to end our presentation and as I mentioned Nathan
myself and pre-tem are here and we're happy to answer any questions that you
might have I appreciate you taking the time to allow us to to visit with you
today and share this update I know you all know this is very important for our
team to get this delivered as I mentioned once this once this is wrapped
up and we are working through those next steps to get that roadway impact fee
document updated very important especially as developments come through
we want to make sure we have that document so that we can include we can
include and enforce that that ordinance so appreciate your time and look forward
to getting this through the finish line it is currently in the public hearing
phase and so that publication was in the newspaper on Monday and Tina is going to
go into greater detail during her presentation the overall schedule we're
in alignment with the schedule that she's going to talk about so I'm gonna
let her share that but it's been a great opportunity working together with the
comp plan and that entire team working and making sure the land use assumptions
align with this overall mobility plan so with that I'll be quiet and I'll let you
ask any questions that you might have as always great presentation thank you
thank you ma'am questions for Becky while she is here
Commissioner Pruitt thank you chair I'll get it rolling here I've I've got quite
a few so feel free to cut me off if it brings up other ideas from other
commissioners please I want this to be a proactive time first I've got a few that
are just more specific I'll try to make my questions as short as possible
I'm really not looking for a you know how does this save the world answer but
just just to make sure that I clearly understand what's going on just to be
sure I know we've worked with a cog a lot and CT cog on this plan as I was
perusing it looked like there were some sections in the Texas local government
code specifically 242 001 G that suggests that if there's a deviation
between the the city's plan in the ETA and the cogs plan that the cogs plan
would apply essentially so I just wanted to understand whether we've looked at
all those ETA areas and made sure that we align with the cogs so we're not
purporting something that that we can't enforce essentially sure that's our goal
that's why I mentioned the county thoroughfare plan and the overall
textile thoroughfare plan those are the plans that the cog absolutely is is
adopting and working in concert with our team is going to evaluate some of those
additional ETJ areas specifically in that northeastern quadrant based on some
of the feedback we received but that's part of the reason why I wanted you to
show you the map that the same lines they're showing or the same lines we're
showing okay and not necessarily is that always the easiest thing to do because
we get a lot of questions and it's hard to explain those are not roadways the
city is planning those are roadways that text on is planning or the county is
planning but that we work together and make sure that we all show those same
roadway networks thank you sure second on on sort of the thoroughfare plan on
the far eastern side of town there's a primary arterial that's planned kind of
east of Mayhill if you will we just got finished with that mayhill project great
job by the way and and I just wanted to have some confirmation because when I
just look at the overall map it kind of looks like we've got lots more north
south primary arterials in that section planned than we do in the rest of the
city so does that can you speak to sort of what what what makes that required as
opposed to sort of a secondary arterial or lower I completely support the idea
of more connectivity through that area right I'm just wondering whether but what
drew the analysis to a primary arterial classification there yeah I think one of
the main key things driving that is we have the loop we have mayhill but the
amount of traffic and growth on the eastern side of our region and the
northeast side of our region traffic coming in from us 380 currently is over
is around 30,000 daily trips and that's just gonna keep on increasing and their
primary connector or connection is going south along those three corridors to
connect to 35 E so there is a lot of flow that we when we're going through
the traffic models when we're going through the demand understanding that
there that traffic is increasing it's not city traffic it's not local but
everyone wants to take 35 you to go to Dallas or further in that south region so
that is just planning ahead that yes we don't want that traffic to enter the
city go through our streets and create more congestion the further away we can
get them remain it remains outside the city and create that direct connection
and that that was the only reason that our consultants and and staff felt that
there was a need for additional capacity the future the future growth yeah that
that really helps because I think what I'm hearing you say correct me if I'm
wrong is that some of the growth even outside of the city of Denton to our
east and northeast is wanting to go from there to areas just south of Lake
Louisville right and for whatever reason the the connectivity is not there to go
around an eastward direction so they're choosing to come through the city of
Denton and so it's not really driven from the the land use decisions we have
in that eastern section it's more driven by the regional traffic patterns outside
of the city of Denton right I think if you take the Lake Louisville area there
are there is the east side and west side and northern communities that are
developing north of us actually break and take two different areas in it kind
of lines with that okay connection point thank you that that really clears that
up another thing you talked about the context sensitive design I noticed that
the roadway classification definition table on page 27 it's kind of that blue
and dark blue and light blue table doesn't really highlight that it sort of
suggests that there's a fixed speed that these will be designed at in a fixed
number of lanes why I guess yeah no I think that's a valid point that that
chart is really kind of that guide of typical situations obviously as each
roadway is developed and designed then you know those are opportunities to look
at is this truly the design speed is this truly the you know six lane
primary arterial etc so those are really the guidance documents that are in
alignment that chart is I think you're referring to the chart I don't have the
page numbers memorized but I've got the document memorized pretty good but I
think if you're talking about that chart you know really honestly that is an
alignment with what the standards show but we understand that there is
obviously as we come through the design process that's where we have the leniency
to work through that process and review those specifically to that context
sensitive design or what's in that area so that's really kind of the starting
point but we know that those are things that will be reviewed as they come
through the process and all of the communication and and further discussion
that we've had I get that message it's just when I look at that chart I I
scratched my head because it doesn't seem consistent so you know I don't I
just don't know who that chart is trying to communicate to right if it's if it's
trying to communicate that hey we have these different classifications of
roadways and here are their purposes then I don't really know that the right
three columns there that deal with sorry with the number of lanes and the target
speed and the volume capacity really is necessary if that will we have some
pretty good descriptions of kind of who owns them and what their purpose is and
then maybe the the more detailed plans could get into that I just want to avoid
a situation where we get used to well here's what the plan says so you know
we're all behind on projects and then we'll just do it that way instead of
taking the time to look at that context does that make sense it does but I will
tell you that a traffic impact analysis has to be performed which will allow for
that type of information to come forward through the design process I realize
it's very cookie cutter I guess is what you would maybe describe it as and cut
and dry it does align with the design standards I think there may be some
additional verbiage and I appreciate you bringing it up that we could help
explain that you know these are the typical parameters but they're based on
you know actual design through these steps in these processes to help kind of
explain that maybe this is the first the first guide that's to be used as really
kind of that standard but it's specific to that that context sensitive design
that we discussed so that's easy to update to add some additional
information to make sure that everybody doesn't see a primary material is always
six lanes it's always going to be X Y or Z and and I'll tell you even within our
design standard details you'll see modified primary arterial versus primary
arterial they don't all align so you know that's really kind of just that first
that first guide so that's a pretty simple thing to add to the plan to to
maybe better describe what the purpose of that chart is and and again I really
don't know who it's trying to communicate what to just just maybe we
should think through that and make sure it's not overly prescriptive sure
Commissioner Prude if I could interrupt I mean I think it's working as just a
definition page isn't it I mean it's really just trying to give a standard
definition I believe right it's exactly yeah I just like we have in a lot you
know it's just a it's just defining that road classification I think to some
general criteria correct right absolutely and it aligns with those
standard details so you're spot-on that's the purpose of it and and I know
what I guess I'm hearing is is you know it's not as it's too detailed to the
point where it's cookie cutter but but the purpose is exactly what you've
described so maybe the the idea here is to add you know a couple of additional
sentences to say that you know these align with the standard details but each
project will be designed you know specific to the context sensitive
design in that area type situation that will help explain to your point not
every single primary arterial is going to be six lines right but it still meets
the intent so yes you're absolutely correct okay yeah sorry thank you no no
thank you for that so the next one I have a question that we often see on the
Commission and I just saw a statement and one of the strategies that I was
confused by because I didn't think we had that ability from a planning
perspective to control this so strategy 5-4 says maintain balance between land
use and circulation systems by phasing new developments to levels that can be
accommodated by roadways existing or planned to exist at the time of
completion of each phase of the project so maybe I'm just still confused but my
understanding was that when we see a subdivision application or a plat it's
judged based on whether the roadways within the geographical bounds of that
application are in conformance to our plans essentially and it doesn't take
into account the mobility connections to get from the rest of the city to that
development so I guess my question is is is that action or sorry strategy sorry
trying to align to the right terms here is that strategy sort of enforceable and
how do we actually see that when we see applications going forward so I think
with this goal we're trying to cover every aspect of it to give you a quick
example that particular strategy strategy if a developer comes in and say
it's on McKinney and it's already a four lane or six and whatever highway it is
and that developer is producing traffic that would require widening and going
beyond what's currently in there that's what the strategy covers is yes we'll
look at our infrastructure and see is it even a feasible development when it's
coming in with the intensity and if it's not then what are the other options what
are the other modes of transportation that it needs to look at within that
existing framework so that's why there are some some instances where that may
happen that there is a developer that comes in and the infrastructure needs to
be just blown up around it like the intersection needs to be widened to dual
lefts and triple lefts and so on and so forth so when we're looking that context
that's particular that's the goal that would help us guide them in the right
direction it's in developed areas there we have all kinds of areas throughout the
city and I think if Tina has something to add but we have to work with the land
use and it works hand-in-hand and when a developer comes in definitely that they
do the traffic impact studies and that's when we find out that if it's going to
impact the infrastructure the point where currently it's at a certain
classification and needs to be widened or need additional lanes in this area is
it something that the city's okay to do or is it something that will come in
front of the Commission saying well you know their impacts are so high that
this intensity is not acceptable so we don't recommend at this point but with
a lower intensity we'll come back and it fits our overall map okay so so I think
what I'm hearing is that most of the examples we've seen have have not been
recommended to deny it based on that but if we had an application that was so
egregious that you know we were trying to get 40,000 cars through a two-lane
road to get there and it just wouldn't work then then that would be something
that that staff would look at and say that this isn't gonna work correct okay
thank you that that helps sorry okay the this might be a wording thing but
strategy 112 if I'm interpreting it right it seems to exemplify some of my
concerns when we talk about vision zero but then we also talk about how does
that work when we get to a specific application of it so that that strategy
says prioritize intersection improvements which improve through
traffic flow on major primary and secondary arterials which is great we
want that right and then also reduce impacts on local neighborhood streets
with emphasis on pedestrian and bicycle safety so I guess maybe I'm just
confused by the intent of that because when I read that that sort of
juxtaposes these two ideas one we're gonna improve arterials to move cars
right which we need to do and then secondly we're going to you know care
about safety of non motorized users along in a local road context and and to
me that means but once you get to this arterial okay you're done we're we're
we're prioritizing the traffic flow am I interpreting that statement
incorrectly I don't think it's ever our intention to say that pedestrians and
bicyclists are not going to have ability to move throughout a primary or
secondary arterial I think to your point if that goal you feel like is
contradicting then there may be some ways that we could either reword it or
separate it into two goals but it's not the intention of making an intersection
not safe because we're trying to move cars through a primary or secondary
arterial that's fine and like I said maybe I'm just interpreting it wrong but
but that was one of the thoughts I had when I when I saw that one no I
appreciate the comment and then I think I had a couple more specific questions
about the the bike map and the primary bike network and and I'm not really sure
whether we're at the point yet with these maps that we can dig into them I
just I saw a few inconsistencies between what's on the ground and what's shown in
the maps and then I when I'm looking at the future plan I was confused by some
