- Okay, it is nine o'clock and we do have a quorum,
so a call to order the public utility board meeting
for the city of Denton on Monday, October 24th, 2022.
The first item is presentations from members of the public.
Is anyone from the public wish to speak?
Seeing none, we'll move on to consent agenda.
Does any board member wish to pull agenda items A through F?
Mr. Rybeck.
- I would like to pull agenda item C
as it's related to item B in our regular order of business.
- Okay, any others?
Okay, seeing none, do we have approval of A, B, D, E,
and F or a motion for approval?
- So moved.
- Okay, Larry's gonna move, Lee's gonna second.
All in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Opposed?
Carries. - Aye.
- Next item is consider approval of the October 10th, 2022
minutes, were there any corrections or changes?
Do we have a motion to approve those minutes?
- So moved. - Barbara moves.
Then seconds, all in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Aye.
- And the third item, item B is to discuss with Kimley
Horner and Associates the design services for neighborhoods
two and six for capital projects and engineering.
In the amount of $5,726,000.
- Perfect, thank you.
Let me get this pulled up really quick.
- Oh, I'm sorry, I got out of order.
Marcella, you didn't keep me in order.
Item C.
- I just assumed you were doing it here,
the item B, item C.
- So is that okay for us to include this as item B?
- I was hoping that we would, thank you.
- Okay, all right, very good.
(laughing)
Very good, go ahead.
- I'll do the design phase contract
and then I do have a presentation
for the second contract as well.
So good morning board members, my name is Seth Garcia.
I'm a program manager in capital projects.
Today I have a brief presentation for you
for the design contract for neighborhoods two and six.
This project is associated with the 2019
street reconstruction bond.
So just a brief overview of the neighborhood.
So neighborhood two and six does contain 118
roadway segments.
It's kind of balanced by the limits
of Bonnie Bray on the West, University to the North,
Bolivar Street on the East and Interstate 35 to the South.
It is our largest package associated
with the 2019 street reconstruction bond program.
We're looking to do roughly 56,000 linear feet
of roadway improvements.
And then as you can see about 30,000 linear feet
of water and wastewater main replacements each.
We will be performing a sidewalk connectivity assessment
with this project as well.
So we're looking at gaps, correcting ADA ramps,
those sorts of things for the sidewalk connectivity.
And we're also performing a street lighting photometric
study to look at additional street lighting install
with this package as well.
And I did wanna highlight this is our second
construction manager at risk project that we'll be doing.
- That was my question.
So when you say second construction manager
at risk project, could you give us a little definition?
- Yeah, so historically the city of Denton
has done projects two ways either competitive seal proposal
or a invitation for bid and IFB a low bid process.
Construction manager at risk is actually a process
where we go through an RFP stage to where we bring
on our design consultant and our general contractor
at the same time.
Together through the design phase,
we work to design that project,
perform construction schedule sequencing,
and then we move towards a guaranteed maximum price.
So the construction manager at risk is still required
to competitive, excuse me, competitively bid the project
to subcontractors if they wish to self-perform the work.
They can choose to bid on that work as well.
And then it's a best value selection process
to award the different packages.
- I think that's gonna answer my question
on the prior consent agenda item,
which is the general contractor pre-construction services.
- Yes, sir.
- So that general contractor has been selected
as your construction manager at risk,
but not your general contractor.
- So they're one and the same.
So he is the construction manager at risk
and the general contractor,
so he will oversee all of the subcontracts.
He could perform different portions of the work
if he competitively wins those individual packages,
or he could win none of the work
and essentially just be the general contractor
and only receive the fee
from the construction phase contract.
- Okay, well, that answers my other question,
which is why were you hiring them before you had a design?
- So we bring them on together
because the idea behind CMAR
is they work together as a team.
So you're ultimately putting together a team
that's gonna work through construction sequencing.
We wanna get feedback on, we have 118 roadway segments.
Where do you wanna start?
What makes the most sense for the best place to start?
- So it's kind of an integrated design project
from that standpoint.
- Absolutely.
So it's really working with three brains is better than two,
especially bringing on the construction piece
to put together the best packages to construct.
And we also get open book cost modeling
from them through this.
- In a GMP project, right?
- Exactly.
So we're able, especially in all the market fluctuation
we're seeing, that's been a great tool to us
to see how we're actually gonna award this project
in different pieces.
- Okay, well, thank you very much.
I think that answers my questions on both pieces.
- Good, perfect.
- I have another question.
- Yes, sir.
- So you mentioned the sidewall connectivity assessment.
Is that to add ramps, repair existing?
Is it adding any new sidewalks?
- So it's both.
- What is it?
- It's both.
So we're looking at existing ramps,
correcting those with the actual intersections
where we're working.
We're looking at sidewalks running parallel to the roadways,
whether or not they have deficiencies and need replacement.
And then we're also doing a kind of a gap assessment.
Are there sections that don't have sidewalks
that need sidewalks?
This area encompasses a lot of University of North Texas.
So we will already have a lot of sidewalks identified
through our ADA plan that need sidewalks added to fill gaps.
So those will be done with this project
just through different funding sources.
- Okay.
- Barbara had a question too.
- Yeah, I wanted to ask, this is the 2019 bond issue.
And considering the prices of what they are now
are infinitely greater,
how do you reconcile things like that?
- So I may let finance speak to this a little bit too.
But one of the beauties of CMAR, like I said,
is there's open book cost modeling.
So we're looking at things such as value engineering.
One of the things we did on our first CM at risk project
in Southeast in package B
was we actually looked at a different subgrade section
than what the typical city standard was.
So our engineer performed an evaluation
and we are actually able to change
from 12 inches of lime treated subgrade
to eight inches of flake space.
It gave us the same roadway life
and decreased the cost by about $500,000
on that one package alone.
So we use different things like that
to find savings within the program.
That is one of the benefits of CMAR.
Like I said, we look at value engineering ideas
from the construction manager.
We vet those through our internal stakeholders
and through the design engineer
to make sure we have savings.
As far as overall project funding,
we're utilizing some funds from the street fund
to help supplement the 2019 bond program.
And so far that has been sufficient enough
to cover our costs to date.
- Thank you, Devin.
- A follow up regarding the sidewalk connectivity question.
Are you only evaluating the streets
where you're doing other work
or are you actually evaluating the entire neighborhood?
- So we're only working on the streets
where we're actually doing work.
If we were to go through
and identify all of the sidewalks within the neighborhood,
the entire neighborhood,
our scope would grow to a point
to where it wouldn't really make sense
with our projects to do this.
So we're really focusing on the streets that we're touching,
kind of that holistic overview of those segments
and then looking at different ADA and sidewalk packages
for the streets that we may not be impacting.
- Okay, and this area not only has the university,
which has a lot of pedestrian traffic,
but it also has several schools
that are moving in the next few years.
- Absolutely. - And that's gonna impact
where that foot traffic is.
Like right now, Newton Raiser is on Alice
and it will soon be on Fulton.
- Correct.
- There are lots and lots of ADA ramps on Alice,
but unfortunately Fulton is not,
not Alice, I'm sorry, Malone,
but unfortunately Fulton doesn't appear to be
on the plan here, so.
- And I'd just like to mention,
I'm Becky Davini, the city engineer.
