Mar 09, 2022 Planning and Zoning Commission on 2022-03-09 5:00 PM

Good afternoon and welcome to the City of Denton's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting for Wednesday March 9th 2022. This is our work session and with the quorum present I will call us to order at 5 o 3 p.m. We don't have any work session reports. Our first item on the agenda is citizen comments on consent. I don't see anyone here. Do we have anyone on the phone waiting? No we don't have anyone on the phone. Very good thank you. All right then we'll go right into the clarification of agenda items. Let's see any discussion on the minutes? There were yeah two days of minutes. No okay. How about consent? Nothing on consent? Okay. Items for individual consideration. For A okay and that one is recommended for approval. Okay then for B I believe that is an extension request. Jordan did you have your hand up? No? Okay okay. For C and I believe that is also an extension request. Okay for D same extension request to date certain 323. Okay then for E recommended for approval. Any questions? For F that is a requested extension. Is that correct? Okay to 323. We have 4G it was a very late email on 4G but they have worked through staff comments on that and it is recommended for approval now. Has everyone had a chance to see that in email and if not I can have Julie bring it up now. Okay we're good. Okay that's going to be the same thing with 4H. There's a late approval on that as well. Any questions on that? Okay and that one's now recommended for approval. Well all right then we'll go right on to our public hearings for the night. The first one 5A there was a notice error so staff is requesting that to be postponed to 323 so I will be asking for a motion just for an extension on that item so we can clear that. Okay any questions on that? Okay and then a 5B is hold a public hearing consider making a recommendation to council on the comprehensive plan update. Do we want to have a short presentation on that now or do we just want to wait for questions? If there are any top of mind. Hi Tina. Hi Tina Fergens deputy director of development services. I'm happy to answer any questions right now. We were planning on reserving the presentation for the public hearing just to not duplicate but if there's anything that the Commission needs clarification on I'm happy to address that. Okay thank you. Okay sorry about the technical difficulty in the pause. I'll call us back to order at 5 0 8 p.m. Tina I will let you finish. Tina Fergens deputy director of development services. Chairman Ellison response to your question. Staff was not anticipating doing a presentation for the work session. We were planning on preserving our presentation for the public hearing. Happy to address any questions that the Commission may have at this time as it relates to the comprehensive plan and also we were going to take a similar approach with mobility plan if that's acceptable. Okay thank you very much. Thank you. Any questions for the comp plan update or the mobility plan before the public hearing? Okay thank you much. I appreciate that. So then that will take us to 5 D which is hold a public hearing consider making recommendation to counsel of an ordinance amending the development code in section 7 4 7 a. Christy I'll have you come down I don't know if we are we approaching this the same with a presentation at the public hearing. Answering any questions now? Okay all right. Okay sounds good. Commission any questions for Christy before the public hearing that you want her to address here at the work session? Sure Commissioner Pruitt. Thank you. I guess I'll just mention a couple things that that I'll be interested in hearing about and if it takes some some time to reference that we can cover it in the public hearing but I'll be interested to understand what requirements are in place from a managing how trails would be handled in these riparian areas as far as is it ice swim regulations you know how does that how are we covered from a make sure that that we don't do something harmful essentially just because from the text I don't I don't see where that's referenced and then the second thing is I'll I'll be interested to understand how this applies to alt ESA applications both in the case where the applicant applies for an alt ESA on their land and then it stays their land is there an ability in the future if it makes sense for a trail to go through that area as well as in the case where they apply for an alt ESA but they also do a dedication of land to the parks department for instance but the the piece of the parcel that gets dedicated is still within the alt ESA area how does that work does that make sense so from what I understand you're asking is if if someone is required to apply for and seek an alternative ESA plan then and and the trail happens to be a part of that how does that all come into play yes also if say for instance they apply for an alt ESA but then five years later the parks department decides to try to bring a trail through that corridor what's what's the process for how we handle that if that makes sense okay yeah those are great questions okay yeah okay I'll be prepared to answer those questions at the public hearing thanks one of late clarification was brought to my attention just a moment ago that item for C is going to be is being withdrawn by the applicant so we will be I'll announce at the public hearing but we won't need an extension request granted on that okay with nothing else to clarify on our agenda I will call our work session closed at 512 we'll meet back here at 630 for the public meeting thank you good evening and welcome to the city of Denton's planning and zoning Commission meeting for Wednesday March 9th 2022 with a quorum present I will call us to order at 630 p.m. before we get into our agenda I'm gonna turn the mic over to Haley real quick good evening we just wanted to officially welcome our newest planner Mia Hinds to the team she's in the back row joining us from the city of Glen Heights and she is our newest associate planner so welcome her to the evening welcome Mia okay our first item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance to the US and Texas Flags and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you our next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes for January 26th and February 9th meetings chair can entertain a motion or any questions on that Commissioner Smith make a motion approve Commissioner Villarreal second okay we've got a first and a second for approval is there any discussion okay we will have to do a vote via roll call Commissioner Pruitt all right Commissioner Smith all right Commissioner McDade all right Commissioner Cole Commissioner Villarreal all right Commissioner Anderson all right and the chairs and I that motion carries seven zero that will move us to our consent agenda Commissioner Smith make a motion to approve we have a motion to approve the consent agenda Commissioner Cole second we've got a first and a second to approve the consent agenda is there any question or discussion okay let's take a vote via roll call Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I shares also an I that motion carries seven zero that takes us to our items for individual consideration and just for clarification 4c has been withdrawn by the applicant so we will not be taking action on 4c so I will call up for a FP 2100 for 1a and invite Shawn Jacobson up hello Shawn hello I am opening this for Haley very good thank you Shawn I believe it's slide three Shawn okay yes so good evening this is the Primoros edition final plat y'all may recognize this property as it's recently been rezoned to allow for a corporate headquarters to be relocated here subject properties just north of Barthold on I 35 and as of yesterday staff is able to recommend approval of this plat as the associated engineering plans have now been approved I'm happy to answer any questions excellent thank you Haley and Shawn any questions for staff okay seeing none Commissioner Smith make a motion to approve we've got a first Commissioner Anderson