of the color coding can you just explain what what the process is and how we get
from here to adoption to clarify some of those things okay good morning
everybody so some of the inconsistencies you're seeing I would say this process
has been going on for a while so first there are some inconsistencies with
projects that have delivered that our consultant is not aware of because they
were working on this you know 18 months ago something like that in terms of how
we get to where we want to be I think this you know we've we focused a bit in
this presentation today about how this is a forward-looking sort of a document
and in the background I'm working on plans that to the best of my ability
we're incorporating that you know that information into the mapping that's in
this plan but ultimately there's going to be some reconciliation that happens
after adoption of like projects that are in our CIP are not going to be reflected
in these maps that's you know so I would say first on the issue of the existing
mapping that's inconsistent to the degree that we can provide detailed
comments to our consultant and have them make corrections to the mapping that's a
great opportunity for us to to make those changes before the city receives
that information and we put it on to city servers because right now they're
hosting all of that information so that'll be a great opportunity and the
more detailed feedback you or others can provide either through our comment forms
or directly emailing to that to us we'll pass that along and make sure it's it's
captured in there I'm not looking back at the existing mapping to talk about
kind of how we're delivering the future vision I'm not looking back at what the
existing map tells me and limiting the recommendations that we're making from a
bicycle connectivity perspective based on the existing network that's there
today so the CIP that I put together for this year is a very aggressive approach
to looking at the entire network in the downtown area so you know trying to
explore what are some of our opportunities developing sort of a grand
vision I guess if you will of what would a complete and connected network around
downtown look like because we really need to branch and radiate out from the
center of town that's where the majority of our assets and our users are located
and then we can start working our way into areas kind of outside the loop if I
could use that term so I would say a lot of my focus there is is actually in the
CIP itself which will help us update the mapping hopefully with kind of a better
vision of the direction we're headed if that answers your question it does thank
you I think you know we've seen that with with the way staff has been handling
the flume and and the the thoroughfare portion of the mobility plan to sort of
periodically update that as new information comes along and I'm yeah I
think that's a great great tact I guess my only feedback was let's let's make
sure there's no just simple oopses on the consultant side on their GIS system
because you know some of the the legend entries just don't seem to match up with
what would make sense for the map so I wonder whether there's just a color
coding issue or something yeah there so GIS as you have to format things
correctly to get them to represent the way they're supposed to one of the
biggest changes this may help explain actually because I didn't share this in
our feedback to your comments but one of the big challenges I had when I
initially looked at our mapping was that it showed everything on-street as just
kind of on-street and I didn't really have an appreciation for what that meant
because it's an on-street shared street or it's an on-street bike lane there's a
very big difference what those two facilities mean as bicyclists if I'm
sharing the street with cars versus if I have a designated space so that was a
big change that that our consultant recently made and that really impacts
how the how the mapping at least for existing is visualized yeah because
there what was showing up for our Hickory Street separated bike lane was
the same as what showed up for a shared street like a Congress so I think a lot
of the changes or a lot of the challenges you're seeing in in actually
understanding what's in the map was based on that change okay and so there
are some additional tweaks that need to be made now that that update was made
which actually happened just before the holidays so we haven't even really had
an opportunity ourselves as staff to assess that change and how it influenced
the mapping and then Susie Rimmer also reached out to share that the online map
all the lines are dashed so it's you know if you review the online map it
would be really difficult to understand what's existing what's proposed so that's
another nuance of how the data is formatted so we're in the process we'll
get there eventually understand thank you and then I guess I have a few
questions probably for pre tam and as I go through these I I really want to
emphasize that I'm really trying to not be prescriptive about solutions I'm
trying to explain what challenges I see and what trade-offs I see that we we
might need to understand a little bit more okay and the reason I say that and
preface this is that this has to do with maybe some of the comments that you've
received from from council about you know what is the trade-off between
different roadway classifications and can you do this and that so I guess
functionally right I see that in this plan we kind of went away from drawing
the collector lines in areas that were not yet developed and so when I look at
that map I say okay that that means we're trying to provide more flexibility
but it also means that I'm not sure what our desire is going forward for how
frequent those collector roadways should be in those outlying areas can you
explain how you make that determination yeah I think we've talked internally
about that and yes we're gonna work as developers come in but the primary
intention was to get in with when we have these small area plans I believe
we're getting some direction from council and PNZ members as well to move
into the next phase which is really focusing on the areas that are green
filled and that need to be looked at more and plan more and get into those
areas because internal within the city we already have everything planned out
it's already laid out we have the collector system in there but externally
some of these areas that have been identified do require a little bit
looking into it so as part of those small area plans then we'll get into the
details where we actually look at what is the spacing what are the distances do
we need more collectors and and that that's the plan and those small area
plans will then be fed into this larger comprehensive and if it's an area that
doesn't necessarily have a small area plan that would just be determined by
staff at the application time correct and we'll look at the entire area and
say that yes and there is also a note within the map itself that says that we
will determine provide some flexibility okay to define those and and I guess you
know looking at the distribution of the different types of roadways we have one
of the responses I saw was that the the suggested plan with these distributions
was most optimal right and and I guess my question is what does that optimize
for right what combination of say travel speed or cost or safety or volume of
moving cars you know how does it prioritize those things or others to to
say that this is optimal I realize that's a simple question to a very
complex problem it has a lot of moving parts but to simply answer your question
it is looking at the future capacity need of the system and when we say
capacity and context-sensitive design what we're talking is moving people at
the end of the day it's not necessarily autos on the street and so on so forth
so when we say that we have we need to require that much right of way or that
might win then we can define that public space in a different type of environment
depending on the context and it is purely capacity based okay no that helps
and then I guess when you were explaining that you were explaining that
having multiple lower classifications of roadways can create a safety problem
right which is certainly a concern if if the multiple lower classifications are
used to replace a smaller number of higher classifications is that because
of only the volume of cars or is it because of the speed of cars what what
creates that safety problem it's a couple of things so when we're looking at
safety we're primarily focused on nodes if you may if you look at crash data
it's more on the intersections that you have a lot of crashes that are fatal or
incapacitating and so on so forth so when when we were talking about less
designated roadways they have more access points so there is more chances of
people are getting in and out of these access points and and when you have a
larger designated functional system being replaced by these now you have
higher volume so that's another key component that function into it and then
third thing is people its behavior I mean people do get frustrated they will
find with all these new different softwares and apps they'll find the
shortest route so they will not only try and get into the smaller and smaller
denomination streets but try and make up for that time so you cannot control human
behavior it's like if I have to get to work at eight o'clock in the morning and
I am ten minutes behind today on my schedule I'm going to make it up even if
it's a neighborhood street even if it's a local street so that's that's where now
you're creating now you're putting that person and that one driver is creating
unsafe situation for many people leaving their homes even so that's where the
whole discussion of do we provide and allocate a space for people that want to
move from point A to point B or do we create a space that everyone uses for all
these different needs and that's that was the whole okay no that really helps
thank you I appreciate that to just sort of understand what the concerns are I
guess in in that topology one one more question and then just some closing
thoughts on this issue I've never been fully clear when we do our sort of
subdivision design for new applications that come before us can
we is it allowable from an engineering and legal perspective to design some of
those internal roadways to a speed lower than the 30 miles per hour prima facie
speed independent of the the speed limit that would be enforceable and and legal
within that area yeah we're having multiple discussions about this and I
think Nate and our team internal team has had multiple discussions there are
still several statutes that restrict us state statutes and there's some that
contradict each other so we are working through that one of the things that
other cities are doing are they're passing ordinances and posting speed
limit signs that are lower than 30 miles an hour I believe Flower Mound
recently part of passed an ordinance for some of the residential streets to be
downgraded so there are avenues and options that other cities are explored
exploring but we haven't sat down with our legal counsel yet and discussed
this because this is it's very important that we have that legal support as well
and legal opinion of how can we move forward in this particular okay no
that's encouraging to know that we're working through that so thank you I
guess just in in closing I'm sorry I've taken so long but I appreciate the
levity I just offer a few thoughts so I completely understand that a large
portion of our city is a suburban development pattern and a large portion
of that future growth will also be that at the fringe the you know these
developments need to be functional for that purpose as they're built I think
looking toward future adaptability is is also a benefit to the city long term
and I just believe that honestly I think the the right-of-way networks that we
create when we do platting have a longer term impact on the land uses that happen
in that area then our zoning regulations do right because it really determines
what sort of compatible uses can go there and so that's why I think this is
really important we have to get it right I also understand that you know we need
to preserve future right-of-way and so when we look at outlying areas that have
you know arterial designations and that looks scary I understand why it looks
scary at the same time you know as we've learned with several of our projects
internal to the city going back later and trying to get more right-of-ways is
very disruptive to the built environment it's very difficult from a financial
perspective so I guess I would say I support creating a map so that we can
get that right-of-way and and what I understand is that we our intention is
only to build those roadways up to the the width that is necessary for the
development at the time and so so I understand that that makes sense I think
what I see when I look at this little s-curve of different roadway
classifications is that really those primary arterials down at the the bottom
right of the graph are essentially our freeways right there are those through
streets for resident non-residents even right that are going through the through
the city there many of them are grade separated for safety which makes them
honestly very expensive but incredibly good at providing that mobility through
through the city that that we need to a certain extent because otherwise you know
we'd be fighting people going to Oklahoma City in order to get our you
know Slurpee at 7-eleven and and I think the concern I hear from residents and
some of the comments is really with the roadways kind of in the designation just
below that when you look in that that five to seven lane kind of whatever the
name of it is right kind of range where you have these these faster roadways
with enough lanes that the crossing distances are much further my impression
is many people really hate these roads right from all sides of things we either
hate the frequent traffic lights that make a stop and wait we've heard that on
this commission before or you know we hate the fact that we can't safely
change lanes twice or more in order to be able to turn into our destination
right I've been in that situation where you have to drive an extra mile to u-turn
and get back right or you know we hate that when when they're blocked by
traffic or a crash there really aren't any alternate routes that we can easily
take and to pretense point then people go on to some routing app and and try to
wreak havoc in a neighborhood and find out they can't get through that way and
get mad and cause a problem right real problem or or we can be disappointed in
them when they tend to isolate our neighborhoods from each other for people
who might want to get somewhere without driving it's not the majority of our
people right but it is important and so I guess the the my impression is that
they're kind of this middle ground where they don't really serve mobility in a
great way and they don't serve access in a great way unless you're in a very
strict constraint of where you're trying to get to you right they spread out the
land uses they you know even if we put really good safe white balk but by
blocking and waking sorry biking and walking routes along these roads
crossing them is is a huge impediment right I wouldn't send my kids out to
cross some of those roads and and so I guess all that just summarized I think I
would say that you know as we look at those priorities of cost and safety and
traffic volume and speed how do we get people to places my my impression is
that I'd like to understand what a network would look like if it were
designed to try to allay some of those fears that I described right and and yes