We actually have a meeting today with DISD.
It's a three hour long work session
between planning, engineering, development services
to talk about these future projects,
but we meet monthly with the school district
and talk about where they're moving.
We know Newton Raiser moving, Calhoun's moving,
Denton High School's already moved.
So there's a lot of other things that go into it
besides just the sidewalks.
I mean, school zones need to be relocated.
There's multiple things that Brett Bouchois,
who's gonna make a presentation in a minute,
our deputy city engineer, his engineering team
is a part of making sure those things are happening.
- Yes, go ahead, Larry.
- Thanks, Chair.
I didn't hear you mention anything about cycling lanes.
Are they part of this project?
- So that is something that we evaluate.
There are a few roadway segments that we're touching
that do have existing bike lanes.
So Welch, I believe portions of Scripture
have some bike lanes further to the west
of where we're looking at.
That is something that we do evaluate.
- And these will be new lanes
or just upgrading existing lanes?
- So potentially both.
We kind of leave it as an open book
going into the project to see what funding we'll allow for
with the different funding sources that we can pull from.
Also making sure that we have the roadway with
to be able to accommodate a new bike lane
or making sure we're putting improvements
to protect the existing bike lanes.
- Okay, thank you.
- Yes, sir.
- All right.
- Okay.
So a quick breakdown of the design costs.
So we broke this into two kind of separate packages.
The first being a lump sum package.
That is our preliminary and final design
for the roadway and utilities.
Also our data collection.
So Topo survey, our geotechnical analysis
and our illumination art that photometric study
is also included as a lump sum cost.
Our hourly additional services include project management,
all those coordination meetings with the city
and the construction manager at risk.
Hours for our consultant to be at our public meetings
to answer questions.
Level B and Level A Sue, the actual illumination design
and then of course our construction phase services as well.
So this contract will take everything on the design side
through the entire portions of the project.
- A quick question.
- Yes, sir.
- In the hourly services, you're including record drawings?
- Correct.
- Isn't that part of design service?
- It is.
- So record drawings are actually a second piece to it.
So we'll receive red lines from the actual contractor
and then they will make those two conformed as bills.
Exactly, correct.
That is correct.
Good question.
- Yes, very good question.
- So in total, our contract value is just over 5.7 million.
So quickly for the project schedule,
with y'all's approval today,
we'll seek council approval for the design contract
and the CMAR contract on November 1st.
We are anticipating our first construction packages to GMP
and be ready sometime around quarter one, 2024.
And then of course we are trying to wrap up
all of the 2019 street reconstruction bond projects
by Q4 of 2026.
So this project being the biggest
is spanning the longest timeframe.
So we've got about four years to construct,
design and construct all 118 roadway segments.
So with that staff recommends adoption of the ordinance
with the city of Denton and Kimley horn
for a little over 5.7 million.
- Okay, thank you.
Other questions?
- I'm happy to answer any more questions.
- Yes, go ahead.
- I would like to move that we accept item B
from the individual agenda and item C
from the consent agenda.
- We have to do two different stuff.
- We cannot do them together?
- No, so you'd like to move to approve consent item C.
- And do we have a second?
Everybody's seconding?
All in favor say aye.
- Aye.
- Okay, do we have a motion to approve
the individual consideration item B?
- Move that.
- Second.
- And Lee seconds, Ben moved.
Larry second or Lee second, all in favor say aye.
- Aye.
- Carries.
- Thank y'all.
- Thank you.
Thank you, Marcel.
Next is item C, contract with Mountain Cascade of Texas LLC
for the construction of 35 E Mayhill Utility
Relocations Project in the amount of $15,897.15.
15 cents.
- Good morning council.
I'm Robin Davis.
I'm a project manager for Capital Projects.
And today we are asking you to approve the contract
with Mountain Cascade to relocate the water
and wastewater utilities along the I-35 corridor
between Mayhill and Loop 288.
So recently, TxDOT has acquired right away in the area
so they can expand and widen I-35.
So it is our responsibility to move our utilities
out of their way.
And so this is a reimbursement project
that they will be re-reimbursing us for as well.
We pre-qualified three bidders for the project
so we could meet their anticipated schedule.
And we submitted the project to these three bidders
that were pre-qualified
and the low bidder was Mountain Cascade.
So the project schedule would be,
if you guys approve this today,
we'll go to council for approval on November 1st.
We anticipate giving them a partial notice to proceed
so they can begin ordering materials.
That is allowed through the TxDOT reimbursement agreement
we just can't allow them to actually start construction
onsite until the standard utility agreement
is fully executed by both the city and TxDOT.
So we anticipate giving them a partial notice to proceed.
Once council approves it in November 1st
and then in December,
once it's fully executed with the city and TxDOT,
then we'll issue them a full notice to proceed
so they can begin construction in early January.
And we expect the project to be complete
in September of 2023, right in time for them to let I-35.
So with the 5% contingency,
we expect a total estimated construction costs
of right at 15 million.
And with that, we just hope that you guys
will approve this contract.
The staff recommends it.
- Questions?
Go ahead, Devin.
- So what portion of this is paid by TxDOT
and what portion is paid by--
- So all of it is paid by TxDOT except for the betterment,
which we are upgrading a portion of the 20-inch,
well, actually all of the 20-inch
to the 24-inch water line
in anticipation of our ever-growing city and needs.
And so the estimated cost of that is right around 747,000.
And that's the part that the portion
that the city will be responsible for.
- And we recently had some updates
on the upcoming sewer master plan.
Does this area have any of the sewer lines
that run over to the Hickory Creek area
or are they in a different location?
- I believe the Hickory Creek area
would be a different location.
This is between Mayhill and Loop 288.
I think Hickory Creek is further south.
- Right, from the lift station on Hickory Creek.
I mean, there's a line, a major line
that runs from the lift station on Hickory Creek
up to the current wastewater treatment plant.
I didn't know if that was--
- So what we're relocating is in the same area.
It would still feed and go to the same places,
except we're just replacing it with a new line.
So I don't know if that answers your question, but--
- Okay, so it doesn't sound like the sewer is impacted.
Thank you. - Okay.
- Go ahead, Lee. - Yes, sir.
- I just have a quick question.
So there's gonna be more expansion on I-35
or is this in relation to the expansion
that just was finished?
- No, there's more.
- More expansion, thank you.
- Always.
- I-35's been under construction for 40 years.
- Yeah. - Oh, longer.
Not since '69. - Okay, oh, okay.
(laughing)
Go ahead.
- Oh, just wanted to mention to that point,
this is only one of four contracts we'll be bringing forward.
I-35 is going to have expansion and widen
not only from Mayhill,
but all the way north to the county line.
So Robin's just delivering the first phase
of many phases of projects
that the utilities are going to be relocated.
We're going as far north as Milam Road.
- Wow, go ahead, Ben.
- Yeah, so I was wondering specifically
what side of the highway,
maybe businesses would be impacted, that sort of thing?
- So there were some businesses impacted.
We were going through parking lots like Chewy's,
places like that, but we've already acquired that right away
or the easements that was needed
and made those arrangements with them.
So that's all been taken care of
and TxDOT reimburses us for those costs as well.
- Okay.
- Are we experiencing the same
shortages of materials that we're seeing everywhere else?
