WEBVTT

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 >> Good afternoon and welcome to the city of Denton's planning and zoning commission

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 meeting for Wednesday, October 11, 2023.

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 This is our work session and with the quorum present I'll call us to order at 5.01 p.m.

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 First item on our work session is citizen comment on consent agenda items.

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 Is there anyone wishing to speak on consent agenda?

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 Okay.

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 We will move then to the clarification of tonight's agenda.

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 Any questions, comments on the minutes for September 27th?

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 Okay.

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 How about on our consent agenda this evening we've got two items.

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 Commissioner Perrett.

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 >> Thank you, chair.

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 Yeah.

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 Sorry.

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 I noticed that the large park dedication land in the middle aligns with one of the planned

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 trail corridors on our mobility plan and then there's I guess one of the platted lots is

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 there right at the corner.

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 Do we have a plan for how to effectuate that corridor in the long-term future and make

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 sure that the way this is going is compatible with that if that makes sense?

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 >> I'm actually going to see if Sean might be able to pull up the map for prominence.

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 I don't want to misspeak, I know they have been coordinating with parks but I have not

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 been part of those conversations so Sean if you may have any knowledge of the parks plan

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 for future trails on the large lot there.

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 >> For--

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 >> Prominence Square.

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 >> Yeah.

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 Yeah.

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 Sorry.

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 Did we want the GIS?

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 Or do we want--

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 >> Oh, the plat's probably good.

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 >> Okay.

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 >> Yeah, this is a very colorful plat.

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 We don't often see plat's this--

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 >> Yes.

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 So essentially-- so right now parks has not made a specific plan for trail.

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 They do have a plan-- they actually have an agreement to have a trail through this section

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 here if you can see and then their hope is then to have that trail connect up to the

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 end sidewalk along here that would then connect up to University Drive.

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 >> Okay.

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 >> So a lot of time has been spent on making sure all the easements are in place to make

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 sure that that connection is made and then of course parks would have a significant additional

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 area in which they can have future potential trails and other projects.

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 >> Yeah.

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 That helps me to understand that there's a pedestrian easement right of way on the backside

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 of those lots so there's some flexibility there because I mean, again, the challenge

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 is actually going to be crossing the textile right of ways but sounds like we're taking

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 that into account so I appreciate that.

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 >> Very much so.

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 Parks is on it.

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 >> Thank you, Sean.

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 >> That's all.

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 >> Okay.

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 Anything else on consent?

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 Okay.

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 That will take us to items for individual consideration for A. Bryce can come up and give us a quick

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 synopsis of that.

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 How are you?

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 >> I'm good.

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 How are you?

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 >> Good.

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 All right.

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 So this is a variance request for a final plat.

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 They are requesting a variance from DDC subsection 8.3.2.C.2A.

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 They want to increase the number of lots they're able to take access from a private access easement

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 as well as allow a private access easement to connect to a private road.

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 The proposed subdivision is right off of Amick's road from the northern portion of it on the

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 northern side and it's about a mile west of Seawolf Road.

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 There's a little site data about it.

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 They're looking to create four single family residential lots and there's going to be a

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 larger agricultural lot that's left in the back portion of the property.

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 The zoning is in the ETJ division one.

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 This portion of Amick's road and I'll have a slide about it as well in the next one.

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 This red portion you'll see on the right side is a private road and the blue portion is

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 the nearest public road.

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 The variance is requesting that they are able to have five lots that connect to this single

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 private access easement as well as allow them to connect to that private road with that access

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 easement.

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 The provided access easement is 60 feet wide and for that reason we don't see that there's

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 any detrimental, the approval would not be detrimental to public health and safety or

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 anything along those lines.

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 Amick's road is also a 60 foot wide right of way.

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 The nature of the property is long and it's narrow just based on how the property and

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 the areas around it have been developed over time.

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 It's strict application of the subdivision code would not allow them to develop just

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 because that private road, Amick's road does not provide any frontage to a public street.

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 Additionally, if approved the number of lots that we see able to take access from this

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 private access easement and the connection of the private access easement to the private

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 road do not introduce any standards that will be incompatible with the DDC or the transportation

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 criteria manuals.

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 The proposed variance does not vary from the provisions of the comprehensive planning through.

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 The conditions with the subject property were not created by the property owner, it's just

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 kind of a result of how the property has been developed and the area around it has been

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 developed over time.

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 To conclude, staff does recommend approval of the proposed variances.

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 Any questions?

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 Commissioner Smith.

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 Thank you.

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 Chair.

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 Sorry.

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 That's weird.

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 Can you go back to the sitemap of the, with that ending access, that Amick's road, that

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 slot that goes up between the five, I don't think I saw this in the backup.

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 Is there not going to be a cul-de-sac there at the very end?

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 So there's not.

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 It's going to be just a 60 foot right of way that goes and leads to that back agricultural

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 property.

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 Is the county not going to have any rules on the, on fire access and EMS access within

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 there?

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 I know it's a 60 foot wide road within there, but being able to turn around and that kind

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 of stuff.

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 Yeah.

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 I'm not sure if they have any rules related to it.

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 We did ask them to review this and they didn't come back with any issues that they would

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 be asked them to change.

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 Thanks.

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 Anything else?

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 Okay.

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 Thank you, Bryce.

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 Yeah.

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 Next item for B, oh, that's your item as well.

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 So I'm here.

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 We'll let you summarize that one for us too.

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 So this is the final plat that the variances are associated with.

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 Our recommendation of the plat does depend on how you all choose to handle the variance

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 request.

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 If you approve the variances, staff will recommend approval of the plat just because it will meet

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 all of the codes and the things that we have laid out that they need to meet in order to

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 make it a plat that we would accept.

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 If the variance request is denied, then staff would recommend denial as they would not meet

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 those standards.

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 Any questions?

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 Not seeing any.

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 Thank you.

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 Awesome.

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 We'll see you at the meeting.

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 We've got 4C, FP230026, Mia's on her way up for a quick summary.

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 Hello.

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 Hello.

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 All right.

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 Mia Hines, Associate Planner.

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 This item is a final plat for Legends Ranch Phase 1A.

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 At this time, it does not meet our criteria for approval.

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 So staff is recommending denial.

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 However, we have no objection to the request extension that can be granted to October 25th,

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 2023.

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 Are there any questions?

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 Thank you.

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 We've got 4D, PP230021.

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 Good evening, Julie Wyatt.

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 This is PP230021, the Prestige at Mayhill.

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 This is a preliminary plat for multifamily development.

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 They do have some items that they do need to correct in order for it to meet our technical

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 requirements.

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 So staff is recommending denial.

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 However, we have no objection to the requested extension to October 25th, and I'll be happy

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 to answer any questions.

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 Thanks, Julie.

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 Do not see any questions.

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 Thank you.

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 Thank you so much.

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 Okay.

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 We've got two public hearing items this evening.

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 First one is 5A, S210005.

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 This one should look a little familiar.

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 Hello, Sean.

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 Good evening, Chair.

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 We'll go ahead and pull this one up.

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 Okay.

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 As you said, yes.

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 This will be familiar.

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 And of course, I will have a more extensive presentation of public hearing right now,

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 summarize.

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 This is a request for now a 94 dwelling unit, multifamily building on 4.019 acres along

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 Teasley Lane, just north of that intersection of Teasley Lane and Hickory Creek.

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 And as you know, the background is that this came before the Planning and Zoning Commission

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 back in August.

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 It was recommended for denial.

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 The developers now met multiple times with the neighborhood and in the course of that,

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 revised the plans in order to make significant changes, including adding amenities, addressing

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 where access connected to Hickory Creek, addressing the building design, and addressing that fencing

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 between the development and the adjacent HOA-owned lake.

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 So I'll go over it in more detail, but I've provided kind of a summary of the changes

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 there.

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 They've added one less unit, one foot lower in height, a pool has been added, the patio

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 area's been expanded, added a gazebo, a playground, open space has been increased, a tree canopy

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 has gone up by about nine percent, they've added a rooftop terrace, and they've also

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 provided that fence, as discussed, a security fence, six foot tall wrought iron that will

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 stretch from their northeast boundary to their western boundary where it will connect with

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 a six foot tall opaque fence that will run along the rest of their western boundary.

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 They've also added about an additional 25 trees between their development and the neighboring

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 HOA lake and neighborhood, and then that access to Hickory Creek.

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 So basically they moved their south driveway to the west end of their property in order

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 to encourage and guide vehicles to access Hickory Creek by going behind sprouts rather

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 than going directly through that parking lot.

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 So that's kind of a summary of the changes, happy to answer any questions you'll have

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 right now, and of course we'll have more information in public hearing.

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 Thank you.

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 Any questions?

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 Commissioner Prout?

00:11:08.560 --> 00:11:11.680
 Thank you, Chair.

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 Maybe my memory is foggy, but when this came to us, I mean obviously the previous plan

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 came to us last year, I recall that there was a lot of discussion about the lack of

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 a fence and that there was some drainage easement reason for why that wasn't there.

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 Can you explain what changed, how did we get that, and why is it not a problem now than

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 it was before?

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 Yeah, absolutely.

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 So we were able to have some meetings with our folks in flood plain to discuss.

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 The fence is completely outside of our flood plain.

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 Normally we have an easement beyond that, and so we were able to meet with our folks

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 in engineering to determine that as the fence was proposed, it could be placed outside of

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 the flood plain, but still potentially within that area, somewhat within where that easement

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 would be.

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 So in terms of the drainage easement in that northeast corner, they were able to receive

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 a variance for the design of that.

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 Engineering looked at that and said they were comfortable with how that was designed.

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 Commissioner Villarreal.

00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:12.400
 Thank you.

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 Real quick, I know we had 18 members of the public attend public meetings on the 2nd,

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 and it says that multiple residents expressed a continued outrage at the project.

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 Do we know how many residents were still opposed to the project?

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 Was it even or majority, do you happen to know that off the top of your head?

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 It's unclear.

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 I can only report on the comments I was given that were given, so I don't know the exact

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 breakdown.

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 Gotcha.

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 Thank you.

00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:52.680
 Yeah, it was just like we don't really have anything in writing from anyone as far as

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 from notifications, or do we?

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 Yeah, we did have one response written in support from the adjacent car wash.

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 Right.

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 Yeah, yeah.

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 So, yes.

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 And then obviously I did provide the notes from those meetings in your backup.

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 Yeah, yeah.

00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:07.960
 Okay.

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 Any other questions?

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 I know the applicant will be here, so we can certainly get more information on the meetings

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 in that and how they went when we're in our public session.

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 That is correct.

00:13:21.280 --> 00:13:22.280
 Okay.

00:13:22.280 --> 00:13:23.280
 Thank you.

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 Thank you.

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 Appreciate it.

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 Our final public hearing is 5B, S23-0005.

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 Angie's coming on up for presentation of that item.

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 Hi, everyone.

00:13:39.760 --> 00:13:40.760
 Good evening.

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 Give me just a moment, please.

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 Okay, this is S23-005, this is an SUP request for a multifamily development.

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 I'll give you just a little bit of background here and I'll obviously have a more detailed

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 presentation at our meeting, but this is a 22.81-acre site located just to the south

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 of Dutchess Drive, approximately 740 feet to the west of Loop 288.

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 Dutchess Drive is classified as a collector and Loop 288 is classified as a primary arterial

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 roadway.

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 The zoning on the site is suburban corridor, which does require the submittal of an SUP

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 for the land use multifamily dwelling, which is why the applicant is here before you this

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 evening.

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 The proposal contemplates seven buildings.

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 Four of those buildings are your traditional low-rise multifamily and they're concentrated

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 along the frontage of Dutchess Drive, sort of framing the entries.

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 Then there are three more townhome-style cottage products that are proposed in the southwest

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 portion of their development impact area.

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 For a total of 262 units, the site is 22.81 acres.

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 It does have some significant ESA along the southern portion of the development.

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 They are compliant with our development regulations for ESA preservation as well as for preservation

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 of the upland habitat and are leaving approximately 43% of the site undisturbed.

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 This is consistent with our future land use plan and is consistent with our criteria for

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 approval, both general approval criteria as well as what we look at in an SUP request

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 such as mitigation of adverse impacts and staff is recommending approval of this request

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 this evening.

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 I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have at this time.

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 Commissioner McDade.

00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:31.360
 Thank you, Chair.

00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:38.160
 I looked around, I thought maybe Karina would be here today, but my concern was like always,

00:15:38.160 --> 00:15:39.160
 there's always traffic.

00:15:39.160 --> 00:15:40.160
 Sure.

00:15:40.160 --> 00:15:44.120
 There's always departments that are already going up on the loop and then now you have

00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:45.120
 these.

00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:51.080
 Is all that traffic just going to flush out to loop 288 because my concern, the concern

00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:55.520
 in our neighborhood is eventually with everything being built, eventually it's going to flush

00:15:55.520 --> 00:16:01.200
 out into Woodrow Lane also and that's one of our big, that's one big concern in our

00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:02.200
 neighborhood.

00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:03.200
 Yes.

00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:07.400
 So at this time, that just does not go all the way through.

00:16:07.400 --> 00:16:12.320
 As part of this, the applicant was required to submit a TIA, so they are required to along

00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:17.920
 their property line, complete the construction of Dutchess from Mockingbird to their Eastern

00:16:17.920 --> 00:16:25.080
 boundary as well as construct the side path and provide restriping for turn lanes into

00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:26.560
 their property.

00:16:26.560 --> 00:16:29.940
 Traffic will flow outward to loop 288 at this time.

00:16:29.940 --> 00:16:35.240
 The development that is right here at the hard corner of Dutchess and loop 288 was responsible

00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:40.320
 for putting, for paying for a traffic signal to eventually go at that intersection.

00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:44.080
 We do have partial funding and I spoke with our engineering department.

00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:49.200
 It is estimated that the installation of that signal will occur in spring or summer of 2024.

00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.640
 So there is some relief coming for that corridor.

00:16:51.640 --> 00:16:52.640
 Okay.

00:16:52.640 --> 00:16:53.640
 All right.

00:16:53.640 --> 00:16:56.080
 Thank you very much.

00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:57.080
 Commissioner Pruitt.

00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:01.440
 Thank you, Chair.

00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:07.360
 It doesn't have to be now, it could be in the public meeting.

00:17:07.360 --> 00:17:17.840
 I would appreciate understanding better how our development regulations ensure that the

00:17:17.840 --> 00:17:27.280
 runoff into the riparian areas is not going to be adversely polluted.

00:17:27.280 --> 00:17:36.880
 The way I see many of these parcels going that back up to Pecan Creek, because we want

00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:42.920
 to preserve as many trees as possible, that drives putting a lot of the flat work and

00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:47.320
 parking right along the border of the ESAs.

00:17:47.320 --> 00:17:53.320
 Then when there is a rain event, there's more wash off of that directly into the riparian

00:17:53.320 --> 00:17:54.320
 area.

00:17:54.320 --> 00:17:58.080
 I'm not an expert at all on environmental things.

00:17:58.080 --> 00:18:07.720
 I just want to make sure that we're considering that and that if there are challenges there

00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:11.560
 that we think through that in the longer term, if that makes sense.

00:18:11.560 --> 00:18:12.560
 Yeah, sure.

00:18:12.560 --> 00:18:17.520
 Off the top of my head and just thinking, I know it's civil engineering plans, obviously

00:18:17.520 --> 00:18:21.960
 detailed drainage plans are submitted to guarantee the flow of water because you're not allowed

00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:27.880
 per state law to increase the flow of water onto adjacent properties or dramatically impact

00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:30.480
 it in that fashion.

00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:36.200
 I guess I would also speak to just the fact of pollutants, although it's not maybe the

00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:37.520
 standard that you're looking for.

00:18:37.520 --> 00:18:42.360
 I think the multifamily land use as compared to perhaps some of the other suburban corridor

00:18:42.360 --> 00:18:47.720
 land uses could possibly be a better environmental neighbor.

00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:53.080
 We can maybe dig around and see if I can get a more concrete answer for you and other protective

00:18:53.080 --> 00:18:54.080
 measures we have.

00:18:54.080 --> 00:18:58.560
 I know some of those would come through reporting if you feel like there's some sort of pollutant

00:18:58.560 --> 00:19:01.560
 discharge that's occurring.

00:19:01.560 --> 00:19:06.800
 It's mostly just concern of when you have a horrible hot summer like we did for three

00:19:06.800 --> 00:19:12.320
 and a half months and you've got oil dripping on parking lots and then when rain comes and

00:19:12.320 --> 00:19:17.040
 all of it goes somewhere.

00:19:17.040 --> 00:19:19.160
 Whatever we had information we have now, that's fine.

00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:24.160
 I would look forward to as this goes to council, I would imagine that becomes a big important

00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:27.640
 thing to talk through if that makes sense.

00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:28.640
 Sure.

00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:29.640
 Thank you.

00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:30.640
 Commissioner Villarreal.

00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:31.640
 Yes.

00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:35.640
 I have additional environmental concerns that Commissioner Pruitt hit on one of them.

00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:39.920
 In addition to that, we know this is in the middle of a wildlife corridor.

00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:43.400
 We received comments about the width of the buildings.

00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:48.840
 Do we have any sense of the building width being in a diverse impact to the wildlife

00:19:48.840 --> 00:19:51.040
 corridors at all?

00:19:51.040 --> 00:19:53.840
 I did not see any comments on the width of buildings.

00:19:53.840 --> 00:19:55.400
 Could you elaborate on what the concern was?

00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:58.520
 I'm happy to talk more about wildlife corridors while you pull that up.

00:19:58.520 --> 00:19:59.880
 You are correct.

00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:05.360
 One of the key actions that came out of the Denton 2040 plan was the mapping of wildlife

00:20:05.360 --> 00:20:11.680
 corridors that consisted of two phases, if you will.

00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:15.840
 First was identifying areas in which the wildlife corridors that may exist, and those are labeled

00:20:15.840 --> 00:20:20.240
 on this map as green spaces, and they're generally consistent with the ESA map.

00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:24.980
 You'll see the ESA land use that we have up here in this left one.

00:20:24.980 --> 00:20:29.040
 You'll see where the ESA is, and then that green space is generally where that is.

00:20:29.040 --> 00:20:36.960
 The wildlife corridor is situated at the southwest portion of the site and really follows the

00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.320
 path of the Pecan Creek Trail.

00:20:39.320 --> 00:20:44.020
 These are estimated areas of travel based on a modeling system.

00:20:44.020 --> 00:20:47.720
 My understanding is, in talking to environmental services, they do need to be investigated

00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:56.440
 a little bit more, but in terms of preservation, they are preserving 43% of the site to be

00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:02.600
 remained undisturbed, and the closest perimeter fence from where this approximate wildlife

00:21:02.600 --> 00:21:08.760
 corridor is, is 145 feet away, with the closest building pad being approximately 214 feet

00:21:08.760 --> 00:21:10.440
 away.

00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:17.240
 I believe by preserving the ESA and protecting that area, the applicant is also able to preserve

00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:19.120
 and protect the wildlife corridor.

00:21:19.120 --> 00:21:22.760
 I'm not aware of any building with challenges that would be-

00:21:22.760 --> 00:21:23.760
 Sorry.

00:21:23.760 --> 00:21:32.400
 The challenge of the large buildings affecting the 160-foot recommendation for the corridor.

00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:42.120
 I believe that 165-foot recommendation came out of that Friday report, which is ... Help

00:21:42.120 --> 00:21:43.120
 me out here.

00:21:43.120 --> 00:21:44.760
 I'm struggling for my terminology.

00:21:44.760 --> 00:21:49.920
 It is not a codified regulation that we have in the development code to review against,

00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:54.720
 and it is also a very new tool that we have to review buildings with.

00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.800
 They are 214 feet away.

00:21:56.800 --> 00:22:01.560
 The closest building is 214 feet away from that proposed wildlife corridor, so if we

00:22:01.560 --> 00:22:06.920
 are wanting to provide a 165-foot buffer, I would say I don't have a concern with it

00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:07.920
 at this time.

