Feb 05, 2019 City Council on 2019-02-05 1:30 PM
February 05, 2019 City Council
Full Transcript
Welcome everybody to this meeting of the Denton City Council on Tuesday February
the 5th 2019. We do have a quorum I will now call the meeting to order. It is 1
33 p.m. We'll go through our agenda. Work session citizen comments on consent
agenda items. Do we have any cards for citizen comments on consent agenda items?
We have none. Request for clarification excuse me of agenda items listed on the
agenda for February the 5th 2019. Anybody over here on my right? Any
clarifications? On my left? Yes Councilmember Armitage. Microphone please.
Thank you. I'd like to have an explanation about G&H.
G&H is the authorizing for SWOT equipment grant and these kind of go
they go together so I'd be fine having a and my main question about it and I had
asked I don't remember if you were here when I when I had asked Chief Dixon a
similar question about a similar item we've had some of these I just wanted to
kind of ask again you know there's a lot of concern about the Department of you
know Homeland Security and whether or not this this group with this grant
compels the debt and PD to you know be at the beck and call of Department at
Homeland Security last time the answer was no I'm assuming that's what it is
now but I thought I would just I would ask again just to get clarification for
members of the public have expressed concern. So Bobby Smith assistant chief of
police didn't PD yes ma'am that's right this is we're not at the beck and call
of federal agency or anything like that this is this kind of these equipment is
meant to bolster our equipment that we have to make us more prepared to deal
with whether it's terroristic activity in our in our city but also just to be
just where our normal things that we do from a SWAT standpoint there's all kinds
of call outs that can happen yeah excellent so this is just for in other
words normal city city police operations yes ma'am that's for normal city police
operations preparedness okay thank you very much if I could just ask you one
clarification question on that have you ever seen a grant such as this place any
kind of conditions that are above and beyond just what it's being used for our
use for our local department from these type of grants no sir okay I appreciate
that thank you very much okay any more clarifications of agenda items all right
we'll move on then to our work session reports so we have no agenda items to
pull from what I can understand is that correct need to make sure that this
consultation is not about that question okay all right thank you so I just need
clarification from the attorney on yes yes yes that item M is about our new
didn't municipal court judge and that's gonna stay on but I just want to go
ahead and say welcome aboard box yeah thank you appreciate that Councilmember
Briggs any other comments well I'm gonna hold the room just about five seconds
longer before we move on so that I'm just kidding because I think when I go
down to work sessions the whole room is going to clear out is that right all
right okay thank you all very much we're going on to our work session reports 3a
just the police officers okay well sorry to call you gentlemen out okay fantastic
it means we got a we got a robust set of work session items agenda item 3a is
receiver a porthole discussion and get give staff direction regarding the
development of the coal and hunter ranch master plan communities in southwest
Denton so I'm sorry for hate see how the other person but I also want to just
apologize in advance if I seem a little spotty just taking some meds to get over
the flu so sometimes they can affect your brain a little bit so if I seem a
little disjointed you'll know why I'm not on anything but some drugs okay okay
thank you councilmember Duff appreciate that comment and comment yes prescribed
absolutely yes prescribed thank you mayor it has been Brian Langley deputy
city manager has been rough and tumble discussions over the last couple weeks
as you can tell we can tell for calling hunter ranch appreciate the introduction
yeah thank you do want to spend a few minutes to with you today to talk about
these two large developments we talked to you last about this in January we've
got a lot of information coming back I'm going to try to go through some slides
that I have very quickly and then Brian Karlok and OC vest from Stratford land
and Hillwood are also here today and they'll be taking you through some
additional information as well again I want to give you some follow-up
information some of the questions that we heard from me in January January 15th
the developer is also going to give a presentation and then we'll be looking
for some direction and next step from the council I think there was some
questions in general about the process that would be followed for the MMD
legislation the the resolution of support for that legislation and the
different agreements that we were talking about so we put together a
pretty simple graphic which shows how we see this envisioning how we envision this
to flow through the process the first would be if the council decides this is
a project that you want to move forward with the council would be asked to
approve a resolution of support for some legislation down in Austin to create the
municipal management district that MMD legislation would then go through the
state legislature and assuming it gets passed there would be three other
agreements that would have to be approved by the council for to proceed
the first would be a city consent ordinance to actually establish the MMD
the next would be an operating agreement between the MMD and the city and the
last thing would be the developer agreement between the developer of the
property and the city itself so lots of different pieces here but this is kind
of how it would flow over the next several months and a key piece of this
is the sunset date for the MMD we did have some discussion with the council on
this and one of the things that we'd be looking for some direction on it at the
end of today would be whether you wanted that sunset date if you did decide to
move forward to be May of 2020 or December of 2020 that'll be a decision
point that you'll have so additional follow-up from the January 15th meeting
one of the questions was how does this fit in with the 2030 plan the basic
answer to this is that it's consistent with the 2030 plan those large master
plan communities on the west side of the city are consistent with that vision we
do have some folks here from the planning department that can answer that
more specifically but just wanted to bring that back to you and indicate that
that was consistent with the 2030 plan another question that we had were can
the tax incentives be offered when the MMD by either the city or the MMD that's
certainly something that could be done if the City Council wanted to do that
it's also something that could be restricted through the operating
agreements for the developer agreements of how those things would be managed so
that's a decision point down the road that the council could have if you
wanted to restrict that at some point certainly the city for our tax rate you
can always have an incentive for any type of economic development incentive at
any time but this would be for the MMD's piece of the tax rate that 55 cents okay
so that was my question yes for discussion purposes let's say for some
somehow something gets approved where the city tax rate is the city tax rate
we can do with that tax rate like we would any other development yes sir but
the MMD could either be restricted to give no economic development tax
incentives on that portion or they could have the authority to give incentives
but only on their portion that's good not in any way affect the city tax
collection that's right that's right and so the city could decide we wanted to do
a separate tax abatement on our tax rate okay chapter 380 agreement whatever it
might be but that would be independent of what the MMD was doing okay another
question was what's the cost of the infrastructure that would be required
for the site these are all from the developers the off-site infrastructure
cost they're estimating at 65 million the regional infrastructure is about 240
million and the on-site public instruction public infrastructure costs
about 300 million all of that together is about 605 I do want to point out these
were all figures from the developer we have not audited these or looked at
these in any great detail this is something that we would have to do as
part of that fiscal impact analysis that we've been talking about so these are
all the developers numbers at this point okay
was it previously estimated of 485 million and if that's right you know what
was the what was the realization that was missed I don't know the differences
of those two numbers I can look at that and try to get you that answer during the
presentation but I know that was a separate number they may have that as
well I would just reiterate that staff has not been able to go through and
through all these numbers and find detail to form where we would agree with
these numbers at this point so not not only is there a little bit of difference
up front in terms of what would be recaptured but we would certain this
would be one of the first things that we would do is start verifying that our
definitions of these particular areas match I guess I'm not so much after a
number you know as just if there's an insight that you know and looking at it
that we realized that might be you know meaningful to us if not not so the the
clarification on that figure the 485 is the reimbursement amount the 605 is the
total cost okay 45 is how much was being reimbursed so apologize for that
confusion thank you another question we had were what areas of development could
be served by DME and I think maybe the colors are a little bit easier to see on
the screen than in here but we have these shaded so you can see which areas
are dual certified triple certified or this area in the white I think you can
see here it's hard to see on my screen this is not served by DME at all can't
be served by DME the white the white yes sir that area right there a big square
so the other areas all have opportunities for us to serve and it
certainly is part of the operating agreement the developer agreements we
could require that it be served by DME could you outline what the cursor what
because I'm is it the I see that yeah I'm gonna try to do it here because it's
not showing up on my screen but this this white area here that big section
there because that's all not gonna be able to be served by DME okay we've had
several questions from the council about donation of land for public safety
facilities or even the construction of those facilities themselves parkland
trees gas well sites setback distances affordable housing a variety of other
decisions that kind of came up through the work session last time basic answer
to those is those can all be included as part of an operating agreement if the
council felt like that was it those are important issues be negotiated as part
of an agreement and they're gonna have the developers will have some additional
information about some of those topics in their presentation that you'll see a
very similar slide to what we had back on January 15th just to kind of give you
again an idea of conceptually of how this would flow through the process the
vote would of the MMD of the vote on the resolution of support for the MMD would
occur at the beginning we would then have additional work sessions with the
council on the operating agreements all these different provisions that we talked
about to try to see what consensus of the council had what items were
important to them and then at the end of the process there would be that vote on
the consent ordinance approval of the operating agreement in the developer
agreement so that would be kind of the process that we follow over the several
months this is this is my last slide this will be the direction that we're
looking for at the end of the presentation today I don't need
necessarily answer this to this right now but I just wanted to let you know
these are the decision points that we're looking for is obviously the first thing
is are you interested in moving forward with this project if not is there other
information that you need additional facts information that we can bring
forward if you are interested in doing that then we're gonna be bringing
forward two separate things for you in the near future to consider the first
would be that resolution of support for the legislation that could occur on
February 12th or the following meeting after that and then the second thing
would be to approve an escrow agreement and this would be funded by both
Stratford land and Hillwood for us to do the fiscal impact analysis that I've
mentioned to you before as well as fund our legal costs to review all these
different agreements as we we've worked to develop these these different
agreements and different items as we go through the next several months so
that's kind of where we're going in the next as we go through this discussion
those are that's the information the direction we're gonna need back from the
council this is gonna sound very nuanced okay you're bold as is council
interested in moving forward with the project for me that's a different
question because to decide to support the resolution based upon the facts that
we present are the questions that we ask isn't necessarily my approval of the
project it's saying okay let's explore the details to see if I want to continue
to move forward and I know that's nuanced but I think these are sort of
new things for us and okay and I think it's important for me to understand
exactly what what I'm agreeing to and what I'm not yeah so thank you so I want
to give my direction and it kind of explain why I'm opposed to even asking
for permission from the state legislature for this and I understand you
know that some might think well what could be the harm in that that's just
extending the conversation I see without going into a full review of American
history you know the concept of taxation without representation and
representing officials who are going to represent us and be able to decide on
taxes this is really important to you know democracy in this country and I
know that this process is legal I was surprised to find that this was even a
thing when I first heard about this but I feel that if we even ask for a
permission it's to to have the the Texas State Legislature grant us
permission we are showing the taxpayers who have entrusted us who aren't
trusting us with the the awesome power of of deciding on taxes we we are have
we are considered we are showing them that we want to consider even the
possibility of turning that authority over yes for a finite amount of time but
you know to private entities without full representation and so I kind of see
that as roughly equivalent to you know it's handing your trot your child over
to a corporation right if somebody said you know asked me if I wanted to
consider that I would say I don't even want to have that conversation because
that sends the wrong message so anyway so that's how I feel and that's why I
think it's it's important for us to say no to even letting this go forward and
you know no disrespect to this particular project it's just how I feel
on principle about taxation without representation well again this this is
just some comments I had the developers going to go through a presentation here
with you and then these are questions I'll come back to you the whole council
to try to get some idea of where you want to proceed as a group at the end of
the presentation so with that I'm gonna ask Brian Karloch to come up so that's
remember that has a comment first or a question I'm sitting here listening and
I'm not sure what I heard okay okay we ready for the presentation mayor city
council thank you for having us here again appreciate your time and really
staff as well appreciate the time being put into evaluating this opportunity
real quick want to start at a real threshold topic and that is really what
are we trying to accomplish here what are we as the applicants wanting to do
here and really in a quick sentence or two to make sure it's clear what we are
trying to do as private developers is to develop a world-class master plan
community in Denton Texas that brings jobs commercial retail and well above
standards in terms of housing amenities and lifestyle so that is really we'll
make sure that is our objective with this whole effort if you accept that for
a moment that is what maybe what most of us want to see is that objective one way
or the other you get into well how do we how do we do it given that we know to
create something that's well up and above it's gonna take well up and above the
cost and expenses and effort so the question is how do you how do you get
there a couple of options kind of listed three here you know one is the city
could do it the city could build all the infrastructure to the property through
the property that as we've discussed is probably not an option but it is an
option the city just bears the burden to bring in all this additional stuff parks
amenities things that are public but we're gonna put that to the side and say
that's really not an option the other option is that the developer does it all
standard you spend the money you load it into the lots into the real estate into
the homes we'll talk a little bit about that but that also is not economically
feasible to load it all in as a matter of fact on the very front end of the
project the first large percentage of the project we would be selling homes
well over a million dollars which is not market and not a sustainable practice
for sure in this market which really takes us to a third option and that is
this idea of creating a public infrastructure funding mechanism in
this case we've discussed with staff and talked about the tool of call what's
called a municipal management district we'll spend really the front third of
the conversation here talking about what that is and maybe what it is not the
presentation really is to answer questions that came up at the January 15th
hearing and also questions that came afterwards several of you will you as a
counselor asked to submit questions to the city if you have questions so we
field questions that way in some of you clarified questions through conversation
which was very helpful to really understand what the issues are what the
confusion might be how does this all really work so we appreciate the
dialogue what we're gonna do is settle in on talking about this where the
developer spends 100% of the money and gets reimbursed after they spend the
money and after they create the value that's what we're gonna focus on and
that is the definition of this municipal management district as we're proposing
it through the draft legislation we hit several of these but the threshold
question and two is of why municipal management district you might just say
why public financing you can read some of this but as I mentioned the first
phases of these projects given the infrastructure burden we won't go
through the civil engineering side of this but their burden to the point where
we would be well into the million dollars to be able to sell the homes not
economically feasible to finance it and certainly not economically feasible to
have a project at that price point but this does allow is this mechanism of
reimbursement of private dollars that keeps the project and the price points
of the homes in a range that we think are marketable and appealable appealing
to people moving to or living in Denton Texas one thing that we wanted to make
sure is clear and we were asked to talk a little bit about the process just to
make sure that we understand what it is and what it is not when I hear words
like private and taxation without representation it probably tells us that
maybe we don't fully understand haven't gone through the process and not not to
say that you should know it so we're here to explain a little bit about it to
make sure we touch on critical particularly constitutional issues and
breach thereof and the lack of that so we want to talk a little bit about that
I've asked clay Crawford who represents the district and districts like this to
come and talk for just a minute about a few critical parts of the the creation
and the administration of this district good afternoon I have a outline I'd like
to speak from but I'm gonna keep it pretty quick and would say that will be
available to go into greater detail during a question and answer period but
what we try to do is to outline the process of district creation and
district financing and basically how it works and if this district were to be
created through the Texas legislature it would be a governmental entity it is a
political subdivision of the state of Texas so it is a governmental entity and
subject to many many of the same statutes that that your city is subject
to but essentially how this would work assuming that the bill was created with
your permission we would enter into a consent agreement and the other two
documents we discussed that basically set the limitations on the district and
its powers its purpose its functions the district would have an organizational
meeting to organize and to approve the principal documents that would control
how it would work and to call the necessary elections this district will
need elections to actually confirm the initial directors will need an election
for it to be authorized to issue bonds secured by taxes and we'll need an
election to authorize a maintenance tax to fund its operations I want to spend a
little bit of time talking about these elections the basis for them basically is
in our Constitution we have to do this so there's a legal basis for the
requirement of the of the election there's also a practical basis for the
election you've seen the hundreds of millions of dollars that the developer
is expecting to advance if this project were to go forward no developer or a
lender to developer is going to do that unless they have some sort of assurance
or mechanism in place where they earn their reimbursement back so there's a
practical reason for these elections in addition to the constitutional and legal
election now if our elections yes we're gonna let Councilmember Armitage pose your
question but if we could get through sort of segments of the presentation I
will go ahead and ask your question then questions for him let's save them and as
we go through segments we'll sort of let the presenters go through yeah go ahead
so I wanted to ask can people outside of this special district vote no ma'am okay
so that was my understanding and yet what so when the and correct me if I'm
wrong here when the MMD goes away because it's not it's not permanent correct yes
ma'am unlike in an HOA when it goes away then it will be the city and the
taxpayers of the city who will be doing the maintenance and operation for that
infrastructure well well actually the discussions and again we have no we
haven't reached agreements yet this is early in the process but the proposal
that we have made is that this district is going to fund the construction of all
this infrastructure and and when it's completed and again it's going to be
constructed pursuant to the plans and specifications directed by the city and
once it's completed we will convey that to the city this will be at the city
facility this will be an extension of the city's existing water and sewer
system and an extension of their existing road system to maintain and
operate as they see fit yes ma'am now the initial elections I mean we have a
situation here where why is the district needed well the district is needed to
put an infrastructure so there's nothing there most of these districts are
created where there is a vacant piece of property usually it's farmland or
ranch land where there are no inhabitants so we need to have voters
and and so what we need to understand these voters have to be qualified and it
involves the creation of residences in the district for the initial voters
these residents will have to be constructed in accordance with city
building codes and the city zoning code and then there must be residents that
move in and they must meet certain qualifications and I'm prepared to go
into this in greater detail but the these voters must meet the same
qualifications basically as voters within your your city limits that vote
in your city elections now the process is going to be I'll go into this I guess
in greater detail because I want to go through the entire process but
essentially the oversight of these elections our district as we do with
with many of our districts in Denton County we will contract with Denton
County elections administrator to actually conduct our elections but our
elections will be conducted in accordance with the same election code
that your elections are held with when they're held where they're held the
notices that must be given and again who administers these that's going to be the
county elections department and then who votes as we just said it's only the
qualified resident voters within the district okay and the election code is
very clear on what the requirements for residency is and these electors have to
meet those residency requirements and then at the end of the day who oversees
this process when this district goes forward with its first bond application
again to even get there we'll get there in just a minute what has to happen is
there needs to be the election the board will have to come to the City Council to
go forward with the bond application of the TCEQ it has to get TCEQ approval we
come back to the city then we have a public bond sale and that process will
have to be approved by the Attorney General and the Attorney General has
established very very specific affidavits and requirements for voters
at these elections and unless the voters of these elections meet the Attorney
General's qualifications the Attorney General may not approve that bond issue
and so what does that mean what that means is if the initial direct elections
are not handled correctly that puts the developers right to reimbursement at
risk so it's incumbent upon the developer to make sure along with the
district and its consultants that these elections are handled properly so now to
get back into this wheel once we have our elections passed then what will
happen is the developer will advance monies to the district which the
district in turn will spend to construct the water the sewer the drainage and the
road systems that have been agreed to between the city and the district and
the developer okay the district at some point in time there will be enough
assessed value for the district to put together a bond application to TCEQ to
make sure that this tax rate this this how we say target tax rate of fifty or
five cents why we think that we will make that we will put together a bond
application which the city will have a chance to look at that will review that
will show the project can be financed at fifty five cents okay city okays it we
file the bond application with TCEQ TCEQ does a legal review an engineering
review a feasibility review to confirm that they issue their approval then
that's when the district would prepare their bond documents present them to the
city certified to the city that all of the agreements that we made in the
consent ordinance that the city might adopt all the agreements that we made in
the mud the MMD operating agreement have been met we certify that we provide your
bond documents and then that the city would vote to let us go forward with the
financing we have our public sale we sell our bonds we close the transaction
we do an audit to reimburse every dollar to be reimbursed to the developer and
then we actually reimburse the developer and then we convey those facilities to
the city for permanent ownership operation and maintenance every step of
the way it's a public process the public's involved all the records all
that relates to the creation of the district to the bond financing to the
reimbursement all that goes through the Attorney General for their review and
their approval then the process starts over with the next phase of development
so it continues until the district is developed and then ultimately the
district will have served its purpose at some point in the future when the city
desires it dissolves the district and the project is complete that is that
conclude your portion of the business any questions on that I think I have a
couple but they may be too detailed I guess I'll go ahead and ask them up
front because I think it's going to be germane to moving forward it's my
understanding that to issue the bond well first of all I wanted to take note
that I realized there's two really points that the city has in this process to
have some concerns or to exercise its discretion if there's an issue so I want
to make sure I have a clear understanding of that the first one is if
if if the resolution is approved then the city and the developer enter into
some kind of negotiating agreement operating agreement of what we expect
the development to look like the amenities the elevations all of that
whatever we all can come to the meeting of the minds on if we don't the process
stops right there but I remember reading in the template legislation that the
city still has to consent to the first issuance of the bond to the first bond
issuance after that you don't have to but you still have to gain a consent on
the first one is that correct well I think it's no okay what what how we're
proposing this is that the every bond issue will come back to the city every
bond issue will come back to the City Council we'll have our bond documents
and we'll have our certifications that we are in compliance with the city
ordinance consenting to the creation of the districts that sets out a lot of the
conditions for the bonds that we are in compliance and that we're not in breach
of the terms of the operating agreement between the district and and the city
okay and if we do that then we've earned the right for a perfunctory vote from the
council to go forward with the bond issue okay so all right so when you say
perfunctory I like to think of it as it's more of a ministerial or
administrative act because of what if somehow there's a disagreement in your
certification and some council this is a long-term project sure so there's all
different kinds of council council makeup council terms so what if there's
a disagreement are you saying that there's no opportunity for a council to
deny that it's more of a ministerial kind of administrative act stamp of
approval I'm gonna give you my opinion but I want you to listen to your city
attorney's opinion too it seems to me if there's a good faith disagreement and if
there's a good faith issue whether we are in compliance or not in compliance I
think that that gives the city the ability to call timeout on the process
okay thank you appreciate that so then on the it's my understanding that before
you issue bonds you have to have assessed value sit ten times the amount
of the bond issuance is that is that correct well no sir not necessary okay
okay but that's what we shoot absolutely that's what we shoot for because what we
wanted it is to make sure that this financing is the most efficient as
possible for us to be able to get credit enhancement for us to get a bond rating
we need to be at that ten to one ratio so is that something that can be built
into the absolutely so so that I understand and people here understand so
that means for instance if the initial phase of the infrastructure to get the
primary infrastructure out to the project water lines sewer lines major
roads that are part of this agreement let's say for discussion purposes let's
say you want to issue a 50 million dollar bond for that it's probably gonna
be too high but let's say you want to issue a 20 million dollar bond to get
the process started that means somehow there's gonna have to be enough assessed
value of the project to equal approximately 200 million dollars that's
correct and you turn and again the TCEQ is what the first throttle for that
process mr. mayor is the consent agreement and the mud operating agreement
right okay now I'm I don't want to negotiate for the developers on on terms
but that is something that could be put in the document no my point being and
that number can move my point being that that's part of a protection for the city
because if you if you've got 15 million dollars worth of bonds you want to issue
but there's certified documents audits appraisal district files that say there
are there's a hundred million dollars worth of assessed value on this mud
district that's being proposed already then that means number one if that's
assessed value those are city taxes that the city is going to be collecting in
the school district in the county on that assessed value before there's any
one dollar reimbursed to the developer through the mud so it's saying we need
to make sure that there's enough revenue stream coming in and assessed value to
not only support your bonds or your financing but also it means that you do
have assessed value growth within the district yes sir now what I'm saying to
you is that that process is in place with TCEQ but what we're proposing is
even an additional process up front yes with a more solid number TCEQ is a
little bit more hey is this look about right with the number I would object to
that sir because I would say we have to provide them a certified tax rolls and
sort of certificates right but they don't have this 10 to 1 or 5 to 1 they
just look at and say is this based upon those numbers a feasible or reasonable
amount that's correct okay I just want to understand the process because this
is this is going to be important as we move forward I think okay yeah oh yes
sure going back to the mayor's question about the ability for the city to say
timeout when there's a dispute or a disagreement is to future issuance of
debt financing you had mentioned that we would have the ability to do that what
you're referring to is how that is actually drafted in the operating
agreement or in the legislation they'll be in the operating agreement Aaron okay
and again what it what our hope is obviously you know that you've seen the
hundreds of millions of dollars that are proposed to be advanced by the
developer again the developer has to earn the reimbursement through the
creation of value through a successful project okay so we'll have to so
negotiate the actual process they're gonna want certainty they're gonna want
some certainty where they're gonna want to know what the rules of the game are
and they don't want to be subject to no I don't mean any harm here but they want
to make sure there's criteria that everybody can agree with on how we do
this okay great yes to your knowledge do you know if ever a bond issued through
this MMD process has has been canceled by a you know future City Council in
that kind of scenario so no the projects that I've involved in the the cities
have been very happy with the process and so that's never actually been tested
then not to my knowledge thank you appreciate it absolutely thank you thank
you Clay what I will mention on this process too that you should maybe get
some satisfaction with is that there are approximately 1,500 of these districts
type districts operating in the state of Texas right now as we speak all across
it so this is not a new idea this isn't a new process it's I would call it tried
and true everyone's a little different in every city whether it's in the city
or in the ETJ or in the county alone but there are 1,500 of these successfully
running without a default on any debt ever since the late 80s legislation and
the law change around how these are run so just wanted you to know that so now
I'm gonna answer a couple of questions that came out either written or verbal
there was a question about the MMDs how many how many should there be how many
can there be how many should they be limited to when the proposal was made to
the city we said hey probably about 500 acre districts or generally what are
created 500 to say 700 we propose eight per district that ends up making them
about market I'm sorry six six per district talk to staff we've talked
about this a little bit we think we can minimize that to four I want to make
sure everybody's clear on that so while say hunter ranch is 3,000 acres it will
be chopped into four districts maybe not exactly the same size but just say for
the moment they are the same size the reason you do that from a practical
standpoint a little bar graph here at the bottom tries to demonstrate the idea
that those are really four districts so the idea of the first group if you will
it starts off at a tax rate of 55 cents but and issues it's dead as it starts to
pay off debt the tax on that portion that first district starts to slowly
lower to the point where once all the debt is paid back there is no more debt
so the the debt burden if you will on the property made up through these
districts will really go away phase by phase by phase because the objective is
is to reimburse the public infrastructure so that the property owners once the
debt is gone will just end up with ordinary water soup or city county
school taxes so I want to make sure that we demonstrated this that the idea is to
levy the tax issue the debt on that and then pay it off so that those really
those first year property owners aren't burdened with an MMD tax indefinitely
because the tax across a district has to be uniform and equal so the idea is in
this case 750 acre districts levy a tax issue debt but then pay it off if that
makes some sense so the point there was can we minimize how many there are we
came with six per project so a total of 12 and we've discussed maybe make them a
little bit larger we think we can manage that to where they would be four
districts per project so total of eight so just make sure we're clear on have a
quick question on yes sir so I make sure I understand what you just said so let's
just use your example for districts district one puts in their
infrastructure tax rates levied at 55 cents it starts paying down got a
question on the amortization but that's too much in the weeds so district two
then comes online I say three or four years later whatever it's five fifty five
cents so you got a district that's at fifty five cents and you got a district
that may be at 48 cents and it's time marches those go down yes that is that
correct yes sir that's what we were trying to demonstrate so then what you
could have then is you know in the same general area you could have different
districts that have different tax rates which can affect marketability and
things such as that but I mean I just I didn't know reality that is a reality
that you might have some disparity within each district we get comfortable
with that from a market standpoint because that district that say you went
down to no tax compared to one that might have say it has a remaining 15
cents but you know that infrastructure in the first prod first MMD is maybe 25
years old at that point or 20 years old really compared to the other one that
might only be 10 years old so I think they're okay we've never had a problem
with that marketability part of it but that is and that I was just saying the
concept I wasn't so much concerned about that issue but just the concept yes
right okay for example I think Lantana maybe has 750 acre districts down there
in comparison thank you yes a couple questions actually what would the
relationship be between these boards and City Council what would the oversight
relationship be just I'll probably have to lean on clay a little bit of what the
relationship might be these would be elected boards elected by the qualified
voters within the district they would be subject to the same ordinance that
created the initial district it would be subject to the same requirements in the
mud operating agreement part of the process for the division if you will
would be the fact and this is what we propose to be put in the statute is that
it would be subject to the ordinance and subject to the original municipal
district operating agreement so I get that they're elected boards but I'm not
sure I understand from your response what the relationship would be between
that board and the seer there or is it kind of entirely it'd be the same identity
it'd be the same as the initial board they would have the same relationship
which is what they're autonomous they are autonomous autonomous it's a separate
yeah it's almost like a separate little city yes okay and and I'm gonna I want
you to be careful about saying they're a separate little city because they're
very limited in what they're able to do they don't set their they don't have
their own police force they don't have their own fire so it's it's they're
subject to separate entity entity yes separate yes I got that separate city I
thought I heard yeah an independent layer of government that has authority to
very limited very limited authority it's there they were designed by the
Constitution and state statute to deal with water sewer drainage roads and I
don't know if you know this in advance or if it's part of the proposal or if
this is standard but are there terms to their the board yes yes and and it can
you know these are these are boards made up of five individuals they serve
four-year staggered terms we have directors elections the first Saturday in
May and even numbered years so the first May coming up in 2020 there would be two
up for election and then 2023 up election and any of the residents can
that are qualified so I can run can't run in those positions absolutely okay
thank you
again trying to answer questions that came up about cost to the city does it
is this costing the city anything is there any subsidy so quite quickly is
there any subsidy of any kind required by the city no is there any burden on
the city to administer these MMDs know is there any way impacted by the debt
being issued no and is there any negative impact on cities taxes or
services no and we'll talk a little bit about that and we'll prove that to you
here in a minute well the city have to spend any funds to subsidize the coal
hunter projects our assumption that lots and homes will be 350 thousand dollars
if you take that assumption out and you compare it to the breakeven cost of
service we the city needs to go through and really determine what their cost of
service breakeven household is we've agreed to use 250 as a reasonable
number at this point with staff but if you compare the 350 projected in our
project to 250 breakeven this actually becomes a fairly significant positive
for the city from a cash flow perspective so we're going to talk a
little bit about the impacts to the city real quick overall impact to the city
through 2062 which is our projected build out of the entire project you can
see the overall value for the project is right around the 14 billion mark when
you add up ad valorem taxes paid to the city as well as additional revenues that
will go through you get to about 3 billion paid to the city at that point
and then they're forward so we'll talk a little bit about each one of those but
ad valorem taxes 1.5 billion on a go-forward basis at build out and then
the other revenues around 1.7 million and you can see what those are made up
of but we'll talk about those in just a minute more in detail property tax we've
talked about property tax a bunch 350 thousand dollar houses projected out at
a 2% growth takes you to the point where you're at 80 million dollars at the end
of the project again the end of the project shows as 2062 a city tax right
now and I mentioned before I think collectively the two ranches probably
paid three thousand dollars a year to the city of Denton they're an agricultural
status but we probably paid somewhere in that neighborhood so significant impact
the question is is does it pay for itself great that's a lot of money but
is it costing us money this graph is designed to indicate the solid line as
it goes up and comes across the top of the yellow bars is really the break
even if you built the same subdivision the same community at 250 thousand dollar
houses growing at 2% per year you get to the top of the yellow mark the gray at
every point the gray is always excess cash flow from just the ad valorem so at
build out the project will generate up and above break even about 25 million to
the city every year on a go-forward basis another key point I think is very
early on in the process so we talked about subsidy very early on in the
process in this case it's almost immediately you can see we get into
excess cash flow for the city based on ad valorem so a little bit about the
additional revenue a lot of people focus on taxes but really the additional
revenue is important too won't go through all the assumptions but here's
what we've considered is the impact fees paid water revenue sewer revenue
electric assuming that Denton electric is servicing two-thirds of the property
drainage fees and garbage collection these are all fees going back into the
city at build out you can see that's another 75 million of overall revenue
coming into the city from those sources so collectively we're at about 150
million to the city in terms of ad valorem and revenue
yes ma'am so so you're talking about the revenue that is coming into the city
meaning the government the city government any department yeah under
that big umbrella but as far as the residents in this district who will be
paying as long as the MMD is in operation they'll be paying more taxes
than anybody else in the city because they're paying regular city taxes plus
correct you know tax these taxes on top of that so would you say that is the
benefit to those individuals who are paying more taxes than others in the
city are you saying that that's kind of a trickle-down effect that the this
revenue to the that the extra revenue the city gets will benefit these
individuals by kind of trickling down to them or how how would you make the case
in other words that these residents are gonna benefit economically as well well
I would argue not only are the residents of the district gonna benefit but also
the rest of the city is gonna benefit that gray bar that I backed up to there
that is excess revenues to the city to be used outside of the district so in
some ways this project because of the additional value coming off the ad
valorem because of the value of the homes that we anticipate nothing to do
with the taxes which is the value we expect they're willingly and knowingly
paying more because they see the value of the quality of this master plan
community we'll talk we have a few slides here on the market to kind of
speak to that point but as they knowingly and willingly pay more for that
home and knowingly and willingly pay the additional tax it creates the surplus
of ad valorem which again is for the city really to be able to use wherever
maybe someone's been on the district I don't know where but really it will act
I think as a subsidy for the rest of the city sure just and you know my so I have
a different way of seeing that which is that the whatever money might be
perceived as revenue for the city coming out of this you know we don't know what
the costs are going to be going forward for the maintenance and operation so you
know like kind of like someone who's been given a you've been given a free
house I'm not saying this is free and you're stuck with it so the city would
be responsible for this after the MMD goes away and that's what I'm I'm
concerned about that plus plus the the you know not quite seeing what the value
will be to the residents I was just saying I mean just as we project forward
the additional value or also and even in this example projecting forward the cost
of maintenance that $250,000 house clearly grows to being to being more so
I think the cost of service doesn't grow with this analysis it assumes that you
have you know 2% growth I guess across these projections haven't been verified
by staff yet either so correct but they would at some later point if it came to
me yes it's actually part of the fiscal when we get to the end we'll talk about
what gates do we pass through if council elects to move forward next week or the
next week but one of those important things is a fiscal analysis as a part
of the process a couple of additional questions that maybe don't fit neatly
within the MMD the question was how much money is going into the project this is
total investment into the project not counting any kind of a land cost so
public private all in all we think it's right around a billion dollars of
investment we think using the 480 number I think that was used before which is
really probably our best guess at this time we think it's approximately 50% of
the dollars expended will be potentially reimbursable if we create
enough value to get them reimbursed so just to make sure a little bit straight
on the money we anticipate potentially one half or so of the profit of the
investment to be returned but this is all private dollars going in
approximately a billion dollars of private money I just want to make sure
I'm tracking so so what's the 605 you know that the 485 was what you are
estimating I realize this is all estimates that's the what you expect to
be reimbursable the 982 is what you think the actual expense would be what's
the 605 I don't know what the sick let me make sure we're talking before I
speak at a term 605 Brian was I think the subset maybe the it's part of the
onside public infrastructure costs I mean it's yeah if you put the list back
up you would see that it fits into probably one of those categories this is
an excess because there's a lot of money being spent to create the high quality
amenities and lifestyle and other things that aren't reimbursable this is this is
the total capital spend so when the question is how much are you spending
developer and how much are you getting reimbursed it is important I think from
a policy standpoint that the private developer be well invested and that the
opportunity to get 100% reimbursed or anything close to it isn't really the
benefit of what we're talking it's not the benefit of the bargain that we would
expect so approximately half which by the way we talked about comparing to
Viridian City of Arlington as it turns out that's about the same math on that
particular project well this is this is all the money that's going into the
infrastructure and all of that it doesn't include the value of the land
there's no land in this equation yes sir there's no land in this equation okay
there's all in there and there there is a there's substantial value in the land
question we're asked about the the trees there there's you're familiar with your
environmentally sensitive area there's the ESA's were agreed on this as we went
through zoning been particularly asked about pilot knob pilot knob is within an
agreed upon ESA and will stay preserved I'm not sure who had that question but it
won't be developed as a terrain feature the topic of affordability and
affordable housing has emerged we've talked to staff we've had a brief
discussion here at the last workshop bottom line I think on affordable housing
is it is our objective to create price points across the spectrum this is a big
complicated question that every big city in the country is struggling with what
we're committed to is being a part of the process as we go through this if we
can work with the city understand the city is starting maybe some task force
to really deal with this on a more macro or city level which is probably where
you know some of the policy needs to be said but we're in with participation is
what I can tell you but again there's lots of things that may be decided is
this for sale is it for rent how's it administered how do you qualify anybody
that cares about affordable housing knows that it is a very complicated
difficult but probably worthwhile discussion to have and seeing if we can
play some role in participating in it we don't have the answers right now we're
committing to be a part of it whatever whatever that means will public will
public safety sites be provided yes we've committed and it's not in the
zoning but we'll commit as we go through this process that we will donate sites
free of charge to the city for these facilities to be built wherever they
need to be placed and we'll have to mutually agree on where they're best
needed and suited depending where the needs of the city are gas wells so gas
wells has come up from a from a few different people so we want to talk
about that very specifically currently on the 6,000 acres there are 19 drilled
and or permitted sites and on coal there's 14 drilled and or permitted sites
on the property where because the zoning occurred at different times and really
different applicants are in our invested entitlements are a little bit different
between the two properties we'll talk about that we are going to propose or we
are proposing some additional constraints around our gas wells as a
matter of understanding maybe the importance of this to this council and
other people who are interested to see if we can make some some movements and
agree your current gas well ordinance as you know your 2015 ordinance basically
requires 250 feet from the gas pads as I mentioned the coal and hunter gas wells
we have 19 and 14 respectfully there's a provision about the direct access but
what we want to get to is kind of what are we proposed to do so coal I will
tell you has 200 foot setbacks really in their base case as we know ordinance is
250 coal has 200 they are prepared to move from what they are entitled through
their zoning up to 250 Hillwood went through a process several years ago in
amending our gas rights we went from 80 planned well sites to 19 maximum we also
agreed to several four to be specific for well sites that would have two times
the then current setbacks so we went to 500 feet on specific you can see them in
the in the round red circles but largely they were the ones that were adjacent to
or in any way impacting maybe more Robeson and country lakes what we'd like
to propose is that up and above coal going from 200 to 250 that we agree that
any protected use library hospital school that there's a two times current
ordinance to 500 feet to those protected uses as additional constraints
thank you for all this information so this is the the numbers of gas pads and
so within the pad there's the wells and the sites and so there could be you know