Okay, so allowing them to go ahead and acquire--
- That was the reason for the partial notice to proceed,
so they could go ahead and get a jumpstart
on ordering those materials.
- Good, that was my question.
All right, other questions?
- Yes, Barbara.
Do you have an idea that the county's got a bond thing
to vote on now for this election?
Where is the projected 288 coming into?
It's somehow along there.
- I believe, are you talking about
the north end of loop 288?
I believe that's gonna come out,
it's gonna just connect where loop 288 ends now
and I believe it's gonna come out over by
like the Ponder exit, is that right?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Okay, but there's not a further loop on that.
- Not that I'm aware of.
- Okay, thank you.
- All right.
Do we have a motion to approve item C?
Lee is moving.
- I'll second.
- Barbara second, all in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Aye.
- Thank you.
Item D.
- All right, I don't know how to get out of this.
- So Madam Chair and members of the PB,
so for your management reports,
we did include a dashboard, two dashboards
for June and July for the DEC.
Finance department is here, they've submitted that to you
if you have any questions on that.
- Questions?
- Nope. - Okay.
- All right, so going to your future agenda items
and also the new business items,
I did wanna point out that we have moved
the Green Sense program update to January
and the reason for that is that we did go
to the sustainability committee,
there was a number of questions that they had,
we are planning to go back to them,
I certainly wanna be respectful of the committee
and make sure that we kind of vet things out to them
before we come to you,
so that way when we come to you,
we'll have their recommendation,
we'll provide any backup that we provided to them to you,
I already sent the backup to you this morning,
or I will send it to you this morning,
what we sent to them in the initial presentation.
Within that presentation, there is an ISR
that does address some of the questions that you had,
certainly Mr. Beck and so if there's any questions on that,
please feel free to reach out to me,
but with that, no other changes to the items,
happy to answer any questions you may have.
- I don't see any questions.
All right, so concluding items,
does any board member wish to have anything
put on a future agenda item
or have anything to say to the public?
Mr. Rybak. - I have a question,
Madam Chairman. - Okay.
- I'm looking forward to those dates on the future agenda.
We have some dates upcoming in November and December.
The December meeting, second December meeting
would occur on the Monday following Christmas,
which is the observed holiday.
And next month, our meeting, fourth meeting,
or fourth Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Are we planning to have those meetings?
- We typically only have the second Monday
in November and December.
- Thank you. - That's what
our schedule is saying right now.
- Very good, thank you.
Well, this shows up on my calendar
that I saw that day that reminded me.
- Oh, okay. - Thank you.
- The second Monday?
- So it'll be the,
our next PUB board meeting is November 14th,
and then we have one on December 12th.
Did I, I said that right?
Yeah, it's the second Monday.
- We'll have, Kim will take a look at them
and if they're still on your calendar,
she'll get them removed.
- Okay.
All right, then we'll move into the work session.
The first one is receive a report,
hold a discussion and give staff direction
regarding the water and wastewater impact study fee,
impact fee study.
- It's kind of a tongue twister.
Good morning, Chair, PUB members,
Nick Benson, Assistant Director of Finance.
Wanted to do a really quick introduction.
I'll turn it over to our consultants
helping us update this study.
So we do have April here with us from Kimberly Horn.
- Good morning. - We have John here with us,
sitting right here, just wave your hand, John, there you go.
Then Trent, Trent's sitting over here also.
So great individuals to work with.
They've been working with us about a month
to update this study.
Definitely have a good presentation for you today.
So if you have questions, please let them know.
I can return to the podium
if there's something else you have a question on
or of course we have water people here also.
So let me get the presentation pulled up really quick.
Okay, April, come on up and I'll get it ready for you.
Okay, there's a keyboard here if you need it,
otherwise you can just click.
- Thank you.
Public utility board,
thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today.
We have a water and wastewater impact fee study update.
This is the very start.
From an outline perspective,
we will provide an objective,
run through some impact fee basics,
as well as the capital improvements advisory committee,
the service area update and a few next steps coming up.
So as far as our objective today,
we really want to provide an overview
of the capital improvements advisory committee,
as well as present upcoming updates to the impact fee study
related to the service areas for water and wastewater.
So some of the basics.
When it comes to an impact fee study,
some of the components that are included
include taking analysis of a service area,
then leading into land use assumptions related to growth,
then calculating service units,
as well as analyzing capital improvements plan
and identifying an impact fee capital improvements plan,
and finally concluding with an impact fee calculation.
For today's presentation,
we'll be focusing on the service areas alone.
Chapter 395's definition for an impact fee,
it is essentially a one-time fee for future development.
It is a mechanism to recover infrastructure costs
required to serve the future development.
From a general funding perspective,
impact fees is another mechanism
to recover costs related to infrastructure.
So you can have water and sewer rates,
private sector participation, and finally impact fees.
However, impact fees are associated with infrastructure
necessitated only by new growth,
and that's what it can be applied to.
So items that cannot be payable through impact fees.
What can be paid for through an impact fee program
include construction costs for the capital improvements plan
that's identified in the study,
and this can include, of course, on the roadway side,
any thoroughfare plans for water,
we're looking at up-sized water and wastewater lines,
as well as survey and engineering fees,
land acquisition costs, and even planning studies
such as the impact fee study itself.
What cannot be paid for through impact fees
are administrative costs such as staff time,
or if not, upgrades to serve existing development.
Once again, this is all related to new growth.
So benefits to developers when it comes to impact fees.
For one, it is equitable,
meaning barring existing ordinances that are in place,
the development itself pays an equal fee,
whether it's first to develop or last to develop.
It is also predictable.
The fee schedules are generally uploaded online,
so therefore, developers can also rely on the study itself
to make decisions about when, where, and what to build.
It also ensures the accountability.
State law requires that impact fees
are spent within a certain amount of time,
as well as, or if not, it will be refunded
to those property owners.
And it's also proportional.
It is directly related to the amount of demand
that's generated by that said development.
So the role of the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee
from Chapter 395 has a local government,
it's the local government code that requires the city
to establish the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee
when updating impact fees.
Since 2003, the city of Denton
has appointed the Planning and Zoning Commission
and one ad hoc member from the Extraterritorial,
if bless you, jurisdiction to serve as the CIAC.
So the Planning and Zoning Commission
may act as that advisory committee
if it meets these particular items.
So for one, the commission must include
at least one representative of the real estate development
or building industries who are not employees
of the political subdivision or the governmental entity,
as well as one representative
of the Extraterritorial jurisdiction, the ETJ.
So currently, the existing Planning and Zoning Commission
meets these requirements listed above,
except for one representative of the ETJ,
which we will discuss in our next steps.
So the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee
is tasked to review and provide comments to city council
and the public utility boards on the land use assumptions,
the Impact V Capital Improvements Plan,
as well as the impact fees.
And in between that time, during the future updates,
since the impact fee study is itself required by law
to be updated every five years, which is why we're here,
it is also tasked to monitor and evaluate the Impact VCIP,
as well as file semi-annual reports
and advise as needed on revisions.
Now, the Public Utilities Board, as well as the city council,
will then review the same documents
and also consider comments provided
by the advisory committee,
and finally consider any recommended updates
between those five-year updates in time.
So as part of our objective,
we're reviewing the service area breakdown,
and we're giving you a few updates.