second we've got a first and a second for approval of this item any discussion okay let's take a vote via roll call Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I and chair is an I that motion carries seven zero taking us to 4b FP 220007 and Shawn I believe you will be presenting this item yes ma'am thank you good evening chair and members of the Commission let me just pull up the plots again all right so tonight I'm presenting FP 220007 this is the perch Denton edition and staff is recommending denial this request is it does not meet the criteria for approval as outlined however staff has no objection to the request extension which could be granted to March 23rd 2022 I do not see any thank you Commissioner Smith make a motion to prove the extension of date certain of March 23rd 2022 okay we've got a first to approve the extension request Commissioner Villarreal second we've got a first and a second to approve that extension request any discussion seeing one let's vote Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I chair is an I so that motion carries the seven zero as I stated earlier 4c has been withdrawn we will move to 4d FP 2020 I'm sorry FP 220006 hi Karina sure this has been a while good to see you in person it's nice to see you all right all right this is a final plaque for the pebble brook Parkside edition this is located on the east side of loop 288 just south of East McKinney Street staff is recommending denial as there's still a couple of items they still need to address so it does not meet the criteria for approval however the applicant has requested an extension to March 23rd and staff has no objection to this request thank you any questions I don't see any thank you Karina Commissioner Pruitt move to approve the extension to a date certain emerged 23rd Commissioner Smith second we've got a first and a second for approval of the extension request any discussion seeing none let's evoke Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith Commissioner McDade Commissioner Cole Commissioner Villarreal Commissioner Anderson chair is also an I that motion carries seven zero for EPP 220001 and that would be Julie Wyatt's presentation hi Julie good evening all right this is PP 21 - 0001 a it is for a preliminary plat for a horizontal multifamily use that you might remember that went forward it's been in the last year and was approved they did they were able to work through all of the issues related to it so staff does recommend approval and I'll be happy to answer any questions thanks Julie any questions for Julie I don't see any Julie thank you Commissioner Villarreal I move to approve the plan Commissioner Anderson a second the motion we've got a first and a second for approval any discussion seeing none let's vote Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I chair is also an I that motion carries seven is zero for FPP 220004 is also Julie's okay this is a preliminary plat for the vintage ranch it's a multifamily development that went through the the PD amendment approval process recently they do have some comments they need to address so staff does recommend denial however we have no objection to their requested extension to the March 23rd meeting and I'll be happy to answer any questions thanks Julie any questions for Julie okay Commissioner Smith make a motion to approve the extension of date certain March 23rd 2022 okay we've got a first for the extension request approval Commissioner Pruitt a second got a first and a second to approve the extension request to a date certain March 23rd any discussion okay Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I share is also an I that motion carries seven is zero taking us to 4g PP 21 0020 be Julie okay this one is for a preliminary plot within the ropes and ranch development on this is unit 27 it's a single-family development they did get through work through all of the outstanding comments and so while the the agenda when the agenda posted staff did recommend denial they they have we are able to recommend approval excellent thank you Julie any questions for Julie on this item chair can entertain a motion or discussion Commissioner Pruitt I'll move to approve the plot you've got a first for approval Commissioner McDade second got a first and a second for approval any discussion seeing none let's vote Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I share is also an I that carries seven zero taking us to 4h PP 21 0029 see Julie you are very busy this evening hello again I think this is my last one this is PP 21 - 0029 see the Holland edition the subject property is is located at just east of loop 288 it's a mixed density development and this is a preliminary plot they have worked through all the remaining comments and so staff recommends approval of this preliminary plot great thank you Julie any questions for Julie do not see any Commissioner Smith make a motion to approve we've got a first for approval Commissioner McDade second got a first and a second for approval of this plat any discussion seeing none let's vote Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I share is also an I that motion carries seven zero that will take us to our public hearing items for the evening first a 5a there was a notice error so a staff is requesting that this item be postponed Commissioner Smith make a motion to approve postponement to date certain in March 23rd 2022 thank you we've got a first to approve staff's request for the extension Commissioner Villarreal second we've got a first and a second to postpone this item to a date certain of March 23rd 2022 any questions discussion okay let's vote Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I share is also an I that motion carries seven zero taking us to 5b p7 I'm sorry PZ 21 249 hold a public hearing consider making recommendation to City Council regarding the 2040 comp plan update and I'm not sure who is presenting this item it's Tina I will bring up Tina and I will open the public hearing hi Tina hi there just one moment okay excellent good evening Tina Fergens deputy director development services and the planning director so it's my pleasure to introduce this agenda item to you and it's probably my entire team's pleasure to be able to introduce this item to you before you this evening is consideration of the comprehensive plan update the Denton 2040 comprehensive plan as you know we've been working very diligently on getting this document to you and in this format in order for you to take consideration and action of it I'm happy to have here with me Ed and of course I'm drawn a blank on Ed's last name as I think of this right now but nonetheless Ed is with us from matrix design group our consultant teams all let him introduce himself as well but but nonetheless this has been a collective effort with not only matrix design group as our as our partner but with all of your feedback and effort we've had quite a bit of discussion as it relates to this document so it's our pleasure to present it to you I'm gonna invite Ed up here to walk you through the the presentation here as we move forward I'll come back up here and wrap it up with next steps but we look forward to receiving the planning and zoning Commission's recommendation this evening staff respectfully requests that the Commission recommend approval of the proposed Denton 2040 comprehensive plan thank you hi Ed hello hi chair members of the Commission my name is Ed Boyk I'm with matrix design group and so it's Boyk you won't forget that next time we'll eat and I'm and as Tina said I'm happy to be here I'm as well since this is a huge accomplishment to get these updates done for a very important plan for the community and so we're gonna run through a couple different slides describing the characteristics of the plan some of the process we took to get there and then also to reaffirms the feedback that we heard from the planning and zoning Commission and City Council and affirm that that is incorporated and has been addressed as part of this comprehensive plan update so the 2040 plan is an is an update to the 2030 plan and it reflects those current