five or six wells on there could be none or there could be five or six right
correct so this is the number of the pads do you have the number of the wells
I do not and and will they be allowed to be fracked once the people are in in the
homes are developed or is this max this is all you're gonna get whatever's there
that's it no we would continue to reserve our rights to further drill in
accordance with with the ordinance or zoning that it has agreed to so I don't
want to communicate that all the wells out there are the only wells that are
going to be out there or that a well might not be refract at some point in
the future but it would be subject to setbacks and requirements that are in
place either through this agreement or however we agreed to it so thank you
yes a number of items have been mentioned as you know potentially
negotiable and in the process of the work at the operating agreement is this
well this is very consequential obviously because it has to do with how
much land you can develop but are these setbacks so picked into the business
case that this is basically what it's going to be that's not area where you
would envision being able to be able to have discussions well not being able to
enter into a detailed discussion with maybe any policymaker that this is you
know a significant issue with this is really our come out offer per se so if
it needs to push and pull a little bit given maybe the location of ones a well
pad or two or three just again just like we agreed to in our prior amendment we
agreed with largely the ropes and ranch residents and the country like residents
that hey we would double the setback in those locations so I wouldn't say this
is this is it take it or leave it but this is intended to be a good faith
movement towards you know represent that you have oodles of wiggle room on this
I'm sorry but you wouldn't represent that you have lots and lots of wiggle
room on this I guess it just depends on how we define that yeah right if you're
gonna say two thousand foot setbacks where there's not much there to talk
about question about the parks we went through a little bit of a park plan
last time really a key ingredient to a master plan community we'll talk a little
bit in about the in some market slides coming up but parks trails all that is
critical whether you tell us to do it or not we're going to over park and over
trail this particular community so but that'll be agreed to in the document
that we'll talk about here at the end related to the developers agreement so
that you know what you're getting as a city in terms of quantity location our
objective is the same as your objective and that is to have fantastic world-class
parks and have them reasonably close within 10-minute walks that that is the
plan didn't include the slide where we have the circles but largely anybody
should be 10 minutes from any type of park I threw this up here just to show
you that obviously the parks will be cited as we go through specific planning
but different levels different hierarchies of parks from from large
parks large regional parks down to pocket parks and some in between of
course was asked about lower prices I think your financial advisor Hilltop
looked at this too should we expect lower prices because of the MMD tax we
have seen and we'll have a few slides here in a moment but we have seen strong
evidence over many many years that the tax itself does not at all deter people
from from paying higher prices if they're seeing the tax that they're
walking into and they're also at the same time seeing the benefit of that
tax everything ought to be much better than a place whether or not paying that
tax parks landscape on-site schools trails all of that ought to be better
but if those are matched up the quality is matched up with the tax we don't see
ever we never see the disparity and we never see any issues I have some
comments on that but I will save it later okay thank you just be sure and
catch my attention when you have a member yes so I just want to clarify so
when you say that the people who live here you know yes they'll be paying more
on property taxes but the the parks and amenities that they'll be getting it will
be nicer than will be better than the parks and amenities in the rest of the
city of Denton correct okay so yeah I think I think our parks are really nice
but thank you let me let me go ahead and address that and this is this is for my
information you know I've heard the said that the reduction of the value of homes
and Hunter Cole because of paying back the MD MMD over years currently Robson
Ranch has an HOA fee of $3,170 a year per lot included in an HOA fee is an
amenity fee $426 a year per lot and that's going to last for about 40 years
the amenity fee pays Robson Corporation back for the amenities it's kind of set
up differently than the MMD but it has the same effect the point I'd like to
make is the HOA fees have no effect on the appraisal value and property taxes
on homes and ropes and ranch in fact homes and ropes and ranch are valued at
25 to 30 percent higher than comparable homes outside of Robson the higher value
is because of the amenities the MMD payment will have little effect on the
property values in Hunter Cole development the appraisal by DCAD is
determined by comparable homes sold in the past six months and amenity fee are
you mean it's hardly a factor the overriding factor is does the buyer want
to live in that area and what are they willing to pay thank you
councilmember Nelson we just sort of understand this by asking a different
way would you say then if you were rolling either you know all the
infrastructure cost or some portion of the infrastructure cost you know into
the price of the home rather than having the MMD tax you would charge you'd you'd
sell the property for the same amount even if your costs were higher I'm not
saying that I guess I'm saying that you would never be able to deliver all those
additional we'll call them bells and whistles but things that are way above
the standards that we would be obligated obligated to do under standard subdivision
ordinances in Dent we would never be able to deliver any of that on top of this in
this particular case we would never be able to finance or pay for the
additional infrastructure that happens to burden this so it was a combination
of up and above standards within the community and also the infrastructure
burden those two combined you've got to figure out a way to pay for it if you
don't have a reimbursement mechanism and I don't believe I can sell a million
dollar houses and a whole bunch of them then no you wouldn't then doesn't work
but the market wouldn't support I'm not saying no houses but you're saying the
market wouldn't generally support this level of housing you know just in a pure
free market you know at development at what price well I'm in any standard if
you if you were not covering see now I kind of question the million dollar
figure because you're saying that there's 14 billion dollars ultimately in
value that you know will ultimately be developed and you know you're sort of in
the range of like 3% of that is what you're looking to get reimbursed on so
why would the homes be you know sort of triple to cover 3% do you understand why
well I do it may be impossible to have this exchange without having the benefit
of some some analysis the million dollar house and north of is really a function
of financing as much as anything there you'd never be able to get a loan to go
spend that much on infrastructure nor really what it bank finance a million
dollar housing project to be honest with you but we're absolutely happy to talk
about I know hilltop has looked at that same maybe equation for you as well but
we'd love to dig into it I know there's some detailed questions that you have
but go ahead go ahead well and this is based upon I think some questions that
were offered in the backup that we had that I read and I have some just very
strong objections to some of the assumptions the point being from what I
understand and the assumption of those questions was well the developer number
one may build it could build it without the reimbursement of the MMDs and I guess
I want to ask you do you have any inclination that without any MMD that
you would be able to build anything that would even come close to resembling the
amenity package and everything that you had put in without that opportunity for
some kind of reimbursement zero percent chance okay so then it just becomes a
matter of what is the the the value and the agreements that if we can have a
meeting of the minds between the the city policymakers and the developers on
what kind of subdivision is out there right that creates it so we could have a
very detailed discussion about that question those questions that's I don't
think that's the purview of this particular meeting we're gonna have
those if it gets to the point where we have a resolution and I look forward to
that but I think councilmember Duff's example which I know firsthand is a very
good example that the housing price is out at ropes and ranch comparably on a
square foot basis are much higher than prices in the city of Denton that don't
necessarily have access to those amenities that people pay for those
amenities at ropes in fact one of the biggest complaints I would get as a
councilmember representing that district was how do we get the valuations at the
appraisal district to come down on our houses out in ropes and ranch because
there's so much higher than the valuations out in the other areas of the
city with comparable homes simply because they're still selling comparable
new homes in that area for those prices and because of those amenities and
because of those choices so yeah we see that and we'll show you a slide in a
minute that's consistent throughout master plan communities assuming that
the master plan community is delivering a higher level of quality people are
almost universally willing to pay a little bit more for that a higher higher
level of service yes councilmember Duff yeah I I can tell you you know you look
at what this this community is going to be people are going to pay more money to
live there than they well outside the area it's not going to be the 25 or 30
percent because the amenities there are amenities there there's the parks
there's the I mean it's going to be a very nice place but it's going to be
houses are going to be valued higher in in this development than there are
outside of it so let me address the park comment if you'll go back to that slide
because I just received a briefing from our parks director as a original
request originated from councilmember Briggs about a national association that
advocates for city parks to be within a 10-minute walk we don't we haven't
achieved that we in the city and so that's going to be something I can't
think come before the council but here what you're saying is with this
development it's not a requirement necessarily from the city now but you
know it's good practice to create that kind of environment and space so I think
that's really what I'm hearing it's not that you're saying anything derogatory
about our parks you're saying you're gonna have an opportunity to create a
park system and a trail system that right now the city of Denton for
whatever reason it's not good or bad it's just the way it is doesn't
necessarily have that level but we're striving to get to that level so I
think we both have the same common goal in providing that kind of amenity for
us and maybe the key point is that we're prepared to commit to it in a document
in this case called a developer's agreement to memorialize that back
amendment and those park lands would be available if people were out there from
the public visiting they can use it this isn't this is public park they are
public and this these would be lands that would be I guess donated to the
city as parkland in the development agreement or is that something city pays
for that that's correct it would be donated and we would do the improvements
within those parts which is the other key factor councilmember Briggs did you
have a question oh I was just wondering if you had a map with the gas pads
overlaid next to the parks so I could see I don't I don't and again this is
that's schematics a little schematic intending to show our commitment to this
10-minute walk and also the hierarchy of parks from from large to small but we do
need to balance that and proximity and we do in all our master plans we're very
familiar with planning and developing around and I appreciate your 10-minute
walk goal right it just a fundamentally great practice if you can afford to do it
councilmember armature so thank you yeah so I'm really excited about that we at
the city or that are have this about to unveil this you know 10-minute walking
distance part goal and so I think it definitely is a great practice I just
wanted to just verify again that so when the MMD goes away that all these these
parts which really truly do look love seem lovely to me and I love this idea
it will be the city of Denton and our parks department that will be maintaining
these these beautiful parks after the MMD goes away I would say I would say it
depends there are some cities that choose to keep the MMD in place for the
sole reasons of specific maintenance for example in this case you may keep a
five-cent tax out there solely for the reason of having a maintenance fund to
be able to fund additional improvements related to these really up-and-above
improvements sure sure but I'm saying when the MMD goes away well I'm just
saying you don't have them it'll be the discretion of the city at that point does
the city want to keep it in place or do they not want to keep it in place if
they want to keep it in place it can be limited for example I think the sole
function of landscape maintenance or park and maintenance but that'll be
really up to the city but at that point yes it would be turned up without an
agreement like that it would be turned over the city remembering the ad valorem
and the property taxes that the citizens are paying at that point they're paying
full freight and probably more so at least than the average break-even point
of 250 per home thank you yes the question was is a tax rate that we've
proposed as a competitive you can see from the the blue arrow on the top that
it really puts us you know really right in the middle of the tax rates are being
charged for master plan communities in the DFW area with similar size and
scale so a couple of questions were asked about and we've hit on a few times
are people prepared to pay do they really pay more for master plan so I
wanted to just hit a few slides up Ted Wilson principal residential strategies
he is the he is the expert in this business he is the one that Brown quotes
in the Dallas Morning News he is the one the Wall Street quotes in the Wall Street
Journal we rely on him on our for our objective information he pulled a few
things together he actually did a survey of master plan communities in the Dallas
Fort Worth area and then added a few a few pieces of commentary for us on this
but the purpose of this couple next couple of slides is to see do people
really pay more for master plan communities in districts what's the
perception of a master plan community which then leaves you are they really
prepared to pay more and why and then just one little slide on affordable
housing meaning kind of how how affordable can you really build a house
and given current rates for material again it's important to understand what
a master plan community is people throw that term out like they know that
everybody's talking about the same thing it is different in the context of this
discussion a master plan it really has to have all these things that are on our
list which really has most of the subdivisions in a market like like DFW
really not even qualify for consideration brief snapshot just remember 2006 we had
this peak in the DFW market of about 50,000 home starts and I wanted to mark
the trough somewhere in 2011 where we hit about 13,000 home starts the other
question posed was how do master plan communities hold their value as we go
through downturns like we went through a few years ago we picked one particular
project because it was one that started way back in oh one oh two oh three that
has gone through and finally developed out after the recession identified the
peak and trough the blue line indicates this particular master plan community it
had a financing tool called a PID in the city of Fort Worth the red bar marks the
average Fort Worth home value so you see the spread the chart on the right kind of
and it takes the spread in this particular project there ended up being
anywhere from 80 to where currently there's a hundred and ten thousand dollar
spread between the average city of Fort Worth home in that sub market and
heritage which is very much a master plan community with all those things that
were on the list that I just showed and all the things that we're talking about
doing in coal hunter but you can kind of see that spread if you follow out we
call out the peak we call it the trough clearly everything has a little bit of
up and down but you can still see the separation that maintained throughout
with the master plan community and also the other the other area homes for sale
in Fort Worth a couple things too about why people pay more this is you know
when you're when you were searching for your home and I'll take you to the
punchline these people paid more for their houses but kind of what were you
looking for in your home actually like 71 72 percent of the people will talk
about the amenities in the community we like to think we're important as a
developer maybe the builder thinks they're important but if you go down to
the bottom there talks about how important was the developer to your
decision to buy and you know it's 40% but the large percentage the most
influential thing that caused people to decide where they're gonna buy really is
the level of amenity within the community question was kind of asked to
a large group of consumers if you had $10,000 to spend what would you spend it
on kind of just circled in red just the top top maybe one half but those are
things that you build really if you if you're a developer you build it if you
have the money available and without something like this on this scale you
need a financing tool available in this case the MMD to be able to not just
check the box and deliver trails and parks pools and lakes and a community
center some of these are private some of them are public but this is what people
say influences them to make buying decisions and they're saying it's worth
spending their money on
so what entity do the homeowners send their check to for this special tax it's
collected by the county I guess clay
first off all the values are established by the Denton County Central Appraisal
District the districts have nothing to do that we typically contract with the
Denton County tax assessor collector Michelle French to collect our taxes
and we typically use the same delinquent tax attorney law firm that the county
uses in most of the taxing entities we want to make sure that our bill gets on
the same bill that goes out the master billing for all the taxes that will go
to the to the residents okay so it's not it's not a third party or is it is a
third party that collects it just goes straight special district tax yes ma'am
and go you will write your check check to the Denton County tax assessor
collector and then they will send the district our share the district share of
the taxes okay okay similar to what the city does now because on your your
property tax bill you get an atomization of each taxing entity but they're
authorized to collect well I asked because in Corinth there was an issue
where those checks were going to a third party and they didn't actually get was
this the old old mud many many years ago off 535 yeah that that was a huge mess
that's totally different animal it was a huge mess about 25 30 years ago yeah
that's true this slide I think is I probably could have jumped straight to
this but this is generally in these major projects that are going on in
Dallas Fort Worth almost every one of these I think there are three exceptions
I don't have some form of public financing call it a mud call it an MMD
call it something a PID these are master plans with financing you can see the
Delta I think last time I was here I mentioned maybe 20% is the spread between
what people will pay for master plan projects and those not in master plans
17% happens to be the average as you can see there y'all are probably familiar
with several of those I think you just answered my question yes overall average
is not the name of a community it's not fire the marketing firm so how many of
these are how many of these are in cities and how many of them are not do
you know on this list if not don't worry I can get back to you with that some are
in and some are out how many of these are developed by Hillwood and or
Stratford do you know on this list Harbor up Harvest is the and Liberty
okay our R2 on this list right now and I think y'all have one out in Little Elm
don't you we did Union Park Union Park it's just it's just not on the list I
probably should have done it but I didn't again Little Elm is by four or
five years old these are really more mature to make us get better data yep
all right thank you a little bit about the breadth of what we're looking for
again while we're all talking about great exceptional home values price
points we really do balance that with affordability it's important to
understand where the market is this is data through the end of 2018 shows you
that fifty point three percent of all DFW new home sales were in that 300 to
five hundred thousand dollar bracket it also points out how difficult it is and
really how little activity there is below two hundred thousand it's not
because people don't see the value in producing a two hundred thousand dollar
home it is it is physically almost physically impossible to produce a home
less than two hundred thousand dollars just pure material cost so the target
average for for colon hunter of course is right at that spike or we need to be
right in the middle as our target average but we really have to provide a
spectrum of housing going all the way from that two hundred thousand dollar
house all the way into the 750s that is our range but I would be surprised if
our distribution at the end of the day you know 40 years from now doesn't end up
looking a lot like this because this is really where the market segment is and
we really want to propose housing opportunities across the board from
first-time home buyers to to those who are empty nesters we're down to the last
few slides I think this is a little bit of a reinterpretation of what Brian
presented in terms of the process is the same thing with a little more detail but
I just want to point out a few things the thing at the top is this thing
called a support resolution which we're suggesting council approve at the next
council meeting and that relates to this template legislative bill you can see in
the box right below that those are kind of things that you would expect to see
in the in the template bill those are the agreements or the components that
would be in there because the question is as we talked about all this stuff
between trails and parks and tax rates and constraints and obligations the
point of this is everything we talked about is going to be memorialized in
some document there's an appropriate document for everything that we're
talking about so the bill which we call template bill that your legislature
calls it a template bill will contain those things kind of boxed in black when
you drop down and go through the process you hit the yellow bubble there you see
things like fiscal impact reports things for the city to understand what is the
cost of service and we're all getting certainly more into the details once we
know really at least in a box what are we agreeing to as a developer what's it
going to cost us as well so what we do in our own fiscal impact report at that
point but the three documents at the bottom are really what govern the
agreement you have a developers agreement you have this MMD operating
agreement and then you have this consent ordinance I would ask you in your free
time to look at the components we can talk about any of them now but underneath
each one is a component is kind of what I would call a deal point it has a place
in the right document but those are things that we need to negotiate if you
authorize us or actually authorize representative Stuckey to be able to
submit this bill then we get into the other business points and as the mayor
said if we don't agree on really one or any of these documents then it is really
there's nothing that becomes in effect we really need to agree and we have to
agree to the whole package why is that the structure of the flow what prevents
us from you know doing the whole process of getting to essentially deal points
released outlines of deal points before agreeing to pass legislation why are we
being asked to enable the project without having determined you know you
know whether to all of us you know it'd be compelling well quite frankly I think
it's maybe some of it is just where we are in the in the calendar right now the
legislature is now meeting they are entertaining bills the subcommittee this
would be one of them that needs to be submitted in the next 30 days or so to
be acted upon with this particular legislature because of the support
resolution that we're asking you to entertain in February 12th the very last
paragraph said in no way does this authorize it as this to be misinterpreted
as a consent to create the district so really that process is efficient to kind
of run that process along with the other one so we see it as a logical way to to
proceed given just where we are today in in February during the legislature as we
mentioned we talk about a escrow agreement all expenses related to this
I'm sorry councilmember Duff yeah well you know the state legislature only it's
only there for 140 days and you know it I think after it gets submitted there's
another 30-day wait on it and you know if we don't get it in and get it through
the legislature then it's gonna be two years from now before they can even come
back with this again that's correct I'm down to a last couple of slides I did
want to throw this up here and I'll tell you that I have not contacted one of
these mayors or city council or city managers but I'm confident if you picked
up the phone right now call that number and ask them about Hillwood the project
and what made it successful we would get rave reports these these are all Hillwood
projects across the state of Texas operating under identical or similar to
structures to what we're talking about and these city officials who've been
living this for many years have been living with these projects love what's
happening the residents love what's happening that have moved in there we've
created the value we've delivered exactly and more of what we promised in
the form of a legal document but I would challenge you to contact at your
discretion any of these people and talk to them about their experiences with
this district these type of districts Hillwood the community and did it live
up to expectations so I wanted to put those up there sorry are there any
questions on this the only thing I would say is back on this note is in your free
time we have one project right down the road on 380 it's called little Elm it's
an in-city MMD in the city of Little Elm structured identically to what we're
speaking to I would encourage you talk to the mayor city manager drive down
there and talk to it but I'm gonna flip through a few slides I'm not even gonna
say anything but I will tell you none of this is possible and as proud as we are
with our city parks I love my I live in the city of Fort Worth you love your
city parks and then this level of service is not possible without some
form of enhanced public financing these are this happens to be one at one of the
many parks get a feel for the housing behind it again you see great parks
trails if you get on the ground you would see high quality this is a private
amenity trails open space pools and I don't expect you to know our business
but I will tell you this is far and above average deliberately of these type
of me this is why people pay 20 25 percent more to live in these
communities and are able to pay the all-in cost of ownership so I think I am
done okay I tell you what we've been going for an hour and a half let's let's
go ahead and we're gonna get into the question phase let's take about a 5-10
minute break and then we'll come back just questions thank you welcome everybody
back to this meeting of the Dent City Council we're going through our work
session reports it is Tuesday February the 5th 2019 at 310 we're we can adjourn
we are back on a work session item 3a for questions so if we could have Brian
if you'll come back to the well either one yeah councilmember Armitra I believe
you had a question yeah I had a question and for the developer actually it was
based if you can the so those pools that you showed are those you see you'd
mentioned before that there we go and so the parks you had said will be public
accessible to the public anyone can come with their family have a picnic there or
birthday party right are these pools also they're not these are private okay
so they're so the pools are private but the parks are public that is correct
okay thank you I don't know if you have the ability to break this out at this
point but of the infrastructure cost is there a portion of it that you could
identify as being sort of the regional costs in other words the ability to get
services kind of to the site which would have the benefit as you pointed out
previously to the city of being able to do further development from their
commercial and industrial and so on and outside the boundaries of the six thousand
acres so yeah right obviously some of this is for a kind of the local
infrastructure and some of this is to get it there right do you have any idea
how that would break out yeah we kind of break the infrastructure out into a
couple different buckets one is as you described just wherever it is it may be
two miles to the east if you just brought it and stopped it at the
property line just stop it and say it's at full capacity 18 inch line stop it at
the property line that's what we kind of call regional off sites then there's
regional on sites because we you know we're mid-block so those big water sewer
roadways they not only come to the property they come through the property
to service the property but also property to the West property to the
north property to the south we kind of call those on-site master infrastructure
or regional infrastructure and then we have what we might consider pod
development or in tract development and then we have landscape amenity things
that are largely private but not everything so those are we have amenities
landscape things like in parks in track development meaning the the development
costs within a pod itself on-site regional infrastructure those regional
things that pass through and are on top of the property and then off site so we
haven't been in those buckets generally speaking so given those buckets your
question was
microphone to get more to the point how much of the of the 55 cents would you
say is supporting that regional to the site part of the infrastructure expense
I don't know if we can break that down and I'm not even sure if that is even
possible if that logic quite quite follows because even if you said hey
we're gonna allow 50 million dollars instead of the 485 to be reimbursed it
may be hard to relate that 55 cents to the 50 you can still have the 55 cents
but it's only going to be reimbursing 50 million dollars the same 55 cents
could reimburse over a much longer period of time the 485 million so I don't
know if you can break slice the 55 pro rata per se I take a point just to put
another way what what percentage of the of the total reimbursable pot falls in
that to the site regional infrastructure I'd have to get the numbers but I
believe it's 65 or 70 million just to get the pipe to the edge of the property
per se
Councilman Briggs and the mayor protein and forgive me this may have already
been covered at least in some presentation but Duff mentioned that in
Robeson they have high they have HOA fees up to $3,000 a year would there be
an extra added HOA fee for the homeowners so it would be city MMD and
then HOA fee and then if so what's what's the typical in your other
communities the HOA fee and then also and how does that work if some of your
amenities are private and some are public is that just how does that
divide it up so we have a very strict wall between what's public and what's
private so the MMD tax that is being generated from the from the MMD cannot
be used to pay for in any shape or form what you're seeing on the screen all
these private amenities have to come out of another bucket of funds and that
would be the HOA due so the answer is yes there will be an HOA due on top of
the dues and the fees we're talking about that is 100% true for all the
master plans that I showed you before and I think every master plan that exists
on the planet because you have to have a separate private source of funds
commonly it's an HOA the public funds which would be that little sliver of the
55 cents five or ten cents will not be used for debt service it will be used
for maintenance service to maintain parks and other public things that are
within the district itself so did that answer your question okay well because
you mentioned that parks were public and then when they pay city taxes part of
that goes to our parks which would in turn then be to maintain those parks so
I'm curious about what the maintenance is between the public entity and then the
governmental entity on the for parks for example and I think it's a little bit
different on on every deal that'll be part of the discussions on what does the
MMD maintain because again it's public it's it's city I mean county resident
everybody can go there it's a public facility so there's an agreement that
needs to be made on what does the MMD maintain as it relates to the park and
what does the city maintain if anything so that's part of the MMD operating
agreement and kind of spells out what are the rules that we're going to play
under but these lovely amenities that we're seeing here and then all the parks
and trails all of those are paid with with the HOA so not the parks only the
pools anything I like to think about it anything within a gate anytime you need
a key fob or a private pass to get into it that's an HOA if you if it doesn't
take a key to get into it it's public and anybody in Denton can use it okay
can you can you back up to the slide that's it's got the the list of the
Hillwood properties it's just one or two slides back that's okay right before
yeah that that one there do you know roughly how much the MMD tax rate is in
each one of these districts it goes from a dollar fifty in Houston on the Pomona
track that's manville actually Jan our financial advisor may know better than I
do I believe the pecan square I believe is 68 cents because that's an in-city
MMD in Northlake harvest I believe is a dollar thirty it's an ETJ project okay
if somebody if somebody knows could you just come on to the mic yeah oh no wait
to get behind the mic because yeah we can't hear all right I may be off a
couple of pennies but my recollection is on Union Park the MD's tax rate is 51
and a half cents right now and harvest it's a dollar and pecan square it's 70
and a half cents come on oh he's right dollar fifty and then Wolf Ranch I want
to have a hard time remembering I carry I know it's an in-city district just
like we're talking about here so it's a lower rate it's 65 but I could be okay
thank you yeah yeah councilmember does can you kind of tell us a little bit
about your experience with Alliance and why you started putting in subdivisions
there I think you just kind of housing so well if the question is why we started
doing maybe residential development I mean very specifically it's because when
we had this great idea about building an airport in North Fort Worth to attract
and create a kind of multimodal transportation facilities we were trying
to attract big companies the American Airlines Nokia's Fidelities to this
market they all responded there's no quality housing so we really couldn't
convince them so mr. Perot said I can solve that so he created our group and
all we do is master plan community development so we bought 3,000 acres
about 3,000 acres in North Fort Worth and created a project called Park Glen and
then heritage which really serviced as the high quality master plan community
residential opportunity so now that when we're talking to fidelity you know
whoever here's what you have quality housing available in the area and that's
kind of where we took off you know from there so it's satisfied a need those
companies started relocating and that that's really the origin of our of our
group but there was some resistance to moving to North Fort Worth without a
place to put their employees one at one of the comments that I've heard I
haven't heard it directly from the president of UNT but the fact that they
have not they have had professors they could not get them to come to Denton
because there wasn't quality housing for them and you know we have all of that
land up to the to the northwest where we can put a you know a lot of a lot of
businesses in there but they're not going to come here unless they have
quality housing there's another question about the pools so if you could go back
to the picture again at the pools I just want to make sure I understand because
it's also about kind of the definition of where the boundary is between public
and private on these properties and I'm and I'm thinking my question is really
more about use than about how it gets paid for right now so where is I'm
looking especially like on that aerial view you know where is the gate around
the pool you know because you mentioned if you need a key fob to get it or
something to get in because I'm thinking so I go there with my family and we have
a picnic and a birthday party you know how do I say okay don't go over there
I'll back up a slide to show you that maybe maybe this one might be a little
bit better so I'll stand behind the podium and try to explain this well
actually yeah mouse are dying so this facility and those pools that we were
looking at are nestled into these trees all through here sorry the mouse is a
little jerky but largely that is the gated area everything else on the
screen is public and so where's the gate well you just can't see it but it's
sorry it's it's it's around here it goes all the way around you need a key fob
it's an iron gate it goes all the way around so this is I think a better
demonstration that there are large open areas for public use with amazing parks
but only private residents we honestly would love to tour anybody who's
interested in touching this project is not far away right down 380 so part of
the agreement seems like there's a concern how does the public know where
the private areas are and the public areas are so if we if that's a concern
during the discussion of the operating agreement we can certainly stipulate that
those pot okay gotcha councilmember husband that was gonna be my question I
just kind of want to understand where we're going right I mean if we're the
discussion to be had first is precedes where the fence is so absent absent that
conversation it matters not where the fence is because we don't have a fence
so I'm actively ready I have the conversation sure about the about the
yeah I mean are there next steps I mean because everything we've talked about
probably for the last 40 minutes or so is post right where we are today
understand so I do have one question it's going to be about a 40 minute
conversation on all the things that we're going I'm kidding you I know that
Hillwood owns all the land that they within the Hillwood development but it's
but with this Stratford group I mean that's coal ranch slash Stratford I
think my concern or question or curiosity is is that if I don't know how
else to put this and this may be a proprietary question that can't be
answered because if that's not entitled to Stratford land in other words if it's
a contingency contract based upon the acquisition of entitlements how do we
guarantee that that transaction occurs or in the alternative are there two
different resolutions of support two different MMDs so that as one as Hillwood
moves forward because of the continuity of ownership and the consolidation of
ownership if somehow in the process of the private contractual arrangements
that whatever exists if any with the Stratford group and the owners of that
land if there becomes some contention there then we could theoretically wind
up possibly worst-case scenario first of all no agreements with anybody or
Hillwood we could come to some arrangement on because we have a meeting
of the minds and the collaboration of the benefit of the bargain but there
could be some dispute privately with the other organization that doesn't really
affect us but it affects the discussion on that second MMD so it might be a
technical question but I think it's good to understand the workings of that as we
move forward I think it's theoretical but I think it's maybe theoretically maybe
correct or that it could happen that way there could be something between the
city and Hillwood or the city and the Coles and Stratford that would cost for
some of the reason I can't imagine what it is some reason not to go forward with
that I thought you were gonna ask the question how could we rely on whoever
the developer is whether it's Hillwood or Stratford how could you rely on
getting the benefit of the bargain so I flipped back to this slide well that's
documents will know the documents you know the signs to the benefit I mean so
the signing clause and all that no I get that I'm talking about in the so
technically and it's not even a disagreement with the city and each
respective developer it's if some have something happens where Stratford
changes their mind because of just something going on there Stratford and
Cole after the resolution is passed then it just all just sort of crime I suppose
it's certainly a property owner right to say you know what I was I don't yep like
what I'm hearing and I'm not gonna agree to whatever if there's 2,000 foot
setbacks on wells and they won't agree to it hypothetically and Hillwood would
which we wouldn't but just say we would on something like that then it is
possible there's a deal point that causes one property owner to not go
through okay but I think the city would have to know that both properties are
certainly large properties and because of access or independent if they had to
be considered that way we're not at all thinking that way but I guess technically
yeah we're really looking at yeah you could have one that mirror image between the two
property okay okay councilmember Duff did you have a comment you're right okay
any more questions on the I guess the work session is to give direction on
whether we move forward to put the resolutions on the agenda in support of
legislation so chair will take comments councilmember Duff I guess it won't
surprise you that I want to move forward on this councilmember Husspeth I think
you acknowledged yes yes so yes I want to move forward but only to have the
detailed conversations and nailed down you know my saying is I want to
understand what I'm saying no to and so under that vein I just want to have the
opportunity to explore those details and see the value adds and and see how it
affects our citizens and then I am absolutely sensitive to the fact and it's
just a fact that this project has been ongoing for a period of time so it's not
like they anyone was late in their due diligence it's quite the opposite we
the city manager and staff have been working to make sure there have some
level of comfort to bring it to us and then no one here has control over when
representative Stuckey is in Austin that's set in stone and that's not going
to change and so working with what we have to work with here's the window but
it's not because there's some things that come to us late and it's because we
didn't get started early this is not that and so I'm comfortable
understanding that everyone's been working hard and we're just the timing
of it says this is this is the window we have and at the same time I think just
to go a step further I'm happy with the latter date I think was December 2020 to
give us plenty of time to nail down all these details and it circumvents the May
election cycle and you know using that as a weapon all that solidified and we're
having real conversations and again eyes forward for citizens and to get the
either the best deal or no deal without those those pressures and so your
question your addition is a good one that I was going to clarify so the
direction also is I think there was a couple of dates for the sunset which was
May of 2020 or December of 2020 you elected for December 2020 I believe and
you I did December 2020 okay all right I actually prefer 2021 but okay but 2020
works 2020 works all right yes okay we just going around the horn
one possibility that we haven't really explored is just focusing on the aspect
of this that would create infrastructure to the site you know we talked about a
little bit my question because you know clearly to answer the question that I
have which is is this making 10 better just bigger you know that opens up lots
of opportunities obviously enables this development but you know creates the
possibility of some commercial and industrial that you know that could help
subsidize the city so I'd certainly be open to moving forward on enabling
legislation focused on that piece of it as far as the rest you know I'm just I'm
really struggling out you know what the I think the intent of my questions has
probably been misunderstood what I'm what I'm mostly looking for is whether
there's something that that will be so distinctive that it will add to the
value of Denton as a whole and you know there are pluses and minuses and
everything and in this deal some of the minuses are you're gonna grow the city
very decisively with a group of people who are gonna be double taxed and may be
disinclined to support other things we need and we know that we know there's
action coming in the legislature to make more you know taxing requirements have to
go before the public you know we need things like fire you know police
expansion and so on so you know we kind of need people who are willing to have
skin in the game so so so I guess I'll stop there you know absent I'm not I'm
not I'm not compelled that this makes Denton better not just bigger but I do
think that that piece of infrastructure does so that that's where I'm at okay
just do that piece of infrastructure and if that's finance to an MMD because we
probably wouldn't shell that out you know on our own you know and that helps
this go forward and also has other benefits and that's structured through an
MMD you know I could see doing that so you know I'd support that okay well I'm
not quite sure understand what your direction is so if I'm wrong correct me
what I thought I heard you say was you're okay with supporting legislation
if and only if it has within the legislation a limiting factor of the
discussion on the MMD is limited to the regional infrastructure and does not
include any of the other things that we've talked about that if it doesn't
include that then you're not for support of moving the resolution forward yeah
okay so my understanding is from the two of you that that restriction is not
within your direction okay I think we already know where you stand okay yeah
anyway so I'm definitely no okay as a matter of principle and I actually there
are a number of other smaller objections that I haven't stated but the really
biggest one is matter of principle okay so thank you I skipped myself I'm in
favor of moving forward with the discussion I mean I think even the
question and councilmember Melcer has good questions and I think those can all
be addressed at the next stage and if this council or whatever council is
present decides that so if they want to limit this MMD to then that's exactly
what can happen councilmember for my protein I feel the same way and I can
tell you from regional transportation council when you look at the map and
they've got just service roads on loop 288 because there's no plan for any
growth out there right now this is the type of thing that can spur us regional
funds as well is not just not just the effect of what they do but what having
that growth will do for the city in many ways councilmember Briggs what already
looks like that there's four for it but I'll go ahead and state that that I'm
actually not in favor of continuing the discussion as I was during the original
meeting because there were some things that I thought would be really
interesting that we could work on and after today I I kind of gather that
those are are not really there's not really much wiggle room there and
hearing that there's you know 51 active gas wells in this area with not much
wiggle room on setbacks and there will be continued fracking within 250 feet of
someone that's paying a double tax and an HOA I just can't consciously agree to
something like that thank you okay all right councilmember Duff right now I've
got 2001 about 500 people there exactly that and they're paying the HOA and you
know they're paying the freight before we get into a this is all just a matter
of personal politics and policy so I appreciate that I don't want this isn't
going to turn into a gas well setback discussion we've had that before we're
probably gonna have it again the they have already entitled to they've stated
what their ordinance says I appreciate your honesty in that regard and your
upfrontness and your transparency I'm gonna let you respond councilmember
Briggs but go ahead no I still have others oh I'm sorry go ahead yes okay
and so on that part of the other conversation was that it increases home
value and people are willing to pay that home value which is great I appreciate
that but as we've seen in Rosen that created the the tax freeze so there are
people who are unhappy with the amount of taxes that they already pay other
other options are other things the one about the trails lakes and parks I think
that's great and fantastic but one of the things I wanted to do was make sure
we saved historical pilot knob and you mentioned that a lot of this area is
already ESA and you're not going to be infringing upon that and so that's
another kind of thing I was willing to to look into so I appreciate you
leaving those valuable assets well yeah well again I think it's all part of the
forward discussion and one thing that wasn't mentioned that I think is worth
mentioning and this is part of my my reason to move forward in the discussion
is I 35 W is being expanded and Luke toy 88 is being expected to come around I
mean that's actually they're in the design phases they're in the preliminary
stages of doing that and I think it's important that if they're going to be
doing that for the city of Denton to be well poised to be able to take the most
advantage of that infrastructure coming down to pick the sites where if you're
gonna have on ramps exit ramps intersections bridges and things such as
that you know with a project that is good for the city I forgot what your
tagline is it's better for the city not bigger and it and it provides some
efficiency it can also that in and of itself can add value to a project and I
think that given who the developer is on these projects really can have a an
impact based upon their reputation and their willingness to work with the
governmental entity so I think that's worth exploring whether or not we get to
the end of the road only time will tell but I think it'll certainly be an
educational conversation and you know maybe there's some things that pop up
that other people that people who've expressed objections based upon the
negotiations from those who haven't may may enhance those opportunities where
there was some objections so I think you have direction city manager on that
Brian yes so I think we have direction about the resolution and the escrow
agreement to bring this forward I think the other question is is the sunset date
of the MMD right I think it's the I think it's the end of 2020 2020 is the
direction okay yeah great I have a process question yes when will the
infrastructure cost actually be verified and confirmed and agreed on by the city
well we we have not actually had a chance to sit down and go through once
the once the resolution is filed the operating agreement project agreement
will start being negotiated and I guess to put councilmember Meltzer a little
bit at ease the way that I intend on breaking this down is to come to some
agreement on the regional infrastructure I don't think we're there right now so
we've got the regional infrastructure you've got the internal infrastructure
and then there's the business plan in terms of how the what percentage of the
tax rate would actually fund parks that sort of thing value-added so you'll
break it down that way so the council clearly understands the argument there
you've already got one goalpost set with 55 cents and gives you some some
discretion in terms of what you're willing to support at that time my guess
is that's probably a three to six month process you know we until we actually
sit down say okay how would we how would this site ideally be developed where
would the looping go for the water mains what can we define as regional what is
what is not those that's gonna take a while for us to agree on that same thing
with the roadway projects you know there's going to be a the baseline is
going to be if this was any other development what would it cost for that
current condition and then you negotiate amenities on top of that so this is this
is something that's going to take us three to six months of negotiations my
guess in conjunction with that I know Councilmember Armitage brought up
several times concern about the development paying its own way that'll
be a given I mean one of the things I've talked to the city attorney about
already is some type of a performance based agreement that if if proformas
aren't reached or whatever that might not trigger the next MMD expansion so
