>> Good afternoon and welcome to the city of Denton's planning and zoning commission
meeting for Wednesday, August 9th, 2023.
This is our work session and with the quorum present I will call us to order at 5.01 p.m.
Let the record show that Commissioner Smith and Commissioner Anderson are absent at this
time.
First item on our work session is citizen comment on consent agenda.
But seeing no one here in the audience for that.
We'll go ahead and move on to clarification of this evening's agenda.
First on our agenda are the minutes from July 19th.
Any questions on those?
Anything on consent that you want brought up by staff?
Then we'll go to items for individual consideration.
Or A, I'll have Mia come up and give us a summary.
Hi.
>> Hello.
Good evening.
Chair, members of the commission, Mia Hines, associate planner.
I'm just going to give a summary of this variance request.
Essentially this is a property the development or the developer applicant is proposing a
multifamily development.
The property is located at the northeast corner of Audreline and Nottingham drive.
And that requirement requires at least two full points of vehicular access for developments
of this kind.
This site, given the triangular shape and some of the surrounding conditions, it becomes
a little difficult for them to achieve a second point of access that meets all the other requirements
of our transportation design criteria manual.
The applicant did put in a good faith effort to try to provide a second point of access
to this site.
And ultimately the challenges are going to come with this development or any development
that requires that second point of access.
So we are recommending approval within my full presentation.
I have those options.
So we could detail that if you want to discuss those options a little further.
But we are recommending approval of the request to allow this site to be served with one point
of access.
And with that, I will answer any questions that you have.
>> Thank you.
Any questions?
Commissioner Pruitt?
>> Sorry.
Just one question.
I know this is -- is this just the flat work site plan, essentially?
>> Yeah.
Yeah.
It's -- well, in this exhibit, the buildings are shown there.
They are kind of gray.
It's hard to tell.
>> Okay.
Yeah.
I was trying to find the buildings.
And I was not seeing them.
>> I can make that more clear for you in the presentation.
>> Yeah.
So they're above and then along Nottingham?
>> Yeah.
They're here.
And then there's an amenity center here.
And then there's one here.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> Awesome.
Thank you.
>> Other questions for Mia?
Mia, I assume, like, you talked with Fire on this and they're fine with it?
>> Yeah.
They did not have any comments.
>> Saw it as zero problem.
Okay.
Excellent.
Okay.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
>> Okay, that will take us to 4B.
Erin, come up.
Hi, Erin.
>> Good evening.
Okay.
Good evening, Chair, members of the commission.
This is FR23-0011.
This is a final replat of the Golden Triangle edition.
It's located just northwest of Colorado and Loop 288.
At this time, staff is recommending denial as it does not meet all of the criteria for
approval, but they've requested a one-time 30-day extension, which could be granted to
August 23rd.
>> Great.
Any questions for Ann?
Okay.
Thank you.
4C has been withdrawn, so we won't be taking any action on that item.
4D?
Julie's?
Hi, Julie.
>> Hello, good evening, Julie Wyatt.
This is FP23-0020.
This is a final plat for a portion of the Kingsway subdivision.
Right now, they have some things to correct, so staff is recommending denial.
However, we have no objection to the requested extension to -- 30-day extension to August
23rd.
I'll be happy to answer any questions.
>> Great.
Thanks, Julie.
Any questions for Julie?
Okay.
Thank you.
And you've got the next one, too, I believe, 4E.
>> All right.
Same Kingsway development.
It is for Phase 1B.
Once again, they do have some items that they need to correct.
This is that final plat for this phase, and so staff is recommending denial.
However, we have no objection to that requested 30-day extension, and I'll be happy to answer
any questions.
>> Okay.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
See you again shortly.
Our public hearings for this evening, 5A, we'll have Christy come up and give us a summary
of that one.
Take any questions, if you all have any.
So this is a project that is referred to as Denton Crossing Phase 3, and the site plan
is currently under review.
The site plan will include the construction of a parking lot for a industrial facility
to place their product on.
The request is to fill 0.19 acres of herbaceous wetlands to construct this parking space and
then relocate the habitat and the ecological services to another location closer to the
waterway, and staff is recommending approval.
The field assessment had confirmed that was undeveloped floodplain and that the water-related
habitat is these isolated wetlands, and then the mitigation plan will be to excavate the
soils and the herbaceous materials and to place it in this new location, bring in top
soil and vegetation to help support the revegetation or the regrowth of this area, and then to
achieve a 60% vegetative cover.
And there were notifications sent out and one response in favor of the project and no
meetings were held, no neighborhood meetings were held, and staff is recommending approval
as outlined in your backup materials.
With that, I'll take any questions.
Thanks, Christy.
>> Anyone have any questions on this one?
That will take us to 5B and really technically C and D, so they're all related if you all
did not notice, and they all have to be approved in the order as they are on our agenda.
If they are not approved, then that will topple the next one and the next one, so we'll move
accordingly as we make these decisions.
Julie, I don't know how you want to do presentations on this one.
Are you going to give one full presentation or are you going to?
>> In the interest of just everyone's time, and it would be a lot of repetition, we've
combined all of the requests into one presentation that builds on the information like the project
does, so hopefully that's okay.
>> Yeah, and then we'll just vote then one item at a time and then take it from there.
>> Awesome.
>> If we need to move on.
Okay.
Thank you.
>> All right.
So this is Multifamily at Mayhill.
It's three requests, a comprehensive plan amendment, CA 23.1, zoning Z 23.6, and then
a specific use permit S 23.3.
So I'm just going to give a summary.
If you all want to go into more detail, we can absolutely do that, but the proposal is
to develop multifamily dwellings on a 24-acre tract, 281 multifamily dwellings.
The subject property is sandwiched between Loop 288 and Mayhill, but it's adjacent to
Mayhill.
It includes two tracts.
There's a northern tract, which is the entire tract, and then the southern tract is -- the
entire tract is about 14 acres.
This request only impacts that northern seven acres of that property.
As I mentioned, it does have the three requests, the comprehensive plan amendment to modify
the future land use from business center to moderate residential, then they are requesting
to rezone the property from light industrial to R7, and then finally requesting a specific
use permit for that multifamily use.
Staff has analyzed the request and has determined it does comply with the criteria for approval.
I know Commissioner Ellis talked about the process a little.
Just wanted to lay that out, and I think Hillary might have some additional information if needed.
Since all requests are related to each other, we're going to present in one presentation.
However, it was our determination, it might be best to just have an independent public
hearing and vote for each item just in order.
So if that's all right with you.
Otherwise, that concludes my summary.
I'll be happy to answer any questions.
>> Thanks, Julie.
Questions?
Anyone?
I just had one as the proposed future land use map looks a little weird to me, so that
northern part remains -- explain that to me, because I think -- I mean, there's homes there,
aren't there?
Or there's going to be?
>> You picked up on that, yes, absolutely.
So the request is just for that 24 acres.
So if approved, it would just change the future land use to moderate residential.
You are correct.
That would leave that sliver of business center to the north.
And you can see it right here on the map.
Since that wasn't a part of the request, that property owner wasn't a party, didn't apply
for it.
We left it as is.
It is something that staff would entertain, changing that future land use.
Because Commissioner Ellis, you are absolutely correct, and let me get to the zoning.
So here's the current zoning.
It is already zoned with R4, and some of you may recall there was a specific use permit
for town homes that was approved in the last year or so for here.
So we anticipate residential development is going to be coming forward in that location.
>> So then with that, that leads me to another question, because technically you can't have
residential in the way this currently reads, correct?
With it being business innovation.
>> Regarding the subject property or the properties to the north?
>> Well I know regarding the subject property.
But my question is how did we get them in the north without having to go through this
exercise?
>> That zoning, and I can kind of do a little research on the history of that zoning for
the property of the north.
I anticipate that it was zoned at maybe prior with the 2002 code, and then that zoning transitioned
with the 2019 code.
Even though it has that business center future land use, because it has the zoning for residential
uses, it could develop with those residential uses.
But you're right.
It would be kind of nice to have that future land use kind of tidied up on that side.
>> And Julie is correct, with respect to the existing zoning that is going to supersede
whatever is shown on the future land use map, so they would have that zoning entitlement.
But if the commission finds that this request is appropriate to go ahead and change the
future land use map, to me I think it would be appropriate in your deliberation that when
you take action on this, should it be to recommend approval, then if you believe that we should
go ahead and initiate a change to the future land use map to clean that up also on the
north side, you could include that in your direction as well.
And then we can also pass that along to council, and then add it to our list of things to do
if it is ultimately successfully changed.
>> Can that be attached, though, to this request?
Or should that be just something that we bring up, perhaps?
>> To me, I would do it in your comments, for example.
So if the commission chooses to recommend approval of this, it was part of your conversation
deliberation, you know, after you take action, if the commission feels like it's appropriate
to go ahead and initiate that, I would just include that maybe in any concluding remarks
as it relates to the conference of plan amendment.
So it's no formal action other than just, you know, if the commission feels that we
should go ahead and initiate that amendment, then if council concurs, then we'll add that
to our work plan list.
You know, the other option is it just hangs out there, and, you know, the property to
the north is already entitled, so it can develop as residential, so the conference of plan
designation is not going to hold that up, and we can just, you know, add it to our list
for the next time we process some amendments to the conference of plan.
But just wanted to put that out there as an option for the commission if, you know, if
you're concerned about that little purple strip remaining, should this request eventually
get approved.
>> Commissioner Pruitt.
>> Thank you, Chair.
I appreciate that.
That helps me a lot.
The one question I have that relates to that is, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the
property along 288 here at the extent of that business innovation future land use map right
there that's zoned PF, I believe that's the old DPS DMV, I never remember what they call
it here.
It's up in this state, I'm ashamed to say, so, am I correct that that's the location
here?
>> I believe so, yes.
>> Okay, so I guess my question to staff then would be, is moderate residential appropriate
for that entire strip, even though there's an existing structure there and we want to
allow reuse and that sort of thing, or given the PF zone, because I see it zoned PF.
If an institution, private institution wants to purchase it, they would have to rezone
it to something.
And then we look at the future land use map and it says, well, it's residential, well,
but I just want to reuse this building, right?
I'm just trying to think through that future.
>> Great question.
I mean, it's, you know, if that property is no longer owned by a governmental entity,
I mean, we could look at that as well to see if we need to reevaluate, but if it's owned
by the state.
>> I think it's owned by the city, but once again, I can verify that to make sure I don't
want to misspeak.
>> Yeah, what we might want to do is just have that as the future, like, let's look
at this purple piece and see what should it be?
So it looks a little bit strange at the moment.
>> But, yes, we could, you know, if your direction is for us to maybe revisit our land use map
recommendations for this area, we can be a little more all encompassing if that's your
direction and definitely add that to the work plan.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Pritt.
Anything else for Julie on this one?
Okay.
Thank you very much.
>> Thank you.
>> I probably have a Hillary question with regard to this, so as we begin these, Julie's
going to come up and give one presentation.
So then am I -- can I open all public hearings at that time for 5B, C, and D?
>> In my opinion, yes.
>> Okay.
And then we'll let her present.
We'll take any comments for any of them, and then I can close them all, and then we can
vote.
>> I love it.
>> Okay.
Perfect.
I like to have a plan.
Perfect.
Okay.
So that clears up our agenda items, so now we can go to our work session report, which
is receive a report, hold a discussion regarding the Southeast Denton area plan progress.