conditions in this in the community as well as the anticipated conditions into the future so that would be things like the changes in growth rate the new housing the new employment that might be coming along and with that there's new challenges and they need to be addressed and so this plan addresses those new challenges and also identifies those opportunities that could be pursued by the community moving forward importantly it confirms the community vision it verified that the vision that was present when the 2030 plan was adopted is still present it's still accurate it's still representative of Denton's future moving forward and to that it confirmed the key goals and policies and actions other policies and actions were examined as well and I'll talk about that another slide to be refined and updated and new ones were established as well to move to implement on those new opportunities and address those challenges and lastly the plan is updated to incorporate references to the plans that are currently under consideration or have been recently adopted such as the economic development strategic plan the mobility plan update parks and rec transportation plan sorry parks and recreation master plan and several other plans that are in the works in the near term so the approach this plans approach was to do an update not a rewrite so a large percentage of this plan was intended to be still valid it remained valid was verified to be valid and then it was updated accordingly to reflect the current day and the new future envisioned by Denton it's building upon accomplishments the 2030 plan was a good plan it was able to be implemented there have been some successes such as the downtown develop the Denton Development Code and this is going to build upon that it's created new strategies and new implementation tasks to build upon that that implementation the action items has been refined it's been reviewed thoroughly by city staff by the consultants by community and then made sure to be representative of the projects that could be accomplished into through the year 2040 along with that was a policy and goal analysis that was move forward on updated the key points as I mentioned before such as the key policies and actions new actions were established new policies and this is again carrying that vision forward and some things that were put into place to help create some more connective tissue between the different you know opportunities that are identified in a plan the the land use plan is connected and represented in the in the comp plan with the preferred land preservation plan which illustrates those areas that could be or are environmentally sensitive or areas that could be preserved for community benefit wildlife benefit native spaces recreation as well as the preferred growth concept map which was reviewed by the community and determined to still be applicable it's been updated a little bit there's some enhancements to it to identify those areas of more intense development but all these plans are in concert with each other they all support each other so the public engagement was extensive and I'm not I don't know if I go through every bullet point on this slide but the important thing is is that we did have stakeholder interviews early on last year there was a website that was available materials all the time for the community they could fill out comments questionnaires on the website as well as participate in some other tools that were available on it there was three virtual public open houses we had an in-person one that was also had a companion 3d virtual environment open house that was open for two weeks and last at late last year I think in the fall of last year where the community could continue to provide comment if they felt uncomfortable being in an in-person event or didn't have the opportunity to make it to the in-person event there's been numerous presentations to boards committees and commissions by myself and Ron and the other people on staff at the city and we had a series of workshops which and work sessions that Tina had just referred to that was really brought it all together and ensured that this plan was something that reflected not only the community's wants and needs but the decision-makers wants and needs and also to support staff in their decision-making so we are really great comments for being an update through this plan this community is incredibly engaged very really cares about the community and it was reflected in the comments we received several I mean well over a thousand fifteen hundred comments received through all the different mechanisms and media that we had almost two thousand actually between the questionnaires and vision statements and everything else and some of those in an interactive or online tools are represented on the bottom of the slide as well we had that ID places which was an interactive mapping exercise that gave us a lot of spatial comments which were very valuable to formulating and proving up those actions policies goals and implementation tasks as well as the virtual open house I had just spoke to in the slide previous so so these two slides there's three two slides that really are identifying those key discussion changes and these are items that were identified by both the planning planning and zoning Commission and City Council is being something we should consider make sure it's addressed properly or addressed clearly in the plan as we move forward so this is just representing that all of those different statements whether it was for the vision statement how we handle the ETJ with land use policy how do we handle the future land use plan area plans infill etc all of those have been represented in this plan and it's been addressed not only in policies and actions and goals but also in through the implementation tasks items like the wildlife quarters specifically where become became an action item in the implementation table protecting green spaces was important for that as well connectivity things that could be implemented in the near term because those plans and the more refined planning such as through the parks plan has taken place so this plan is really an umbrella that supports all that activity and guides all the functions of implementation forward finally there was a comment about making sure that this plan continued to be implementable and relevant moving forward into the future and there is a portion of the plan through the implementation and actions that indicates the city will actively monitor and evaluate this plan first performance and then establish metrics for that so that you can make sure that the plans doing what it needs to do and is if it's not then you have some more direction and information to help you move forward into the future but with all the outreach and all the review and all the technical expertise has gone into this plan I'm sure this is going to be a great plan for dent moving far into the future there's 271 action items so you got a little bit of work to do in front of you but I believe in you guys this is a great plan in a great community so what that might turn it back over to Tina and she's going to go through the next steps so this slide should look very familiar to the Commission as it illustrates all the progress that we've made on it since the beginning of January of this year and so this evening we do need to conduct a public hearing as it relates to the proposed plan and receive your recommendation then we will move forward with the proposed plan to the March 22nd City Council meeting obviously as you are well aware we were hoping to get a recommendation from you back on February 23rd and get this to council on March 1st but Mother Nature had some other ideas for us despite our best efforts so but following following the council's consideration of presuming that we get approval on March 22nd we do have slated for the Commission for March 23rd a discussion on area plans and I know we've had lots of discussion about this is where we want to be in starting taking that next step and working on the implementation and have a discussion about prioritizing