it will have trade-offs but I'd like to understand what those trade-offs are and
and I'd like to see you know clarity on on whether that's a desired goal or not
right I mean I see the those priorities as sort of something that should be
coming from the public and from from policy from council really and then you
know we definitely need good engineering practice to say okay well with those
priorities in this order what does that network look like right does that help
sure you know I think it all goes back to this being a plan and this being a
guidance document and as the community develops as we see folks going from point
a to point B as we see the growth going to the outskirts of the city and let's
face it it's not just the outskirts of our city it's now just like you can
drive north on 35 and no longer see the difference between going through
Lewisville Lake Dallas Corinth you know it all into Denton you can't tell where
one city starts and stops that's the same way that the city of Denton is
growing there will become a time where you can't tell where singer starts and
didn't stops so I think you know really the goal of this overall plan is to make
sure that we're providing that accessibility and mobility for the
future growth and giving this as a roadmap a guidance document that helps
with the the types of projects that come before you and the types of projects
that our team delivers through the capital plan so I think it's every
engineers desire as they work through a process to design a roadway whether it
be primary secondary collector XYZ whatever we want to call them that
you're designing it to meet the capacity you're designing it to meet the speed
and you're designing it to me that context-sensitive design that that
really supports the intent and really working folks to get from wherever they
need to go to get out of the city to work or get to their location to take
their children to school go to the grocery store etc so I appreciate your
comments I like I said I really think that you know a lot of the things that
are some of the concerns we're hearing and some of the comments that we're
receiving are things that will work themselves out as we work from a plan
into a design that's the reason why these types of things are updated every
five years we're trying to project a future right now based on the the growth
in the population that we know and where we're seeing development but as those
things continue we will continue to update this based on truth instead of
known statistics and facts yeah and I I really appreciate that just last thing
chair sorry the the concern I have is that when we put I know there's lines on
a map they can be moved etc but there's some expectation that if we put two
lines on a map we actually mean two lines they may move a little bit we may
use some context-sensitive design to determine how those facilities will be
designed and built but this the stuff in between them we're we're kind of saying
well that'll be local roadways right and and so what I'm concerned about is let's
let's make sure we're drawing enough lines of you know not overly classifying
but not underly classifying so that we have enough right-of-way so that we
don't get ourselves in a situation where we would like to design this facility
at speed X right because of the context however because this is the only
facility within three-quarters of a mile of here and it's providing this crucial
mobility connection we feel that to meet the traffic model we have to design it
at X plus 10 right sure and then what you have is this conflict behind the
desires for that context and what we can actually do because five or ten years
ago we only drew one line on the map no I think that makes sense yeah I
completely understand that I also understand that just as we've seen from
the 2015 to the now 2022 plan roadway classifications have changed based on
what's known so you know it's an ever evolving plan the same way that a water
or wastewater master plan is going to look at the capacity that's needed for
the outs you know outside surrounding areas the same way the comp plan is
looking at the land use assumptions based on what we know today we have that
opportunity to do those updates so I appreciate that and I appreciate the
amount of effort that you took to review and provide us feedback thank you very
much for taking that time certainly thank you for all your time and getting
this together it's a huge huge effort and it's it's very impressive so thank
you no problem sir just doing my job I think what it shows with a lot of your
comments in this discussion is I mean this it's complicated right I mean
there's a there's so much there's you know obviously the safety factor the
multimodal ways that people transport themselves it's got to be an
efficient plan I mean there's so much you're dealing with state law so yeah
it's this is complex stuff you know and staff I mean you've done a great job you
know presenting it to us obviously with the draft I think we can sometimes get
caught up in the minutiae of it all as we're dissecting this meeting after
meeting so I think we just have to remember what Becky said is that it's a
plan and it's a concept and you've got to have one to be able to go forward but
as developments come forward that's when we get to the specifics and things get
tweaked in even as things are reviewed and and maybe we're living differently
in the city that's when things get tweaked so yeah so I mean it's all great
discussion but we definitely have to remember that it's a plan that has to be
put forth by the experts putting it forth you know and then you know the
tweaks and specifics can you know will happen along the way as we've seen I
think Commissioner Villarreal has a question is that correct that would be
correct thank you madam chair first off thank you all for the presentation and
for strengthening the language around the safety goal in the mobility plan you
mentioned that we will receive more substantive answers on the Friday
report to have solved some of the safety concerns constituents councilmembers and
commissioners brought to the city's attention from the macro overarching
level what changes can we come to expect I think most of the constituents with
concerns would appreciate a more conservative use of primary arterial
roads when possible and an overall decrease in speed limits when possible a
substantive shift to safety and accessibility especially for pedestrians
and cyclists and perhaps a way from flow and mobility would help assuage most of
those concerns I would believe sure Commissioner Vero thank you very much
for the comment you know as I mentioned before the citywide speed study is
something that's ongoing it's going to be very difficult to address speed as a
part of this overall mobility plan you know we talked a lot about that chart
that showed the different typical design speeds of typical road requests a road
way cross-sections that's a mouthful but you know I think as we work through that
overall citywide speed study there's going to be a lot of comments that come
up we're actually putting some different effort into it that's been done before
Nathan has some GIS layers that we're actually using and adding some additional
data that we haven't typically done before from my understanding so we're
really excited about that process don't be surprised when you start seeing data
being collected all over the city we have a lot of collection points as
Nathan shakes his head so you know I would tell you that ultimately is the
goal of a design professional when they're a transportation engineer when
they're designing a roadway to do the accurate study just like text dot does
just like the county will do to really look at what does the speed of that
roadway need to be so I appreciate that you're gonna hear more speeds going to
be a constant conversation from you know the majority of the folks that spoke
today as we work through those next steps and you know I would say everything
that we do we do the best that we can to provide a safe environment for folks to
walk bike or you know drive their cars that's our goal that's our goal as a
city is to protect the citizens it's my goal as a professional engineer to
protect the public safety health and welfare I take that ethics and actually
do ethics credit every year to make sure that I understand my ethics so you know
I would just say in general a lot of that is is relied on the profession to
make sure that we're making those best decisions I do appreciate the comments
and I think what you can expect like I said not only from the citywide speed
study I think you can also expect from the language just in the mobility plan
like I mentioned more aggressive proactive terminology specifically
related to safety versus the terminology that and wording that's currently in
there what we heard yesterday is it was more reactive or not as aggressive as
what the wording could be to help individuals when they read the plan as
they develop within the city to understand how important safety is to
the city of Den appreciate the answer thank you no problem sir anything else
Becky thank you do you and your team so much time has has been given this and
and to help us understand and and make this city better so look forward to
this continuing to move forward thank you thank you very much we'll see you
Monday absolutely sounds good how about we take a quick break before we move into
the comp plan why don't we go ahead and adjourn here at 1116 return in ten
minutes thanks hello and welcome back to the Planning and Zoning Commission work
session for February 9th I'll call us back to order at 1135 a.m. we will move
on to our second work session report which is receive a report hold a
discussion and give staff direction regarding the Denton 2040 comp plan
update and I believe Tina will be presenting hi Commissioner Ellis and hi
Commission well thank you for joining us this morning I know you all have busy
schedules and so we greatly appreciate you taking time out to to discuss not
only the mobility plan which we just had some really good discussion but also to
talk about the comprehensive plan before I get started with our presentation just
wanted to address one particular item and that is you're probably wondering you
know given all the conversation we had with City Council yesterday and now
we've got our Planning and Zoning Commission meeting why are we might be
why we might be having these discussions right and so it's really important that
we continue to have have the conversations with Council but also the
Planning and Zoning Commission because while Council may have given us direction
on certain items you know we can share that with you as the Planning and Zoning
Commission and see if you concur or if you disagree on on a particular path that
worked that we're taking and then so that will help us formulate our
discussion on Monday when we have the joint meeting if we have items where we
where we're not in sync with each other then it's important that we try to work
through those issues before we move into the public hearing phase and so you know
given the direction that we've received from Council yesterday we'll share that
where we can throughout this presentation there's some additional work
that we're having to prepare for or some additional responses that we're having
to prepare for the the meeting on Monday but definitely want to hear where the
Planning and Zoning Commission's head is at right so it's important that we get
your direction because you're two independent bodies the council
obviously looks to the Commission for recommendation on on all things planning
related so please don't feel like that you're having to be tempered as a result
of the direction received if you think that we should consider an alternate
direction then by all means I would love to hear that so that again we can tee up
that discussion for Monday before I get fully into this presentation you
probably should see a friendly face on the zoom screen with me that's Ed Boyk
from Matrix Design Group he and I will be doing a joint presentation this
afternoon and Ed will be sharing the presentation slide since the bulk of the
presentation is with him we also have Ron Mangida on our team Ron should be
there in the council chambers and so our resident expert as well of all things
Denton and especially our long-range planning history and then one other item
to note is for your benefit and I know you're eating lunch right now but if you
find that we need to take a break in between sessions or discussion items
please let me know this is an aggressive presentation and discussion that needs
to take place our goal is to try and get you out as close to two o'clock as
possible so hence why we were trying to make sure we had about two and a half
hours of discussion for the for the the comprehensive plan but the way our
presentation is structured is that we we will present a topic and then take have
an opportunity for discussion and direction before we move on to the next
topic so with that let's go ahead and get fully started as we've been talking
about in the past and I know we've had the opportunity to have discussion I
believe it was on January 12th in addition to we've had more recent
discussion on January 2016 about the comprehensive plan and in the work that
we're doing as we've communicated in the past this truly is an update to our
comprehensive plan it's a review and an update of our vision our goals policies
and action items to assess their relevancy with conditions today when we
did the 2030 plan that was an extensive complete rewrite of the city's
comprehensive plan and so and at that time it had been at least 15 years since
the conference of plan has been updated here we're in a different situation
where we have the the plan that was adopted of circa 2015 we've started this
update process around the onset of the pandemic and so hence why we're
reviewing this document more from that update perspective that's how this
project was originally scoped at the onset and the budget provided for it
accordingly so hence why it's a continued conversation about the
relevancy of the city's existing vision statement that's within our plan our
goals policies and action items but then also identifying where we may need to
have some refinements that are made next slide please so the feedback that we
have received so far from the planning and zoning Commission the City Council
as well as the community itself has been extensive and based upon that feedback
that we have received we have structured our conversation today and in this
presentation based upon the one central common theme that keeps rising to the
top and that is how do we best manage the growth for Denton and then exactly
what does that translate to for us additionally this has been an extensive
coordinated effort with Gary Packen and the parks and
recreation team as you're well aware of they've been working on the updates to
their parks master plan and additionally this has been an extensive coordinated
effort with Becky Davini and her team in engineering with respect to the mobility
plan and also pre-TAM on our planning team as well but I can assure you this
this has been extensive coordination between these two groups as well as any
other policies that we have adopted for the city but knowing that we're in the
process of updating the comprehensive plan the mobility palette plan and the
parks and recreation master plan it was essential that we are all coordinating
with each other in adopting policies that support each other and are not
necessarily in direct conflict so before I get into the rest of this
agenda slide couple would like to just set a few ground rules if we could this
proved to be very beneficial with City Council yesterday and not trying to take