Tina, are you presenting, or who is presenting?
>> I'm going to start.
>> Okay.
>> Sorry.
I couldn't get my microphone.
Yeah, just I have a couple opening remarks, but really I'm going to turn it over to my
subject matter experts on this project, both Mia and Julie, so I just wanted to preface
their presentation with staff is going to be providing area plan project updates both
to City Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission, and so we'll start with the Planning
and Zoning Commission and do our presentations here to give you those project updates, and
then provide a Friday report to council with a link to the conversation here so that they
can watch the presentation.
But I just wanted to add, you know, the intent of these updates is to really communicate
to you all where we are in the process.
I know sometimes I'll address kind of where we are in our matrix and closing remarks portion
of our agenda, but on these area plans, I feel it's important to help close the knowledge
gap, and if anything, maybe a lesson learned from our last meeting on, you know, trying
to get the commission and council caught up with the steering committee, and so wanting
to be more mindful of that as well and allowing the Planning and Zoning Commission to understand
truly where we are in the process.
So you know, and we would do this at key milestones within the project.
So for example, and I know this presentation this evening is really geared towards some
of the public engagement efforts that have taken place with Southeast Denton, but it's
so that you all can start hearing what we're hearing from the community as it relates to
the various phases and where we are in these milestones.
So really looking at this as being informative, not expecting any direction from the commission.
In fact, we're not asking for any direction from the commission, but this is more to educate
you as to where we are on the various projects.
So I've talked to the team about doing this as well on the other two area plan projects,
but I think it will really help the commission in being more informed instead of me just
giving you a quick snippet during the matrix reports.
So I'll turn it over to Mia.
Perfect.
Yeah.
Mia Hines.
Good evening again, Chair, members of the commission.
Mia Hines.
I am the Assistant Project Manager for the Southeast Denton Area Plan Project.
Me and Julie Wyatt as the project manager will be tagging, tag teaming this presentation,
like Tina said, just to give you an update of where we are with this process.
We want to start off the presentation by re-emphasizing the purpose of this planning effort, giving
you an overview and sort of talking about the things that we originally set out to achieve
and some of those initial steps that we took beginning this work.
And then we'll jump into the work itself with our public engagement and Julie will shoulder
a large part of that piece and sort of talk to you about the things that we've learned
during that process, how we've made some little tease here, how we've made some midway adjustments
to help us obtain some better feedback and additional feedback from that process.
Namely, we've held some listening sessions to hear from the community regarding some
of those tough and oftentimes uncomfortable topics surrounding this area plan project.
We've also held some listening sessions to hear from the community regarding some of
those -- I'm sorry, to see -- hear from the -- meet the members of the community and see
where they are as a -- or where they are as opposed to having them come to us.
And then we also want to give you an update on some of the things that we've learned during
those processes and then brag a little bit about our steering committee and the members
that we have on that team and their involvement in this process so far.
And then finally leave you with a little bit of information about our next steps and how
your role as the planning and zoning commission is going to be important in the adoption and
implementation of this plan.
Fair warning, you do have a little bit of homework.
Not too crazy, but we just -- we have an event coming up and we want to make sure -- or use
your help to get the word out so that we get some good participation during that time.
So jump right into the overview.
We all know about the unfair and unjust practices that led to the displacement and the whole
story and history behind the Southeastern area.
We know that we had to, starting this project, build community trust, and so we set out with
that goal in mind.
And in this process we set out to sort of identify those areas that are important from
the community, really focusing on hearing from the community so that we as a city aren't
coming forward with these are the plans, these are the ideas that we have for the community,
really hearing the voice and feedback from the community, focusing on those topics like
transportation, housing, connectivity, parks, open space, and things like that that we can
do.
And in true planner fashion, we made a plan for the plan.
So within this plan we broke it down into four different phases that sort of build on
top of each other.
The discovery phase is that first phase where our goal is to essentially identify the key
people and places and plans that already exist, those key conditions, existing conditions
for this area.
We looked at the demographics, land use conditions, housing stock, zoning, infrastructure, parks,
like I said, essentially those things that you can see sort of driving around and observe
from the outside looking in.
And then during that defined phase we moved towards that phase and used what we learned
in the discovery phase to make sure that we were receiving it correctly, to make sure
that we were interpreting those demographics correctly.
And a large part of that came from, of course, talking to the members of the community, getting
their feedback.
We're still sort of in the process of that defined phase.
Following that we move on to the development phase where we gather from what we learned
from the discovery and the defined phase and draft some plan and implementation strategies
to get feedback once again to make sure that we're on the right track, that we're hearing
from the community correctly.
We present those drafts, we will present those drafts to the community and get feedback and
move on to the delivery phase where we have a final draft of that area plan and are ready
to have public hearings before this body and of course that adoption before the city council.
And then that pretty much concludes the planning phase of the plan process.
Then we get into the real work, the implementation, the things that we do after that adoption
where we essentially see from the feedback that we've got how can we implement the plans
and the strategies and the policies and things of that nature to move this community forward
in the direction that, again, they told us that they wanted to go into.
So to start this plan, staff and our consultants did a kickoff tour.
I think that tour was really good at sort of getting us all excited about the project.
Again, it allowed us to be boots on the ground, get a lay out of the land, really understand
the existing conditions better because it's different from looking at aerials, the actually
driving around, experiencing how the community sees or experiences their environment, their
outside environment on a day-to-day basis.
We walked a portion of the trail that is in the southeast end area, again, to firsthand
experience those amenities that's under city control in that area.
And we got together as the city team and the consultants to share our observations during
that time.
Like I said, I think it was really good.
I personally enjoyed putting that route together and then I think, like I said, it was really
helpful to show the unlimited opportunities and things that exist within the southeast
end area.
And then we took a look at the numbers as a part of that discovery phase as well.
I think this table and these figures were specifically interesting because we discovered
that we are used to hearing from the members of a few generational cohorts, we're used
to hearing from the age groups of 40, 50 and up, and realistically, as you can see with
this table, over 60% of the population fits within that millennial and Gen Z category.
And so this breakdown is pretty consistent across the city, across the county and the
state of Texas.
And it's a good thing, right, because young people means your city is growing.
It means that there is a point of planning for the future because there will be people
here in the future.
But we of course want to hear from those voices and so Julie will talk about a little bit
how after going through this discovery phase and sort of realizing exactly what we're dealing
with with the population breakdown, how we've made some adjustments within our process to
make sure that we are hearing, representatively hearing from those groups of people within
this process.
And so with that, I'll turn it over to Julie to talk a little bit about that process or
the listening sessions, the public engagements that we had.
Okay, Julie Wyatt, and I'm going to talk to you about some of the public engagement that
we've had with Southeast Deton and the activities that we've had over the summer.
So you know, typically with an area plan, maybe the consultant will go talk to stakeholders
and then start doing maybe visioning exercises.
But given the history of Southeast Deton and some of the generational trauma associated
with Southeast Deton, that we felt like and the consultant felt like we need to just stop,
take a minute and go out and talk to the community and actually listen to what they had to say.
So that's what we did.
So at first it started with listening sessions, the first round was in April.
The city actually wasn't even invited to the first round.
We they wanted really candid conversations from the community members and they felt like
if the city staff was there that people might not say everything that they wanted to say.
And so they said, city, you can't come.
And they had, we had five in-person sessions, one virtual, approximately 60 attendees.
We had them in the community.
So some of them were at the MLK Center and some of them were at the American Legion.
And really this was an opportunity for community members just to come share with the consultant
team their experiences, their concerns, their hopes and dreams for Southeast Deton.
So it really was to capture all of that information.
We did have some lessons learned from the first round.
So we ended up having a second round and we're going to talk about that more in an upcoming
slide.
That second round had two in-person sessions and it was in June.
So there were some tough questions that were asked of the community.
It talked about, it talked about how the community members felt about living in Deton, what places
do they feel welcome or don't feel welcome, what their feelings were, what their concerns
were, whether Southeast Deton had been neglected and what city services had been allocated
to Southeast Deton versus other parts of the community.
And harm or unjust practices had been done to community members within Deton that they
would like to share.
What their relationship is with the city, what their concerns are with housing, not
only in terms of housing choice and affordability, but also multifamily.
It's always something that we hear a lot about in the community is multifamily.
Are there, what are their concerns about displacement or gentrification?
That was a big topic that they talked with the consultant group about.
How community members would evaluate those public facilities within Southeast Deton.
And that would relate to parks and streets and lighting, all of those things that make
up our city facilities.
And then do they have any concerns about any development projects?
So those were some of the tough topics that they talked about.
And the consultant shared with us some key themes.
This is a summary of those key themes.
There's actually going to be a bigger presentation that will be uploaded to discuss Deton in
the upcoming weeks.
And that's going to have even more information about the key themes from the second set of
listening sessions.
So we're going to get that analysis back from our consultant group.
And we're going to put this as well as much more information on the website.
So just to talk about the key themes first, those unjust practices inflicted upon black
residents within Deton and families have not been forgotten.
And that is in terms of over the last hundred years.
That happened in Quaker Town and then since then.
And that has impacted generational wealth and how those families view Deton and how
they have lived in Deton.
Residents are frustrated by the lack of communication regarding road reconstruction project.
If you have driven in Southeast Deton recently, you know that almost every street in Southeast
Deton is under construction right now.
You know, that reconstruction was part of the 2019 bond that was voted on, but they
all seemed to hit at the exact same time.
And that's caused a lot of frustration for community members trying to figure out how
to get home and how to move throughout their community.
There were concerns about why weren't sidewalks provided or all of this road construction
is causing my car to look a mess all the time.
So those sorts of things they shared.
Speeding on local streets is a concern on Curley is one street, Morris is another street
that's been indicated.
So they provided feedback on specific streets as to where they see those problems.
Parks and community facilities are cherished amenities.
And you know, Southeast Deton has some great parks.
And there has been a lot of the community express, there's been a lot of reinvestment
and investment in those parks recently.
We could do better.
We could do better in terms of Carl Young Park and additional infrastructure related
to the splash pad.
But those are cherished amenities that the community loves.
They also would like to see more festivals and more activities within the parks, more
programming.
Feelings were mixed about housing and affordability.
You know, the community members shared with us they want a place where their kids can
come move to in those diverse choices in housing.
There were concerns about affordability.
But they also -- the community also shared that, you know, they really did not want multifamily
within the community.
So they really gave those two ideas so that we can sort of look upon that and see how
that plan should evolve.
Property tax increases triggered by new development is driving gentrification fears.
We were talking today, the first round of listening sessions, we scheduled them the
same week that property tax valuations came out.
So it was top of mind for the community.
And you know, community members expressed, I didn't make any improvements on my home,
but my tax -- my valuation has skyrocketed.
And so that is -- we've been -- our consultant group talked with the county.
We're looking at opportunities there.
You know, that is something that is affecting all property owners within City of Denton.
And so it is definitely affecting Southeast Denton.
Residents feel that change is coming.
So how can the city and the community partner together?
How can the community -- how can we make sure that we capture the vision for the community
and that we work together to manage any change to keep those areas that are really sacred
to the community?
City would like to hear more consultation with projects coming forward, not only in
terms of zoning cases, but just what's going on in the community.
They really want -- that communication was key.
They feel like the city can improve our relationship with the community, but we're going to have
to do that work.
And the infrastructure must be improved.
Once again, things like sidewalks.