A service area establishes the boundary
to which funds can be collected and specifies areas
to be served by the Impact VCIP.
Now, these funds are collected,
and they must be spent within that said service area
within 10 years.
In 2018, these are the existing service areas.
For wastewater, it's one single service area,
and for water, three separate service areas.
You had your inner city core area, the surrounding,
which is 1B, and then 2,
which is the southwest regional growth.
So updates that are coming through,
and we're gonna kind of walk through each of this.
Currently, what's shown here are the existing city limits,
as well as the existing ETJ.
What's shown here in black and black hatch mark
are the planned or probable developments
that are within the water CCN boundary,
as well as externally out towards the ETJ.
As part of the 2018 study,
you can see here that we have,
we're at least proposing to expand
for the 2020-2023 update out past the ETJ,
which chapter 395 does allow,
out to basically cover all the probable development
that will be coming in.
And so another component that we've been discussing
with staff, as far as even with capital projects
that will be coming in,
since water itself had three service areas,
we're proposing to both have the wastewater also equal,
mirror the water study as well,
in which both the water and wastewater
will have equal service areas, as shown here.
Yes.
Sorry.
- For me, it would be so much easier
if you would put the 2018 and the 2023 side by side.
- Absolutely.
- So that you could compare
because you're flipping back and forth,
trying to see the difference.
- Yeah.
- And it just be,
I would find it a lot easier,
I don't know if anyone else would, but I would.
- Yeah, would that be helpful?
- So on the--
- Go ahead.
- Yes.
So the wastewater,
I'm sorry, what are they, regions?
- Service areas.
- Service areas, okay.
So the wastewater service areas,
you've aligned them with the water service areas.
However, there will be different infrastructure
providing services to each of these zones.
- Correct.
- And I wonder if it wouldn't be more appropriate
to align that region two, zone two, excuse me,
with the Hickory Creek wastewater service area.
So that we don't have a development,
like there are all these little blue fingers of 1B
that reach down into the Hickory Creek watershed.
And those will be provided sewer service
by the future Hickory Creek infrastructure.
But they will be paying a fee
based on the Pecan Creek kind of service zone.
So I just think it might make more sense.
And I appreciate aligning water and wastewater,
but there really might be differences in incurred costs
based on the future infrastructure
for wastewater versus water.
- Yeah, so part of the study,
we do look at each of the capital projects that are proposed.
And if they do happen to cross, say,
two separate service areas,
there will be proportional percentages applied
to each one of those capital projects
to cover, say, if it were to be split
between service areas two, as well as 1B.
And that will be part of the analysis to confirm that.
- Right, I don't mean pieces of property
that cross the line.
I'm saying that it appears on this map
that there's an area near I-35W,
where the small blue section of 1B reaches down
into section two.
And that appears to be south of Hickory Creek.
So it will definitely be on the Hickory Creek sewer system.
But it's in the kind of Pecan Creek zone
so just, if we know that this certain corridor
is going to be provided services
by a large future capital project,
we might want to go ahead and align those zones now.
- Absolutely, and I believe John also wants to mention
some of the things.
(man speaking off mic)
Yeah, yes.
Come on through.
- First of all, you're making a very good point.
That's one thing that's unique
about wastewater infrastructure as compared to the water.
It is kind of basin-specific
as far as the infrastructure needs.
It's a discussion.
If you're making a very good suggestion,
I think we can take that back down,
to take that to city staff
and see if that is a suggestion
that they want to consider as far as the adjustments.
This is one proposal to just make water and sewer
consistent with each other
as compared to what was in the past.
So, if there needs to be further discussion
about what makes the most sense
as far as the significant amount of infrastructure,
you're right, if you think about south,
sorry, I won't step away, I'll just point here.
You're right, if you think about the area south,
just like the point you were making,
south of I-35, that's not in service area two,
but is in service area 1B,
that is in the Hickory Creek Basin,
you are talking about infrastructure
within the Hickory Creek Basin
that actually toggles between two.
And we know that a big portion of the infrastructure
from a growth perspective is related to the areas
you kind of see here in two, but also relate.
So, it is somewhat complicated, I guess,
if you could say, and we're taking that into account
with the basin boundaries you see here,
or the service area boundaries you see here.
But I think it's just, we hear you,
we take your comment under advisement,
and then I think we just go back to city staff
and talk to them about that,
and see if that's something they should bring forward.
- Thank you.
- Excellent, thank you, John.
- Awesome, real quick. - Thank you, absolutely.
- To Ms. Rosso's question, is it true
that the dotted line around is the 2018 boundary?
- So-- - Looking at the other map,
it looks like that, yes. - Yes, let me,
I'm gonna back up for a second, right over here.
So, what we're seeing here for 2018,
we took into account the CCN boundary,
and that did develop part of the impact fee service area.
There are portions that are outside of the CCNs themselves,
but that was considered as part of the study,
since Chapter 395 does allow us to go out towards the ETJ.
But for the most part, yes it does.
- All right, are there any more questions between that
and the proposed service area for 2022?
All right, we're gonna go ahead and continue.
So, some of the next steps.
We will also be presenting the same presentation.
We will take into account, of course,
we'll make that address, and we'll discuss that.
We'll also show the 2018 and 2022 proposed updates
side by side for the potential developer town hall meeting
that's coming up this Thursday that we'll be attending.
And then related through spring and fall 2023,
we will be coming forward to establish
the capital improvements advisory committee
that adopts the ordinance to identify the ad hoc ETJ member,
as well as come forward with the advisory committee meetings
to then, of course, receive some of their comments
and feedback.
We'll be also meeting again related
to the actual adoption process,
once we have all of our analysis completed
with the public utilities board,
and then, finally, complete the entire study process
and adopt through the city council meetings.
So, with that, are there any additional questions
related to these proposed updates?
- Go ahead.
- Yes.
- What's the date of the developer town hall meeting?
- This Thursday?
From 10 a.m.?
- 10 to 11. - 10 to 11 a.m.
- At the Development Services Center.
So, it's this Thursday from 10 to 11
at the Development Services Center,
if you want to attend that meeting.
- Yeah, can anyone attend those?
- Yeah, I think everybody's welcome to attend.
If you want to attend, we welcome you there,
anybody, or the entire board, if you'd like to.
Well, actually, if the entire board come,
I guess it may be a quorum, but--
(laughing)
Ms. Russell, you can attend the meeting, absolutely, yeah.
- Okay, is that the one off Mingo?
- It's actually just right down here.
I don't know exactly what the address is, but--
- 401 North Elm.
Is the address, the brand new building
we constructed a couple years ago.
- The old Kroger.
- Yes. (laughing)
- Right, well, safely before that.
- Mr. Taylor, oh. (laughing)
Mr. Taylor has another question.
- Thank you, yeah, I really, this is more of a comment,
I previously served on PNZ two impact fee updates ago,
and I understand that we are more recipients of the process,
we're a smaller approval in the chain
than I think PNZ kind of has the leading role there,
and as always comes up, this impact fees
are really important to be fair to new development
and to existing residents.
Any infrastructure not paid for by impact fees
gets paid for by the existing tax base,
and we don't want to overcharge
or create unnecessarily hurdles for new neighborhoods,
but we also don't want to have existing neighborhoods
bear the burden of new development.