there's lots of ideas that we've got moving forward to try to address some of
the concerns and ensure that this sub this development is not subsidized by
existing taxpayers I think for the for the foreseeable future we would
negotiate in some belt and suspenders language if it ever went forward such as
operating costs being integrated in that MMD until the subdivision can be
proven it's supporting itself and lots of those types of business cases so a
lot of good feedback a lot of the same concerns we have we are you know we've
just got we've got to get the agreement in place first they are development the
developers have been unwilling to really spend a lot of money assessing the site
until they knew whether there was support to at least move forward so it's
kind of hamstrung us a little bit in terms of answering your questions it's
not the way we like to bring these things forward but at least we know that
that there's four of you that want to move this forward we'll start you know
getting through these issues in a granular manner well and I think I think
this process because that you know councilmember Meltzer you asked why are
we doing it this way why couldn't we do it in reverse and for me what you just
said and I would think for you also mr. city manager that why in the world would
we want to spend three to six or nine rounds of a tremendous amount of staff
time and developer time trying to figure this out if there's not some indication
and of course you can say well that's putting the horse before the card or so
forth so on but you still have places in this process where you can jump out so
it just seems like a better efficient use of time and resources given given
what absolutely the process is okay staff has direction appreciate that all
right thank you very much you bet okay we'll move on to our next work session
report which is work session 3b receive report hold discussion and get give
staff direction regarding a request for a resolution of support from a developer
applying for a 9% housing tax credit with the Texas Department of Housing and
community affairs who's doing that presentation sir keep okay here's Danny
and Sarah okay all right she's right there yes
you
you ready that's okay just wanna make sure hi Danny Shaw community development
we're here to provide a presentation for a request for 9% housing tax credit
resolution of support from a developer that was received by the city and just
to give a little bit of background the housing tax credit program in the state
of Texas that is administered by the Texas Department of Housing and
community affairs there are actually two different tax credit programs the 4% and
the 9% the 9% is what we're referring to today it is competitive so there is a
financing schedule and a application schedule that we're trying to meet in
order for this request to be applied and just as a reminder this program was
approved for the application and policy by City Council in May of 2018 we were
able to test the policy and application in the previous year and it did want to
make reference to that specifically for this one because it was a project that
was brought forward it's the same exact project that was brought forward in 2018
with just a couple of slight changes so it was one that you had previously
approved the deadline for this resolution support of City Council
chooses to make it we have to provide that back to the developer by March 1st
all right we did provide some just additional information about where
multifamily developments are and where tax credit properties are it's in your
backup it's easier to see in that but just wanted to kind of share that
information and in this particular project I did mention that it was
previously submitted there are a couple of changes to it and one of those is a
developer structure we have a co-developer structure now with Reva
Switzerland which isn't an existing developer in Switzerland who is now
wanting to develop in the United States so this particular project along with a
couple of others will be their first projects in the US and they're
partnering with Casa Linda Development Corporation and then the pladium which
was the previous applicant is providing consulting services on this project we
did provide a list of some of their experience and development of housing
tax credit properties and just for your review I just wanted to mention to the
pladium has a current project that received 2017 housing tax credits and
will be seems to be on schedule to be developed around September of this year
so there was one slight change in this slide from your what's in your backup
just some additional information that we collected on the zoning requirements so
this is a hundred and twenty acre unit proposed on six point eight four acres
and at Teasley and Hickory Creek Road it will be multifamily is permitted under
the CMG currently and so there any questions about that Ron McGee is here
this particular project there was some flight changes in the site plan too but
it's a three story community with one two and three bedroom units they range
from 804 square feet to 1154 square feet any changes though and any of the
additional review process will obviously have to go through planning and zoning
in the P&Z process so we're just here to talk about the housing tax credit
resolution support today all right this is a unit breakdown that was provided by
the developer in the application they are proposing thirty point eight percent
in market rate another thirty three point three percent is sixty percent AMI
fifty at a fifty percent AMI there's twenty eight point three percent and
seven point five percent of thirty percent or AMI or lower any I've got a
question yes sir and refresh my memory at sixty percent and below see sixty
percent is low income is that right and fifty percent is very low very low or
extremely low so you got a streaming low very low low and then moderate all right
so the thirty fifty and sixty are extremely low very low and low yes and
seventy percent of that project is guaranteed to have those kinds of
proposed that the unit mix right now is proposed that this line is guaranteed
all right thank you mm-hmm yes councilmember Briggs and so when we're
talking about percentages so and would it be 80% is that what is considered
workforce housing like in that percentage or lower okay so so these are
but yes yeah as the mayor was well yeah I mean prior last discussion 80% and
above is considered moderate income 60 to 80% is considered or it might be
diverse but from 60% and below is true low income on down so market rate is 80%
or above or something like that technically moderate goes from 80 to 120
percent okay my thank you so on the estimated rents so the high rents most
likely represent the market rents it's that estimated rent a range 389 - so the
low rents represent that range represents going from the 30 to the right
depending on the family size and depending on the unit size you would see
some variations okay yes the majority of the lower end would likely be and is
that the total rent that's not the the tenants adding additional rent to that
that would be there looked at their income do the calculation based upon HUD
calculations and this is what the rent correct right okay councilmember Armitter
can you explain what that means by length of affordability on the project
and then in addition to that can you explain and how this the 35-year window
is is determined is thought who decides on that on the 35-year yes so the
developer hasn't it's a 15-year affordability and then it extends to
another 15 years for 30 years total the developer can actually propose a project
at 35 years and receive additional points in the application process that
helps helps them score especially in the competitive application process okay
thank you yes there was just some information we wanted to provide and we
do collect it in the application process so that you all can get a kind of an
overview of what they might be offering both in resident services and property
amenities so and these based on the way the QAP the qualified action plan works
they score points on these amenities and these services that they provide and
how they provide them so they provide resident services like social activities
they're they're proposing to plan a health fair food pantry youth
organization programs etc and then the amenities it's also in your backup you
can kind of see what the project is proposed to look like what they're
offering on site yeah I'm sorry to go off with a question to percolate my mind
from the previous slide yeah what is the sort of status of this rental grid is it
just sort of a concept or is it a you know binding aspect of the plan so I
can go through the guidelines but it might be better for the developer to
offer some realistic perspective on how the unit mix might change over the
development process so if Scott would you be willing to come up yeah hello
mayor and counsel so I repeat your question one more time well I just want
to understand how we are to understand this rental grid is it is it a concept
of how you're thinking about it now or is it a sort of structural part of your
you know the performance that you're committed to yes it's a it's a
definitely a calculation within our pro forma okay so the tax credit industry
previously doesn't really didn't really promote market rate units within a
development Riva Switzerland has a philosophy that market rate units
definitely absolutely positively need to be in the development so that if the
income level of a resident increases while they are a resident they don't
necessarily have to be pushed out because they make too much the
developments are typically you know a properties and typically the wait list
is six to eight months on a typical property so once people get in they
really don't leave and the market rate component just ensures that they don't
have to even if they make too much money but the split of number of affordable
units I understand the market rate part and and for its worth I like personally
have to like the idea of mixing market rate with affordable but but the the
percentage that are going to 30% 50% 60% and market rate are those
it's the idea that those hold for when people initially come in how they might
vary is based on people's incomes improving but but that there's some way
that you're always sort of tacking to these splits oh the splits are in the
splits are set within the light tech rules and guidelines okay that was my
question thank you sorry about that sorry didn't ask it more clearly they may vary
some as the development goes through or they may make adjustments but once it's
locked in and the agreement Councilmember breaks had a question my question is
about the amenities so it says there's some community center Wi-Fi will there
be will there actually be a computer room where kids can go into that
community center and do their homework yes okay thank you
let the record reflect the answer yes go ahead I didn't want to answer for the
developers any more questions yes I'm sorry and just for consistency I'm
assuming these amenities are private to the to the project yes that's my
understanding okay that was mine too
any other just go ahead all right thank you and so really that's the end of the
presentation is to to you all to give us direction on whether or not you'd like
to approve the resolution of support you also have the option of proof
approving a resolution of no objection or not to approve either one so I want
to approve a resolution of support in favor of this and I also want to add to
that that and and I'll be happy to forward to you I'm gonna be asking for
opinion from our city attorney about it you know there's some legislation that's
been going on kind of challenging at the state level challenging this whole
process under the Fair Housing Act of why it is that these kinds of decisions
have to come before City Council so I think it would be neat to see you know a
staff report from the attorney's office kind of updating on how that that let
how that you know those actions are coming along in legal opinion on those
I happen to agree you know that as much as I love being able to ask ask
questions about this I don't think it should be up to City Councils to to make
these kind of decisions about low-income housing credits I am in favor of a
resolution to support and this is a truly affordable project and I
appreciate the the breakdown in the rents especially a three-bedroom for you
know 500 close to $600 a month for a family is is a really great and can
provide opportunity for for our residents and also doing that by staying
on on the city taxes is fantastic so I appreciate that and I appreciate all the
work that you've done I have a question for the city manager is is it
inappropriate or a different point that we would take up sort of the usual
questions of compatibility and how it fits in next to the areas around it all
those kinds of issues yeah if it if this were to get funded they would have to
go through the planning process and the site plan would be brought back before
you so you would definitely get to view it from that perspective as well and I
just want to answer Councilmember Armitage points on I don't think I don't
think that the council process here was not set up to make a decision on whether
or not a project would necessarily was good or not when the agencies that do
submit these do look for a resolution of support or objection from the
communities that as long as that's in their rules that's something that the
council can weigh in on this point was not to necessarily draw it conclusions
on a project it was set up purely for transparency purposes because we had
projects coming before the City Council where developers would not answer the
questions what the intentions were how it would operate amenities being
provided so about a year and a half ago we set up a process in place just simply
to communicate more with the council the public what the intent was it's not
necessarily to make a you know a judgment on a particular project but it
was intended to be more transparent so just thank you for helping me understand
the process it's in Phil meets a meets a class of housing that we need I'm in
support knowing that we get to look at you know all those kind of zoning type
questions later absolutely yeah I'm in support option one I did have one
question though and this might be more of a wrong question if there's anything
been submitted yet on their plans site plan drawings or anything the answers
now okay all right not going to until they get approval okay it's a lot of
money spent on that a lot of time
option one yeah option one for me and I want to echo the city managers comments
these are state these are state options given to City Councils and I think for
transparency and I understand some of the concerns that councilmember armatures
discussing or talking about and none of them at least that I'm aware of her
directly regarding this is regarding some codes that the city can pass that
may that there's some lawsuits and things fringing on that so the state
can the state can decide that one yes yeah so yes just to add yeah that that
that this is a my comment was about the the state sure policy that makes this
possible yeah we'll let that just to clarify that's federal and then state
will stay in federal yes so it's federal if the federal legislators made a
decision then it would affect the state's decision on how they develop the
rules and guidelines about that decision and I would just add the different the
box that the council's in I mean if they change the rule that's fine but the box
the council's in is if you don't support the resolution support they conclude
that there's an objection so it's sort of an interesting you know conundrum
you're in until they change that rule okay all right any other questions you
have direction yes option one approval and resolution of support thank you
appreciate it one last work session agenda item which is 3c receive report
hold discussion give staff direction regarding the feasibility and cost
reducer and or eliminate poles along Dallas Drive and Teeley Lane good
afternoon mayor and council George Morrow DME general manager I'm not the
guest of honor today but I'm going to introduce the guest of honor so Jerry
Fielder who's DME's manager of distribution engineering he's put
together some information for you regarding hey how can we clean up the
poles that are on vicinity of Dallas Drive and Teeley Lane so just a little
bit of background on Jerry just real quick he's been with DME about six years
came to us from co-serve where he had a similar position so he's got got a lot
of background and knows the neighborhood so without further ado Jerry and if we
could I think he's got about a 20 minute 30 minute presentation 15 10 minute
presentation I'm just teasing you Jerry so if we could if we could hold the
questions until the end that'd be great yeah just to let him get through it
because I know sometimes it really can fragment the presentation yeah you cut
it down in about halftime now well good afternoon first of all let's go back
through some background DME had been told that there had been some money
funded to put a park at the intersection of Dallas Drive and Teeley and that
there was some interest from the city standpoint to consider what to do about
cleaning the area possibly putting some stuff in underground so we've done some
study on that and we've also extended that area basically from Smith Street
down to I-35 and then up along Teeley Drive for a little bit of space on that
part of it can I let you know what we've done so far DME has met with
representatives of frontier in charter we did this on January 4th 2019 the two
options that we discussed with them was transferring of all their existing plants
other existing plant on top top poles to the DME poles that are existing along
these roads and then we also talked to him a little bit about a conversion of
their overhead plant to underground so at the request of DME charter has already
transferred their assets off of the what we call stub poles over to DME poles and
this has allowed us to remove at least five poles thus far along the road and
so as soon as that was done DME went ahead and initiated the removal of those
five poles so we've gotten five out of the way so far but we are still
continuing to work with them to get more of the poles moved over so this is kind
of an ideal the study area that we took into consideration we got Dallas Drive
from Smith Street southeast to the I-35E entrance ramp and then Teeley Lane we
took it from just south of Woodhill Camino del Sol apartments entrance
northeast to about 200 feet of Duncan Road that's the study area and to do
that I've split that up into seven different segments to talk about the
cost and the work that's done about it and we'll go over each segment the first
segment which is the one that's a directly adjacent to the park it can be
independent it is an independent study so in other words we can do this one and
we can clean up just the area around the park the rest of the segments would just
add to the overhead underground considerations that we have up there so
kind of an ideal if you think you guys already know most of this is that the
current conditions that we have out there is you DME has some double circuit
overhead lines on the south and the north side of Dallas Drive and we also
have single circuit lines on the east and west side of Teeley on that part of
it there are a number of stub poles out there that frontier and charter had had
connected to and you can kind of see that in some of these pictures right here
these are the what I'm calling a stub pole and these are directly adjacent in
some locations to DME's existing poles and so the area kind of looks a little
cluttered when you start looking at all the poles that you have out there okay
so this is kind of the options that we talked to with charter and it's actually
frontier instead of horizon we got the names finally worked out from my
standpoint we talked to them about removing how we could possibly remove all
the stub poles along this area and so because of that again charter has moved
all their equipment over onto the DME poles we've been able to get rid of five
poles Verizon frontier is still looking into that and as you'll see we really
don't have a plan or a cost that's been provided by them yet for that so five
poles magically gone so option one these are some graphics that we did to kind of
show you some ideas for option one which is the removal of all the stub poles if
you kind of look at this thing what I'm going to do is I'm going to click on
this graphic and it's going to show what the road looks like without the stub
poles on it so there is a great amount of clear up that could possibly be done
if we could just get rid of the stub poles and get these guys to move over to
our poles so I hate to do this but I'm gonna do you like I do my optometrist
okay when they say is this clear or is this clear so if you could go back to
the way it was before okay this is before before okay okay one more time I'm
just trying to get an idea because you focus on one I'm trying to look straight
down the road okay one more time okay all right okay yeah I take some out in
the foreground and that one over on the left okay all right all right yeah right
yeah yeah that's just this image of course there would be more poles that
would actually be taken out we just when we did these simulations we just we just
appreciate that areas we didn't get the entire roadway so for option one the
information that we've gotten back from Frontier that they have told us that
it's only feasible for them to eliminate only two stub poles due to cable slack
and splicing boxes that they have existing in that area and they said in
their email to us at the cost underground the remainder would be quote
significantly expensive unquote and as we've mentioned charter spectrum has
already worked with us and moved on all their equipment over to DLE poles so
that's the option one that we talked to them about you'll see this a couple time
for option one the projected costs associated with this for DME it's going
to be minimal DME will has basically taken on the actions of that as soon as
poles are cleared up we'll pull them from the ground and get them out of the way
but charter and Verizon as I said we really haven't gotten any information
back from them yet on how much it would actually cost to do that again Verizon
Frontier has said that it would be significantly expensive for them to go
underground and they can't really go on to our polls that make it sense and that
would be at our cost whatever their cost is to do it with it we don't know they
haven't said yeah we've never talked to them about cost or who's gonna pay for
what so we really don't know okay what's gonna happen at that point well all
right okay so option two is the undergrounding option and this option is
DME initiates a partial or full conversion of its overhead assets to
underground and Verizon and charter will have to fall suit with their assets just
to kind of give you an idea of this area and it's important to DME this is a major
junction for our reliability switching that we have out here I do have
substation substation transformers and a number of feeders that are connected in
this area and all the switches you see are switches that are key for us to be
able to swap load whenever reliability comes into play or we need to open or
close and move people around so it's a fairly major area for us when it comes
to reliability and that means that we're gonna have to do a lot of work to
maintain that reliability and that's switching and etc that we'll have to put
in the with underground facilities to maintain that same flexibility of
switching so option two this is just the park the segment one is just the park
area that could cost at a cost of about 1.2 million dollars to do that area what
you'll see on the right hand side and I'm not going to go over each one of
these bullet points is all the work that will be associated with doing that to
kind of give you an idea of the extent of the work that's needed to move this
area to underground so got more graphics here so but we have done some graphics
to kind of show before and after the park area this will be dramatic should
be so segment one this is this is the first view this is before take it out
this is the after again the before and the after okay different side view this
is kind of looking towards i-35 on Teasley you've got the before and you've
got the after okay hold on hold on hold on okay let's if I'd seem like
there's a lot that changed underneath the canopy that other than the pole so
so is that included in the 1.2 million all that is that would be the park okay
that's the park okay I want to make sure okay I thought holy cow man yeah wow
all right no the parks department okay very much with kind of giving us so what
I would love to see is that park image on there with the current overhead so
that's I mean we don't have to do that now but I'm just I'd be just curious
yeah he was pretty good when you do that okay all right so let's do that one more
time so I can get over the shock okay and there's the after all right so now
does what we're looking at here let's say the overhead is still there does
that change the way that these trees are planted and all this landscape in other
words do is there some encroachment that it will not look like this if those
poles stay I don't know if I can answer okay but I mean our poles would just
kind of be on the outside we really wouldn't go on the inside yeah they
would certainly design around the poles but this generally is the concept that
we're thinking of even without the pole right okay councilmember yeah but
looking at this modified view the signal lights are changing now right there I
saw the foundation yes sir yeah so where will they be because that's that's where
they are currently they're gonna move I'm afraid I can't answer is where the
signal lights are gonna go I don't know what they're gonna put them do you know
Brent well yeah we need somebody can you get that back to it I mean because
you're saying that even if everything stays the same because of the park and
all that these signal lights are gonna be moving somewhere yeah yeah so I just I
just say that it does not account for the new configuration that's going on
now okay not that matters I mean the parks great and everything so it I just
wanted to know yeah even with all this configuration of the overhead there you
try to overlay what we saw on the trees and the the part I mean it's get the
cones out of there screen the gas station so you auto park that's you kind of want
to see this but yeah how it looks yeah yeah that's a million bucks yeah I mean
for a intersection so the truck will have to be left okay anything else on
now no I think we're good okay and then this is the last one that we want to
show this is actually up Dallas Drive for a little bit because we can't exact
we have to have enough space for down guys and for our what we call polarizer
so that we can go from underground to an overhead conversion the extent of this
would actually go up the road a little bit up Dallas Drive a little bit to
about where the tire shop is right now and so that would go from looking like
this to looking like that okay one more time okay it's all the construction
cones there I mean get those yeah oh yeah that makes huge difference just right
there yeah yeah yeah okay all right okay okay yep so that's about that's the
last of the fancy graphics I have for you option to segment two which is the
north side what I'm going to call the north side of Dallas Drive basically
from the park all the way up to Smith Street again on the right-hand side is a
list of all the actions that we'd have to take to get that put in underground
that would come at a cost of about 1.9 million dollars to do the south side of
that same road at that same position it would be about another 1.1 1 million
dollars to do that if we move up Teasley so in other words you go from the park
up Teasley to about where Duncan Street is to do that works about two hundred
and twenty two thousand dollars for that cost segment five would be basically from
the park area down to Hopkins this is going towards I-35 to get that converted
to underground is estimated to cost around five hundred and seventy thousand
dollars to extend that all the way down to the I-35 access road an additional one
point eight nine million dollars and then to take it from basically the south
side of the intersection down to where those apartments entrance are to put all
of that in underground an additional one point zero four million dollars so
here's the shock slide to add all these things together to do that entire area
and put an entire area together you're looking at around one point seven point
eight million dollars and we still don't know what charters cost if they would
charges or any cost from frontier would be that would have to be included in
this on that on the pricing associated with this project so this is kind of
putting them both together option one just getting rid of all the stub poles
the cost of DME is minimal and that would get rid of about seven poles that
we have in that area but option two which would be the total undergrounding
would get rid of around 93 DME poles and 31 of the stub poles at the cost of
about seven point eight million dollars only for DME not including the cost for
charter or frontiers work to happen if they charge us for that so some of the
key points just to let you know kind of reiterate DME has initiated
conversations with both the Verizon and charter to eliminate the top-down poles
along Dallas Drive and five of them have been removed so far the projected cost
for DME to convert our overhead plants to underground just at the corner of
Teasley and Dallas Drive is estimated to be about 1.2 million and the
projected cost for DME to convert our entire overhead plant in the study area
all seven segments is about seven point eight million dollars so the next steps
if option one the step pole removal is chosen by the council DME will continue
to work with the telecommunication providers to scope the project in further
detail and implement the plan is practical in other words we will
continue to develop our relationships with the telecom companies to see if we
can't facilitate more the pole removals in this area for under option two which
is the underground phase one we would do detailed engineering and cost
estimations just for the segment one work at the that's the intersection of
Dallas and Teasley Drive and further work with the telecommunication providers
to find out what it would take to get them to also go underground in that area
and at that point if everything worked out and we were told to go with option
two and everything looked good and the council so chose and we would look at
the additional phases segments two through seven to be considered for
implementation to put those in underground so that's where we kind of
at right now is the discussion point what we kind of are asking from you guys
is consolidation of the telecommunications and DME overhead
facilities adequate to accomplish the desired aesthetic objectives that the
council has for the road or two does the council prefer to proceed with a
detailed design of option two segment one the undergrounding at the
intersection of the part that should be councilmember Briggs has a question well
no I appreciate this because I originally asked for this item and it
came back to us in a Friday report and the Friday report had some different
information than what you're presenting so and originally I just want to
get the reason I asked this is because we were focusing on entrances to the
city we are upgrading several areas where people come into the city the
first thing they see we approved a park here on the corner there at Teasley in
Dallas Drive when people are coming into our city off 35 they exit Dallas Drive
to go down most likely to downtown and driving that exit I noticed I think
there was just so many poles there are three poles on you know right here and
then over here it just looked crazy and chaotic like we had no control over
anything that was going on and so I appreciate that five poles have been
removed but I think that there are over a hundred poles in this little area and
section my request wasn't to spend seven million dollars and bury all of this
stuff it was to get rid of all the little extra poles that only one thing
was connected to so that and I don't know what option that is that would
likely be the option one we would continue to work with the Verizon and
Charter and try to work with them to find out what it would take for them to
clean up some of those stub poles to move over or put their stuff in
underground we certainly have no problem with doing that I mean there are
numerous stub poles what I call stub poles along that that entire route that
cleaned up I mean once those are out to clean up that roadway in my opinion and
so option one would get rid of the 42 stub holes we would work to get rid of
the 42 in that one area I that is a lot of extra poles yeah just okay so yeah
that that's the main goal just to clean that up and make it look you know like
we know what we're doing a little bit when people come into our city and I'd
like I'd like to temper that a little bit I mean we definitely will start
talking to them even more about doing that but it it's gonna be a solution
there's gonna be a lot of discussions between us and them before we start
coming to agreement on getting rid of those poles and how they can best be
gotten rid of and the cost estimate here that was in our Friday report November
21st was 1.2 million for electric to do this and 350,000 for frontier yeah
frontier had given us a preliminary cost several months ago okay and when we were
you're talking to them about renewing this thing right here they said well
we're not sure that we can really do that we need to read look at that so
that's why I put to be determined in there because they weren't sure that
that's a value that they could support the 1.2 million is the same value for
just the corner of the intersection that we'd give this of those match oh that
was to go underground yes ma'am yes ma'am all right thank you
so I'm for for option number one this sticker shock of option number two it
sure was interesting though to see that but I'm definitely for option number one
and I had a question and this might be something that you can't answer now and
I don't need the answer to it now but I would like to know at some future point
maybe in a staff report on kind of why you know what what your your sense is of
why there's such a disparity between you know charter and Verizon you know their
their response to this request is it that and obviously how they respond was
not the city can't control that you can just dream and just try to to you know
deal with them but but I'm just curious about the Verizon's claims about I
forget exactly what the terms were but there's this and that you know cable
infrastructure blocking everything charter apparently doesn't have that that
problem you know is this has this been confirmed that this and I forget the
name the names for them but but but that this infrastructure is really blocking
this possibility or you know is that I don't know if there's something you can't
speak to emails that they sent me so I mean that's that's really the only thing
that I have is just what they tell me from that standpoint yeah because that's
just interesting I just be curious to know you know why is it because we're
talking about the same general area right and there's charter and Verizon in
that same area I'd be interested to know why the charter and there might be very
good reason you know why is chartered discharging or have these obstacles if
Verizon does yes we can definitely impressive graphics remove the cones at
landscaping option one I hope this frees mr. Fielder up to continue focusing on
the battle against squirrel to wasn't it recently squirrel day or something like
that so no I just I want to understand I guess can you help me understand what
we're asking because it it seems like it again to draw a parallel it seems just
like another conversation we just had where we're we're authorizing a
conversation that's gonna go down the road with untold costs and untold staff
time but we're saying that's okay I mean because they're gonna have to have
conversations with the rising and these other carriers right yes and then
ultimately that's gonna come back to a conclusion that ultimately we may say we
don't want to do that and so that time in invested is for not at that point if
we don't so I'd like to see the conversation go a different way what what
are we willing to spend time money and give staff that authorization to I'd
like to take it the other way I mean and I thought that was that's what we just
did in another conversation that that was that was what gave some people
heartburn but maybe that's changed but to me to for consistency purposes I want
to I don't want to authorize authorize that conversation unless this council's
on board with spending some amount of money hours etc to to allocate towards
that and at the at the detriment of some other project I assume I mean I'm
assuming they're not just you know at their desk looking for stuff to do so
it's gonna take away from something you know and I'm all for that but I just
want to give clear direction if that's the case well I think first of all you
know we were asked a very specific question that is how do we clean this
area or some options so we get real clear direction that undergrounding it
is not necessary which puts the staff at ease in terms of in terms of options I
think what I'm hearing from the council is if you can you know diplomatically
work with both of these carriers to you know co-locate on our polls we're okay
with that because it manages the cost if they're not willing to to work with us
in that manner we'll be back with you with some budget numbers and I think
that's kind of what Jerry's saying is you know so far if they've been
cooperative I mean it's challenging with with issues like this in other states
you wouldn't deal with this because you'd be regulating their franchise
agreements you know in Texas it's not an option so they really are down to can
they can they negotiate and perhaps make some trade-offs to keep the cost down
and if not can we get a budget number from them and we're happy to look at
that but we've got a very clear direction now I think before it was just
sort of like what what are some options for us to consider and we'll do that
with anything yes so so what is the what is the what do you envision the time and
cost but not not necessarily cost but just hourly like how long does that
process those conversations generally what do you think that investment is we
will know within a few weeks whether or not they're gonna cooperate with us on
you know further I think based on you know the direction we receive today it's
gonna be real clear asking them for specific a specific ask you know can we
do will you cooperate in locating and cleaning up the corridors we see fit or
if not give us a budget number if they end up giving us a budget number we'll
be right back to see you and for exactly the reasons you're articulating is how
much time and money do we spend okay okay
councilmember Briggs did you have something what you could go ahead and I'm
sorry I'm sorry yeah see I just told y'all to forgive me early on yeah you
know I don't know how long it's gonna be before 5g gets here but when it gets
here the cables are gonna become irrelevant but you know that's in the
future and that's not right now yeah I'm just curious about about who owns the
poles like are they the property of the like frontier and charter do they they
own the poles or do we own the poles and their stuff is just attached to it like
I'm not I'm just trying to figure out say so if they don't want to and we say
okay well we're gonna do we have the right to move their line and attach it
to our pole the poles are owned by both I mean DME can own a lot of poles and
frontier of Verizon can own poles also I don't know the exact mix out along this
area but because back in the old days Frontier Charter all these other folks
used to put the poles in the ground themselves they've stopped doing that
but there's still poles that are owned by them in the ground we've just taken
upon ourselves that once the pole is clear that we'll go ahead and remove that
out now moving their facilities to our pole there's a huge amount of
liability that could take because if you're moving a main trunk line and it
has the fire department police department on it and something happens
to it within there's that liability associated with it so our crews
typically do not like to move their stuff to another pole they won't they
don't it's concerns from their part we throw two cents in so a lot of the poles
that we call stub poles were DME poles previously where we upgraded our
facilities and we moved them like here on on Dallas Drive we moved them a
little further away from the roadway that way there in the future the roadway
could be widening those kinds of things so we topped off those poles and this
will become stub poles that by definition but they are our poles and
you know in the all fairness of operating between electric companies
and telecommunications companies they should move over to the new poles that
we put in place yeah but they aren't and they have it so you know we'd just like
to reenergize as Todd mentioned and and I'd be you know we're happy to take
that on to work with those companies and see if they can get off of our poles
because it does create that you know creates a little bit of a blight and it
wasn't our intention that they stay on those poles right we're having to update
our agreements with those companies so there's a little bit of a little bit of
work to do and I don't know if I made it any clearer no I appreciate that that we
those are our poles there were most of those many of those were our poles if we
could we just say we're taking our poles down you have like yep we'd have to as
Jerry said we'd have to lay that on the ground or because they're probably not
and that's a big big issue so and they kind of know that that we don't have a
lot of so we're going to use our while in our our negotiating skills and and see
what we can do thank you
yes same problem well obviously I'm for option one but do you have any idea what
the life left in those lines are are they relatively new is that I could see
us wanting to kind of convert more to underground as we have to replace the
asset but not just to clean up the area yeah a lot of the electric in those in
that area are fairly new you know in the order of five or six years so you know
if you look up Dallas Drive from that intersection you see the pole lines
looks actually looks fairly new the creosote still dark and and they stand
up nice and straight but you know if there was a you know a larger greater
purpose we could we could look at doing something different but it'll cost some
money yeah I guess what I'm saying is as you get ready to to replace lines in
the city you know that's when bring it to us ahead of time so that we can make a
decision at that point as to whether we do you okay because you're already gonna
have to spend money to replace the line so what is the difference between
replacing them and putting the new poles and put them underground on any individual
project all right thank you so it seems like option one continued the
conversation on a basis that it achieves some kind of number somewhere but I
think is Councilmember Huss but it had stated that you know it's not like we're
saying go out there and you know pin them to the ground with a with a number
but you'll work on it as time permits and we'll begin our conversations again
in with Verizon and charter to make sure and I'll get you a picture of the poles
with the parking place okay you don't have to I mean just send it out via staff
reporters I had it's good that's a good thing to always see okay thank you thank
you I'm gonna go ahead and call the closed session then we'll take a quick
break I will convene the closed session at fourth 427 we will consider the
following items consultation with attorneys under Texas government code
section five five one point oh seven one deliberations regarding real property
under Texas government code section five five one point oh seven two let's come
back in about 5 minutes okay welcome everybody to this meeting the Denton
City Council on February the 5th 2019 we do have a quorum I'll now call
this meeting to order it is a six about 31 p.m. please stand with me if you're
able to pledge allegiance to the US and Texas flag
next item on the agenda is proclamations and presentations which we did not have
any at this time we'll move on to presentations from members of the
public our first agenda item there is 3a review of procedures for addressing the
City Council the Denton City Council has adopted rules of procedure including a
code of conduct that applies to citizens as well as council members these rules
were enacted to promote an orderly process and to preserve decorum here is
a brief review of the rules that apply to citizen reports citizens will have
four minutes to give a scheduled citizen report and four minutes to give an open
mic report there will be an electronic bell when time has expired if the
remarks are not concluded by that time the citizen will be asked to stop
speaking if the citizen does not cease and a second request is made the mayor
will request to have the citizen removed from the council chamber citizens are
asked not to approach the dais if a citizen has papers or other materials to
hand out to the council please let the city secretary know in advance for
scheduled citizen reports the council may initiate discussion or questions
following each citizen report for non scheduled open mic citizen reports the
council may listen to citizens speak however because no notice of the
subject of the open mic report has been provided to the public in advance the
Texas Open Meetings Act limits any deliberation or decision by the council
to a proposal to place the item on a future agenda a statement of factual
policy or a recitation of existing policy citizens are asked to direct all
remarks and questions to the council as a whole and not to any individual member
please refrain from making abusive personal impertinent profane or
slanderous remarks anyone who violates this council rule of procedure may be
immediately removed from the council chamber thank you in advance copies of
the rules of procedure are available from the city secretary
okay our next item would be agenda item 3b which has received scheduled citizen
reports from members of the public we have four I'll call these in order the
first one will be Matt Farmer regarding the development of coal ranch slash
hunter ranch and the environmental impact yes
hello are you guys gonna time me or do I need to do that okay yeah my name is Matt
Farmer I live in district 3 I live at 2042 scripture street 76201 Denton Texas
okay so I've attended both the work sessions surrounding the coal ranch and
hunter ranch developments and I just want to start by showing my appreciation
to council and to the mayor for how delicately and cautiously you guys have
been in your approach to moving forward with these projects because it's a big
deal and there is a lot to consider before signing off onto something like
this what I want to talk about is the environmental impact of the proposed
developments and not just how these developments are going to impact the
environment but also how the physical geography of these sites will have a
direct impact on the developments if you choose to move forward with them
partially because these things were kind of barely touched upon at the work
sessions so as you know it's a huge plot of land it's over 6,000 acres and both
of the proposed developments sit on a 100-year floodplain now the maps that
were provided by the developers during these work sessions were actually really
basic and very minimal with regard to the floodplain it's just a tiny font
like at the bottom barely even marked on and they leave out a lot of important
details my girlfriend's actually an environmental specialist so we were
looking at the site analysis map from the presentation alongside maps provided
by publicly by FEMA and compared them so in coal ranch there's actually a
significant portion of the development site that is marked as a regulatory
floodway and or it's also called a hazard area by FEMA and that actually
wasn't labeled in the presentation and that's a big deal because FEMA won't
even approve new developments or new development projects and areas like this
because of because they know that it's a waste of time and money and because it
is actually really dangerous if you look at the map to you can see that like the
airport was specifically built avoiding that area ropes and ranch avoided that
and it's it's because it is it is actually really dangerous and it could
actually drive the cost up a lot you know somebody mentioned I think Paul
mentioned last time and the first meeting that we need to you know make
sure that this development will be beneficial and not just another cost in
the end and I'm a bit worried that if you do decide to move forward with the
MMD and making it so that once the MMD is over and the city will have to bear
the cost of the maintenance and the infrastructure repair that the the
estimated cost will actually be a lot higher than it appears right now on
paper because of that regulatory floodway in the hazard area because the
fact is the you know the the highest hazard for flooding is 100 year flood
plain so statistically speaking these developments would have a chance of
flooding at least once a year and not only that there are also three identified
environmentally sensitive areas in the site for Hunter Ranch a huge portion of
Hunter Ranch is also marked as ESA's and that can mean a number of things and
they didn't really touch on that either I just but I do want to remind you guys
that in 2001 there was a watershed study done and at that time the city of Denton
actually vowed to protect our watershed so I'd hate to see us go back on our
word on that with regard to these developments you know I remember during
the state of the city you did say Mayor Watts that we are going to be
anticipating something like 60,000 people in the next five years so I do
know we are going to have to embrace new developments and we're gonna have to
anticipate that growth but like for me I just don't think these developments are
proving themselves to be beneficial to us as a city in the long term and that's
that's all I got. Councilmember Armitage. Thank you for for sharing your
concerns would you be able to send to the city secretary the link to the FEMA
map you're talking about and I'd like to also request it as a staff report a
transposition of the FEMA map onto the the coal hunter ranch map with that
shows you know where the housing is going to be where the commercial is
going to be the parks the pools etc. transposed onto the the FEMA flooding
map. We probably we can certainly impose the FEMA map over that right now they
haven't laid out the site that's something that we could certainly
require that they do none but we can certainly impose the FEMA map over
there the site plan and send that out. I'm sorry the site itself. Yeah that
would be great yeah it would be great if the you know staff could maybe at least
ask that of the developer and they might not be in a position to do that now which
is understandable. Thank you very much. I have them saved as images or I can send
the link whichever is easier. The link would be fine and if somebody's needing that that we can ask for the images I guess yeah. Sure.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. Yes sir. The next speaker is Rena
Hardeman is Ms. Hardeman here if she's on her way so what we may do is move her
down to the bottom of the list and if she shows up before we call the open
mic or even before we call this agenda item in general we'll let her speak. The
next speaker will be Ed Sofe regarding City Council action on disclosure and
reverse setbacks.
State your name Ed or should I begin? Thank you Mr. Sofe.
Oops okay my name is Ed Sofe I live at 1620 Victoria Drive in Denton. The
presence of existing gas well sites and the potential for future drilling in a
dangerous proximity to the proposed Windsor apartments raise a very
important question for future developments such as the huge Hunter
Ranch and Coal Ranch communities in which there are also many many existing gas
wells. That question is when will the Denton City Council act to ensure equal
protection notification and disclosure for all residents? Currently new wells
drilled in existing neighborhoods must be at least 1,000 feet from homes to
protect families from the well-known hazards of gas well sites but new homes
in new neighborhood developments with existing wells have 750 feet less
protection from those hazards a reverse setback of only 250 feet. City Council
continues to justify this inequality by its lack of consensus and failure to
discuss and establish a proactive long-sighted policy that protects all of
Denton citizens equally. Fear of lawsuits and legislative retribution must not be
used to justify the denial of citizens rights to equal protection from the
from the known surface hazards of gas well sites. There is no state statute
that mandates a 250 foot reverse setback. There is only our city's ordinance. There
is no state statute that prohibits developers and realty agents of new
developments to directly inform buyers and renters of the proximity and
possible dangers of gas wells. There is only our city's ordinance that denies
that right to know. Residents have suffered enough thanks to the presence
of wells grandfathered under older ineffective ordinances. Future residents
will inherit this same lack of protection notification and disclosure if
council does not act now to pursue policy changes in the current ordinance and
I'm going to show you a that's that's the vintage neighborhood with and we know
how close that was I'm also going to play a video for you of of something that a
responsible ordinance what a not would not allow happen back in September
whenever shortly after the side drilling sites went out my wife and I were driving down vintage and we were passing the model home at the D.R.