different areas within the community as it relates to that but hopefully we'll have that discussion on March 23rd and good it shows up on your slides will cover it over here but and then we will have that similar discussion with City Council on April 5th and be able to share with council the Commission's proposed recommendations of where we spend our areas on area plans so with that I'd actually like to invite Ron Mingida up here to present this slide so he this is his prize for him so I'd just like to take a moment Ron has been tremendous throughout this whole effort and if it wasn't for Ron's leadership and guidance we would not be here where we are today this man has invested so much of his time as well as others on our team but I think they would all say that Ron has been the true champion and the spirit behind this plan and getting this updated so to me it's only befitting that Ron present this last slide. Thank You Tina. Ron Mingida principal planner with Development Services. I was not expecting that but I'm gonna go ahead and ask the Commission for your recommendation and staffs recommending hopefully approval of this item which is obviously hard done 20/40 comprehensive plan appreciate it. Thank you Ron and I agree with Tina you are quite an asset to your team in this city so thank you for all your efforts in this. Thank you. That concludes our presentation. So with that we recommend that you open the public hearing but we're also happy to take any questions or comments that you have so thank you. Thank you everyone. Do we have questions? Commissioner Smith? We're asking questions. Sorry Tina quick question so of the 271 action items that you guys have out there one question we haven't asked her in all the different work sessions and conversations we've had about this is is what is what city staffs direction on prioritizing those action items obviously I know from some pressure if some people on the Commission trying to get small area plans in I won't name what jerk try to get that going forward as fast as possible but the on those other 271 action items how are you guys prioritizing how you guys delegating do you have something on the back end you can share with us a little bit after we do this you don't want to just obviously go through and prove something but we want to make sure that we do that that there's some sort of workflow on the back end you guys give us an insight on that. Yes so in I wish I had the the previous slide from a discussion we had a couple of weeks ago but moving forward our focus and efforts truly on the area plans we've also talked about infill development and what that looks like for the community and and how we move forward with evaluating any of our codes and and if there's any special refinements that need to be made to any policies that relates to those areas as well but we really see our focus on also with Council's direction you know concern regarding our land preservation and moving forth with evaluating any codes that we might need to be modified to be consistent with the plan update process as well but the other thing I will add is included within I believe it's chapter 10 or element 10 of the Conference of Plan obviously is the consolidated version of all 271 action items and it also has a level of prioritization associated with that whether that is a short term item midterm long term or continuous so we would also consult that also on a regular basis on the short-term action items to determine where we really need to invest our time and efforts and that could be some additional conversations with the Planning and Zoning Commission as well as council as we work on prioritizing those efforts but I go back to really it's the area plans it's working on the infill development in and what that looks like and then also whether or not we need to make any modifications to code but then also concerns amongst council about preservation of land and making sure that we have appropriate policies in place that be able to balance that with also the development and growth that's happening within the community well and yes and I think I mentioned that previously but we'll have the area plans discussion on on April 5th and start that getting that direction from council I'll probably just whenever we get to matrix tonight I'll probably just include maybe possibly that we have a standing item on the on our P&Z matrix to be able to just talk about where you guys are towards those we don't need a super in-depth detail but just to make sure there's been times in the past where we've seen actions created leadership and people are involved or lost in communication within there and things aren't followed up on so maybe just putting on our matrix to say hey we're working through the items here and it might take a year or two before us to get that off the off the matrix but I think it probably good just to have a check and balance and conversation about it absolutely so thanks thanks for your hard work any other question okay thank you madam chair if you could go back to the public engagement it's not wanting to move oh wait there it goes this particular slide hey I don't know the the the graphic next one yeah I'm looking all together you only had 1972 comments and my question is how does the city does the city actually go out to the people or you want the people to actually come to the city to find out what's going on because I mean do you go to this is does the city hold meetings with area areas of town to let them know what's going on I mean how do you really get the information out about the 2040 plan so in this case when we worked on this project we said we used a variety of different resources available to us we used a means of a communication means that the city has a certain publishing information inviting people to be part of the effort and providing the feedback we actually hosted some public meetings and did the open house I know I was here at least for the open house that we did in September where we invited the public to come and be part of the process with us but but also still working through the pandemic hence why we we did but really a social media push if you will and working with our public affairs team on getting the word out as it related to us getting feedback on this you know moving forward as we you know if we're successful and being able to kick off and working on area plans as we work on those I would anticipate a much more targeted approach with respect to getting public feedback in the past when I've worked on projects of that nature we send invitations out to folks we you know we use the good old u.s. postal service and sending information out there we rely upon social media as well we use whatever other channels whether it's advertising on our social media or excuse me on our website pages in addition to social media but we take a much more targeted approach because we're really interested in getting that public feedback and engagement and I see you stand it off to my right so yeah and I'll just add the stress of the pandemic really pushed and changed the direction that we had to take this ultimately the original plan when we contracted with matrix was to to truly go to each part of the community so we were going to use schools community centers churches and and we were gonna go right to the areas as seen indicated we'll do that with the area plans so it'll be a much more targeted focus it'll be much more beneficial I think but overall for the process that we did here we used every available means to get all the input we could I wasn't I'm still not I wasn't a big fan of it and I hate to say it but I'm still not but I will hold off until the exit you are finished with meeting meeting with the neighborhoods I don't know if we if we if they approve it now I mean will that change are you still going to get with the neighborhoods to get there I get their input and well that's and that's an important part of what this will do and some of the steps that that really those implementation practices that will be implemented as we walk through this is those area plans as we see what's going to