00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:15.600
 Angie, the site plan may help to show what that measurement of 214 feet kind of looks

00:22:15.600 --> 00:22:19.560
 like, because I think there's ... Because the corridor that was mapped is nested at the

00:22:19.560 --> 00:22:25.520
 south end of the ESA, there is far more than 160 feet of width for the corridor, but you

00:22:25.520 --> 00:22:29.960
 can probably maybe point out the distance between the building and-

00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:34.760
 The corridor is estimated to follow this Pecan Creek tributary through this portion of the

00:22:34.760 --> 00:22:40.840
 site, so I measured from about here, kind of midpoint, to this closest building, and

00:22:40.840 --> 00:22:47.520
 that was 214 feet, so that is a rather large buffer.

00:22:47.520 --> 00:22:51.240
 This green fence, there's no development occurring outside of that.

00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:56.360
 It is intended as part of this, and it still needs to be discussed that this 6.7 acres

00:22:56.360 --> 00:23:01.280
 is eventually dedicated as parkland, but we do have in the conditions of approval that

00:23:01.280 --> 00:23:07.040
 if that dedication does not go through for any reason, the property owner is required

00:23:07.040 --> 00:23:10.000
 to preserve and maintain this in an undisturbed natural state.

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:11.000
 Got it.

00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:12.000
 Thank you.

00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:13.000
 Yes.

00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:14.000
 Oh, sorry.

00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.000
 Anything else?

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:20.720
 I assume they're going to need an alt ESA on this site at some point, correct?

00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:24.340
 At this time, they've demonstrated compliance with our environmental regulations.

00:23:24.340 --> 00:23:28.240
 As we know, when you go to civils, sometimes things may change slightly.

00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:32.800
 At that point, they would be required to come back, and that is in the conditions as well,

00:23:32.800 --> 00:23:37.180
 but should this play out exactly as it's lined out here, they've built in a buffer for themselves

00:23:37.180 --> 00:23:42.000
 to kind of allow for working within those regulations and account for maybe some of

00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:45.920
 that trial and error, but if for some reason that doesn't work out, they would be back

00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.480
 before you all with an alt ESA plan.

00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:50.480
 Good.

00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:53.480
 Anything else?

00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:54.480
 No.

00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:55.480
 Thank you.

00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:56.480
 Appreciate it.

00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:57.480
 Okay.

00:23:57.480 --> 00:24:05.760
 That would conclude our regular agenda items, so our final work session item is 3A, Receive

00:24:05.760 --> 00:24:10.360
 Training and Hold a Discussion Regarding the City of Denton Code of Ordinances, Chapter

00:24:10.360 --> 00:24:11.360
 2.

00:24:11.360 --> 00:24:12.360
 Hello, Madison.

00:24:12.360 --> 00:24:13.360
 Hello.

00:24:13.360 --> 00:24:14.360
 All right.

00:24:14.360 --> 00:24:15.360
 How are y'all doing?

00:24:15.360 --> 00:24:16.360
 I'm Madison Rusch.

00:24:16.360 --> 00:24:23.400
 I'm Denton City Auditor, and I'm here to give you your annual ethics ordinance training

00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:25.800
 which you're required to take for the ethics ordinance.

00:24:25.800 --> 00:24:28.560
 If you've been on the board before, you may have taken it.

00:24:28.560 --> 00:24:34.600
 It's not an hour and 45 minutes anymore, it's just 15, so that's why I'm here.

00:24:34.600 --> 00:24:41.680
 So today we will be covering the ethical expectations laid out by the city's ethics ordinance.

00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:46.120
 The ordinance's mandates and prohibitions are basically what it requires, how city officials

00:24:46.120 --> 00:24:51.320
 subject to the ordinance can request clarification on the ordinance's application, and just a

00:24:51.320 --> 00:24:55.560
 quick overview of what happens if an ethics complaint is submitted against you as a city

00:24:55.560 --> 00:24:56.560
 official.

00:24:56.560 --> 00:25:02.400
 So, to begin, the city of Denton's ethics ordinance was adopted in 2018 and was most

00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:06.120
 recently amended in 2023.

00:25:06.120 --> 00:25:09.800
 The ethics code is intended to foster an environment of integrity for those that serve the city

00:25:09.800 --> 00:25:14.520
 of Denton and its residents by ensuring that decision makers provide responsible stewardship

00:25:14.520 --> 00:25:19.200
 of city resources and assets and providing behavioral guidelines and requirements.

00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:22.560
 The key goal of the ethics ordinance is to further the public's trust in those who govern

00:25:22.560 --> 00:25:24.300
 their community.

00:25:24.300 --> 00:25:29.000
 More specifically, the ethics ordinance outlines six aspirational expectations.

00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.160
 These expectations cannot be used as the basis of an ethics complaint, but they are intended

00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:36.280
 to guide city officials in carrying out their duties.

00:25:36.280 --> 00:25:41.280
 And they include conducting yourself in a manner that fosters public trust, performing

00:25:41.280 --> 00:25:46.260
 your public duties with personal and organizational integrity, avoiding behavior that might call

00:25:46.260 --> 00:25:51.080
 your motives into question and erode public confidence, placing the interests and concerns

00:25:51.080 --> 00:25:57.040
 of Denton's residents above your own, valuing honesty, trustworthiness, diligence, objectivity,

00:25:57.040 --> 00:26:03.080
 fairness, due process, efficiency, and prudence, and balancing transparency with the duty to

00:26:03.080 --> 00:26:06.940
 protect personal privacy and preserve any confidential information that you've been

00:26:06.940 --> 00:26:09.960
 trusted with.

00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:13.300
 So while the rest of this training will focus on specific behaviors that city officials

00:26:13.300 --> 00:26:17.340
 must comply with, this is the most important section of the ethics ordinance.

00:26:17.340 --> 00:26:22.080
 If you ever find yourself questioning if a specific action or inaction might be ethical,

00:26:22.080 --> 00:26:24.720
 first ask yourself if it would align with these expectations.

00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:30.160
 It is important to realize that the expectations not only focus on the way things are, but

00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:32.240
 also on how they appear.

00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:37.800
 A city official has a position of privilege within their community that they must respect.

00:26:37.800 --> 00:26:42.880
 Serving your community as a city official is an honor that requires integrity and dedication.

00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:45.760
 In general, you can think about an ethics code as a stoplight.

00:26:45.760 --> 00:26:50.200
 In some instances, the code clearly prohibits specific behaviors or creates a red light.

00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:55.560
 However, in other areas, the code creates broader prohibitions or yellow lights.

00:26:55.560 --> 00:26:58.840
 Yellow lights communicate that a city official should thoughtfully and cautiously consider

00:26:58.840 --> 00:27:03.820
 if the action or inaction is ethical based on the city's expectations as they proceed.

00:27:03.820 --> 00:27:06.920
 So throughout the presentation, I'll be calling out which parts of the code are red lights

00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:10.000
 versus yellow lights to help provide guidance.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:13.960
 Now that we've covered the basics of the city's ethical expectations and general guidance,

00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:15.960
 I'll get into more specifics.

00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:19.700
 The ethics ordinance includes three mandates and nine prohibitions that cover different

00:27:19.700 --> 00:27:22.840
 actions or behaviors that a city official may take.

00:27:22.840 --> 00:27:26.100
 And I'll briefly cover them over the next couple of slides.

00:27:26.100 --> 00:27:29.960
 But I'll stop here if there are questions about general expectations from the ethics

00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:30.960
 ordinance.

00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:36.800
 Great, thank you.

00:27:36.800 --> 00:27:40.640
 Starting with the mandates, the ethics ordinance requires that city officials disclose certain

00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.920
 business relationships if they are relevant to a pending matter.

00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:48.840
 Specifically, if a business entity with a pending matter is owned by a city official's

00:27:48.840 --> 00:27:53.340
 partner, the city official must disclose this relationship to the city secretary and city

00:27:53.340 --> 00:27:59.060
 auditor at least one business day before the meeting where the pending matter will be deliberated.

00:27:59.060 --> 00:28:03.680
 All disclosures will then be provided to the relevant body before the deliberations occur.

00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:07.000
 So this disclosure requirement is a yellow light in the code.

00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:10.960
 Even though city officials are allowed to deliberate on these matters, per the ordinance

00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:14.620
 it calls out that there might be a risk that this type of business interest might receive

00:28:14.620 --> 00:28:17.740
 unfair treatment from the related city official.

00:28:17.740 --> 00:28:22.460
 In addition, it requires that city officials comply with any financial disclosures required

00:28:22.460 --> 00:28:27.160
 by Texas state law and that city officials report any person that they know has violated

00:28:27.160 --> 00:28:29.880
 the city's ethics ordinance.

00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:35.400
 These mandates are red light and not reporting a known violation of the ordinance is itself

00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:38.200
 considered to be a violation of the ethics ordinance.

00:28:38.200 --> 00:28:45.400
 So any questions about these mandates that are in the ordinance?

00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:47.480
 Great.

00:28:47.480 --> 00:28:51.160
 All right, on to prohibitions.

00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:55.600
 Beginning with conflicts of interest, ethical best practices suggest that city official

00:28:55.600 --> 00:29:00.280
 recuse from deliberating on a pending matter if they or their relative have a personal

00:29:00.280 --> 00:29:05.560
 or economic interest in a business entity or property that's not shared with the general

00:29:05.560 --> 00:29:06.560
 public.

00:29:06.560 --> 00:29:10.280
 This general guidance is a yellow light that's intended to draw attention to the risk of

00:29:10.280 --> 00:29:11.280
 conflicts of interest.

00:29:11.280 --> 00:29:15.720
 However, I should note that while it's good guidance, this general kind of prohibition

00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:19.200
 is not actually included in the ethics ordinance.

00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:23.280
 Denton's ordinance does include some red lights and specifically defines the following as

00:29:23.280 --> 00:29:29.560
 conflicts of interest, owning 5% or more of a business entity's voting shares or stock,

00:29:29.560 --> 00:29:34.800
 owning $600 or more of a business entity's fair market value, owning $600 or more of

00:29:34.800 --> 00:29:41.360
 the fair market value of real property, receiving $600 or more in income from a business entity,

00:29:41.360 --> 00:29:47.080
 serving on the board of directors or as an officer of a business entity or a nonprofit,

00:29:47.080 --> 00:29:51.560
 or having solicited, received or accepted an offer of employment from a business entity

00:29:51.560 --> 00:29:53.640
 or person in the last 12 months.

00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:59.640
 If you have a conflict of interest as defined on the slide with a pending matter on an agenda,

00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:03.520
 you're required to recuse yourself from the discussion and submit an affidavit of abstention

00:30:03.520 --> 00:30:05.920
 to the city auditor.

00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:06.920
 That's me.

00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:11.560
 A pending matter includes an application seeking approval or authorization, a proposal to enter

00:30:11.560 --> 00:30:16.880
 into a contract or a case involving the city that is or may go before a civil criminal

00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:18.720
 or administrative tribunal.

00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:23.480
 Further, it is a violation of the ordinance for a current city official to represent a

00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:28.360
 person, group or entity before a city board or commission for compensation.

00:30:28.360 --> 00:30:33.080
 This prohibition also applies to former city officials for one year after termination of

00:30:33.080 --> 00:30:34.800
 their official duties.

00:30:34.800 --> 00:30:40.000
 Similarly, former city officials are prohibited from performing compensated work on a city

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:45.160
 contract or arrangement if they substantially participated in the negotiation, award or

00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:50.460
 administration of the contract unless that participation was limited to deliberation.

00:30:50.460 --> 00:30:54.760
 Any questions on conflicts of interest or representation of others?

00:30:54.760 --> 00:31:00.720
 Great, I'm getting good at this.

00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:01.720
 Sorry.

00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:06.240
 Next, the ethics ordinance prohibits a city official or their relative from accepting any

00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:11.640
 gift that might reasonably influence a city official in discharging their official duties.

00:31:11.640 --> 00:31:15.440
 This is a general prohibition that acts as a yellow light for city officials.

00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:20.160
 The ordinance does also include gift-related red lights, specifically a city official cannot

00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:25.360
 accept a single gift valued more than $50 or multiple gifts with a total value of more

00:31:25.360 --> 00:31:27.320
 than $200.

00:31:27.320 --> 00:31:32.240
 In general, a gift is considered to be anything of monetary value such as cash, property,

00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:36.360
 services, meals, entertainment or travel-related expenses.

00:31:36.360 --> 00:31:40.720
 If a gift is accepted, the city official may remedy the violation by promptly donating

00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:46.680
 it or reimbursing the gift giver for the actual or fair market value of the gift.

00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:51.580
 If you do accept a gift, you have to disclose the acceptance and how you remedied it by

00:31:51.580 --> 00:31:54.960
 filing a disclosure with me.

00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:59.640
 The ordinance does allow certain exceptions to the gift prohibition, meaning that these

00:31:59.640 --> 00:32:06.120
 are considered green lights and they include lawful campaign contributions, expenses related

00:32:06.120 --> 00:32:10.320
 to a city official's travel to a conference or other training event that's connected to

00:32:10.320 --> 00:32:15.440
 the city, expenses related to appearances at nonprofit or community events related to

00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:21.040
 city business, complimentary attendance at fundraising events or hospitality functions,

00:32:21.040 --> 00:32:26.280
 complimentary or promotional copies of trade publications or clothing items or gifts that

00:32:26.280 --> 00:32:31.080
 are given due to a personal, familial or professional relationship, regardless of the city official's

00:32:31.080 --> 00:32:33.320
 city-related duties.

00:32:33.320 --> 00:32:37.520
 Any items that fall under one of these exceptions do not need to be disclosed, however you can

00:32:37.520 --> 00:32:40.560
 choose to do so if you would like to.

00:32:40.560 --> 00:32:42.720
 Questions about gifts?

00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:44.400
 Great.

00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:50.800
 Next, it's a violation of the ordinance for a city official to misuse the influence or

00:32:50.800 --> 00:32:54.240
 information gained due to their official city position.

00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:59.120
 Specifically, a city official may not use their influence to secure special privileges

00:32:59.120 --> 00:33:04.720
 or treatment for a person, group or business organization beyond what is normally available

00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:07.680
 or to imply that they can do such things.

00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:11.760
 While this is a specific prohibition, it's a yellow light as it is not meant to prohibit

00:33:11.760 --> 00:33:16.800
 a city official from providing individuals, groups or businesses with information on how

00:33:16.800 --> 00:33:21.960
 city processes work so that they can more easily access normally available services.

00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:25.360
 For that reason, city officials should proceed cautiously and thoughtfully when trying to

00:33:25.360 --> 00:33:27.840
 help the public with specific concerns.

00:33:27.840 --> 00:33:32.360
 Specifically, city officials should be cautious when stating what they can or cannot do to

00:33:32.360 --> 00:33:34.760
 ensure that a concern is addressed.

00:33:34.760 --> 00:33:39.360
 Further, a city official may not state or imply that they are acting as a representative

00:33:39.360 --> 00:33:43.600
 of the city unless they have been authorized to do so by the city council.

00:33:43.600 --> 00:33:48.120
 And it is a violation of the ordinance for a city official, either current or former,

00:33:48.120 --> 00:33:53.040
 to use confidential information gained through their official capacity to advance the personal

00:33:53.040 --> 00:33:56.680
 or private financial interests of themselves or anyone else.

00:33:56.680 --> 00:34:00.640
 So these are red lights and there's no instance where misrepresenting yourself as an authorized

00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:04.360
 city representative or using confidential information for personal or private interests

00:34:04.360 --> 00:34:06.980
 would be ethical under the ordinance.

00:34:06.980 --> 00:34:13.560
 Questions about misuse?

00:34:13.560 --> 00:34:16.680
 This is the last prohibition, but there's a little bit more after this.

00:34:16.680 --> 00:34:21.720
 So it is a violation of the ordinance for a city official to abuse the city's resources

00:34:21.720 --> 00:34:25.680
 or the power or privileges granted by their official position.

00:34:25.680 --> 00:34:30.960
 Specifically, a city official should not use, request, or allow the use of city resources

00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:36.480
 such as facilities, personnel, equipment, software, or staff time for private purposes,

00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:41.260
 including political, except to the extent that those are available to other residents.

00:34:41.260 --> 00:34:45.900
 So while this is a specific prohibition, it's kind of a yellow light because it does not

00:34:45.900 --> 00:34:50.160
 have clearly defined thresholds and there are instances where a city official can ethically

00:34:50.160 --> 00:34:55.960
 use city resources like if you were renting a city facility at the publicly available price.

00:34:55.960 --> 00:35:00.040
 On the other hand, it is a violation of the ordinance for a city official to harass or

00:35:00.040 --> 00:35:05.760
 discriminate against a person based on their ethnicity, race, gender, gender identity,

00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:09.800
 sexual orientation, marital or parental status, or religion.

00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:15.920
 It's also a violation to interfere with any city related criminal or administrative investigation,

00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:19.360
 including persuading or coercing someone else to withhold their cooperation.

00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:20.360
 So these are red lights.

00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:24.020
 There's not really an instance where harassment, discrimination, or interfering with an investigation

00:35:24.020 --> 00:35:27.520
 would be considered ethical per the ordinance.

00:35:27.520 --> 00:35:32.400
 Questions about abuse of resources or power, position?

00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:36.000
 All right.

00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:39.560
 Now that you have an understanding of the expectations, mandates, and prohibitions outlined

00:35:39.560 --> 00:35:43.440
 in the ordinance, if you ever come upon a situation where you need additional guidance,

00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:44.940
 you have a couple of options.

00:35:44.940 --> 00:35:49.320
 So first, if you need direction, helping to find a section of the ordinance related to

00:35:49.320 --> 00:35:55.300
 a particular situation or just an answer about how to submit a disclosure or an ethics complaint,

00:35:55.300 --> 00:35:58.000
 you can reach out to me.

00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:01.760
 Hillary can probably help you just by telling you where I am.

00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:03.880
 So you can reach out to city staff.

00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:08.880
 Second, if you have a personal attorney, so not Hillary, they may be able to provide you

00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:12.960
 with an interpretation of the ethics ordinance to help you decide whether to recuse yourself

00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:15.800
 or not in a given situation.

00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:20.200
 And finally, you can also request that the Board of Ethics issue an advisory opinion,

00:36:20.200 --> 00:36:23.680
 which is intended to answer a question about compliance with the ethics ordinance in a

00:36:23.680 --> 00:36:25.720
 particular situation.

00:36:25.720 --> 00:36:30.480
 And the biggest advantage of an advisory opinion is that a city official can use it as an affirmative

00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:34.060
 defense to a submitted ethics complaint if you relied upon it in good faith.

00:36:34.060 --> 00:36:38.160
 So essentially, if you ask the Board of Ethics, hey, is it OK if I do this?

00:36:38.160 --> 00:36:39.480
 And they tell you, yeah, we think so.

00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:42.840
 And then you do what you said you were going to do, and somebody submits an ethics complaint

00:36:42.840 --> 00:36:45.980
 against you, you can say, they told me it was OK.

00:36:45.980 --> 00:36:46.980
 That should be OK.

00:36:46.980 --> 00:36:48.760
 That should work for you.

00:36:48.760 --> 00:36:51.920
 But don't just do it willy-nilly.

00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:56.120
 So to receive an advisory opinion, a city official must submit the request in writing

00:36:56.120 --> 00:37:01.880
 to the city auditor, including relevant details of the situation in question.

00:37:01.880 --> 00:37:05.560
 I'll then communicate the request to the Board of Ethics chair, who assigns it to a panel

00:37:05.560 --> 00:37:07.940
 of three Board of Ethics members for review.

00:37:07.940 --> 00:37:11.840
 And they'll issue their advisory opinion within 30 days of receiving it.

00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:16.460
 It usually does not take that long, but that's the maximum time.

00:37:16.460 --> 00:37:19.240
 Any questions about advisory opinions?

00:37:19.240 --> 00:37:24.400
 Cool, we're almost done, I promise.

00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:29.660
 Finally, the Board of Ethics' primary function is to process ethics complaints.

00:37:29.660 --> 00:37:33.440
 There are four phases of the ethics complaint process that I'll briefly run through.

00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:36.800
 And if you want additional information on the complaint process, it's available on the

00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:41.240
 city's Board of Ethics web page, or you can just ask me.

00:37:41.240 --> 00:37:44.440
 So first, the initiation phase.

00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:48.440
 During this period, an individual submits an ethics complaint using the prescribed form

00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:50.220
 to the city auditor.