Morton neighborhood and we just decided to go ahead and call the the model home just to see if
they could give us any you know shed any light on what was going to be happening
and how long these drills would be going and the representative at the model home
said oh you know it's not a problem you know they just went up and they're going
to be gone in a couple of weeks and so you know here that was September and here
it is February 5th and or February 4th and they're still up so what else did
they tell you about buying a home I mean they didn't you know really say
anything other than it was you know going to be they were going to be gone
shortly in the next couple weeks so but it just it kind of alluded to the fact
that you know it wasn't going to have any effect on the home sales there and you
know the home values there so it's kind of the impression that we got from that call and what
would you say about the value of your home honestly I'm scared to look at the
value I mean I'm if I were looking at homes now and you know I wouldn't even
go considering the looking at the home that back up to a frack inside or was in
a neighborhood you know anywhere near
what's the name of the one that you live inside
thank you very much thank you appreciate it thank you mr. so the next speaker will
be Diana let oh I'm sorry if councilmember armature has requested
speak mr. so I apologize so yes we're not supposed to give statements to ask
questions I have two questions for you the first is do you know happen to know
that I agree with you a hundred percent on this you might not and you don't have
to answer if you're not sure but that was my first question my second is how
how do you feel about requiring schools that are near gas wells to to tell to
notify the parents and families of the kids who attend those schools such as
Geyer you know that's between gas wells that of the proximity to gas wells to
the school well I think it's I think that they should especially if it's a
case where a student is known to have already has have asthma problems where
because of the problem with them any any well emissions but if we had an
ordinance we wouldn't have to worry about that all our protected uses would
be protected and by that you mean if we had better if we had a reverse setbacks
bigger reverse setbacks I just yes and I just would hope that you would open and
have a have a policy discussion about this that's all well thank you very much
thank you and I look forward to our next policy discussion on this thank you all
right thank you thank you mr. so again the next speaker is
Diana Leggett regarding SUVs and SROs excuse me state your name and address
and your time begin
short person has to lower the microphone Diana Leggett 1019 alien Street good
evening council I hope you know that when I come before you and speak that I
speak with words that are simple and brave and that I don't bring criticism I
bring solutions there are a lot of important items on the agenda tonight but
right now I would like to take a moment to focus on what Denton will look like
in the future as growth comes our way specifically I would like to take issue
with two parts of the proposed Denton Development Code 2030 these are the
little things that may not sound so exciting will have a big impact on
Denton over time first the proposed code introduces the idea of minimum lot
sizes as opposed to stipulating a maximum number of homes per acre well
why should we care about that well the benefit of planning for a number of
homes per acre without forcing a minimum lot size is that it allows homes to be
clustered without and leaving room for open space this arrangement smaller lots
and more open space may well suit the homebuyer market the two biggest groups
of home buyers are young families and retiring baby boomers both groups
prefer less maintenance and more amenities so why not at least leave the
developer the flexibility to offer the amenity of more shared open space more
nature maybe with walking trails or other landscape features that make life
more pleasant the proposed code with its 6000 square foot minimum lot size may
prevent inventive developers from meeting a marketplace need and
potentially making Denton more livable in the long run the other item in the
proposed code that I would like to address has to do with where we put
multifamily developments apartments Denton definitely needs more housing and
more affordable housing and where appropriate we need denser housing but
how do we decide where it's appropriate it's an important question because let's
face it nothing affects the look and feel of our
residential landscape quite as much as where we put multifamily one important
tool for doing this is the SUP the special use permit that allows for a
public hearing so neighbors interests can be heard and our civic leaders can
weigh in let's take the example of the SRO plan for Scripture and normal in my
district if SUPs were required for all multifamily we would have been able to
consider if that five-story development would be appropriate between two
historic districts today sometimes SUPs are required for multifamily
developments and sometimes not well the new code proposes to completely remove
the SUP requirement for multifamily developments in certain zones
specifically NRMU and NMR NRMU 12 I questioned that I heard the work
session discussion about student housing a few weeks back trying to come up with
a durable definition of an SRO well that's really hard to do I feel the
cleanest path would be to simply require SUPs for all multifamily projects after
all one of the main objectives of DDC 2030 is simplification what could be
simpler than uniformly requiring SUPs for all multifamily projects much of the
planning for a livable future Denton comes down to consciously managing
density encouraging density where it will create opportunities for open space and
making careful decisions about density where established neighborhoods are at
stake thank you I'm sorry I don't always ask questions for everybody so you know
thank you for that and I was wondering if if you're aware of the the potential
for you know violation under the Fair Housing Act if there's a SUP required
for all multifamily well I figure we could work around that code you know the
Fair Housing Act does have some flexibility within it and I think it's
something worth talking about thank you okay thank you okay is did Rena
Hardeman show up yet okay well we'll just go through the open mic and then
we'll call her one more time all right now we're going to move to the open mic
portion we've got two blue cards wishing to speak the time limit is four minutes
and because of the open mic nature council is unable to respond to because
of potential violations with Texas Open Meetings Act so the first person will
cause George Ferry if you'll come down state your name and address your time
will begin
hi my name is George Ferry I live at 2932 Stockton Street in district 1 good
evening mayor council I'm here today to stand in solidarity with my Carrollton
LGBTQ+ community right now they have a City Council meeting happening at this
very moment deciding to pass policy that includes sexual orientation gender
identity and gender expression into a law to protect discrimination from my
community as you can see we're all wearing purple I wore my favorite purple
shirt and I'm down here to make sure that we realize that we have plenty of
work to do here or I'd be in Carrollton speaking on behalf of them right now
about six months ago in August you read the HRC's MEI index score which I believe
we are now at a 52 out of 100 excuse me it's nice that we in our city have
proclamations to recognize pride month transgender awareness week however we
need to be doing the real work we are dying at alarmingly high rates being
harassed discriminated committing suicide at alarmingly higher rates and
it's even more increasing with in terms of people of color within the trans queer
and non-binary communities we send our LGBTQ+ youth to public schools and
public programs funded by the city I don't have inclusion policies and
education we're bullying we are a city that loves to say Denton loves everyone
everyone is equal not in my backyard we hear these terms all the time when
talking to people who are very active in the community and that want to come
actually show up to vote however in our community we hear and say there's that
preacher saying really terrible things about my community in our local paper
these are the people being harassed in their workplace and there's no
compensation these are people being fired from their jobs denied housing with
no legal recourse because it's incredibly difficult to prove and you
don't have a policy by our city standing behind these people I appreciate allies
that show up to our events that and I commend starting the conversation but
it's been six months so I'm just here to remind you that we're waiting and we're
growing impatient so please know that today I'm asking but tomorrow and every
day after we're gonna be fighting like hell to work for inclusive policies and
putting people in place who will support us thank you thank you all right the
next speaker will be Carol self come down state your name and address your
time will begin
my name is Carol so I live at 1620 Victoria this is a picture of the
cherry orchard spelled ch-a-i-r-y the cherry orchard is a small lot at the end
of our street which is filled with chairs of all kinds it was designed by
Judy Smith who lives next door to it it is intended for people to stop by and
sit for a while it is a quiet peaceful place for the community to gather when it
first was designed teddy bears were placed on some of the chairs to share
the space with the children and friends recently the Bears have disappeared the
city told Judy that the Bears are indoor toys and to remove them which she did I
am glad the city is looking out so diligently for the welfare of the Bears
it occurred to me however the same concern is not being given to Denton
residents who live near gas wells just like the Bears are being protected by
the city from the elements a gas well ordinance should protect the public from
the danger of gas wells I am asking the council to please open a public
discussion to strengthen our current gas well ordinance to better protect the
public thank you thank you Carol okay we will it did miss Hardiman make it all
right if you have a if if you have a contact number for her just let her know
that if we I think we might on the carpet I just would hate her to try to
make it up here if she if she couldn't make it so yeah okay all right we'll
move on to our next agenda item which is the consent agenda I don't believe we
had any items pulled from the consent agenda so we will consider the consent
agenda councilmember Briggs I move to approve mayor Pro Tem second we have a
motion and a second for the consent agenda all in favor please vote on the
board
motion carries 7-0
let me make sure if just hold on just a moment we're going to maybe have a
really small slight agenda change ask counsel for a little accommodation that's
was it we've got colleagues we've got city managers asked we've got three
items on individual consideration BC and D which are just work projects staff
presentations it'll take about five or ten minutes that what my understanding
is and wanted to see if we could just move those up real quickly and unless I
hear objections we're just going to sort of snap those out real quick and I'm
staff is hearing this so staff will know that we're gonna be snapping those out
real quick I haven't seen any objections so first of all I want to thank the
public's indulgence for that councilmember Briggs which items I have
individual considerations items 6 B C and D
I'm not sorry not yet is it BC and D correct and which one yeah I will do the
E denominations which are just the nominations for as I'm not sure I have
one but but yeah it's BCD and possibly E and is is that because so that they can
leave and go home or yeah each of these items is about five minutes as long as
they're here they're out almost every night this week at neighborhood meetings
so as long as it's quick yeah yeah we'll make it quick and again really want to
thank the public for their indulgence and accommodation suit if we're gonna go
ahead and call then of individual item 6 C which is considered option of an
ordinance of the city of Denton Texas home real municipal corporation
authorized instead of manager execute public works contract for Jagle public
for the Hickory Creek widening project do we have staff here okay all right okay
so it's B it's B did I call C I saw I'm sorry I called C I apologize my
apologies transmission charges 6 B sorry about that pre-tem no pre-tem you here
you want to go ahead judges in here okay go ahead go ahead we're gonna do C yeah
so yeah if staffs here when we call it we'll do it if not we're gonna wait go
ahead okay I'm not I'm not sure if there's a
presentation here loaded up or not okay I'd rather I'd rather wait just let's
move on then we'll move on let's go ahead and move on go back to the regular
schedule okay yeah all right yeah Todd just texted me and he's still in another
meeting all right so no we'll move on thank you that was quick appreciate that
yeah that's how it's good how these things work out all right so then we're
gonna move on to the public hearings we'll call the public hearing for agenda
item 5a hold a public hearing consider adoption of an ordinance of the city of
Denton Texas regarding a change in the zoning district and use classification
from regional center commercial downtown district to employment center district
with overlay conditions on approximately eight point seven acres of land agenda
item 5a I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing just so I don't
forget so no come on up staff just that's just more of a procedural item so
public hearing is now open
good evening I'm Julie Wyatt senior planner with the city of Denton and
tonight I'm presenting to you Z 1823 B Worthington truck port the request
before you is a rezoning request from two zoning districts the first one
regional center commercial downtown to an employment center industrial on
approximately eight point seven acres and then a rezoning of regional center
commercial neighborhood to employment center industrial and approximately seven
point seven acres of land so the existing zoning is on the map on the
left and as you can see on the on the north side of the subject property the
subject properties here in black it has a zoning designation of our CCN and
that's that pink area the southern part of the tract is the purple and that's
got that RCC D area so the total acreage is about 16 acres the surrounding
zoning includes several districts we'll just take a quick look at them to the
north is RCC in and to the south you have an ICG in this location that's
industrial center commercial or I'm sorry industrial it's one of our
industrial districts and it's our it's one of our general industrial districts
across Worthington is an ECI and that is that employment center industrial to
the to the west of the subject property we have NR 2 and that is one of our low
density residential zoning districts and then to the north of that we have our
RD 5x the applicant is proposing to extend that existing ECI so that ECI
that's across a Worthington would extend if this was approved to the subject
property and and that map would look like like this map here the applicant
does have a proposed concept plan the southern part of the property is
developed it's developed with two buildings that are multi tenant buildings
and you can see those here and to the north of the property they would like to
kind of extend that existing development and have potentially a small warehouse
and then a self storage use to park trucks criteria for approval is in sub
chapter 3 of the Denton development code first is it conformed to the future land
use element of Denton plan 2030 and then the second criteria for approval does
the proposed rezoning facilitate the adequate provision of transportation
water sewers schools parks and other public requirements so we'll look at
those criteria one by one first one dent plan 2030 so you'll see there is a map
here that shows the subject property in black and it is embedded within a
business innovation future land use designation and you can see the
surrounding property has that business and a bit business innovation future
land use designation the intent of this is to to encourage well-planned larger
scale office and appointment parks but also have the supporting uses like
retail or services and high density residential in order to support those
employment uses the proposed ECI is one of those districts that sort of fits
within that future land use designation of business innovation it's one of our
employment districts and it provides a wide variety of commercial as well as
some industrial employment type uses just take a little more look at this map
you'll see that there the property adjacent to it has a low density future
residential low low residential future land use designation just to the west of
the subject property to the south is industrial commerce future land use
designation that's a little more intense industrial and then you could see to
the south east of the subject property it's got regional mixed use that
captures that that razor ranch development so you can kind of see how
those those future land use designations work together in the area we also looked
at some other parts of the Denton plan 2030 as we analyze this request and one
area we looked at was the focus areas so we have a map of those focus areas here
and these focus areas in the Denton plan are these key intersections and
destinations within the city and it includes things like centers corridors
gateways and also travel travel centers the subject property is is within a
travel center focus area and the intent of that is to for land uses to support
the freight industry but they also have design principles in that to make sure
that those those are properly screened at the right-of-way also that the
development would be oriented to reduce conflict with adjacent sensitive uses
and also buffering a criteria to includes that adequate public improvements
portion as part of the request the applicant did provide some trip generation
numbers for the proposed use of that that storage that that yielded the
analysis that I yielded about 95 trips per day for that 24-hour peak day and
about 20 trips for that peak hour so it did not rise to that threshold for that
traffic impact analysis where that generally look at about a thousand trips
per day we also looked at the the the roadway network around the subject
property and it does have adequate access but one thing we did look at it
it doesn't have access to that neighborhood to the West and so that was
one thing that we looked at there is a there's a railroad corridor separating
the subject property from the residential and so it does provide that
physical barrier and would prevent vehicle access to the to the adjacent
residential neighborhood there is also adequate water and wastewater other
findings we looked at this is this proposed rezoning is a logical
continuation of the surrounding zoning and use pattern as you can see here in
this map if it were approved it would really just extend that existing ECI
that's that's already begun in that area it's also would be a continuation of
some of those vehicle type uses and and light industrial uses with that that
surround the subject property but we also wanted to look at that relationship
with this subject property to the residential area there is a there is a
large lot established neighborhood adjacent to this property and we want to
make sure any development adjacent to that is sensitive to that neighborhood
and so we took a little bit deeper dive into that analysis so the subject
property is is is separated from that residential area as I said by this
railroad corridor it's a little bit elevated with an earthen berm so it does
provide that physical barrier and it that railroad does sort of separate
these this area from the residential area so as you can see it's it sort of
cloisters it away from it and and as the these properties have developed between
the railroad and I-35 you've seen a lot of commercial uses that have developed
along I-35 you've got some hotels along that they take the advantage of that
visibility on I-35 but as it steps away from I-35 toward the west you do have
more of those lighter industrial or vehicle type uses the industrial uses
within ECI are generally a lower impact it's more of the light industrial or
warehousing type uses and then ECI has a comparable development scale with what's
existing on the property or what the zoning the existing zoning on the
property and then we also have design standards which in sub chapter 13 of the
Denton Development Code and particularly things like required tree canopy which
would help soften any development on the side and and mitigate any potential
noise or light impacts so we'll take a we'll take a look at how that that looks
in our use tables so in sub chapter 5 of the Denton Development Code it does have
the the dimensional requirements of any development on the site and this this
first chart right here shows the RCCN and RCCD which is existing and then the
proposed ECI under the current zoning there's a maximum density of 80 dwelling
units or 100 dwelling units on the existing property because those do allow
higher density uses those would not be permitted if if the zoning was approved
ECI doesn't permit any residential uses also the maximum lot coverage under
existing zoning is is 85 percent and 90 percent if the ECI was approved it would
cap that maximum lot coverage at 85 percent maximum building height can go
anywhere between 65 and 100 feet under current zoning if the ECI was approved
it would max out that building height at at 65 feet and then also the minimum
tree canopy under under the current zoning for the RCCN they would be
required to plant 30 percent tree canopy and then RCCD would be 20 percent if the
ECI was approved it would have that maximum or the minimum 30 percent tree
canopy as I said before the there are no residential uses permitted in ECI so if
it were approved no residential uses would be permitted on the site all of
the existing zoning districts as well as the the proposed zoning district does
allow some commercial land uses these tables only show what the differences
are if they were if they were consistent with the existing zoning I left those
off but that is in your backup but for instance under under current zoning
motels and movie theaters would be permitted if the if the ECI was was
approved those would not be a permitted use something like self-service storage
or vehicle repair would be a permitted use ECI has more industrial zoning does
uses than than the existing zoning as I said before these are more of our
lighter industrial it doesn't include the heavy industrial or things like
auto salvage but it does permit things like craft alcohol production or general
warehouse kennels and then light manufacturing and then also ECI does
permit some institutional land uses notification was sent out on the request
we received six in letters in opposition those are shown here in the red because
of where the 200 foot buffer fell that only equates to a 1% opposition the
planning and zoning this item was presented to them in January and they
did recommend approval with the following conditions first of all that
the electric substations and switch stations would not be a permitted use
undercurrent zoning that use has a limitation that that requires some
public outreach the proposed zoning permits it by right and so planning and
zoning felt like that was maybe a little too intense being so close to a
residential neighborhood so they they requested that that use be netted out
and then also that a type B buffer would be would be constructed along that
Western property boundary a type C buffer is that is a 15 foot planted strip
and that includes six trees and 20 shrubs per 100 linear feet staff also did
recommend approval of the request it is it is consistent with the future land
use and the Denton plan and is consistent with with the existing zoning
pattern and and uses in the specific area I'll stand for any questions
that's my breaks you showing question well you answered one I've wondered
about the railroad track and so that is the on the back of the property which is
a separator and you mentioned that they wanted to continue storage on the on the
next lot do and it would be for trucks you're correct so do we know what size
trucks in the like the hours of operation the applicant is here and they
can probably speak a little more about how it would operate but it's my
understanding it would be the large 18-wheeler type semi trucks okay yeah I
would just like to know I mean because it's you know they're loud and they you
know cause a little bit of pollution and so I'm just curious of the hours of
operation that would be my only concern so you had mentioned that under the new
under the proposed designation hotel motel would be prohibited so I take it
on here that okay so it's a group homes now so shelter yeah so there would be no
shelter of any kind permitted no temporary shelter no I mean there's not
any residential uses under the new designation but currently that would be
permitted as would a motel hotel currently a group home could be would be
permitted with a specific use permit and then the RCC in permits motels and I and
and so so that wouldn't be permitted under ECI no no group home is just the
same as I mean it's the same as a single-family dwelling isn't it
yeah it's supposed to be considered the same as a single-family well they are
different uses within our use tables but often they are within a single-family
home but but that use in some zoning districts does yeah so that so that's
just in the city code okay thank you any more questions for staff okay thank you
I did open the public hearing first applicant first person to speak to the
applicant name you visit if you'll come down state your name and address your
time will begin Amy visit Northbridge consultants 212 South Elm Denton Texas I
do have a brief presentation with just a few slides it's nice to be here this
evening I will not repeat what Julie said but I do want to clarify a few
things that came up during the planning and zoning Commission meeting as
well as prior to that and I want to I want to make sure there were some
misconceptions with ranch estates that's nearby about what the applicant is is
planning to do here versus what's already on the ground today so I do want
to point out first of all that this is a rezoning application for two separate
properties 2401 and 2501 Worthington 2401 is an existing developed property
today with two multi-tenant warehouse buildings as you can see a floor a floor
plan on the screen in front of you roughly 30,000 square feet each there's
some vehicular parking as well as in the back there is some semi truck parking
and many of the tenants that are within the warehousing space that exists today
and have semi trucks that are that are parked as a part of their lease
agreement today so and this property was built in 2007 and acquired by my client
after it was constructed my client is and here's a picture of what it looks
like what's on the ground today and my client is looking to purchase the
property to the north of it and it's in contract today and essentially expand
the existing use by adding roughly 84 semi truck parking spaces along with a
small warehouse building and that the 84 spaces would be on a flex base so it
would be pervious and which means that there'd be very little of the site that
would actually be paved or constructed upon and this is essentially an
expansion of the existing use there is in this area as you all are aware there's
and Peter built in many supporting vendors and suppliers for Peter built
they produce roughly 150 plus trucks a day those trucks once they come off the
line have to have a place to be stored and then hauled out all across the
United States and so there's a demand for truck storage and truck parking in
Denton that is significant and if we can find appropriate places to meet that
demand such as in an industrial area near Peter built then it prevents those
trucks from being parked in places where they really shouldn't be so my client
has recognized this need and has seen it with the tenants that they have in place
currently and that is why we're proposing this particular expansion we
did hear right before the planning and zoning Commission meeting that and city
staff had heard from a few of the neighbors at Ranch Estates and maybe three
or four of them are within the 500 foot courtesy notices and so once we got
phone calls that they had expressed some concerns we went ahead and mailed out an
invitation to everybody within Ranch Estates and went and pulled all the
parcel IDs and held a neighborhood meeting the week before the planning and
zoning Commission to have an opportunity to have some dialogue with those
neighbors hear their concerns and try to mitigate some of those concerns and we
had three in attendance and I additionally fielded roughly four phone
calls and emails I do want to talk to you a little bit about what the concerns
were that we heard and how we hope to address them the primary concerns that
we heard from the neighborhood were related to drainage impacts noise and
visibility encroachment of their low density residential neighborhood and
zoning and then potentially the extension of Windsor Drive and some had
seen in the mobility plan a potential East West thoroughfare that could cut
through their neighborhood and specifically on Hampton Road which is
their northern thoroughfare through their neighborhood and as you can see in
terms of encroachment and it is a low density single-family residential
neighborhood that is surrounded by some industrial and commercial uses with
highway 380 and I-35 right there it's naturally going to draw some higher
density and some commercial uses we do believe that the railroad is a good
barrier and in fact my client does not support any East West mobility into
their neighborhood whatsoever we think that barrier is important to protect
against encroachment and don't see any reason for that to be something that
would threaten them in the future and it would not be something that my clients
tenants would be utilizing in terms of drainage and noise and visibility I do
want to point out and as you can see on the aerial here there's an existing
regional detention pond that was constructed on the northern side that's
intended to be be more than enough capacity if it was fully developed
including mostly paved which in this case we're proposing very little paving
and we've also committed to a type C landscape buffer to provide some
additional noise and visibility mitigation for the neighbors that is all
I have for you the my client the property owner to the south and the one
who has the the property and contract to the north is here to answer any
specific questions about hours of operation or anything else that you'd
like to visit with him about thank you any questions for the applicant seeing
none thank you thank you next speaker will be Dan height if you come down
states your name and address your time will begin my name is Dan height I'm
here with my wife Rebecca we live in the ranch estate subdivision we live at 3800
Hampton Road we've heard over and over throughout this process that we were
informed we were invited we were brought into the loop but we live right here at
this little house right here and we're kind of on the outside of all the
squares that you see so we're never included in anything but luckily our
neighbors inform us of what's going on and we did get to come so we had
concerns we came to the zoning Commission meeting we had concerns and
voiced our concerns about what this property was going to do and what it was
going to affect us I'd like to start with reading a little bit from the
city's articles on noise and odor declaration of intent it is hereby
declared to be the policy of the city to minimize the exposure of citizens to the
potential psychological and physiological harm of excessive noise and
to protect promote and preserve the public health comfort convenient safety
and welfare it is the express intent of the City Council to control the level of
noise in a manner that promotes commerce protects the sleep and repose of citizen
promotes the use value and enjoyment of property and preserves the quality of
the environment section c2 it shall be unlawful for any person to make or cause
any noise of such character intensity or continued duration as to
substantially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of private homes
by persons of ordinary sensibilities regarding odors it shall be unlawful
for any person to create or cause any unreasonable noxious unpleasant strong
odor which causes material distress discomfort or injury to the persons of
ordinary sensibilities in the immediate vicinity thereof it shall be unlawful
for any person to create or cause any odor stench or smell of such character
strength or continued duration is to substantially interfere with the
comfortable enjoyment of private homes by persons and ordinary sensibilities so
we've been concerned but of course business has to go on commerce has to
go on we get the use the current use of the properties there this part which she
was just talking about here the parking lot is already existing the proposed
area that they're going to pull in 50 spots here 80 plus spots in the new area
over the last few weeks we started experiencing something new which is
going to tell you what's coming for us in the future an incredible swooshing
sound followed by an incredible smell of gas now we're all from Denton so we we're
kind of used to dealing with the train right so like a sheeple I ignored it I
didn't know what the sound was but I assumed it was the trains you know they
park every once in a while they're working on something that gas smell was
so incredible but I assumed everybody was on top of it assumed assumed assumed
you see this problem I have got this went on for the last week two weeks until
Saturday I couldn't take it anymore Saturday about ten o'clock in the
morning started and went till 530 at night this is my backyard can y'all hear
that that's a normal day in my backyard it's normal day it's nice I know I live
right there by that industrial area I know it's a horrible place to live they
keep saying low-impact residential if you live there you'd call it your home
wouldn't be a low-impact residential area or low density sorry low density
residential area Saturday and in the many days prior to that this is what we
got our after our after our we finally called the cops they said if you smell
that gas smell get called the fire department
that's the truck part and I misspoke that was the not city no and that was
the time so if you could wrap it up real quick real briefly because we've got a
lot of public speakers tonight that's all I've got I just asked for y'all to if
you do approve this thing you've got to protect us there's got to be a more than
six trees and 20 bushes to protect us from this sound those were methane gas
trucks that they were releasing the methane gas in that yard day after day
after day with the wind blowing it into our subdivision all right thank you any
questions for the speaker seeing none okay thank you mr. I appreciate it next
speaker will be mr. Willie Hudson if you come down state your name and address
your time will begin my name is Willie husband I live at 623 sure glad that the
homeowner came up here and some of the questions that I had about this that I
have concerns that and I plead with you City Council members to really look
into this and make sure that the public is protected it's just so much
information that was given heck I couldn't keep up with it all it took me a
while to figure out what the location was but I'm thinking and that
neighborhood should value it should be valued I drive up 380 sometimes in that
area and if you're gonna have 84 more trucks coming in and out of there I
don't know at what rate and the ones that's coming from Decatur right now is
a nightmare I just can't imagine that kind of traffic and you said the railroad
is a buffer well it's buffered from east to west but what about that north and
south movement that's gonna happen there you answer the question that there won't
be any schools the possibility of needing schools there because there you're
gonna restrict the the the what's actually gonna be there you mentioned
trees I I need to go out there myself and just see how many is there right now
you usually mention that you say well we're gonna add more trees but that
didn't mean nothing those little small twigs that you put up there would take
forever to grow in anything that became that resemble the canopy but if the
trees there now some thought should be given as to how you can preserve them
again talking to the council members who are representing us all and trying to
make sure that things are done appropriately I gave an excellent
example of why I'm concerned why that I think the council should really look at
to look into what they are what's going to be proposed here in this this
development you're grabbing your mic anyway so that there was that there's a
good example of what where I trusted you yeah if you'll set it down they'll go
ahead and they'll go ahead and pull it up yeah okay I trusted you to take care
of some some situations having to do with the ordinances that you that you
pass so this is why I'm concerned you told me that I can't feel my trash cans
up a certain height and I said well don't just single me out everybody
should apply to use the same have to work within the same rules well this is
a trash can that's not mine and what I was told is they won't enter my trash
well that one's over full and it's all over the place
they emptied it this one's over full they emptied theirs and that proves that there's a
table that was in front of it before and there's another one same area that I'm
in they told me they wouldn't empty mine and they didn't put the empty this so
you got to play fair we're depending on you to make the right decisions for this
this this neighborhood there's no way I can live with that noise I don't know
what that was I wish he had more time so you could have to sit here and listen at
that noise like he has for four days and hours perhaps I'll just go out there and
just see for myself and then I'll come back with a different report thank you
thank you sir we have a card this marked wishing not to speak but is in
opposition Rebecca height right those are all the cards we have but this is a
public hearing anybody wishing to speak on this item please come down state your
name and address and your time will begin anybody wishing to speak on this
agenda item one more call seeing no movement we will now close the public
hearing councilmember armature thank you let's see I am going to be voting no to
this I look at the question of compatibility with with the area and also
the question of housing you know does this bring new housing and not only does
not bring new housing where we're talking about prohibiting and we're
talking about a zoning that prohibits you know any kind of residential
development bless you in this area and that is adding noise and pollution to
the extent that and again if you can imagine you know think back to that map
and you could see where the outline is of this district saying that this is
this district is not fit for residential and then you have right across the
street residents who you know apparently like across the street it's not fit for
men or beast you know I mean we have the same problem in many ways with our gas
well awareness but that's a whole other story but yeah so that's why I'm this is
a real pretty easy no for me thank you councilmember Briggs I have questions
for the applicant
Alex pain yes so you heard earlier I was curious about the hours of operation how
frequently is it a 24-hour operation where people can roll in at night or
well the nature of some of our tenants is that they are long-haul truck drivers
and so if they live in the city of Denton or somewhere nearby and oftentimes
they're not they're not permitted to leave their trucks in the neighborhoods
and the streets or you know the apartment complex they live in and so
they leave a vehicle there and so just really depends on what time of night
they come in and you know would would swap out park their truck and leave and
so as far as as far as the video that you saw you know certainly it's news to
us it's not a facility currently that we operate that that looks and seeks out
tenants that are going to stay in there in the truck and either sleep or anything
like that and I've stated in the P&Z hearing and would do so here again
tonight that as a matter of management we own the property and we we manage the
property and have a really good property manager we were notified this week of that
potential truck although all we ever saw was a was a picture was provided to us
of what was about three trucks I hadn't seen the video that's again first I've
seen it I guess I would welcome if we have a problem tenant that we would be
notified and do our best to not be a nuisance to our neighbors or honestly
the other businesses in that facility I think if if something like that loud
obnoxious was going on we would we wouldn't allow it and would you know
basically terminate their lease if it was if it was an ongoing problem so so
the individual the the methane trucks that were releasing isn't necessarily
something that you condone or would allow on your property I don't even know
what that means I've never heard of such a thing and then if there's some truck
that that's renting from us and just sitting there releasing a gas again
that's not something we support or condone we would we would certainly
bring that to our property managers attention and if the individual who had
the problem wants to contact us in the future we'd be happy to to correct the
issue we just don't even know who it was what truck it was and so we'd be happy
to look at that in the future yeah so you're saying that with your rules
having maybe in do you maybe having a no idling policy for certain we could
implement something that essentially states that they're not allowed to leave
the the vehicle running over extended period of time again with the in our
lease document with the tenant yeah we would we would be happy to do something
like that I don't know without having talked to you know some of the tenants
how problematic that might be if you were to say five minutes I don't know
that that could be a but if it was a you know less than an hour or something
like that I think we could live with that yeah I think that might that might
help the the situation that we just saw was pretty concerning and I'm sure for
you too yeah and I again I don't he didn't finish the video so I'm not sure
it was necessarily us we also have a neighboring tenant I'm not not ten in a
neighboring use to our south that's a heavy industrial the one that was zoned
ICG and that's my understanding they run three shifts out of that facility and
it's a heavy manufacturing of they thread large pieces of metal into into
bolts that hold up wind towers and I think it's quite loud and you know they
run a pretty pretty lengthy shifts and so and then blow their horn for shift
changes and things like that so what we're for the most part we this is news
to us and not something we we would look to have in our park with the what you
what you heard and saw that's really just just a storage use of those trucks
and and then some of the some of the facilities in our or some of the tenants
in our current facilities they service RVs or vehicles and so when they have
too many on site they have to park them back there until they're ready to bring
them in and work on them when I first saw this I thought of RVs because I know
that the city requires an RV to be parked on concrete and there's not a
lot of space for somebody who owns a home sometime to do that and so that we
wouldn't be we would not allow this to be a use in which living occurs on
property so again if there was an RV kept on the property would just be in a
storage capacity parking yes I think yeah so I would be I would be more
inclined to hear about you know the make sure that we you don't condone methane
gas releases on your property and that you know idling trucks for longer than
an hour that would that would be a good thing I think to have just for the
neighbors and in good faith and I would also like maybe for you to give your
information to the couple over here so if something like that does happen they
have a direct contact be glad to yeah we don't we intend to own these properties
for a long time so we'll we want to be good neighbors we develop other
properties in this city and we tend to think we do quality development and
operate in a professional manner and want to be good citizens as we own a
business here and and live here so thank you any other questions for staff
councilmember husband here reaching for your oh yes councilmember I was on the
fence yeah I guess I have a question for for staff
were you provided the video I was yes okay and when do we receive it
yesterday okay and so for me that it does I just I'm so I'm asking your input
because it doesn't seem logical that a truck would release gas for five hours
right I mean that just it seems inconsistent that they would they don't
it's it's a it's a profession that is hinged on efficiency that's how they
make their money you know every mile every speed and so it just kind of is
I'm concerned about the sound but I'm also concerned about getting to the
origin of it so it does us no good to be reactionary this evening and not fix it
right that that that looks great now but it doesn't fix it and so looking to get
to the bottom of it that just does not compute that a truck would sit parked
and release gas for five hours better part of a day that just nothing about
that makes sense to me and so do you have a read on I mean again we've had
one day notice so I'm just asking if you have any thought I know that our our
fire marshal this was sent to him and they're looking into it to make sure
that that in the future that there are no violations with any of their
regulations that our environmental group looked at it and and I'm not aware of of
how that works within a truck or the trucking industry but it isn't something
that we would have a permit for so that that's really from the city's standpoint
that's I just I don't have I don't have the knowledge base to know what that was
or or why no thank you yeah so all right thank you
okay Councilman Briggs I think you just kind of answered my question I was gonna
maybe ask legal about truck trucking industry and permits and like
environmental like gas permitting do we do we not require that is that something
no that's not something that we require and now that we've looked consulted with
Dr. Banks you know there's nothing in regarding TCEQ requirements on trucks
venting methane it may be possibly a DOT concern but that continues and we
continue to look into that to see if there is a permit who is the issuing
entity and so would our other ordinances we have the noise violations or any other
code of ordinances that we have with those make up for the lack of the
ordinance that we don't have for this yes we do have existing noise ordinances
for that apply to both not just residential but commercial industrial
and they do exist in our code of ordinances and so that gives our officer
some tools to go out and if they witness a violation to find that person that is
correct okay Mayor Potem has this already been
platted do we know the northern lot plating would be required okay and as
part of that planning we would include the detainees so that wouldn't be able
to be built on and so you got much larger buffer on the added parking than
on the existing parking correct correct okay do we know how big that is I don't
have that exact square footage of that detention area yeah I don't have the
site plan necessarily to pull up or maybe I can but that detention pond is a
regional detention pond and a drainage easement and it serves not only our
property it serves the property that we own to the south that owns serve
several properties to our east and so it's basically in place and is an
existing detention serving other developed parcels we can't ever build on
that okay and so if I understand correctly or from thinking this through
correctly the reason for the rezoning is for the purpose of storage because it is
a separate lot that that wouldn't be allowed in the current zoning and so the
only plan is to add the parking on that northern part and everything on the
southern part will pretty much remain the same there's no change to the
southern portion it was just something that we felt probably is better suited
for what type of development we have there you know I wouldn't say we're that
we're non-conforming it just seems to it seems to be a more of a fit of what's
what's out there and so it we just thought let's zone it now and while we're
zoning the other parcel and quite honestly we we with the current allowed
the current zoning commercial parking lots were permitted but if we were to
build a commercial parking lot as a primary use it would have had to been a
the concrete parking lot and we were trying to do it as a for a couple of
reasons to do it as a flex base for the majority of that site for pervious
surface and cost and so that's why we're proposing a small building that and quite
honestly one of the existing one of our existing tenants who also owns the
property over here this doesn't show it but there's been a new building
constructed here pro pro built is a company that customizes Peter built
trucks they rent spaces from us and they're interested in leasing the entire
parking lot just for storage of and staging of trucks for their facility and
quite possibly renting the building that would be constructed as well so if they
were if they were the sole tenant there really wouldn't be any truck drivers
that are that are using it at all if he in fact leases the entire property
thank you any other questions I guess my comment would be obviously in a zoning
case you can't add business details that you've talked about but I trust that you
know as you said you've been in business here a while there's last thing you want
is people calling the mayor and City Council members with methane gas
releases given you know our city and our history and the health effects of that
so so this is going to be simply you're going to lease out each one of those
spaces either as a one single lessee or possible eighty four different ones we
we've designed it and and and planned for it to be rented out to whether it's
you know each space to one individual driver but if the guy who sure wants the
whole thing will pay the price that we that we need he he may rent the whole
entire property for a long term so okay I mean there's also companies in town
that just deliver trucks and they're always looking for places to stage
brand-new Peterbilt trucks they'll stack them three deep and and come get them
when they need them sure okay all right okay thank you appreciate it any other
questions comments councilmember Armitter yeah I guess I'll just add since
there were you know questions and comments about the the video and this is
you know and no disrespect to the I'm glad you showed the video and I I am
sorry for you know whatever inconvenience that was regardless of what
the cause was for me to take away from that what I took away from that
regardless of the cause is here we've got a residential neighborhood that is
right across from right next to an already pretty industrial area and to
zone it this way the way that's being proposed would ensure that it's going to
get worse for the people who live there and so I don't you know I don't want
that to happen if there weren't if there wasn't a neighborhood already there if
there weren't already people living there then I wouldn't necessarily be
opposed to it but I just wanted to make that make that clear
councilmember Briggs so you're saying that we can't we can't really put
business conditions upon this zoning like planning and zoning did with the
conditions for the the types of uses no what I meant was what y'all were
discussing and what he was proposing or things it would be actually in a lease
document a business lease document whereas what planning and zoning is is
proposing some of those conditions are more of a policy sort of with the land
the zoning that that would be more of a lease issue I see and if we were doing
this as an SUP that could be a type of condition I'll defer to the city
attorney okay so I was thinking a little bit so this is just probably a good
faith type more than likely would be okay and for me I feel like there's a
lot of things that could go there that would be if you take away the the
pollution if they have the non idling policy and no overnight sleeping there's
some conditions that can be put on that property where if it's just a RV parked
or a truck parked temporarily there's not going to be a lot of noise besides
the starting and the stopping if you remove the methane releasing I'm I'm not
sure but you said that was the first time that that happened okay so that's
if that one can be addressed and not allowed on this lot and it's previous
paving I'm I'm okay with it with the good faith in the rental agreement that
these things will not continue and infringe upon the neighborhood
considering what other types of businesses and industrial businesses can
go in this zoning that's already allowed I mean we're not we're not asking to put
like a it's not going to be Bucky's type situation here so I am just going to
take your word for it thank you what is the distance from the I see the purple
line where it's the lots of line between the existing detention pond and the the
new property for the parking lot what's the distance between that and is that
Marshall Road that's coming down the east side of Ranch Estates do we know
what the distance of that is I see him pulling up hopefully our nice handy
dandy zoning application that can measure distances we measured it at
planning and Zoning Commission and I want to say it was 450 does that sound
right Julie but we can pull it up and measure it so it's four to five hundred
feet probably something like that sure if it doesn't take that long he's got it
he's got it we get the overhead please get an app on my phone that measures
the distance the green dot to that location not really 821 feet to Marshall
Road okay from the back of the back of the the burned area before it slopes off