occur with those area plans get that guidance we have a process built into the development code so we can come back and amend the comprehensive plan and or the ability plan as we as we see fit so that would come before this body and City Council so absolutely you'll be engaged in the process already thank you any other questions we'll wait for the screen to pop up to see if anybody on the zoom well that's happening Tina I have a question with regarding to the monitoring of that is there a timeline created for that is is it going to be looked at on a six month basis on a yearly basis has that even been discussed out so what we anticipate right now what we currently have in the plan in it was sure screen here so we have this principle five that's included in the plan and this really spoke to the metrics and the monitoring associated with our efforts as we move forward on implementation so right now the plan recommends actually I think it was annually that that we evaluate what progress we've made one of the challenges that we have with the metrics aspect is we need to know what we're measuring right so we can do annual updates to the planning and zoning Commission and council to let you all know what progress we've made on the implementation but if we're looking to measure let's say we're looking to measure a specific area of town and so we need to make sure we put whatever appropriate metrics are in place related to the action item and what we're trying to measure for that so some of that might take a little bit longer but our goal is to at least give you annual updates so you know where we stand yeah I think that's great okay excellent here comes Scott just to add one more piece to it so you don't feel that mr. mengita is left out ultimately for the last whatever it is four years five years has been working on the development code and the update to the comp plan with those successfully completed he won't be doing the work on all of the area plans will be dispersing that work his task will be really the implementation so managing monitoring and as we come forward and again we can do it and you know at the end of the meetings great thank you maybe thank you any other questions for staff okay I do not see any at this time this is a public hearing I don't have any cards is there anyone here wishing to speak at this public hearing staff do we have anyone on the phones to speak on this item no we don't have anyone on phone okay thank you all right I am in that case going to head go ahead and close the public hearing and open the floor for discussion or motion Commissioner Pruitt thank you chair I'd like to move recommendation of adoption of the 2040 plan commissioner Smith second got a first and a second for approval of the comprehensive plan update as presented any discussion commissioner Pruitt thank you chair I'll just offer three three things one in my view staff has been amazingly responsive to all of the questions all of the public feedback all the discussions and work sessions that we've had and I've really appreciated that secondly I guess I'm I'm really looking forward to some of those near-term actions that I think have been well identified right one of them being sort of the focus on connectivity and how that relates to the mobility plan that we're about to discuss as well as sort of the metrics of monitoring that we've we've talked about earlier tonight so thank you for for all those things yeah and I will just add a big thank you again for all the work in this and I do think the collaboration was great I know it was challenging with the pandemic but I do think that we've got really really good public feedback and comments and it helped to to shape this and and we've had great meetings and discussion and collaboration between us and other focus groups and obviously City Council so thank you for all of that any other discussion let's go ahead and vote then Commissioner Pruitt aye Commissioner Smith aye Commissioner McDade aye Commissioner Cole aye Commissioner Villarreal aye Commissioner Anderson aye and the chair is an aye that motion carries seven zero that will move us to our next public hearing item which is 5 C PZ 22 0 0 3 I will open the public hearing and call Becky up for presentation hi hello how are y'all today Becky Divini city engineer director of capital projects thank you so much for allowing me to be here today to talk to you about the 2022 mobility plan adoption first off I want to remind everyone that I feel like the team has taken an effort with obviously Nathan George our senior planner bicycle ADA pedestrian coordinator to make sure that this plan was a multimodal plan I think that this is the first time that I've seen and I've been with the city for a number of years back and forth that I've seen that we've actually taken that full effort to incorporate those much-needed modes of transportation not only just the thoroughfare plan which we seem to always concentrate on but that bicycle and pedestrian and I have a lot of kudos to give to many of you and others in the council who are the ones who have really asked for us to include these things and made sure that that actually happened this year so just reminder and next thing I wanted to talk about a little bit is the community input I will tell you from July of 2019 through September of 2020 even into December of 2019 to March 2020 I was not with the department but I know that these were the in-person public meetings and City Council work sessions that were held after that time I was in the department in September of 2020 when I moved over from the utility department of which we held those five virtual public meetings similar to like Tina and Ron and Scott went through the pandemic did change the way we made those presentations but those five virtual public meetings were on the different areas northern western downtown eastern and also the southern I will mention that during that 2019 timeframe I do understand there was a bicycle pedestrian focus group meeting that was an in-person meeting in September of 2019 so I feel like we've taken that time to really listen and go through that process to get as much community input as we can through those virtual and in-person meetings we also held surveys that were work through our process you've probably seen this data before and we received 384 responses during that first phase and then during that second phase we received additional 287 responses you've all seen the map that is on the right that shows the little yellow flag that you can point to where we got that actual comment obviously we looked at specific areas where there were multiple comments and some of those are the focus areas that you yourselves also had similar questions and concerns and so did the council so that was giving us that ability to understand where everyone really wanted to focus their efforts including additional community input obviously we did have that open house I heard that I mentioned just a few minutes ago and we did work with a comprehensive plan and that parks and trails master plan to keep those comments open and obviously even though those comment periods may have ended or started you know we still continuously received comment you can see the number of planning and zoning presentations and City Council presentations that have been made similar to Tina obviously we all were sad that we weren't able to present to you the night of the the crazy weather but it's Texas and so that's just what happens but we're happy to be here today and talk about the mobility plan I just wanted to remind you all of really kind of those common themes that we heard throughout the the overall plan I'm in the comments that we received that multimodal approach of course that's what I started with that complete streets bicycle pedestrian and obviously the thoroughfare plan really working to accommodate those bicycle and pedestrian safety and access points we addressed many things many of the comments were received you'll be surprised where maintenance and operation items that really could be handled through our streets department and so we took the time to send