You know, maybe not speed bumps to slow cars, but how can we slow cars within the community
to make pedestrians safer and just moving through the intersection safer?
So this was a report card that had some hopeful news, but it also had some tough things that
the city needed to hear.
They also -- the consultant heard hope for the future.
You know, the community wants more unity and harmony among the races and to improve that,
and so we need to work as a city to fulfill that.
They want improved communication over and over.
You heard, we need more communication with the city.
Provide opportunities for the younger generation to live and work in Denton.
As Mia kind of showed you, Denton's a young city.
We're a college town.
We've got a lot of young people here, and southeast Denton is a reflection of that.
It has a lot of young people, and we want to make sure that our young people, if they
want to stay in Denton, that they can, that they have jobs and they have places to live.
Some residents would support new development if they were held harmless from an increase
in that property value.
Once again, we're looking at things like displacement and gentrification.
So how do we make improvements in the community?
How do we allow that new housing development while not harming those existing residents?
How do we alleviate concerns related to development, gentrification?
All of those go hand in hand.
Stabilized property tax increases.
Once again, property taxes.
And finally, we just need to acknowledge that past harm from the unjust practices and that
traumatic event, that generational trauma associated with Quaker Town Park.
These were really productive conversations, and we're glad we've started this dialogue.
But there were lessons learned.
With every project, with everything that we do, we look and say, "Okay, what could we
have done better?"
Or, "What worked?
What didn't work?
How do we need to improve?"
And we did that with this project as well.
So based upon our analysis, those who attended that first listening session, the sessions,
the group of them, they were 55 and older, the majority.
So we got that older end of the cohort, the baby boomers, the Gen Xs, and then the silent
generation.
But the consultant was like, "We need to hear from younger people.
We need the millennials, and we need the Gen Z," because those are who we plan for, right?
We're planning for our kids.
So we added the second round of listening sessions.
We wanted to see if we could try again, go back to the well.
We added translations and interpreters for that second round.
We wanted to make sure that we included all members of the community, and that includes
our members of the community who speak Spanish.
We added intercept surveys, and that was a really cool thing I'm going to talk about
in the next slide.
And then we identified ways we just need to stay in the community.
For the first listening sessions, we sent out postcards, and we sent out emails and
social media.
But those were kind of arm's length marketing efforts.
And we realized we needed to be in the community.
So we looked at opportunities for pop-ups.
We went to the Juneteenth celebration at Fred Moore.
We went to Fred Moore's school, and me and I did for career day.
We go to Sudden and LULAC meetings as often as we can to promote the plan, and they have
been so welcoming and generous with that time on the agendas.
We added yard signs, flyers to area businesses, and we're continuing to learn.
So if you have any suggestions on how to promote all of our activities, we'd love to hear it.
We're talking to our younger steering committee members to say, how do we get the young people
to these activities?
So we're trying to continually improve.
We also modified that process to add that second bit of round two listening sessions
as well as other engagement, kind of replaced a design charrette, because we felt like it
just wasn't the time for that yet.
So we're modifying as we move forward.
And then just a little bit about the intercept surveys.
So these were really cool.
They were man on the street interviews.
We wanted to capture those voices.
Not everybody wants to come to a community meeting.
Maybe they don't have the time.
Maybe they feel like there might be a language barrier.
Maybe they just have other engagements.
And so our consultant group said, we need to go where people are and just grab them
off the street.
So we had two sessions at MLK when parents were picking up kids from camp.
We grabbed them and we gave the kids a lollipop and we interviewed the parents.
We also had another session of intercept surveys at a local restaurant on a Saturday during
the lunch rush.
We had interpreters so those community members felt comfortable and they could communicate
the information.
And our interpreters were so great.
One of them even got in the car with a couple of people to -- because it was really hot
to interview people so that they would -- so they just really got into it.
And we got a lot of responses and our consultant is working on that information now.
We also, as Mia alluded to, we have a great steering committee.
They are just an incredibly thoughtful group who they're not afraid to share their opinions
and concerns and really that's what they want.
That's why they're here.
So we have appointed right now nine members.
We've got two more appointees that are pending.
So that'll make 11.
So I think we've got a good group.
I think we're pretty much set on that steering committee.
That first meeting was June 23rd.
Their purpose was to provide feedback.
So our consultant group really talked to the steering committee about what they heard at
that first round of listening sessions to validate that information.
Does this sound right to you?
Does this not sound right?
What would you add to it?
And so they got a lot of good feedback then.
They're going to meet at key milestones.
They're going to meet again on the 25th before the visioning.
And we want them to talk and share.
We also want them to attend public meetings and really talk up the plan out in the community.
They did choose the logo, which I think is a great logo.
We really put the consultant group through the paces on the logo.
We made them fix and change and do this and try that.
And then we gave the steering committee like nine options and then a lot of options for
taglines.
And they said, oh, no, we need to do more.
So they said, put in more roots because the community has tremendously deep roots.
We talked to residents who are like, this is where my grandfather lived and I played
in my friend's house down the street.
So the roots run really deep in Southeast Denton.
So that was really important to them.
They also modified the tagline, which I think is great.
And we're going to put that on everything we can.
You have a little bottle of water and we put a sticker on it.
And so branding is ready and we're going to start moving forward with that.
So final upcoming events.
We have a visioning workshop on August 26th.
That is at American Legion.
That is intended to have hands-on exercises.
So now we're getting to those maybe more typical planning exercises that you see where we're
talking about where they're giving us preferences and talking about what do you want your streets
to look like and what kind of housing would you like to see and what would you like in
the park.
So we're going to start talking about more of those real actionable items.
It's from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on on that day.
You don't have to stay for four hours.
It's a come and go.
There will be two presentations.
There are 30 minute presentations.
So if you can try to be there to catch a presentation.
Mia said you have homework.
You each have five flyers.
I am challenging you to pass out five flyers to five individuals and then ask me for more.
So I want we want to get as much as many people out as possible.
I think Mia and I are going to be at the MLK Center on Friday night handing out flyers
to parents as they as they drop off kids to the back to school event.
So we're trying to get the kids.
And then as I mentioned the steering committee are going to are going to be meeting the evening
before.
And then finally these are in somewhat order and we don't have specific dates but I did
want to give you just kind of next steps and what the expectation is.
So Tina is right.
We really are trying to come to you and give you some information as the project moves
along.
So when when you get to the end there's not all this new information that you're going
to be familiar with it.
So after the visioning our consultant group is going to be providing us with some current
conditions assessment and analysis.
We're going to be giving feedback.
We'll also be getting that out to the community.
There's going to be joint PNZ and council workshops akin to what you recently had.
They're going to provide those draft implementation strategies.
They'll be online engagement.
They'll be we're going to be providing all of this information at a community open house.
And as I mentioned we're going to provide these staff updates throughout the process.
That really concludes our presentation.
If you have any questions Tina if I miss something jump on in now I was going to say both ladies
you did a fabulous job with the presentation.
I guess Julie if I could have you go back to the the process line the one with the boxes
on it that had implementation at the end.
So we were talking with the team earlier this morning and in one of the things we realized
is that several on the commission may not have been through this kind of area plan process.
So just wanted to take a moment and I thought Mia did a great job explaining that but just
to kind of reaffirm how these plans work and especially the process for them because we
talk to people about you know trust the process that we've put in place.
So it's note that you know each one of these phases built upon the next right.
So you know like like Mia described earlier we have to do the fact finding mission first.
We pull all the data that we can that's available.
We also do stakeholder interviews and to keep people within within the community.
Many times there's you know we've we develop a list behind the scenes of who we're trying
to make sure that we get feedback from that we talk to that we get our consultant team
engaged with so that they get good strong information from from the start right.
And that's with any of the three area plans that we have going on.
So we have to do first of all that fact finding mission right.
Then you know you take all the data and all the research that we pull together you take
all of the conversations that we've had especially like on this project we started with the listening
sessions right.
So our consultant team and staff is learning we're hearing things from the community right
we're asking them pointed questions to get that feedback.
So all of that provides the foundation for which we're starting the project and we take
all of that and we start to identify you know initial items you know coming forward the
key themes that are resonating you know is there a uniqueness associated in the data.
What are we hearing from the community and and then we do you know further engagement
to try and pull more information out because we all of that information that we receive
starts to identify those challenges and opportunities right.
Some might say the strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats right with within within a project
area but we take all of that information and then we start working on OK what is the plan
that needs to be put forth and that we need to draft.
You know we've got all this information here.
So what's the plan need to address these were the challenges that we've heard.
We know we have these opportunities that are out there but these opportunities might be
hindered by some of the challenges that are identified.
So how do we make those two work together instead of working against each other.
How we put we start to to culminate that first draft right.
Then we typically will put that back out in the community and say OK here's what we've
come up with.
Do you feel like this is addressing what we've heard right.
Are you comfortable with what we're proposing right.
Are we getting this right.
Are there any areas that you're hearing any concern about.
But we take that feedback then and then we put more the polishing touches on the plan
and then we start to think about all the strategies then that come into play from an implementation
standpoint and because and because we want to make sure that whatever plan we put in
place that the strategies that we've identified those action items they're going to help this
plan come to fruition.
But I want to emphasize that because like I said each process builds upon the next.
There will be times where we'll have conversations you know we've got joint PNZ and council meeting
here on this one.
There will be times where we're going to try to pull the groups together.
We do that also to be able to help with disseminating information out to the group so that so that
you get it all at once.
If there's key direction that's needed let's face it council is the policy decision makers
right and provides that direction then everybody is hearing what what that direction is.
So we're trying to build the plan throughout and make sure we've got the right players
in place because last thing I want to get to is adoption and like for example have the
planning and zoning commission on and council on two different spectrums right.
We don't want to have to go back and redo all the work that we've just done.
So but same with utilizing the steering committee the steering committee is able to help us
validate information challenges also in the information that we're presenting if there's
something that they feel that we're not addressing or that we're missing that we're getting that
feedback right.
But ultimately we want to get to a plan adoption.
Not everybody is usually happy in the end on these there are a lot of times there we're
trying to look to find the common ground on these with any area plan project that work
on.
But the key thing is we want to get to implementation because implementation where the rubber hits
the road right that's when we're able to start really working on those action items to help
that plan come to fruition right.
This plan might take us 20 years to get there but we have to start somewhere right.
So this plan gives us the roadmap division of what we're trying to achieve for the area
with the community's assistant and in this plan this will not be something that's just
owned by the planning department here at the city of Dunton.
There are other key players that are involved in this whether there are other departments
that are involved here at the city of Dunton or potentially other organizations.
And so we try to identify who those partners are that we're working with in these efforts.