into the detention right okay all right okay well if staff could put up the
notice map
is the detention pond part of the property okay never mind I just I knew
that it was about 400 feet extended into that so it's coming from the edge of the
detention pond all right got you okay thank you any other questions before
recognizing the movement seeing none councilmember Melser I suppose I do need
a little clarification so without having an opinion about whether it's expressed
in rental agreements or not are we prohibited from having a condition that
idling for more than an hour is not permitted on the property some cities
have actually put some type of restriction like that on the idling
especially on the tractor trailer in that context above residential
neighborhoods the the more practical problem is that you know what I've
encountered is idling sometimes is required for the engine for the actual
tractor trailer I'm not an expert in that and that has always been the issue
about limiting the idling and so I'm really more after the legal question
because the applicant is yeah already saying that you know for practical point
of view that you could be able to impose you could impose that as part of the
condition of this application but there may be some practical issues involved
with enforcing that I'll take yes for an answer all right so I move approval
subject to the conditions as well as two additional actually three additional
conditions one is a prohibition against idling on the property for more than an
hour and I've just gone through the list of permitted uses that wouldn't be there
under the current zoning to see if there's anything else that might be
smelly or loud so this might sound a little odd but I'm going to also
include in my motion excuse me a prohibition against craft alcohol
production and kennels
cast my monitor okay I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be the last thing I say on this
one I just want to say so we're talking about trucks and trucks are smelly trucks
are loud trucks stop and trucks go and that's what they do and so we can't if
it's gonna be trucks there I don't see I mean that's what we're gonna get we're
gonna go we're gonna get smell loud stopping and going so I just want to be
clear you know that that we know what we're voting on that's all okay question
for the applicant if you don't mind what are your what's your feedback or thoughts
on the conditions made on the motion they have no idling for less than an hour
for more than an hour no kennels and no craft beer productions I know you've been
willing to put a I have no issue with the the craft beer production or kennels I
guess the only concern that that mr. Liao brought up was whether or not a
trucker would tell me that I have to idle for some I don't know but if I had
to idle it for an hour before I go I don't know if that's if that's if that's
wrong then then I have no issue with it but if it eliminated every ten and a
half from operate from being there I guess I would hate to have agreed to
that but I'd sure I don't know how to I don't want to table it and come back so I
certainly don't unless unless there's a mechanism why I could come back and tell
you that produced an issue for us I guess I would be okay with it okay all
right councilmember barmiter is that just from it okay that was just forgot
councilmember husband yeah can can I get some clarity where did how did you
arrive at one hour based on what and then what does craft alcohol and kennels
have to do and what what type of kennels are you talking this question for me it
has to be yes okay so the hour came from the exchange between councilmember Briggs
and the applicant which you know in that exchange as I heard it they went from
five minutes to an hour as a sort of a safe outside figure and I just as I said
I went through the list of what's won't be permitted under the new zoning that
that is not presently permitted to look for items that would be potentially
they're very odor producing or noise producing so that that that's where
those came from that's it not that I expect they do it but you know it does
happen from time to time that you change the zoning on a property it ends up with
a different owner and they have a different idea now what they want to do
with it so we've got neighbors who you know don't want to hear you know extended
noise and don't want you know don't want lots of smell so it's just an ounce of
an ounce of prevention so if I may yes sir I'm I'm absolutely not up to speed
on crafting alcohol fact but isn't that is there this flame associated with that
right there's you get a fight you like something right I mean so flammable and
diesel trucks gas you think though I just don't know that those go to I don't
know that I think those take care of itself just because someone doesn't want
to explode more so than a prohibition from the day but that that's okay I'm
not gonna support that because I just I just organically I don't like winging it
from up here and having an applicant have a conversation trying to be
transparent and then we take his feet and nail him to the floor I think I
trust Alex to make it right I trust the family there to let us know if he's not
making it right and there's a police element that we can fix that and we're
what I'm gonna do is just drive right and go over there and see if it is the
other industrial building then all this is for not and we have a different
conversation to have but I just don't think nailing someone down on something
that may or may not be the issue for whatever reason is is the key the key is
the zone it's industrial and I don't to consider houses in that area I that's a
bridge too far certainly but when you're talking about the industrial uses that
are put before us today the fact that they're factoring in the runoff etc etc
in the in allowing them for that accounting for that is significant and
so for me I just want to drive and find a problem and not hope you may be
punitive to someone that's trying to answer a question honestly and us say
well you said one hour so I'm gonna I'm gonna hold you to that how about we do
some due diligence do some research and work afterwards and come up with
something that is found on sound investigation versus winging it from up
here so I'm not going to support that motion and if it if it fails then I'll
make a clean motion that's a member of mayor pro tem Ryan thank you yes there's
no there's no second yet so we're still in discussion I've got a question I'm
not sure who might be able to answer it but when it comes to refrigerated trucks
do they have to have their engine running and is that considered idling in
order for that refrigeration system to stay on I don't know if there's anybody
out there that can answer that that question but that becomes an issue if
you restrict the idling that if someone is parking there with a refrigerated
truck for you know for an overnight while they go home take a shower get
eight hours sleep and they have to let it idle that's where where I have the
heartburn with with the no idling more than an hour type situation so I don't
know if anybody knows that or not applicant have an answer that does the
staff have an answer that you don't it's okay if you just shake your head you
don't have to come up tell me okay all right the the nods are in the negative
councilmember Briggs well I feel like there's a lot of questions now that
aren't answered and that we don't know and so I guess since I'm not the
original mover I can't motion to postponed but no I think a motion to
postpone takes presidents over a regular motion okay well I would like to make
that motion so that we can do the investigation that councilmember
hudspeth just asked for and we could find out what's really going on and Alex
can actually get more information on all the types of trucks that are coming and
we don't want to put a condition on there that is going to limit the people
that you can rent to so I feel like it's probably best and if we vote on it now
I'm gonna have to vote no I mean unless we do the the control idling because of
what we found out now and I don't have any other information so that's just my
motion so if I could just have some clarification on that okay when you said
because of what we found out now you're you saying because of the video that we
saw of course that wasn't idling that was something far different from that
but okay all right so we have a correct me if I'm wrong
mr. city attorney we have a we've had a original motion councilmember Melcer have
not had a second on it we have now I'm of course that's I guess my question
becomes if there's no second it's not really a I mean the real motion if we
get a second on the motion postponed not only because it's superior but also it
would only be the real motion on the table because we don't have a second for
the other one that is correct okay all right so we have a motion to postpone
that's been proposed by councilmember Briggs the board is set up such that we
can't really if you want to second that motion you're gonna have to get my
attention somehow councilmember Melcer go ahead yes so I'll second the motion to
postpone okay so we have a motion to postpone has been made by councilmember
Briggs and seconded by councilmember Melcer councilmember Hudsbeth I have a
question for Alex sure
is there something you wanted to say yeah I would actually I would actually
rather the the motion has proposed carry forth originally and then if it became
an issue such that I determined it made our our leasing problematic is there
could we come back to it for an amendment to our zoning and get the get
the if the supports there for for Paul's motion because I don't particularly have
any issue with the kennels or craft production then I prefer the vote take
place okay all right okay thank you so we the current motion is motion to
postpone so we have a motion to second no more discussion on that I don't see
let's vote on the board please okay can I withdraw my motion we haven't voted
yet if that's what you'd like to do okay so the motion to postpone has been
withdrawn from the movement second it occurred I guess the second doesn't have
to concur with that do you know okay so we're back to zero we're back to zero
so councilmember Meltzer do you want to what do I need to just reinstate yes yes
you do okay first of all I want to clarify the all none of this action
requires trucks as the business so you know there's no scenario where we either
anticipate nor don't anticipate trucks and brewing at the same time that's just
sort of absurd but yeah so I move that we approve this motion subject to the
conditions expressed in the document provided by staff as well as including a
prohibition against idling for an hour or more as well as prohibitions against
craft alcohol production and kennels okay all right do we have a second on
that motion councilmember Briggs I'll second all right we have a motion in a
second let's vote on the board please
motion carries six one we're going to take a five-minute break and then when
we come back I see that staff is here so we're going to run through them real
quickly and then we'll proceed on so thank you
welcome back to this meeting of the Denton City Council it is 8 13 p.m. on
February the 5th 2019 we're going to move through our altered agenda right
quick very quickly go return back to agenda items 6 B C and D we're going to
plow these out agenda item 6 B consider adoption of ordinance of the city of
Denton authorizing the expenditure of funds for the payment of wholesale
transmission charges and total amount of 4.65 etc a million dollars mayor city
council George Morrow DME general manager so pretty straightforward item
tonight the Public Utility Commission of Texas oversees reimbursement to the
electric utilities for their transmission costs we pay some entities that we use
for transmission and they other entities pay us it's all overseen by the PUC they
develop exactly who charges what amount of money historically we just paid those
things because they were a regulatory requirement but we thought for
transparency and visibility we would take the big numbers to you today so what
happens is I mentioned some folks OS we owe other electric utilities so the
billing is done on the net basis whoever owes is owed the most actually issues
the invoice so there's there's six invoices that we're bringing to you
today that exceed kind of what we would call our normal authority 50,000 these
are all turned out to be over 250,000 this is the last they're they're
mentioned several times in the ordinance it's about 4.6 million we're also going
to pay 11 other entities some smaller amounts less than 50 what I actually
thought was interesting is here's what folks owe us and we're issuing these
bills and these are some these are some pretty pretty good numbers so there's
actually I think 11 folks on here over 250 K that the same time we're paying
that 4.6 million we're issuing these bills for 28 million and there's also
68 other entities that are going to be paying a smaller amount so so you know
we're we're not the 600 pound gorilla but we're getting we're getting there
and because we we manage a lot of transmission that's important to the
aircott grid for moving power from West Texas through this area into into other
service areas so again just wanted to it's a lot of money wanted to make you
aware of this and looking for looking for a authorization to pay those six
invoices councilman breaks so we are paying 4.6 million and getting 28
million yeah it's actually more than that when we add up the small amounts on
the bottom we're going to be paying a total of 21 something million and we're
going to be getting 40 million so you know we're actually going to be netting
more money but it's not found money per se because it's just it reimburses us
for the cost that we incurred for those projects you know the debt that we've
issued and the operation of maintenance that we incurred so during our
discussions for substations and transmission lines that we were talking
about and we kept hearing we were going to get reimbursed for some of this
project this is the the item where we're we're seeing that this is how it happens
okay so all the costs are put into a big bucket in their peanut buttered I call
it to all of the different electric utilities because you deal with the law
of physics these electrons are going all over the place and so everybody kind of
pays a proportionate share of the whole pot of money and we've got a lot in the
pot so we're getting more back and that's where I'm helping us to pay our
bills well I appreciate this presentation and the transparency of this I can't
remember the last time I saw a detailed list like this to vote on so I
appreciate it all right well thank you thank you for that it comes up every
year at budget time so just ask George to go ahead and bring it before council
hopefully it kind of helps educate the public how all this works thank you
mayor pro tem move approval council member Meltzer I'll second motion and a
second for approval of agenda item 6b let's vote on the board please and thank
you for moving us up in the calendar appreciate it thank you motion carries
7-0 agenda item 6c consider adoption of an ordinance of the city of Denton a
Texas home rural municipal corporation authorizing the city manager to execute
the public works contract with Jagle public company for construction of
Hickory Creek Road widening project for the city of Denton community mayor and
council taught us to see engineer we recently bid the project for Hickory
Creek Road this is the limits of construction from Teasley Lane FM 2181
all the way over to River Pass you'll notice there were actually three
different colors here we bid this in alternates because we were not sure
based on the original funding the mouse has gone crazy I apologize for that we
originally bid it as a base bid for the area and green because that's what we
had funding for as of this time last fall but subsequently their CEOs we were
able to get the funding to complete the project the bid came in less than
expected on our based on our engineers estimate and we were able to go all the
way to River Pass as originally defined in the 2014 bond that's gracious so we
did have one bidder on this contract Jagle public as I said they were less
than the engineers estimate we had fully anticipated we're budgeted up to six
million dollars to do this project Jagle public came in at 5.3 and council is
recommending that we award this contract to Jagle public to complete this project
all right any questions for staff
chair would entertain them a motion council member husband move approval
mayor pro tem a second we have a motion and a second for agenda item 6c let's
vote on the board please motion carries 7-0 we'll move to agenda item 6d
considered option of an ordinance of the city of Dent Texas a home rule home rule
excuse me municipal corporation authorizing the city manager to execute
a public works contract with quality excavation for the construction of Hinkle
and Windsor paving and drainage projects this project is another project that's
been in the making for quite a while it's combination of multiple projects
the primary I don't know why it's scrolling on its own so the project
itself is a combination of paving project which is partially Windsor Drive
from locust all the way over to Hinkle and then Hinkle itself all the way south
to University Drive then you also got the stormwater improvements that are a
phase 2 we had done some of the stormwater improvements originally
through this part of the neighborhood and this picks that up and connects it
down into this creek here one of the interesting items on this project is that
we had an alternate bid here as well the alternate bid was for a concrete line
channel which would have cut across the Good Samaritan property here along the
east side of Hinkle we also bid it out as a large culvert with a shallow
natural line or grassline channel as the base bid but just to make sure that we
were covered on the cost and able to come in with the budget estimate we had
hoped to get we put both bids out there so we had both options to continue to go
forward when we bid the project quality excavation came in as the lowest bidder
for both the base bid and the alternate bid even though the alternate bid or the
base bid was just a little bit higher we're still recommending that option as
the preferred option all of those options were below the original
engineers estimate and then tonight we are recommending approval of the
contract for six point three million dollars with quality excavation to do
this work. Councilman Briggs. So can you clarify the recommendation that you're
going with was that for the natural earthen for the base bid yes it's the
natural line channel with box culverts underneath to handle the high flows okay
I appreciate you putting out the second bid and that it was affordable for us to
do on this because this is a well-known area of Denton and he goal has been in
need of repair for a long time do we have a timing of this say it's approved
tonight what what people can look for and expect to drive on right we'd have to get the
contract executed by the contractor that will happen fairly quickly and as all of
that comes through that typically takes about six to eight weeks to mobilize it
could be quicker depends on how quick things move and then of course weather
could push us out so I would say realistically we're potentially looking
to April but I'll be able to give you a better answer that as soon as we get
past tonight and then get the contractor on board in the pre-con and so the
drainage will go we'll start first is that the first part of the drainage and
utility relocations thank you a councilmember husband thank you my
question Todd do we have the results back from the soap from the base and in
the depth and and kind of the foundation for streets is we have that I know you
were doing that study a week is that back and so these paper tell yours
analysis yes sir we do have that back we have it back in a rough draft current
staff is currently evaluating the results they do look to be potentially
what we expected we are evaluating quality the results they look good so we
should have a final draft coming back for council as a work session item here
within the next month or so in general they confirmed what our current standards
are those are the standards we updated about two years ago so the pavements
that we are putting in for both Hinkle Windsor Hickory Creek the roadways we're
putting out today they are recommended to be the current standard for us so
thank you very much answer and I move approval Councilmember Briggs I'll second
we have a motion to second for agenda item 16 let's vote on the board please
motion carries 7-0 I made a comment when we first started the work session that
coming off of an illness in my mind might not be working as well as it should
so we're going to reopen agenda item 60 with no presentation I found a blue card
wishing to speak Emily Meisner if you let me call this item one more time
consider adoption of an ordinance of the city of didn't take this home room in
this corporation authorizing the city manager executed public works contract
which age old Jagle public company I apologize for that that's what happens
when you sort of switch things up so we will revote on this as well after the
public comment hi Emily Meisner 1700 Cordero court done in Texas 76210 thank
you for listening to me this evening I wanted to come and express my thanks to
council for collaborating with the county on this Hickory Creek Road issue
that is the county property I also want to say since I am a d4 constituent it's
so important that we're heard that our voices are heard and that these student
advocate voices are heard who brought this issue to our attention they want to
feel that their council members hear them and take their thoughts into
consideration so thank you to those of you who have been proactive on this
issue going forward I'd like to look to things like how we can collaborate with
the county and the city and the future to avoid potential issues with road
safety initiatives and Geier students have expressed concern about the walk
ability to Geier high school with the Teasley traffic so I'd just like to have
a little more collaborative proactive approach and make sure that all of our
community members voices are heard when they come to us thank you thank you any
questions for the speaker thank you and I apologize thank you councilmember
Hudsbeth move approval mayor pro tem second all in favor let's vote on the
board please motion carries 7-0 our next item then we'll move on to is agenda
item 6e I don't see one here agenda item 60 do we have a presentation on that
madam city secretary okay I do have one nomination and they have filled out an
application application is for the committee on persons with disabilities
it's Sonya red wine who's with United Way so I would make that nomination for
that committee do we need a second on that okay all right any more nominations
yes oh yes I would like to nominate Randy Weinberg to the animal shelter
advisory committee I think that's it one W E I N B E R G Randy and have they
filled out an application do you know for the it was a recommendation so I
think so okay and I still have one I need to get on that and I'll get on that
next next meeting any other nominations for any vacancies
because my monitor so I wanted to ask the the DCTA alternate position is that
when are we set to vote on that we will either put it on the next agenda or the
one on the 26th we've been working with the DCTA legislation quite frankly once
once that legislation passes one of you most likely the mayor at this point or
one of the council members will be serving on that board so I'm not
anticipating a member for DCTA pending the legislative outcome being on there
for more than four or five months at the most and then the legislation has been
written allowing our elected officials to serve as board members on DCTA which
was our preference so that's that's why it hasn't been an item of urgency once
Sarah Baguera was put on there okay so that preclude so just to confirm so that
precludes it doesn't preclude however it could be like it could be a three or
four month appointment as a backup and it's it's really up to you to determine
whether there's value to that we've got three three meetings or four meetings
left until that legislation probably passes yeah we're way out of posting on
that I think is that right I mean it's not listed on here well it just says
about nominations well it's a city boards commissions and committees that's
a yeah but but that's good information no no you're fine that's good
information well we'll get that figured out maybe a memo on it or something okay
so we have councilmember Briggs I move to approve these nominations do you have
mayor pro tem a second we have a motion and a second for these approval of these
nominations according to agenda item 6e let's vote on the board please
motion carries seven zero all right back to the agenda public hearings we've got
agenda item 5b which is hold a public hearing and consider adoption of an
ordinance of the city of Denton Texas assigning an initial zoning classification
and use designation of nr4 on approximately 86 acres of land and a
rezoning approximately six acres of land from existing neighborhood residential
nr2 to nr4 I will go ahead and open the public hearing thank you mayor council
members for the record I'm Cindy Jackson with the development services department
and what we have before us today is a request request for an initial zoning
designation on 86 acres of land of nr4 and a rezoning of approximately six
acres of land from nr2 to nr4 this is the subject site right here here's a look
at the current zoning map as you can see the 86 acres has a holding zoning
designation of our d5x it was annexed into the city back in November of 2018
and the site also includes six acres right in the corner here in the upper
northwest corner that is already within the city it has a designation of nr2 at
this time and they're requesting to rezone that to nr4 you can see here the
zoning map the proposed zoning map this is what it will look like should this
application be approved and as you can see it's a logical extension of the nr4
zoning that is located to the west across the railroad tracks as well as
the nr4 zoning that is located to the northeast sub chapter 3 of the Denton
development code contains criteria for approval of a zoning request these
criteria are the proposed rezoning conforms to the future land use element of
the Denton plan 2030 and the proposed rezoning facilitates the adequate
provision of transportation water sewer schools parks and other public
requirements and public convenience the subject site is designated a low
residential low residential encompasses the zoning districts of nr1 and our two
nr3 and nr4 it supports a density of up to four dwelling units per acre the
proposed nr4 district is consistent with the future land use designation there is
water available to the site from an eight inch line located up here along
Creekview and the site is also served by a ten inch wastewater line along Creek
Dale the applicant will improve Hickory Creek Road along the site frontage on
the south side of the site which you can see right here as well as extend
Creekdale Drive along the frontage the traffic impact analysis which the
applicant has worked on includes the moving of Hickory Creek Road the Hickory
Creek Road alignment the mobility plan currently shows it curving through
the site and the traffic impact analysis and indicates the best alignment for
Hickory Creek Road would be along the south side of the strike the site
straight removing all curvature the applicant will coordinate off-site
improvements such as road widening sidewalks and turn lanes with the Hickory
the city Hickory Creek Road project regarding Ryan Road an area-wide study
will kick off soon for Ryan Road similar to the one that was done for Sherman
Drive FM 428 up to the north and as you know there are two CIP projects planned
for Hickory Creek Road we anticipate by the time this site is ready to develop
these projects should be well underway the TIA that the applicant provided
will need to be updated prior to the submittal of the preliminary plat at
this time we have not received a concept plan which shows lots and street
layouts once we know what that is the TIA will have to be updated during the
annexation presentation proceedings DISD stated that the district could
accommodate the additional students that are gently were generated from that by
this site and that's been a question that has come up frequently however they
say they will be able to accommodate them we did send out notices for this
site we received two in favor that you can see here along the western edge
these two comprise seven percent of the land area within the 200 foot boundary
and signs were posted on the site the Planning and Zoning Commission
recommended approval of this request with a vote of five to two the one of
the commissioners were opposed to it because of the traffic situation that
exists in the at this in the site right now however since the Planning and
Zoning Commission meeting steps have been put in place to improve that
situation and I wasn't able to discern why the the second recommendation for
denial was staff also recommends approval for this request it is
compatible with the surrounding property and consistent with the objectives of
the Denton plan 2030 and that concludes my presentation
Councilmember Briggs yeah so I think the second one descending was also for
traffic reasons it they took the vote on the night of the accident and so I think
that had some impact on their decision so that kind of goes to my question
because we saw that the suit the two CIP projects and we we've already approved
some of those tonight and so I'm just you did say that they would be underway
I'm curious when will they be complete well that that I'm not sure I know that
the first phase that you just approved what is expected to be completed in 12
months the second phase which goes from the the edge of that down to country
club they are saying that the design should be completed within 24 months
after getting the the contract approved with with the engineering firm that will
be doing the design work the there's a concept engineering plan that should be
on your agenda next Tuesday and that will cover three phases of Hickory Creek
the first phase will be from River Pass to Country Club phase two from Country
Club to 377 and then to 35 so we'll be asking your permission to move forward
with that contract next Tuesday and I would expect concept design on that
first phase not to take more than 12 months or so but there's there's a number
of environmental clearances and that sort of thing they're gonna have to be
worked through because there's a couple of creeks that have to be crossed so
city manager by by approving this item we're not saying that more than more
than likely the the situation would be significantly improved so that we're not
putting any more people in danger by approving a development on this road boy
that's pretty so there's there's two things happening the concept
design is gonna be necessary in order to try to get the funding squared away the
ultimate build out of that roadways about forty million dollar projects so
the reason we're doing it this way is to try to access state dollars and we're
also in discussions with the county to try to kick in so once we get the concept
design in place my guess my guess is between the concept design phase one
construction we are three to four years out if we can really get moving so
there's a couple of the second part of this is I've asked mr. Estes to come
back within the within the month and we're put we're currently working on an
expedited road package for the council to consider in this next budget cycle one
would include the ultimate build out of hooker Creek next one's going to include
Ryan Road from Country Club to Teasley which I'm not sure why that hasn't been
widened Sherman Drive which is we're getting a lot of concerns about from the
loop up north and then Jim Crystal Road so that package will be brought before
you with those roadways to expedite design and try to get them built in the
next few years so we'll be ready with the subdivision beat the road it's
possible but it won't be too far behind if we can get things moving okay thank
you councilmember Armitage okay yes so this is a question for legal actually
that would it be possible to to get into to get a friendly amendment into this
zoning change that the zoning change doesn't become effective until the
improvements to Hickory Creek are complete for safety reasons I'm not aware
of any case law that would prohibit you from doing that but from a practical
sense of the developer that would throw off their timing that might raise some
legal issues for the city and this council which I would not I would advise
to advise you in closed session yeah I can imagine thank you I can imagine yeah
I mean I mean this sounds like a nice really nice project and the I'm so
happy that these improvements to Hickory Creek are finally coming as a result of
the city collaborating with the county I'm glad this is finally happening I
like both these things however the timing the timing I don't like and so I
would only feel comfortable voting yes to this if we if we could get get
something in there you know postponing just further development in this year I
mean or at least you know postponing this zoning change until the the roadwork
is incomplete if the roadwork is complete the applicant is here and she
can answer questions yeah we've got a whole public hearing we're gonna have on
this so let me let's get through staff presentation and then we'll open the
public hearing those questions can be addressed any other questions for staff
seeing that thank you I believe I've opened the public hearing if I haven't
I'm opening the public hearing we do have a couple of cards but this is a
public hearing so anybody wishing to speak will the applicant I believe is
that you ever are you the applicant okay come on down and if you have a
presentation and then we'll take questions from the dais and then we'll
have our second blue card speaker
Abra Nusser PO box 93211 South Lake Texas 76092 I'm with ideation planning
I'm the applicant here tonight representing four star and this project
is for lakeside place so this is the same project that we came before you
talking about annexation so this will look familiar to you and we did hold a
neighborhood meeting in September we had no negative comments about the proposed
development specifically just existing concerns regarding cut through traffic
which have been discussed in multiple venues through since this project
started but not specifically about our development annexation was completed in
November like Cindy was saying the traffic impact analysis will be
finalized when we have a lot layout this is just straight zoning so that lot
layout has not been finalized in any way nor have any street alignments or
anything like that so we will be assessed our public improvements at the
time of plotting not at not at this time but it will depend on how many lots we
put forth PNZ recommended approval in January so process here would be zoning
then platting then building permits so four star believes in building
sustainable communities with a true sense of place we are kind of familiar
with where this is at this point but I'd like to show you some pictures and a
concept so this is our preliminary concept as you can see we are preserving
a significant amount of open space or we're proposing to there is an
environmentally sensitive area on the property that we are proposing to
maintain and preserve and we talked about cluster developments earlier but
really pushing those lots up into the northeast corner to preserve as much open
space and environmental assets as we can so these are some photos of some
beautiful assets on the property that we would be proposing to maintain we're
really looking to make a special place a special neighborhood that has a value
that's not anywhere else which would be those natural assets that people can
enjoy right in their front and backyards so next steps and I want to talk about
this for a moment because there is a question about timing so the in terms of
timing we're finalizing we're proposing to finalize the zoning tonight and then
we would go into the plotting process the plotting process does take it can
take a couple of months a few months just depending on the staff process and
revisions and whatnot so there would be a preliminary plot and then there would
be a final plot so that process would take it you know at least from the time
of preliminary plot to the time we turn dirt will be probably at least a year and
a half so just there's a lot of things that get going between plotting and
turning dirt as we call it that will take some time so it won't be an
immediate we go out and clear and grade and you know we're ready to go full
construction so there will be a delay on our part in terms of when houses
actually start to be constructed and it full build out could take a couple of
years or even a few years just depending on the rate at which the builder would
build the builder has not been identified yet so that's also a process
that would need to be gone through after entitlements and with that I will take
any questions any questions for the speaker seeing none thank you next
speaker will be mr. Willie Hutzpeth no okay mr. Hutzpeth declines those are all
the blue cards that I have let me double check this is a public hearing anybody
wishing to speak please come down state your name and address and your time will
begin anybody wishing to speak okay we'll close the public hearing council
member armature so question for staff about the process you can actually you
don't mind just can just leave this on there so so just to be clear so you know
as this is we proceeded into these next steps because this is just the zoning
right and and at any stage along the way as concerns arise we can weigh in you
know council the things that come before council we get to weigh in on I mean you
know some of this is let's see I know the platting and the building permits I
mean is this is kind of our this is this is our last chance right there are a lot
of steps that weren't this is a simplified version yeah they still have
to complete their impact analysis and they after they complete their
preliminary plat they will have to have their construction engineering plans
approved and that is a long process from what I understand and then they will
have their final plat approved so the fun the planning goes before PNZ building
permits are approved administratively as our traffic impact analysis and
construction plans yeah okay yeah so this is okay well thank you I guess I'll
wait to see what the what the movement is is for if there's a timeline line in
it like I said is it lovely and compatible once we get the traffic issue
fixed and it is a comfort to me knowing and it makes sense that that you know
without knowing a builder that you know this process does take a while anyway
the applicant is asked if they can make a point of clarification they misspoke
on time I think yes I would love to hear just to clarify a clearing and grading
permit for the area of construction we would start those type of site
development activities but it would be approximately 16 months a year and a
half before a the first home would be ready so just there would be activity on
the site but in terms of people and homes that activity would be in the
future thank you for clarifying question first city attorney I in this one
particular circumstance would it be permissible to apply a condition that
that the platting come to council after P&Z which is you're not the ordinary
procedure over here just because you know we would what you know I think
everyone's picking up on is that we want an opportunity to say yes but hit the
brakes if the timing doesn't align well with the safety improvements and the
Creek Creek chapter 212 of the local government code basically sets forth who
the admin the approving body of any plants are that's set forth so when when
the city created the planning and zoning Commission many many years ago they are
the body entrusted by state law to make the final decisions on preliminary or
just plats in general we bifurcated to preliminary and final plan to remove
that power away from P&Z to here would violate state law thank you that's the
members so so we are these questions for staff yeah I'm just gonna we're still in
the public hearing I know we did not close the public hearing I did close up
public hearing yes okay I'm sorry see it's getting late even though it's not
that late council member Rick sorry we had just for clarification on this
because this this area this neighborhood what we're doing it's the kind of
development that we've been asking for it's the open spaces the natural creeks
the clustering of the homes and it's fantastic it looks beautiful it's all
that we could ask for but we just want to make sure that when we put someone
there in that home that when they leave their home they're safe and I think
that's the concern right now that you're hearing on council so I just want to
clarify because we heard and we know that all these projects are lined up we
approved one tonight one's coming to us next week the one for the county has
been been approved there's temporary things or there's things that have
already been put in place like barriers and lights and so there's already some
things happening so by the year two if you could just because you talked about
phases and so by in two years I'm just trying to get an idea of how far along
we would be I know you mentioned it earlier and it's really hard to to say
because of weather and time but I just want to make sure that when I vote on
this I'm I'm comfortable with the the timing I think concept design and a lot
of it's gonna depend on budget and how we try to access federal funding the
reason you go to 377 and I 35 W is to do this once and get as much federal
funding in as we can get so we're probably looking at at least at 18 months
to 24 months I will check with Todd on the Todd Estes on that first phase to
country club it would be helpful as I was just talking to mr. can only be
helpful to get some assurance or have a discussion with the petitioner whether
they would hold off the preliminary planning at least six months to get us
synced up with our engineering that's our biggest concern at this point is
making sure that this is done in a coordinated fashion there there there
has been an ingress egress plan that had been contingent upon accessing Ryan Road
to the north through a new subdivision that recently been built that's certainly
not going to be our optimal solution it would work for a while but I think that
that first phase we're probably two to three years out if we can expedite the
thing that's making this one more challenging or the environmental
clearances because you've got two bridges are gonna have to be built and
that's going to delay the timing a little bit more it's not just a simple
road project this is going to take a little bit longer so if we could get
there assurance that would work with us on on truing up that that engineering
schedule to where we have a better timeline by later this summer that would
be helpful so I have a question for legal is that something we can do here
can we ask that they delay their preliminary plat for six months you can
certainly ask the applicant and it's going to be up to the applicant to see
their agreeable I don't know any about the financing plans the applicant may
have any outstanding contracts that may have a time deadline associated with
that that that would be the issue and so if the applicant is meanable to that
then that would be great let me comment first if you don't mind I really
appreciate the concerns the safety concerns and the timing issue but look
I mean I'm going to be pretty candid here and that's because I'm against the
project I I'm struggling with the project because of the density not just
because of the issues but when you're talking about a 40 million dollar
project that you've got to work with text dot on that you're probably gonna
want to work with the county on on funding with two bridges and things such
as that I would just really hesitate to place your cards if safety is really
really your issue it six months it doesn't matter I mean we all know how
complicated this is and we're saying 40 million dollars right now we've seen in
the past how depending on the timing that that can jump so I'm not saying to
not support the project I'm just saying that we need to look at this
realistically and I appreciate the city manager being candid as well but we've
had conversations and this is a very beginning process of this so I just want
to put that out there to let everybody know that there's a lot of things we can
say and we would try to commit to but we know how these processes go and things
can really bog down for a lot of different reasons which we have
absolutely zero control over so I just put that out there as some facts to
consider not to persuade anybody to vote against it for that reason but I would
hate to think that you're going to vote for it based upon some kind of statement
that in no way has guaranteed a timeline that seems to give some cover to vote
for it and in three or four years we're still struggling to get some movement
and those are my comments so yes you can come forward so a couple things
we are responsible for our fair share of the public improvements and those public
improvements need to be roughly proportional to our impact on the
traffic system and on the city as a whole with that those public improvements
are assessed at the time of platting I have worked with this staff extensively
in the past and in the name of life and safety they require quite a great deal
when we come forward with a plat those life safety concerns traffic design
concerns will be reviewed extensively if you have a development in the hopper
that is required to pay their fair share of those public improvements we can help
contribute to the cost of the Hickory Creek Road improvements without us
coming in you won't have the ability to have that participation at this time so
and I would love to hear a staff perspective on the life safety type
reviews that happen with the platting process specifically the traffic impact
analysis that is required at the time of platting the traffic impact analysis
takes into consideration the impact of the development on the vicinity and the
city so those types of impacts will be reviewed and we will be held to a
standard that staff will not let us put something out there that isn't safe
that's part of the review process so I would love to hear with your if you guys
are interested on the staff perspective on that life safety review I do have a
request if you could put up the slide that shows the development and you
mentioned because when you start talking about contributing to perimeter streets
or public improvements I want to make sure because it seems to say that well
we can contribute to this 40 million dollar project but when you start
considering the the length of that it's gonna be very minimal it's not going to
be y'all gonna be contributing 10 or 20 million dollars to our impact and
definitely not 40 million dollars but so my question becomes because that's in
our mobility plan but that's not necessarily what your perimeters street
perimeter requirements may be and I thought you said when you had up the map
that we have to improve this street or that street for the development did I
miss that or was that on the hill and Hickory do you have a slide on that I'm
sorry Cindy had to slide on that so yeah staff if you'll come up and address
that average question about the life and safety sort of review at the plotting
process of traffic safety issues but also just what exactly would they be
required to contribute to improvement of perimeter streets for that slide you had
a slide where to say that one more time
this one yes okay and is there a way to blow up that map or enlarge it excuse me
I'm not sure
oh there thank you all right that's fine okay so so which roads quote-unquote
would they be required to add they will be required to do Hickory Creek along
their frontage they will be required to connect Creek Creekdale okay okay to the
north east west and try to remember what else that was all that was all that was
in their conditional TIA right now right so if you could maybe move the map up
there you go so when you say they have to improve Hickory Creek on their
frontage it goes from Creekdale to where right where the where's their property
line right there the property line is right here all right okay which that all
right thank you appreciate that so now you can answer the questions of traffic
safety impact review and then the the traffic impact analysis looks at traffic
safety it looks at number of trips it looks to see what kind of impact it will
have on the surrounding area what types of improvements will be required with
regards to street improvements traffic signals stop signs things like this what
what if they need to have some sort of special dedicated turn lanes to prevent
any issues with somebody slowing down to make a turn and causing a collision
because people behind them weren't paying attention left turn lanes and
right hand turn lanes dedicated just for that those are the kinds of things that
will be determined with the TIA when it's updated okay and you had a comment
I think to address that any other questions for staff while we have her up
councilmember Riggs doesn't usually win that I don't like this for zoning come
to council we have the TIA already yes we do have the TIA ready when there's a
certain amount of trips however this one is only been conditionally approved
because we don't have a lot layout and we don't know what the street layout
will be yet often I say oftentimes people will come with a concept plan
that shows a lot layout and things such as that especially if they're trying to
acquire a certain density based upon exchanges of there's a lot of flood
plain and there's a lot of open space so four units per acre is going to mean
more units per acre because they're getting offsets but we don't have that
sometimes we do have that right we just recently in the past few months I guess
just this past year been requiring the TIA prior to the preliminary plat
typically a TIA is part of the preliminary plat process but because of
the traffic infor issues that we've been running against with our zoning we have
been requiring to have the TIA submitted early with zoning if there are certain
number of trips generated from the site did you have a comment well I was
initially gonna ask the council to delay this a week so we could get and talk to
Todd but he's just texting me he says that that major roadway swing to the
north is off the table right now they're considering going straight down Hickory
Creek and lining it up that way so I just want to be sure because the plans
that we've seen up till now had anticipated a kind of a north westerly
swing like you're seeing in the dotted line there but it looks like they're
looking at Hickory Creek going more of a straight direction down straight west so
that changes things a little bit but I still think it will be wise to have him
address this if the council is concerned about it yeah that was that was in a
finding of the early TIA was that this alignment wasn't working and the TIA
recommended a straight alignment for this development yes but what you're
saying is for the ultimate fix for Hickory Creek Road I mean so that that's
obviously in flux obviously right now yeah it is okay any other questions for
staff all right thank you did you have a comment based upon what you've heard or
because I recognize I had the comment about timing but yes clarify one thing
that Cindy said any assessment of public improvements at this time is premature
we do not have a lot count we do not have a lot layout we will not be maxing
out density just due to the product and type that the developer in the you know
market is demanding so there will not it won't be maxed out on density so any
assessment of exact public improvements at the time of zoning is premature just
if we're talking about specific contributions the second thing is we do
have a real estate contingency that is contingent upon platting should we
receive any delays that would be blown out of the water so you know it waiting
six months waiting a year waiting two years that's not feasible for this
project so just appreciate that thank you any other questions council member
husband yes so I'm gonna move approval and I'm gonna comment that for me I
think if better said safety is paramount and so with that that comes with more
than just lending comments to that it's as this body we can assign more dollars
we can fast-track that project we can work with the county earlier we can pay
that price and so whatever that's 40 million that could be 20 million to do
half of it whatever it is but it's one thing to say it's important and then not
be willing to take the steps to back that up or you can say yes it is
important and yes we're gonna do the things that we need to do on our end and
hold ourselves accountable into a higher level to fulfill that project or work
with the county and not be beholden to other entities I mean you just kind of
take that initiative and move the ball forward as best you can within the
rights provided to us and so with that I move approval understanding that when it
comes to those times if that they it's easier for me to say that we're going to
take a leadership role than to predict the weather in two years that's just
that we're trying to say hey we're going to have these caveats and these things
that we have no control over versus saying let's start a pace now that says
we're gonna line up all the couches we need and I can't find all the money we
need to to be in position to fix this issue and not kick the can down the
road or not and so that's that's where I fall on I respect that the nr4 versus
nr2 but for me looking at the surrounding areas of ETJ I'm comfortable
with nr4 I'm comfortable with the project I'm excited that it's not maxed
out I'm excited that they are saving some trees and maintaining some of that
that beauty that natural beauty that's there and I just I think we'd be remiss
there's there's other developers there's other people to come before us that we
have a great relationship with the city understanding Abra used to work with the
city that that to me earns some consideration that she she gets it and
that she would be considerate and respectful and mindful of the things we
have to do and then ultimately come to a to a good resolution but but so that's