that message out to them whether it be signage that needed to be done or sometimes it was striping that needed to be improved or replaced so that was a great opportunity to receive some of those comments although it came through the mobility plan I was happy to share that that future consideration for development you know one of the things that was a comment we received just to make sure that we were focusing in on the land use map and that's where we worked very strongly with obviously the planning department coordinating with those future text dot roads you'll know right up until the bitter end we were changing roadways that were text dot roadways on the mobility plan based on what text dot was doing I do feel like we have an excellent relationship with text dot and have a great opportunity to work together so we've taken that opportunity to share those the goal of the city is to have the same thoroughfare plan shown that the county shows and also text dot shows so upon adoption of the document we will be sharing that with the county and with text dot we did confirm and look at the appropriate roadway classifications between arterial collector vice versa and then of course that consistency we we call it and you'll hear me say it again that holistic approach to make sure that we have that you know parks component with Gary in the back the parks Charles master plan and then of course that didn't plan 2040 looking at sustainability plan any plan that we needed to evaluate but really working consistently with the two plans you see on the screen today to summarize I really wanted to make sure that everyone understand the real key focus of the mobility plan was one that multimodal approach to that context sensitive design really looking at although we may ask for it to be an arterial with 110 feet of right away there are ways and we showed you this in the previous presentation where certain designs can be made for the existing conditions today giving us that opportunity to to widen or expand that road or actually come to the inside which is another way that you can do redway improvements but looking at what's happening in that area and making sure that you're obviously being responsive to the to the surrounding areas and then of course you know the number one thing we heard was safety safety first really that vision zero plan and so that was goal number seven that we moved to goal number one although they weren't in a hierarchy order and we did go ahead and put that first and changed out a little bit to have that language I think you probably remember me mentioning that we made that very much more proactive than reactive language so we have made those updates and what I would like to do tonight with a smile on my face because there's been a lot of hard work behind the scenes between Nathan George that you see in the back pre Tim Dishman is also in the the audience today and that of course our planning team we really worked strongly on this together I think that's one of the things I'm most proud of is the collaboration between the different departments we sit right across from each other we do totally different things sometimes on a day-to-day basis but we took the time and the effort to work together in a collaborative nature to make sure that we were being sensitive to each other's needs and listening to those lane use assumptions that were so important to the city of Denton so I would like to ask and recommend approval of the Denton 2022 mobility plan as presented and for recommendation to send to City Council on March 22nd and of course we will stand for comments thank you any questions Commissioner Perrett thank you chair just one do we know yet what our proposed scheduling of the next update of the transportation criteria manual will be absolutely so the transportation criteria manual is something we're going to be updating annually and last year during that date I know yourself and several others had several comments that were very specific to safety concerns and speeding concerns and what staff had chosen to do at the time is wait for that city-wide speed study that's a mouthful and also wait till we get the vision zero action plan really kicked off and then of course you know we have that signal re-timing project there are several different things that we have that we're working through but that is something that we do annually we typically start mid to late summer and coordinate because at this point we've made sure the criteria manual the specifications and the standard details are all in concert we've also now made sure that the mobility plan is in concert also but take it to the next step with incorporating many of the comments we received from that safety perspective so our anticipation is to bring that back this year at more than likely the last council meeting of the year okay thank you I think that to me that transportation criteria manual is really sort of the manifestation and the main implementation of this plan when the rubber hits the road so to speak so I'm looking forward to that thank you absolutely and I will tell you Commissioner Prout we would like to spend some time with you to go through your comments and review the criteria manual I know you have quite a few that we want to take into consideration and make sure we understand so beef be ready for us to reach out to you and spend some quality time with you sir thanks Becky Commissioner Anderson thank you chair I do have a couple questions is the city going to take away the road lane space for bike paths I'm still kind of confused on some of that stuff or are they going to build bike paths along the side of the roads it depends specifically upon the actual roadway classification that we're going to be looking at and then what that standard detail is we're going to use the right away that we anticipate to acquire in those different roadway classifications and evaluate that I can have Nathan come and specifically answer your question in a little bit more detail but I will tell you that he's going to give you a very generic answer because it's going to be dependent upon really the entire design of that specific area and what the right-of-way width is okay who's the person I mean is the citizens coming forward saying they want bike paths because you've made you know one of your slides said 384 people commented between July 18th or 2019 to October 11th 2019 and 287 people commented between March 1st of 2020 and October 30th of 2020 well if that's the people that are wanting this I'm not sure what those comments were about but that's only a point zero zero two nine and a point zero zero two two percent that want bike paths that's going to take up traffic lanes and I'm not really I'm not saying bike paths should be there I'm just saying I know some business owners that have that are a long bike paths that are already existing and they say they see more confusion on drivers and less bikes they've seen maybe two or three bike or bike riders a year but they see more confusions from traffic I mean from traffic issues so that's I'm not a big big fan of all these bike lanes trying to take up bike lanes for people that we don't see a lot of bike riders I'm just being honest I don't see I mean I drive through town all the time I mean I lived here close to downtown and I'm driving around all the time I hardly ever see bike riders but we're pushing for all these bike lanes sure and I'll let Nathan describe that I do understand what you're saying sir and I would tell you that a lot of that depends on the actual design the actual location and I would tell you that some of the bike lanes that we have existing on the ground today will not follow the same pattern of which we're looking to move forward with so I'm gonna step aside and let Nathan describe that in greater detail for you Nathan George with capital projects engineering division missionary Anderson I'll I guess provide more of a high-level response to your question because I want to make sure it's clear the mobility plan and the bike element of the mobility plan and specific our focus is to provide safe and comfortable places