00:37:50.220 --> 00:37:54.000
 This complaint form should be accompanied by any evidence such as images, videos, or

00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:58.000
 documentation that the complainant has to support their allegations and must be sworn

00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:00.840
 to in front of a notary.

00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:04.880
 All then determine if the ethics complaint is administratively complete, but I won't

00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:07.000
 make a judgment on the complaint's merits.

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:11.840
 If a complaint is accepted, a copy is then forwarded to the complainant, the respondent,

00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:16.520
 and the Board of Ethics chair who will assign it to a preliminary assessment panel.

00:38:16.520 --> 00:38:19.760
 During the preliminary assessment phase, a panel of three Board of Ethics members reviews

00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:24.080
 the submitted ethics complaint and determines if it is actionable or baseless.

00:38:24.080 --> 00:38:28.600
 A complaint is actionable if, on its face, the behavior alleged in the complaint would

00:38:28.600 --> 00:38:31.280
 constitute a violation of the ordinance.

00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:35.320
 The panel may also recommend that a hearing be held to determine if a complaint is frivolous

00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:38.960
 instead of determining if it's actionable or baseless.

00:38:38.960 --> 00:38:42.200
 The outcome of the preliminary assessment is communicated to the complainant and respondent

00:38:42.200 --> 00:38:46.880
 by the city auditor, and if the complaint is determined to be baseless, the process

00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:52.280
 stops, though the complainant may submit a written appeal within 10 business days, which

00:38:52.280 --> 00:38:56.220
 will then initiate the next phase, which is the hearing phase.

00:38:56.220 --> 00:38:59.560
 So during the hearing phase, the Board of Ethics schedules an evidentiary hearing and

00:38:59.560 --> 00:39:04.000
 may request additional documentary evidence or issue subpoenas to require individuals

00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:05.680
 to testify.

00:39:05.680 --> 00:39:10.360
 The complainant must attend and testify at this hearing and may also present any additional

00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:12.080
 evidence that they've gathered.

00:39:12.080 --> 00:39:17.920
 In addition, the respondent may provide testimony and evidence for the Board's consideration.

00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:21.300
 And both the complainant and respondent have a right to be represented by legal counsel

00:39:21.300 --> 00:39:25.000
 at the hearing or another representative.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:28.280
 And based on this evidentiary hearing, the Board will then determine if a violation of

00:39:28.280 --> 00:39:32.280
 the ordinance has occurred and then they might issue a sanction.

00:39:32.280 --> 00:39:36.840
 Once the Board has decided on the ethics complaint, the complainant and respondent both have five

00:39:36.840 --> 00:39:42.240
 business days to submit any new evidence and request a reconsideration in writing with

00:39:42.240 --> 00:39:43.840
 the city auditor.

00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:47.240
 The Board of Ethics chair will then review the reconsideration request and will unilaterally

00:39:47.240 --> 00:39:52.920
 determine if a new hearing is warranted based on the new evidence.

00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:56.240
 And so if during the evidentiary hearing, the Board of Ethics finds that a violation

00:39:56.240 --> 00:40:00.900
 has occurred, they may issue one of four sanctions, which are shown on the slide, and that's based

00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:05.120
 on the perceived intent and the seriousness of the violation.

00:40:05.120 --> 00:40:08.480
 And so that's just kind of a decision matrix on there for you to see, but I'm not going

00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:10.760
 to go through them.

00:40:10.760 --> 00:40:16.280
 And so if a sanction is imposed, the city official will be notified within 10 days by

00:40:16.280 --> 00:40:17.320
 the city auditor.

00:40:17.320 --> 00:40:22.640
 So questions about the ethics complaint process?

00:40:22.640 --> 00:40:25.240
 Great.

00:40:25.240 --> 00:40:26.240
 And that's the end.

00:40:26.240 --> 00:40:27.240
 Surprise.

00:40:27.240 --> 00:40:28.240
 Congrats.

00:40:28.240 --> 00:40:34.200
 I do need you to sign that you were at this training.

00:40:34.200 --> 00:40:35.200
 Thank you, Madison.

00:40:35.200 --> 00:40:46.300
 I think he mostly.

00:40:46.300 --> 00:40:50.040
 Thank you all for being here.

00:40:50.040 --> 00:40:51.040
 Commissioner Pruitt?

00:40:51.040 --> 00:40:52.040
 I do have a question.

00:40:52.040 --> 00:40:56.120
 It just took the entire presentation for it to sink in.

00:40:56.120 --> 00:41:05.200
 I was not fully aware, unless I misunderstood, the $600 limit applied to $600 of the company's

00:41:05.200 --> 00:41:08.340
 value.

00:41:08.340 --> 00:41:14.120
 It strikes me as we don't have that many of the Big Ten companies that own everything

00:41:14.120 --> 00:41:22.480
 in the world doing business in Denton, but if they do.

00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:30.960
 I think the intention is if you own stocks in something, if it's less than 5%, you're

00:41:30.960 --> 00:41:32.600
 probably OK.

00:41:32.600 --> 00:41:34.920
 I think it's talking about owning a company.

00:41:34.920 --> 00:41:36.840
 Does that help at all?

00:41:36.840 --> 00:41:41.120
 So it'd be $600 of interest in a private company, maybe?

00:41:41.120 --> 00:41:42.120
 Yes.

00:41:42.120 --> 00:41:43.120
 OK.

00:41:43.120 --> 00:41:44.120
 Yeah.

00:41:44.120 --> 00:41:45.120
 OK.

00:41:45.120 --> 00:41:46.120
 That helps.

00:41:46.120 --> 00:41:47.120
 Thank you.

00:41:47.120 --> 00:41:48.120
 Great.

00:41:48.120 --> 00:41:49.120
 Any other questions?

00:41:49.120 --> 00:41:50.120
 Sorry.

00:41:50.120 --> 00:41:51.120
 Before I leave.

00:41:51.120 --> 00:41:52.600
 OK, great.

00:41:52.600 --> 00:41:53.600
 Thank you very much.

00:41:53.600 --> 00:41:54.600
 Thank you.

00:41:54.600 --> 00:41:57.600
 For making us all legal.

00:41:57.600 --> 00:42:04.040
 OK, with that, I will adjourn our work session at 5.43 p.m. and we will reconvene in council

00:42:04.040 --> 00:42:13.960
 chambers at 6.30.

00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:17.560
 Good evening and welcome to the City of Denton's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting for

00:42:17.560 --> 00:42:24.600
 Wednesday, October 11th, 2023, with the quorum present, I will call us to order at 6.30 p.m.

00:42:24.600 --> 00:42:28.160
 First item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. and Texas Flags.

00:42:28.160 --> 00:42:36.280
 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for

00:42:36.280 --> 00:42:44.680
 which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

00:42:44.680 --> 00:42:56.840
 On the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible.

00:42:56.840 --> 00:42:57.840
 Thank you.

00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:03.000
 Our first item for consideration this evening is the approval of the Planning and Zoning

00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:06.520
 minutes from September 27th.

00:43:06.520 --> 00:43:07.520
 Commissioner Villarreal.

00:43:07.520 --> 00:43:09.600
 I move approval.

00:43:09.600 --> 00:43:10.600
 Commissioner McDade.

00:43:10.600 --> 00:43:11.600
 Second.

00:43:11.600 --> 00:43:12.600
 OK.

00:43:12.600 --> 00:43:13.600
 We've got a first and a second for approval.

00:43:13.600 --> 00:43:14.600
 Any discussion?

00:43:14.600 --> 00:43:15.600
 OK.

00:43:15.600 --> 00:43:25.780
 Seeing none, let's vote on the board, please.

00:43:25.780 --> 00:43:29.320
 That motion carries 6-0.

00:43:29.320 --> 00:43:34.360
 That moves us to our Consent Agenda.

00:43:34.360 --> 00:43:35.360
 Commissioner Smith.

00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:36.680
 Make a motion to approve.

00:43:36.680 --> 00:43:37.680
 Commissioner Villarreal.

00:43:37.680 --> 00:43:38.680
 Second.

00:43:38.680 --> 00:43:42.560
 First and a second to approve the Consent Agenda discussion.

00:43:42.560 --> 00:43:51.080
 OK, vote on the board, please.

00:43:51.080 --> 00:43:54.520
 That motion carries 6-0.

00:43:54.520 --> 00:43:56.500
 Next is our items for individual consideration.

00:43:56.500 --> 00:44:01.560
 Our first is 4A, V23-0007.

00:44:01.560 --> 00:44:04.000
 Bryce is on his way for presentation.

00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:05.000
 I.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:07.000
 Bryce Villarreal, Assistant Planner.

00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:16.120
 So this is a variance request for two subdivision variances that we have for a final plat.

00:44:16.120 --> 00:44:23.120
 The variance request is from DDC Subsection 8.3.2.C.2A.

00:44:23.120 --> 00:44:28.120
 They're requesting a variance in an increase in the number of lots able to take access

00:44:28.120 --> 00:44:32.360
 from a private access easement, as well as the ability to connect a private access easement

00:44:32.360 --> 00:44:35.040
 to a private road.

00:44:35.040 --> 00:44:38.320
 The proposed subdivision is located on the north side of Amick's Road, approximately

00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:44.800
 one mile west of Seawolf Road.

00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:48.400
 The zoning of the property is the ETJ Division 1.

00:44:48.400 --> 00:44:52.040
 The applicant is proposing the subdivision to create four single-family residential

00:44:52.040 --> 00:44:56.940
 lots, as well as one large agricultural lot in the northernmost portion of the property.

00:44:56.940 --> 00:45:01.760
 This section of Amick's Road is a private road.

00:45:01.760 --> 00:45:06.160
 Here's some design details here, the red shown on the very right side of the screen is the

00:45:06.160 --> 00:45:11.480
 private portion of Amick's Road, and the nearest public road is in blue, that is Amick's Hill

00:45:11.480 --> 00:45:13.040
 Road.

00:45:13.040 --> 00:45:16.960
 The Amick's Road is a 60-foot wide right of way.

00:45:16.960 --> 00:45:22.120
 It's a private road, and the proposed private access easement is also 60 feet wide.

00:45:22.120 --> 00:45:26.040
 The two lots in the southernmost portion of the property will both have the ability to

00:45:26.040 --> 00:45:30.520
 take access from Amick's Road, and also from the private access easement, depending on what

00:45:30.520 --> 00:45:34.000
 the development would like to do.

00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:40.560
 The considerations that we approached with this application is that the guarantee of the

00:45:40.560 --> 00:45:44.240
 variance will not be detrimental to the public health or the public interest.

00:45:44.240 --> 00:45:49.400
 If approved, we do not anticipate there to be any sort of negative impact on public health,

00:45:49.400 --> 00:45:51.960
 welfare or injurious to other property.

00:45:51.960 --> 00:45:58.240
 The easement is 60 feet wide, as well as Amick's Road itself.

00:45:58.240 --> 00:46:01.740
 The way the property has been developed over time has led to a long and narrow nature of

00:46:01.740 --> 00:46:07.120
 the property, and strict adherence to the subdivision code that we have in the DDC would

00:46:07.120 --> 00:46:12.400
 not allow the property to be developed, as it does not have any public street frontage.

00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:18.680
 Additionally, if approved, the increase in the number of lots able to take access from

00:46:18.680 --> 00:46:23.720
 a private access easement, as well as the connection of a private access easement to a private road,

00:46:23.720 --> 00:46:28.920
 does not introduce design standards that are incompatible with the DDC or the DIN 2040

00:46:28.920 --> 00:46:30.720
 comprehensive plan.

00:46:30.720 --> 00:46:34.960
 The conditions associated with the variance requests were not created by the property

00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:41.360
 owner after the date of the adoption of the subject regulations.

00:46:41.360 --> 00:46:44.480
 Staff does recommend approval of these variance requests.

00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:46.800
 Any questions?

00:46:46.800 --> 00:46:47.800
 Any questions for Bryce?

00:46:47.800 --> 00:46:55.320
 I do not see any thank you for the presentation.

00:46:55.320 --> 00:46:56.320
 Commissioner Smith.

00:46:56.320 --> 00:46:58.120
 Make a motion to approve.

00:46:58.120 --> 00:46:59.120
 Commissioner Pruitt.

00:46:59.120 --> 00:47:00.120
 Second.

00:47:00.120 --> 00:47:02.200
 We've got a first and a second for approval.

00:47:02.200 --> 00:47:04.760
 Any discussion?

00:47:04.760 --> 00:47:12.400
 Let's vote, please.

00:47:12.400 --> 00:47:15.060
 The motion carries 6-0.

00:47:15.060 --> 00:47:21.640
 That will take us to 4B, which is related to this item, FP230011A.

00:47:21.640 --> 00:47:22.640
 Take it away, Bryce.

00:47:22.640 --> 00:47:23.640
 Commission.

00:47:23.640 --> 00:47:24.640
 Welcome back.

00:47:24.640 --> 00:47:25.640
 Bryce VanArstel, assistant planner.

00:47:25.640 --> 00:47:30.720
 Based on the approval of the presented variances, staff does recommend approval of this final

00:47:30.720 --> 00:47:33.720
 plat 230011.

00:47:33.720 --> 00:47:39.760
 It is a subdivision that creates four single-family residential lots, as well as a larger agricultural

00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:40.760
 lot in the back.

00:47:40.760 --> 00:47:41.760
 Are there any questions?

00:47:41.760 --> 00:47:42.760
 I'm happy to take them.

00:47:42.760 --> 00:47:43.760
 Thank you.

00:47:43.760 --> 00:47:45.880
 I do not see any questions.

00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:48.480
 Thank you, sir.

00:47:48.480 --> 00:47:49.480
 Commissioner Smith.

00:47:49.480 --> 00:47:50.480
 Make a motion to approve.

00:47:50.480 --> 00:47:51.480
 Commissioner Pruitt.

00:47:51.480 --> 00:47:52.480
 Second.

00:47:52.480 --> 00:47:54.400
 We've got a first and a second for approval.

00:47:54.400 --> 00:47:55.400
 Any discussion?

00:47:55.400 --> 00:47:56.400
 Okay.

00:47:56.400 --> 00:48:05.040
 Let's vote, please.

00:48:05.040 --> 00:48:06.520
 That motion carries 6-0.

00:48:06.520 --> 00:48:09.760
 That will take us to 4C, FP230026.

00:48:09.760 --> 00:48:12.680
 Mia is here for presentation.

00:48:12.680 --> 00:48:14.140
 Good evening.

00:48:14.140 --> 00:48:15.140
 Hi.

00:48:15.140 --> 00:48:21.480
 Chair, members of the commission, Mia Hines, associate planner.

00:48:21.480 --> 00:48:27.520
 This item is a final plat for Legends Ranch Phase 1A, located just north of West University

00:48:27.520 --> 00:48:36.080
 Drive, east of Thomas Egan Road, just east of the city's proper boundary.

00:48:36.080 --> 00:48:41.160
 This property is located within the city's ETJ, within the Legends Ranch Municipal Utility

00:48:41.160 --> 00:48:42.160
 District.

00:48:42.160 --> 00:48:47.620
 At this time, the plat does not meet all of our criteria for approval, so we are recommending

00:48:47.620 --> 00:48:52.140
 denial as staff, but we have no objection to the requested extension, which can be granted

00:48:52.140 --> 00:48:55.280
 to October 25th, 2023.

00:48:55.280 --> 00:48:57.800
 With that, I'll take any questions or comments you have.

00:48:57.800 --> 00:48:59.600
 Thank you, Mia.

00:48:59.600 --> 00:49:00.600
 Commissioner Cole.

00:49:00.600 --> 00:49:01.920
 Thank you, Chair.

00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:06.880
 Mia, do we know which aquifer that mud's going to be going into?

00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:08.720
 Is it the Palux or the Trinity?

00:49:08.720 --> 00:49:13.400
 I do not know, off the top of my head.

00:49:13.400 --> 00:49:14.400
 Sorry.

00:49:14.400 --> 00:49:15.400
 No problem.

00:49:15.400 --> 00:49:20.400
 I could get that answer for you and report back.

00:49:20.400 --> 00:49:24.960
 Yeah, maybe eventually get him an answer and then email it to him.

00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:27.000
 That would be great.

00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:28.760
 Any other questions for Mia?

00:49:28.760 --> 00:49:29.760
 Okay.

00:49:29.760 --> 00:49:31.720
 Thank you very much.

00:49:31.720 --> 00:49:32.720
 Commissioner Villarreal.

00:49:32.720 --> 00:49:37.480
 I make approval of the extension request to a date certain of October 25th, 2023.

00:49:37.480 --> 00:49:38.480
 Commissioner McDade.

00:49:38.480 --> 00:49:39.480
 Okay.

00:49:39.480 --> 00:49:42.640
 I've got a first and a second to grant the extension request to a date certain of October

00:49:42.640 --> 00:49:46.000
 25th, 2023.

00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:47.000
 Any discussion?

00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:48.000
 Okay.

00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:56.200
 Let's vote, please.

00:49:56.200 --> 00:49:58.280
 That motion carries 6-0.

00:49:58.280 --> 00:50:02.000
 That will take us to 4-D, PP230021.

00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:03.000
 Hello, Julie.

00:50:03.000 --> 00:50:04.000
 Hello.

00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:05.000
 Good evening.

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:06.000
 I'm Julie Wyatt.

00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:10.560
 This is a preliminary plat for a multi-family development located on the north side of Edwards

00:50:10.560 --> 00:50:13.440
 Road, just east of Mayhill.

00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:16.440
 They do have some items they still need to work through to make sure that they meet our

00:50:16.440 --> 00:50:20.760
 technical requirements for preliminary plat, and so staff is recommending denial.

00:50:20.760 --> 00:50:26.080
 However, we have no objection to their proposed extension to the August -- I'm sorry, October

00:50:26.080 --> 00:50:30.720
 25th P&Z meeting, and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

00:50:30.720 --> 00:50:32.280
 Thank you, Julie.

00:50:32.280 --> 00:50:33.280
 Any questions?

00:50:33.280 --> 00:50:34.280
 Thanks.

00:50:34.280 --> 00:50:38.640
 Thank you very much.

00:50:38.640 --> 00:50:39.940
 Commissioner Villarreal.

00:50:39.940 --> 00:50:44.640
 Make approval of the extension request to a date certain of October 25th, 2023.

00:50:44.640 --> 00:50:45.640
 Commissioner Cole?

00:50:45.640 --> 00:50:46.640
 Second.

00:50:46.640 --> 00:50:48.760
 I think we've got a first and a second to grant the extension request to a date certain

00:50:48.760 --> 00:50:51.920
 of October 25th, 2023.

00:50:51.920 --> 00:50:52.920
 Any discussion?

00:50:52.920 --> 00:50:53.920
 Okay.

00:50:53.920 --> 00:51:01.520
 Let's vote, please.

00:51:01.520 --> 00:51:03.440
 That motion carries 6-0.

00:51:03.440 --> 00:51:06.480
 That will take us to our public hearing portion of the meeting.

00:51:06.480 --> 00:51:12.080
 Our first item is 5A, S210005A.

00:51:12.080 --> 00:51:15.640
 Sean is here for presentation, and I will open the public hearing.

00:51:15.640 --> 00:51:19.240
 Good evening, Chair and members of the Commission.

00:51:19.240 --> 00:51:20.840
 Sean Jacobson, Associate Planner.

00:51:20.840 --> 00:51:25.160
 I'm just going to pull up the presentation here.

00:51:25.160 --> 00:51:32.720
 So I am here to present S21-005A, Teasley Lane Multi-Family.

00:51:32.720 --> 00:51:40.240
 This is a request for a specific use permit for a 94-dwelling multifamily on 4.019 acres

00:51:40.240 --> 00:51:46.060
 west side of Teasley, north of the intersection of Teasley and Hickory Creek.

00:51:46.060 --> 00:51:51.360
 This is a permitted use with a specific use permit in the SC Zoning District, so the question

00:51:51.360 --> 00:51:55.120
 for you tonight is whether this meets the additional approval criteria to receive a

00:51:55.120 --> 00:51:56.120
 specific use permit.

00:51:56.120 --> 00:52:02.400
 This case, or a similar version of it, came before you back in August 2022.