And so that's where I think if we can align the region
of the zones and the fees based on what infrastructure
they will use, that just creates greater fairness
for existing rate payers and for future developments.
You might have, well, I'm gonna be using
Hickory Creek water treatment plant that doesn't exist yet,
but I can pay the lower fee over here
'cause I'm on this side of the street
versus that development, that farm over there developing,
you know, might have a higher fee.
So I just wanna-- - Good point.
- As much for members of this board as for staff,
I'm sure is already aware and our consultants,
that we wanna make this process as fair as possible
to all development and all existing residents.
- Goodbye. - Yeah.
- Mr. Taylor, that's a great point.
At these future conversations that are noted on this slide,
that's the very conversation we can have
with the Public Utility Board and City Council.
In 2018, the City Council elected to adopt the max fee
or the full recovery fee.
That's currently what's in place now.
So as we continue the study and we work through it
and actually calculate the fee per SFE,
that we can have those conversations
that you're talking about, absolutely.
But the purpose of the study is to make sure
that it's fair across the city.
- Okay, other questions, Mr. Ryback.
- I don't have a question, but I do have a comment.
I wonder if it might be advisable for us to consider
once there is a Capital Improvement Advisory Committee,
some joint meetings between the PUB and CIAC.
That way, these things wouldn't be coming to us cold,
if you will, from the Advisory Committee.
So it might be something worth considering for the future.
- We can go ahead and take a look at that.
And if that's something we can do, we'll try to set it up.
- Yeah, I'm not suggesting we do it every time
they have a meeting, but it might be quarterly
or twice a year or something.
We can kind of catch up with what they're--
- Some check-in points.
- Yes, ma'am.
And I want to compliment you, Mr. Taylor,
on your questions, 'cause I had the same one
about that remote area that was separated from the rest.
So thank you.
- Absolutely.
All right, but not, thank you.
- Thank you.
All right, next we have receive a report,
hold a discussion, and provide suggestions
or recommendations regarding updates
to the City of Denton criteria manuals.
- Good morning, everybody.
Thank you for allowing me to come and present to you.
My name is Brett Bourgeois.
I am the Deputy City Engineer in the Capital Projects
Engineering Department.
And I'm here today to talk about our criteria manual updates.
The agenda is we're gonna go through our public outreach
plan that we have for this, including today's meeting,
background about the criteria manual
and the process that we went through this year,
run through some of the high-level updates
that we've had for the criteria manuals this year,
and then what our next steps are going forward.
I also have an attendance of technical experts
from every department and discipline
related to the criteria manual
for any detailed questions you may have.
So for our public outreach plan, as you can see,
we have a pretty extensive program in place.
We went to a planning and zoning commission
earlier this month.
We had a developer town hall as well a couple weeks ago.
We updated the criteria manuals online,
posted draft versions of them with the feedback form
for the community and the public to comment on.
We updated the city council via Friday report item,
and now we're here, basically in the middle of the process,
laying out our updates to you guys
and for your comments and feedback.
We also have several other meetings planned
to present to the Engineering Society,
do a further update to city council
after we receive comments from the public,
and then eventually bring this forward
to city council for adoption
and effective date of January 1st.
So a little bit of background on what we did.
Our criteria manuals are, it's a big process.
So we have a lot of different disciplines.
They cover different areas.
We started staff review of these documents
in April of last year, or of this year.
We met once a week, every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
We had representatives, every department arrive.
We met from April all the way through July,
going through every criteria manual, every discipline,
every line by line to look at where we are.
We're now going out to do comments to the public
with what our recommendations are.
We're gonna make these updates.
We're gonna inform everybody
and bring it back for the council.
And one of the things that we realized
by going through these updates
is that we have four different criteria manuals,
which is not consistent with what we have
for our development code, where we have one code document.
And all of our criteria manuals are formatted differently.
It's a little bit structured differently.
And we have information that's repeated
across multiple manuals, and we have to keep that consistent
as we make changes.
So one of our future goals is to combine
all these manuals into one document
with different chapters and have the consistent information
in one place, be consistent with the development code,
and eliminate all the conflicts we have.
- Mr. Beck. - Thank you, Chair.
How do you break down those four criteria manuals?
You got subdivision development, streets,
how is that broken down?
- Actually, it's broken down on transportation-related topics
with the Transportation Criteria Manual.
We have a Water Wastewater Criteria Manual.
We have a Solid Waste Criteria Manual.
And then we also have a Storm Drain,
and Drain and Trigger Criteria Manual.
- Okay, thanks.
- So a little bit of guidance or background
on the governing documents of the city.
We have the Denton Development Code,
which sets the policy and the procedures
for all the developments.
That's basically the city's roadmap.
But the criteria manuals outline the technical
and the design criteria for these developments,
for these projects, for everything
that's being built within the city.
So we're making sure we're getting the right types of pipe,
we're having the right roadway sections,
we're having everything that we need
the way that we need it for the city.
Then we also have our standard details
and our construction specifications.
That outlines how to actually build it,
and then drawings of what it's supposed
to look like in the field.
And again, this is kind of another breakdown of it.
The Denton Development Code is overriding document,
guidance document.
Criteria manuals set the design requirements
for those documents.
The specifications of how you build it,
and then the standard details showing
what it's supposed to look like out in the field
to actually construct it.
So going into a little bit of the updates,
the solid waste criteria manual
actually has a complete rewrite done last year
as part of the update.
The previous version of it I believe was completed in 2008,
so it needed a pretty good revision, overhaul of it.
So this year, because we had a full rewrite of it last year,
had very minor updates to it.
One of the things that they took out from the 2008 update
to the 2021 update was they removed the opening paragraph,
which outlined that the city was the sole provider
of all solid waste and recycling in the city of Denton,
including construction activities.
And so they actually had questions about that,
so we added that opening paragraph back into this document
to make it clear that everything for solid waste
needs to go through the city of Denton.
As well as that, there's different enclosure requirements
for different types of dwellings, multifamily dwellings,
and it gives a couple of options for them.
And one of the ones they wanted to add
was add an additional roll-off compactor enclosure
as an option for one of the larger multifamilies.
That way, it gives more variety for them.
And then we also revised the minimum alley width.
And we actually reduced it down to 15 feet.
We're still requiring the 20 feet of right-of-way dedication,
but we reduced the minimum pavement section down to 15 feet
because that gives us space to actually go in
and do maintenance or replace the alleyway.
If you have a 20-foot alleyway,
paved section with a 20-foot right-of-way,
you have no room to actually do any work.
You're up against the boundaries
where your right-of-way limits are.
You have to get temporary access easements
and it makes it a lot more difficult.
So we actually reduced that down,
and that's consistent with our transportation criteria manual.
- Mr. Taylor, yes.
- So I had heard that the City of Denton
is the sole solid waste provider for years.
And I do see these usually construction roll-off dumpsters
that are branded yellow and black or red and white.
Is there any kind of enforcement mechanism to that rule?
- We actually have a representative from the solid waste here
to answer your question.
- Good morning.
I'm Adrian Hill, Operations Manager
for the Solid Waste and Recycling Department.
Actually, we're working on Chapter 24
to update that process.