So I just I wanted to you know get kind of that's the planning tool one version if you
will just on how these plans work why we have this process why you'll see the process is
a little similar amongst the area plans but we also we we articulate them and we refine
them based upon what the project is one of the things I can't recall if Mia mentioned
this or not but we used to have you know when we originally put together the scope of work
on the Southeast Denton plan one of the items we had in there was a design charrette well
usually a design charrette you get folks together and they start providing feedback maybe you're
looking at a specific area maybe looking at some sort of concept that's coming about of
how an area could evolve and develop well one of the concerns from the consultant team
is look if we go out and do a design charrette that results in some sort of plan that shows
how development could happen in this particular area you know that's not going to be well
received by the community because the community will think it's just one more thing of development
happening in Southeast Denton right and and we know we have development interest in Southeast
Denton we have properties that have interest in by developers wanting to develop them we
have current landowners who own those properties who have interest in potentially wanting to
develop them but if we come forth with a design a plan that was a result of a design charrette
then then that may not be as well received in that that might be viewed as well that's
just another way the city's trying to get development in Southeast Denton right so it's
you know we're very cognizant of those kind of conversations and the feedback being received
so hence why we have adjust our plan process we've removed the design charrette and so
in and we're working with our consultant on identifying okay what are some adjustments
maybe that we need to have in the plan document the one thing that I have challenged him with
and I've told him is like at the end I still need a future land use map so if we have a
plan that really focuses on community engagement housing choices what that might look like
where development would occur at the end of the day I still need a future land use map
to help my decision-making authorities when when we do get requests for rezoning or if
the city decides decides to change some of the zoning within the area that that is a
component of the plan and so when we get to implementation we can work on that aspect
the other aspect is remember this project area it's about 600 acres yes so in in so
many times we have a tendency to hone in on one particular or two particular groups of
people that are providing much feedback but remember we and the other thing I'll add is
these boundaries they're still being massaged and trying to figure out what these boundaries
of this plan area is part of our community workshop engagement activities is to help
figure out from the community okay when you think of Southeast Denton what do you think
Southeast Denton is right what property is what areas are included so we that that's
going to be part of that that engagement effort but like I said it includes 600 acres those
600 acres are represented by property owners business owners organizations that are there
you know the city we're a stakeholder within the project area but we're really trying to
hear from all and you know not just 20 or 25 people that might normally be spokespersons
for the area but trying to hear from all persons that are there especially hence you know the
adjustment in the public engagement we realized we were not hearing from the younger demographic
within in our public engagement so hence why we retooled and went back out a second time
we know we weren't reaching the Spanish-speaking community hence why we retooled and took translators
out there with us to try engage because we know we have a large Hispanic population that
is within the Southeast Denton area and if we don't have a means to communicate with
folks who were English is not their primary language then we need to adjust our methods
on trying to get their feedback but we also need to put a plan in place that helps address
everybody's future who has a stake within this as well the last thing and I know we'll
put this presentation out there and send it to you so you have it we put all of this information
out on discuss Denton Julie and Mia I mean these two ladies are found in pavement and
really trying to help with getting the word out and get people engaged I can't be more
proud of the work and everything that they've done they've drug other planners along with
them I know Sean's been out in the heat with them I think Bryce and Cameron and Ashley
Erin I think was in the photo these women have really worked hard to try and get the
public engagement and the feedback that's out there but but to that point though you
know if people have questions about what's happening on this project direct them to discuss
Denton we are so transparent we're trying to put everything out there so that people
have access to all the information one of the things we've heard in Southeast Denton
is well I don't want I don't like using technology okay you know then tell people call this planning
department here's a phone number ask for Julie Mia if you can't get in touch with them ask
for me or any of the other planners right I need you all to help them help people within
the community get in touch with my team if they're not interested or not comfortable
with going out to look at discuss Denton or maybe they looked at discuss Denton and they
don't understand the information that's out there so please direct them to contact my
team and the last thing and I promise I'll be quiet but is Julie if you could go to the
key themes and then I believe after that was the the hope for the future.
So again so if you go back to key themes I would encourage you go back and take a look
at these and you know the team's done a great job pulling this together some of this we
anticipated I mean when you think about we've got the whole neighborhood torn up with infrastructure
projects going on I expected to hear streets being an issue we know we've had this meeting
on some of the streets I expected that to come up and I wanted to clarify something
that Julie said earlier we did not purposely schedule the listening sessions to sync up
when the tech statements were coming out that was purely coincidental because our consultant
team was like wow we're getting a lot of comments about this particular issue in the tax fears
and people's taxes going up and then it dawned on us it's like oh hey we all got our tax
bills in the mail and so but so we expected that once we realized it's like okay it makes
sense now it's what what are the things that are happening in the community right there
and then that that we heard coming out of that engagement but I think more importantly
it's the next slide because this helps provide some of the foundation for as we as we work
towards putting the plan in place you know earlier I said each phase builds upon the
next so what we're hearing here from on this slide helps us with developing our plan for
the future so again would encourage you go back take a look at this again our goal is
to help consolidate that knowledge gap so when we get to key points within the decision
making process you all are better informed as Julie mentioned the entire slide deck and
the results from all of the engagement efforts we're waiting on some of the pieces from the
listening sessions around to we'll make sure that we put that out there but we're trying
to be as transparent as possible putting all of that information out there so that that
the community is seeing this data and this information that's coming out just like we
are so I'll get off my planning soapbox now so thank you.
Thank you Tina and Julie and Mia Commissioner McDade.
Thank you chair.
I first I have I have a comment then I have a question at the beginning of Mia's presentation
she talked about trust and I've talked to some of the individual or some of the residents
and right now the trust is being the lack of trust is being replaced with fear from
that simple fact is the Denver Chronicle had the article about the northeast development
plan and pretty much let out that the citizens are thinking that the city is not listening
to the residents that fear is already at that fear is already in Southeast Denton and now
it's ten times more and then because of you know because of that article and I've tried
to tell them I mean you let's separate the two let's not judge whatever's gonna happen
in Southeast Denton to what went on in the northeast of a plan so that that's one of
the fears right now the second is the question I have is do you have a list of the members
of the steering committee because right now I'm getting all the phone calls I'm getting
the knocks on the door and I'm like if I can get the list of the steering committee I can
let you talk to them one-on-one instead of me trying but I don't even have a list of
the steering committee we can yeah we can get that in and because we've got also that
in the council packet we can post that AIS also when folks have gotten appointed because
we've got a couple more that we're adding you know I wanted to address so um so the
Denton record Chronicle you know we work hard on trying to provide them with factual
information but at the end of the day they're gonna write what they're gonna write right
so you know there there are folks that they're talking to within the community of course
trying to get their feedback so I would ask you also though to fact-check with us and
with what's being published you know as these are two different projects what's happening
in Northeast Denton is different than what's happening in Southeast and I and Christian
and I've actually had that conversation in the past because one of the times we had he
did an article earlier on about Southeast Denton and he was really questioning our process
and why we weren't doing the same exact engagement efforts in Southeast Denton as we were in
Northeast Denton and we really had to drive home to him that the only two things that
these projects really have in common is that they're called an area plan but those area
plans are customized based upon the project area the issues within the community that
are happening you know what what the process and efforts that are applied in one area of
town are not necessarily the same process and efforts that are best to be used in another
area of town you'll find that when we work on the downtown area plan that will take a
different approach potentially with how we engage the community the order of which we
engage the community the types of activities that we do within the community because we
have different users of the area within the community is it's you know it's I know there
there's tries to be parallels drawn between the Northeast plan and the Southeast plan
because some of the members of the team the consultant team are the same but those teams
are not exactly the same those teams have been built based upon what the unique issues
are within the community if people are fearful about what's potentially happening as it relates
to the Southeast Denton area plan or even the Northeast didn't plan as I've told them
is there more than welcome to contact me and talk with us they're also welcome to talk
with anybody on my team who's involved in this there are some who think that there's
a predetermined outcome is what the plan is going to say in with any of the area plans
that that is not the case I can assure you of that we might have some ideas that might
that we started with at the beginning that may eventually prove themselves as we work
on these projects or those ideas may be further determined to be the wrong ideas for the area
that that's why we goes through such engage extensive public engagement as it relates
to these projects so you know I think anytime you read anything online or anything that's
published right I'm always you know fact check right reach out to us if there are any questions
on that you know and then the the other thing you know you mentioned it it's keep these
projects separate keep all three of these projects separate for that matter you know
one of the narratives that were that we're having to work through right now is that there
are some who think that that we are trying to expand downtown into Southeast Denton right
we know that that narrative is out there that's not necessarily the case that's why we want
to hear from the community what do you consider Southeast Denton right what do you consider
parts of downtown you know that area around the rail station right is is is an area that
we're interested in hearing from the community as what what part of town do you think that
is or maybe it's really not a part of either town areas of our town and maybe it's a third
area you know who knows what we're going to hear from the community but but the other
thing is that we need to think about is downtown can also provide for some opportunities that
benefit residents without within Southeast Denton I would love it for residents of Southeast
Denton to be able to find downtown and inviting place where they feel like they're welcome
and can come to some of what we heard in the public engagement is that they don't feel
welcome in downtown well why is that right so so those those are some of the challenges
and that we're having to work through as it as it relates to both of these so you know
that we know that that narrative is out there but I can assure you you know we're not coming
into this with any preconceived plans already developed that is not the case and and I can't
emphasize that enough.
I just wanted to address Tina you know you talk about what's considered downtown it was
actually brought to a setting a meeting that you know where they build in the railroad
apartments I think that's the track yes you know we're told you know the neighbor was
told you know the city has already deemed this area as is no longer Southeast Denton
it's downtown so that so that narrative is out there and it just building that the more
the more you creep into Southeast Denton the more that narratives are going away and it's
becoming downtown that that's the fear because the whole time Trinity was there it was downtown
I mean it was North Southeast Denton now that there is a housing structure there well it's
no longer Southeast Denton we're going to call it downtown so that was actually brought
from a city official.