00:52:02.400 --> 00:52:04.120
 You recommended denial.

00:52:04.120 --> 00:52:07.960
 Since that time, the developer has met multiple times with the residents, and in response

00:52:07.960 --> 00:52:11.800
 to the concerns of the residents as well as the concerns expressed by the Commission,

00:52:11.800 --> 00:52:14.360
 a number of changes have been made to the design.

00:52:14.360 --> 00:52:20.880
 It has gone back through our staff planning review process, and we are now able to recommend

00:52:20.880 --> 00:52:25.760
 approval based on its consistency with our requirements and with the comprehensive plan.

00:52:25.760 --> 00:52:28.880
 So let's look with a little more detail at some of those changes and things that will

00:52:28.880 --> 00:52:30.980
 be new to you all.

00:52:30.980 --> 00:52:36.520
 So the number of units has been reduced by one, and the height has been reduced.

00:52:36.520 --> 00:52:39.760
 One of the concerns expressed was that there were not enough amenities on site, and so

00:52:39.760 --> 00:52:44.720
 there was a concern that residents would therefore be encouraged to trespass onto the neighboring

00:52:44.720 --> 00:52:46.920
 property to use the amenities there.

00:52:46.920 --> 00:52:53.120
 And so the developer has now added an 850-square-foot pool, a 2,000-square-foot playground

00:52:53.120 --> 00:52:59.740
 area, added a gazebo, is still providing benches, tables and grills in that front area,

00:52:59.740 --> 00:53:04.140
 and has expanded the open space that is miniatized by about 1,000 square feet.

00:53:04.140 --> 00:53:07.520
 There is one less trail because the second trail was provided originally in the flood

00:53:07.520 --> 00:53:12.400
 plain area, and residents are now being encouraged to stay out of that area because that is immediately

00:53:12.400 --> 00:53:16.760
 adjacent to the neighbor, so that the area where the secondary trail was will now be

00:53:16.760 --> 00:53:18.920
 blocked off by a fence.

00:53:18.920 --> 00:53:21.560
 There has been a rooftop terrace added.

00:53:21.560 --> 00:53:26.480
 The tree canopy has been increased by over 17,000 square feet.

00:53:26.480 --> 00:53:30.080
 As I mentioned, there is now a security fence, so again, that concern about trespassing.

00:53:30.080 --> 00:53:36.600
 There's a fence that now extends from essentially the northeast corner to where an opaque fence

00:53:36.600 --> 00:53:43.080
 begins on the western boundary, so there's now an unbroken fence line from the southwest

00:53:43.080 --> 00:53:48.920
 corner to the northeast corner, and I will show that in more detail on a coming slide.

00:53:48.920 --> 00:53:52.920
 There was also a concern just about the amount of buffering between the multifamily development

00:53:52.920 --> 00:53:58.120
 and the neighborhood, and so there have been an additional 25 trees added in that area.

00:53:58.120 --> 00:53:59.600
 Discuss that in a little more detail.

00:53:59.600 --> 00:54:06.360
 And finally, a concern particularly expressed by the commission was the design of the driveway.

00:54:06.360 --> 00:54:12.040
 It was located on the south side, on the east corner, and was therefore essentially guiding

00:54:12.040 --> 00:54:16.880
 drivers to drive directly in front of the sprouts as they were accessing Hickory Creek.

00:54:16.880 --> 00:54:21.640
 That driveway has now been relocated to encourage drivers to go behind sprouts if they are trying

00:54:21.640 --> 00:54:24.320
 to reach Hickory Creek going south.

00:54:24.320 --> 00:54:27.720
 So just to show you that in a little more detail on the site plan, you can see the new

00:54:27.720 --> 00:54:33.920
 fence that has been added, the expanded patio area, the other amenity areas, the new location

00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:36.440
 of the south driveway.

00:54:36.440 --> 00:54:41.900
 Parking still achieves at least one space per bedroom, and as you know, the design uses

00:54:41.900 --> 00:54:46.040
 an underground parking garage to limit the amount of above-ground paving.

00:54:46.040 --> 00:54:50.460
 The building has also been redesigned to add additional architectural features to break

00:54:50.460 --> 00:54:55.920
 up the façade, so there's many more awnings, balconies, and changes in materials.

00:54:55.920 --> 00:55:01.480
 And a rooftop pergola has been added to that northwest corner, so there's a terrace area,

00:55:01.480 --> 00:55:05.760
 essentially just to make that a little bit of a softer edge to the building that is closest

00:55:05.760 --> 00:55:09.600
 to those residents, the northwest.

00:55:09.600 --> 00:55:16.720
 Here's just a few renderings, that view from a couple angles.

00:55:16.720 --> 00:55:22.160
 The landscape plan, so again, this is 30% above minimum landscaping, 40% above minimum

00:55:22.160 --> 00:55:26.720
 tree canopy, meets or exceeds buffer requirements on all sides.

00:55:26.720 --> 00:55:30.920
 You can see those additional trees that have been added, and in particular on that northwest

00:55:30.920 --> 00:55:34.080
 side, those trees have been added right along the edge of the parking lot, which is where

00:55:34.080 --> 00:55:38.560
 the higher ground is, in order to provide maximum buffering of any headlights from the

00:55:38.560 --> 00:55:44.200
 parking lot, and some buffering of the view of the building itself, so they've been concentrated

00:55:44.200 --> 00:55:46.120
 in that area for a reason.

00:55:46.120 --> 00:55:51.400
 Again, the nearest residential is actually directly to the west there, and so that has

00:55:51.400 --> 00:55:57.360
 both the standard buffer along the west boundary line, as well as an additional 28 ornamental

00:55:57.360 --> 00:56:02.360
 trees and a six-foot opaque fence that are above and beyond our buffer requirements.

00:56:02.360 --> 00:56:08.380
 In terms of access and mobility, again, this does have three points of access, two teesley

00:56:08.380 --> 00:56:14.560
 lane through surrounding commercial, and then the access down to Hickory Creek Road, as you

00:56:14.560 --> 00:56:19.960
 can see, that relocated driveway in order to better direct residents.

00:56:19.960 --> 00:56:24.000
 Another thing that changed, just as part of the process, the developer is able to add

00:56:24.000 --> 00:56:30.320
 additional ADA-toss-friendly pedestrian routes to give residents leaving the site more options

00:56:30.320 --> 00:56:36.640
 that could be used by those of all abilities, and this is designed to, in general, provide

00:56:36.640 --> 00:56:40.680
 more ability to walk to the surrounding uses or to drive them without needing to ever go

00:56:40.680 --> 00:56:41.760
 on our public roads.

00:56:41.760 --> 00:56:47.480
 It does help to achieve the goals of our comprehensive plan in the realms of mobility.

00:56:47.480 --> 00:56:50.960
 Staying on that theme, obviously, one of the most important things we consider is our comprehensive

00:56:50.960 --> 00:56:51.960
 plan.

00:56:51.960 --> 00:56:54.520
 Future land use here is community mixed use.

00:56:54.520 --> 00:56:59.600
 Goal is primarily commercial with supporting complementary residential service and other

00:56:59.600 --> 00:57:00.600
 uses.

00:57:00.600 --> 00:57:04.840
 Because this multifamily use would help to support surrounding commercial, it does provide

00:57:04.840 --> 00:57:11.440
 that complementary use within the area, and overall, within that community mixed use area,

00:57:11.440 --> 00:57:17.520
 the residential density would still stay below the five to 10 dwelling units per acre recommended

00:57:17.520 --> 00:57:19.240
 by the 2040 plan.

00:57:19.240 --> 00:57:24.920
 Does also help to achieve our goals in the area of design along corridors, providing

00:57:24.920 --> 00:57:28.400
 safe and efficient movement of vehicles and pedestrians by putting people within walking

00:57:28.400 --> 00:57:32.880
 distance of the places they want to go, shopping, education, employment, shifting towards more

00:57:32.880 --> 00:57:34.680
 mixed use development.

00:57:34.680 --> 00:57:39.640
 Helps achieve our goals in the realm of housing choice by providing more diverse housing options,

00:57:39.640 --> 00:57:44.840
 and does align with our preferred land preservation plan and wildlife corridor goals by keeping

00:57:44.840 --> 00:57:49.240
 development out of the floodplain and actually adding trees and shrubbery to that.

00:57:49.240 --> 00:57:53.920
 In terms of compatibility with the surrounding area, as zoning district, SC does actually

00:57:53.920 --> 00:58:00.960
 permit commercial uses of the same height, scale in this area already.

00:58:00.960 --> 00:58:05.600
 Mixed use area, so you can see around there, we have a mix of commercial and residential

00:58:05.600 --> 00:58:10.200
 uses, and so this would be an additional part of that mixed use that would help to support

00:58:10.200 --> 00:58:15.360
 the surrounding commercial, while also providing something of a transition or buffer between

00:58:15.360 --> 00:58:20.240
 TZ lane, an expanded primary arterial, the noise of that, the commercial, and then the

00:58:20.240 --> 00:58:23.240
 residential to the west and north of it.

00:58:23.240 --> 00:58:27.960
 In terms of minimizing adverse impacts, we've addressed this, but again, that screening

00:58:27.960 --> 00:58:32.480
 compatibility buffers, extensive buffering of surrounding residential.

00:58:32.480 --> 00:58:39.560
 In terms of traffic, this would produce about 402 weekday trips, so AM/PM peak there, 30

00:58:39.560 --> 00:58:40.560
 and 37.

00:58:40.560 --> 00:58:44.840
 The TIA was approved with no significant traffic impacts.

00:58:44.840 --> 00:58:48.760
 There is significant traffic around in the area, and that will increase, but this is

00:58:48.760 --> 00:58:54.520
 not the primary driver of traffic impacts in the area, and so no mitigation was recommended

00:58:54.520 --> 00:58:55.520
 there.

00:58:55.520 --> 00:58:59.560
 The cross-connectivity and those multiple exits, the fact that you're able to leave

00:58:59.560 --> 00:59:04.080
 in my multiple routes helps to reduce the traffic impact on the area, and it will have

00:59:04.080 --> 00:59:07.920
 to meet all of our lighting requirements.

00:59:07.920 --> 00:59:09.980
 All of the standard public outreach was done.

00:59:09.980 --> 00:59:15.380
 We did receive one response in favor.

00:59:15.380 --> 00:59:20.240
 So with all that, this does meet all of our approval for criteria, both regular and specific

00:59:20.240 --> 00:59:21.720
 to the SEP.

00:59:21.720 --> 00:59:25.680
 Staff does recommend approval with a number of conditions, and these are essentially designed

00:59:25.680 --> 00:59:31.520
 to incorporate the key elements of the plan, while also providing some staff flexibility

00:59:31.520 --> 00:59:37.480
 in areas where landscaping is located, how many are designed.

00:59:37.480 --> 00:59:41.360
 With that, that is my presentation, and I will stand for any questions.

00:59:41.360 --> 00:59:42.680
 >> Thank you, Sean.

00:59:42.680 --> 00:59:44.840
 Any questions at this time for Sean?

00:59:44.840 --> 00:59:45.840
 Okay.

00:59:45.840 --> 00:59:47.800
 I do not see any.

00:59:47.800 --> 00:59:50.240
 Thank you very much.

00:59:50.240 --> 00:59:52.960
 I do have some cards in front of me.

00:59:52.960 --> 00:59:59.880
 The first will be the applicant, so I will invite Amy Bissett up and get the presentation.

00:59:59.880 --> 01:00:02.280
 >> Good evening, Chair and commissioners.

01:00:02.280 --> 01:00:07.440
 Amy Bissett, 97 LAN, 109 North Elm, Denton 76201.

01:00:07.440 --> 01:00:10.400
 I do have a presentation, so I'm going to pull that up here.

01:00:10.400 --> 01:00:11.400
 >> Thank you.

01:00:11.400 --> 01:00:15.400
 >> Give me just a moment.

01:00:15.400 --> 01:00:21.560
 As Sean mentioned earlier, this has come before you previously in August of '22.

01:00:21.560 --> 01:00:23.840
 I was not involved with the project at that time.

01:00:23.840 --> 01:00:32.440
 I was contacted after the recommendation of denial and engaged specifically to facilitate

01:00:32.440 --> 01:00:40.180
 neighborhood engagement activities prior to them redesigning their site and resubmitting

01:00:40.180 --> 01:00:42.640
 to the city for new reviews.

01:00:42.640 --> 01:00:49.120
 And so I'm going to speak specifically to my activities and the neighborhood engagement

01:00:49.120 --> 01:00:54.200
 that we have endeavored to take on over the last year.

01:00:54.200 --> 01:00:58.560
 In fact, I was engaged just almost exactly a year ago and have been active on the project

01:00:58.560 --> 01:01:00.960
 since then.

01:01:00.960 --> 01:01:05.680
 As you know, this is a four-acre site located just north of Sprouts.

01:01:05.680 --> 01:01:08.160
 It's predominantly one- and two-bedroom units.

01:01:08.160 --> 01:01:14.520
 There are 94 units, and 86 of those are one- or two-bedroom units.

01:01:14.520 --> 01:01:20.000
 And as you know, the zoning requires an SUP, and this has been here before with a recommendation

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:21.840
 of denial.

01:01:21.840 --> 01:01:28.120
 When we were brought on to assist with neighborhood engagement, we took a broader outreach to

01:01:28.120 --> 01:01:30.740
 include full subdivisions.

01:01:30.740 --> 01:01:36.040
 With our first round of neighborhood meetings, we mailed to every address in Lexington Park

01:01:36.040 --> 01:01:44.800
 about 280 addresses, and in addition, we contacted the HOA and utilized their distribution list

01:01:44.800 --> 01:01:47.720
 by email and their social media.

01:01:47.720 --> 01:01:53.880
 And we also contacted the HOA for Wheeler Ridge and provided digital invites to that

01:01:53.880 --> 01:01:56.360
 neighborhood as well.

01:01:56.360 --> 01:02:02.240
 We launched a dedicated web page that provided ongoing information over the last year to

01:02:02.240 --> 01:02:04.840
 the neighborhood every time an update was made.

01:02:04.840 --> 01:02:11.800
 And we recorded every single meeting and made it available to anyone within these neighborhoods

01:02:11.800 --> 01:02:16.480
 who had reached out to us and expressed an interest in learning more, whether they attended

01:02:16.480 --> 01:02:18.320
 a meeting or not.

01:02:18.320 --> 01:02:20.760
 We held our first three meetings in November.

01:02:20.760 --> 01:02:24.080
 They were virtual because it was so close to Thanksgiving.

01:02:24.080 --> 01:02:30.640
 And with those first three meetings, we received 46 RSVPs and an additional seven requests

01:02:30.640 --> 01:02:32.440
 for information.

01:02:32.440 --> 01:02:36.080
 Not everybody attended those meetings, but they were well attended.

01:02:36.080 --> 01:02:40.240
 And we provided the recording of the meetings and the slides afterwards to anyone who had

01:02:40.240 --> 01:02:42.280
 reached out to us.

01:02:42.280 --> 01:02:46.800
 I'm going to walk you through in a few minutes kind of the iteration of what came out of

01:02:46.800 --> 01:02:48.520
 those November meetings.

01:02:48.520 --> 01:02:53.160
 And then we went back to the drawing board and came back in January for two in-person

01:02:53.160 --> 01:02:57.720
 meetings where we had 16 RSVPs total.

01:02:57.720 --> 01:03:05.360
 And at the conclusion of those meetings, we began the staff review process with the city

01:03:05.360 --> 01:03:06.640
 again.

01:03:06.640 --> 01:03:11.720
 We went through five submittals with the staff between January and August of this year.

01:03:11.720 --> 01:03:16.000
 And when we were released to come to public hearing tonight, we held two additional virtual

01:03:16.000 --> 01:03:22.280
 meetings on October 2nd with 22 RSVPs.

01:03:22.280 --> 01:03:27.200
 So that was seven neighborhood meetings total over the course of the last year.

01:03:27.200 --> 01:03:33.640
 I'm not going to rehash the zoning designation or the SUP requirements, as Sean covered those

01:03:33.640 --> 01:03:35.000
 in detail.

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:40.360
 What I do want to do is talk you through the iterations that have occurred and why over

01:03:40.360 --> 01:03:41.620
 the last year.

01:03:41.620 --> 01:03:46.300
 This was the original site plan that came forward in August of '22.

01:03:46.300 --> 01:03:51.320
 Just make a note at the bottom of the screen where the north arrow is pointed to your left.

01:03:51.320 --> 01:03:55.880
 Most of the time you're going to see that orientation because of the shape and length

01:03:55.880 --> 01:03:57.800
 of the building.

01:03:57.800 --> 01:04:00.680
 So this was the original site plan.

01:04:00.680 --> 01:04:06.760
 When it came to PNZ, we heard concerns about access and safety through sprouts and the

01:04:06.760 --> 01:04:11.760
 additional traffic, the lack of on-site amenities and specific concerns from the Lexington Park

01:04:11.760 --> 01:04:19.000
 HOA about the ease of access to their pool and pond and trails and playground.

01:04:19.000 --> 01:04:22.720
 We heard security concerns between the multi-family and single-family.

01:04:22.720 --> 01:04:27.280
 The scale of the development, the adequate amount of open space and concerns about drainage

01:04:27.280 --> 01:04:30.080
 issues.

01:04:30.080 --> 01:04:35.560
 The way we identified and addressed the access and traffic concerns, this is the original

01:04:35.560 --> 01:04:42.400
 site plan again and you can see the two primary points of access to the site we relocated.

01:04:42.400 --> 01:04:47.600
 This shows it with the sprouts overlay where you can see that one of those points of access

01:04:47.600 --> 01:04:53.400
 kind of directly dumped out into the front door or the front drive aisle through sprouts.

01:04:53.400 --> 01:05:02.640
 So we relocated that to the other end of the site to where the access was pushed to drive

01:05:02.640 --> 01:05:08.440
 behind sprouts where there's a 30-foot public access easement today.

01:05:08.440 --> 01:05:15.100
 And that is shown here on the updated aerial.

01:05:15.100 --> 01:05:20.520
 On-site amenities, the original site plan did not include the on-site amenities that

01:05:20.520 --> 01:05:24.240
 the neighborhood was concerned would be problematic for them.

01:05:24.240 --> 01:05:31.960
 So in our initial iteration in November, we did add a playground and a pool and the walking

01:05:31.960 --> 01:05:39.080
 trails that were closest to the neighborhood and the pond, we proposed a wrought iron fence

01:05:39.080 --> 01:05:43.400
 around those walking trails to prevent direct access.

01:05:43.400 --> 01:05:51.840
 Here are some of the renderings from those presentations in November.

01:05:51.840 --> 01:05:58.840
 And then this was the original rendering that you saw last August and then this was the

01:05:58.840 --> 01:06:05.520
 updated rendering in November of last year.

01:06:05.520 --> 01:06:10.920
 We had addressed detention by identifying that there's both dry detention pond that's

01:06:10.920 --> 01:06:17.960
 above ground as well as underground detention proposed as shown on this site that extends

01:06:17.960 --> 01:06:23.120
 the length of the majority of the parking lot that's above ground.

01:06:23.120 --> 01:06:26.600
 We heard from the neighbors at that point in time that they were still concerned about

01:06:26.600 --> 01:06:32.160
 the scale and height of the building, that the architecture seemed flat was the description.

01:06:32.160 --> 01:06:37.320
 Fence concerns, they wanted to see a fence between us and the single family, but they

01:06:37.320 --> 01:06:41.640
 were concerned that it'd be tall enough and that we'd be able to receive approval from

01:06:41.640 --> 01:06:44.720
 FEMA and they wanted to see a larger pool.

01:06:44.720 --> 01:06:47.120
 They felt like it was too small.

01:06:47.120 --> 01:06:51.500
 Concerned about noise and light from the car wash and tree sizes and landscape buffer.

01:06:51.500 --> 01:06:57.400
 So in January, we came back and proposed the removal of the fourth story hard corner nearest

01:06:57.400 --> 01:07:03.160
 the neighborhood to provide height relief, increased building material variation to provide

01:07:03.160 --> 01:07:07.560
 greater architectural softness and an increased pool size.