over your your role as chair Commissioner Ellis but what we found that
worked out well with the City Council in order for us to be able to get the
direction that we that we need and to be able to move forward given given all the
topics that we need to cover so the first item would be is we need clear
concise direction today and yes Commissioner Prude I'm looking at you so
from across the land but it's it's important that we get that clear concise
direction we are trying to get this project across the finish line for March
1st and we're gonna be moving into the public hearing adoption phase with the
planning and zoning Commission having their first public hearing on February
23rd and then providing presumably get a recommendation on the Commission then we
have this slated for City Council on March 1st we have additional work that
we need to get underway and get accomplished but we can't do it until we
get the comprehensive plan as well as the mobility plan across the finish line
the other item that we need from us today is we need concurrence amongst the
Commission or at least a majority of those president present on how we move
forward with each topic that we're presenting so that way we can make any
refinements to the document that we need to make moving forward into our public
hearing and adoption phase as you can see here we've got several topics to
cover there's about seven topics with a roughly I guess a little less than two
and a half hours to achieve that in really what happens is that limits our
discussion on each topic to about 20 minutes or so Ron's there to be able to
assist in a timekeeper function Commissioner Ellis if we're having
extensive discussion he may give hold his hand up and give you a five-minute
warning but if if we find that we need to spend more time on a particular topic
that that's fine it'll just take away time from other topics that we need to
get to additionally if we find that we're not able to achieve consensus on a
particular direction as to how we move forward we also have the ability to
basically park that topic off to the side if you will and then we can bring
that back on Monday when we have the joint meeting with the City Council also
as I alluded to earlier the way we've got our presentation structured is as we
present each topic then we'll have an opportunity for some discussion and
direction if you could allow us to be able to get through our presentation on
that particular topic I think then that will really help us with the with the
discussion that we need to have and receive your direction and then lastly
just a reminder and I know we've talked about this in the past but remember the
comprehensive plan it's a policy document therefore it needs to be a
flexible living document to be able to guide our growth in our investment within
Denton it has a 20-year horizon associated with it and if there's
anything here most recently we're proven that we continue to update our
comprehensive plan so obviously with this this update that we're doing right
now but we would continue to evaluate and update this plan every five to ten
years additionally you know I mentioned some of that additional work that needs
to take place we really see that as part of our work program doing area plans in
the future and I know the Commission has supported this idea in the past but that
allows us to do that deeper dive finer grain analysis when it comes to certain
areas within the community so the the comprehensive plan will provide that
framework and vision but as we do those area plans then that allows us to be
even more refined and get into more of the weeds that sometimes we have a
tendency on wanting to do so with that just reviewing our agenda slide then
with you this this morning so again we'll have a conversation about the
vision statement and how that frames up the additional work in and direction
that we've provided for in the in the comprehensive plan secondly we're going
to talk about future development within our extraterritorial jurisdiction or
ETJ and we'll address the city's limited regulatory authority I know we've had a
lot of conversation with City Council about this maybe not as much with the
planning and zoning Commission but this has really been an item of concern at
least for councils been concerned on how best do we shade the the colors if you
will on the future land use map and in particularly knowing that there are
concerns regarding additional growth and development within the community and
also wanting to preserve some of the existing character of the areas within
the ETJ how best do we influence that area to either limit development or at
least get the development that we're interested in having in the right place
then the next topic that we're going to talk about is this preferred pattern of
land preservation and this is also that is something that has come from City
Council and so in really again along those lines of how do we limit growth in
certain areas obviously being cognizant of our environmentally sensitive areas
our floodplain areas also our community is very interested in preserving trees
so how does that all work together in this idea of land preservation then
we'll move into the future land use map I know in on January 26 ed shared with
you areas where we're proposing to make changes so he'll go back through and
just highlight some of those areas and we'll be able to address any comments
we receive from the Commission in the past where we've made changes and where
we haven't then we really move into that implementation phase and and and to me
this is the exciting part once we get the conference of plan adopted we're
allowed to move into the implementation phase because that's where the 270
action items that we have included within the plan document to help us with
implementing what we want our community to be in the future and this is really
where the rubber hits the road as we start working on these action items and
so Ed's gonna share some information about how the goals policies and action
items work as we move as we work on the implementation and why with this being a
policy document while we still have to have that higher level perspective and
not getting into so much of the weeds on how we accomplish all of the action
items then we'll move into the area plans discussion in infill
redevelopment because we really see that that's the part of our future as we move
forward with our with our implementation and then lastly I'll wrap up with the
next steps and in the calendar that that Becky alluded to you that I would be
sharing when she gave her presentation on the mobility plan so with that let's
go ahead and proceed to the next slide so as I mentioned earlier with all of
the comments and the feedback we received both from the planning and
zoning Commission Council in the community that that central theme and
question really comes about is how do we manage growth and through the through
the feedback that we have received today our vision statement still holds true in
this slide here summarizes much of what we are interested in seeing for the
future of Denton our community is interested in having that managed
balanced sustainable growth with throughout the community we're
interested in having compact development and mixed-use development as well as an
investment in and infill development occurring within our city and it and
within the appropriate portions of our city right we're also interested in
having an efficient transportation system addressing multiple
transportation modes throughout the city so hence why you know it's been
essential that we coordinate with Becky and her team as we look at not only
moving vehicles through our community but also how do we accommodate the needs
of both pedestrians and bicyclists and I believe you know and in that previous
presentation you really saw how our emphasis is on pedestrians and bicycles
and how we are trying to make strides in improving that for those modes of
transportation also we our vision statement addresses how best do we want
to address our major highway travel quarters so really those are the windows
into the community and in a previous committee city I worked in my planning
zoning Commission chair I thought he sent it up correctly when he said really
those highway quarters they truly are the windows into our community because
whether you're a resident of Denton and driving through Denton or maybe you're
not a resident Denton and you're just passing through if you're passing through
on the highways that really gives you an opportunity to see what what is that
what is that community like where do some of their priorities lie with
respect to how their community is is developing you know in our case when we
have I know tree preservation is significant for us so you know it may be
you in Denton that it's more noticeable more trees that are visible right but
really it's it's those windows into the community that where someone sees just a
glimpse of what our our city is like we're also as a city of Denton we're
also interested in having well-planned infrastructure to serve our city not
only from a mobility standpoint with our roads in our bicycle trails on our
sidewalks but really also taking into consideration how are we planning for
water and wastewater needs you know with Denton municipal electric and in
providing electrical service we're interested in having that well-planned
infrastructure also we are interested in having parks greenways streams again
tree canopy preservation all of that integrated in some form or fashion
throughout the comprehensive plan and then also is important that we again are
having that coordinated with the parks team with their master plan that they're
working on and lastly it's the environmental stewardship and the
sustainable practices that resonates throughout the the feedback that we
received from the community and continues to still be a common theme
within the comprehensive plan so you know all of these items that I just
explained here that are they frame up the goals that we have which in our
proposed 2040 comprehensive plan we have 35 goals that help us with implementing
our vision we've got a hundred and twenty three policies that further
refine those goals but as I mentioned earlier we have those 270 action items
that are provided for within this comprehensive plan to help us implement
our vision over time so based upon that feedback that we have received from not
only you but council in the community we believe that the vision statement is
still relevant as the guiding vision for Denton and so this continues then
provide the framework as we move into these next topics and as we work to
complete the conference of plan if there are no questions or comments regarding
this then we can move on but I'll pause here for a moment to see if there's any
discussion that's needed I do not see any hands raised Tina so go ahead and
continue thank you okay excellent well now I'm going to turn it over to Ed as
we work through these remaining topics thank you Tina I'm Ed Boyk with Matrix
design group thank you chair members of the Commission for having me here today
I'm going to start to work through the different topic areas as Tina had
described that where we saw additional comments or additional clarification
needed to help make sure the Commission and City Council were both aware of how
they fit into the approach of the comprehensive plan how they've been
addressed what some of the considerations might be and also it
provides an opportunity as she had noted for additional discussion and where I'm
going to start is with discussion about the ETJs so as as many of you I'm sure
are completely aware the ETJ is a five-mile radius that extends around the
city of Denton corporate limits there's two different divisions to the ETJ
there's a division one which the city retains subdivision review rights and
there's ETJ division two which the city has no authority for development review
ETJs were I would say severely hampered in terms of what the city's authority
could be through a Senate bill six which is approved several years ago and it
restricted cities from being able to apply regulations related to zoning land
use and density on developments but that were found within the ETJ Denton has
also entered to these interlocal agreement interlocal agreements with
Denton County which is you know as I described a moment ago further
restricted some of those development review authorities in the division two
where there is no authority for the subdivision review but even though the
state Senate that was at state Senate bill six when it passed restricted the
ability of the city to write you to do zoning review and land use regulation
review the city still retains the rights through that for subdivision review and
review for other things such as improvement districts or municipal
development districts some water considerations signs access and roads
streams water shed protection and then the ability to enter into agreements if
there is a need to enter an agreement with a developer for those developments
within the ETJ so because of that it's still valuable for the city to have a
policy established in the comprehensive plan which dictates the vision of the
community in terms of land use in that ETJ and so you'll see in these upcoming
slides where the information received from the Commission the council the
community in the past as well as coordination with the city staff is
informed along with best practices a land use policy for the ETJ which was
largely absent from the 2030 plan making and this map is just a blow-up of the
west side of Denton which shows the shading that is proposed in the ETJ for
agricultural and the light green and rural land uses and one of the comments
we had received was that there are many municipal utility districts that are
located within the ETJ and those municipal utility districts because of
the Senate bill 6 which I just described a moment ago have secured rights through
for development plans that it can be enacted through state legislation and
they don't necessarily need to follow the zoning or land use policies of the
city however the city does retain the ability to do subdivision review some of
those municipal utility districts have moved substantially through the process
or have entered into the process or moving through a state legislative
process right now to be developed and those that are moving forward are
illustrated on this map now one through four and since the last time this future
land use map was presented those land uses have been changed for those
municipal utility districts from the previous colors to low density
residential which reflects the development density that have been
proposed for those developments and and there's a good reason for that is that
it reflects the reality of the built condition that exists today either
through approved plans or will be on the ground into the future as a reality
through the approval of those plans so it's a forward-looking land use plan
it's looking forward and saying these are going to be low density areas it's
appropriate to illustrate those as low density because the city will not have
an opportunity to enact a different land use policy on those areas moving
forward as for the remainder though the remainder of the area is to be retained
with the colors that were there before and the reason for that will be talked
about in upcoming sections related to the preferred pattern of land
preservation and other specifically land preservation discussion because the land
uses that are in the periphery reflect the vision of the city to have a managed
approach to growth a balanced approach to growth for one where growth can be
accommodated on the periphery of the community but it's also the intention of