Right now, there's nothing we can enforce
an outside vendor coming in,
but we're in the process of,
I think it starts here with having that wording
in our site criteria manual.
- So Chapter 24, is that part of the solid waste guide?
- It's not part of the criteria manual at all.
- Okay, okay.
Yeah, like I said, I've heard that for a decade or more
and see these branded dumpsters and stuff like that.
So I was always curious,
why aren't they getting, I don't know,
worn or sited or something? - We're in that process.
- Okay, thank you. - Thank you.
- Question?
Yeah, oh, Barbara, oh, you didn't.
What do you do for areas that there is not a,
that they weren't required to have a dumpster enclosed?
- In the past?
- Yes, and now they decide to make a change.
You require them to put an enclosure,
but there's no room for an enclosure.
How do you handle that?
- So in the site criteria manual,
it states that anything that's 50% or greater
of the existing square footage of the building,
they'll have to redesign it
where they have to include an enclosure.
But everything that's done in the past,
if there's not any remodeling done 50% or more,
they keep what they have.
- So it'll be grandfathered? - Correct.
- Yeah, okay. - Yeah.
- Oh, I'm gonna ask, go ahead, Barbara.
I have one more question, so you go first.
- I was thinking about paved alleys.
There are areas in Denton that they used to use
to collect the trash coming down the alleys,
and then they decided they wouldn't do that anymore.
They go down the streets.
But the alleys are still there.
Who's responsible for taking care of those?
- Go ahead. - Yeah.
- So the alleyways is actually a pretty complicated topic,
and mainly it's because there's private alleys,
and then there's public alleys.
So it depends on the development of the location
in terms of who's supposed to maintain those.
And that's something that's a bigger conversation
that is an ongoing one with the new development
in the coal ranch area,
because they are wanting to put alleyways in there as well.
So it's a city-wide conversation
that we're having on that right now.
- Yeah, because if the city was using them,
and then they're not.
- Yeah, and that's basically the conversation
is that a lot of the private developments put alleyways in,
and they're identified as a private street.
So they're not designed and constructed necessarily
to the city standard.
At the same time, we have heavy vehicles,
service vehicles driving on those alleyways,
which are the ones causing the most wear and tear.
So then is it the city's responsibility to maintain those
and replace those, and if that's the case,
the city now inherits hundreds of miles
of additional roadway, which we need to account for
and pay for and maintain.
So like I said, it's a much bigger conversation
that's kind of beyond the scope of this conversation.
It's more of a policy-level discussion.
- Thank you.
- And my question is simple.
So the second bullet, that's an option.
That's not a requirement.
- Well, so that's where we messed up last year
when we were rewriting the criteria manual.
We added an enclosure or a compactor,
but we forgot to add a single enclosure for recycling.
- Oh, okay.
- So that's just a minor mistake that was on our part
that we're trying to correct this year.
But if they elect to get a compactor,
then that gives them the option to recycle in the future.
So we're not running into that same issue
with dumpsters sitting out in the parking lot.
- Okay, thank you.
- I will tell you,
this may not be the place to bring it up,
but I'm going to anyway.
If you can ever solve the problem of people
stopping and filling your dumpsters up,
I mean, off of the street.
That is a, you know, we've tried taking pictures
and basically that hasn't worked.
But that is a, and I don't know how to solve it.
It's a conversation I've had in a lot
of different committees.
But how do you solve?
Can we do something to educate?
That's a crime.
- Yeah, it's illegal.
But we do offer a lock and device for that dumpster
that it's a key that, you know,
we provide the lock for $20.
It's a lock and device with the lids on there.
So if you need access to it, you have a key lock to it.
We don't require that key or that lock
because it's a gravity unlocking system
where the truck picks up the dumpster, it locks it.
And then when it sets it back down, it relocks it.
But it's a $20 fee.
So if you're interested in that, one time fee.
- Thank you.
And I'm not sure, is it a misdemeanor here
for illegal dumping?
- I wouldn't know.
I don't think anybody on this knows.
- I'm just curious.
You don't have to answer that one.
- I would like it to be a felony.
(laughing)
- Yeah, yeah, it's a misdemeanor, yeah.
- All right.
Moving on to our stormwater and our drainage criteria manual.
So when going through this manual, we realized
there's lots of terms that we were using
throughout the manual.
And this manual actually has a definition
in the beginning of it.
And some of the terms that we were using throughout it
were unclear.
So we went through and redefined those terms
in the definition manual so that way everybody knew
what we were talking about and referring to.
And one of the things that we also looked at
is that for all developments in our city,
require everything to be designed
to the flood mitigation level,
which is the 100 year storm, which is great and all,
but the problem is that any time we have an infill project
or a redevelopment of like a downtown urban area
or a city project, the costs are redesigned
to 100 year flood and all the downstream impacts
are associated with that.
'Cause once you design your system
to be a higher flood standard,
you're basically just pushing the water
downstream to your neighbor.
So the way the criteria is written is that
you have to upgrade everything downstream
until you have no more impact.
Well, that becomes so restrictive and cost prohibitive
that projects just don't get built and can't get designed.
So we realized that was a problem.
We actually included a language in there
to allow us to say for all new developments
that are green field projects,
it's pretty simple to design to the 100 year
because you've just put a tension basin in,
you put bigger pipes in, whatever the case is.
But for redevelopment and urbanization
or internal projects where that cost becomes so prohibitive
that it stops projects in our tracks,
we allow us to go back and say, okay, for this project,
an incremental improvement is better than no improvement.
So we're okay with designing, upgrading,
us doing a smaller upgrade now
so that way we can start getting some
progressive improvements going on.
So we have added that to this criteria manual.
And one of the things also that we notice is that
in the standard specifications, we outlaw the use
or we do not allow the use of corrugated metal pipes
for drainage culverts and driveways.
However, our criteria manual still allowed that.
So this kind of goes back to the whole conversation
of finding conflict within the document itself.
So we found those references,
removed them out of our criteria manual
because we're getting questions as,
hey, your criteria manual says we can use
corrugated metal pipe,
your specifications say you can't use it.
So we ended up taking that out.
For the transportation criteria manual,
as you're probably all aware, we have the mobility plan.
- Oh, okay, Mr. T.
- Back to the storm water.
So I did notice that we're now using the I-swim standards.
- We have, yes, we have been.
- Okay, and so that's a wide variety of standards
that include everything from the concrete,
trapezoidal water flow to riprap
or kind of more natural structures.
And even talking about like on a green field,
they can put in a detention pond and pipes the right size.
And that's, and like that most basic design
is heavily concreted,
no, a little or no vegetation,
maybe a little green around the outside,
but a lot of times it's actually concrete bottoms
in the detention ponds to prevent erosion
and a concrete drainage structure,
which, and that is, that's the minimum,
but there are a lot of more creative options,
kind of like what you see behind Razor Ranch isn't bad.
The parking lots of Razor Ranch are kind of interesting.
And then if going down to behind
the shopping center near the mall,
I don't remember the name of it,
where like the Best Buy is,
they have some of those more like wetlands
with vegetation, heavily vegetated,
and using riprap and revetments instead of concrete,
which has all kinds of environmental benefits,
like increased soil, you know,
water is absorbed into the soil
as opposed to just flowing to the lake,
decreases your flood flows,
increases the friction on the flow, et cetera,
all these benefits, environmental, aesthetic, and otherwise.