01:07:07.560 --> 01:07:11.440
 We also relocated all of the walking trails to the other side of the building so that

01:07:11.440 --> 01:07:16.840
 there was no residential view of the trails around the pond that might invite them to

01:07:16.840 --> 01:07:21.480
 cross the crossover into the Lexington Park neighborhood.

01:07:21.480 --> 01:07:25.960
 We made a commitment to plant large canopy trees for visual buffering and additional

01:07:25.960 --> 01:07:30.280
 screening hedges and we doubled the tree canopy requirements.

01:07:30.280 --> 01:07:33.840
 We relocated the fence to the edge of the parking lot and placed trees and landscape

01:07:33.840 --> 01:07:38.200
 buffering between the fence and the neighborhood so that we fenced the residents on one side

01:07:38.200 --> 01:07:44.520
 and then provide all of the green buffering on the other side closer to the neighborhood.

01:07:44.520 --> 01:07:47.360
 These are renderings from January.

01:07:47.360 --> 01:07:49.720
 These are renderings from now.

01:07:49.720 --> 01:07:56.000
 So now that the actual building materials have been selected and updated, we reflected

01:07:56.000 --> 01:07:57.560
 those in the renderings.

01:07:57.560 --> 01:08:01.920
 You can see the rooftop terrace that is a drop, basically the removal of that fourth

01:08:01.920 --> 01:08:07.920
 story unit and there's been added a lattice with greenery to provide a visual screening

01:08:07.920 --> 01:08:14.440
 between the rooftop patrons and being able to look out at the pond and the neighborhood.

01:08:14.440 --> 01:08:19.080
 There's an overall height reduction and you can see the building materials that were selected.

01:08:19.080 --> 01:08:21.980
 This is the view across the pond last January.

01:08:21.980 --> 01:08:27.880
 This is the view across the pond today based on the changes that have been made.

01:08:27.880 --> 01:08:32.480
 I'm going to walk through, I'm going to skip the rest of what I've got here because I'm

01:08:32.480 --> 01:08:35.400
 going to show you a visual of it here in just a moment.

01:08:35.400 --> 01:08:41.720
 January renderings, October renderings, here's a rendering that shows the pool, the larger

01:08:41.720 --> 01:08:47.120
 pool size as it's currently programmed, the playground and the walking trails that are

01:08:47.120 --> 01:08:50.720
 on the opposite side of the building from the neighborhood.

01:08:50.720 --> 01:08:55.520
 This is the overall site plan that includes the underground parking and really focuses

01:08:55.520 --> 01:09:01.440
 on working with the existing topography and focuses on the landscape and tree buffering

01:09:01.440 --> 01:09:04.880
 between the development and the existing neighborhood to the north.

01:09:04.880 --> 01:09:08.960
 So I want to zoom in on that for a moment and show a couple of elements.

01:09:08.960 --> 01:09:13.360
 The bright blue line is the six foot wrought iron fence.

01:09:13.360 --> 01:09:19.360
 Then you've got the transplant of six significant sized cedar elms from other locations on the

01:09:19.360 --> 01:09:25.680
 site shown here in the dark green plus the additional, there's 11 larger canopy trees

01:09:25.680 --> 01:09:31.120
 that are being proposed that are a mix of two different tree species plus a continuous

01:09:31.120 --> 01:09:37.640
 row of possum haul hollies along the wrought iron fence and of the Nellie Stevens hollies

01:09:37.640 --> 01:09:42.960
 along the existing wire fence north of the site that's on our property line.

01:09:42.960 --> 01:09:48.240
 Here's what both of those look like, the Nellie Stevens hollies grow 12 to 15 feet in height

01:09:48.240 --> 01:09:50.320
 and do provide a continuous screening.

01:09:50.320 --> 01:09:54.960
 There were some questions from the neighbors about whether or not those were appropriate

01:09:54.960 --> 01:09:56.440
 choices for this area.

01:09:56.440 --> 01:10:02.320
 They are both appropriate in terms of being in the correct zone and being able to survive

01:10:02.320 --> 01:10:06.040
 the winters and the summers here.

01:10:06.040 --> 01:10:13.720
 And as Sean covered, our landscape percentages and tree canopy percentages are more than

01:10:13.720 --> 01:10:18.440
 double what is required by the SC zoning.

01:10:18.440 --> 01:10:21.800
 We did get some additional comments from neighbors and if you don't mind I'll just wrap with

01:10:21.800 --> 01:10:22.800
 this.

01:10:22.800 --> 01:10:25.080
 This is my last slide and I won't go through all of these.

01:10:25.080 --> 01:10:30.800
 What was provided in your backup in addition to the notification map, the last two pages

01:10:30.800 --> 01:10:34.840
 were a chat record from our last two neighborhood meetings.

01:10:34.840 --> 01:10:41.120
 The longer list was from the 6 p.m. meeting and the shorter list was from the noon meeting.

01:10:41.120 --> 01:10:45.160
 We do have answers to some of those questions if you would like to hear them today or want

01:10:45.160 --> 01:10:50.040
 to go into specifics on any of these comments from the neighbors.

01:10:50.040 --> 01:10:55.040
 They were comments that were made or questions that were asked in the chat during the meeting

01:10:55.040 --> 01:10:58.780
 itself and we just kept a record of that.

01:10:58.780 --> 01:11:04.440
 To your question, Commissioner Villarreal, there were four people who commented in the

01:11:04.440 --> 01:11:12.040
 chat record that had questions or expressly directed or expressed opposition in that record

01:11:12.040 --> 01:11:14.960
 and I'm happy to go into more detail on any of that.

01:11:14.960 --> 01:11:18.880
 And I do have both her and the engineer if you have specific questions for either of

01:11:18.880 --> 01:11:20.680
 them.

01:11:20.680 --> 01:11:24.600
 I think that the developer did want to come up and say a couple words and is it correct

01:11:24.600 --> 01:11:26.600
 that we would be combined 20 minutes for that?

01:11:26.600 --> 01:11:27.600
 Yes, correct.

01:11:27.600 --> 01:11:28.600
 Okay.

01:11:28.600 --> 01:11:30.600
 Then I'm going to invite Tony Hader up here with Christians and Companies.

01:11:30.600 --> 01:11:31.600
 Great.

01:11:31.600 --> 01:11:36.220
 And we do have a brief video to play as well that I'll start while she talks.

01:11:36.220 --> 01:11:37.220
 Sure.

01:11:37.220 --> 01:11:38.220
 Good evening.

01:11:38.220 --> 01:11:39.220
 My name is Tony Hader.

01:11:39.220 --> 01:11:41.440
 Tony, I need you in front of the microphone.

01:11:41.440 --> 01:11:42.440
 Thank you very much.

01:11:42.440 --> 01:11:44.740
 My name is Tony Hader.

01:11:44.740 --> 01:11:49.420
 I'm with Christians and Companies and we are looking to come into your lovely community

01:11:49.420 --> 01:11:53.800
 and I first wanted to just start off with thanking Sean for the intro to our project

01:11:53.800 --> 01:11:59.560
 and he's been wonderful to work with for collaboration, getting this plan updated to where it's at

01:11:59.560 --> 01:12:02.760
 and then also with Amy helping us on board.

01:12:02.760 --> 01:12:05.640
 It has been fantastic working with her, working with the public.

01:12:05.640 --> 01:12:07.240
 So that has been great.

01:12:07.240 --> 01:12:13.440
 Through this video, through this video, kind of just shows the overall idea of what we're

01:12:13.440 --> 01:12:14.440
 looking at.

01:12:14.440 --> 01:12:18.520
 And then I do also have a board that has our actual building materials on if you would

01:12:18.520 --> 01:12:29.080
 like to see it, if you want to pass it around if I may start on one end and pick the other.

01:12:29.080 --> 01:12:38.920
 So, going through kind of your comprehensive plans, your plan for 2040, it does look like

01:12:38.920 --> 01:12:43.200
 you have almost half of your housings are actually rented out instead of owned.

01:12:43.200 --> 01:12:47.380
 And this location is actually under 15 minutes from the two universities that you guys have

01:12:47.380 --> 01:12:49.020
 in your community as well.

01:12:49.020 --> 01:12:52.800
 So we want, you know, we listen to the public, the comments that they had.

01:12:52.800 --> 01:12:54.200
 We want to be good neighbors.

01:12:54.200 --> 01:12:58.480
 We want everybody that's around our apartment building to enjoy being around our apartment

01:12:58.480 --> 01:13:01.480
 building and be in addition to the community.

01:13:01.480 --> 01:13:07.200
 So, unless anybody has any specific questions for me.

01:13:07.200 --> 01:13:11.080
 >> I believe we do.

01:13:11.080 --> 01:13:12.080
 Commissioner Prout.

01:13:12.080 --> 01:13:13.720
 >> Thank you, Chair.

01:13:13.720 --> 01:13:14.920
 Just a question.

01:13:14.920 --> 01:13:20.800
 I guess a lot has changed since this first came to us last year.

01:13:20.800 --> 01:13:27.320
 Just ballpark with the time delay plus the redesign plus the changes in the design.

01:13:27.320 --> 01:13:32.560
 Could you put a number from my head on how much we think we've increased the rents on

01:13:32.560 --> 01:13:36.920
 the proposed units versus the plan last year?

01:13:36.920 --> 01:13:39.300
 >> We have not increased the rents.

01:13:39.300 --> 01:13:44.000
 It's just part of developing the developer cost to make sure that we get the design that

01:13:44.000 --> 01:13:45.000
 the city wants.

01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:49.520
 They're still between the 1,000 and 2,000 per month, depending on whether it's a one-bedroom

01:13:49.520 --> 01:13:50.520
 or a three-bedroom.

01:13:50.520 --> 01:13:51.520
 >> Okay.

01:13:51.520 --> 01:13:52.520
 Thank you.

01:13:52.520 --> 01:13:54.280
 >> You will have three bedrooms, I thought.

01:13:54.280 --> 01:14:03.040
 >> Yep, there's eight three-bedroom, 41-bedroom and 46 two-bedroom.

01:14:03.040 --> 01:14:06.720
 >> Anything else for the applicant at this time?

01:14:06.720 --> 01:14:07.800
 Okay.

01:14:07.800 --> 01:14:08.800
 Thank you very much.

01:14:08.800 --> 01:14:09.800
 >> Sounds good.

01:14:09.800 --> 01:14:10.800
 Thank you for your time.

01:14:10.800 --> 01:14:11.800
 >> Appreciate it.

01:14:11.800 --> 01:14:12.800
 Okay.

01:14:12.800 --> 01:14:13.800
 This is a public hearing.

01:14:13.800 --> 01:14:17.800
 I have some cards, but you are welcome to speak even if I don't have a card from you

01:14:17.800 --> 01:14:22.440
 yet and I will ask again multiple times.

01:14:22.440 --> 01:14:28.520
 First card I have is Ryan Juergensmeyer.

01:14:28.520 --> 01:14:29.520
 Good evening.

01:14:29.520 --> 01:14:32.120
 If you'll state your name and address, your time will begin.

01:14:32.120 --> 01:14:33.120
 >> Thank you.

01:14:33.120 --> 01:14:34.120
 Good evening, commissioners.

01:14:34.120 --> 01:14:35.120
 My name is Ryan Juergensmeyer.

01:14:35.120 --> 01:14:41.580
 I've been a resident of Denton for seven years, and I currently reside in Lexington Park.

01:14:41.580 --> 01:14:45.200
 We gathered here today to speak in unison and voice our opposition to this project.

01:14:45.200 --> 01:14:49.040
 There are several reasons why we, the voters, your constituents, citizens of Denton, do

01:14:49.040 --> 01:14:54.080
 not want the apartment building in the small lot proposed by this developer.

01:14:54.080 --> 01:14:57.840
 The current area has more and more of us speaking out to the injustices placed upon the people

01:14:57.840 --> 01:15:01.360
 while those with money, power, and influence make the decisions that impact the people

01:15:01.360 --> 01:15:03.360
 they do not represent.

01:15:03.360 --> 01:15:07.880
 These out of state developers have come to Denton as part of the growth gold rush.

01:15:07.880 --> 01:15:11.620
 They want an apartment building to maximize profits when they see the dangling care handled

01:15:11.620 --> 01:15:14.720
 by a representative stating the need for more housing.

01:15:14.720 --> 01:15:17.840
 The problem with this project is that there are already established neighborhoods of single

01:15:17.840 --> 01:15:21.680
 family homes and many apartment buildings in the area.

01:15:21.680 --> 01:15:26.800
 Hickory Creek Ranch Apartments is only .8 miles away, has 212 units.

01:15:26.800 --> 01:15:33.580
 The Hunter's Creek Apartments, located only 1.2 miles away, has 214 units.

01:15:33.580 --> 01:15:37.800
 Along with these apartments, and within a five-mile radius of the proposed project,

01:15:37.800 --> 01:15:42.160
 there's also Hilltop Road Village Apartments, Holley Tree Apartments, Canopy at South Lakes

01:15:42.160 --> 01:15:45.880
 Apartments, Woodhill Apartments, London Berry Oaks Apartments, Waters Edge Apartments, Pace

01:15:45.880 --> 01:15:50.560
 Crossing Apartments, the Ridge at North Texas Apartments, Providence Place Apartments Home,

01:15:50.560 --> 01:15:55.640
 Preserva Pecan Creek Apartments, Lodge at Pecan Creek Apartments, Millennium Place Apartments,

01:15:55.640 --> 01:16:02.000
 Kensington Park Apartments, the Lakeshore Apartments, Ashley Village Apartments, and Lakeshore Village

01:16:02.000 --> 01:16:03.440
 Apartments.

01:16:03.440 --> 01:16:06.760
 That's all within five-mile radius of the proposed lot.

01:16:06.760 --> 01:16:11.740
 That's for a grand total of 3,498 units already existing.

01:16:11.740 --> 01:16:17.440
 Also, this list does not include the numerous townhomes, condos, and single-family detached

01:16:17.440 --> 01:16:21.720
 housing also available for rent, nor does this include those apartment buildings outside

01:16:21.720 --> 01:16:26.520
 the five-mile radius, where numerous large-scale apartment complexes are in various phases

01:16:26.520 --> 01:16:27.920
 of being approved and built.

01:16:27.920 --> 01:16:31.200
 And I think we know that from North Den, there's several, several projects.

01:16:31.200 --> 01:16:34.680
 We have a lot of land and a lot of space, and there's a lot of apartment buildings.

01:16:34.680 --> 01:16:38.720
 But this is where we're focusing on this four-acre lot in our backyards.

01:16:38.720 --> 01:16:42.340
 However beneficial renting is for those that are not in a position to buy a home at any

01:16:42.340 --> 01:16:47.680
 given point in time, building wealth in a strong community comes in the form of homeownership.

01:16:47.680 --> 01:16:51.520
 Those that currently live in the area of this proposed project need places to eat and shop

01:16:51.520 --> 01:16:52.600
 nearby.

01:16:52.600 --> 01:16:56.120
 Not more apartments, car washes, and urgent care centers.

01:16:56.120 --> 01:17:00.400
 We were not able to stop the building of the car wash on the same lot, nor the new urgent

01:17:00.400 --> 01:17:05.660
 care center built next door, even though there's an existing and operational urgent care within

01:17:05.660 --> 01:17:10.380
 less than a quarter mile of that one.

01:17:10.380 --> 01:17:14.340
 There's a total of 11 car washes within a five-mile radius of Tommy's Express car wash

01:17:14.340 --> 01:17:17.040
 that was just built on the same lot.

01:17:17.040 --> 01:17:20.840
 We don't want Den to become a town of apartments, car washes, and urgent cares.

01:17:20.840 --> 01:17:24.560
 At this rate, it seems as if this battle has been lost.

01:17:24.560 --> 01:17:27.840
 Those of us living in the Den and surrounding areas, because of the love of open land and

01:17:27.840 --> 01:17:32.920
 old Texas way, we don't want to, oh, I'm sorry.

01:17:32.920 --> 01:17:36.640
 We don't want to live in Dallas, Fort Worth, or Lewisville, where almost every open piece

01:17:36.640 --> 01:17:40.440
 of land has been paved over to mirror that of Los Angeles.

01:17:40.440 --> 01:17:43.920
 You have an opportunity to embrace the culture of the people you represent and do work on

01:17:43.920 --> 01:17:46.520
 their behalf, and not the behalf of the developer.

01:17:46.520 --> 01:17:50.440
 There's plenty of available housing for Den to grow, and plenty of available land to expand

01:17:50.440 --> 01:17:51.440
 into.

01:17:51.440 --> 01:17:55.320
 But dropping a four-story apartment building on a small open lot, where the proposed building

01:17:55.320 --> 01:17:59.060
 will be the tallest building around for miles and miles due to the land height and the height

01:17:59.060 --> 01:18:03.680
 of the building, will be the new beacon and symbol of Den, the new apartment mecca of

01:18:03.680 --> 01:18:05.360
 DFW.

01:18:05.360 --> 01:18:09.020
 What legacy do you want to be a part of, keeping culture and heritage of the people intact

01:18:09.020 --> 01:18:12.440
 or pushing aside the voices of your people for outside interest?

01:18:12.440 --> 01:18:18.520
 We all hope you choose to shut this project down, and thank you for your time and consideration.

01:18:18.520 --> 01:18:22.880
 And while I do have just a little bit of time left, I do want to address, because I did

01:18:22.880 --> 01:18:26.280
 see in the agenda all the attachments that were there.

01:18:26.280 --> 01:18:34.120
 Obviously, Exhibit 9 shows the buffer notification map, the 500-foot buffer and 200-foot buffer

01:18:34.120 --> 01:18:35.120
 zone.

01:18:35.120 --> 01:18:39.880
 Obviously, there are six houses total within that 500-foot buffer zone, and I know that

01:18:39.880 --> 01:18:45.400
 the -- if I could just finish up real quick, too.

01:18:45.400 --> 01:18:46.400
 Of course.

01:18:46.400 --> 01:18:49.080
 Also, Exhibit 12 is the fiscal summary.

01:18:49.080 --> 01:18:53.000
 This one kind of struck me, because it looks like here it's over a 20-year total general

01:18:53.000 --> 01:18:54.780
 fund impacts.

01:18:54.780 --> 01:19:00.480
 General fund net impact over 20 years is $40,200.

01:19:00.480 --> 01:19:05.920
 Take into account current inflation rates from the last 20 years, $1 is equal to $1.67.

01:19:05.920 --> 01:19:11.440
 So let's go ahead and cut this down to $20,000 over 20 years or a net increase to our budget

01:19:11.440 --> 01:19:13.440
 of $1,000 a year.

01:19:13.440 --> 01:19:18.540
 And I know that we had a number of people, residents, that spoke out on this project

01:19:18.540 --> 01:19:20.840
 this last year when this was being developed, and we had more engagement.

01:19:20.840 --> 01:19:25.080
 I felt like there was more communication from the builder and developer in response to that

01:19:25.080 --> 01:19:26.080
 at that time.

01:19:26.080 --> 01:19:30.360
 The only reason that I received notification for the latest meeting is because I attended

01:19:30.360 --> 01:19:31.360
 the last one.

01:19:31.360 --> 01:19:33.960
 We didn't get notification in the cards or anything else, so once we found out, we had

01:19:33.960 --> 01:19:34.960
 to spread the words ourselves.

01:19:34.960 --> 01:19:39.840
 So I think there's a little bit more of a lack of community engagement this time around

01:19:39.840 --> 01:19:42.920
 after the change has been made, but the apartment building is still the apartment building no

01:19:42.920 --> 01:19:45.520
 matter how we dress it up.

01:19:45.520 --> 01:19:46.520
 Thank you.

01:19:46.520 --> 01:19:50.040
 Thank you.

01:19:50.040 --> 01:19:58.760
 Next card I have is Ellen Keim.

01:19:58.760 --> 01:20:00.760
 My apologies.

01:20:00.760 --> 01:20:01.760
 Thank you.

01:20:01.760 --> 01:20:06.440
 I have the wrong agenda item.

01:20:06.440 --> 01:20:08.360
 Okay.

01:20:08.360 --> 01:20:16.600
 Next card I have for this one is actually the only other card I have is Stephanie Newhart.

01:20:16.600 --> 01:20:25.320
 Hello.

01:20:25.320 --> 01:20:26.320
 Good evening, everyone.