Denton to do what it can to encourage development landowners to consider the
long-term vision for preservation of heritage preservation of rural spaces
preservation of open spaces or at least accommodating that into their development
plans so that can become an opportunity for the city to use as a basis of
negotiation with these municipal utility districts if they seek city approval or
concurrence with their projects to encourage them to consider this land use
vision as a development of plans it doesn't mean that the city can exert total
authority over the densities and types of developments that are proposed but it
does provide that policy framework from which you can have discussion and move
forward and hopefully encourage those developments to incorporate aspects of
Denton's policies procedures and regulations which are aligned with the
vision for Denton maybe that's you know parks related maybe it's a density
related maybe it's streets and connectivity related but it helps to like
I said establish that baseline that framework for discussion to move forward
so that's the discussion mostly on the MUDs and there's two options one which
was the staff recommendation that was brought to council was to just
illustrate the MUDs that have either been approved or moved substantially
through the process as low-density residential which you could see on the
west side of Denton and then include notes for the potential that additional
municipal utility districts could be proposed in the ETJ and the option to on
the right was also provided to council for consideration and provided to you
for consideration is to not only illustrate those MUDs with the low
density residential land use that have moved substantially through the process
or been approved but then also to outline in a color maybe it's pink those
municipal utility districts that Denton is aware of are conceptual in nature but
have not moved to the point of being and being submitted for application through
a state processor moved to be considered a development plan with the city
through any negotiations with the city so that way it's a little bit more
transparent as well to the community that while the overall vision for the
ETJ is to have rural land uses and agricultural land uses and balance the
growth on the periphery with infill and redevelopment inside the community and
the more developed areas there is a potential that because of state law
there there could be additional subdivisions or these MUDs in the ETJ
which do not conform with the land use plan and it's just putting on the plan
to disclose it on one hand on option one it keeps the map a little bit cleaner a
little bit more easy to read on option two it just adds additional designation
to the map which is already a very busy map but it does more clearly I guess in
some ways or puts it right in front of your face that these are these
opportunities that we are aware of right now with MUDs that may move forward but
have not moved forward at this point and so at this point we want to open up for
discussion and direction on this since this is the some of the comments we had
received in the past was how do you handle the ETJ how do you handle MUDs
what's the value of having land use policy there what are some of the
concerns that Denton might have with having that land use designation in land
they don't control and really again just to summarize it's beneficial to have the
land use policy there because it helps to reflect on the future land use plan
the development vision for the community moving forward through the year 2040 but
it's also helpful to illustrate those MUDs where the community is aware of
those that are moving they're already approved and not able to conform with
the plan for the future land use so those are the updates that are provided
for you for discussion in any direction thanks and with regard to that mud map
there was extensive discussion I know yesterday at council so a couple of
questions I have is is the staff recommendation that just because it's a
cleaner looking map I'm trying to understand why option one is the
recommendation that's my first question my second question is what transpires
out of council yesterday with regard to this map sure thing and I'll go ahead
and take that question you're welcome so in terms of those staff
recommendation the reason why we put forth the map and in our recommendation
on this was because of the the status of the MUDs that one are existing or two
that are that are well down the process of being created the ones that are
existing though as I understand it Lala Ranch up there in the very northwest
portion of the community that yellow rectangle if you will we also have then
the ones that are closer to 380 let's see legends is is not fully approved yet
through the state legislature OLEX which is also known as Meadows and then Astra
thank you Ed those are either approved or such far down on the process that we
felt like given the direction that we received from council that we go ahead
and illustrate those as the low-density residential developments that they are
the others you know they they are not as further advanced if you will in terms of
their formulation and for the Commission I don't recall how much discussion we've
had on these municipal utility districts but just for the Commission's benefit
you know these are typically created through a legislative process they're
they're separate apart from the city of Denton the one exception would be is that
the developers may seek consent from the city of Denton if if we grant consent to
the creation of these months then it may provide maybe a shorter time frame in
working with the Texas Commission on environmental quality to seek you to get
through their process we do not necessarily have to grant consent if we
do not then it's just a little bit longer process as we understand it but
but they they're really they're they're created through state legislature we
have really no regulatory authority over over them especially with them being out
in the ETJ - we do have the ability to enter into a development agreement if
you will with them regarding certain services being provided and in typically
one of the services that that comes to light is fire protection service just
because of the we weren't there's an interest in making sure that when when
people call 9-1-1 that their needs are being met and who's gonna be the
closest responding fire station team and so really that that's gonna be coming and
all likely probably from the city of Denton depending upon where some of
these muds locate their their police service is provided then through the
county but our recommendation was an acknowledgement based upon direction
that council had given us because there I think the concern and as Ed pointed
out was transparency acknowledging that they're there and so and then so hence
why we went with option one you know option to those muds that we have
outlined in pink they're just not as far along in the process so they may or may
not come to fruition you know the La La Ranch expansion area up there in the
northwest quadrant we have been in conversations with them recently because
they were seeking consent from City Council so from what I understand you
know that that's one of the ones that's a little bit farther along maybe
compared to some of the others but council felt like it was best to show
where these other muds could potentially occur because the other aspect with
these is that you know they could potentially steer and influence
additional development that's happening within the HEJ over time and so it
becomes an acknowledgement of that potential residential land use in that
area and the last thing I would add with respect to muds you know one of the
reasons why the the developers pursue them is so that they're not having to
comply with the city's ordinances so for example they're not having to comply
with our tree preservation requirements they're not having to comply with any
of our zoning regulations that that we have you know we have our gas well
regulations so our gas well setback provisions that come into play they
would not have to comply with those and so hence why they they create a separate
political entities of themselves so that they do not have that zoning oversight
that the city would otherwise exercise if they were annexed into the city okay
thanks Tina yeah I kind of like option too I'm just a fan of more information I
guess is why it's a little bit more transparent to me that's just my opinion
and I was just curious as to what that discussion was and Scott is arriving at
the podium hello Scott thank you just wanted to follow up and I think one of
the questions that and I don't know that I got answered that ultimately council
was really on the path of option two okay and that is what I wanted to know
option to have the outlines of those that may potentially become you know a
municipal utility district so so that is what came out of Council yesterday that's
the difference between the two maps and that's really were the majority of
council had landed yesterday okay good to know any questions from the
Commission regarding this Commissioner perot thank you chair just real briefly
I prefer option one and I'll just offer that the reason is that I think this
needs to be a relatively timeless document that doesn't become stale
immediately I think our efforts are better served by really looking into our
subdivision regulations to see if we're doing everything we can to encourage the
type of rural development in these areas that we would like to see with the
little limited amount of controls that we have and so I think going option two
is it's creating a situation where we're gonna have to update it every three
months for the next ten years right and I don't know what value it brings other
than just saying oh so that's my thoughts one in to add to that and thank
you for the observation on that Commissioner perot in India where
that's why we have the language that their potential municipal utility
districts in their petitioning for state approval is to acknowledge that that we
know that they're out there but that they're not fully approved or through
that process so we you know if we end up landing on option two which as Scott
pointed out and thank you for that is that you know at least we're being
transparent and acknowledging that they may or may not occur okay any other
comments on this Commissioner Cole thank you chair yeah I kind of I like option
twos well I think you're right that more information is best but Commissioner
Pruitt does have a point and that's gonna be in flux ever so often it could
change but also you know there's a legislative component in Austin on this
and I know there are some bills that have co-sponsors in the state house that
would affect some of this now whether they see the light of day I don't know
one of them's geared toward de annexation making it easy to the annex
if the city's not providing you adequate services whatever that you know that
definition is but I would you know I would if I was staff I would keep an eye
on Austin and these future bills that are going to come down the line that
could be very disruptive thanks Commissioner Cole Commissioner Villarreal
yes I just wanted to concur with Council and Commissioner Cole and supportive
option to I do agree we need more clarity we need more transparency in
these regards and I would like to see option to you thanks yeah to me we've
got the word potential in there which means I mean it's knowledge we have
right now that's that's that's the reason that I'm sure that Council was
focused there and why a good number of us are as well it's not really putting
anything in stone it's just saying hey we know about this right now of the
potential I think it's good information I do not see any other questions on this
so I think we can continue great thank you thank you all right so moving on to
the next section of discussion is the preferred land preservation plan and
this was introduced I think I believe it previously which is showing lakes
floodways ESAs environmentally sensitive areas habitats and to have something on
the screen because we do not have oh I apologize no worries thank you closed up
on me I was gonna have you guys use your imagination all right you're welcome
all right so so again not to restart now you can see on the screen the preferred
land preservation plan and this is a graph that without a map that was
developed by the Denton GIS team to illustrate those areas that are lakes
floodways ESAs you know those environmentally sensitive areas habitats
and parks and those those areas that had the potential to become preserved you
know whether it's a proof of an area of habitat that could be preserved riparian
area floodplain and this is to provide that overall vision for those general
areas which could be considered as part of an open space or public lands open
space preservation effort on an upcoming slide to see how the land use plan and
substantially many parts of the land use changes that are in the ETJ and just
outside of the boundaries of the city was changed to be in alignment with this
plan so as to those areas that are more impacted by say floodways or flood zones
are shown as open space and those that are you know those potential to be
preserved for riparian habitats or you know the cross timbers habitat those are
illustrated generally with appropriate land uses on them as well but this again
this is a high level approach there are regulations within the development code
and standards that are used through development that drill down and are much
more specific so at the time of implementation when a site plan comes
forward and the subdivision comes forward these generalized boundaries
become much more studied and much more refined so that those areas that are in
the need of preservation or have the potential to be preserved or can create
linkages and opportunities that fulfill not only the policies and vision of the
comprehensive plan but the parks and recreation trails master plan all that
can be handled at the time of implementation but what we're trying to
illustrate now is and this will be part of the comprehensive plan is that these
land preservation areas are aligned with the land use decisions that were made
for updating the future land use map so along with that there was a series of
questions that were provided to us from the both the planning and zoning
Commission and the City Council related to preservation and open space and on
the next couple slides you'll see those items that are marked with a
green arrow are those in which matrix and city staff are going to incorporate
or ensure incorporate maps or just ensure that the language in the
comprehensive plan supports those particular efforts and the other items
that are not identified with the green arrow are things that are already
addressed either through the comprehensive plan the policies the maps
and so on and then to some degree either implemented or not or handled by a
different plan so I'll just kind of walk through those at a high level to give
the Commission an update on that so so wildlife corridors came up and the staff
is going to and matrix will work together to make sure that there's
policies and actions in this comp plan that identify and or map those wildlife
quarters at least set some policy for how the wildlife corridors can be
handled in terms of preservation efforts or these open space efforts as for
protection of green spaces around watersheds as I noted there are city
regulations in place right now that do that there are FEMA related things
engineering design standards that are related to that as well and the
connected connectivity of green space you know they the parks and trails
recreation master plan as well as a comprehensive plan which are