for people to ride their bike the so you know you're asking questions about some specific facility types and that's not really the intent of the plan the idea is that we're showing how these facilities will be connected what you know in general what facility types would be providing so that might be it might be a bike lane it might be a bike path that really depends on the nature of a project when we get to that stage when we're ready to start design but the goal of this plan is really to show how that network would be built out to show where those low stress connections the priority connections would be occurring which is you know primarily along along our major streets that are most connected within the community as our thoroughfare streets primarily are going to form the backbone of this network the in terms of our people going to be riding in a bike lane in the street where it would directly impact vehicles the the big shift in this plan is that tech stop has adopted policy and we're following suit that we're going to accommodate folks outside the roadway when we can when that's the safest option possible there may be in road facilities that may be something that we do as an outcome of a specific project but in general that's not going to be our approach so there there really will be this this approach with our projects to separate users to provide you know more space for bicyclists outside the roadway that's the goal of the mobility plan update that we're presenting to you this evening it should not inhibit folks who are trying to travel by car or you know they shouldn't be interacting with bicyclists a lot and the goal is really to provide the safer and more connected and better quality of environment not just for bicyclists and pedestrians but also for cars because as we deliver these projects they're going to work better for everybody across the board no matter how you travel around the city I hope that answers your question if you have any follow-ups I'll be happy to stand for that well thank you for your answer but yeah I'll just leave it at that thank you thanks thanks any other questions for staff Commissioner Anderson I would like to add to that one of the things that I think Nathan wants to make sure that everyone understands is we still want to provide the same capacity and level of service within the roadway regardless of whether there's a bike lane in the roadway or not so just want to make sure you know that's also explained Commissioner Anderson did you have any follow-up to that or no are you are you finished okay okay yeah I think what we have to make clear which I think you've made clear is I mean the plan is a multimodal plan and so it's to be efficient on all levels of transportation on whether we're in a vehicle or on a bike or walking the plan is is to encompass all of that and one doesn't take away from the other it's all it's it's to make all of the modal modals efficient so I yes Commissioner Anderson I agree with that but I'm just my point is I don't want to waste taxpayers money and funds just for two bicyclists a year and we're gonna spend millions of dollars to make all these paths and lanes all this stuff for two bicyclists a year that you know these business owners see it just I'm looking out for the taxpayers money that's all I mean that's all okay thank you any other questions for self I don't see anything right now Becky thank you this is a public hearing I don't have any cards here but is there anyone who wishes to speak on this do we have anyone on the phones no no it's on the phone okay thank you all right with that I will go ahead and close the public hearing and open the floor for further discussion questions or a motion Commissioner Cole I move for approval okay we've got a first for recommendation of approval of the 2022 mobility plan Commissioner Smith saying we've got a first and a second for the approval of the mobility plan as presented any discussion okay seeing none let's go ahead and vote Commissioner Pruitt I Commissioner Smith I Commissioner McDade I Commissioner Cole I Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson I chair is also an I that motion carries 7-0 thank you and thank you Becky and Nathan and all of your team for your hard work on this absolutely our pleasure thank you our final public hearing is let's see 5d DCA 22 0001 hold a public hearing consider recommendation to City Council regarding the adoption of an ordinance of the City of Denton to amend the Denton development code to provide for pathways and trails in section 7.4.7 a and Christy Upton will give us presentation I will open the public hearing I forget where is it sorry where's the side chip okay sorry I always forget that okay sorry Christy Upton and I am with environmental services and today I'll be you might have to put that more in front of you okay today I'll be presenting a ordinance revision to permit for trails and environmentally sensitive areas a little bit of background the City of Denton has has had a particular set of code to protect and preserve environmentally sensitive areas on the books since 2002 and 2018 there were some revisions that were proposed to update that code and both the older version of the code and in the updates the the trail construction remained the same where there is allowances for trail construction in undeveloped flood plains but is currently not permitted in repairing buffers and water related habitats nor in Crest Timbers upland habitats the parks and recreation trails and system master plan was recently updated and that update was adopted and with that new plan there's a promotion of the use of spaces and corridors to that are created by those environmentally sensitive areas so with that concept of using those green spaces for for the trails we identify that the current development code is and semi conflicting with with that that overarching goal of using those green spaces so the city has initiated a code amendment to allow for the trail construction we are trying to limit that that trail construction under certain certain circumstances to kind of create some guidelines on the continue and by creating those guidelines continuing to promote the protection and preservation and maximizing on that protection and preservation of those environmentally sensitive areas and that would be to restrict the construction of the trails that are within that will be either owned and or operate owned and operated by the city or an agreement that the city will be operating those trails within that property the second circumstance would be that those trails be constructed under standards that promote the protection of those environmentally sensitive areas as they're being constructed and this information was in your backup material and this is the specific language that we would be asking to amend through sections to add the language to permit the trail construction and staff recommends the proposal of those code amendments and with that I will conclude my presentation and answer any questions you may have thanks Christy for the screen to come up questions for Christy mr. Perot thank you chair I guess when when we talk about developing the trails in a way that preserves the ESA's is there any what what standards do we look to to ensure that that's that there are some some rigor behind that as opposed to an intention that may or may not be followed depending on the the particular desires at the time sure and staff has been thinking about this a lot and we will be the parks department parks and Recreation Department has put together the parks and Recreation design and construction manual and we are proposing to add some elements to that construction manual that would identify you know some of those points you know of concern that could cause for you know greater damage of the environmentally sensitive areas obviously this is what we're trying to avoid right so maximizing that preservation and protection so the parks department and the environmental services and engineering services will all be working together to come up with those standards to put in that plan okay thank you and one