01:20:26.320 --> 01:20:29.360
 It's good to see some of you again.

01:20:29.360 --> 01:20:31.880
 A little over a year ago today ... Hey, Stephanie.

01:20:31.880 --> 01:20:34.800
 Will you state your name and address, and then we'll begin your time.

01:20:34.800 --> 01:20:35.800
 Thank you.

01:20:35.800 --> 01:20:36.800
 Stephanie Newhart.

01:20:36.800 --> 01:20:37.800
 Thank you.

01:20:37.800 --> 01:20:41.240
 4316 Bay Meadow Drive, Denton, Texas, 76210.

01:20:41.240 --> 01:20:46.120
 A little over a year ago today, I sat in front of most of you in opposition of this development

01:20:46.120 --> 01:20:47.120
 meeting.

01:20:47.120 --> 01:20:52.120
 That meeting was a catalyst to a whole lot more meetings, including one with almost each

01:20:52.120 --> 01:20:53.400
 of you.

01:20:53.400 --> 01:20:57.360
 Those meetings brought me so much insight, clarity, and forethought into the attempted

01:20:57.360 --> 01:20:59.480
 intentionality of Denton.

01:20:59.480 --> 01:21:04.940
 The framework we are creating, using, and changing to establish developments.

01:21:04.940 --> 01:21:10.480
 Chairman Smith, you taught me that it's so much more than just about buildings and people.

01:21:10.480 --> 01:21:14.760
 It's about the individual gears operating the entire city together that have to move

01:21:14.760 --> 01:21:20.600
 simultaneously to work so pieces don't get left behind or broken.

01:21:20.600 --> 01:21:24.880
 That Denton is unique, facilitating three major economies that directly impact each

01:21:24.880 --> 01:21:28.000
 one of us, whether we realize it or not.

01:21:28.000 --> 01:21:30.800
 Each piece is just as important as the other.

01:21:30.800 --> 01:21:35.480
 Chairman Cole, you taught me that it's more important to keep deeply committed because

01:21:35.480 --> 01:21:37.980
 it's more than just developing the future.

01:21:37.980 --> 01:21:43.160
 It's about making sure that we plan that because the land we're building on was the foundation

01:21:43.160 --> 01:21:49.080
 of its people's past, and that we're building on top of a whole lot of memories.

01:21:49.080 --> 01:21:53.000
 That families have grown and changed, and that the land can't always sit there.

01:21:53.000 --> 01:21:57.860
 It was understanding that because of families like yours, the state is now passing on tax

01:21:57.860 --> 01:21:58.860
 breaks.

01:21:58.860 --> 01:22:03.480
 It's important to recognize that homesteaded homes are not the reason for the $30 billion

01:22:03.480 --> 01:22:04.520
 surplus.

01:22:04.520 --> 01:22:08.520
 It's because of families like yours that are passing on their heritage to make way for

01:22:08.520 --> 01:22:10.760
 new homes and families.

01:22:10.760 --> 01:22:16.360
 In doing so, the financial burden has created a spread where once one ag-exempt owner is

01:22:16.360 --> 01:22:19.680
 now possibly hundreds of taxpaying representatives.

01:22:19.680 --> 01:22:22.840
 Madam Chair, you taught me that it's not about politics.

01:22:22.840 --> 01:22:26.440
 It's about a team collaborating with a vision established by a local committee to make sure

01:22:26.440 --> 01:22:29.400
 we don't forget where we started.

01:22:29.400 --> 01:22:34.980
 In hearing all sides of the story, so we do it, the Denton way, that you are all a team

01:22:34.980 --> 01:22:37.680
 of people who live and work here.

01:22:37.680 --> 01:22:41.520
 All of you shop at the same grocery stores that I do.

01:22:41.520 --> 01:22:44.920
 These conversations led me to run for City Council because I wanted to see things being

01:22:44.920 --> 01:22:46.360
 done differently.

01:22:46.360 --> 01:22:49.880
 I wanted to see better projects and hold developers accountable.

01:22:49.880 --> 01:22:53.400
 A year ago, it was never about flattening this project.

01:22:53.400 --> 01:22:57.600
 It was about bringing the community into the fold and making it better for all of us.

01:22:57.600 --> 01:23:00.120
 I understand why my neighbors are still upset.

01:23:00.120 --> 01:23:02.920
 It's 95 units where it used to be zero.

01:23:02.920 --> 01:23:06.880
 This developer took our feedback and truly made an attempt to alleviate the burden that

01:23:06.880 --> 01:23:11.640
 it would cause our neighborhoods specifically and on our HOA amenities.

01:23:11.640 --> 01:23:16.680
 As someone who owns and operates apartment units, pools and playgrounds and general amenities

01:23:16.680 --> 01:23:22.720
 are incredibly expensive not only to build, maintain, but also to ensure.

01:23:22.720 --> 01:23:26.600
 Adding these features was a gigantic financial impact to this developer and therefore they

01:23:26.600 --> 01:23:28.680
 weren't able to reduce the scale.

01:23:28.680 --> 01:23:33.200
 But honestly, this was actually the best option for a multifamily unit here.

01:23:33.200 --> 01:23:37.960
 If this developer were to reduce the scale but continue not to provide amenities, the

01:23:37.960 --> 01:23:40.440
 impact on us would have been immediate.

01:23:40.440 --> 01:23:43.720
 My goal was always to find the best for all parties.

01:23:43.720 --> 01:23:47.680
 This developer did that to the best of their abilities within the difficult landscape they're

01:23:47.680 --> 01:23:49.280
 building on.

01:23:49.280 --> 01:23:50.840
 Denton is growing.

01:23:50.840 --> 01:23:55.600
 The projections show that we will be the center of the Metroplex in 25 years.

01:23:55.600 --> 01:24:01.080
 The goal is to guide the growth, not control the growth.

01:24:01.080 --> 01:24:04.280
 Design for City Council requires tough decisions.

01:24:04.280 --> 01:24:09.280
 I very uniquely had an opportunity to possibly be voting on this.

01:24:09.280 --> 01:24:14.080
 Therefore, while it may not be the majority voice in the room tonight among my neighbors,

01:24:14.080 --> 01:24:18.200
 had I made a council seat, my consideration would actually be to approve this development's

01:24:18.200 --> 01:24:24.040
 SUP, understanding that they're required to maintain the project as promised.

01:24:24.040 --> 01:24:29.440
 Had I removed my home from the equation, this is an approvable project and that's what this

01:24:29.440 --> 01:24:31.300
 is about.

01:24:31.300 --> 01:24:33.160
 Thank you for all of your hard work.

01:24:33.160 --> 01:24:37.640
 Your positions are often thankless but necessary and vital and I appreciate all the time each

01:24:37.640 --> 01:24:39.560
 of you have committed to this.

01:24:39.560 --> 01:24:47.360
 My hope is to join you and continue making sure that we don't lose what we love about

01:24:47.360 --> 01:24:48.360
 Denton.

01:24:48.360 --> 01:24:50.360
 Thank you.

01:24:50.360 --> 01:24:54.720
 I don't have any other cards in front of me but is there anyone else wishing to speak on

01:24:54.720 --> 01:25:00.000
 this item?

01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:06.960
 Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and open the floor for discussion or a motion.

01:25:06.960 --> 01:25:07.960
 Commissioner Smith.

01:25:07.960 --> 01:25:09.640
 I'm going to make a motion to approve.

01:25:09.640 --> 01:25:17.100
 I'd like to just say thank you to citizen comments on the opposition, the fear coming

01:25:17.100 --> 01:25:19.320
 in with this apartment complex.

01:25:19.320 --> 01:25:22.800
 I live about a mile from this project site location as well.

01:25:22.800 --> 01:25:30.000
 I was also in opposition of this project when it first came through so to developer, consultant

01:25:30.000 --> 01:25:34.240
 and engineer, you guys did an awesome job of listening to what I think the commission

01:25:34.240 --> 01:25:36.040
 said as well as what the citizens brought up.

01:25:36.040 --> 01:25:43.080
 I think that while it was definitely more costly and more time consuming, the amount

01:25:43.080 --> 01:25:47.960
 of neighborhood meetings and feedback and responses to that feedback is probably in

01:25:47.960 --> 01:25:54.560
 my six going on seven years on the commission, probably the most responsive I've seen developer

01:25:54.560 --> 01:25:55.560
 with the neighborhood.

01:25:55.560 --> 01:26:00.740
 And so I'm very happy to motion to approve this.

01:26:00.740 --> 01:26:01.740
 Commissioner Cole.

01:26:01.740 --> 01:26:10.320
 So I'll second it and also this, I wish we saw more of this pragmatism and compromise

01:26:10.320 --> 01:26:13.580
 in the city.

01:26:13.580 --> 01:26:20.840
 For the applicant, the neighborhood and the city staff to keep at this and keep engaging

01:26:20.840 --> 01:26:22.780
 with one another.

01:26:22.780 --> 01:26:29.800
 This is how it should be and we have an empty seat up here tonight because our elected officials

01:26:29.800 --> 01:26:36.800
 don't know what compromise and pragmatism is and you are a real shining light in this

01:26:36.800 --> 01:26:37.800
 whole process.

01:26:37.800 --> 01:26:44.560
 I was a no last time, I will be voting to approve.

01:26:44.560 --> 01:26:45.560
 Thank you.

01:26:45.560 --> 01:26:48.240
 We've got a first and a second in starting discussion.

01:26:48.240 --> 01:26:49.240
 Commissioner McDade.

01:26:49.240 --> 01:26:50.240
 Thank you Madam Chair.

01:26:50.240 --> 01:26:56.520
 I was going to say that when it first came, I was also a no, but I was very, I was very

01:26:56.520 --> 01:27:04.320
 impressed when I heard the applicant say that they were going to take in all the extra dollars

01:27:04.320 --> 01:27:07.960
 and not pass it on to the consumer.

01:27:07.960 --> 01:27:14.040
 That really impressed me and with that being said, I will vote yes on this.

01:27:14.040 --> 01:27:18.700
 Okay, we've got a first and a second for approval.

01:27:18.700 --> 01:27:19.700
 More discussion.

01:27:19.700 --> 01:27:20.700
 Commissioner Villarreal.

01:27:20.700 --> 01:27:25.920
 Yes, I really appreciate everything you've done to engage the community here.

01:27:25.920 --> 01:27:32.240
 Stephanie, I appreciate your work to compromise on this.

01:27:32.240 --> 01:27:34.320
 I appreciate the changes made.

01:27:34.320 --> 01:27:39.180
 However, with that being said, I still don't think this plot of land makes too much sense

01:27:39.180 --> 01:27:43.680
 for an apartment complex of this size, so I'm going to continue to vote no on this.

01:27:43.680 --> 01:27:46.200
 Thank you.

01:27:46.200 --> 01:27:48.000
 Commissioner Pruitt.

01:27:48.000 --> 01:27:51.680
 Thank you Chair.

01:27:51.680 --> 01:27:53.900
 I think it's a better project.

01:27:53.900 --> 01:27:57.860
 By better I mean more expensive.

01:27:57.860 --> 01:28:05.320
 It's going to attract a different future resident.

01:28:05.320 --> 01:28:11.240
 Perhaps the nearby neighbors will not run in fear of people who have a little bit closer

01:28:11.240 --> 01:28:15.800
 to the amount of money that they have.

01:28:15.800 --> 01:28:21.160
 I'll just point that there's an article that Professor Maureen Brady recently published

01:28:21.160 --> 01:28:25.560
 in the Harvard Law Review entitled Turning Neighbors into Nuisances.

01:28:25.560 --> 01:28:37.500
 And it's a historical take on how private law governed nuisances, and then eventually

01:28:37.500 --> 01:28:40.920
 that morphed into zoning.

01:28:40.920 --> 01:28:46.160
 And I'll just say we're doing a really good job of making sure housing that is built in

01:28:46.160 --> 01:28:54.680
 this city is not affordable, and we need to start turning neighbors into neighbors.

01:28:54.680 --> 01:28:56.220
 Thank you.

01:28:56.220 --> 01:28:59.500
 Thank you Commissioner Pruitt.

01:28:59.500 --> 01:29:01.560
 Any other discussion?

01:29:01.560 --> 01:29:04.560
 I guess I haven't said anything yet.

01:29:04.560 --> 01:29:08.080
 You know I struggle with this the first time around.

01:29:08.080 --> 01:29:13.340
 I'm still struggling with it, and it really has nothing to do with the fact of apartments

01:29:13.340 --> 01:29:14.340
 going here.

01:29:14.340 --> 01:29:19.560
 I think apartments are certainly appropriate and an appropriate neighbor here.

01:29:19.560 --> 01:29:29.500
 My issue is with the size of the lot, the topography of the lot, this small-ish complex

01:29:29.500 --> 01:29:34.640
 becomes a giant complex because of the way it's going to sit on that lot.

01:29:34.640 --> 01:29:46.920
 And as well, I think this is one of the most poorly designed ingress and egress developments

01:29:46.920 --> 01:29:49.040
 that we have.

01:29:49.040 --> 01:29:52.820
 I'm there every weekend.

01:29:52.820 --> 01:29:58.520
 It is very difficult at times to get in and out and around that complex.

01:29:58.520 --> 01:30:06.560
 And adding 94 apartments to that, and you don't have anywhere to go with ingress and

01:30:06.560 --> 01:30:11.360
 egress, and I appreciate very much the reconfiguration of this.

01:30:11.360 --> 01:30:18.340
 I think it's tremendous engineering to only lose one unit from the original and add all

01:30:18.340 --> 01:30:25.120
 of these things, and moving driveways and whatnot, but you're still basically shuffling

01:30:25.120 --> 01:30:34.640
 cars in and out of the same very small space that has multiple retail around it, you know,

01:30:34.640 --> 01:30:40.360
 this car wash right there, the new Einsteins, which is bringing in a tremendous amount of

01:30:40.360 --> 01:30:47.320
 cars, the couple of drive-throughs that we have, I mean, it's complicated now.

01:30:47.320 --> 01:30:54.600
 So while I greatly appreciate the neighborhood engagement, I think that is imperative as

01:30:54.600 --> 01:30:56.280
 Commissioner Cole said.

01:30:56.280 --> 01:30:59.720
 That's what we need to keep on doing.

01:30:59.720 --> 01:31:08.480
 And I'm happy that we did have a neighbor come and speak in favor, and that's great.

01:31:08.480 --> 01:31:13.920
 But my issue remains, I mean, we've got specific use permits in place in the SC corridor on

01:31:13.920 --> 01:31:19.480
 purpose, and that's not only to say, oh, the project is really pretty and appropriate,

01:31:19.480 --> 01:31:23.560
 is it appropriate for this specific spot.

01:31:23.560 --> 01:31:27.480
 That's what it's there for, that's why we do this.

01:31:27.480 --> 01:31:34.120
 And while I think it really is pretty, and I think that a lot of what was done and redone

01:31:34.120 --> 01:31:44.280
 to appease fears of the neighborhood, I just, I can't get on board with trying to cram this

01:31:44.280 --> 01:31:48.240
 in on this elevated lot.

01:31:48.240 --> 01:31:51.400
 So with that, and I think, is there anyone else wishing to speak?

01:31:51.400 --> 01:31:53.560
 I think we've all said something.

01:31:53.560 --> 01:32:06.200
 I'm going to go ahead and ask for a vote.

01:32:06.200 --> 01:32:09.200
 That motion will carry for two.

01:32:09.200 --> 01:32:13.320
 And I will ask Sean this, when does this go to city council?

01:32:13.320 --> 01:32:14.320
 Please.

01:32:14.320 --> 01:32:17.240
 I think it's at 7th.

01:32:17.240 --> 01:32:18.360
 November 7th.

01:32:18.360 --> 01:32:19.360
 Okay.

01:32:19.360 --> 01:32:22.720
 So the city council will hear this on November 7th.

01:32:22.720 --> 01:32:23.840
 Okay.

01:32:23.840 --> 01:32:27.920
 Thank you very much.

01:32:27.920 --> 01:32:35.380
 That will move us to our next public hearing item, which is 5B, S23-0005.

01:32:35.380 --> 01:32:38.840
 I will invite Angie up for presentation and open the public hearing.

01:32:38.840 --> 01:32:44.280
 Hey, good evening, chair, members of the commission, Angie Manglaris, senior planner.

01:32:44.280 --> 01:32:48.440
 Give me just a moment here.

01:32:48.440 --> 01:32:56.200
 Okay, this is S23-005, Olivia Apartments.

01:32:56.200 --> 01:33:05.960
 This is an SUP request for a multifamily dwelling use on approximately 22.81 acres of land located

01:33:05.960 --> 01:33:13.760
 just south of Dutchess Drive, approximately 740 feet to the west of loop 288.

01:33:13.760 --> 01:33:17.200
 The subject property is zoned suburban corridor.

01:33:17.200 --> 01:33:23.600
 Urban corridor lists multifamily as a permitted use with approval of a specific use permit,

01:33:23.600 --> 01:33:26.440
 which is why we're here before you this evening.

01:33:26.440 --> 01:33:29.000
 The site is situated, like I said, near loop 288.

01:33:29.000 --> 01:33:30.280
 It is a primary arterial.

01:33:30.280 --> 01:33:34.720
 It has four travel lanes, Dutchess Drive, where the site will take access off of as a

01:33:34.720 --> 01:33:36.920
 collector with two travel lanes.

01:33:36.920 --> 01:33:41.000
 It does have a five-foot sidewalk along the northern portion.

01:33:41.000 --> 01:33:42.920
 The site is currently undeveloped.

01:33:42.920 --> 01:33:47.520
 It does have significant ESA on site, and that includes upland habitat, undeveloped flood

01:33:47.520 --> 01:33:51.160
 plain riparian buffers, as well as water-related ESAs.

01:33:51.160 --> 01:33:53.880
 The surrounding uses, there's a variety of them.

01:33:53.880 --> 01:33:57.000
 There's some multifamily to the north and east of the site.

01:33:57.000 --> 01:33:58.680
 There are duplexes.

01:33:58.680 --> 01:34:01.800
 There's developing single-family and the adjacent R4 zoning.

01:34:01.800 --> 01:34:06.640
 There are also some professional offices across of Dutchess Drive and next door to the subject

01:34:06.640 --> 01:34:08.920
 property to the east of it.

01:34:08.920 --> 01:34:14.320
 So, there's a variety of land uses in and around Dutchess Drive, as well as along the

01:34:14.320 --> 01:34:19.760
 loop 288 corridor in the vicinity of where this site is located.

01:34:19.760 --> 01:34:21.360
 Give you an overview of this site plan.

01:34:21.360 --> 01:34:25.440
 As I said, it is 22.81 acres of land on that.

01:34:25.440 --> 01:34:28.080
 They're proposing seven buildings.

01:34:28.080 --> 01:34:33.560
 Four of those buildings are your traditional low-rise, multifamily buildings.

01:34:33.560 --> 01:34:38.000
 The remaining three, which are kind of tucked here in the corner, are more of a townhome-style

01:34:38.000 --> 01:34:40.480
 cottage product.

01:34:40.480 --> 01:34:46.920
 Between those seven units, there are 262 apartment dwelling bedrooms.

01:34:46.920 --> 01:34:53.620
 On site, there are 448 parking spaces, 114 bicycle parking spaces, and the site is designed

01:34:53.620 --> 01:34:58.280
 so that really those main buildings hug Dutchess Drive and frame the entrances.

01:34:58.280 --> 01:35:00.120
 The parking is tucked in the back.

01:35:00.120 --> 01:35:05.040
 There's internal pedestrian circulation, which takes access off of Dutchess Drive, works

01:35:05.040 --> 01:35:09.720
 its way through the site, providing connectivity to and from the apartment complexes, and then

01:35:09.720 --> 01:35:17.440
 eventually stubs out towards the bottom for potential future parks trail dedication.

01:35:17.440 --> 01:35:20.880
 There's also on-site amenities for residents of the site to use.

01:35:20.880 --> 01:35:25.440
 That includes two dog parks, passive and active areas for open space, an amenity center, as

01:35:25.440 --> 01:35:26.560
 well as a pool.

01:35:26.560 --> 01:35:31.960
 There is approximately 6.7 acres of ESA land that is proposed to be dedicated to the Parks

01:35:31.960 --> 01:35:34.480
 Department to be kept in its natural state.