Well and I think part so and I think part of the challenge with that area being now
dubbed as downtown and I had this conversation with the city official and some others as
well and even the Dunn record Chronicle because Julie and I had a conversation with them some
of the challenge in the narrative behind the scenes is so we have the downtown tax increment
reinvestment zone it's the downtown TERS right so if you were to look at a map of all of
the properties that are within the downtown TERS that map if my resources are correctly
it goes east and west it goes and it pulls in that area around the train station right
it doesn't run north and south like our past planning efforts have done so there's this
challenge in the narrative of you know you look at the downtown TERS plan that we did
or assuming the D tip plan that we did and the past master plan and you look at those
boundaries and how they're drawn those boundaries are different than the TERS district boundaries
and how they were drawn and so to me that just leads into part of the the challenging
part of the conversation of well is this area really downtown is it part of Southeast Denton
you look at the old area plan that was done in the 1960s for Southeast who's 60s or newer
than that was no it was it was in the 90s I believe 90s okay sorry I will off there
okay but but there was an older plan that was done for Southeast Denton you know you'll
look at the boundaries that was drawn of the original Southeast Denton that was part of
the basis for where we started with some of the boundaries that we drew on here but areas
evolve it within cities times evolve right and so you know we have to be able to respond
to those conditions so you know and that's why we're interested in hearing from the community
you know today those people who live within the community do you really consider that
area around the rail station as part of Southeast Denton do you really could view it as part
of downtown or do you really think it's kind of disconnected and not really part of either
by their area but that's why we do this engagement but I know that turs map because Christian
I were talking about in Julie it we realized that our economic our director of economic
development had given a presentation to council and in his presentation was that map there
was also a map that showed about possibly expanding the turs boundaries farther south
and in so those boundaries of that particular map don't sync up with boundaries of our past
downtown plan which don't sync up with boundaries of our past Southeast Denton area plans so
you know since so hence why the community so confused as to what each area of town is
right because the information that's out there is what it is you know lastly I would add
you know on the on the turs I think what people don't necessarily realize and is that properties
that are included within the tax increment financing district you try and go and capture
properties have that have the potential for improvement value over time any properties
that are within those district boundaries as the property value increases within that
boundary right then that incremental increase those monies are specifically typically ear
march for that area so you know so if the turs district boundary was expanded to include
some other areas that might normally not be considered part of downtown let's say we went
and grabbed some land you know some areas north of the traditional downtown area those
properties benefit from any of that incremental revenue that can be invested back on those
so you know so you know I ask people keep an open mind but again if they've got questions
concerns that's why we're here as subject matter experts for people to be able to reach
out to okay just one last question but this for either you or on that the thing coming
up you know you say you can reach out to Tina yourself or Mia I mean they all have if they
wanted to go online what actually will they look under discussed in or your numbers on
our discussed in or there are certain page that they can go to or maybe at this workshop
you can give them the information that they need absolutely so discussed in on that home
page landing page of discussed it and there's right now I think it's a map of just those
conceptual boundaries of the plan I think we're gonna replace that with the logo because
we love it so much but the logos on logos there all of your contact information is there
is there there's a yeah you can sign up to get updates it's well done so yeah discuss
them yeah we do realize a lot of members of the community are just they don't want to
go to a website to find information so yes feel free to give out my information I can
give you a stack of cards I can give them to the steering committee and and members
of the community can contact us so yeah we're here to help all right thank you and yeah
and then just keep the communication going and make sure they see this presentation too
if they have concerns about that article that you mentioned you know it just shows that
I mean as Tina said every plan is unique and that is how the city is approaching it so
yeah we just need to keep keep talking about that and communicating them putting that out
there and showing them you know yeah okay great yeah especially in southeast end we
do know that yeah Commissioner Pruitt did you have a question thank you I will attempt
to be very short on the process slide you had a thing on there that was public meeting
with PNZ and council and then there was a separate workshop I just trying to make sure
I understand what the process is are those two separate things is it the bottom of the
purple in the middle yes so that it is you know I don't I don't I don't know if we met
the same thing on that I apologize I'm sure there will be plenty of announcements there
will be the joint workshops as well as those joint meetings to make sure that we stay on
on track with the plan and that we're getting to good direction sounds great I'll just say
gold star I'm really looking forward to seeing kind of what the output is one thing I will
say that you mentioned there was a lot of talk about gentrification fears and displacement
I think it would help me and I imagine it would help the rest of the body when we get
further along down that road if the concerns can be more clearly defined to what their
fears are my impression is that gentrification is a term that is kind of like a pinata that
people put the candy in that they don't like and then you seal it up and you're not really
sure what's in it if that makes sense absolutely and go ahead go ahead well I just and so like
I said this is kind of a summary of what we've heard we're going to be getting a much fuller
presentation from the from the consultant that takes those key themes and actually gives
maybe more supporting more information related to it so we'll make sure that we have that
and if it does if we don't have that what we can get it right because related to that
like one of the things our consultant team has brought to us is that is that people with
that they have talked to that we've heard through through our public engagement several
are actually interested in development happening in southeast denton right but then it's okay
how does that development occur in southeast denton and what what strategies can we help
put in place to alleviate the concerned about property tax increase and into our team's
credit we we did a we had a meeting several months ago or I shouldn't say so like times
getting away from you probably two months ago but we had but we had official officials
there from the central appraisal district and I was like oh do I want to sit next to
you all and pick your brains and I sat at their table and and we were I mean everybody
at our table and our consultant also we were trying to understand okay what tools do you
all have in your tool chest to be able to help us with as we work through trying to
address some of these concerns and what we learned is you know just like our authority
comes from the state government and what's in the state statutes right so does theirs
and and they have an obligation to assess properties in response to market conditions
right so they're not exactly the the favorite organization come every april when it's they
send us their their the tax statement right but but they they're their responsibilities
and their job tasks are outlined in state statutes right you know those individuals
they're just doing their jobs right they're they're doing it based upon what the state
of texas directs them to do and so so we were really trying to pick their brain of
okay what what all options are available in your tool chest that we can use to be able
to help maybe put some strategies in place to help help with minimizing that property
tax growth or alleviating that property tax growth or if they do go up you know what what
options do we have that we can be able to implement I've also challenged him this was
kind of interesting so I challenged him I said you know what do you all hear from others
you know within your profession right you know presumably you go to your related conferences
right and you learn from others and what successful tools and tactics are being done in your profession
maybe there's something that we can you know learn from some other states and employ here
in in texas and with our project and they told us that texas is actually the gold star
is the gold standard in in that and I was like really but but I'm like help me understand
more so you know the way we do things in texas apparently is held in high regard and compared
to the way people do business in some other states because like here you know we get an
annual property tax assessment I'm still trying to understand of how that all comes together
myself but but we get an annual statement right in other parts of our country they don't
necessarily get an annual statement that you know it might be once every so many years
so when when they say we're the gold standard then I'm like okay well I can start to understand
why why others want to achieve in with what we're doing here in our state so it's I thought
that was an interesting nugget that we were the gold star in in terms of their industry
and and and others are trying to learn from us so but like I said know that we've really
challenged it and we're trying to learn what options are available you know if we come
up with some ideas that could potentially be beneficial for residents within Dunton it might
be something that has to where we work with our area representatives and try to influence
something at the legislature level level so but you know we're we're still putting our
thinking caps on that one.
Commissioner Prudt did you have anything else no anyone else okay thank you for this this
is incredibly helpful we appreciate it well done and keep keep it going excited as it
develops okay with that that ends our work session I will adjourn us at 6 14 p.m. and
we will meet in council chambers as close to 6 30 as we can.
Good evening and welcome to the city of Denton's planning and zoning Commission meeting for
Wednesday August 9 2023 with a quorum present I will call us to order at 6 37 p.m. let the
record show that Commissioner Smith is absent first item on our agenda is the Pledge of
Allegiance to the U.S. and Texas flags I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all under the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to the city of Texas
state under God one indivisible thank you next on our agenda is consider approval of
the planning and zoning Commission meeting minutes for July 19 the Commissioner Villarreal
move approval Commissioner Cole second we've got a first and a second for approval any
discussion let's vote please
that motion carries six zero that'll take us to our consent agenda this evening Commissioner
Villarreal move approval Commissioner Cole second got a first and a second to approve
the consent agenda any discussion let's vote please
that motion carries six zero that will take us to our items for individual consideration
for a is our first item v 23 0004 me is making way up here hello hello chair members of the
Commission Mia Heinz associate planner this item is a variance request for a property
located just at the northeast corner of Nottingham Drive and Audre Lane the property is zoned
mixed use neighborhood the applicant is proposing a 122 unit multifamily residential development
and the variance is permit is to allow for that development to move forward with only
one one point of access as opposed to the two points of access that would be required
by our didn't development code so what we're looking at right now is the design itself
there's that main drive highlighted in yellow there and the right associated right turning
lane that's needed to serve that drive ideally what we like to see here is what they're showing
that drive being aligned directly off or directly across from an existing drive that helps with
mobility both on the street and if there was any traffic moving in between those two developments
and so that's what we're dealing with here I also wanted to highlight because it'll come
into play on some of the options that they provided that there is some ESA and some existing
tree canopy coverage that creates a bit of a challenge for this site and providing a
second point of access so the applicant did put in a good faith effort to try to provide
a second point of access to their proposed development this drive option a would meet
the transportation design criteria manual spacing of 150 feet from that main drive that
they are proposing but there is there is another piece of our of that code that limits access
permitted on an arterial with a secondary arterial which Nottingham Drive is we also
require at intersections 335 feet minimum site clearance distance from the far side
and as you can see with the way that Nottingham Curves there is obstructed view because of
that that existing tree canopy coverage that they would have to maintain there and there's
also a slight if you pull up the contours for this for this site there's also a slight
downhill slope so anyone looking to try to see around that curve from traffic headed
south on Nottingham it's going to be really difficult for them additionally the way that
this is presented that second drive doesn't really serve the point of a secondary point
of access because it feeds back into the main drive so again different other challenges
for this site as to why that drive option would not work they also presented this drive
option B again keeping in mind the minimum 150 foot spacing that we require would require
from that main drive again because we require that limited access on the arterial having
another drive on that arterial doesn't meet that that goal of that requirement it also
we also require a minimum 200 feet spacing from a driveway to the intersection for safety
purposes this is really close to Nottingham Drive because this is a triangular shaped
property that presents some challenges and then it's also kind of it would lead into
the or it would this approach would come off of the D cell lane that right turn lane that's
there which again it wouldn't be able to provide its own right turn lane and it's just it's
not it's not safe and not ideal from a mobility standpoint they did a present another option
one driver off of Audre Lane again there's some issues with the spacing because this property
just doesn't have that much frontage off of Audre Lane so we they wouldn't be able to
meet the 100 minimum feet spacing from a drive to intersection off of or between Audre Lane
and Nottingham Drive and then they also presented a fourth option that would require the demolition
of an existing structure and also dump some traffic onto residential property I think
that property was for sale which is why I want that that that came up as one of maybe
an option but like I said ideally it would it would dump that property onto a lower classified
street which is a residential street there and it would require the demolition of an
existing structure so we looked at this request and we put it up against our criteria for
approval and ultimately given the property's shape the natural features like I said that
existing tramp tree canopy coverage the existing frontage it would be challenging for this
site to provide a second point of access in general that meets all of those requirements
of our transportation design criteria manual and so with that we are recommending approval
of this request as it complies and that pretty much concludes my presentation but I will
gladly stand for any questions or comments and I believe the applicant is here if you
have any questions for them as well.
Thank you Mia. Any questions for Mia or the applicant? Commissioner Anderson.
Thank you Chair. Is this where the the garden the garden is now?
It's just south of that community garden it's just this is located just south of that community
garden.
Okay.
Any other questions for Mia? No? Okay.
Seeing none Chair can entertain a motion or discussion on this. Commissioner Pruitt.
I'll move approval.
Commissioner McDade.
Second.
We've got a first and a second for approval. Any discussion? Okay seeing none let's vote
on the board please. That motion carries 6-0. That will move us to 4-B. FR-23-0011. Erin's
making her way up. Hello there.
Hello good evening Chair and members of the commission. Second. Okay Erin Stanley assistant
planner. This is FR-23-0011. This is a final replat of the Golden Triangle edition. This
is just northwest of Colorado Boulevard and South Loop 288. At this time the plot does
not meet all of our standards for approval so we would recommend denial but the applicant
has requested a one-time 30-day extension which could be granted to August 23rd. I stand
for any questions. Thank you Erin. Any questions for Erin? Thank you.
Chair can entertain. There you go Commissioner Villarreal. I move approval for the extension
request to date certain of August 23rd 2023. Okay Commissioner Pruitt. Second. We've got
a first and a second to approve the extension request to a date certain of August 23rd 2023.
Seeing no discussion let's vote on the board please. That motion carries 6-0. Item 4-C
has been withdrawn so we will not be taking action there. That will move us to 4-D FP-23-0020.
Hello Julie. Good evening. Julie Wyatt, principal planner. This is FP-23-0020. It is for the
Kingsway subdivision. This is phase 1A. It is a single family residential subdivision.