more if I may I understand these two amendments govern the allowable activities in ESA's under the the normal requirements of the DDC can you explain a little bit about what the what the process and limitations would be about trails in similar ESA's if an applicant applied for an alternative ESA so by putting this code amendment into the code let me give you a scenario there's a development who is proposing to dedicate parkland on a portion of the development and the part of that parkland dedication will include some environmental sensitive areas and in order to maximize the use of that parkland some trails will be constructed so in that that scenario the developer will construct the trails then dedicate the parkland to the city so that that trail will be constructed right in the case of an environmentally and alternative environmentally sensitive area plan under the current code they would have had the developer would have to come in and seek for an alternative plan in order to construct that trail so what we're trying to do is we're trying to create the path of to allow for these trail construction without having to seek that specialized permission from the city and I think I think that addresses your question are there other components to that question no I think that that helps thank you I I think this is a very good move you know of trying to balance the community's desires of preservation but to some extent the more that you can make assets community assets available to the community and give them that experience of enjoying it the more benefit we get from that and the more you know cyclical building upon itself sort of appreciation of that preservation that we're trying to do so I appreciate the the effort here and I would just say you know as as this goes forward let's let's make sure that we clearly communicate what you know how how this amendment is actually going to put perhaps more focus on sort of the engineering design of these riparian Issa's so that maybe they get even extra eyes on them then they just naturally would if we weren't taking these steps to really be careful about those areas and I think that's a good good move so thank you thanks Commissioner for it well so any other questions discussion thanks Christine thank you this is a public hearing I don't have any cards is there anyone wishing to speak on this item do we have anyone on the phone for this item no we don't have anyone on phone thank you okay with that I will go ahead and close the public hearing and open the floor for discussion or a motion Commissioner Anderson make a motion to approve Commissioner Villarreal second we've got a first and a second for approval any discussion seeing none let's go ahead and vote Commissioner Pruitt Commissioner Smith Commissioner McDade Commissioner Cole Commissioner Villarreal I Commissioner Anderson hi chair is also an I that motion carries a 7-0 that will take us to our Planning and Zoning Commission matrix and I will turn the floor over to Tina thank you chairman Ellis Tina Fergens planning director so the matrix just a couple of quick items I had to think back to I updated this previously for our meeting on the 23rd a couple areas where I made some additional refinements to the matrix just to add some time associated with it with respect to the fiscal analysis tool and I believe Commissioner Pruitt I know you've been interested in this particular item so we are anticipating bringing that back to the Commission for discussion either in late March or early April as we work with the consultant on getting that prepared for for your consideration and then also we've already talked earlier this evening about the area plans and so we'll be bringing that back at your next meeting for discussion otherwise everything else on the matrix pretty much remains the same in terms of projects that council took action on in since your last meeting the only zoning case that we've had in which council considered was the Kingsway proposed PD amendment council in the end ended up not moving forward with that and so the developer will have the option to build in accordance with their approved preliminary plat for that particular property and then also I know Commissioner Ellis had sent me an email and was interested in knowing what happened with the plats that were slated for the Commission's agenda on February 23rd and and so we went back and looked at the list we were able to get one of the plats to actually an approval status and that was the DC or the Denton ICC edition so that plot has been approved the other plots we were able to get them to successfully withdraw and so that way we did not have any plots getting approved that we were not interested in having approved in my apologies I know there were some inquiries as to whether or not we were going to have that February 23rd meeting and as the weather was approaching we were actually in the process of working with our applicants and in trying to get them to withdraw plats particularly those that were of concern and working with them on how we could get them back before the planning and zoning Commission and get them in a much more desirable status for approval so our apologies for getting the word out on canceling the meeting late that afternoon but know that we were frantically working on that of course we also wanted to have a recommendation on the on the comprehensive plan and mobility plan but of most concern for us was any plats and what their status was related to that but that's all I have as it relates to the matrix I know Commissioner Smith you alluded to earlier and might be interested in adding something related to that but happy answer any other questions as well yeah the only thing I just wanted to have on there with those those action items having something on the matrix that would address where we are towards those action items as we go through and if it goes to council and gets approved for the 2040 plan that give us an update nothing nothing super in-depth more than just we've knocked out this item this item this item something along those lines just so we know they're getting done and then whenever just in the event that you know we don't want Tina or anybody else to go anywhere anytime soon but people change jobs and if it takes a long time to get those action items implemented in the works we want to make sure that there's some homogeneity between those as we get this done okay absolutely we can do that thanks anything else for the matrix Commissioner Prudt thank you chair I think on tonight's agenda we had one sort of postponement due to a problem with noticing and we've had several similar cases within the last call it six to nine months I don't really have context for whether the occurrence of those has been about normal or excessive I also don't even know which ones of those are our city noticed versus developer noticed so we don't have to have anything big but just kind of how we're doing how we're tracking are there any things that we need to implement to make sure that we don't confuse the community before these public hearings absolutely we can bring that back and have a conversation on that anything else for the matrix okay any concluding items Commissioner Cole I just want to say thank you to all your hard work I know y'all just been really burning the midnight oil and all this and just we're we're just lucky to have you guys the city didn't is lucky to have y'all thank y'all for everything you are doing and all the hard work put in thank you I'm I'm just the one standing up here but really it's my team working diligently behind the scenes so it's all in due credit to them because they're the ones that are working the hardest so thank you but we appreciate the recognition I agree Commissioner Cole I will second all of that that he said thank you for all of your hard work anything else concluding items I'll just say congratulations to our city manager being taken out of interim status so congratulations to city manager Hensley it's nice that she's on board working hard as she always has okay with that I will conclude our meeting at some 41 p.m. thank you