01:35:34.480 --> 01:35:38.380
 Part of the conditions of approval with this that's being recommended is if for some reason

01:35:38.380 --> 01:35:42.720
 that parkland dedication does not go through, the property owner keep and maintain that

01:35:42.720 --> 01:35:46.880
 land area in its natural state.

01:35:46.880 --> 01:35:51.040
 Looking at the landscape plan in a little bit more detail, they are required or they're

01:35:51.040 --> 01:35:55.560
 providing a landscape buffer along this western property boundary where adjacent to single

01:35:55.560 --> 01:36:00.120
 family uses that are currently being developed.

01:36:00.120 --> 01:36:04.920
 Within that buffer, they're preserving 50% of the existing tree canopy.

01:36:04.920 --> 01:36:09.060
 They're also providing internal landscaping.

01:36:09.060 --> 01:36:14.440
 Your traditional nine by 18 landscaped islands with canopy trees are located within there.

01:36:14.440 --> 01:36:22.760
 On-site, they're providing approximately 57% tree canopy coverage, 61% of landscaped area.

01:36:22.760 --> 01:36:31.240
 That is 505,000 square feet roughly of landscaped area of that approximately 367,000, 100,000

01:36:31.240 --> 01:36:34.560
 of that is to remain undisturbed.

01:36:34.560 --> 01:36:38.280
 They're providing our required street tree requirements of one tree per every 30 feet

01:36:38.280 --> 01:36:45.280
 along Dutchess Drive and the plans reflect a generally 43% preservation of their total

01:36:45.280 --> 01:36:46.980
 land area on-site.

01:36:46.980 --> 01:36:49.400
 That's a little bit deeper look at the landscape plan.

01:36:49.400 --> 01:36:55.040
 I want to talk about conceptual elevations because the building height in areas of transition

01:36:55.040 --> 01:36:57.640
 does come into play with this project.

01:36:57.640 --> 01:37:01.160
 These townhome buildings, the ones that I pointed out earlier, are within 50 feet of

01:37:01.160 --> 01:37:03.680
 R6 zoning.

01:37:03.680 --> 01:37:07.000
 They're not allowed to exceed the height of the allowable height in the R6 zoning which

01:37:07.000 --> 01:37:08.400
 is 40 feet.

01:37:08.400 --> 01:37:12.720
 These buildings come in at approximately 24 feet and eight inches.

01:37:12.720 --> 01:37:19.480
 Then we're between 50 feet and 100 feet of R6, they're allowed the allowable height of

01:37:19.480 --> 01:37:22.920
 the R6 zoning plus 15 feet which is 55 feet.

01:37:22.920 --> 01:37:25.520
 That's also the allowable height of the SC zoning district.

01:37:25.520 --> 01:37:29.280
 However, all of these buildings come in at roughly 39 feet, six inches.

01:37:29.280 --> 01:37:33.160
 Just kind of give you an idea of what the product will look like as well as how they

01:37:33.160 --> 01:37:38.200
 meet our height adjacency requirements.

01:37:38.200 --> 01:37:41.800
 Looking at this and how it matches with our comprehensive plan, the future land use designation

01:37:41.800 --> 01:37:46.960
 is moderate residential which is intended to apply in areas of central Denton.

01:37:46.960 --> 01:37:51.360
 Transition zones between existing single family uses and mixed use areas towards our commercial

01:37:51.360 --> 01:37:52.360
 corridors.

01:37:52.360 --> 01:37:56.560
 This product is consistent with the goals of moderate residential.

01:37:56.560 --> 01:38:01.160
 It does serve as a transition area as you get closer to Loop 288 and it's consistent

01:38:01.160 --> 01:38:06.680
 with the development patterns and scales that we see in and along the Loop 288 corridor.

01:38:06.680 --> 01:38:12.320
 The urban design principles in the comprehensive plan and table 4.1 call for a number of standards

01:38:12.320 --> 01:38:17.400
 but this building demonstrates siding the buildings along Dutchess Drive, framing those

01:38:17.400 --> 01:38:22.640
 entry ways, situating our parking behind buildings so it's not immediately visible to those who

01:38:22.640 --> 01:38:24.560
 are driving along the right of way.

01:38:24.560 --> 01:38:29.280
 It's preserving existing tree canopy in ESA and is also compatible in scale to the developments

01:38:29.280 --> 01:38:30.580
 around it.

01:38:30.580 --> 01:38:35.800
 This does meet our continued housing goals of meeting needs of residents and a diverse

01:38:35.800 --> 01:38:40.480
 style of product as well as price points and it also meets our land use goals to grow compactly

01:38:40.480 --> 01:38:47.840
 by providing development within the Loop in an area that's adjacent to existing services,

01:38:47.840 --> 01:38:52.360
 career opportunities, retail and existing residential.

01:38:52.360 --> 01:38:57.080
 It does meet that of developing compactly, developing the land inside the Loop provides

01:38:57.080 --> 01:39:05.240
 access to key components of the city and then also the site itself is developing compactly

01:39:05.240 --> 01:39:10.240
 whereas the most northern portion of the site is being developed while that southern portion,

01:39:10.240 --> 01:39:16.400
 approximately 43% of it is being preserved in accordance with our ESA regulations.

01:39:16.400 --> 01:39:21.320
 Speaking of ESA regulations, the preferred land use plan generally follows our official

01:39:21.320 --> 01:39:22.600
 ESA map.

01:39:22.600 --> 01:39:27.920
 As you can see here, there is a substantial amount of ESAs on this site.

01:39:27.920 --> 01:39:32.680
 As I mentioned, there's upland habitat, there's water related ESAs, there's riparian buffer.

01:39:32.680 --> 01:39:38.360
 The site does demonstrate consistency with our approval criteria for environmentally

01:39:38.360 --> 01:39:43.240
 sensitive areas in the DDC and is currently showing again preservation of approximately

01:39:43.240 --> 01:39:46.480
 43% of the total property.

01:39:46.480 --> 01:39:51.080
 At this time, the site does not need an alternative ESA and is compliant with our goals of land

01:39:51.080 --> 01:39:52.240
 preservation.

01:39:52.240 --> 01:39:55.520
 As I mentioned in work session, if for some reason something changes during the civils

01:39:55.520 --> 01:39:59.040
 and it doesn't appear that they're able to meet those ESA requirements, they would be

01:39:59.040 --> 01:40:02.720
 back before you all with an alt ESA plan that would be a public hearing that would need

01:40:02.720 --> 01:40:05.520
 to be approved.

01:40:05.520 --> 01:40:09.800
 As part of the overall land preservation and wildlife corridors, one of the key action

01:40:09.800 --> 01:40:14.320
 items that did come out of the 2040 plan was identifying and mapping wildlife corridors

01:40:14.320 --> 01:40:16.720
 and that's this map that you see here.

01:40:16.720 --> 01:40:18.680
 So I'll explain this a little bit.

01:40:18.680 --> 01:40:22.440
 The green areas that you see, these are the green space areas that were identified in

01:40:22.440 --> 01:40:24.680
 the wildlife corridor mappings.

01:40:24.680 --> 01:40:26.600
 These are consistent with what the ESA map shows.

01:40:26.600 --> 01:40:29.760
 So when you look at the two land areas, you'll see they follow the same pattern.

01:40:29.760 --> 01:40:36.960
 This darker line here is what's estimated to be the wildlife corridor.

01:40:36.960 --> 01:40:41.520
 The wildlife corridor on this site is generally estimated to exist parallel to that Pecan

01:40:41.520 --> 01:40:47.860
 Creek tributary that's running along this portion of the property line.

01:40:47.860 --> 01:40:51.600
 The proposed buildings on site, when you look at how close they might be to the wildlife

01:40:51.600 --> 01:40:58.680
 corridor, the closest building from where the estimated corridor is is 214 feet.

01:40:58.680 --> 01:41:04.020
 The perimeter fence is 145 feet away from where this estimated wildlife corridor is

01:41:04.020 --> 01:41:05.020
 to be.

01:41:05.020 --> 01:41:10.240
 So by preserving this lower 43% of the site and leaving it undeveloped and in its natural

01:41:10.240 --> 01:41:15.840
 state, they're also meeting that they're providing buffering between where the buildings

01:41:15.840 --> 01:41:24.520
 may be and the wildlife corridors, leaving that area of the site largely untouched.

01:41:24.520 --> 01:41:32.000
 Looking at mitigating adverse impacts, which is a criteria for approval for SUPs, they

01:41:32.000 --> 01:41:38.400
 again, as we said earlier, are providing that western buffer to where will be a future residential

01:41:38.400 --> 01:41:39.400
 developments.

01:41:39.400 --> 01:41:43.840
 They are required to provide some offset improvements per their TIA.

01:41:43.840 --> 01:41:47.120
 One of those is to construct the southern half of Dutchess from Mockingbird to the eastern

01:41:47.120 --> 01:41:48.480
 site boundary.

01:41:48.480 --> 01:41:52.520
 Along with that, they would be responsible for constructing their portion of the sidewalk

01:41:52.520 --> 01:41:56.680
 and shared use path that is supposed to go along Dutchess Drive, and then also providing

01:41:56.680 --> 01:42:03.280
 re-striping to provide a two-way left turn lane from Mockingbird Lane to Dutchess Drive.

01:42:03.280 --> 01:42:06.360
 In addition to that, they're required to meet our standing lighting details, which

01:42:06.360 --> 01:42:10.960
 means at the property line, light spillover shall not be greater than one foot candle.

01:42:10.960 --> 01:42:18.480
 They're providing 61% area of landscape coverage and 57% of tree canopy, respectively, we require

01:42:18.480 --> 01:42:23.760
 in the SC 20% landscape coverage and 30% tree canopy coverage, so they are exceeding our

01:42:23.760 --> 01:42:26.440
 minimum requirements.

01:42:26.440 --> 01:42:32.560
 The upland habitat preservation requirements in the DDC specifies that residential developments

01:42:32.560 --> 01:42:37.080
 preserve 50% of the upland habitat, which is what this development is held to and they

01:42:37.080 --> 01:42:38.880
 are demonstrating compliance with.

01:42:38.880 --> 01:42:45.160
 I do want to note that SC allows a range of uses, many of those are commercial, so this

01:42:45.160 --> 01:42:51.760
 is able to mitigate adverse impacts to the upland habitat better than a commercial development

01:42:51.760 --> 01:42:56.080
 might be able to because a commercial development would be allowed to reduce their preservation

01:42:56.080 --> 01:42:57.840
 to 30%.

01:42:57.840 --> 01:43:03.160
 By developing as residential, you're arguably preserving more of that upland habitat area,

01:43:03.160 --> 01:43:08.400
 and those preservation requirements also require that that area remain largely intact, so there's

01:43:08.400 --> 01:43:12.200
 not separation of areas that are identified as upland habitat.

01:43:12.200 --> 01:43:16.600
 And then as we discussed earlier, they're compliant with our height and transition zones,

01:43:16.600 --> 01:43:20.320
 so the buildings that are closest to the residential are matching that scale and providing the

01:43:20.320 --> 01:43:24.760
 compatibility and architecture that we want when we have multi-family developments next

01:43:24.760 --> 01:43:28.480
 to residential developments.

01:43:28.480 --> 01:43:31.400
 I don't have this on the slide here, but I did want to mention that the applicant don't

01:43:31.400 --> 01:43:35.220
 hold two neighborhood meetings, they were earlier this summer, there were no attendees

01:43:35.220 --> 01:43:41.200
 at those, we did send out notifications to those within 200 and 500 feet, I did receive

01:43:41.200 --> 01:43:45.840
 three letters in favor to those responses.

01:43:45.840 --> 01:43:50.040
 We are recommending approval, there are a number of, as this meets our criteria for

01:43:50.040 --> 01:43:55.920
 general approval as well as our specific criteria for specific use permit approval, with a number

01:43:55.920 --> 01:43:57.200
 of conditions.

01:43:57.200 --> 01:44:04.040
 Those conditions are related to tying down the site as you see it today, specifying the

01:44:04.040 --> 01:44:08.320
 number of units that are allowed, the minimum landscape area that we expect to see, the

01:44:08.320 --> 01:44:15.080
 preservation of the ESA, the stipulation that if they're not able to comply with our ESA

01:44:15.080 --> 01:44:19.640
 regulations, that they do have to get an all ESA plan, as well as our standard language

01:44:19.640 --> 01:44:23.700
 that allows for some staff flexibility to accommodate for minor planting adjustments

01:44:23.700 --> 01:44:27.080
 that may need to be made along the way.

01:44:27.080 --> 01:44:30.120
 We are recommending approval, as I said, with those conditions.

01:44:30.120 --> 01:44:35.680
 The next step for this project would be city council at the 24th.

01:44:35.680 --> 01:44:41.320
 I know this doesn't quite allow for the one meeting between when you originally hear it

01:44:41.320 --> 01:44:46.080
 and city council, but as we get closer to the end of the year and we have fewer meetings,

01:44:46.080 --> 01:44:50.360
 as well as trying to mitigate the number of public hearings we have on any one item, kind

01:44:50.360 --> 01:44:53.720
 of just trying to do the best we can going forward.

01:44:53.720 --> 01:44:56.360
 With that, I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have.

01:44:56.360 --> 01:45:01.640
 The applicant is also here, I believe they have a presentation, and I'm done.

01:45:01.640 --> 01:45:02.640
 >> Thank you, Angie.

01:45:02.640 --> 01:45:06.760
 Any questions for Angie at this time?

01:45:06.760 --> 01:45:08.600
 Thank you.

01:45:08.600 --> 01:45:10.240
 Okay.

01:45:10.240 --> 01:45:14.920
 Now I will call up Ellen.

01:45:14.920 --> 01:45:18.920
 Okay.

01:45:18.920 --> 01:45:19.920
 That works.

01:45:19.920 --> 01:45:38.140
 However you want to use your time, it's fine.

01:45:38.140 --> 01:45:39.140
 Hello there.

01:45:39.140 --> 01:45:40.140
 >> Hi.

01:45:40.140 --> 01:45:41.140
 How are you all?

01:45:41.140 --> 01:45:44.200
 >> Will you state your name and address for us?

01:45:44.200 --> 01:45:45.200
 For the record, please.

01:45:45.200 --> 01:45:46.200
 >> Yeah.

01:45:46.200 --> 01:45:47.480
 My name is Griffin with Trumont group.

01:45:47.480 --> 01:45:53.400
 Our address is 14241 Dallas Parkway, we're in Addison.

01:45:53.400 --> 01:45:58.000
 I founded Trumont group about seven years ago.

01:45:58.000 --> 01:45:59.720
 We're originally from Fargo, North Dakota.

01:45:59.720 --> 01:46:04.720
 I'm here today to kind of put a face behind the name of who we are and why we want to

01:46:04.720 --> 01:46:08.360
 be working with you all in the city of Denton.

01:46:08.360 --> 01:46:14.760
 Primarily, quickly my role with the company, I oversee our operations, new investments,

01:46:14.760 --> 01:46:19.720
 our staff, and projects and our developments.

01:46:19.720 --> 01:46:24.760
 You know, we started Trumont largely in part to create value and that's across the board

01:46:24.760 --> 01:46:26.880
 and create win-win situations.

01:46:26.880 --> 01:46:36.200
 That means for ourselves, obviously, our partners, our stakeholders, our design team partners

01:46:36.200 --> 01:46:43.360
 and consultants, and importantly, most importantly, our stakeholders being our residents and future

01:46:43.360 --> 01:46:46.560
 residents and the cities that we work within.

01:46:46.560 --> 01:46:51.200
 We're super keen to work alongside cities.

01:46:51.200 --> 01:46:54.640
 Angie has been amazing to work with wherever she went.

01:46:54.640 --> 01:47:01.920
 So thank you for your responsiveness and, you know, we went through three rounds of

01:47:01.920 --> 01:47:05.440
 comments and back and forth with your staff.

01:47:05.440 --> 01:47:11.040
 Each and every one of them in the departments has been responsive, which we greatly appreciate.

01:47:11.040 --> 01:47:14.160
 We met with Councilwoman Bird.

01:47:14.160 --> 01:47:19.720
 She obviously we'll see her in a few weeks and the rest of the team, but, you know, we

01:47:19.720 --> 01:47:27.880
 have her verbal support and a lot of her incorporations into this design as well.

01:47:27.880 --> 01:47:33.680
 And at the end of the day, if we're not creating win-win situations, it's not a project that

01:47:33.680 --> 01:47:35.280
 we want to be a part of.

01:47:35.280 --> 01:47:41.760
 We certainly, as Angie noted, did not have the same community outreach and input on the

01:47:41.760 --> 01:47:42.760
 project.

01:47:42.760 --> 01:47:45.720
 We had plenty of city input.

01:47:45.720 --> 01:47:51.760
 Y'all's development code is strict, which we can appreciate.

01:47:51.760 --> 01:47:57.880
 I think it's important to note that we had no variances and that we complied with everything

01:47:57.880 --> 01:48:00.280
 within it.

01:48:00.280 --> 01:48:06.360
 We believe that the community outreach was limited in this case, largely because of the

01:48:06.360 --> 01:48:14.560
 location that we're in and we truly believe that this location is meant for apartments,

01:48:14.560 --> 01:48:20.000
 not only by our viewpoint, but y'all's as well as Angie noted in the comprehensive plan

01:48:20.000 --> 01:48:21.360
 and then what current zoning.

01:48:21.360 --> 01:48:28.000
 And I appreciate your comment in the last public hearing of this specific use permit

01:48:28.000 --> 01:48:34.620
 is there for your review to see if it fits this specific piece of land, which again,

01:48:34.620 --> 01:48:36.720
 we obviously stand by.

01:48:36.720 --> 01:48:42.840
 I'll just note quickly on our partnership, the partners that we founded this with, it's

01:48:42.840 --> 01:48:46.520
 been my best friend since the first grade.

01:48:46.520 --> 01:48:53.080
 Our extended partnership has many units, largely throughout the Midwest where we're from and

01:48:53.080 --> 01:48:55.760
 a history of owning apartments for 30 years.

01:48:55.760 --> 01:49:01.240
 So our intention is to be here for the long-term, to be owners for the long-term and to be very

01:49:01.240 --> 01:49:05.640
 much a part of the communities that we build and develop within.

01:49:05.640 --> 01:49:08.400
 We are the contractor of record as well.

01:49:08.400 --> 01:49:15.520
 That company is Trumont Construction, also owned by myself and my other two partners.

01:49:15.520 --> 01:49:22.080
 Again, because we believe in developing quality projects, controlling that quality and complying

01:49:22.080 --> 01:49:27.800
 from the minute our vision merges with y'all's all the way through completion and through

01:49:27.800 --> 01:49:35.720
 ownership for the next hopefully couple decades that we're alongside y'all.

01:49:35.720 --> 01:49:43.680
 I will, Angie did a phenomenal job kind of outlining the project, so I'll skip a little

01:49:43.680 --> 01:49:47.960
 bit about the location, but just quickly on the project progress, again, we've been through

01:49:47.960 --> 01:49:50.120
 three rounds of comments.

01:49:50.120 --> 01:49:55.200
 We have our design team lead internally, Ellen's our project design manager and then we've

01:49:55.200 --> 01:50:02.440
 got our engineer and our landscape architect as well here to address specifics and how

01:50:02.440 --> 01:50:11.440
 we've worked with a very challenging site that's, if not developed the right way, may

01:50:11.440 --> 01:50:18.680
 never be developed and again, how we believe we're enhancing the specific area that we're

01:50:18.680 --> 01:50:21.320
 in.

01:50:21.320 --> 01:50:24.780
 We attended your working session, so we're prepared to address a few of the questions

01:50:24.780 --> 01:50:33.480
 that were brought up and as far as the rental rates and the type of community that we're

01:50:33.480 --> 01:50:37.720
 aiming to develop, it's in that same price point.

01:50:37.720 --> 01:50:45.760
 I believe we were about an average rental of $16.50 across the community, but that's

01:50:45.760 --> 01:50:58.200
 a blend of our one, two and three bedroom units and yes, again, I'll just be repeating

01:50:58.200 --> 01:51:05.400
 Angie here, but I'll just quickly get into the type of developments that we have, typically

01:51:05.400 --> 01:51:13.440
 they're market rate, class A developments, the amenities that we have.