Is there anything that we can do to encourage those options
as versus the lowest cost trapezoidal concrete channel?
- Yes, there is, and actually we have Mr. Mike Linder here,
which is our new drainage engineer.
- Hey, good morning.
I'm Mike Linder, the senior drainage engineer.
To address that, there are incentives, I believe,
in the Ditten Development Code,
more akin to the landscaping requirements
that go into a site.
That type of information really wouldn't be housed
in what is a technical design manual.
But I think as we go through the Ditten Development Code,
I know there's a section in here that lines out
low-impact development designs like you're discussing,
and kind of encourages people to do that,
and maybe we can look in other ways to, you know,
require a minimum level of that,
or more greatly encourage that,
but that's really something that would be
in the development code and not in a technical manual.
- Right, yeah, I just wanna make sure we do encourage that,
because it becomes an amenity to the city,
it benefits the landowners,
and the city benefits the landowner,
and everybody downstream.
- Absolutely. - Thank you.
- All right, moving on to our transportation criteria manual.
As you're probably all aware, we had the mobility plan
got updated, or adopted this March,
and so we actually went through our criteria manual
and made sure that all of our geometric standards
for all the roadway classifications
are consistent across both documents.
There are some slight tweaks,
so we updated those tables as well.
We added some discussion on turn lane warrants,
so we did have people requesting turn lanes.
We had no standard way to identify the stacking length,
the turn criteria to justify the installation
of a turn lane, and how big those openings
of those turn lanes need to be,
so we included all that.
We updated our on-street parking,
so our on-street parking was designed
to ADA and PRO Act standards.
We never discussed it and outlined
why they're designed the way it was.
We added several paragraphs in the prologue
of the parking section to talk about where design,
these are all laid out for ADA and PRO Act requirements,
the spacing, the slopes, and so it kind of lays out
why it was drawn the way it was.
As part of our traffic safety impact analysis,
our TIAs, is that we've included a discussion
in there for safety.
So before, it was all just based on traffic volume,
turning radius is turning,
so we actually put a discussion that says,
okay, well, in addition to the amount of volume of traffic
and how much traffic you're having,
we need to look at it from a safety standpoint as well,
'cause we do have some intersections
and roadways where we do have safety issues.
By the way, it was written before
that the safety portion wasn't,
we weren't able to enforce that,
so now we, by putting it in here,
we can say, hey, go back and look at this again.
You're having site issues, you're having other problems.
You can look at it from a safety standpoint as well.
Yes, go ahead.
- Thank you, Chair.
On your on-street parking,
Section 1.6 in the Criterion Manual,
am I, it's saying,
one on-street parking,
where on-street parking is designated,
one on-street parking space
for each single family unit or block is required.
So what's that first part saying,
where on-street parking is designated?
Does there have to be a sign there saying no parking
or some parking? - Yeah, so there has to be
some sort of marking for on-street parking.
If it's just like a wide shoulder,
it's open to parking,
but if you have a designated marking spot,
it's considered on-street parking then.
- Okay, so if there's no designation of on-street parking,
is it still just one vehicle per unit, single family unit?
- I believe, I don't think, I don't think so.
- Used to be though, didn't it?
- If I remember right, yeah, hi.
- Hi, Carina Maldonado,
Transportation Planner with Development Services.
Could you repeat the question?
- Well, it's indicating here that there's allowed
one vehicle in single family developments,
one vehicle per unit,
but the stipulation is where it's designated.
So I'm living, I'm in a newer development, an HOA,
and we've got no signs there,
but we've got some street parking issues
where there's four cars to one household,
two of them are in the driveway.
- Yeah, so going back to the development code,
our development code is what sets the standards
for minimum parking.
So single family residential would have to provide
four spaces on the property.
- Now on the property, off the street, right?
- And going back to the criteria manual,
there is a table that indicates whether parking is allowed
or not, so prohibited or not.
If it is prohibited, then that's where you wouldn't see
on street parking.
If it is permitted, it's based within the right-of-way
for that street, so residential street sections
typically allow for parking,
but there is no minimum requirement.
It doesn't say you have to provide one,
you have to provide two.
You just have to meet the requirements
in the criteria manual, which says, you know,
no parking within so many feet of an intersection,
of a driveway, so it's not specifically mentioned in there.
- Okay, and there's one other part, 1.6,
it says areas in front of or within five feet of a driveway,
within 20 feet of a street intersection,
within 15 feet of our fire habit shall not be counted
toward the required on-street parking.
- So the on-street parking comment is mostly related to,
let's say a multifamily development that were to come in,
and they were adjacent to a roadway that would permit
on-street parking, they would have to meet
those requirements.
- Okay, gotcha.
Can I meet with you after the meeting
just to get some clarification from my first--
- Sure. - Thank you.
- So reviewing the transportation criteria manual,
I'm trying to understand the bike lane
and bike amenities in geometric standards 1.3.
It seems like that's where that's really the only portion
that really covers kind of the bike lanes.
There's some definitions elsewhere.
And there's a bike accommodation required
and it's either parentheses seven or 10.
And parentheses seven has a footnote about sidewalks.
What is the number 10?
- There should be a subnote 10 in there, I believe.
- Well, yeah, the seven is a footnote,
but then the 10 looks like a size, maybe?
- Yeah, I think it's 10 foot width, the 10 foot width.
- 10 foot width.
- And is that an on-street accommodation?
What is it, is that a shared lane, bike lane?
- Yes, just stay.
- So the table is there for reference
to let you know whether or not,
based on the classification of the roadway,
what the minimum width of a facility would be.
When a development comes in,
they would have to look to our standard details,
which would identify the urban roadway section
and sidewalk section.
And then on top of that, our developers,
when they come in for a site plan,
they would also need to reference our mobility plan
and the bike plan element.
So if there's no bicycle facilities called out
on that specific roadway,
they would not need to provide that facility there.
So there's several places that a developer
would need to go back and reference.
So first, our mobility plan.
And when they come in for developments,
that's usually where we tell them,
"Hey, you're located next to a collector.
"This collector calls for bicycle facilities."
Our bike plan does say whether it's a shared street,
shared path, or otherwise,
so that it's kind of a combination of several things.
So for the criteria manual, it's just a basic reference.
They would still need to go back to our mobility plan
and to the standard details.
- Okay, and this raises some concerns on new development,
green field development,
where if it's not in the bike plan,
then you're not required to allocate footage to it.
And then you build the road,
and now we say five or 10 years later,
"Oh, there's an elementary school or something."
There's more development.
Now, this residential collector becomes a bike path,
but the road's too narrow and the right-of-way is narrow.
And now, if you want a bike path,
you have to remove parking or the front of somebody's yard
or something like that in order to get those in.
And so, and it might be addressed in the bike plan,
but I do worry that there is a table
and it's just unclear what it means.
And not so much on where the bike plan exists
in existing neighborhoods, but in the--
- Brand new.
- 200 square miles of planned development
we have around the outside of town
that I think we can have some generic requirements
about arterials and collectors and so forth,
must have this amount of accommodation,
even if they're not in the bike plan yet.
And I think that would belong in the criteria manual,
but it might belong somewhere else.