my thought behind moving to approve. All right thank you Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you
Mayor and I agree with Councilmember Husspeth and just wanted to add to that
that one of things we need to to make sure that we get done we need to get
that mobility plan updated and we need to get these projects ready so that we
can have the voters vote on them in November to get these things rolling as
quickly as possible because we only have twice a year that we can send them to
the voters for a road project of this size to be approved and with that I will
second. Councilmember Armitage. Yeah so I just want to address the issue of kind
of expediting the Hickory improvements I of course I completely agree with that
good to do the expedite the the funding and everything else about it as much as
possible however as the city manager said recently I mean there's some there
are a number of aspects of the plans for for Hickory Creek beyond the funding
issue that will make this take a lot of time there you know engineering problem
solving issues and so it's not just a matter of money and so you know for that
reason I'm gonna have to be voting no to this although I I do hope that you know
no matter what happens we can get this done as as quickly as possible but it
does make sense to me that it would by this I mean the Hickory Creek road
improvements but it will take a lot of time that does that make sense to me and
I appreciate the honesty and transparency on that that issue and also you know
from the developer the honesty and transparency on you know how it does
take a long time so and you know you don't have all the time to to wait so I
understand that councilmember breaks so smile my last comment I'm gonna have to
to vote no on this which is heartbreaking because I really love the
development but again I I'm concerned and the mayor like the mayor said it's
it's really a concern for me and I have been pretty consistent in making sure
when I vote for something that the infrastructure is there and that it can
handle what's coming and to be honest we don't have a true TIA we don't know
what's coming we just have you know a pretty picture and and without the
postponing of the plat then I just can't get behind it right now okay any others
just briefly I stated my concerns it is maxing out on the number of units per
acre allowed under the 2030 plan I mean rule was it rule residential or low low
low residential low density residential it's at the high end of that so you've
got nr2 that you've got nr4 that can be filled in the middle you've got nr2
that's adjacent to it on two sides as well and then you have nr3 and I just
think that it's just personal preference it's just looking at the density
understanding that we don't have a lot layout understanding that some of that's
in the floodplain which you can use as offsets there's just a lot of questions
that I have that I would like to have answered but that's also not necessarily
at this point of the process just some people in the past have brought that
forward to try to bolster the presentation so I'll be voting against it
but not necessarily for those same reasons as far as Hickory Creek Road I
think we're gonna do Hickory Creek Road we're gonna do it as quickly as
possible but understand now with a new change we don't know how that impacts the
the costing and then environmental studies and engineering so nothing
against the project would certainly entertain a different zoning classification
or different density but those are my comments any others okay we have a
motion and a second for agenda item 6b let's vote on the board please
motion fails for okay I didn't could you there it is up there motion fails four
to three moving on to agenda item 6c hold a public hearing and consider
adoption of notice of the city of Denton Texas approving a specific use permit to
allow for multifamily residential use as a part of a mixed-use development on
approximately 31 acre site generally located on the north side of Windsor
Drive east of I-35 North frontage Road this is a public hearing so I will now
open the public hearing and we'll have staff presentation
all right good evening I'm Haley's Gursky with development services so this
case is s-188 for the Windsor Drive apartments the request before you is to
hold a public hearing and consider adoption of an ordinance regarding a
request for a specific use permit to allow a multifamily development outlined
in yellow on the map is the total 31 acres which is the subject property it's
located at the intersection of Windsor Drive and I-35 the property is
currently zoned neighborhood residential mixed-use within the NRM you district
there are two requirements for multifamily one is a specific use permit
and then the second is limitation for limitation for does have kind of five
options the first of which is the SUP and then the others including mixed-use
developments or prior approvals in this case with them going for the SUP they
would be satisfying both of those requirements the specific use permit
does have numerous criteria for approval outlined in the DDC I won't read through
these they're enumerated in your backup but in general it requires a a compatibility
analysis to see if the proposed development would be consistent with
surrounding zoning and land uses as well as seeing if there are provisions that
should be put in place to prevent any nuisances being generated from the
proposed use so just looking at an overall picture just this is turned
sideways so north is off to the right side of your screen here this
development the multifamily portion is just under 17 acres out of that total
31 the remainder of the property is intended to be developed with commercial
uses at some point in the future so that would be kind of phase two of this and
there are numerous commercial uses such as hotels that could be permitted in
this district to fill in those spaces at a later date some of the existing
conditions surrounding the property the the purple shading on your map here which
you see covering the subject property and the property to the east is an
existing gas well plot the city approved back in 2003 within that plot there were
two wells permitted both of those wells are in existence today and in operation
those are the red dots located within that area they're called out on the map
as the pain number one and two wells and because these wells are existing there is
a 250 foot reverse setback required for this development since multifamily is a
protected use so looking in a little more detail at the proposed site plan
that was provided to you the as I mentioned the multifamily is just on a
portion of the subject property 16 and a half acres roughly out of the 31 the
site plan proposes 336 units a mixture of one two and three bedrooms that puts
the density for this development at about 20 and a half units per acre the
maximum for NRM U is 30 so they're well below that what they're proposing is
just over 315 thousand square feet of building area that's on this plan shown
to be 16 buildings that are each three stories they are providing a parking in
accordance with our code so 632 spaces total shown on the plan and the access
to the site would be from two locations one here would be on the north end of
the property off of the frontage road the second would be a connection here at
Windsor that would align with the existing drive to the south there is an
existing access point for the gas well that's currently here in what would be
the future expansion of Windsor Drive so that access is proposed to be relocated
directly over here so there would be a gas well access road going due north off
of Windsor Drive looking at the landscape plan for this development what
the site plan and landscape plan reflect is approximately 49 percent lot coverage
51 percent landscape area those are both well within the parameters required for
NRM U because there are those gas wells which are considered an industrial use
on the adjoining property to the east they are required to have a type D
buffer between the residential use and the industrial use the code would
require that be a 30 foot wide area with eight trees and 20 shrubs for every
hundred linear feet the landscape plan as you see here does reflect an
alternative which the code allows the planning director to approve or it could
be approved as part of this SUP that would include the minimum 30 foot width
with a lower number of trees and no shrubs and in place of that would be a
six foot opaque fence the plan reflects that they would do intend to meet all
the internal landscaping requirements for the parking lot street trees and
just general landscaping they also call out on the plan that they do intend to
have open space amenities such as picnic areas and dog parks but those locations
were not specifically shown on the plan there are multiple elevations that were
provided in your backup so I'll just show a couple of the samples here they
are proposing a neutral kind of earth tone and gray tone color palette with a
combination of hardy siding hardy plank and stucco as the building materials
so just another of the sample buildings that they provided so in going through
those criteria for approval all kind of pretty quickly through our findings so
consistency with the future land use plan is one of those this property is
designated for business innovation as we talked about earlier that's kind of our
office and employment park designation but it does also call for supporting
commercial uses and higher density residential uses for the employees of
those office parks so in this particular area we do have low residential pretty
close surrounding the property to the south and the east so this residential
use would be kind of a transition between those higher intensity uses called
for in building innovation or business innovation and the low residential so we
found that the proposed use provided that fitting transition between the
commercial development she would typically see on a highway the higher
employment and industrial type uses permitted in business innovation and the
surrounding residences this site does not immediately adjoin single-family if it
did there would be a lower buffer requirement in place so because there is
that industrial use a higher buffer is required and there would be no
immediate connectivity between the multifamily development in any adjoining
single-family multifamily isn't unlikely used to generate any nuisances in terms
of odors fumes noise or glare they are proposing to provide adequate access and
parking and they would be required to comply with the DDC site lighting
requirements the scale of the development as they proposed it is
consistent with all the NRMU regulations and is generally consistent with what we
would see in a highway location such as this there is adequate infrastructure in
place at this time in terms of water and sewer you can see on the map the blue
lines indicating existing water lines in Windsor and along the frontage and then
there is a sewer lines available along Windsor that they could tie into and
bring to the north Windsor road dedication are and improvements are
expected with this development for the frontage of the property public
notification was sent regarding this case we received no written responses the
neighborhood meeting was held back in September and there were approximately
15 to 20 residents in attendance at that meeting for what I recall and the
applicant could speak to this as well they didn't express any general concerns
with the development as it was shown on the plans so in your ordinance that was
provided to you in your backup there are numerous requirements based on the plans
that we've seen here that we have written into the text of the ordinance to
enumerate those in perpetuity in the event that the plans you know over time
became illegible the the general requirements of that would be called out
in the ordinance as part of that staff is also recommending that staff have the
ability to approve increases or decreases of less than or equal to five
percent from any of the amounts that are enumerated here so I won't read through
through those specifically but I'm happy to answer any questions regarding them
and then following that staff is recommending four conditions that are
also outlined in your draft ordinance the first being related to the text on
access to the property the second is related to landscaping third is
regarding the gas well setbacks and then the fourth is that the city would
reserve the right to require the amendment to the SUP in the event that
there was any changes proposed that were greater than what is outlined in the
ordinance and again I'm happy to answer any questions regarding these PNC did
hold a public hearing on November 28th and recommended approval for three with
staff's recommendations and conditions as outlined here and that concludes my
presentation but I'm happy to stand for any questions
Councilmember Armitage can you can you say remind me how close to the closest
home the gas wells will be to the multifamily development yes yeah how
close to the exterior wall so what you see here the the red circle surrounding
the southern well is is the 250 foot radius from that existing well site and
then on the north side you can see the the red call out there being the 250
from the proposed boundaries if that site were to expand in the future
currently they would be at three to four hundred feet between the pad sites and
the structures themselves because of the agreement that's in place with the
operator that requires nothing be within that 250 foot setback for the southern
well mm-hmm yeah thank you yeah for that for that reason I'm gonna have to say no
to it because of the proximity to the gas well but it makes me sad to say no
to more multifamily housing we certainly need it but thank you
got some member breaks what I'm just curious about the outside structure why
there's not any stone or brick or any type of something on it that would make
it look a little bit more like not like a hotel certainly so currently the DDC
requires 40% stone brick or masonry for multifamily and the historic
interpretation of masonry has been that because hardy board and hardy plank or
cementitious products and stucco is also cement based that those would qualify as
masonry so they are technically meeting that requirement it would certainly be
within councils purview if you found it to be more compatible that they use more
traditional residential type materials I would think and on the well so you're
saying that it is an active well but there's potential to go back in and have
more wells drilled currently based on the gas well plant they were permitted
the two wells the operator and negotiations with this developer did
express an intent that they may in the future seek to use the city's gas well
site plan procedure to obtain more wells on the northern site as I outline in
your backup because the northern side is located within a floodplain fringe that
would be a lengthy process they couldn't just go through the normal staff
approved gas well site plan they would have to seek a watershed protection
permit which in itself requires a specific use permit be approved before
that permit could be approved and then because of their existing proximity to
protected uses they would also have to seek a waiver through one of the
mechanisms outlined in the code in this case they expressed that they would most
likely seek the individual property owner waivers from everyone within the
500 foot radius so they would have a lengthy process to expand that site but
it is possible either of these wells I know that one in this area caught on
fire or was that either one of these correct that the mouse is finally
working that was the well that's currently existing on this northern side
so it's the one that that we're looking at correct there was a lightning strike
there in 2015 I believe okay thank you any other questions for staff I've got
one that I wanted to check with rest of the council members I'm confused a
little bit on the these gas wells so I see the pretty defined circle in the
southern one and that circle represents the 250 foot setback correct from the
pad site boundary and in in most cases development could occur within that so
long as it were not protected uses the operator requested due to their limited
confines that nothing be placed within that 250 foot setback and the developer
agreed to that okay so this one up here that just for references had the
lightning strike where I see sort of a radius as it goes into the property so
then I see that red line what helped me understand where that line is that
boundary is so what their site plan reflects this this red boundary is the
roughly the outline of the pad site as it exists today okay the operator as I
mentioned expressed intent to someday expand this site and maximize their
potential there so you're saying to expand that pad site boundary correct
all right so from that pad site boundary where's the 250 foot we don't have shown
on here the 250 from this existing this line reflects the intended expansion of
that site someday okay and the agreement that's in place between the developer
and the operator stipulates that they measure the 250 from that future pad
site boundary so that's the red line that goes to those buildings okay so the
intent was to show that currently they exceed the setback if that expansion
were to occur they would still be in compliance with what would then be the
operators minimum setback okay and so these these additional rules that they
would have to follow for an expansion or within the setback that they could get a
waiver and one of them would could be and that's I mean it's one of several one
of them could be the owner of the multifamily project and everybody else
is within 500 feet correct the one of the three options for a gas well setback
reduction is that you receive written consent from all owners of protected
uses within and protected uses within subdivisions that are within 200 or
within the setback so in this case that's a 500 foot existing gas well
drilling and production site setback to protected uses so everyone in the 500
foot radius that has a protected use would have to provide written consent so
that's a that's an additional requirement to I mean it's 500 feet
because we've got a thousand foot setback and we have a 250 foot reverse
setback where's the 500 feet coming from there's a there's a third criteria a
third type of setback that is an existing drilling and production site
setback and that's 500 feet for new drilling and production sites the minute
or the setback is a thousand feet okay all right and so that 500 feet do we
know how far it extends down into the sort of cul-de-sac not cul-de-sac but
the neighborhood that's listed here that's immediately east to the southern
port southern part of that that southern well I could I could pull that up for
you I don't have it in this presentation at the moment but well it's the only
reason I ask you substantially I believe if I could get the mouse to cooperate
I've this being the 250 foot line I believe there's about 375 feet between
the existing pad site and these lots so the 500 foot would go roughly to the
middle of the subdivision I estimate so that he would have to get one of the
options is to get waivers from all of those homeowners as well as okay
correct okay and that's 500 feet in all directions I believe it also hits the
subdivision to the north off of Westgate okay all right thank you appreciate that
any other questions for staff seeing none all right we will now open the
public hearing we've got two cars but this is public hearing so after we hear
the speakers from the cars we will take public comment our first speaker is the
applicant Lee Allison if you'll come down and it looks like you've got to speak on
behalf so the applicant gets how much time is it 10 minutes 15 minutes 20
minutes I don't I don't remember it's 10 minutes for one speaker and if they
have more than a certain number it's over 20 minutes okay one speaker okay
well I've got one client here with me representing I'll try and keep it short
but I don't want to under represent no no of course of course yeah you bet all
right I'm Lee Allison without an engineering group 24 15 North Elm
Street Denton Texas we're here looking at the Windsor Road land development
tonight's presentation this is an example of some of the projects they've
done in other places this is not a presentation of what we're doing at this
particular site but it is things that have been done in other locations to get
a feel of their work we're here for the 31 acre site but looking for an SUP for
apartments on a part of it we did go ahead and put the entire site in the
project and notices and therefore our mailing and notices went beyond the
entire site boundary not just that of the SUP as you've seen on the site
earlier we're on the corner of Windsor in 35 we got vacant land highways as
residential subdivision and we are located within a gas well plat and you
can see on here the pain number one site that was being discussed earlier in the
pain number two right behind these houses in this location and their access
road going along this way we're looking at changing it so the access road just
goes here and this becomes the extension of Windsor we've had two neighborhood
meetings one in September with approximately 20 residents comments we
heard were primarily they want Windsor Road completed I'm trying to remember the
name of the other road to the east but from Interstate 35 back to the east long
before Bonnie Bray I'll show you another map but there's two gaps in there that
they're of concern to them and they like to have a buffer the residents do such
as the apartments that will buffer them from the commercial activities that will
happen on this site as it develops we had no other no communication received
from any attendees and we haven't had any negative comments from the residents
in that particular area this slide shows the issues with with Windsor Road the
red area is our site frontage which we're required to accommodate in some
way probably construct ourselves the yellow area is right in front of the gas
well side panhandle and the black area is this section in front of this home
that has not been completed so you have Bonnie or Windsor divided from Bonnie
Bray to this point then it goes down to two lanes on one side then four lanes
again then back down to two and we have promised the neighbors that we will
advocate for working with the city to see what we can do to accommodate or
deal with the yellow and black areas as our project moves forward maybe we can
get them designed under some kind of a 380 agreement and get those built at the
same time possibly oh what do you know the reverse setback for
protected use 250 feet as you're well aware and protected use is defined and I
think you're completely aware what protected uses are we did want to
mention that we are not requesting any variances from Denton's gas well setback
ordinances our proposed site plan for greater setbacks required provides for
greater setbacks and required by the code I'll show a little more later in
order to mention even without an SUP because of our agreement with the
operator there are other protected uses allowed in this subject in this zoning
district that we can go ahead and get building permits for and apply for and
receive today without coming to the City Council so even though some
consideration may be related to apartments and not having a protected
use there this denying this tonight would not present prevent a protected
use from coming within the distances that we're having shown on here such as
townhomes hotels elderly housing etc the southern well it is a 250 foot reverse
setback for its off for all uses the current code allows parking lots
amenity centers garden areas landscaping etc per the operator we've been asked
not to have been required not to include any parking lots or landscaping or
amenity center so there's zero happening in that area with our setback and our
plan we're showing we're 300 feet to the closest multifamily building actual
structure prior concept plan on the northern well and I'll show on a
diagram from the existing pad site our nearest structure is 433 feet away from
it the gas well operator is as Haley mentioned is wanting to expand their
site in the future so they ask us to set our 250 foot setback away from where
their possible future gas well pad would be provided they can get the approval of
all the owners and can come to the City Council and get the approval of the
city as well in our agreement all we've done is agreeing not to oppose their
request but that doesn't mean we support it or that they're going to be able to
guarantee to get it that really has to come before the City Council as you can
see on here and this may show it a little more clearly that's the existing
pad for well number one that's roughly the edge of it from the edge of the pad
to our nearest building is 433 feet they are wanting to ask in the future to
expand their pad site out to about this point so we put ours 250 feet back from
there which makes us 100 feet inside our property line before we have any
structures and of course they've got a corner here and that's why we have the
curve and here because that's the shape of this site that's why we don't have a
pure circle but kind of an oval area we can't do anything in here no fences no
landscaping no parking lot no swimming pool not anything but our nearest
building here is 300 feet away from that site if you could sure just question you
said that they asked for you to move your buildings back but you didn't agree
to that so you're saying that where that red line is is I mean that's right up
against the buildings and that's the red lines against it but we did go ahead we
did move our buildings back I'm sorry normally under the current rules we
would have to be 250 feet from this line right because they want to expand their
site to this line in the future we've agreed to be 250 feet back from okay so
if they do get approval we'll still be 250 feet away from them if they get
approvals sorry to emphasize that so much but that seems to be an important matter
tonight I have a question I think for a city attorney if they if by the way I
always appreciate how crystal clear your presentations are mr. Allison if if the
well operator were to increase their pad site does that essentially mean drill a
new well on the pad site that's further out and then if that's so it wouldn't
that trigger the thousand-foot setback requirements no not necessarily there
are special provisions in the 2015 gas well ordinance that allows a gas well
operator to take an existing site because because you remember early on in
the presentation Haley had a depiction of the existing gas well plat and so by
them coming in to develop under a the 2015 ordinance which is the gas well
development site plan process they would be relinquishing all of the area of a
gas well plat in exchange for that and then under those rules once they do that
they are allowed based on you know as Haley mentioned what are the surrounding
uses what could what waivers can they get from the surrounding property owners
and then that's going to more or less limit how big of a site does it mean
that they are going to be drilling additional wells maybe we don't know
their business plan it wouldn't preclude that it wouldn't preclude it but what it
does is it provides them the the assurance in it and as was discussed in
2015 that if they did have if they did that process and they were approved and
they had the ability to put an additional well that they would be able
to do that notwithstanding that five ten fifteen years in the future protected
uses would come encroaching upon them and so that is how that process works
there's a lot more to it but I'm trying to give you a basic overview of the
process all right with all due respect that is because we have to make an
agreement with the gas well operator we had to negotiate so we're putting our
buildings further back than we would normally want to but we're not
guaranteeing them an expanded well site both of these wells are vertical wells
which are not very efficient they're not very effective in the Barnett shell so
there's a good chance they're going to want to come back and redo those wells
and maybe even add some to access other leases rumor is they may want to abandon
this one all together and bring it up here but we really don't know not
privy to all that that's just here say the best I can say tonight I do want to
mention that in this site we've got a zoning that allows up to 80% coverage
we're in the concept plans under 50% and with the plus or minus five we would
max at 55% coverage a minimum landscaping of 20% and we're in the
almost 50% on the landscaping a maximum density if I remember correctly of 30
units per acre and we're at the 20 so we're at a protected use this SUP would
allow for a protected use much less dense than what we could do if we came
in with a protected use that was not subject to an SUP and we can take full
advantage that this does provide some additional if you will buffering our
position is that really it should be the offending party not the offended that's
required to do buffers but because there's an offending party next door
we're required to put the type D buffer there and which we will be doing you
know we've presented the alternate plan for that for possible consideration but
in addition to that we've got all that parking lot or that extra hundred feet
on our property that serves as as landscape type buffer as well there is a
provision we would like to see if there's some consideration regarding and
that is the plus or minus 5% and we have 16 buildings shown on the site we would
like to have a maximum of 16 buildings but if we could possibly get down to 12
buildings that might even be more efficient but we certainly wouldn't want
to have a greater increase in the number of units or the number of amount of
coverage so with 14 buildings covering 16 buildings covering 112 thousand square
feet we might want to have 12 or 14 buildings still covering 112 thousand
feet we just have more of it together in a single building to more efficient I
don't know if that's even possible but that's something we would like to see
and of course the parking would just simply be in accordance with the code
that was the intention all along I think there got to be some confusion because
we had some in garages and some outside and there was a discussion about that
but that's only two things we have and I'll be glad to respond any questions now
or later after the public hearing closes question on the what you just spoke of
on the number of buildings or maximum number of buildings so if you could pull
up your site plan if you don't mind please Lee get right there oh no go back
I'm sorry go back to the one that showed the gas well situation sorry okay
apologize yeah so what you're saying is the outline that you have of the
apartments you'd want that to stay the same as far as the coverage of the lot
the lot coverage but if you were going to you may look at different build you
know different number of buildings like 12 buildings or 14 buildings would you
are you looking to would that translate into less units are you saying you might
increase either the makeup of the unit of the buildings to put more units in
there less space I mean what's the what's the interest behind that required
flexibility somebody's behind you the number of units and type of units would
stay the same with the same limitations the possibility would be to take this
building for example divided in three and put a third of it with this one a
third with this one and a third with that one we'd have fewer buildings but
our footprint would be the same square footage just the building shapes might
be a little different and that could probably lead to some more efficient
parking or landscape I appreciate that thank you yep councilmember Briggs I see
that you have the the front part designated for commercial was there any
reason why when you were I'm just personally curious why they apartment
units weren't pushed up more and on one side and then the commercial I'm just
because my concern you know of course is the the gas wells and I appreciate your
slide here and all that you've done with what you have and what you what you can
do I mean you're not in control of the operators and so and you mentioned the
ordinance and I know that is our ordinance but I voted no on it because I
didn't think it was sure strong enough so I'm just curious why the the units
it's not pushed more up towards the the frontage road towards the highway so
that it's further away from these wells the other side of that coin is traffic
and transportation and right now as 35s improved the ramps are going to be
reversed in this off ramp instead of being here will be weighed down at this
location traffic get off and get to Windsor before it gets here these
apartments also acts act as a bit of a buffer towards the residential and other
things in this area that way instead of having apartments on the front and
commercial in the back such as hotels or restaurants it just seemed to make more
sense additionally we understand with the city's master thoroughfare plan
there's been some discussion of the possibility of bringing Windsor across
interstate 35 so that commercial corner is just going to be more and more need
of commercial and be better to have the commercial on the front with a heavier
traffic there than it would be on the backside going through the apartment
complex you ask a great question and it's a double negative on that one I
guess when it comes to traffic and separation any other questions for the
applicant seeing that thank you all right thank you thank you our next blue
card is mr. Willie Hudson would you like to speak mr. wet husband declines to
speak on this issue those are let me double check those are all the blue
cards that I have this is a public hearing anybody wishing to speak please
come down state your name and address and your time will begin
anybody wishing to speak all right we will now close the public hearing open
for questions to staff do we have council members have any questions I've
got a question then and this is on the if the site plan the gas well plat is
expanded other than the options of getting the owners within 500 feet to
sign waivers what are the other alternatives do we know those there is a
well Haley smell more well versed but I believe there's also a ZBA variance
process as well yeah there are other option would be to go to the Zoning
Board of Adjustment and then the third option is kind of a as a staff
administrative level approval if they are relinquishing a well or a pad site
then staff can authorize a reduction it's much less they couldn't get as low
as the 250 we could only take them to 375 because it's 50% of the difference
between the minimum and the required setback ZBA could grant the
authorization down to 250 as well as the the property owner waivers okay so then
on the northern well I say they don't get they don't get the property owners
one being the apartment building if they you know if it's approved I mean
they're gonna they'd have to come to you all to say hey can we expand this and so
I would I would be very interested to hear how that would but so when I look
at this currently as I remember it being stated from the it's not 250 the
current reverse setback is 433 from the current pad site but not the gas well
platt correct so if they got an expansion then that red line represents
the 250 from the red expanded gas well platt correct all right okay so and
ZBA go ahead I was to clarify your other question the the agreement between the
developer and the operator contains that basically they're signing off on their
waiver for that also they've already signed the waiver it's part of the
agreement okay so that they will not oppose gotcha okay well it's different
too if you got to get a waiver if you're not opposing the waiver then you're
signing the waiver is that is that my understanding I would let Lee clarify
that yeah if somebody could address that I mean I understand not opposing it but
so if you're not opposing it that means if they present you with a waiver then
you'll be signing it I've not read the actual agreement but that is my
understanding that by this we are giving that waiver but that doesn't mean
everybody else has to give no I understand that we've given ours okay
thank you so if it goes down to so I guess I'm a little confused and it may
just because it's late it's really not that late but we've been going at this
since 11 or what 130 I guess it seems like it's a lot later than that oh my
god okay so to get the to the 250 where that new expanded flat line is to get
the 250 setback they would need to get waivers from everybody within 500 feet
of the current had side okay the math wasn't adding up for me okay I
appreciate that thank you you bet councilmember Husspitz thank you Haley
can you walk me through this slide again let me because things important to
understand so these how far away are those houses on the east side of that
what other southern well I believe they're in the range of 50 to 100 feet
from the pad site to the houses so complaints concerns not that I'm aware of
okay but again those those homes were built after the gas well plot was in
place and prior to their being reversed setback requirements okay any other
questions for staff okay councilmember Meltzer first regarding the reverse
setbacks and that that's the ordinance that that's the law but Texas Supreme
Court tells us our power is based on our obligation to protect safety health and
general welfare so we have you know a little bit of a contradiction since the
time the ordinance was passed there have been additional studies not done in our
geology but that are certainly concerning there's a study in the journal
environmental science and technology saying that the cancer risk estimate
within 500 feet of an oil and gas facility is more than eight times the
EPA's upper threshold and studies in Pennsylvania and Texas found
associations between proximity to oil and gas wells with chronic rhinocytosis
asthma fatigue and migraines as well as low birth weight preterm birth and fetal
death now you know what's safe and healthy you know within our own geology
we obviously have no idea we have contradictory ordinances you know you do
it one way it's in one sequence it's a thousand feet you do it in another
sequence it's 250 feet you know we're obviously not based on any local science
that said you know the ordinance is the ordinance and I'm okay moving ahead with
with some conditions on the principle of informed consent what actually first of
all parenthetically I'm fine also the applicants desired of the parking based
on the actual units built rather according to the code rather than a
theoretical maximum so regarding the informed consent aspect I would move
approval given including the conditions presented and the comment on parking
that I just made with an additional condition of a notification requirement
on showings of the property that would have to be signed and filed with the
development you know with the development department just stating what
the distance is from an active gas well and now and there's a problem and I know
you know some of you may find this you know kind of hard to take but miners
can't give informed consent so in my opinion until we have science confirming
the safe habitability in the range that's being proposed my condition would
be that it not be approved for habitation by dependent miners I've asked
for an RFP you know to come for a work session to have an RFP issued to see if
there's a sound affordable and swift way to put our ordinances on a scientific
basis but that's my motion pending that okay can I have a clarification on one
of those conditions councilmember Meltzer when you say that miners can't
have informed consent are you saying that that means no children are allowed
in this right would not be approved for habitability for dependent miners okay
we may run into a Fair Housing Act on that issue is that is that correct
that and also a family issue is defined by the US Supreme Court so there might
there's some legal issues with that particular restriction you know that's
that you're saying might be an issue that that's my motion okay yes sir all
right okay we have a motion with the condition stated do we have a second
chair will entertain a second on the motion on the table calling one more
time for a second if I see no second so the motion fails for lack of second so
chair would entertain any other action as desired by the council is there a
motion for approval or denial or any denial or any action so let me ask a
question if there's no motion made what's the what's the status of the of
the item no motions are made then it can either be approved or be denied it just
ends at the level okay we need a motion a an ordinate nevermind not to say that
councilmember armature so I move to deny okay is there a second on the motion on
the table councilmember Briggs a second all right we have a motion and that's a
motion in a second with no no conditions for what just for denial yep we have a
motion a second for denial let's vote on the board please oh yes if you vote for
this it means you're denying the SUV you're denying the SUP yes yes that is correct okay all right
the motion to deny carries but what is that up there fit well motion to deny is
successful so four to three all right let's take a five minute break and we'll
come back and start agenda items 5d do it welcome everybody back to this meeting
of the Dent City Council it is 1009 p.m. moving through our public hearing work
session or not work session she's me agenda items agenda item 5d isn't David
is hold a public hearing considered option of an ordinance of the city of
Denton Texas designating a certain area within the city limits of Denton as a
Tyson sales and distribution reinvestment zone number that's a Roman
numeral is that 14 all right for I forgot that from high school for
commercial industrial tax base good evening mayor and council members my
name is Caroline Booth I'm the director of economic development and I am here
to give you a very quick presentation about Tyson as you will recall from the
work session the project is a 350,000 square foot automated refrigerated and
frozen food distribution center that's going to employ a hundred employees
full-time those folks will be benefits eligible and their weighted average wage
is $24.82 which is about 12 percent higher than the county average wage the
facility will produce two megawatts in annual electric demand there's a map
outlining the proposed site in red and the company is also vetting sites in
Indiana Arkansas and Utah Denton is the sole Texas site and that site is about
65 acres at the southeast corner of Jim Crystal Road and Western Boulevard that
is located within the West Park TERS the TERS does provide a funding or
reimbursement mechanism for public improvements in the area and as a
reminder that area of town is zoned for industrial development and has been for
a number of years just have one slide on the establishment of the reinvestment
zone under chapter 312 of the Texas tax code businesses that receive tax
abatements have to be located in a reinvestment zone and this item would
establish that reinvestment zone number 14 for commercial industrial tax
abatement on Tyson's proposed site adoption of the ordinance establishing
the zone will then allow council to consider the tax abatement agreement
with Tyson and I can pause here if anybody has any questions about the
reinvestment zone just for clarification is the zone larger than the area for
Tyson so that no it's just specific to that one there established specific to
the site itself okay thank you okay that's it yeah go ahead mayor is it okay
if I go ahead and go into the rest of the presentation that goes with the
individual consideration item let me let me call it okay well let me ask since
since agenda item 5d which is a public hearing and agenda item 6a are sort of
tied together she wanted to do a joint or a combined presentation so I can call
agenda item 6a but then we've got to flip back to the public hearing opening
just go through the agenda we can do is that that's correct separate but we can
do that okay let me call agenda item 6a sorry about that Carolina agenda item 6a
is considered option of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute a tax
abatement agreement with Tyson sales and distribution Inc setting forth all the
required terms of the tax abatement agreement accordance with the terms of
chapter 312 of the Texas tax code okay so the incentive request from Tyson that is
up for your consideration this evening started in June 2018 when Tyson requested
an incentive to offset development costs and also to enable them to apply for an
abatement from Denton County as well as a Texas Enterprise Zone program grant
from the state of Texas Tyson does meet for priority considerations under the
2018 council adopted economic development policy and those for our
business and community investment expanding the tax base increasing jobs
with wages above the Denton County average and generating significant new
customers for municipal utilities a quick review of the fiscal information
the current conditions are that the land has an ag tax exemption so it produces
$23.08 total tax revenue to the city at this time if the project does go forward
that would pull that land out of the ag exemption and give it an estimated
valuation of a little over three million dollars and then the improvements and
business personal property combined with that new land valuation would add up to
about forty nine point nine million dollars in total valuation what's
significant about this particular project within the tar zone is that it
does have a substantial business personal property investment at twenty
eight point nine million dollars and none of that is captured by the TARS
funds so the general fund gets to keep all of the revenue from the business
personal property portion of the investment this is the ten-year
incentive analysis that you all saw during the work session and just to hit
the highlights on this one we are proposing a twenty five percent tax
abatement to Tyson on the business personal property portion only of the
project for six years however we do a ten-year long analysis for all of our
incentives because that allows us to compare apples to apples across
different projects so the incentive term is six years but what you see here goes
out for a ten-year time horizon the total incentive to Tyson over the six
years would be two hundred and sixty eight thousand nine hundred and seventy
seven dollars and then they are going to be eligible for a dent municipal
electric economic growth rider which we talked about during the work session and
that is another estimated about four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in
reduction to demand charges that Tyson would accrue over five years in the case
of the economic growth rider and then over that ten-year time horizon the city
would receive from the project about four point eight million dollars in
revenue so that's kind of the bottom line there in the corner does anybody
have any questions about that I do have a question or maybe comment just a
clarification and maybe confirmation the DME economic growth rider although it's
presented here as an incentive and everything and it is but that's one per
policy that we have right now in the utility rate structure yes so we're not
necessarily voting on that it's presented here just to show full
transparency that this is what our policy allows but what we're really
voting on on council today is the line that's the two hundred and sixty eight
thousand nine hundred seventy six dollars and seventy eight cents that is
absolutely correct that is the abatement amount okay thank you to reiterate the
city incentive is necessary for Tyson to apply for a county and a state
incentive Denton County only considers abatements for those applicants who have
received an abatement from their city first and then the Texas enterprise zone
program requires a local incentive as well when we're negotiating the tax
abatement agreement with Tyson we made sure to insert the following safeguards
for the city those include stating that Tyson's operations must begin by
December 31st 2021 their minimum thresholds established for appraised
value of the business personal property the number of jobs and the weighted
average hourly wage it does cap the total amount of the tax abatement and
requires submission of an annual certificate of compliance key points
here project meets for priority considerations under the council
adopted incentive policy the economic development partnership board did
recommend approval of the incentive with a vote of eight to one the project would
add about fifty million dollars in new value and create a hundred new full-time
benefits eligible jobs tax abatement from the city is necessary for county
and state incentives and the incentive agreement does contain several
safeguards for the city including annual compliance audit requirements and other
items so while the total incentive investment from the city would be about
seven hundred and eighteen thousand dollars as the mayor correctly stated
you are only considering a vote on a total of about two hundred and sixty nine
thousand dollars in abatement over six years and that will allow us to secure
about four point nine million dollars in revenue to the city over ten years okay
so question a clarification on that too because the slides not up there so you
just answered if it's so could that bullet point be written this way the
two hundred and forty nine thousand or some odd dollars that is the incentive
is is go back to the slide if you would the ten-year projection it's kind of
small okay so what I'm trying to do is separate out so the DME the DME demand
charge that's ink that's included in that four point in that statement that
you had the four point something me right that's all revenue to the city
including so me revenue right so the two hundred and sixty eight thousand dollars incentive for the 25 percent of BBP and the the funding and so forth that's
actually creating the seven hundred and eighty three thousand dollars for sure
it's the 1.5 million I'm trying to get it I'm trying to get a comparison of what
we're approving here today what does that translate into additional revenue to
the city that if we didn't have it number one we don't know if they'd do it
but if we didn't have it and all they got was the increased rider it looks like
it's about half and half almost yeah so it's it's about eight hundred and six
thousand dollars total revenue to the city on the remaining 75 percent of the
BPP okay I don't know if that helps you okay okay all right thank you okay stand
for questions okay this is this is questions since we haven't opened the
public hearing yet we'll go ahead and take can we take questions on both the
agenda items that were called and then go back to the public hearing or do we
need to take them separate you can do them okay so we'll take questions on
both and then we'll go back to the public hearing and open it and just
consider agenda item 5d okay and I neglected to mention that we do have
representatives from Tyson here with us this evening in case you'll have
questions that would be better answered by them thank you
councilmember Armitage okay so you mentioned that there's a cap here what's
the cap it's two hundred and seventy thousand dollars and two hundred and the
cap is 270,000 per in what time frame or total total okay the six years or if it
if they arrive at it before that point the cap is the cap okay and and then of
those was it a hundred jobs and there's a hundred jobs I recall it the last time
we discussed this in the work session there was some discussion about of the
higher paying jobs that Tyson has a an internal policy that that those higher
paying jobs go to internal hires that is our transfers within the company that
they get first dibs am I correcting no I'm getting head shakes okay back row it
would be helpful especially if we're gonna ask and you didn't know if that was
a question for the applicant when we have the public hearing let's make okay
yeah you can clarify yeah yeah you probably know what I'm taking it from
there was a there was some discussion about that I was looking for my note so
I'll wait to ask that of the of the applicant okay thank you councilmember
Briggs my question is about the hourly wage because part of my issue this whole
time and in the economic development was the weighted average it is the weighted
average and it's it's good but you know it doesn't if you're not looking at the
detailed information it's hard to see the amount of jobs that are making a
certain amount but I can't find it in my notes and I've asked you this over and
over again and I can't remember what our minimum is in the ins is it 2250 or is
it 24 it's 2207 2207 is is the minimum hourly wage to receive the incentive
correct no that's the Denton County average hourly wage there there's not a
there's not a minimum in the policy to receive an incentive but that's just the
our average hourly wage for the county and please keep in mind too that the
hourly wage figure for Tyson it's a weighted average it does not include the
benefits and of course now I can't remember how much HR usually says
benefits add on to something it's like 25 or 30 percent I think so it's a you
know total compensation is much higher than the average hourly wage if you are
benefits eligible okay thank you yeah I think we had that information at the
work session and I think probably once we start the public hearing and ask those
questions because I think if I recall when you looked at the the job salaries
or hourly rate at the the lower level of the warehouse employees it was like 20
or 19 to 20 22 to 21 I just remember it was about 40 to 42 thousand dollars a
year which was almost 80 percent of our of our median income for the county so
but we can get that information I'm sure they have that yeah thank you
mayor Pro Tem thank you mayor on the tours what what's the length of time
that that's in place I'm sorry TURS oh the TURS the length of time that the
TURS is in place is 20 years okay thank you you're welcome okay any other
questions for staff before we open the public hearing on agenda item 5d thank
you Caroline we will now open the public hearing for agenda item 5d we do
have some blue cards but you do not you're not required to fill out a blue
card we also have white cards that are indicative of those wishing not to speak
and I'll read the names and addresses and just state whether they're in
opposition or support when we get to the white cards first speaker is mr. Willie