Staff recommends denial at this time. They haven't quite met all of our standards for
approval of a final plot. However we have no objection to the requested extension to
August 23rd. I'll be happy to answer any questions. Thanks Julie. Any questions for
Julie? I do not see any. Thank you. Commissioner Anderson. Make a motion to for the approval
of the extension to date certain of August 23rd. Commissioner Cole. Second. Got a first
and a second to grant the extension request to a date certain of August 23rd 2023. Any
discussion? Let's vote on the board please. That motion carries 6-0. That will move us
to 4-E FP-23-0021. Julie's item again. All right. FP-23-0021. This is the same project
the Kingsway subdivision. This is phase 1B of that plot. Staff is recommending denial
as they don't meet all of our requirements for a final plot. However we have no objection
to the requested extension to the August 23rd meeting. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Thanks Julie. I do not see any questions. Appreciate you. Commissioner Villarreal. Move
approval of the extension request to a date certain of August 23rd 2023. Commissioner
Anderson. Second. We've got a first and a second to grant the extension request to a
date certain of August 23rd 2023. Any discussion? Let's vote on the board please. That motion
carries 6-0. That will move us to our public hearings for this evening. Our first is 5-A
E S A 22-0003. While Christy makes her way up I will open the public hearing. Thank you.
This is an alternative ESA plan for Denton Crossing phase 3. And the site plan is currently
under review. The request is to fill in .19 acres of herbaceous wetlands to construct
a parking space and an industrial site. The request is to relocate the habitat and ecological
services offered by the wetlands to a location that is closer to the waterway and outside
of the limits of the construction. So just a little background. There was a field assessment
that confirms that this is an undeveloped floodplain and that there is a water related
habitat or isolated wetlands that are interspersed throughout that wetland. And the mitigation
plan is to transfer the soils and the vegetation to a new location. This new location will
be excavated and then the soil is placed. And the idea is to have it closer to the waterway
in order to allow for a better access to the hydrology and the relocation of the vegetation
that already exists that it can just regrow in this new location and then supplemented
with the seed mix in order to kind of get a restart or a kick start. And then to achieve
a 60% vegetative cover. Notifications were made and we received one response in favor
of the project. And staff is recommending approval of the conditions that were in your
backup material. And with that I will take any questions that you might have.
>> Thank you, Christy. Any questions? Okay. Thank you. I do have one card wishing to speak
on this item and that is the applicant. Amy Bissett. Hello, good evening.
>> Good evening, commissioners. I have a couple of slides but I will be brief and then I'm
available to answer any questions that you may have. So I just wanted to give a brief
overview of what this proposed project entails and why. This is intended to be developed
as a truck staging area for new truck cabs that are coming off the Peterbilt line. You
can see on the aerial here the location of the Peterbilt plant and the site in question
today. The goal of developing this site in this manner is to consolidate five lots that
are currently being utilized for staging and storage in other locations in Denton and those
are leased locations so those would be -- those leases would terminate and be allowed for
redevelopment or development at that point in time. And this site includes staging for
roughly 800 truck cabs plus a stacking facility for transport so they come off the line as
single cabs. They come into the secure facility where they sit until it's time for them to
be transported across the United States. They're stacked in twos or threes and pulled out on
a trailer to be distributed to their final destinations.
Just a couple of interesting things about this site. This site is heavily encumbered
with floodplain and environmentally sensitive area and is a very long, skinny site from
north to south. It touches 380 and Jim Crystal and there's a lot of gas well and pipeline
activity and easements on this site as well so it makes it a challenging site to develop.
Our proposed development is low impact considering that it's in an industrial area. We have a
65 percent disturbance area meaning that the balance of that is outside of our development
impact area with only a 13 percent impervious surface over within that development impact
area in a 15,000 square foot building approximately. New trucks will be stored. They will not be
idling or circulating except to get stacked and moved out and no manufacturing is taking
place on site beyond just the stacking of the trucks for transport.
We have worked very hard to minimize the impact to the wetland areas that are outside of the
floodplain. We've identified two that we do need to have some impact to and as Christy
covered entirely, we're going to relocate that closer to the creek and we worked hard
to identify an opening within the heavily treed floodplain to minimize any tree removal
and be able to do some refined excavating to create some depressed areas to support
the relocation of the wetlands. We did mail a letter to everybody that was
in the 500 foot boundary offering up our contact information if they had any questions and
I did take two phone calls inquiring about the property and our plan, one of whom was
a former client to the north that was hoping that maybe it helped with some of his floodplain
issues. The other one didn't identify themselves but I just covered all the questions that
they had and we moved on and that concludes my presentation. We do have our environmental
consultant here if you have specific questions related to the scientific data in the report.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Any questions? Commissioner Pruitt?
Thank you, Chair. Just one, I'm not a floodplain environmental expert by any means. I noticed
that the relocation area appears to be within the floodway, the zone AE as marked in the
backup and so was there some thought or analysis done to make sure that the new plantings or
the moved plantings are appropriate for an area that might get high volume of water very
infrequently?
Yes, so if you take a look at the map that I just put back up on the screen, all of those
little wetland pockets, the majority of them are inside that floodplain area already because
there's more water available to support them. The ones that we are relocating, we've been
out there, we were out there last August and they looked like desert areas. We were surprised
that they actually regenerated the following spring. So this is actually a healthier location
for them.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. I do not see any other questions. Thank you. I don't have any other cards here
but this is a public hearing. Is there anyone else wishing to speak on this item? Okay,
seeing none, I will close the public hearing and open the floor for discussion or a motion.
Commissioner Pruitt?
I'll move approval as presented.
Commissioner Anderson?
I second.
Okay, we've got a first and a second for approval. Any discussion? Okay, let's vote on the board
please. That motion carries 6-0. That will move us to effectively our next three public
hearings as they are all related. So I will invite Julie Wyatt up. Julie is going to make
one presentation on items 5B, 5C, and 5D. And I will open the public hearing here at
5B, CA 23-0001. I will open the public hearing for 5C, Z 23-0006. And I will open the public
hearing for 5D, S 23-0003. We will have the one presentation. We will have single votes
on all of these items. Floor is yours, Julie. Thanks.
All right. Good evening. Excuse me, Julie Wyatt, principal planner. And I am presenting
those three projects related to the Mayhill multifamily proposal. So just a little bit
about the request. It is the intent of these three items is to facilitate the development
of 281 multifamily dwellings on a 24-acre tract. As we mentioned before, it includes
the three requests, a comprehensive plan amendment to modify the future land use from business
center to moderate residential, a rezoning request to change that zoning from light industrial
to R7, and then a specific use permit for a multifamily use. As commissioner Ellis mentioned,
the process, we have that -- we've got the one public hearing open, and then we're going
to -- it would need to be voted on separately. Each item would need to be voted on separately.
These three requests build upon each other, so they will still need to stay in order with
the comprehensive plan, rezoning, and then specific use permit.
So before we get into those requests, just a little bit about the site. It's a 24-acre
site, as I mentioned. It has the two tracts, a 17-acre tract, which is that northern piece,
and it is this portion right here, and that's that entire tract, and then a 7-acre tract,
which is a portion of a 14-acre tract, so it leaves that remainder 7 acres adjacent
to Russell Newman here. So the subject property is outlined in yellow
here. Mayhill is just to the side. Loop 288 is to the west. Russell Newman, which is a
collector, is to the south of the property, and then prominence is also a collector to
the north. That's more residential. As I mentioned, that 7-acre tract to the south,
it is fronting on Russell Newman. It is not a part of the request, and if this is approved,
the future land use designation and the zoning would stay in place with that LI, would be
and could be developed with any uses permitted in LI.
The surrounding development, we see lots of cases on the loop, but it is one of those
areas that has really turned into a commercial node for the community. We have single family
to the north of this site. We also have quite a few multi-family projects along Loop 288,
which makes sense because of all the commercial and employment uses along Loop 288, but it
also includes that institutional. We have a federal facility just to the west of the
subject property. We also have county property to the south. We have retail to the south.
We have service uses, also that employment and industrial along Russell Newman. That
is kind of an employment node. Two other things I want to, or one other thing I want to mention
about this site, there are two environmentally sensitive areas on the subject property, and
they kind of start in the middle of the subject site and then track to the northwest. There
is a riparian buffer in a water-related habitat. Those are shown in sort of a blue and then
a teal on your screen. So the first item we're going to talk about
is the comprehensive plan amendment. The existing future land use, as I mentioned, is business
owner. That is intended to allow for a variety of business and employment uses. It could
go all the way from corporate campus to warehouse and light industrial. So it really runs that
gamut intended for those employment type uses. It would include supportive commercial uses.
We want to have things like retail and restaurants near where we work, but it has removed or
it does not include stand-alone residential uses within that future land use designation,
and that's really why the applicant is here this evening for the comprehensive plan amendment,
because the proposal is that stand-alone residential use. They are proposing to modify that to
that moderate residential, and that is shown here on this map. That applies to areas within
our central part of our city, as well as those transitional areas from where when you have
maybe single family and then you have more of commercial development, it's a good transition
between those two areas. It's also appropriate adjacent to key corridors, and so adjacent
to places like Mayhill, and you can see we have nearby moderate density residential,
because that is consistent with the intent along Mayhill and then north of the subject
site. Typically we want to see five to 12 dwelling units per acre in moderate residential.
So in looking at the comprehensive plan amendment, we're looking at those overall goals of the
comprehensive plan. So first, the land use. Our goal LU1 is we want to grow compactly.
We want to make sure that we achieve sound sustainable growth and compact development
patterns with balanced land use as planned in coordination with transportation and infrastructure
systems. So essentially we want to see development where we have that infrastructure. We want
to make sure that we take advantage of those areas where we already have that infrastructure
investment. And this request would provide a basis for a zoning decision that would be
consistent toward the trend of commercial and high density residential uses. So if this
were approved, it would facilitate a rezoning to a residential type use to take advantage
of those adjacent roadway improvements. Future land use map, as I mentioned on the previous
slide, the proposed amendment would just be a logical extension of that existing moderate
residential future land use designation just to the west of the property, also to the north
of the property. The community vision statement, strength of the economy, that request would
support housing for workers near an employment center. Off of Russell Newman, we have quite
a few businesses and so it could potentially provide housing for those employees. Sound
growth, as part of our sound growth, we want to make sure our form and function are appropriate.
And so we also have aesthetic goals, not only land use goals within the city, but we also
have aesthetic goals. And this comprehensive plan amendment would limit the industrial
uses, kind of pull back some of the industrial uses there on Mayhill. So it would allow us
to meet more of our aesthetic goals, making sure that our minimum design standards within
the debt and development code could be achieved. Also could potentially reduce truck traffic
on Mayhill Road. And then our housing goals, we talk over and over again about how our
need for housing within our community, our community is growing and we want to make sure
we have diverse housing choices in a variety of areas. And so this would just serve that.
So as part of the criteria for approval for a comprehensive plan amendment, I won't go
over all of them, but there are a few I want to touch on. One is to talk about changes
and trends after the adoption of the comprehensive plan. So I know we adopted a new or an update
to our comprehensive plan last year. So I wanted to look at those trends to see kind
of what's changed. And to do that, I looked way back. I started with our 1999 plan and
we looked to see, you know, how did this area get this future land use designation here.
So in the '99 plan, it talked about industrial development was an emerging economic driver
within the city that the city had typically relied on government and educational sectors
in order for economic development, but industrial was coming in. And so they were looking for
places to put industrial. And one of those was over by the airport. And then another
was along loop 288. So you can see on the map here, we had quite a bit, this pink area,
that was intended for that industrial type development as well as the orange area. So
they really kind of anticipated there would be a lot of industrial developed along loop
288. The subject property is in that. I've kind of got that in-set map here. You could
see it here. But that's kind of changed. So with the 2030 plan and then with our most
recent update, we kind of looked at this area and realized this industrial is not going
in this area. When we see our industrial development, it really is going to the northwest side of
town, the part of town that we have. We have I-35. We also have rail and we have our airport.