And if a developer says,
"Well, there's a reason why this arterial
"doesn't need any bike accommodation,"
or, "There's a reason why this collector doesn't,"
then they can deviate from the manual.
But to have it where the manual doesn't require it
unless it's in the bike plan, we got to catch 22.
Like the plan then comes back later and says,
"Oh, you should have built it, but it's too late now."
- Yeah, so that's a really great question,
really great point.
I think one of the ways that we're trying to plan
for those future improvements is in our roadway sections
and our classifications in the mobility plan.
So based on that classification,
there's certain right-of-way
that a development would need to provide.
In the development process, that's where we look at,
is there future connectivity?
Is there something that's warranting
that our TIA would be another way
for that connectivity to be called out?
So there's probably ways that we could improve
our criteria manual, maybe with a note.
I believe there is language that calls references back
to the mobility plan.
So there's things in place to capture that
where we would come back and make those improvements
if the development didn't put it in first
is through our capital improvements plan.
So going back to the mobility plan,
going back to the roadway or the right-of-way
that's available, our CIP can capture that.
- Yeah, and actually, so are the standard roadway designs,
are they part of the, are they going to be part
of this manual or are they a separate document
that's got its own update cycle?
- Yeah, for the standard details,
those are a separate document,
and those don't need to get council approval
with the same process, the different process.
It's more of a technical process,
but we are in the process of updating those
right now as well.
And one of the things I also want to point out
is that our mobility plan outlines
that we need to have 10-foot side paths for streets,
and those 10-foot side paths are the bike/pet facility,
so you don't have to have an on-street bike route anymore
'cause we're putting the bike, the 10-foot side path
on the roadways to get the vehicles
and the pedestrians separated.
- Yeah, and I think that's actually one of the,
I saw that in here and I wasn't sure
if that was what the design was.
So I have a couple of concerns.
First, we have a lack of citizen oversight.
If we have, if the manual says refer
to the engineering drawings, and the engineering drawings
are changed and approved without a board
or city council approval, usually you would have
your design drawings meet the requirements
of the manuals, and also, you know,
engineers would bring their engineering knowledge
and make sure they're technically correct.
To have this where the design manual
defers to whatever the drawings are
creates a lack of oversight.
And second, side paths are one of the best ways
to discourage cycling because they create
lots of friction points, because every time
a sidewalk reaches a road, you have multiple points
of friction where, they're great for children,
or somebody learning to ride a bike,
or somebody who's moving very slowly,
but if you're trying to ride through your neighborhood
to somewhere, a store or an event or a night out or work,
to have to stop at every intersection,
become a pedestrian, basically, cars aren't looking
at the sidewalk for a moving vehicle,
where if you're riding in the street,
then you, then cars see you, you don't have to yield
to the cross streets, if you, you know,
where you do have to yield to a cross street
if you're on the sidewalk and hitting the cross street
and then crossing the cross street.
- I have a question for Mr. Taylor.
- Okay. - Before you answer
his question. - Sure.
- This presupposes that bike paths should be included
with roadway construction, is that your point?
- Yes, and that the, well, they should be included
where they are appropriate.
And what neighborhoods do we want to declare
should not be bikeable?
- That'd be a discussion for another meeting.
- Yes, sir, that's actually what I was gonna ask,
Mr. Taylor, actually, the Public Utility Board
only has the ability to make comment
over the water, wastewater and drainage,
so we are more than happy to listen
to any of the questions or concerns that you have.
These are actually posted on our website.
Our team is more than happy to listen
to any of those concerns,
and they won't go to council 'til December,
so we've got plenty of time to meet with you.
But in respect for everyone else that's here,
I'd like to ask if we could take
the transportation-related questions
and meet with you separately, sir,
if that would be okay with you.
- Okay, thank you. - That's not our purview, yeah.
Thank you, Becky.
And then also we added discussion about
pedestrian access as well for the TIA,
so look at getting it from points of interest
to points of interest to include that
as part of the development process as well.
So we are trying to build those pedestrian facilities
in all of development, so kind of all related.
And then the last update,
last criteria manual we had to update
was our water, wastewater criteria manual.
We actually went through and looked
at some of the language in there.
Our language was a little bit misleading
in terms of the number of water meters
for multifamily developments.
Per state law, supposed to have a master meter
for multifamily developments,
with the development to have sub-meters to that,
so we clarified that to be consistent with the law.
We added discussion on backflow prevention, yes.
- So you're allowing sub-meters on a multi?
- Yes. - Okay.
That's it. - More comment?
- No, that answers it. - No, that's it, yes.
- We're all good. (laughs)
And then we also added discussion on backflow prevention,
which is also another requirement,
something that we were doing,
but we didn't outline it and have formal discussion on it,
so we included that.
We had a table within that document
that discussed separation of utilities.
It primarily dealt with crossing utilities,
so when you had private franchise utilities,
such as gas and whatever else,
crossing our public facilities,
the table was being misused and misinterpreted,
so we went through and tried to clarify that table
to make it easier to understand,
so we got fewer questions on it.
And we also added a discussion on grease traps
and grit traps, which kinda seems like a weird location
to have it in the Wastewater Criteria Manual.
We talked about this a little bit.
We talked about do we need to put it into a health code
because it relates to restaurants
and places that are food processing facilities,
and the decision was we need to discuss it somewhere,
and because if anything of those overflow,
they flow into our wastewater system,
and so we thought the best place to put it
would be to have it here,
to have some sort of discussion
to capture the requirements related to that.
- It impacts your wastewater,
so it's appropriate to be in there.
- Yep.
When we first talked about it,
we were like, does it really need to go here?
So we had a little bit of discussion on that.
So for our next steps,
our next presentation is gonna be
to the Texas Society of Professional Engineers in November.
We will do another update to City Council
via Friday report.
We will eventually advertise this
to Denton Record Chronicle that we are making the updates.
We do have everything posted online
for comment and feedback from the public.
All those comments will be reviewed
and either analyzed and added to the criteria manuals
before it goes to Council in December.
Again, here's our layout.
So we have about halfway through our public output,
public outreach.
And do you have any questions?
Mr. Beck.
- Just one real quick.
For my own personal edification,
criteria manuals are just informational
for developers, concerns and stuff like that.
As far as what's required by ordinance or law,
that's gonna be in the development code, is that right?
- So the criteria manuals we actually,
we hold the developers.
Those are like a guiding document for the city.
- Do they have enforcement power?
- Yes, yes they do, yes.
- Okay, so if somebody had a particular issue
within these criteria manuals, they could cite that.
- Correct. - Okay.
- So we actually do have a process.
We have a Monday meeting every Monday afternoon
where developments or projects that are unable
to meet certain criteria within the manual,
they request a variance.
We're kind of working on the language,
but for now it's called a variance.
And the language conflicts with the development codes
are looking at different terms instead of the word variance.
But they request a variance from the city engineer,
from Becky.
We meet internally, discuss the proposed change.
Why can't they meet the change?
We analyze and determine if it's an acceptable reason
to not design to our city standard.
And then we sign off on if it's acceptable or not.
- Okay, thanks.
- Other questions?
- Thank you. - All right, thank you.
- All right, it is 10/17.
Do we have a motion to adjourn?
Okay, we got two over here.
Lee and Larry are fighting.
We have our adjourn.