Hutzpeth mr. Hutzpeth okay mr. Hutzpeth declines to speak at this time mr. Ken
gold if you'll come down state your name and address your time will begin yes sure
yeah members of the council money just if I'm sorry Ken interrupts you I was
just advised by the city attorney since this is the public hearing on the agenda
item 5d that the comments be restricted to that particular subject matter on
that agenda because then you have an opportunity to speak at the items for
individual consideration however let me just remind everyone that to speak on an
item for individual consideration you need to have your blue card filled out
before it's been called but since I called it we're gonna have some
accommodation there so if you want to speak on the agenda item 6a if you
wouldn't mind filling out a blue card I'd appreciate that sorry mr. Gold no
problem my name is Ken gold I live at 2512 matches Tracy in town and I was
kind of expecting y'all to blend these together so my comments are going to be
on 5d because it does say the word tax abatement in that so that's how I'm
going to weasel into this I've unloaded on you guys before my stump speech on
tax abatements I won't go into it at length here but I do want to say first
off that I'm not against all tax abatements I'm just against the dumb
ones and I don't believe Tyson needs this and a tax abatement is a is a
subsidy so you're giving a subsidy to somebody who doesn't need it that's a
dumb abatement they're gonna come to this area because of the job market here
because of the location you got two big interstates going down to the DFW
Metroplex it's a great location for a plant well I don't see why we have to
pay them to come here it's a it's a type of extortion the game is played to get
other towns to compete but you're only talking about two hundred and something
thousand dollars it's not gonna make or break this deal to give these people or
not give these people these abatements they're not here because they just want
tax abatements that's all I got okay thank you thank you the next speaker
will be please forgive me is it I'm in not a viola I apologize for if I'd
really didn't do that very well if you'll state your name and address your
time will begin yes but we haven't called 6a yes so is that okay to could
you just help tell me how to pronounce yeah okay thank you Amina yeah we'll
call that here after after this thank you did I pick up the wrong stack I did
pick up the wrong stack I apologize that's my fault actually those were the
only blue cards we had for 5d I do have some white cards there's no name but it's
722 Fannin Street apartment 114 if somebody could just come correct the
card and place your name on it but they're in opposition Sydney hearts 922
Fannin Street apartment number 114 is in opposition that's the same address yeah
for 922 Dawson Kinser 3504 Sadu trail is in opposition this is a public hearing
anybody else wishing to speak please come down and state your name and
address on agenda item 5a 5d excuse me oh man I'm fainting good evening council
my name is Eric Clark I reside at 3913 Andrew Avenue in Texas I just kind of
want to make a couple comments or observations about this project as a
whole or it's not even Tyson directly more about abatements I don't know if I'm
not here to argue whether they're right or wrong but apparently that's how the
game is played so as a reputation we want to be a city that is welcoming to
high-performing companies like Tyson I don't think you want to subsidize a
company that is not performing well at a high financial level they're a good
company we want good companies here the same analogy could be used are you
against scholarships for high-performing students you want high-performing
students scholarships for them I would imagine you could want the same thing
for high-performing companies I think this tax money that comes in if I
understand Caroline correctly you're looking at two hundred sixty eight
thousand dollars worth of abatements over the long term here you're gonna get
one and a half million over ten years that's tax dollars to come back into our
city which is going to roll to our a lot of different places but I'm looking at
this from public schools didn't ISD needs more public dollars as well which
comes from property taxes you can't build enough households and in our floor
to make up for this fifty million dollars of property tax it just it's a
simple math equation I mean I majored in sports management this is a very easy
math problem for me I mean we saw a couple things tonight earlier today from
developments and this is a good one that we want here thank you thank you all
right this is a public hearing anybody wish to speak on agenda item 5d state
your name and address and your time will be in hello again real tall real tall my
name is George Ferry 2932 Stockton Street district one great point let's
talk about how good Tyson is if you remember a couple years back we does
Denton passed an ordinance in support of SP for lawsuit also known as the show
your papers bill which Tyson has a history of exploiting immigrant workers
there are articles dating back to oh three through 2018 that will showcase
everything I'm talking about they have been fined millions for violating laws
such as the Clean Water Act they have disclosed no excuse me they've outsourced
sanitation which is avoiding OSHA laws that way they're not required to disclose
contractor labor industries and they aren't held responsible look we have a
really heavy carbon footprint as it is and right now we want to bring someone
into use a whole lot of energy with every discussion on almost every item
tonight about gas wells we have a duty to assess this and furthermore with the
possible expansion of our landfill there's a lot going on right now with our
carbon footprint we should be really mindful of that and also what message
are we sending when we give tax incentives to companies who have a
history of taking advantage of blue-collar workers minorities and poor
folk while we can't excuse me while we can't stop them from coming to our town
we can send a message that we aren't going to cut them a break on the bill
these incentives in the basement should go to better use to build real job growth
in the competitive industry thank you thank you all right this is if we could
hold their paws thank you very much I appreciate that I just want to be
respectful of the rules this is a public hearing anybody else wishing to speak
come down state your name and address your time will begin thank you
and I live at 1526 Willowood Street and I don't have a lot to say about this
except that the analogy towards student scholarships is ridiculous if you want
to provide students with scholarships please do also that would be a far
better investment innovation towards Denton the city of Denton if you do that
then to give an abatement to a company like this the history of the city
giving such tax abatements as we know is pretty sorted of late and I would
recommend against it unless you have just absolutely the highest bar met the
the further the property tax issue that's struck me as odd what if we're
giving them an abatement we're taking our own taxes away from ourselves rather
than protecting them and using them for what we need them for so I'm in
opposition to this thank you thank you all right this is public hearing anybody
else wishing to speak anybody else wishing to speak
say your name and address your time will begin I wasn't planning on speaking my
name is Chris Wilkins 708 IOF Street apartment B district 3 yeah I grew up in
a small town in East Texas with a Tyson plant it was incredibly pollution
depleted a lot it polluted the water didn't treat their workers very well it
actually didn't contribute overall to the town despite being the biggest
employer at the time as far as like giving back and tax money and stuff like
that ended up closing ten ten years later so I am I don't know I was just
thinking like all the tax abatement this company's good is getting sorry I'm
incredibly nervous for some reason I don't mean I was expecting to comment on
this but all the tax money that this company's trying to get I just don't get
it and they were really successful company they don't really need it I
can't stop them from coming here if they want to come here but if they do there
should be some kind of standards some extreme standards just from my own
personal experience that's all thank you appreciate that anybody else wish to
speak on agenda item 5d anybody else wishing to speak all right seeing no
movement we will now close agenda item 5d public hearing council members are
any questions for staff at least at this point or we'll move on to since we've
already had the presentation on 6a we'll move on to the public comment on 6a
without if I don't hear any objections okay we'll move on to agenda item 6a I
mean not I'd be out a biola I'm sorry I'm mine is just but you're up first
thank you thank you for your patience and I apologize for that
yes ma'am please my name is Amina a biola and I live at 1702 North Red Ell
Street yes good evening mayor Watts and council members my
name is Amina a biola and I'm here to represent the 250,000 people who have
signed compassion over killings petition against Tyson foods cruelty towards
chickens I urge you to deny Tyson it's requested incentive package Tyson's
cruelty has been exposed time and time again by investigations and whistle
blowers in the last few years alone one compassion over killings investigation
exposed Tyson workers punching and kicking live birds and other birds
crushed to death by transport crates and run over by forklifts it was followed by
another investigation in 2017 that exposed the devastating effects of
Tyson's breeding of birds for extremely fast and a natural growth broiler birds
a breed of bird used by corporations such as Tyson foods grow so fast that
their hearts and lungs are not developed well enough to support their weight of
their bodies this most likely always results in heart failure and death
broiler birds spent six weeks of their life crammed into small windowless
sheds they also live eat and sleep in their own waste which causes them to
have respiratory issues ammonia burns and painful eye irritations if we grew at
the same rate of these birds we'd be over 600 pounds at two months of age but
Tyson refuses to take responsibility for the suffering and instead they have their
workers fired and then they wipe their hands clean if Denton cares about its
citizens and the livelihood of and freedom of animals it should not use
public money to support a company that treats its workers as scapegoats while
turning billions and profits from extreme cruelty thank you for your time
and consideration thank you very much I appreciate that thank you mr. Willie
Hutzpeth mr. Hutzpeth class to speak at this time Dewey Marshall hi friends my
name is Dewey I live at one two one five scripture Street so thank you so much
for doing this and staying out and for your public service it really means a
lot it's actually really difficult to do this and I know that your all's role is
really difficult if it's easy to vote for tax subsidy for large corporation I
highly highly highly doubt your decision-making process in the first
place and I sincerely mean that this is actually has huge major implications and
that it's so bad especially with workers rights that I'm literally a vegetarian
and I'm gonna let other people speak to the animal abuse of Tyson that's how
bad the workers rights violation is it's really bad Tyson actually as of 2011
partnered with the Department of 2001 partner with the Department of Homeland Security for a
program called image which is where they literally turn over all of the papers of
people that are hired and are undocumented for a company in order for
ice to come in and do major raids that sounds like it's simply upholding a law
but it actually terrorizes communities it's already done so near Paris Texas
that happened in 2018 a lot of us already know that that an ice raid came
down through one person in particular quoted to the Dallas Morning News
specifically that ice agents came into a community and indiscriminately entered
every single door that they could find that sounds terrifying to me the reason
why this pertains to Tyson is because that partnership with image actually has
very very strong ties to particularly working class level workers not high
management so this is all taken all my information is taken by a UNT professor
who isn't here but wanted this to be known that in 2017 image this this issue
are this program arrested 1,500 people under a specific type of charge that
really only affects working-class people not management but yet the rate for
management arrests under the same program for employing people who are
undocumented or doing so undocumented is an all-time low the first statistic I
give I gave was a raise of 800% yeah image is arresting working-class people
at 800% the normal rate that they were even just a few years prior but there
are a record low arrest for people in management that tells me that people
that partner with image literally employ people who are undocumented and then as
soon as it becomes efficient or easy turns over all of the information so
that the raid can happen but people are always protected at the higher level
under this current status quo that's statistical fact which means that even
if there's an economic boost that we're still going to have human rights
violations like police are out rounding up teddy bears out of Cherry Grove
imagine what ice will do whenever we create a Tyson plant I imagine people
coming into doors every entrance they could find there will be chicken
feathers everywhere human rights abuses out the wazoo it's bonkers and I didn't
even get into the specific animal rights that happens to non-human animals by
Tyson Tyson obviously doesn't need this we can find other ways to develop the
economy within Denton and keep the currency flow in our own city thank you
Councilman Barmichael has a councilman Barmichael I believe has a comment so
question yeah so um so since you seem to know a lot about the the image awards
and it the worst are the image agreement um it's so as I understand it they come
in ice can come in without a warrant is that correct is that part of the
agreement I'm not sure of whether or not ice can come in with or without a
warrant this particular raid was like I don't I don't know how the war in
situation happens it's known as ice raise also from I necessarily law
enforcement spokespeople have used the term raid that's not my term but there
are raids that happened with ice that have been increasing like with high
frequency over the past two years so we've seen especially in North Texas
thank you yeah and my understanding was that that that under this agreement
that they can come in without without a warrant and that's part of what makes it
so easy and explains at least partly the well what did you say 800% right and
increase so what the the functioning that the image has with that Tyson would
actually be mandated to hand over all I nines all documentation of people that
are working underneath them even if they are residing undocumented and that's
what allows that okay thank you thank you next speaker will be Jennifer Lane
if you'll come down state your name in it okay all right you bet thank you ma'am
next speaker would be George very okay all right all right okay yeah we Marty
Rivers
thank you all for being here tonight I want to thank councilmember Duff for
helping make this just a little bit shorter since he had spoken all evening
we're gonna get out of here before 11 o'clock so thank you very much
I love the city as much as anybody and I wanted to just remind you this evening
that you have already approved 18 million dollars in city funds that I'm
paying for everybody in this room is paying for tonight the previous agenda
items added up to 18 million dollars you talked about a 40 million dollar
project you talked about a lot of money tonight that you need to spend to help
make up this place a wonderful place the best way to do that is not to burden our
homeowners with taxes it is to bring in large multinational corporations so that
they can pay the taxes and we have a bunch of really good previous companies
that have had that Peterbilt Sally Beauty Winco Aldi Target Target
distribution center as a reminder this is not a chicken manufacturing plant
that we're talking about it's a frozen food distribution center all right it's
a 50 million dollar project the ad valorem taxes on the real estate and the
business personal property there's been a lot of numbers it's 2.2 million dollars
generated over these six years 60% of that money is going into the TERS which
is so we're not getting a hundred percent of the real estate because that's
going into the TERS that's helped pay for the infrastructure that's out there
so it's not coming to us in form of taxes is going towards the TERS to help
pay for the improvements that are already out there but it's two point two
million dollars and we're talking about a two hundred sixty nine thousand dollar
project this evening everybody's right they don't need the money at all they're
they're a profitable company they don't need the money we want to give
incentives to people that are profitable imagine if we gave incentives to people
that weren't profitable where we would end up I love this place and I wish we
didn't have to give incentives to anybody I wish people would come here
because we're so awesome that's not how it works we're competing with people all
over the United States and we have to do this and we don't have as many tools as
a lot of people have we don't have an economic development board that has a
tax that raises money and spends money and can give people cash or buy property
for people we have to do incentives like this so they bring in 50 million dollars
and we're going to help reimburse them two hundred and sixty nine thousand
dollars that may or may not make or break this deal they don't need it nobody
needs it Target didn't need it Peterbilt didn't need it Sally Beauty didn't need
it so get that out of your heads none of these companies need it but we want
these companies to come here because they need to help us pay for our parks
and our improvements that's how it gets done I don't want to have to I don't
want you to raise taxes on my house that's what happens when you guys want
to pay for everything is we have to have these large companies we have to have a
good mix of businesses and residents to be able to pay our taxes have them pay
our taxes so that we can have a nice city thank you thank you I've got white
cards and these are the last cards will read into the record Eric Clark 3913
Andrew can't read that last one Eric and that's all right in support Matthew
Morgan in support Brandon Beach 44505 Chi Creek Lane in opposition
Persephone Abraham Abrahamson excuse me sorry about that 722 Fanon Street
apartment 1114 is in opposition Kyra Solis is in opposition of 4505 Chi Creek
Lane is it Deussen or Duncan Kinzer 3504 Sadal trail is in opposition Sydney
hearts is in opposition so thank y'all for your thank you all for your comments
and those are all the cards and that we have to register for agenda item 6a so
councilmember husband oh I'm sorry I believe that there was a question
councilmember Armentor had regarding the she has there are some questions for the
wages and things such as that I believe on the salaries weighted salaries or
something like that so if if someone from Tyson could come because I think
councilmember Briggs had a question too or you okay all right
thank you mr. city attorney for that reminder
it's Larry King Tyson foods VP of warehousing Springdale Arkansas and do
you recall the question or would you like her to repeat that go ahead I'd be
happy to repeat the question so at the last work session there was some
discussion of the number of jobs that were the highest paying jobs that would
be by Tyson policy given preferential treatment to internal workers who are
already from inside the company who is so they can transfer so I might be
getting the numbers wrong on that but if you if you could just remind me and all
of us what exactly that was clarity of that yes we are equal opportunity so team
members are allowed to look at jobs across facilities so we do allow
transfers within our company they are not given preferential treatment or a
first priority it's on a qualifications type basis of the talent that we're
looking for what we're interviewing for so it is not preferential and it's not
automatic okay so but they do given that opportunity that the team members would
be able to apply for jobs internally externally and so how many of those
hundred jobs are the are the the kinds of jobs that you tend to get internal
transfers for that's hard to answer okay so so I mean Texas we do have a big
presence in Texas we we appreciate the state of Texas we appreciate the
opportunity to look at Denton here and we've had great success so we do have you
know facilities in the Fort Worth area we have facilities in Sherman we've got
them in East Texas so you know and all across with some of those team members
and I've seen times where a forklift driver transfers from Kansas to Georgia
just because of family reason and sometimes facility managers transfer so
it's not about the level of job all opportunities so it's given to all
opera job opportunities there so we do not preferential treatment though so so
within that range so at what wage is the the highest paid job within those
hundred jobs your highest paid job pays how much in other words it's not just
even wages across the board facility manager will be in that with bonuses and
all those type of things is probably going to be in that 150 to 175 probably
I mean it's an extreme as a facility manager a lot of responsibility on a
complex that size and then at the lowest end hourly okay twenty ish dollars an
hour so you know we've been talking about so obviously this is a warehouse
facility right it's not a processing plant and yet it's you know if you're
looking at the larger umbrella of the company and the is somebody said earlier
the you know the performance of the company that performance starts at the
processing so do you happen to know you know what the average wage is for the
the for workers in those processing plants average wage for processing from
there is $15 an hour so that so those workers so in with with the Tyson image
agreement for instance so the workers so in those cases where you know if they're
undocumented workers and ice comes in though they're undocumented workers
getting $15 an hour because that's a lot for undocumented worker ma'am I cannot
speak the image or undocumented workers okay yeah yeah and I want to make sure I
mean this is regarding a tax abatement saw but there's a lot of things that we
could talk about here and we've appreciated the public comment but I
really want to keep this confined so if you could couch your questions in that
form I'm not saying you can't ask those kind of but help me understand how they
tie I'm just trying because because wages are important so I like to look
at the big picture when I'm looking at the company and I'm looking at I don't
see the warehouse is separate and distinct from the processing operation
it's all part of you know the big Tyson company and I'm sure you do too that's
how a corporate a corporation works the big picture so I was just curious about
kind of what the wages both here at this process at the warehouse and then at the
processing plants because you've got processing plants that are elsewhere in
the country but this is I understand that this is this would be the biggest is
that right you know where warehouse of this kind that you would have this to
help clarify that I believe this is the first refrigeration plan of its kind
within the company the audit fully automated fault is is that is that the
distinction is that is the distinction will be fully automated highest latest
technology there to you know for safe environment work environment to take the
risk out of the worst place so it will be our first fully automated warehouse
not necessarily our largest okay so not the largest is the first one fully
automated and how many other warehouses do you have okay we have 14 that is
company owned and then we probably probably 125 or 130 that we go through
with the third party so we have several warehouses across the United States okay
okay and have those gotten incentives agreements to the warehouses in the
cities in which they're located we haven't built a new distribution center
since 1989 okay so then so yes this is our this is your this is the first this
is the first project city asking for incentives for any kind of no no okay
for any kind of no no hold on let's let them answer the question yeah let's try
not to talk over each other because we can't understand exactly what's being
asked so if you'll just ask your question let them answer if you have
another question they can answer that
facilities or have we made that request yes if you can speak a little closer to
the microphone thank you yes we have requested incentives for either
expansions of existing facilities or for news facilities so sure I'm just saying
let's thank you so and when you say new facilities do you mean a processing
plant or a warehouse or distribution facility we have two other expansions of
distribution centers going currently where we have asked for local abatement
of some kind okay but they were not brand new they were existing but it was
an expansion got it got it oh I see it's okay expanding got it thank you okay
councilmember husband yeah no thank you for being here pleasure to see you again
question well first I just want to have an open-ended question so you've heard
public comment and so just want to give you an opportunity to rebut those things
to speak back to whatever issues you feel Jermaine I just think you deserve
that opportunity to not be impugned without the opportunity to speak to that
sure sure you know I guess there are a lot of accusations levied so it's it's
difficult to speak individually but I can pick the top ten you know I can just
say that you know as a company we come to work and introduce yourself I'm sorry
Derek Burleson thank you I'm sure you know we have a hundred twenty two feet
talent hundred and twenty two thousand team members you know all over the world
that come to work every single day with the attention to do the right thing now
are we a perfect company do we made mistakes sure but we also believe in
continuous improvement and in about doing the right thing and rectifying
mistakes so again it's it's it's it's tough for me to to speak to individual
allegations but as someone who's worked for the company for five years you know
I can say that I'm I'm proud to be a Tyson Foods team member okay and then my
question is whoever would address this because I think it is significant right
as as insurance prices go through the roof round number six hundred dollars a
month for a family what these the 100 jobs are insurance eligible help me
understand what that what that value add is you know I think it's tough to say
depending on the level of benefits that the individual team member chooses to to
take but you know I can't tell you that you know with full-time employment there
be there comes up 401k there is health care there's vision there's dental
there's stock purchase plans so I would I would say it's significant yeah no and
I would agree and especially when you're talking about vision which normally does
not come with some of those packages if you look at the Affordable Care Act
it's not included in a lot of those those plans so it does give someone a
leg up and then my comments would be simply that the I find it unique that
again and I've touched on this before I've never heard anyone from this day
is really raised the issue about UNT in our in our in our city and they're great
partner but we also have to sue them to get them to pay the utility bill and so
when you're talking about issues that that come up do we then say that they're
not a good partner no we don't you have these business disagreements and so and
we talk about DISD great institution I was just there at their headquarters and
they're paying ten dollars an hour which is five dollars an hour less than buckies
and it's ten dollars an hour less than what these jobs will be paying here in
town without the benefits or system-wide it's five dollars less than Tyson pays
on average if I believe their numbers to be accurate so it's interesting to me so
to strip out the the emotion of it and just look at the hard numbers we don't
it's a disproportionate look at the corporations the entities and the value
they bring which is disheartening if we equally are hard on everyone that comes
to our city I'm all for it strip out the emotions and say hey if we if you're an
institution and we have to sue you to get our utility bills paid then that's a
problem and but we don't do that because of the the the emotion of it so for me I
look at the incentive and look at will they should they come anyway and look at
a test case and I'll give you a test case of Amazon which was they it's
semi-relevant because it was in indenting considered indenting but anyway
New York two billion dollars New York is a significant city and it's well
established and they have a lot of people there and and the two billion
dollars is part of it so to to Marty's point Denton is not going to reinvent
the wheel from this dais that's just not going to work out for us so then I look
at the fact that 60% of the city's tax base is on the backs of houses and that
has to change because we're getting notices folks that the sales tax is
dipping so sales tax is dipping and we want to continue to incentivize low and
moderate income housing we want to pay for extra streets extra sidewalks and so
yeah that's going to increase taxes on homeowners that's going to increase rent
because homeowners don't apartment homeowners don't that rent don't eat
those costs so my as there's more people to talk my motion is to approve this
because of the value-add and and I'll leave it at that okay
Councilmember Meltzer
Mike well first of all I want to thank the Economic Development Partnership
Board they're volunteers who bring their expertise to help sort these things
through and I don't disagree that they've I agree that they've applied our
standards correctly but our assessment process didn't and I think always should
include a competitive assessment where do we stand versus the other alternatives
that you know that applicants are considering and you know I say that it
wasn't included because you know it required a little research after I asked
the question and it seems that the most important factor in frozen and
refrigerated distribution center businesses is energy cost and we're
quite competitive we're we're better than one of them one of the alternatives
and comparable to the other but there's a difference too which is that ours is
going to be by 2020 entirely supported by wind and solar contracts and I know
that Tyson is a company that does you know worked hard in recent years to kind
of improve their public image and I think that has a value to them too it
also weighs in my mind on the kind of a carbon footprint issue if you're going
to have refrigerated distribution of chicken I prefer it to be indent in because
specifically it will be supported by our wind and solar contracts now that having
been said question of the incentive I think the energy rider is a lot of
incentive it's most of the incentive but then specifically on the abatement the
problem with these abatements is you just never know if you needed it or not
right now we we did one with Wimco and they came but we don't know what would
happen if we didn't do it and we did one with target and they came it's a similar
kind of operation but you know we don't know what would happen if we didn't do
it but in this unusual case we do have an example with a similar type of
operation u.s. cold storage where they had already bought the land or made a
arrangements to buy the land so they didn't qualify for incentives so we
found out what happens in that case we didn't offer an incentive and they came
and I believe they came because we're a great place to have that sort of
facility so I believe the energy rider is plenty of incentive I have an
amendment to offer to the motion but I don't know if I need if there needs to
be a second before we would entertain amendments yes yes yeah and we've got
three other speakers wishing to speak so yeah all right thank you
councilmember Briggs so I just want to kind of go over the numbers because we
heard a lot about wages and I started off originally talking about the weighted
averages and that's how we kind of go over and we said well we have you know
the weighted average is 2482 which which is good but then in the breakdown and
this is part of the reason why I am not in favor I've put out a blog on more
reasons and I've been as I've spoken about it on the economic development
partnership board meeting and the work session so this is not really a
surprise how I feel about it but so there's a hundred jobs and 73 out of the
hundred make less than the din county average so if we are understand less
than what less than the din county average because if the din county
average is 2207 2207 is the like $22 is $22 an hour we have 13 employees making
that in 2060 employees making $20 an hour so 27 jobs only 27 that's $29 or
above and so for me and I appreciate the discussion about all of the other
incentives that we gave some I was in favor of some I wasn't but each
individual project is different they all have different requirements they all
bring something different to the table some are really great and and some I
think you know what they need to value our city they need to look at what we
can offer because we are fantastic the economic benefit here is great Tyson
made 38 billion in revenues and I know you said well sure they don't need it
well I mean I would personally like to focus our incentives on established and
emerging businesses from around the world and bring them into our own
backyard I appreciate your company and what what you do and if you want to come
here that's fine we would be really accepting and but I just I'm just not in
favor of the incentive I think the DME economic growth writer I think that's
what it's called is good enough and it should be enough along with our great
location for you to want to come to our city thank you
councilmember armature okay so I do I'm gonna vote no I and I do understand
that as some people have said you spoke in favor you know if you want to play
the game and and you want you know this company to come then you got it offer
these incentives that it's not a matter of whether whether they need it or not
these you know companies that are that are financially successful don't need it
so I think those points were made very well I just as for me you know I don't I
don't want to to play that game if if the game entails some of the labor what
I consider to be labor abuses and animal abuses and by the way these things are
well documented including if you look up Tyson image agreement the first thing
that comes up is ice saying you know this is a federal government entity
saying yay we're so proud to have this image agreement so this is not some
urban urban legend rumor you know these are the kind of things that we're
supposed to consider when we're thinking about do we want to do incentives
anyway so I am well and saying no I'm well aware that that means they might
not be coming here and I'm I'm fine with that because I don't feel comfortable
with some of these these practices and actually that was pretty much an
understatement you know I will say however that this I think most of the
practices that I'm business practices that I'm opposed to are happening at the
processing plants you know the jobs these hundred jobs which by the way for
seven hundred eighteen thousand eight hundred sixty three dollars in
incentives for a hundred jobs that's seven thousand a hundred eighty eight
dollars and sixty three cents per job you know you can think of it that way
that we're paying I don't it's you know to me that doesn't that doesn't make
much sense as an investment but anyway it's it's definitely be much if I had a
choice as to whether I wanted to be a worker this facility that's being
proposed to come here versus a processing plant it would be a no-brainer
you know but I see the big picture and I look at what we're buying into what
we're investing in so I have a real you know moral opposition to some of these
practices that and again that are you know well well documented by even our
federal government agency so that's all I have to say thank you no we're yeah
we're in the yeah thank you appreciate that I mean it's not gonna yeah I think
people pretty much made up their minds and they're just expressing why they're
not gonna change her mind yeah mayor pro tem thank you mayor just for
clarification are we doing deliberation on both items because I'm hearing talk
about both the public hearing vote which is what's on the table you know and the
other let's just get through this okay because I'm on the the towers we set
that up as a policy that when someone moved in that area they could apply and
they could get it and in that that was to cover the infrastructure that's how
we were planning on getting that built out of their time so that's almost a an
automatic and in some ways that the TURS would portion of this need though the
public hearings part of it will move forward that you know I cannot see any
reason not to vote on that part if you don't build it doesn't happen it doesn't
matter and I hear a lot of people talking about giving away tax dollars
we're not giving away tax dollars we are getting right right from the start two
hundred and twelve thousand seven hundred and ninety seven dollars which
is let's see subtract twenty eight dollars from that and that's the
difference in what we would will get in tax dollars during that first six year
period that we wouldn't get otherwise if they don't move here once that six year
period is up we're up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars in tax revenue is a quarter cent in everyone else's
property rate one cent is equal to a million dollars of revenue and so if we
don't do if we don't do something like this to encourage them it's it's a
welcoming it's it's a it's a minor item you know financially but it's a way to
say welcome Tyson to our community that's what this vote is about so once
the the 20 years on the TURS runs out we're up to 400,000 that's you're almost
up to a half a cent that that we don't have to raise everybody else's taxes or
we can drop everybody else's taxes because of what Tyson is bringing to the
community there are standards in the ordinance that require that they must
meet certain thresholds you know the business property has to be valued at
least at X amount and then there's a depreciation schedule over the six years
if they ever you know try and fight their taxes to get them or try and fight
their price value to get it below what those items are they lose the incentive
that's the way it's it's structured yeah there's also if they don't have 95
employees during that that time period they lose their incentive so they're
going to do everything they can to fulfill that to try and get those
incentives and keep them and again it's it's a welcoming Tyson to the area it's
a one-of-a-kind first first fully automated the technology that's involved
in that as I said in the work session I'm you know looking forward to the fact
that we've got Target and Aldi and the others out there that are customers of
Tyson so you know when you talk about the the carbon footprint you're lowering
your carbon footprint because the distance they have to take it to get it
to these distribution centers has significantly dropped versus what they
would have to do if they're bringing it from Utah so with that I'm in support of
both of these
councilmember Donda I'm kind of having a trouble figuring out where to begin on
all this I'm just not going to cover everything yes I will I will do it I
will do it very quickly I don't sit here and babble no okay all right you know I
think there is a possibility that you would come here if we didn't give you
the incentives and I I don't want to take that chance because I want you here
to me this is a total no-brainer it's not even close and hopefully we'll get
your plant here and you know for somebody back there I mean I don't know
where the feathers got in here but I will I will be supporting this okay well
good I get the last word so I'm not gonna recognize anybody else after my
comments I'm just for warning my councilmember so take that as a yes
that's a promise first of all y'all know that one of my
mantras is I trust the process I trust the process and people coming out and
expressing their views whether from emotion or business perspective on
whatever is before the council I appreciate those comments whether I
agree with them or not is a different story but I appreciate your willingness
to come do it and state your opinions because I think that's helpful to the
process I appreciate Tyson coming I'm sure they hear these comments everywhere
that they go for different types of incentives so I appreciate you being
able to be here and support your business and ask for what you're what
you want somebody quoted was it Wayne Gretzky said the worst shot is the one
not taken so I appreciate you being a part of this process because this is
what makes it work what makes it work is all the deliberations up here nobody's
gonna be changing their mind we could talk here for another two hours most
people probably came in with their mind already made up based upon the work
session and all that I guess I will be supporting the project whether you come
or not without it it's to me it's a two hundred and forty nine thousand dollar
incentive over six years and we're getting during those six years a certain
amount of money 700 and something thousand in the end it's a couple a
couple million is that the gamble is that really what I would call a gamble
that is a is a sure bet a no bet or is it a gamble I think it's a good it's a
good idea it's a good business move I think it's a good move for the city but
I understand the emotional arguments and I don't discount those and I don't
dismiss those this is a refrigeration plant here people are entitled to take
the overarching view they're entitled to whatever value system they had to make
their decisions and I appreciate that I'm not going to recognize you councilman
Barmiter I'm just I'm just telling you that I said that in the beginning so I'm
not trying to be disrespectful but so I'm going to be supporting it I'm sort
of surprised sometimes by our discussions because we voted to approve
a an apartment building that gave a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar tax
incentive to a private developer in a public-private partnership for
affordable housing over ten years out across the city two hundred two point
five million dollars so two hundred and forty nine thousand over five years
doesn't seem too bad of a deal to gain an additional 700,000 or more than that
over ten years couple million dollars so I will be supporting the project and we
will take individual votes on agenda item 6a I mean 5d excuse me and then
agenda is item 6a so councilmember Barmiter I see your request to speak
you've had a lot of time tonight on this issue so I appreciate that but I'm going
to go ahead and move I just want to say that women don't like being referred to
as being emotional just if why I don't think I said women being emotional it
didn't okay thank you councilmember Hudson thank you move approval all right
councilmember Duff second we have a motion and a second on agenda item 5d
yeah I just want to be clear what what piece is this that's the investment zone
is that correct 5d is the investment zone yes all right let's take a boat
please
motion carries five to two all right now we're going to take a motion
councilmember Hudson move approval of 6a we have a second second councilmember
Duff councilmember Armitter okay councilmember Metso is this yeah this is
so I wanted to offer an amendment and I also want to first check in with the
city attorney I believe I'm correct in this that council members can vote to
support an amendment without it in any way creating an obligation to vote in
support of the underlying motion that is correct but ultimately whatever you
prove in a friendly amendment automatically gets carried over into the
underlying yeah not necessarily assuming it'll be friendly okay might be so yeah
I just I want to offer an amendment that I think the folks from Tyson would would
embrace easily because I think they you know want to you know want to show their
their willingness to respond to reasonable anxieties that people have
and you show their good faith toward participation participating in the
community so I would offer the amendment that if there are wage and hour worker
safety or environmental violations here at this plant that that would void the
incentive and secondly we used to have other factors in incentives like
community involvement so I want to propose that we include one here that I
think aligns well with Tyson's kind of corporate mission which is that Tyson
would have community involvement in Denton specifically focused on local
food security initiatives funding them at a level of 22,000 a year or more
that's half the this actually very small incentive and and I emphasize the or
more because I know that this is not a large amount of money to Tyson and I
know that they you know may well want to over achieve on that that's that's the
amendment so mr. city attorney what's the process of that does he if it well
first of all I guess you have to ask it would the movement be willing to accept
that as a as a friendly amendment let's go ahead and vote okay so that's a no is
that correct yes okay is the next process then to see if the amendment
gets a second that is correct and then we take a separate vote on that yes and
then if that passes then it does become an amendment to the motion if the motion
if the movement desires the motion to move forward that is correct it becomes
attached to the underlying motion if it's passed yes all right okay so we've
got a motion for an amendment and understood the part about the community
involvement could you list those three conditions to void okay okay
so counselor Meltzer has restated his amendment is there a second for that
amendment I'll second that amendment okay we have a second for that a minute
we're gonna have to take a hand vote on this or can we we'll just take a hand
vote on it so we have a motion and a second for a meant for an amendment as
presented by a councilmember Meltzer all in favor please oh yes go ahead
question for legal can we mandate that someone donate to the community and and
put a man it just seems like blackmail can you mandate how much they have to
give to the community and to where it goes is that in our purview this unlike
the zoning items that we have before these are economic consent of
agreements and so those are going to be basically what we negotiate or what we
want to see in that and and that's it's a different posture for the council at
this process as opposed to what we just went through in the zoning there items
okay follow-up question then I need someone to articulate to me then that
will take them one by one so whoever's in charge of this so if we're voting on
wage or our violations what does that mean does that means cases settled or
gone to court resolved in jury judgments at a federal level I need to understand
succinctly what that is then the next explanation I need is worker safety is
that a settlement is that a complaint is that a legal resolution or is that a
judge decision and then the third environmental violations is that at a
federal level is that at a lawsuit is that an allegation or is that at a judge
judgment so I need someone to explain those three to me succinctly well I'm
gonna have to ask defer to Councilmember Melzer because it's his motion and those
are his items so he would be the one to get clarification on that found guilty
without respect to level of government and pertaining just to this facility
here but found guilty so found guilty by a judge by a jury by a federal
institution that don't I don't have any prejudice on that you know wage an hour
worker safety or environmental violations well and that's his motion
and if that's what it is then we have been enough information to vote on it so
we have a motion in a second for the amendment all in favor of the amendment
please signify by raising your right hand all in favor of the amendment let
the record reflect that Councilmember Meltzer Councilmember Briggs were the
ones that voted in favor of the amendment motions put forth by
Councilmember Meltzer all in favor all who are not in favor who wish to deny
that amendment please signify by raising your right hand so let the record
reflect that Councilmember Duff Councilmember Hutzpah Mayor Watts
Councilmember armature and Mayor pro tem Ryan voted against the amendment so now
we will move to the original motion which was made by Councilmember Hutzpah
and Don Duff to accept agenda item 5d that's the one we're still on as
proposed by staff so oh 6a we've already done that's right sorry 6a see there I
get confused so we're voting on 6a so let's vote on the motion for agenda
item 6a on the board please a motion carries four to three let's take a five
minute break because the next one's going to probably be a little bit long
as well thank you
all right welcome back to this meeting of the Denton City Council it is about
1134 33 p.m. on February the 5th 2019 we're on our last agenda item besides
concluding items agenda item F which is consider approval of a resolution
authorizing election day polling locations for the city of Denton
Council election to be held May 4th 2019 good evening mayor and council I'm
Rachel wood chief of staff and interim city secretary the presentation I have
planned for you this evening is largely the same as what you saw yesterday at
your city council luncheon so I'm gonna cruise through the first few slides
unless you asked me to slow down and then really it's the second to the last
slide that's got new information added to it based on the meeting I had today
so as a quick reminder your May 2019 elections election day for municipal
elections will take place May 4th 2019 early voting will take place April 22nd
through 27th and April 29th through 30th as a reminder Denton County establishes
early voting locations and the city is responsible for establishing election
day polling locations Denton County has not finalized all of the early voting
polling locations but has confirmed that the Civic Center will serve as an early
voting location during early voting for the 2019 elections the city's required
to have four polling locations one per City Council district the four main
polling locations include MLK Recreation Center for district 1 North Branch
Library for district 2 North Lakes Recreation Center for district 3 and
Dean year Recreation Center for district 4 the resolution that you're being asked
to consider this evening includes the following proposed May 2019 polling
locations and these were established based on the feedback received at your
January 7th work session for district 1 MLK Recreation Center and Pecan Creek
Elementary district 2 North Branch Library and DISD Annex and as a
reminder DISD Annex is kind of right around the corner from Ryan High School
Ryan High School had a conflict on election day for district 3 North Lakes
Recreation Center and Fire Station 7 and district 4 Dean year Recreation Center
and LA Nelson Elementary so quick reminder of the feedback we reviewed
yesterday following the January 7th work session there was a significant
amount of community feedback that we received part of the feedback we heard
was there was a desire for a location either on or near the University of
North Texas we also heard that we should consider using the Civic Center as a
voting center on election day we confirmed with the county election
office that because we are not a fully electronic county with our voting
equipment that we cannot serve as a voting center on election day and
voting centers work essentially the same way as early voting would where all
precincts could arrive at the same location and vote and wouldn't have to
vote at their assigned precinct polling locations we also heard that we should
consider a polling location at TWU and in consultation with the county because
the TWU and the Civic Center reside in the same precinct their recommendation
would be if we had to pick one location that the Civic Center logistically would
just be simpler because it does already serve as a polling location for early
voting so on to the new information today at 11 o'clock I met with Melissa
McGuire who's the assistant vice president of student affairs as well as
with Brandy Grimes who is the associate county elections official to discuss
potential polling locations at UNT we toured several facilities and based on
feedback from Brandy Grimes at the county as well as in conversation with
UNT the Greek Life Center which is located at 621 South Welch Street was
identified as the most viable future polling location at UNT that facility is
owned and operated by UNT and UNT indicated that they are very comfortable
serving as a polling location for either early voting election day or both so
just to give you a little bit of orientation I know there have been some
questions around parking this is the Greek Life Center the picture here
showing the stairs is kind of the front entrance off of Welch Street there's
also a private drive behind the Greek Life Center that's fully accessible
there are several accessible parking spaces located directly adjacent to the
Greek Life Center and UNT has also indicated that they would make the
seven seven-story Highland Street parking garage available and they've
even volunteered that they would make golf carts available for people that
needed to park there and had accessibility issues so that being said
we are still presenting the same two options to you that we discussed
yesterday your resolution is to continue with the eight polling locations
confirmed by staff or you could consider alternate polling locations to address
concerns expressed by the community. Councilmember Briggs. Can you go
back to the location you said no the UNT location I'm sorry the picture
you said there's stairs but then you said something is accessible so does
that mean that it's a handicapped wheelchair accessible in the back is that
what you meant by accessible? This is the front facade of the building but on the back where you see kind of that red paver that's fully ADA accessible.