So most of our industrial development is seeking to go in that location. And the loop really
has changed its character. It hasn't become that industrial hub. It's become a shopping
and restaurant and living places hub. So it really has that trend started with our 2030
plan. It really has continued on. So we may change to that future land use with our update,
with our dent in 2040 comprehensive plan. And this proposal really is just an extension
of that. It really is continuing that trend moving forward. And we do anticipate we're
going to see more industrial development there to our northwest side of town where it's got
that more clear and direct access to I-35, to rail, to air, that sort of, those sorts
of facilities and assets. Also looked at the site conditions that would make development
out of the current plan inappropriate. As I mentioned, access, you know, the northwest
side of town, it's got a lot of direct access to I-35. This area is a little different.
It doesn't have that direct access. To access I-35, one would have to drive Mayhill or maybe
go up to university. So there's a few steps between this site and I-35. So it really could
limit that potential for warehousing or logistic type uses. Additionally, large truck traffic
could negatively impact that surrounding. We have a lot of residential and sometimes
those big trucks and residential don't always mix. So reducing that large truck traffic
could benefit the area as a whole. Property size, you see plats a lot for industrial development
and typically those industrial sites are 30 acres or more. They're very large. They want
buildings with very large footprints and a lot of vehicular maneuvering area. The subject
property is 24 acres and so we don't anticipate that there would be a lot of explosion in
industrial development in this area. This site could potentially allow for some small
scale industrial development or maybe some intense commercial like automotive repair
uses. But those could create greater impacts for those adjacent residential. So we tried
to look at it from that perspective. And then environmental. We saw that there was that
ESA running through the property. Industrial developments, like I said, require really
large buildings and really large pavement footprints which could impact that ESA, could
also make it difficult to develop that site because they just don't have the space. That
northern tract is really kind of cut in half. And so we anticipate that just industrial
development is going to be challenging. Residential uses like the ones that are being proposed
tonight have a smaller footprint, have less parking and vehicular maneuvering needs, probably
makes more sense on this property. Therefore, given all of these considerations, staff recommends
approval of the comprehensive plan amendment as it does comply with the criteria for approval.
I will stop here for any questions regarding the comprehensive plan. If you don't have
any, we'll keep going. >> Okay. Any questions? Okay. We'll let you
keep going, Julie. >> Okay. So now we're going to talk about
rezoning. I promised that was the meat of the presentation. It's going to get a lot
lighter here because I'm not going to say the same thing over and over again. So the
map here on the left side of the screen, that is the existing zoning. And as you can see,
the subject property outlined in black has that LI zoning. I put this little line here.
It is a dash line because that shows the adjacency to potential future residential development.
That existing LI would allow for a variety of commercial, maybe heavier commercial uses
as well as some of the lighter industrial uses like warehousing or light manufacturing.
It is consistent with the existing future land use map. And it is consistent with the
LI zoning to the south. But it could create incompatibilities with the residential to
the north because it is abutting what at some point will likely become a single family neighborhood
or in the instance of the property adjacent to Mayhill, a town home neighborhood. So there
could create incompatibilities there in terms of truck traffic, access, lighting, that sort
of thing. The proposed R7 would sort of move that line to center the LI on Russell Newman,
so still allowing those more employment uses to continue along Russell Newman. That's kind
of the way that street is developed. It makes sense. But that R7 would allow a transitional
type use. R7 allows a variety of residential uses, single family duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes,
also multi-family with that SUP, some limited commercial. It is consistent with their proposed
comprehensive plan amendment. But it does just create that transition between the neighborhoods
to the north and then that development along Russell Newman.
We looked at the impacts to the surrounding property owners. R7, if this rezoning were
approved, would allow residential uses adjacent to another residentially zoned property. We
don't anticipate any incompatibilities there. And any development would be consistent with
that scale with the R4 to the north. But once again, provide that transition to the property
to the south, because as I mentioned, that property to the south, if this is approved,
would still remain LI. So we did want to kind of look at, well, how does that edge meet?
What happens there? We looked at the building height. LI does allow 75 foot tall buildings.
But we have that provision in the code that nothing within 50 feet of the residentially
zoned property could be taller than 40 feet. So it gives that buffer in terms of visual
impacts related to height. Also, landscape buffers would be required. And then if this
rezoning would be approved, given the limited frontage on May Hill for that LI, access would
have to come from the south. So it would just kind of separate that truck traffic from the
residential a little more. So based upon those considerations, staff recommends approval
of the rezoning. And I'll be happy to answer any questions regarding the rezoning.
>> Thank you, Julie. Questions for Julie on this part? No? Okay.
>> All right. Okay. >> Carry on to the next. >> Okay. So they are also requesting a specific
use permit. So if the comp plan is recommended for approval, and then the rezoning is recommended
for approval, then the SUP is next. As I mentioned, they're proposing 281, 1, 2, and 3 bedroom
units. This project is a little different than what we've seen. They're proposing a
mix of cottages, so that horizontal multifamily, that product that we've seen a lot, as well
as two garden-style buildings. So it creates that dynamic mix between those two product
types. They are proposing parking on the property, both in surface parking as well as garage,
some tuck under garages on the larger buildings as well as standalone garages, and then bicycle
parking. They are proposing two access points. There's an access point to the north, and
sorry, this is a little bit messy, but that's intended to denote that that's full access.
So there's a median opening there, so one can turn left into or right into and then
left or right out. And then just a right in, right out to the south. There was, because
we know that there is a townhome development intended for north of here. There is a potential
future gated access in this location. We had a lot of conversations with the applicant
about this. We were really wanting to get that connection there. We feel like it would
really help the, just the flow of the disbursement of traffic throughout the area. That property,
and it was, when the SUP was approved and platting went forward, the adjacent property
was zoned LI. Well, we don't require cross access between LIs, so that property is sort
of hardened right now. They have a preliminary plat in, I believe it came before you in July,
and so right now there is not that access, but we wanted to make sure that it was set
up that if that adjacent property owner ever did want to allow access or that connection
there, that they could go ahead and do that. So that's why that's there.
The design, we wanted to make sure we looked at the design of the site. Those buildings
are organized in a compact grid, intended to kind of create neighborhood connections
to allow residents to access the amenities on site through pedestrian connections. Parking
is dispersed throughout the drive aisle, so there's no large parking lots. It's kind
of created in almost a street pattern. That scale of development ensures that residents
can walk along an accessible pathway to that on-site trail that is proposed for the west
side of the property in less than 10 minutes. And as I mentioned, there's that variety of
building type, sizes, and heights just creates that visual interest.
They do have a couple of common areas. There is an open, there are open space amenities
that include a clubhouse, community pool, and naturalized areas. They did design the
site to preserve a large tree stand on the west side of the property. We did work with
them about getting a trail in there just to provide recreation for residents and just
provide that outdoor open space. So they're showing a trail in that, in that location.
There's also an ESA on the subject property. They are currently, their plans show no impacts
to that ESA. In your backup, it does have a little discussion about this. I just want
to point out as the project goes forward with design, if ever they said, "Oh, we're going
to need to impact that ESA," they would still have to come back for an alternative ESA.
So any approval of this SUP would not, would not approve an alternative ESA. They would
have to come through that process like Christy did tonight, and we are recommending that
as a condition. They're also proposing a dog park, and then, and then a clubhouse with
a community pool. There's private outdoor space in the cottages. So we've got, they've
got that public and then the private outdoor space, and then that landscaping on, on those
cottage buildings at the, at the front door, just to create a front door for those sites.
Oh, sorry. Okay, so we have proposed conditions with our SUP. A lot of these are our typical
conditions, so I won't read this whole slide to you. But the intent is to comply with the
2019 Debt and Development Code. We have added as conditions the number of units they're
proposing in the parking spaces. We did, we are proposing that 5 percent allowance that
we typically have on our SUPs just, just to allow them to increase those number of units
by 5 percent or reduce them. And then, and then the accompanying parking. We, we have
a proposed condition that any minor alterations to any of those buildings or maybe some plant
selections or maybe some sidewalks could be staff level approved. Building architecture
should remain consistent with what they're proposed. We are proposing to, or proposing
that they provide two pedestrian gates along Mayhill. We want to make sure there is a sidewalk
along Mayhill. We want to make sure that that residents can, can access it. We also, right
now they have done that preliminary tree preservation assessment. Our landscape planner has looked
at it. It is not a fully approved tree preservation plan because those are often iterative type
of projects. But we, right now they are meeting the minimum standards. We wanted to give a
threshold in there. They've got a really nice tree stand on that west side. We want to make
sure as much of that is preserved. So we are, typically a developer could reduce the tree
preservation to 20 percent. We, we are proposing a 25 percent that give a little bit more so
that they have a little bit extra tree coverage. And then condition nine is related to that
ESA that this doesn't imply any approvals for any alternative ESAs. And, and so based
upon these conditions staff recommends approval of the, of the SUP as we don't anticipate
any negative impacts related to that SUP to the adjacent properties. Public outreach was
sent out. You received some letters from me today regarding being in favor of the project
that is related to the properties that, that half left of the 14. So it's related to that
seven acre tract adjacent to the subject property. So based upon our analysis staff recommends
approval of all three requests and I will be happy to answer any questions. If, if this
moves forward tonight is anticipated to go to the city council meeting next Tuesday.
Okay. Great job Julie. Thank you. Any questions at this time for Julie? Thank you. I thank
you. We'll call you back up if something arises. Um, I do have one card wishing to speak and
that is Mr. Fletcher who's making his way up right now. Good evening. Good evening chair
and commissioners. Appreciate the opportunity to be with you tonight. I've got a quick presentation.
We've been working with staff on this now for close to a year and we appreciate all
the hard work. And I know when we come before you with a project of this type where a lot
of work is required because of the comprehensive plan amendment request, the zoning request
and the SUP, there is a lot of work that goes into all of that. We appreciate all the staff's
assistance through the process. And I am not sure, is it this one here? Nope. That's you.
Awesome. Thank you. But really what I want to do since Julie's kind of gone over all
the various items as it relates to the comprehensive plan amendment, the zoning and the site, I
really want to focus more on the site and just kind of talk about the site plan and
some of the different items that we worked through when we were developing the site plan
and coming before you to get to this point. One of the first things we did because there
are a lot of trees located on the site, we did go out and do a tree survey so that we
could do an assessment of the trees, the number of trees, the quality of trees, the type of
trees. So we did, we completed that back in November of last year. After that we also
or at that same time we did an ESA assessment. So we went out there, we looked at the ESA,
we determined its limits. We did the submittal to the city for the ESA assessment that went
through the city's process and that was approved by the city back in January of this year.
And it did include riparian buffer and water related habitat, as Julie mentioned. And as
we laid out the site plan, one of the things that we wanted to do is make sure that we
preserve that. As Julie mentioned in an industrial development, sometimes it can be a challenge
to design around ESA. But within a residential type development, you can really make that
a focus and kind of make that a benefit to the property itself. So that's what we tried
to do when we went through and did our site planning exercise and what's before you.