coordinated both support those upper efforts and opportunities to locate
recreational facilities nearby or within those corridors as well where those
opportunities come in on this slide you can see a series of actions that are
existing in the comprehensive plan which address those comments about whether or
not natural spaces or these preserved areas are being used for linkages
regionally for mobility for open space for for flooding flood flood conveyance
as well as well potential for wildlife migration there's a need to make sure
there was enough land preserved for parks and there's actions related to
that as well as the 10-minute walk and making sure that that was a line between
the comp plan and the parks and recreation trails master plan the you
know the development of those greenways as I mentioned before linking those
areas together encouraging those pedestrian bicycle links all of those
comments that we received before are addressed and detailed out in the
comprehensive plan so that they've been accommodated as for things that can be
fixed or improved and clarified as there will be those existing trails that
exist and existing parks will be added to this preferred land preservation plan
to add to clarity in the relationship of those open spaces
ESA will likely have a different color to make it a little bit more clear about
what those areas are on the map the parcels they have a greater than 30%
canopy staff has added that is going to add a policy related to that to identify
those parcels which have a canopy of over greater than 30% the riparian areas
will be included on that preserved preferred land preservation map the
potential will be added as well as shown on that slide previously and as for the
other two about parcels which were zone public facilities there was a question
about illustrating what lands does it does the city of Denton currently
control right now what lands are available for potential open space or
for these types of functions and the existing the future land use map that's
provided in the comprehensive plan already identifies those government
institutional land use designations for those properties which is appropriate
at the high level of a comprehensive plan and then it becomes drilled down or
more detailed once you take an examination out of the be zoning map for
the city of Denton that tells you exactly the types of uses and that would
be appropriate on those city-owned properties but again comprehensive plan
stays at a high level it generalizes it what's important is that this is a
parcel that's designated for a variety of potential government and institutional
land uses through the future lastly with respect to denoting the historic parcels
there was a question that perhaps we should be illustrating some historic
preservation areas or for landmarks on the future land use map and and really
that is a refinement a drill down it's a it's a more detailed examination and
something that is addressed through the 2019 historic preservation plan and
really not a land use related function or something that should be illustrated
at the level of a future land use map there are policies as well in the in
goals within the comprehensive plan that do support those continued historic
preservation efforts so there is an alignment between those plans as well to
make sure that the comp plan supports those more detailed plans that move
along to come from it so with that I believe that covers the need for
discussion for the ESA's and if there's additional clarification that is
necessary or any further questions that may have been created from this
presentation of material we're open for that now so thank you any questions
Commissioner Cole thank you chair I think you know the wildlife corridor map is
very important what's the timeline on that and having that done so I'll take
that question the timeline has not been identified yet if anything it'll either
be for purposes of the comprehensive plan noted as a short-term midterm or
long-term item that will also be budget dependent for assistance on being able
to get that accomplished so it's really then comes down to it council being
willing to fund that particular action item one reason I'm interested in that
is because all those warehouses that are going up on Jim Crystal and Western
Boulevard you'll have a herd of 30 deer now trapped in a thick at the size of
City Hall and it's not uncommon to see a couple of dead deer a week on the side
of the road on Jim Crystal and when these warehouses go up these deer are
moving but they can't get across to an airport because they have two high
fences and they can't jump them so you I mean you have all these these deer just
trapped and it's going to be a problem because they're good a safety issue you
know because I mean they'll jack up your car if you get a big enough deer you
know but I was just you know we're already having that problem now it exists
now and there's a lot of wildlife trapped there on Jim Crystal in those
thickets and you know it'd be nice if we got on that so we didn't do that you
know further damage so you would be in favor of this being a short-term item
then from what I'm hearing from you so again I can hear you I said you would be
interested in us identifying this action item as a short-term item in terms of
I'm being done in it sooner than later yeah sooner and later because it's an
issue now thank you and you said Jim Crystal at what what was the other road
Western Western thank you but that also will go all the way down to Wolf Road to
you know it kind of goes it's it's set between Den energy Center kind of and
Western on Jim Crystal thank you okay thank you thanks Commissioner Cole any
other questions on this topic Commissioner Perot thank you chair just a
brief comment I think it looks great I think the there was some discussion I
think I heard yesterday at council that about how many permutations of of layers
that we wanted to include in the plan based on this map and I guess my
guidance would be you know when you have people and developers looking at
potential land they're gonna fire up that GIS map and turn on all the layers
and fix it that way so I you know in in you know in the same vein of the previous
item that I said you know I think having that type of information available on a
GIS map online is a great asset for transparency but I'm hesitant to sign us
up for you know constant updates of the PDF output of this plan that has to keep
getting posted to the to the website every two months well and along those
lines in in great observation with respect to the GIS tool and you're right
so the intention and I believe Ed spoke to this is this the land preservation
plan would be included within our comprehensive plan document right right
behind the future land use map where we have it just because you saw the
complexity of the graphic with all of the different colors and shadings and
what have you being applied it really makes it difficult to be able to use it
from that standpoint so from a printed standpoint in the document or a PDF
version if you will the maps will be right there next to each other but we do
take those maps and have the ability then to be able to put that information
on our GIS interactive map just like we have the 2030 plan out there we have our
mobility plan that's out there we have zoning information that's out there and
in utility information you know someone can layer on all as much information as
they want or the least amount of information that they're interested in
having but it's but but with these documents though being adopted as part
of the plan then you know they remain as is unless we do for example some
additional area planning then if we're doing it area plans then we'll add that
layer of information and presumably would amend the comprehensive plan so
it's not necessarily something that we're going to be amending every few
months or so but as we get certain action items accomplished that may warrant
an update of the map you know that's the time frame in which that would occur
thanks Tino anything else okay I think we can move along thanks
thank you chair so now we're going to move into that detailed discussion
about the future land use map and kind of walk through some of the more major
changes that have occurred or been proposed between the 2030 plan and the
2040 plan because there's been a couple different changes as we've talked about
at previous work sessions to this map notably we've there are new land use
designations which we'll talk a little bit about but then also some of the land
use designations in different areas of community have been changed in response
to emerging development trends a preferred pattern of growth and a number
of other issues so I'll just kind of walk through those one by one down first
these are these seven different areas that will kind of drill into and talk a
little bit more detailed about just for comparison sake and I'll flip between
these two slides a couple times this is the 2030 showing those same seven areas
and then here we go back to the 2040 and I'll like I said I'll go through this a
couple times just to show those different areas and then I have some
detailed slides that follow where we can talk about the those particular areas in
close-up fashion just so you can see a little bit more detail for the areas
that are being proposed to be changed okay so with the north detail this is
the north end of the community includes mostly areas with that are annexed into
the city of Denton but a little bit of the ETJ area as well for number one this
is an area that through discussions with the community examining development
trends as well as communicating with the economic development team this is an area
where the type of development that's moving forward seems to be more aligned
with a light industrial type land uses and the activities associated with
marketing for that area are moving in that direction as well that area was
previously illustrated on the 2030 plan as a big chunk of business innovation one
of the things that's changed with the land use designation name of business
innovation is that in light of the comments we've received we're going to
clarify that it's going to be identified as business center and I'll explain that
a little bit more later but for the purposes of examining that area number
one you can see that a larger area has been designated as light industrial than
was shown as business innovation on the 2030 plan and that on that and like I
said that light industrial designation is reflecting the future loop 288
extension the fact that there's a rail line running through that area some of
the existing development trends that are moving in that area and the economic
development efforts that are in that area as well and really this becomes
another employment focus area for the community moving forward that has land
uses that may not be quite as intense as you would find say in the industrial
commerce land use district around the airport so this would be stuff that's
more along the lines of warehousing business park assembly maybe some light
manufacturing and then those supportive uses for those areas such as business to
business type businesses you know for sales restaurants and things like that
that might support the workers that are in that area on a more limited fashion
so that's that's the intent with the changes on one I did mention that
business innovation had been renamed and the business innovation led to a lot of
interpretation about what that means if you just hear the name business
innovation it's difficult to know what kind of land uses are actually intended
there it's being the land use description was revised to be a little
bit more descriptive about how it would be developed into a modern employment
centers for the community largely composed of those office uses but it
could also be a mixed-use environment and in renaming it to business center
and helps to redefine that these are intended to be as well centers of
employment more office driven but employment in the community at large so
moving on to number two this is reflecting an ongoing development
pattern either through construction that's occurring now or projects that
are moving through the process or have been approved in the process or some
point of subdivision review so you'll see that there's been light or low
density residential added within the city of Denton's boundaries as well as
into the ETJ just on that I guess that bottom left corner of the box for number
two which is a change from the 2030 plan and like I said this was reflecting the
ongoing development pattern that's occurring there as well as the projects
that are coming forward in that area so this is one of the few spots in the ETJ
much like the MUDS where low density residential is being introduced because
of the certainty of development pattern and Denton's desire to just continue to
encourage that conformance with the comprehensive plan moving forward there
if I move on I'm gonna move on to the southwest portion of the community this
is really centered over hunter and coal ranch and there's a couple couple
changes illustrated number five loop 288 is intended to be routed through the
western side of our on the western side of the Denton Airport and there is an
opportunity there to capitalize on that transportation corridor as well as the
proximity to the airport for industrial or industrial commerce type uses so
that's been expanded into that western side area that loop 288 does go through
hunter coal ranch and one thing you'll notice with hunter and coal ranch is
that and we've talked about this at a previous work session is that the land
use designation has been changed from showing a multitude of different land
uses that are defined in those master plan documents to using a singular color
and the reason for that again was that by illustrating it with one color it's
making it very clear that there is a more refined and specific land use plan
that exists and has been reviewed through a separate process through the
City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission that describes those land
uses and the densities and characteristics of those land uses to a
much finer grain detail than what would normally be found and at a general or
comprehensive plan level so that's been a change that's moved forward this will
help simplify the process a little bit and ensure that there's no confusion
that you know multiple applications are needed to amend not only the master plan
but also the comp plan this is this is the comp plan deferring to those more
refined and detailed planning documents the other part that's been changed is
that there's been some adjustments to the land use mix on the east side of 35
West in response to providing a more complete community more diverse housing
options trying to establish a commercial or mixed use center to support this
area that's not within the master plan community as well along I along 35 West
and so those are the major changes that have been proposed between the 2030 plan
on the left and the 2040 plan on the right moving on to the southeast detail
which includes the downtown area I'll actually start with number seven the
downtown through the discussions with the community and others it was
recommended that the Denton downtown area be expanded to incorporate more of
the transitional areas meaning more of the areas surrounding the downtown which
could be more holistically to borrow a word for Becky planned so that the
neighborhoods and the downtown area the transit areas and gateways and the
interfaces between downtown and the universities can be planned under the
the context of a singular area plan document as those area plans are
developed and refined for these special places in Denton so that's why you see