Okay thank you. So I have just a question since I wasn't at yesterday's
meeting just to get some clarification so my understanding is that when this came
up for discussion or deliberation at that meeting to look at UNT and or TWU I
think it was from what I remember it was Councilmember Duff, Hutzpeth and Ryan who
won sort of the status quo as far as on Election Day voting I don't know what it
was on early election but it's Councilmember Briggs, Armatuer and Meltzer
Meltzer it's it's it's getting late now that we're wanting to have further
discussions with UNT to find some facilities on the campus to enter into
some type of arrangement to have either early voting Election Day voting or both
is that is that a good summary is it is that incorrect or is that fairly correct?
That's my recollection yes. Okay all right okay Councilmember Briggs you're still up did is
that? Well I'm in favor of the locations that that you had in the beginning and
also the new slide of early voting and this Election Day as well. And we do have
several cards so if y'all want to I just want to give you that you certainly
state your opinions as you as we go but I just want to let you know we've got a
lot of we got several cards people wishing to speak. So Councilmember
Armatuer you you okay all right fantastic. Okay any other questions before we hear
public comment? All right good okay we'll go with the public comment we got blue
cards and yes I'm sorry oh Councilmember Duff sorry I didn't see you. I think the
City Attorney knows what I'm going to ask. I think maybe we have some members
on the City Council that have a conflict when we start dealing with UNT. Is that
correct or not? The the conflict of interests provision in the ethics
ordinance has two parts is one is do they have a conflict of interest and the
second part is is there a pending matter before this that this board will be or
Council's being asked to ultimately decide the conflict of interest in
according to the criteria that are listed are definitely met by two Council
members on this Council. The question is the pending matter and I guess for me to
be able to to get to that point is is UNT already agreeable and is willing to
work with the city together to come up with some type of arrangement or
agreement to have both not just early well I'm sorry in this case are
involved me would be limited to the actual Election Day polling location the
counting takes care of their early voting so we're not a party but working
with UNT to find the site if they if and this is a question I wasn't at the the
site tour but and Rachel Wood and the interim city secretary was if UNT has
expressed her that yes we are willing to work with you to establish this we're
we're getting into that territory where it is our evil that there is a pending
matter now before the Council if it's choosing to wish to decide whether or not
to add a third Election Day polling location at UNT again that is that is my
opinion the ultimate decision-maker on that is going to be actually the
individual Council members but the ultimate decision-maker will be the
ethics board if a complaint is brought for them before them or an advisor
opinion is requested of them so to answer your question Councilmember Duff
it appears that if UNT is saying that yes we'll work with you what let's get
let's get it done there's an argument that a pending matter and we have that
we're crossing into the threshold of a pending matter which is the second prong
of the of a conflict of interest that's required to be met okay all right
Councilmember Armitage thanks for asking a question Councilmember Duff just it's
that you probably recall mr. city attorney I had actually asked this this
question emailed this question to mr. Hellman and you remember if anybody else
wasn't included in that asking do I have a conflict of interest so just so you
know that I had asked that question because I wasn't exactly sure and this
is way back this is before the before the last I think it was before the first
work session if not definitely before the second one so anyway it is you know
it's as city attorney said it's it's one of those areas that's a little hard to
figure out and I just wanted you to know I thought about this a lot myself so
thank you and and to let the public know you know I had that same question too I
didn't hear anything so I assumed I assumed it was okay but what you're
saying now makes sense it's good to hear that now can I clarify a little bit oh
sure yeah you know I didn't and councilmember Armitage you are correct you
didn't send that an email to the city manager myself at that time you know the
the polling locations or what Rachel listed and what appears in the
resolution is those four so at that time it was more of a theoretical it wasn't
we weren't at the stage where we're now finding ourselves in and in the conflict
of interest provision as well the ethics ordinance operates it's not a it's it's
not today but tomorrow it may be it might meet the threshold so it's fluid
and that's what has happened in the last day that we've we've moved from there is
not a conflict or or a pending matter before this council tune now UNT is
willing to do that if you were to amend the resolution to include as a third
polling location we're not a different position than we were when that email
was sent and even yesterday and so I just wanted to clarify especially for
the audience to understand how this can progress to that area where it could
possibly trigger a conflict of interest under the ethics ordinance okay and can
I can I respond sure yeah just respond to that so you know another thing that I
have I've thought about and struggled with I don't have an answer to this but
you know just for transparency when because we're talking about voting
right we've got one two one two three members of council who are up for a
reelection two of us have ties to UNT you know so that's five with potential
conflict lead leaving two of us who would seem to have a potential conflict
I'm not saying clear open shut in on the coin the ethics ordinance but so we've
got to yourself councilmember Duff and yourself Mayor Watts who have you know
no arguable conflict that I can see so it's something we all have to have to
think about and you know and I would welcome members of the public don't
hesitate just because I'm here to weigh in on that I don't I don't take it
personal it's I'm I'm still trying to decide I and I appreciate your
clarification makes sense that it does change when it's a pending matter is
there any way so this is a point of procedure kind of question is there any
way to separate this vote to have the decision about the whether to have it at
UNT or not versus whatever you know details of plans get get work plans get
worked out later about the you know the logistics of this and and the and the
cost of it is can that be separate with that change anything or if that were
even possible you're asking a way to more or less if I interpreted what you're
saying is a way to participate today but to then later recuse yourself as we
start going into solidifying even further whatever relationship yeah I don't as I
look at the at the conflict of interest prohibition it it doesn't it just
basically says once that pending matter threshold is crossed then there's the
conflict again I'm saying that as the city's attorney I'm not the ethics board
yeah who has the final decision-maker or yourselves to determine whether or not
you need to to recuse yourselves but I at this point as Rachel as this interim
city secretary has said you know UNT is willing to work and has expressed support
from their end to solidify a the election day polling location at the
Greek like the Greek Center there on UNT campus and even about how they could
accommodate all the different issues I think in my opinion we're now in the
pending matter okay so now now it becomes a pending matter yes if that is
what you what you are proposing or any member on this council is proposing to
include that location yeah so okay so you know in that case so I'm sorry if
this disappoints people because I've really you know fought fought hard for
this to get us to this point and I I think that's a convincing case to make
that it's a pending matter I wish I had had again pardon me for kind of thinking
out loud but I didn't have any notice this was going to be brought to be an
issue I'm sorry what I'm saying you might want to wait until you hear my
comments before you make a final decision okay okay council wait till
you're pumped full councilmember Meltzer okay mm-hmm my request was to have a
polling location closer to the center of the district in fact the location that I
suggested in correspondence with staff was the village church which is near UNT
I don't care if it's on UNT near UNT I care that it's near the center of the
district so I hope we get to the point where we get to proposals here on this
calendar day you know I'm gonna propose that a location be added near the center
just center of the district and I'm perfectly happy to have staff work out
wherever that is okay just and just to address that comment that would take
care of a conflict of interest if it was anywhere outside of UNT controlled or
owned property if staff decides to put it at UNT outside you know after our
decision that's gonna change my decision what I'm saying no no yes I understand I
was addressing that there wouldn't be a conflict of interest if a location other
than UNT anything on UNT property and it's central to the district as you
stated was what you had suggested and yesterday's work session then that then
that would take care of the conflict of interest is what I'm trying to tell you
I'm making I'm sorry to drag this out but I'm making a slightly different
point that the let me ask it as a question do we have to at this to do
this ordinance have the address it's my understanding that yes in order to pass
the resolution what we need to convey to the county is the actual location that
the polling will take place so we would need the address that's right
Councilmembers thank you for that Councilmembers and that's a
very good point that if a location near UNT was decided on it would not be a
pending matter I wouldn't have to recuse myself and but if it I believe that if
it I'm I have been convinced and also we've got the eight city attorney opinion
which whether one agrees or not that counts for something and it's it I
believe that if I believe that I could not vote on a pending matter on a UNT
location that is actually on the campus but I would support I mean like you I
want it so that people in this community can access it and again I would hope
that we all want that as I stated last time we should all want voters to be
able to have access to the voting locations that they want for any any
district any community because there's no such thing as too much too much voting
access in a democracy but so we'll see how this plays out but it but I would
like to if there are locations that if there's a location that has been
considered that is near the campus then I'm all for that too Councilmember Meltzer so
last I heard we hadn't heard back yet that there was some exchange with the
the village church so is there any news on that I thought I saw an email that
said that he they couldn't accommodate it at that time they haven't given us a
firm yes or no which is we don't know yeah we can so they've continued to ask
questions and we've provided them the information that they requested but at
this point we don't have confirmation on their willingness to serve as a polling
location okay then I move we postpone until we get final answer on that if we
have time to you know still to to do that so I want to make sure I understand
what is the the final deadline for the decision that the county needs that the
city needs to make the latest City Council meeting prior to the deadline
that the county has established would be the March 5th City Council meeting okay
all right okay so you're wanting to postpone this entire agenda item
because these are my thoughts I mean I understand about the developments but
look folks this decision comes down to the two Council members I understand
about ethics complaints and also understand that there's a there's a
procedure that you can ask for a written advisory opinion from the ethics board
if you have a concern about something that you have a question about it the
city attorney is not you know without that written advisory opinion the city
attorney is just giving his own opinion based upon the city attorney which does
not carry the same defense of presumption that an advisory opinion does
from from the Board of Ethics so if if we're going to go that route then we
need to take off the table for deliberation because if you if you
determine that you may have a conflict it's a conflict to even deliberate on on
the item so if that's the case then we can't even talk about that item to
deliberate on it with the UNT location being and it's only for election day
polling that we don't have the authority to approve early voting locations I
mean that's the county we can and it sounds like from what I've heard they're
working on that and the county can put that at the UNT location because that
doesn't require any approval by the city sounds like to me from what I've heard
is it's simply the early day I mean the same day the election day polling
location because it requires an authorization and approval from the city
with an arrangement from a partner and all these other criteria so I just want
to make sure that it I don't care about postponing in it if we're saying we're
taking off the table at least for now at this cycle the election day polling
location at the University of North Texas and we're going to look for
another site and see if that's acceptable to counsel with whoever and
also is acceptable to someone that has a an appropriate location that couldn't be
offered okay but I just want to say that if we're still include that election day
polling location on the university campus in the deliberations you just
have to make your own decision of that I'm not giving my opinion on it that's
something that each council member has to make individually so so your motion
is to postpone yes and I would use the opportunity I really appreciate your you
know your experience with the I don't know if I appreciate it but it's always
you learn yes you're helping us but I'd certainly use that that time while
seeing it if there are more than one possible locations that might be
considered I would certainly use that time you know to get an opinion from the
ethics board well yeah I was going to say you could they turn those around
fairly quickly so that that certainly would be I think the the safest I mean
it's if March 5th is the last part of that deadline for Election Day polling
place if the county decides to put it at UNT quite frankly I think that'll solve
many of the issues that are concerning people you got two or three two weeks of
many hours of voting that are available so but so your motion to put is to
postpone is it to so it's not to exclude right now the Election Day polling from
UNT campus it's just to postpone this to get some time to get an advisory opinion
and maybe well and also to understand whether there are alternative sites yes
okay all right okay so we've got a couple people Councilmember Duff well
you made the point you you know you've got a lot of time to go vote okay and
there's going to be one on on the UT campus I think that's already point of
order yes we shouldn't be deliberating about this before considering the motion
to postpone it hearing deliberation well I don't yeah I'm talking against not
yeah okay yeah I think can we deliberate on the rationale to support or to not
support a motion to postpone or does a motion to suppose postpone in a second
come with sort of a de facto call of the question where it ceases the debate
plus I think we've got a motion but I don't think we've heard a second so I
don't know if that no that's I don't know if that much well I haven't seen I
haven't seen it I see a movement but I don't think that that's for a motion to
postpone so yes so right but I understand Councilmember Meltzer I
understand that I'm in control you've got a motion for a motion to postpone
nobody has indicated a desire for a second I'm going down the list of people
who have been asked to speak Don Duff is being asked to speak Don Duff is
speaking not because we don't have a motion on the floor that's been seconded
so do you have any more comments Councilmember Duff yes I do but we need
to be careful though not to deliberate the substantive aspect of the UNT
Election Day polling to not jeopardize our colleagues who are still trying to
figure out their decisions I want us to be respectful of the position that they
seem to have been put in not by any actions of their own it's just by the
process that we've had so I want to be respectful than that and not put them in
jeopardy because they've asked I'll wait and comment later okay Councilmember
Armitter so I second that motion okay Councilmember Meltzer's all right so we
have a motion in a second Councilmember Husbeth I know you've got
something there but the motion to postpone to a date certain I believe
which would be March 5th March 5th is that the next is that the latest council
meeting that would be the latest council meeting the ultimate deadline that we
receive from from Denton County is just as March 13th but you don't meet again
after March 5th prior to that March 13th deadline all right okay all right so the
the motion is for a date certain March 5th motion to postpone and does the
seconder approve of that yes yes and am I allowed to add just a little something
to my my second you mean just comment sure if you could yeah thank you I'll
make it brief you know I know again and apologies to people who came out and
waited you know just to to hear this again I was just searching for the date
I don't know if the city attorney found it to find the date of the email that I
sent I just want people to understand that I did ask really early on in this
process do I have a conflict of interest I'm saying that not to put you in the
spot on the on the spot to fault you for not answering but just to let people
know that that I did not know until today I was not prepared for this until
today so I anyway I hope people understand and I apologize to people who
came out all the and waited all this time for this and I really thank you for
your patience that's that's all I wanted to add to that Councilmember husband so
we have a motion in the second on the motion postpone so that is debatable
yes well I just need a couple of things I need to re-understand because so much
has happened the motion one I want to again I think it's bad to mischaracterize
what someone says and and words matter in the legal industry in all industries
but specifically in the legal industry three times our city attorney has stated
the facts changed and we all were made aware of that today no one was at that
meeting so an email that was sent before today is moved the change today and so I
just don't want to I just don't want the city attorney to get misrepresented
repeatedly for whatever reason I think his his statements have been very clear
very succinct an email before is not germane to the set of facts we're
considering today and so to then say that somehow there was misguidance is
disingenuous or inaccurate and so that being said if I could hear the motion
again because there were some caveats there and really where I hang up is I
think we need to give instruction on we need to carve out the one issue of day
of so that we can move on I mean I get it that we have time I just don't think
that's if if we're to a point where there's a purported feeling between two
of our peers that they would not be able to vote on the issue on UNT camps I
think we could carve that out and just move on and say hey this is not going to
be an option now let's look at the other alternatives and and we can lock in the
other stuff that we do know just so we can narrow the scope so if I can take a
stab at that counselor I think what I understand the motion to be is it's a
motion based upon the material change of the facts I mean there's a material
change in the facts which have created a material change in these deliberations
which we're finding out in real time on the dais tonight so I think he what the
motion is is to postpone to March 5th to allow two things to happen one is to
allow staff to continue to research or to receive feedback and input of are
there alternative locations close to the central part of district 3 that would
make adequate Election Day polling location because the early voting
location is not of an issue here whether it's on UNT campus or not the second
purpose of the motion is to craft an advisory letter to the Board of Ethics to
delineate the facts as they now have developed to determine get a letter of
advisory opinion from them on is it a conflict of interest which requires
recusal and what however that comes back I think will determine the carve out ie
if the advisory opinion comes back and says yes if the city has to approve an
or a same-day election location and they have to do it in an arrangement with the
University of North Texas which will require the University of North Texas
providing some real estate in order to do that they may say that you know that
could be a conflict and you need to recuse they could come back and say no
those facts do not present facts that require recusal because of a conflict so
I think that's the purpose is to is to find options and to give clarity to two
members that are as surprised and learning those facts today that have
made this now an issue so is that my understanding of the motion is that
fairly accurate and mr. mayor I think you got it exactly right okay yes
councilmember Hudson then then one Rachel is it the amount per polling site
five thousand dollars is that right we received an estimate today from the
county and this is just an estimate we would also have to get details on if
DISD was going to partner with us on a particular polling location and we don't
have a firm commitment on that for early voting if we were to add a location it
would be about $7,000 if we were going to have an additional election day
polling location it would be about $4,000 if we were going to do both it
would be combined an $11,000 total okay so so about $4,000 that would then be
payable to it using the example on the table the village church right that
funding would actually go to the county and then the county okay we don't know
what the county does okay all right so we're going to okay councilmember Duff
you show a request to speak are you wanting to speak or you is it not been
rotated off and it's on the and it's on the deliberation I'd like to say say a
few things okay okay and this is to either support or not support the motion
on the table which is postponement I'm so you don't really want me to say
anything else I want us to follow the rules is what I want us to do
councilmember Briggs I have a process question just about the individuals that
showed up at 630 to speak on this item and it's now the next day how are they
still allowed to speak if we approve postponement or they just have to show
back I mean I'm just curious on the speaking of the my fear is that first
of all what's the opinion if we're making a motion to postpone that's not
really the agenda item that's been posted I mean it's for the engine that
has been posted and also I'll just throw in my comment my my concern is would it
be considered a deliberation if there's statements from the dais about same day
locations on the University of North Texas campus that that because I don't
know the answers to these questions so I'm trying to provide as much cover as
I can for the two council members and give them time to do what they need to
do make their decisions for the advisory opinion if that's the route they so
choose so I'm not saying it would or it wouldn't I just but the I will leave
that up to the council if y'all we can go through these cards and allow them to
speak I mean I'm not gonna necessarily say they're not allowed to speak it's
whatever the pleasure of the council is so if there's if there's a desire to let
them speak be given those comments we can I mean we'll certain I don't mind
letting them speak we've been here we're gonna be here for another 30 minutes but
I do give that caveat I just want to I mean and they've heard all the
deliberations and discussions as well so what's the council's pleasure all right
well I'll make the decision I'm the chair we'll let him speak okay Alfred
Sanchez come down state your name and address your time will begin
my name is my name is Alfred Sanchez hold on just a minute apparently
councilmember I just want to give her an opportunity if she's gonna exit then yeah
okay no no okay okay oh my name is sorry
yes sir you may proceed okay my name is Alfred Sanchez I live at 7-11 Jackson
Street and I'm here to support voting at UNT at Election Day I'm a voter
registrar and have and have served as an election judge an alternate judge for
about 10 years I have a passion to get young people to vote because young
people are the future of our country I have done voter registration at NCTC UNT
TWU several years ago we conducted voter registration at UNT and registered over
800 students in one day in 20 and 2000 in 2018 we voted registered about 2,000
students as a person as a person involved with voting I often I often
hear from older people that the young people do not vote or not concerned
about their country I object with that assessment I see other people who are
very I see older people who are very complacent about voting I believe I
believe it stems from not being involved in the voting process when they were
when they were young once a person gets involved with voting with a voting
process it becomes addictive in a state that ranks at the bottom of voting we
should make every opportunity for young people to vote yesterday at the work
session I heard several obstacles that that prevent holding a voting location
at UNT my response is if we can put a man on the moon why not a voting
location at UNT are we saying we cannot solve the minor inconvenience of hosting
voting at UNT we must understand that voting is a foundation of our democracy
and that we must make every effort to protect our democracy for future
generations there are other universities that have that have there are that have
allowed or have approved voting early voting and also voting on Election Day
on campus these are Prairie View Prairie View A&M Texas A&M Texas Christian
University SMU University of Texas in Dallas University of Texas in Arlington
and University of Texas in El Paso thank you
you've got a request to speak is that okay thank you next speaker is Matt
Farmer come down state your name and address your time will begin again my
name is Matt Farmer my address is 2042 scripture Street man this has been weird
so yeah like the previous speaker I've been a voter registrar in the area for a
long time I have done voter registration events and voter registration
presentations at both UNT and TWU and pretty much every time you talk to
somebody that goes to UNT that goes to TWU any any students that are new to the
area that you know are still figuring out the our electoral system and when
elections happen they nine times out of ten they don't even know that there are
many elections and so I think that if we want to as a city increase the
visibility for these elections it would just make sense to come up with more
polling locations especially around the universities and not only that but you
know the specific to district three the two polling locations that we do have
are on basically polar opposites of the of the district and you know I agree
with with Paul and that I think that regardless of whether or not it's UNT
or another location we should have a centralized polling location because
these are this would be in an area that's typically lower income neighborhoods
in the district and when you have lower income neighborhoods they're facing more
of a probability that these people don't have access to a car or that you know
will have you know more trouble getting out to those those polling locations that
are further away so I think it's important I think that if we do if we
do want more of a fair democratic system at the local level I mean we're already
looking at five to seven percent turnout rate for these elections and I don't
know why anybody on council wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't want for more turnout
visibility for these elections I also don't really understand why this
particular agenda item would be a matter of conflict of interest for Paul or Deb
because they're the their two seats aren't even up for election in this
cycle I think it's also only for one particular district so I don't see how
that that wouldn't you know provide a conflict of interest for that council
member in the same way so I I mean it is a weird area every other council members
seat is up the selection cycle it seems like there is a debatable conflict of
interest for everybody on council in this regard so that those are my
thoughts right now but I do I really want to push to to increase the amount
of polling locations that we have especially in the centralized area of
Denton and district 3 thank you next speaker Christopher Wilkins state your
name and address your time will begin
Christopher Wilkins 708 Iof Street department B didn't Texas district 3 yeah
I wasn't even sure if I wanted to come up here because I don't think it's gonna
be change anybody's mind it's gonna be postponed but I felt obligated as a
precinct chair for 4039 which runs parallel to UNT to represent the people
that I kind of trying to register and organize and get people to vote I echo
what Matt says I feel like if you're gonna live in a democracy we should put
more faith and trust in our institutions and try to increase voter participation
as much as possible I'm very much agree with you Chris our mr. Watts sorry the
head that I believe in the process and I still want to trust the process but
democracy if you look federally and statewide even that internationally is
having a rough go at it but locally it's not people are really diving in at least
me I've started diving in the last couple weeks a couple years and really
really started loving democracy it's messy it's long obviously but it's
important and I feel like we should it's our duty to increase voting places as
much as possible I am still I don't really understand the conflict of
interest part but I'm not a lawyer I don't know things I'm learning as I go
so I'll trust the process in that regard and hopefully and pray that you guys
make the right decision increase in the voting populace because no offense mr.
Duff but my constituents in my district in my neighborhood in my precinct can't
just vote whenever they want to they have classes they have obligations they
have kids a lot of them are immigrants I mean this is no offense to you I'm just
giving you their perspective it's a different perspective a lot of times I
don't have cars like that is there's a vast class difference in racial makeup
in my district or my precinct and a lot of them have all of them have told me
that they would definitely vote if it was easier or more ubiquitous could they
walk to the Civic Center sure but if there's an option for them to walk down
the street I don't know why we wouldn't provide that for them so thank you
appreciate it next speaker is Jennifer Lane
there Jennifer Lane 1526 Willowood Street I'm happy that it's already
looking very good for an early voting poll on UNT campus during early voting
please also have a poll on a very near UNT at this point maybe very near is
better there are several suitable locations in the Wesley Center was most
recently used in Election Day in 2018 if the Election Day poll were at the
Wesley Center and the early voting poll in the UNT campus that would likely
solve the issue raised earlier suggesting voter confusion and also the
Civic Center as mentioned just before would not be available to district 3
voters on Election Day since most have asked for this poll are in district 3
concern about confusion is probably exaggerated anyway at present there are
two bills in Austin aiming to allow the state to have more voting centers which
would allow same location voting throughout the early voting and
Election Day but for now Denton County must revert to precinct in this case
district voting on Election Day the voters who voted in November most of
whom I and my fellow Dentonites registered even those quite new to voting
now know how it works only election only district 3 voters can vote at district
3 polls on Election Day district 3 encompasses a number of precincts many
who live on or immediately around the campus of district 3 voters and do not
own cars their nearest poll on Election Day would be almost five miles away
these voters are expressly asking for this additional walking distance poll
thousands of students and other voters were registered at UNT this past fall
who currently live in district 3 and they voted in November more will be
registered this spring by April 4th they are ready to vote in their municipal
election at their district 3 poll and needed to be accessible on foot parking
can be solved with coordinated effort I went to the tour today it was very
interesting and well represented UNT as you know is very very willing during
early voting doesn't have to be UNT later it seems to me that the cost has
been exaggerated it was described that you paid 6k for four additional polls in
2018 that the additional amount that the city paid was 6k raising the number of
polls from 4 to 8 so I would imagine at that math that adding a fifth would be
closer to a thousand or twelve hundred so I don't know but and would be a
response to an expressed need and request by the voters in district 3 if
any poll can be dispensed with and I'm not advocating for fewer polls rather
for more of them it's the firehouse out by Robeson Ranch if the city's worried
about money for an additional poll I'm quite sure many would be happy to
contribute myself included the city regularly has much bigger ticket items
that it pays for without raising an eyebrow for example item 6b tonight
which took down out more than two minutes to pass presentation included so
the small cost of additional polls is negligible in comparison like I will be
next November Robeson voters are mostly 65 plus and can vote by mail most of them
do which the students and younger voters at and near the center of district 3
cannot and the Robeson Ranch voters if they do wish to vote in person generally
have cars which again most of the younger people in the center of district
D district 3 do not again I am NOT advocating against new polls I am
advocating for one especially when there is so great expressed interest in such
large numbers who would be served and have quite a need for it and it's not
just students many UNT staff and faculty living in district 3 also walk to or and
or cycle to work one council member surprised me by seeming to equate voting
on election day to turning in classwork late on the last day of the semester I
guess thinking that anyone who waits till election day to vote is late
everyone has the right to a convenient hole on election day and if they ask
they should get this lane that's your time please another area of poopooing
seems like I'm gonna ask you one more time its city accounts elections have
been won by 20 few votes 25 votes lane I'm gonna ask you one more time I'm
gonna ask the officer to remove don't be afraid of the big bad vote all right
thank you more votes is more votes for everyone if you could please escort her
from the desk David our bank you're next up please
hello it's David Urbannick but I'm sorry oh no no worries only about five people
since I've lived in Texas pronounced it correctly my name is David Urbannick 714
West Hickory Denton three deputy voter registrar and also a poll greeter and I
want to thank the City Council for their time and thank the council members for
the opportunity to speak about UNT as a voting location I am in favor as UNT as
a voting location on election day a Pew research study in 2016 shows young
people and people of color are faced with issues causing burdens to vote one
issue cited is inconvenient locations they found ease of reaching voting
places follow economic and racial lines not using UNT as a voting location could
be seen as voter suppression the campus and surrounding areas highly compacted
population and the campus caters to particular demographics that some may
not find desirable as voters that are willing to disenfranchise them the
student population can be productive citizens and should be encouraged to
participate and be engaged with the community they spend money in didn't and
help create many jobs in didn't and so they should have a vote in Denton to
address suggestions to prevent UNT as a voting location one is mass transit
didn't has a good system for a city of this size but the system is not always
efficient convenient or easy to use one issue is uncovered bus stops that
prevents that subjects people to the weather there could be bus transfers
delays all that can increase the burden of people wanting to vote trying to
reach the polls unlike some areas like ropes and ranch many students do not
have vehicles due to the cost of vehicle ownership as a result students face
additional hardships to vote others do not have another issue is voter
consumption voter confusion that happens all the time at all locations and would
not be unique to UNT poll watchers poll greeters and voter registers have been
present at polls to assist people who have issues and can help them direct to
the proper place as needed but it is the city's responsibility to proactively
educate citizens about voting that can help eliminate some confusion why not
use the LED sign outside the Civic Center to educate people that an election
is currently going on and can display vote didn't comm website to direct
people for information which can help them find their location thank you so
much for your time appreciate it thank you you bet George fairies next speaker
please come state your name and address your time will begin good morning my
name is George Ferry I live at two nine three two Stockton Street zero motion
all facts all data voting in a I agree UNT should be a polling place I'm gonna
let everyone else who wants to speak talk about that because I wholeheartedly
agree with them and I think they got that argument in the bag mine is d1
district one in the most southeastern corner we have Pecan Creek Elementary
School if you look at the data of municipal election turnouts it's less
than half the turnout of either MLK Center or the Civic Center I also saw in
that presentation which by the way the work session yesterday you couldn't hear
anything except for things that were said by you anyone presenting was
unheard via audio so I never heard the presentation until just now and in that
presentation it said because of our festival
Denton Arts and Jazz the 27th will be closed for the Denton Civic Center which
is one less day of access and 4009 the precinct in which I live TWU is in that
district accessibility for college students is vital it's a 35-minute walk
from Texas Women's University to the MLK rec center there is not a connector you
have to go to two different buses to connect I believe via Google Maps it's
very confusing you have to think about accessibility for young folk if you want
them to turn out it's as simple as that there were let's see a hundred and 19
votes cast in Pecan Creek for the entire election for mayor and at-large at
Pecan Creek Elementary School that's less than half of everywhere else and
d1 has the lowest voter turnout there's I think one apartment complex in
southeast and near that polling location and they are that polling location mind
you is a 10 minute bike ride via the Katy Trail or an eight minute drive to
the City Hall of Corinth it's incredibly close so during early voting you can go
anywhere right so why not make that their early voting location and also
education sending out mailers making videos being more progressive in the way
we attack educating people on how to vote where to vote and when to vote
thanks thank you Emily Meisner please state
hi Emily Meisner 1700 Cordero court in Texas thanks for letting us speak on
this tonight I'm a voter registrar and I do nonpartisan voter registration around
Denton and one of the things that we're really good at is educating and we were
recently at UNT campus where we registered over 2,000 students to vote
and we educated these students as we registered them I was originally going
to ask for a polling place on UNT campus for election day and encourage you to
vote for this but now I just want to say any polling place near is fine though
the point is we want to mobilize these young voters to exercise their right to
vote I trust our citizens and I trust their intelligence to be able to work
through the confusion that was proposed yesterday in the work session it was
proposed that an additional polling location would actually cause more voter
confusion and I disagree with that Senate sentiment in fact I think it's
counterintuitive to add another polling location would just increase voter
turnout to increase the accessibility is good the students around UNT campus like
they said not all of them have cars walkability is an issue so the need is
there the cost is minimal seeing tonight that it would be under five thousand
dollars so the the next issue that came up was the parking the parking issues
for for a Saturday that that could be worked through those could be as you
said saw from the presentation earlier the people are prepared to address the
parking issues so to bring this point home let's educate and collaborate
provide voter accessibility more votes is better for everyone so I like what
you're you're saying trust the process so let's trust this process to move
forward and trust our citizens thank you thank you Mary Infante you filled out a
blue card to speak it yeah okay okay because I think she also filled out a
white card okay all right okay yeah she is in support of additional polling
locations the last card is a white card which is a card that wishes not to speak
this is Jordan Villarreal 707 Bernard Street apartment 12 I'm just going to
read the first humbly request that City Council consider both an early voting
and election day polling location on UNT's main campus those are the cards we
have we do have a motion on the table if someone would mind retrieving council
member armature oh yes councilmember Briggs the motion is to postpone till
March the 5th yes okay we have a motion for postponement to date certain on
March the 5th for agenda item what is this now 6f we have a motion in a second
so let's keep we'll just have to show a show of hands all in favor of
postponement till March the 5th for agenda item 6f please signify by raising
your right hand all right the motion carries six well it doesn't carry yet we
have six votes everybody in favor of postponement raise your right hand all
right so let the record reflect that councilmember Briggs mayor pro tem
Ryan councilmember armature the mayor councilmember Metzler and councilmember
Hutz but all voted to postpone anyone in opposition to postponement please
signify by raising your right hand we have one which was councilmember Duff so
the motion to postpone carries this agenda item till March the 5th for the
time requested our neck our next item are concluding items councilmember
Hudson thank you mayor just a few things here mr. city manager do we have a mobile
home building standards criteria I'm not sure I'd like to see us explore that as
I consider the the item we decided before I think I'd like to start
crafting that if we don't have it because as I explore that further
understanding the different level of materials and different building
materials that go into those homes I'd like to try to get us or those that
would purchase those in a different element and also address the the parking
spaces I think now there's it only requires one car or something like that
but I'd like to try to begin to regulate those a little better for those that
would would come in our community so that they could have some protections and
then another note for you for the city manager I had a great conversation with
dr. Wilson on their plans for that building on Elm Street and sounds like
there's some flexibility in parking with their future uses they're gonna use it
for night classes for adult classes and and I'd like to see if staff can talk to
whomever at the ISD to explore that maybe something where we could put a
gate and so if it's gated there's no public parking but if that gate is open
then it's available to be parked so and that would put citizens about a block
and a half to from the square and so I'm hoping there's some synergies there with
them and I as a general note I want to congratulate UNT and thank mr. Ryan for
his generous donation I think that's going to be significant to bring more
traffic more notoriety more professors to to Denton which would which can only
kind of help grow our visitor base and our business base so that that thirty
million dollar donation is significant and then one other thing is judge Holly
Fox is sworn in on the 11th so it's a Monday before we meet again so I want to
invite people out to that and also let her know that I'm excited about her
assuming that position and and leading that that department and and all the
great things that are going to come from that so that's it thank you
okay so I just have a few quick ones here one I would like a staff report on
flashing red lights on like the rules and the reasons we have them there was a
an accident at University in Malone I guess after midnight certain lights
start turn they turn red and they just flash and that was before the road was
expanded and so I don't know if now that it is expanded if that type of system is
still okay just just on that second I would like to ask that the voting info
be put on our Civic Center electronic sign I thought that was a really great
suggestion and maybe even just if voter education and notification about our
voting can be shot down to our citizen on engagement committee maybe I don't
know if I make that request here or not I think that could be a good way to talk
about how we get citizens involved I would like to request that our gas well
ordinance come back to a full council last time we talked about it the mayor
was out and so we didn't get a chance to hear how he feels about it and I'd like
to know and then finally I'd like to change the weighted average that we use
for incentives I we could maybe say that but it's kind of like when we do the
zoning changes like in our four it actually ends up being eight homes per
acre instead of like you know we it looked like we had a really good deal
when you say a hundred jobs for this much but when you broke it down over 70
of those weren't really something you would want to incentivize so I don't I
don't know maybe a discussion if that's in our incentive policy we could talk
about that again just for transparency sake that's it okay so one thing I
wanted to thank Danny Shaw of community development for putting together a
really terrific staff report on a sobering center and for people who don't
know what that is just say really briefly it is a place where people who
have been apprehended for public intoxication can go to just sleep off
their hangover and to just exist without it being a crime these are people who
are just publicly intoxicated not harming anybody and they have and it
saves the city has saved cities a lot of money in in jail and it also helps
people get help for their substance issues so there's instead of you know
punishment for it so there's lots to recommend it I want to request a work
session on it and I also want to encourage my colleagues here on on
council to to talk to Chief Dixon about it because he has experienced the
sobering center in Austin and it's a really great advocate for you know the
the the advantages of it and it's so and just to ask police officers DPD officers
you know what what they think about this issue it's anyway I'm really excited
about I think that I think it was an excellent staff report and I would like
to also request that if when it comes to a work session that that we can make a
special invitation to you Chief Dixon to be there even though he didn't put that
as I understand it you know he didn't put that staff report together I know
that he's done a lot of work and research on it and it's really an
invaluable resource and I think people would want to hear how it benefits the
police department as well and our bottom line for the city so that's all thanks
just real quick just want to express a lot of gratitude to staff who've been
putting in long evening hours to do more neighborhood meetings about projects you
know lots of them and I think it's great and secondly I'm very appreciative of
members of the public who are sticking with us even into the next morning you
know and who want to learn about the process and and participate and be
involved in local government thank you I just have a couple and I'd like to have
this information when we do the workshop on the or work session on the gas well
ordinance or revisiting that which we've done several times I'd like to get a
survey of the active gas wells and the ones that have been plugged or abandoned
I think you know there's been a lot of time passed between when we did a survey
of what's really out there on the ground and what could be included in that is
you know the gas well plants that we have and and what are they able to do
and just just a review of where we are and and I think we need to put on this
discussion when we in fact I've spoke with one of the people who spoke tonight
about this and I told them I would do this because we're stuck we're stuck on
setback so I'm not going to liberate I would call somebody down if they did that
so what I want is to have a policy discussion on can we determine a setback
one setback and I understand that a scientific study and all that is
something that you you wanted to do and that's something we can we can talk
about but those are also very expensive and I don't know if I think we've got
enough information to make that decision because I'm not too hopeful that we can
find one setback but I think we need to have that discussion because we're we're
we're really affecting projects on some sort of shotgun approaches so don't know
if we can get that solved but that's something I'd like to include just a
very comprehensive work session on on this whole issue it's not gonna solve it
but maybe it can get us past some hurdles other than that let me see and I
do want to say this too I'd like to it seems like and I'm not sure why that a
lot of this discussion now the members of the public have advocated for this
and we've heard a couple of things mentioned during the the neighborhood
during the council work session discussions but TWU for the most part
has been left out of this equation for voting location either early voting or
polling location I spoke with some representatives over TWU nobody's
really approached them I haven't seen too many emails or social media posts
from people here policymakers so I'm not sure why UNT has gotten all the the
attention maybe it's just because it's a little bit it's a bigger university but
TWU has 15,000 students or so so I think we need to I don't know if we're
gonna be able to do it for this cycle because it's it's so close but that's
just an observation I've had so I'd like to see if there is something and if not
I know they would be amenable to setting that up if it takes time to start doing
that now for either the November election or the next city election in
May of 2020 so that's all I've got and it is 1243 or so I can't see that far so
we're going to call this meeting adjourned