We also, because these developments have an impact on the surrounding streets and networks,
we went through and we did our traffic impact analysis. We studied eight different intersections
as part of this study. And we looked at the impacts and as Julie mentioned, we have the
one full access intersection, the north drive that does have the right turn lane, the left
turn lane and the median opening. And then we have the right in, right out. And then
she also mentioned about the future connection to the north with that townhome development
that was previously approved, but I think at this time has not moved forward with construction
plans. We did hold a neighborhood meeting. We had a few residents turn out for that.
It was all positive. That was held on June 19th. And then we also held a meeting this
past week with FEMA to get their input as well. And then we're also working on the downstream
assessment detention study that's in progress as well. So we had done some preliminary analysis
as part of this, you know, the process in order to establish the site plan. Because
really when we're going through the process and we're asking for the approval of an SUP,
we want to make sure that what we're proposing is constructible. We don't want to get into
the design process and then realize we're not able to preserve the trees that we showed
that we are. So we have done significant amount of work looking at the grading of the site,
looking at the drainage and doing preliminary analysis. And now we're in the process of
preparing those studies. So I did want to share that with you. Again, the concept plan,
it has two more traditional multifamily buildings and then it has 129 cottage units. The two
traditional multifamily units are really placed to where they create that transition or that
buffer between the existing LI and then also the federal facility that's to the west. There
is a lot of topography on the site as well. So when you're looking at the site and how
you're going to lay it out, you want to kind of look at how that makes sense for the topography.
The multifamily building that's to the west, the northwest, that's actually going to be
a two, three split. So on the uphill side, you'll have two floors and then on the downhill
side, you'll have three. So the building itself is utilized to transition that grade. The
other multifamily building on the south is a three story building and then the cottages
are dispersed throughout. We did provide buffers for landscaping and tree preservation. We
are showing preservation of the ESA. We also are showing a retention pond for detention
and water quality purposes prior to discharging into the downstream receiving body. There's
a significant series of trails within the proposed development, interconnects all the
multifamily units, all the cottage units, and it also has connectivity to Mayhill, which
is important for pedestrian circulation and connectivity. It will be a gated community.
It's going to have a 6,000 square foot clubhouse, a pool, and other amenities. There's bike
racks. So it is going to be a well appointed development. That's just a close up of the
overall development. These are some graphics of the elevations of the units themselves.
So there are, we are utilizing a palette, a mixed palette of materials and colors, accent
colors. Just gives you some additional. You can see the tuck under garages on the north.
That's part of the 2-3 split. So that's the high side with the tuck under garages and
then the low side. Here are some renderings of the cottages. And then it is going to have
a, what I would call kind of a resort style amenity pool. So you can see the tanning ledge
within the pool. It's got a fire pit, lots of seating areas, lots of areas for the residents
to congregate and enjoy. So that's all I had. I kind of just wanted to go through the overall
site plan and just kind of how we looked at the site as we were laying it out, developing
it, trying to incorporate the natural features into the site, how to provide transition to
the surrounding uses and also the residential uses to the north. But with that, I'll be
happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Mr. Pletcher. Any questions from the commission? Commissioner Pruitt, are you
waiting for your screen?
Yes, thank you.
You mentioned that it would be a gated community and there's a riparian area that is treed
sort of on the northeast of the site. I'm just wondering, as you worked through that
with staff, was there any concern from a drainage of stuff through the fence? What's the plan
there?
Well, we haven't looked at that completely. So one of the things that we may look at as
far as the fencing goes is if we cross that riparian area, that would require an alternate
ESA plan. So because that is a natural buffer, we would either look at gating around that
or just gating and kind of trying to terminate at that natural elevation change where you
have the natural drainage way that goes through that area. So there may be areas right across
that riparian that do not include fencing because that is a concern. One, protection
of the riparian area, the allowance for animals and anything utilizing that natural habitat
to be able to continue to utilize that. And then also, we don't want to do anything that
would impede the drainage way.
Okay, thank you.
Any other questions for the applicant? I'm curious to know how your FEMA meeting went.
The FEMA meeting went well. They had a lot of good suggestions. They wanted to make sure
that the trail that was through the trees had lighting. They even suggested making sure
that your -- I think one of their concerns might have been people that aren't supposed
to be in that area kind of congregating and lingering. So they even suggested making sure
those water sprinklers run on a regular basis. But the meeting went well. We talked about
the proposed development, the buffering that we're providing. We let them know that if
there's any need for them to provide any type of additional security cameras or anything
like that at the back of the property, then we're certainly open to that. So the meeting
went well.
Excellent. Good. Thanks for sharing that. Appreciate it.
I don't see any other questions at this time. Thank you very much for the presentation.
I don't have any other cards in front of me, but this is a public hearing. Is there anyone
wishing to speak on items 3, B, C, or D? Okay. Seeing none, I'm going to close the public
hearing on item 5B. And I will open the floor for discussion or a motion. Do I need to close
them all?
Okay. Per legal. I will go ahead then. Let me stop that for a moment. Go ahead and close
the public hearing on item 5C. And close the public hearing on item 5D. Now we will back
up and consider 5B. So the floor is open to discussion or a motion. And 5B, that is the
Comprehensive Plan Amendment. Commissioner McDade?
I recommend approval.
Commissioner Cole?
Second.
Okay. We've got a first and a second for approval of the Comprehensive Plan Amendment as presented.
Is there any discussion? Okay. I think with regard to this, I will just say to Tina and
to City Council listening, when they consider this is what I brought up in work session,
if maybe we want to clean up the rest of that and at least look at that and see how we can
maybe just flush that out a little bit better than it's going to look at if this gets approved.
So with that, let's go ahead and vote on the board, please.
That motion carries 6-0. That will move us then to consider the vote on 5C. And this
is the rezoning to R7. Commissioner Anderson?
I motion to approve.
Commissioner Villarreal?
Second.
Okay. We've got a first and a second for approval. Is there any discussion here? Commissioner
Pruitt?
Thank you, Chair. Yeah, just a couple thoughts that I support this, but that the specific
application brings forward to me. The R7 makes sense. That's fine. It also just so happens
that they actually couldn't build this three-story building in an MN zoning because we currently
require 12-foot first floors, which basically means that you can build a three-story home
in R7. You can build a three-story apartment complex, but then next door, if you had an
MN zoning, you can only build two stories. So that's a concern of mine over the long
term. And then I think, you know, I appreciate the challenges of two applications that were
coming in at different speeds and that sort of thing with the access to the north. And
I understand how, you know, there's a two-foot strip of an HOA lot that prevents us from
punching that through as the city's desire. We just need to keep appraised of those things
that we're doing to ourselves, I would say. So thank you.
Anyone else? Okay. The motion on the floor is to approve the rezoning. Seeing no further
speakers, I will go ahead and ask for a vote, please. That motion carries 6-0. That will
take us then to consider 5-D, which is the specific use permit. Commissioner Cole?
I make the motion to approve with conditions, staff's conditions.
Commissioner Anderson?
I second.
Thank you. We've got a first and a second for approval of the SUP as presented by staff.
Any discussion? Okay. I think before we vote, I'll just say that phenomenal job on what
could have been very confusing, but your presentation was fantastic. Mr. Fletcher, I appreciate
you too. That absolutely, yeah, tied a lot together. Yeah, so appreciate the way all
of this was put in front of us. Thank you. Seeing no further speakers, let's go ahead
and vote, please. That motion carries 6-0. Thank you. And that will move us to our planning
and zoning commission matrix. I will go ahead and turn the floor over to Tina.
Thank you, Chair Ellis. So just a couple of quick updates regarding changes we made to
the matrix in case you didn't pick up on this. So regarding legislative update on planning
related filed bills. So we actually have that tentatively scheduled for your next planning
and zoning commission meeting. And I anticipate it to be a joint presentation also with Ron
leading that effort. So it will in all likelihood potentially be Ron's last meeting. So think
of your tough questions for between now and then. So he and his wife are pursuing some
other opportunities based upon their life plan. So it gives you a couple of weeks to
think about what kind of questions you might want to ask Ron when he makes that presentation.
But nonetheless, back to more legislative means, I know this is something that you all
have been waiting for. And so we're going to provide you with that update. I think our
plan is to provide a little bit of an overview on this past legislative session, but then
also focus in on the bills that we're working through because it will result in some changes
that we're having to make to our processes and in our debt and development code. So we'll
cover some of that as well. Another item to make note of actually the discussion
regarding removing minimum parking requirements. So I know some of you serve on DCRC and have
been waiting for this topic. So we will be initiating that on Monday, August 14th. So
we are starting that work. So wanted to make note of that. Also, I know Commissioner Smith
had asked about receiving updating related to changes to the city's ethics ordinance
that might affect the planning and zoning commission. So our city auditor will be coming
in October to make those presentations. So we purposely delayed that till October in
case there are any appointment changes to the planning and zoning commission. I'm not
aware of any just yet. But nonetheless, we know we're in that season of appointees. We're
in that season of appointees. So just wanted to give Madison some time. So she only has
to hopefully do that presentation once. But anyway, to go over any changes that have been
made to the ethics ordinance so that you're all fully aware of what those might be. Also,
in terms of past council action, so I could not recall if I reported on this one in the
past. So my apologies if I'm being repetitive, but the timing was right around the time we
had our last meeting. So I figured better be safe than sorry, right? So we had an alternative
ESA plan for Hunter Ranch phase one. I know Christy had presented that to the planning
and zoning commission. You all had recommended approval. So council did approve that item.
So that one did occur. The Denton High School assigned district, I know Julie had that here
recently and presented that to you all. There was lots of conversation about the signs that
or why we were doing that sign district, given that some of the signs were also had been
installed. So council did approve that request. So they are now in compliance. So and like
I said, during the PNC, I mean, our meeting, our goal was to get them to compliance as
well. But but know that they had success at the at the city council meeting. I'm also
short term runnels removing that primary residency requirement as a result of the Supreme Court
ruling decisions. So I know you all recommended approval of that council did end up approving
that. And then speaking of short term models know that we are moving into some heavy lifting
on some public engagement as it relates to that. And that will be occurring. Let's see,
I know we have a couple of town hall scheduled, one virtual one in person and they're either
at the end of next week or end of next week in the following week. So more information
is out on discussed it and as it relates to that for folks that are wanting to follow
along on that. And if you recall, all of that public engagement being done was a result
of the DCRC wanting to receive some more information before providing for some decisions. And then
lastly, Mia had a zoning case Jefferson at Mayhill. If you recall, this was the one that
was across the street from our landfill, formerly city owned property that the city had since
sold. And so the applicant was requesting to rezone that. I believe it was to Mr. If
memory serves me correctly, council did approve that request as well. So that went through.
So, and with that, that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. So anything to be added
to the matrix by anyone? Oh, I would just add, don't forget your homework assignment
that Julie gave you with respect to the flyers. I was going there next to concluding items.
I will go ahead and announce as related to our work session. Take note that the Southeast
and area plan visioning workshop is Saturday, August 26, come and go between 10 and 2pm
at the American Legion Legion Hall Senior Center. And things are available where they
stand now with a plan on discussed.com. Commissioner proof. Yeah, just one while we're on the subject
of all of these input meetings and plans. I believe the text dot loop 288 input online
is available now through this Friday. So if you have any comments or thoughts to share
with our state agency, now's the time. Great. Thank you. Any other concluding items? Okay.
With that, I will adjourn us at 740pm. Thank you.