those changes proposed around the downtown area for number three that was
a change which is a reflective of the ongoing development pattern in that area
which is more of an elite industrial approach rather than a business
innovation approach or mixed-use approach so those land uses have been
adjusted accordingly for number four the same thing applies the development
pattern in that area has moved within the city's annexed areas to be more
aligned with low density residential development and not the lower density
rural style development that was illustrated in the 2030 plan and so that
was a change that was made to match that ongoing development pattern that will
persist through the horizon of this plan so that summarizes many of the changes to
the future land use map and we wanted to include this map as well which is the
preferred growth scenario map and previous work sessions we indicated that
there was no proposed changes to this because it was still a valid document
and that still remains true today this is largely the same as what was preferred
by the community through those extensive outreach efforts in 2030 so in the
2040 map the change that has taken place is around that northern the north west
little bit northeast corner of the 288 and I 35 down to University Drive that's
been shaded purple and the reason for that is to be consistent with the future
land-use map which illustrates the light industrial and business innovation in
that area so that is one of the areas that's been changed as an expansion of
an employment focus area for the community moving through the year 2040 so
in the effort of full transparency this was this map is going to be modified to
show that we are in process of cleaning that up and making a little bit more
clear but otherwise the integrity of the rest of this preferred growth scenario
map which was reviewed by the community remains identical to what was
illustrated through the 2030 plan and provided to the community for a review
through the community engagement for this plan and so with that I'll open this
up for any discussion direction that you might have
thanks and we do have a few questions I'll just say thank you for renaming
business innovation years ago on my first year on this Commission I asked
for definition of that and I'm still waiting because no one ever had one so
we have needed that to be something else and I welcome Business Center anyway
Commissioner McDade thank you madam chair if you could go back to the
preferred scenario growth map I'm looking at something that really disturbs me I'm
looking at the the downtown Denton and I'm looking at I'm looking at the circle
as if it's a square but I see on the eastern side it goes all the way out to
Woodrow and what disturbs me is that entire circle encases all of southeast
Denton and my concern is I know we're talking about 2040 but is there any way
you could tell me I mean it may be the next 18 years what the plan is for
downtown Denton because I've been to quite a few downtowns in bigger cities
where low residential is not there and if that's a low residential neighborhood
I'm concerned that in the next 18 years it's not gonna be low residential anymore
it's gonna be pretty much what most downtown areas are in other cities so
I'm happy to take that question great observation council or excuse me
Commissioner McDade so the the circle if you will is just to denote that this is
an area of town that would be anticipated to have higher density
development that happens I would not equate that to what you see down in
Dallas I think if anything some better comparable examples might be you know
what you may found find in downtown Plano for example with some of the infill
development that they've had there you know as it relates specifically to
southeast Denton again this is just to illustrate that this is an area of town
in our downtown where we would anticipate seeing additional growth and
development and the reason for that predominantly would be the fact that
we have the DCTA station there also with the the businesses that we have in the
downtown area providing additional population to be able to support those
but let's take this the next step further again so this is high-level map
illustrating areas in the community just like you can see some other areas where
there's the darker darker circles shown to illustrate some greater density of
development we really see that the future for southeast Denton is to do
that area plan and I know if we're successful getting the comprehensive
plan adopted on on March 1st then we're immediately going to shift into
prioritizing which areas of the community where we believe we need to do
the area plans that allows for us to be able to take a deeper dive finer grain
analysis into southeast Denton and engage the community and hear from the
community as to what type of development they would like to see if any if they
would rather maintain status quo with more low density residential being the
predominant land use if they're interested in having additional
commercial uses that are brought into the area but doing that finer level
analysis at that point but again this map is just to illustrate areas within
the community where when when the 2030 plan was created there was an extensive
amount of public engagement and these areas in general not specific but in in
general were identified that we would have more intense development within
that area or higher densities of development but I would say do not equate
downtown Denton to becoming like a downtown Dallas thanks Dean I think Scott
has something to add he just arrived at the podium as you thank you mr.
Commissioner McDade the this is the same map that was in the 2030 plan and then
that circle isn't necessarily a borderline it's a dashed circle and
really indicating numerous centers across and around the city that we have
focal points I would say that that circle is probably grander in nature than what
it would take in if you look at it even to the north to the west it's taking in
residential areas that really will not change it's just that general when we
talk about the core the center of the city is illustrating that and then just
different sized circles throughout the map so I wouldn't say that it encompasses
particular areas in particular okay because I guess my way I guess my biggest
concern was when I'll use 2030 as an example you know maybe 75% of all the
homeowners in southeast inner 65 plus so in 2030 pretty much most of them are
still going to be around my concern was 2040 I mean I'll be 75 and I know a lot
of the homeowners God will they won't be with us off I was only impression that
it would be easier for the city to come in and just I'm not gonna say what I'm
saying is I don't want to see a Quaker town revisited I mean that's the
concern we have over there right now this is really this this has really
nothing more to do than to say where it is that these development centers are
and a lot of its current so when I reference the 2030 plan that means this
map is the same as the map that was five years ago from all the public input and
all the citizen input that we had we've made some changes to the map but that's
not one of the changes that we made to the map so it isn't it isn't changing
anything that we've been doing or that we plan to do and it certainly isn't
targeting neighborhoods in any way shape or form all right thank you thank you
any other questions Commissioner Prud thank you chair I'll just share real
briefly I'm in favor of the sort of brown NPC designation but my reasoning
is a little bit different than what I've heard before and that's because when we
look at the the broad future land use map it makes sense that the core that's
already developed has more granular uses and more granular future uses because
it's already developed and then as you look toward the outside the older map
that had the specific land uses agreed to in those NPCs kind of made it appear
to me that those areas we wanted lots of mixes of uses whereas these other areas
that were designated medium residential or low residential we wanted only that
for a very large area of land and I think some of the changes that we see in
the comp plan suggest that that thought has has shifted and so by by showing the
large brown areas were more clearly showing that hey these outlying areas
are general guidance and we'll we'll get to some of the more specific goals as we
get to the smaller area plans and that sort of thing thanks mr. Perot any other
discussion questions comments on this section okay I do not see any we can
mr. commission or excuse me I'm chairwoman Ellis if I could for just a
moment because I want to make sure that we address the question that was raised
from the Commission back on the January 26th and I believe may have been
Commissioner Cole who asked this question and if not Commissioner Cole the
Commissioner Anderson and that was with respect to the northwest part of town I
know it was asked of staff why the light industrial designation extending into
the ETJ boundaries adjacent to the city of Crom and so we floated that with
council yesterday and pointed that out there was no effort there was no appetite
to be able to change that you know other than to say that we need to look out at
what's in the best interest of Denton and what our needs are so hence why we
have not made that land use map change I did not want you to think that we think
that we're being non-responsive to the planning and zoning Commission but just
to provide that additional information thanks Tina appreciate that once again
another reason why small airplanes are such a good idea okay let's go ahead and
continue thank you chair all right and as Tina had noted earlier when we began
this presentation this is the fun stuff this is the rubber meets the road stuff
this is where the culmination of all this review of information and planning
and policy comes together and we're gonna need this we're gonna need the
graphic again the slides are much more interesting all right well this is the
implementation piece this is that really the the exciting part of the plan that
changes the plan from being one where it's just a coffee table book it just
talks you know of all these great things that the city's got vision for and it
takes that vision and it implements it it makes it a useful document that can
be implemented over time and give some direction for how to broadly approach
implementation or actions and implement those actions for this plan to make that
vision a reality and as Tina noted there's 270 separate actions in this
comprehensive plan update and many of them can be categorized as ongoing stuff
that Denton does today my interagency coordination you know regular review of
policies or whatever else it might be and then there's the short-term stuff and
this is the the the items that should be acted upon and within the next several
years midterm midterm five to ten years and long term stuff that might not
initiate until ten years or more out the specificity of each of these actions
although generally broad gets a little bit more less detailed the longer the
horizon out because there's less certainty about how those should be
approached but the general concepts of how these actions should be implemented
still remain each of these actions are identified in the implementation action
table and they have several different elements that inform them and then and
these are I guess broader descriptions of what those actions could be in terms
of you know one it's gonna identify the key action so if the key action is you
know develop a new urban design code then that will be the action that will
be in there now that action would be supported by certain policies so the
action table also shows you which policies support that action the action
type in the table says okay what are those what kind of read what kind of
action is this is this a regulatory action is this a partnership is this a
program is this a policy just to give a little bit more frame of reference for
what that action might be time frame as we described before that's established
based upon the urgency to act upon those or if an action that's accomplished
early supports an action that would be taken later within the 24 horizon
responsible part department and agency this makes sure that the different
departments within the city of Denton for different agencies that work with
the city of Denton are aware of their role in helping to lead and spearhead
these actions to move them forward and in almost every case you can't
accomplish things by yourself and in a bubble either through an agency or
department you need partners to support that so many of these actions also
identify those partners that would be co-leading or supporting these actions
to see them through and being achieved by the community so one of the ways I
just was this was described to City Council was that these actions really
constitute something like a recipe I mean it tells you that you need eggs it
tells you you need you need to have potatoes it tells you I need to have
some sausage in order to make breakfast I'm hoping not making it very hungry but
you guys did just eat so you should be okay but uh it tells you you need these
ingredients and tells you you need a frying pan and it tells you you need an
oven but it doesn't say how do you cook the eggs I mean are you gonna use a
certain temperature are you gonna whisk the eggs are you gonna dice the onions
are you going to bake the potatoes are you gonna fry them that those details
that level of detail is not appropriate for the implementation table because that
is stuff that gets determined after this comprehensive plans established the
comprehensive plan is providing that broader scope saying these are the
general actions that need to be accomplished but we don't need to know at
this point nor is it appropriate at this point for the the fine detail of how to
get it done to be identified what's important is that there's actions that
may be done and there's certain elements that need to be addressed so we're
putting it together here's your recipe later go figure out how you're going to
cook it so the city staff and working in conjunction with yourselves a city
council and other entities will figure out the exact way to approach these
actions for the benefit of debt in the most effective way so what I wanted to
show next was a couple slides that show some of the actions that are in the
implementation table that's in the comprehensive plan update right now and
some of these include you know on the left-hand side you'll see some general
categories of actions that are important to the community that will probably be
pursued in the short term or ongoing horizon so these are just provided for
examples they're not categorized this way in the plan all the actions are
listed in the implementation table by the element of which they are found in
the plan but the policies that support those actions tend to be found
throughout the document further illustrating those that relationship
between the different elements of the document to support an action but in
general I just wanted to kind of go through at a high level really quick
some of these implementation actions such as to describe how that relates to
what I just described before the action that has a key action but the one in the
lighter shading purple you know this is an action that we want to revise those
that those zoning districts to be consistent with the future land uses and
so this is really something that the city would be examining on an ongoing
basis to make sure that there's an alignment between the comp plan and the
zoning code our zoning the zoning districts making sure there's an
alignment split the preferred growth concept looking for ways to improve and
streamline the development process and so on so there's a lot of different
components to this action they're all supported by those policies or related
actions they're all identified in the second column and you can see that
they're in a couple different sec elements of this comprehensive plan what
kind of activities as well as the regulatory actions because it's going to
improve the review process or it's going to improve the use of the code or find
alignment between plans it's something that should be occurring in the short
term in a zero to three-year range who's going to be managing it on this case
particular case planning and development be managing it it will be their
partners or yourselves the planning and zoning Commission be part of that
partnership to make sure that this actions implemented in the right way now
what if this doesn't show like I said before is it doesn't tell you how to do
it exactly it just says these are the things that need to be accomplished this
is who needs to do it this is the time frame this is why you do it this is
supported by these policies and here's who can help you get it done moving on
infill the same thing you know there's an action that's on the short term you
know doing an infill inventory and we've actually got a little discussion about
something similar to this on a future slide related to infill and you can see
the same element supply you know who's your responsible agencies the time frame
and so on the next slide shows this is open space and preservation this is
really related to how in these particular examples how regulation can
help promote that conservation or preservation so this would be applicable
mostly to development on subdivisions things like that for both of these items
but there's also a component for implementation for open space and parks
that the public actions it's related to the planning and partnerships and in
ways to strategize to acquire land for that public benefit of preservation
creating those trail corridors preserving floodways and floodplains
identifying those historical or sensitive lands that are important to
the community and so that would be a responsibility not enough planning and
zoning but it's really driven by the Parks and Recreation Trails Master Plan
and Parks and Recreation they would be the primary lead for this and their
policies that support it and it's something that should be done on an
ongoing basis especially since that plan is just moving through the process and
tracking along with this comp plan and the mobility plan and then finally
multimodal mobility the mobility plan which is ongoing currently so it's
identified as a short-term and ongoing process because there's a direction
that'll be that's more refined in that mobility plan that's not detailed to the
same degree in this comp plan but the policies and actions and goals of this
comprehensive plan support that mobility plan and its details of analysis and
direction for implementation so this is one of those actions that shows that
relationship it's shows that support between this comp plan and the plans
that follow and there are like as I said before over 200 270 of these within the
document they have the same relationships in the way that they're
set up it's actions that are to be implemented over a certain time frame
and many of these actions are designed to support or encourage additional
planning effort or additional regulatory effort or whatever it might be to achieve
the vision of the community and so why we took a little time to walk through
this was because there was a little we want to make sure it was very clear to
the planning and zoning Commission into City Council and to others about what
the purposes of the comp plan is and how that those purposes relate to the
actions in the implementation of the plan any questions you might have happy
to receive them thank you thank you again I have to say I love the the action
table I think that's just a great addition to this I believe Commissioner
Pruitt has a question thank you just wanted to thank staff a lot for the
focus on this implementation section I know it's a large table and and updating
these things and really thinking through carefully what still applies and what
needs to change is a big task I look forward to you know seeing some some
reports and metrics as we go forward but I expect that to to take some time
right I mean some of these things we're not going to know what metrics we need
to start looking at until we complete some of those short-term actions and
then once we get those things under our belt we can have a pretty pretty good
idea of what we should track to to make sure that those actions are are having
their desired effect so I really look forward to to seeing some some good
motion toward these goals thank you yeah thank you I agree any other Commissioner
Cole thank you chair thanks you all for the hard work and both presentations
it's just a massive amount of information and you guys are just we're
lucky to have y'all and thank you for all you do thank you with regard to this
action table just to Commissioner Cole's earlier point with the wildlife study I
don't know if that is point 122 in the action plan if that's where that would
fall in but we do have that as mid you know I'd be in favor of moving that to
short especially if we're talking about saving the lives of animals and whatnot
so if that's where that does fall in I'd like to maybe have that discussion on
making that a shorter term goal any other discussion on this okay I do not
see any other questions and in Commissioner Ellis we definitely can look
into that and see if that's the appropriate location or if it needs to
be moved elsewhere refined but let us look into that okay appreciate that
you sure you ready for me to continue that I'm sorry did you ask a question I
did yes sure I was just asking if you're ready for me to continue then yes okay
thank you so I'm building on the implementation discussion and this is
the drill down that about what are those most important items that can be the
next steps for the city to move forward into and through again a much of the
discussion between City Council and yourselves over the work sessions that
we've had it's it's it's it seems that some of the priorities that are really
important to the community would be moving on to those the discussion about
area plans so throughout the implementation table there is there are
actions related to establishing area plans or examining those neighborhoods
and character areas that are important to Denton and looking to create more
refined planning approaches to those areas and what that means is that these
area plans are really that refinement that that find tooth examination of not
only the land uses but the design the streets the trails the transportation
the parts the transit all those different aspects that make it that make
those areas unique or special to the community these area plans could also
extend over areas that are focal areas for the community such as you know as
they illustrate on that focus concept area method you see on the right which
I'll show is a slightly larger diagram on the next slide those are areas where
you know there could be plans for corridors that establish character over
those corridors or special you know treatment to the roadways or whatever it
might be there's also those you know mixed-use centers that were identified
in the in the preferred growth concept map those are potential areas for focus
and further refinement through area plans so the next step is once this
comprehensive plan is moved through the hearing process and been accepted and
approved is to be really begin that analysis of of all the different areas
that are worthy of attention for additional planning and dentin what are
the priorities we there needs to there's gonna be I'm sure Tina will explain us
as well there's an intention to you know to get to work and identify that the
priorities for those area plans which ones we move forward with first the scope
what is necessary to achieve a proper vision for those area plans what kind of
timeline should that be accomplished in is it something that starts now is it
something that starts later as well as the potential for budget needs to
support those area plans in their development so this is one part of
developing a more complete community with one with more diverse housing and
the more diverse shopping employment number of employment opportunities
trying to create those you know you know the trend to implement the vision of
what Denton wants to be the second piece to this is also those actions related to
infill and redevelopment and the city of Denton already has infill standards and
redevelopment type standards in their regulations today they're within the
development code as well as other regulations the community has related to
engineering in streets and design and whatever else it's important that these
be monitored and evaluated to ensure that they're achieving the goals that
are desired by the community and there are actions there's an action in the
table related to that to making sure that the infill development standards and
the codes that are in place are supportive of this vision for balanced
growth between new growth and the infill within the community I I would like to
describe infill generally as those vacant parcels that have never really
been developed with any use that are located or surrounded by generally
developed properties meaning like a vacant lot that's surrounded by you know
residential or commercial that's an infill opportunity redevelopment
opportunities tend to be those parcels that are currently developed with the
use could be a parking lot it could be a home it could be a commercial building
on a corner and the redevelopment standards would be those standards that
help support reuse of that site so keeping the existing building in place
and being able to accommodate additional or different types of uses or the
redevelopment of you know clearing the site and then putting a new structure up
that's more in conformance with the vision and compatible with the area that
it's located in so those standards both need to be examined and evaluated to
make sure they're achieving what the city of Denton is intending moving
forward that could result in the drafting and adoption of additional
provisions and policies to make that happen especially in those cases where
we're finding that the infill standards or the redevelopment standards aren't
fully supporting the development vision for the community or they're creating
conflicts or perhaps even making it more difficult to achieve redevelopment or
infill on those sites so so with that you can see this concept area map on the
on the right and I'm gonna go to the next slide and show you the blow-up many
this is largely again something that was introduced as being unchanged from the
2030 plan because when it was reviewed by the community and staff and other
entities if it was shown to still be valid and in conformance with the vision
these focus areas you know are those opportunities for that enhanced area
planning but they're not the only ones there could be additional areas or they
may not represent the exact size as mr. McDonald Scott McDonald's noting earlier
is that these you know these are figurative dashed circles that kind of
illustrate the general area of where an area plan could take place but not
necessarily a hard boundary the purple rings that are added to this are
additional areas in light of the discussions that have occurred recently
where there could be potential area plans as well notably at the intersection
of 35 and 288 the northeast part of Denton as well as the southeast part of
Denton which was also brought up today as being an area of concern so those are
potential area plan locations those purple areas are those potential areas
that may be of a higher priority right now but that discussion you know remains
to take place at the conclusion of this process to adopt this comprehensive plan
the policies in this plan the action table and everything else will support
and inform those discussions for where area planning should take place and with
that I believe that I've addressed everything that was needed to be
addressed yes so I will be happy to take any questions or comments you may have
regarding that final stage of implementation detail thanks again and
do we have any questions or comments on this section I do not see any okay well
and chairman Ellis if it's all right with you then we'll proceed to our last
slide yes the next step slide that's great thank you and if I can have you
share that one more time okay so this slide should look familiar given that
we've shared with it in the past and it's been updated to reflect all the
work that we've accomplished as of today so obviously we're on today's date
February 9th and greatly appreciate the additional feedback and direction that
you have given us today want to take just a quick step back for a moment we
went ahead and did publish the legal notice associated with the public
hearings we are still anticipating moving forward with the planning and
zoning Commission public hearing being on February 3rd and if the Commission
renders a recommendation on to your meeting on that date then we would move
forward to City Council on March 1st and have public hearing and hopefully
adoption of the plan at that time but between today and in February 23rd we do
have one more meeting teed up that's the joint work session that we have with
City Council to have some work through some remaining items as it relates to
finishing the comprehensive plan in addition to the mobility plan so the
mobility plan is also on the same time frame that the comprehensive plan is on
so if there's hopefully you all can make it on Monday the 14th and I've had this
meeting on your calendars so that we can ensure that we've got quorum but other
than that there's any additional questions or feedback direction that the
Commission would like to provide as it relates to the comprehensive plan happy
to receive that and again we appreciate your attention to detail and in working
with us on this project thanks Tina with regard to that meeting on Monday do we
know how we're doing that are we hybrid in that meeting I assume again or we are
and so we need to ensure that we have four members of the planning and zoning
Commission that are in person as well as we'll have four members of council in
person and then everybody else being remote we will have that meeting in the
City Council chambers so you'll be positioned at the dais for those of you
that are participating in person and then obviously the remaining folks would
be remote and then we'll have limited staff potentially available either in
the council chambers or remote we want to make sure that should there be anyone
that from the public that is attending that we can socially distance and
maintain that those appropriate distances in the council chambers but
but because of the Texas Open Meetings Act with those rules no longer being
suspended we have to ensure that we have a minimum for planning and zoning
Commission members in attendance right right are there any questions other
discussion before we end Commissioner Villarreal I can't see you but did you
have any questions okay now I can see you okay very good well Ed Tina thank
you and to all the staff for you know putting this together working so hard on
this presentation has just been getting better and better honestly it's great
just because I think we're becoming more productive as we we move forward so
keeping the wheels turning and that's a really good thing so awesome so I think
with that I will adjourn us thank you everyone I'll adjourn us at 1 o 8 p.m.
thank you all