01:51:13.440 --> 01:51:20.360
 We believe to be industry leading, I can't tell you the amount of time that we spend

01:51:20.360 --> 01:51:27.920
 thinking and forward thinking again, we intend to own these properties for the long term

01:51:27.920 --> 01:51:35.800
 and the amount of redrawing that we do to properly fit the amenities that will serve

01:51:35.800 --> 01:51:43.380
 today and tomorrow and also make room for plenty of green space and outdoor living.

01:51:43.380 --> 01:51:49.120
 As Angie said, we've preserved 43% of the site, some by necessity, but we've made concessions

01:51:49.120 --> 01:51:56.480
 down from an original plan of over 300 units to 262 to fit y'all's Denton Development

01:51:56.480 --> 01:52:02.840
 Code, but also to make a site plan that we believe will be effective and desirable for

01:52:02.840 --> 01:52:09.840
 the long term, I'll let Alan get into a couple of those details, but first we're going to

01:52:09.840 --> 01:52:21.680
 call up Josh with Quiddity our civil engineer, sorry I was off in another land, but I'm happy

01:52:21.680 --> 01:52:26.200
 to answer any questions, we're super excited to be here, we've been looking in the City

01:52:26.200 --> 01:52:31.260
 of Denton for five years now, we haven't got to submit a plan, I've gotten to know Ron

01:52:31.260 --> 01:52:39.120
 McGinty in the planning department for a while, most recently Angie, we've shared this plan

01:52:39.120 --> 01:52:44.120
 with Ron before Angie was on the case and he was excited about it and supportive of

01:52:44.120 --> 01:52:55.320
 the location and we're just, recognize Denton's growth of course, as y'all do as well, but

01:52:55.320 --> 01:52:59.760
 we're here to be a part of it and really excited to be here, so thank you.

01:52:59.760 --> 01:53:05.320
 Good evening commissioner, my name's Josh, I'm with Quiddity Engineering and my address

01:53:05.320 --> 01:53:10.560
 is 2657 Gosling Way, Fort Worth, Texas, I wanted to address some of the concerns brought

01:53:10.560 --> 01:53:16.520
 up during the work session, Commissioner McDade, you mentioned the concern about traffic, we

01:53:16.520 --> 01:53:21.680
 had a traffic impact analysis approved in July, as part of that traffic impact analysis,

01:53:21.680 --> 01:53:27.320
 we worked with the city to incorporate the adjacent traffic impact analysis, it's done

01:53:27.320 --> 01:53:31.780
 along the 288 corridor in Dutchess Drive so that we're looking at the overall picture

01:53:31.780 --> 01:53:36.160
 of what traffic is doing in the area, not just our site specific, as part of that traffic

01:53:36.160 --> 01:53:43.080
 impact analysis, the determination was that we needed to build out the south portion of

01:53:43.080 --> 01:53:48.640
 Dutchess Drive along our property frontage and striped that to incorporate a two way

01:53:48.640 --> 01:53:54.200
 left turn lane, in addition we'll be providing the sidewalk shared use path along the south

01:53:54.200 --> 01:54:01.200
 portion of that drive. From a civil engineering perspective, the site will be designed with

01:54:01.200 --> 01:54:08.600
 the Denton Development Code, we're going to design it per all the design manuals, seeking

01:54:08.600 --> 01:54:15.800
 no variances, we're looking at the environmental concerns there, we're looking at the drainage

01:54:15.800 --> 01:54:20.560
 and any mitigation that may be required along the way, that will all be done per the manuals

01:54:20.560 --> 01:54:24.640
 and the design code and we'll be working closely with staff throughout the entire process to

01:54:24.640 --> 01:54:33.560
 ensure that we're following the letter of the law. A lot of the site will be designed

01:54:33.560 --> 01:54:39.120
 around the concrete corridor, we understand the importance of that and we've provided

01:54:39.120 --> 01:54:45.600
 additional buffers to ensure that we're not negatively impacting that corridor, part of

01:54:45.600 --> 01:54:51.320
 that is dedicating the parkland and leaving it in natural conditions, another is outside

01:54:51.320 --> 01:54:56.920
 of the ESA we provided a five foot buffer to ensure that we're not impacting any trees

01:54:56.920 --> 01:55:05.680
 that are within that ESA. Additionally, this is my firm's fourth project with Trumont doing

01:55:05.680 --> 01:55:10.880
 the construction and the design and so we haven't had any environmental issues come

01:55:10.880 --> 01:55:18.200
 up to date and that's our intent going forward. Jeremy Vlad with ValleyQuest can talk about

01:55:18.200 --> 01:55:26.720
 the trees and how we're uniquely avoiding the ESAs and all that good stuff.

01:55:26.720 --> 01:55:37.960
 Hello. Hi, I'm Jeremy Vlad with ValleyQuest Design, 222 South Elm Street here in Denton,

01:55:37.960 --> 01:55:47.920
 and I believe that my part here will be the shortest but definitely one of the most important

01:55:47.920 --> 01:55:55.680
 as we worked our way through working with city staff and definitely the tree preservation

01:55:55.680 --> 01:56:05.080
 plan aspect of the design and working with the environmental department. As Angie already

01:56:05.080 --> 01:56:12.300
 mentioned and it's summarized here, we are exceeding the minimum preservation requirements

01:56:12.300 --> 01:56:19.120
 and above and beyond that in a lot of ways. It's interesting in a lot of the preservation

01:56:19.120 --> 01:56:25.840
 plans that we do, you really get to see the numbers and the percentages of what's being

01:56:25.840 --> 01:56:30.880
 preserved but what doesn't really show through in the numbers are areas like we have on the

01:56:30.880 --> 01:56:36.720
 southern part of our site, that 43% that you keep hearing about where there are innumerable

01:56:36.720 --> 01:56:44.280
 trees and more than just trees, obviously the understory and other valuable habitat that

01:56:44.280 --> 01:56:51.280
 are being preserved. One of the things that we did on this project

01:56:51.280 --> 01:56:57.880
 that was a little bit unique as well just to help alleviate some of those preservation

01:56:57.880 --> 01:57:07.040
 and open space concerns was to, as you know, there is a definite line out on the site that

01:57:07.040 --> 01:57:13.280
 delineates the environmentally sensitive areas. We took that line and gave it an additional

01:57:13.280 --> 01:57:21.360
 five feet just outside of that to where our development impact area is. We had a lot of

01:57:21.360 --> 01:57:25.840
 back and forth with the design team and the architects, they were great about moving their

01:57:25.840 --> 01:57:32.120
 building. Sometimes architects don't understand how the buildings can affect the trees so

01:57:32.120 --> 01:57:39.720
 everyone, I think, came to a good understanding of getting those buildings to a place where

01:57:39.720 --> 01:57:46.480
 we, the developers, comfortable using the space that they have and maximizing the space

01:57:46.480 --> 01:57:52.400
 that they have and still preserving those quality and heritage trees out on the site.

01:57:52.400 --> 01:57:58.280
 But as I mentioned, that additional five foot buffer really ensured that we would really

01:57:58.280 --> 01:58:06.200
 reduce the impact to the environmentally sensitive area itself. So that was kind of our contribution

01:58:06.200 --> 01:58:13.920
 in addition to the landscape plan but I think that, you know, the highlight of this effort

01:58:13.920 --> 01:58:19.440
 was really the preservation and protection of those environmentally sensitive areas.

01:58:19.440 --> 01:58:28.360
 >> I will turn the phone over to Ellen. >> I know we're a little over here but I

01:58:28.360 --> 01:58:30.600
 just wanted to -- >> You had a total of 20 so you're good.

01:58:30.600 --> 01:58:37.680
 >> Oh, we're good. Wonderful. I just wanted to show some of the renderings here. We are

01:58:37.680 --> 01:58:43.840
 meeting all of the Denton code with the, you know, differing materials, the different facades,

01:58:43.840 --> 01:58:52.120
 the roof lines, the larger grand entrance, the secondary entrances. So while, you know,

01:58:52.120 --> 01:58:59.400
 going through plans, these may differ slightly. This is -- we will intend to meet code for

01:58:59.400 --> 01:59:05.960
 every point. And then just some examples of our past work. This is our apartment in West

01:59:05.960 --> 01:59:13.560
 Dallas that has been open for just about a year. 318 units. This is a project under construction

01:59:13.560 --> 01:59:18.600
 in north Fort Worth that will be opening at the end of this year. And we have a project

01:59:18.600 --> 01:59:32.160
 slated to start in Texas. And that is it. >> Any questions for the development team?

01:59:32.160 --> 01:59:38.640
 >> Thank you, Jared. Feel free to distribute this amongst yourselves or staff if it would

01:59:38.640 --> 01:59:45.640
 be better answered there. Just a couple questions about mobility and the trail access and that

01:59:45.640 --> 01:59:50.440
 sort of thing. I think the first half of this may be more about you and the second half

01:59:50.440 --> 02:00:00.440
 is probably more staff. Understand how the layout gives access that way. It's gated.

02:00:00.440 --> 02:00:04.680
 So presumably that access point is intended for residents, is that correct?

02:00:04.680 --> 02:00:13.600
 >> Yes. So what we have looked at here, let me see. So on our site, our trail access is

02:00:13.600 --> 02:00:19.320
 right in this bottom area here and connects through the site. We are planning to dedicate

02:00:19.320 --> 02:00:25.500
 all of this land. And we have also talked, have been in conversations about dedicating

02:00:25.500 --> 02:00:30.200
 a strip of land that actually connects up to Dutchess so that the city in the future

02:00:30.200 --> 02:00:36.560
 has the ability to connect it to Dutchess drive. >> Okay. I think that probably answers half

02:00:36.560 --> 02:00:42.640
 of my next question. The other half is probably a staff question, if I may, Chair.

02:00:42.640 --> 02:00:45.300
 >> Of course. >> So I can envision how that could connect

02:00:45.300 --> 02:00:53.720
 up to Dutchess. I recall, gosh, it might have been two years ago now, when we had an application

02:00:53.720 --> 02:01:02.680
 for the parcel to the west of this, I believe, there was talk about the secondary arterial

02:01:02.680 --> 02:01:11.240
 that's on our mobility plan that extends down from, what is that, Mockingbird, north of,

02:01:11.240 --> 02:01:20.200
 I'm sorry, it's not Friday yet, I shouldn't have an excuse, but anyway, north of McKinney

02:01:20.200 --> 02:01:28.000
 there, extends down south from there. And at the time, there was rationale given that,

02:01:28.000 --> 02:01:34.480
 well, there's enough parcels just east of this that we think will have some mobility

02:01:34.480 --> 02:01:41.320
 connections from north south as this develops. The way I see this here now, it basically

02:01:41.320 --> 02:01:49.680
 looks like it's cutting off that access from down here all the way up to McKinney, right,

02:01:49.680 --> 02:01:56.920
 in the future. And so I'm just asking, like, from a staff perspective, do we have a rationale

02:01:56.920 --> 02:02:03.200
 for why that is not needed? And if so, is there a reason that we're not looking at a

02:02:03.200 --> 02:02:12.360
 mobility plan amendment here and that sort of thing? Does that make sense, Angie?

02:02:12.360 --> 02:02:18.560
 >> I do follow the question. I would need to pull probably transportation's comments,

02:02:18.560 --> 02:02:24.520
 which I can pull up and see if Karina had the more detailed explanation within that

02:02:24.520 --> 02:02:32.280
 rationale. But I know that it was not discussed during this review. So let me, I can see if

02:02:32.280 --> 02:02:35.080
 I can pull that real quick. >> Sure. I'd appreciate that if you have any

02:02:35.080 --> 02:02:39.960
 background. So thank you, Chair. >> Of course. Thank you. This is a public hearing.

02:02:39.960 --> 02:02:43.080
 I don't have any other cards in front of me, but is there anyone else wishing to speak

02:02:43.080 --> 02:02:50.400
 on this item? Okay. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and open the floor for

02:02:50.400 --> 02:02:58.800
 a discussion or a motion. Commissioner Smith? >> Make a motion to approve.

02:02:58.800 --> 02:03:00.400
 >> Commissioner Cole? >> Second.

02:03:00.400 --> 02:03:05.880
 >> Okay. We've got a first and a second for approval. And I will just ask Commissioner

02:03:05.880 --> 02:03:11.120
 Pruitt, do you want to wait to get a response from staff?

02:03:11.120 --> 02:03:20.080
 >> I'm okay going forward. It's just my direction in general, I think, that this is a very huge

02:03:20.080 --> 02:03:28.960
 opportunity area of our city. There are some very large amassed parcels that those will

02:03:28.960 --> 02:03:35.520
 come in due time. There are also more parcels like this. So let's make sure we are dotting

02:03:35.520 --> 02:03:41.000
 our I's and crossing our T's about the type of connections we want, where we want them,

02:03:41.000 --> 02:03:48.120
 so that we don't force ourselves into more strange shaped odd situations, if that makes

02:03:48.120 --> 02:03:57.120
 sense. >> It does. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

02:03:57.120 --> 02:04:01.720
 We do have a first and a second for approval. Is there further discussion? Commissioner

02:04:01.720 --> 02:04:05.000
 Villarreal? >> Yes. Thank you. I appreciate all the mitigation

02:04:05.000 --> 02:04:11.240
 efforts you all are taking for this project. But with just environmental concerns still

02:04:11.240 --> 02:04:15.760
 in mind, I'll not be voting yes to this project. Thank you.

02:04:15.760 --> 02:04:18.960
 >> Commissioner McDade? >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to

02:04:18.960 --> 02:04:31.640
 say, you know, very nice presentation. But as everyone knows, I'm not a big fan of apartments.

02:04:31.640 --> 02:04:39.120
 And I think true, Denton does need apartments. I think about the last public hearing the

02:04:39.120 --> 02:04:45.880
 speakers talked about they had 3,000 apartments within a one mile area. If you look in that

02:04:45.880 --> 02:04:54.440
 area which I actually live in, you're looking at almost 10,000 apartments and it's still

02:04:54.440 --> 02:05:02.040
 growing in a one mile area. I'm glad they're actually doing the traffic right there at

02:05:02.040 --> 02:05:06.640
 Dutchess. But right now I just don't think that area needs any more -- I really like

02:05:06.640 --> 02:05:13.040
 the townhouses. And we could have more of those. But as far as apartments in that area,

02:05:13.040 --> 02:05:19.160
 I just think we have too many in that area. And for that reason, I'll also vote no.

02:05:19.160 --> 02:05:28.240
 >> We've got a first and a second for approval. Any further discussion? I'll just say a couple

02:05:28.240 --> 02:05:34.320
 of words. Thank you for coming out and putting together a nice presentation. You know, this

02:05:34.320 --> 02:05:39.400
 is one of those specific use permits that I think, you know, we've done a good job with.

02:05:39.400 --> 02:05:44.320
 I think it fits with what is already developing in that area with the way we're going to connect

02:05:44.320 --> 02:05:50.620
 Dutchess eventually to Woodrow down the road. I think the concessions that you've all have

02:05:50.620 --> 02:05:59.280
 shown with the environmentally sensitive areas is being handled. I'm hoping that we don't

02:05:59.280 --> 02:06:06.600
 see an alt ESA come before us. That's my hope as this project. If this project does move

02:06:06.600 --> 02:06:13.920
 forward, that is my hope. So keep up that mitigation work, please. With that, let's

02:06:13.920 --> 02:06:29.280
 go ahead and vote on the board, please. That motion will carry for two. Okay. That will

02:06:29.280 --> 02:06:35.800
 take us to our planning and zoning matrix. And I will have the floor for that.

02:06:35.800 --> 02:06:42.440
 >> Good evening. So we actually have not had any additional council action on anything

02:06:42.440 --> 02:06:47.360
 since our last meeting, so nothing to report there. I did want to bring up some dates with

02:06:47.360 --> 02:06:53.000
 respect to our three area plans just to keep on your radar. For the northeast plan, just

02:06:53.000 --> 02:06:56.720
 a reminder that the joint meeting that had been previously scheduled for later this month

02:06:56.720 --> 02:07:01.440
 has been canceled. However, we are doing a special called PNZ meeting on November 1st,

02:07:01.440 --> 02:07:05.400
 so you should be getting calendar invites from Kathy if you haven't already received

02:07:05.400 --> 02:07:12.400
 that. And that will be to discuss the implementation strategies coming out of that plan so far.

02:07:12.400 --> 02:07:18.040
 So we'll then meet about that at a work session on the 14th of November. With the downtown

02:07:18.040 --> 02:07:23.120
 plan, you may have seen Cameron and Sean out and about at various events. That will continue

02:07:23.120 --> 02:07:28.060
 through the fall. They have a lot of public engagement going on, including great responses

02:07:28.060 --> 02:07:32.560
 that they gathered at the Jazz Festival last weekend. And we are looking at a December

02:07:32.560 --> 02:07:36.560
 5th joint meeting with city council to discuss the downtown plan. So just a date to keep

02:07:36.560 --> 02:07:42.760
 on your calendars as we move into the holiday season. And then with the southeast plan,

02:07:42.760 --> 02:07:46.640
 they're currently going through about a month's worth of intercept surveys. So you'll see

02:07:46.640 --> 02:07:52.060
 Julie and Mia out at various locations around the city, or mostly in southeast Denton, trying

02:07:52.060 --> 02:07:57.080
 to gather responses on that. I know they were at one of the schools today trying to inspire

02:07:57.080 --> 02:08:03.680
 future planners as well as get some younger opinions on the plan. So they are doing rigorous

02:08:03.680 --> 02:08:08.560
 community outreach there. And we do have a tentative plan for a joint PNZ and council

02:08:08.560 --> 02:08:11.960
 meeting about southeast in January. So you'll see more information about that as we move

02:08:11.960 --> 02:08:17.520
 along. And that is all I have to report. Great. Thank you. Is there anything to be added to

02:08:17.520 --> 02:08:26.040
 the matrix? Commissioner Pruitt. Yeah, I don't know whether this would be a formal matrix

02:08:26.040 --> 02:08:36.240
 item. I guess I have a question for staff/legal. Several of the community members and presentations

02:08:36.240 --> 02:08:45.320
 tonight have brought to my mind that the terminology planners speak of homes that are oriented

02:08:45.320 --> 02:08:50.580
 in a multifamily building is often used of units or apartments as opposed to speaking

02:08:50.580 --> 02:08:57.040
 about the homes people would live in and then speaking of an apartment building when we're

02:08:57.040 --> 02:09:05.920
 talking about the physical building. And, you know, maybe I need to be less pet peevish,

02:09:05.920 --> 02:09:12.960
 but my feeling is that that borders on dehumanizing the majority of Denton residents who do rent

02:09:12.960 --> 02:09:18.560
 and all of the new residents that could move here. So I don't know if it's something that

02:09:18.560 --> 02:09:23.240
 we need to talk about as a body to see, you know, are there that or other language that

02:09:23.240 --> 02:09:33.880
 we feel could just bring civility and unity to some of the discussions between us and

02:09:33.880 --> 02:09:38.680
 the public. And there may be other things, too, but it's just something that's been on

02:09:38.680 --> 02:09:46.280
 my mind for a while and kind of came to a point this evening. So, you know, if there's

02:09:46.280 --> 02:09:52.560
 no legal reason, for instance, or procedural reason why we have to use that type of language,

02:09:52.560 --> 02:10:01.640
 my preference would be to move to language that respects all residents. And if we need

02:10:01.640 --> 02:10:06.840
 to have a work session to discuss that so we get everybody's input, I'm fine with that.

02:10:06.840 --> 02:10:12.080
 Go ahead. We were actually just talking with Danny Shaw from Community Development last

02:10:12.080 --> 02:10:16.400
 week and we do plan to have her team come do just kind of an update for you all on the

02:10:16.400 --> 02:10:19.720
 affordable housing toolkit and some general topics related to housing. So we can look

02:10:19.720 --> 02:10:25.160
 at rolling that into that discussion. That's a good idea. Commissioner Smith, maybe to

02:10:25.160 --> 02:10:33.320
 make to quantify or make a little more concrete. My buddy Eric's trying to get to I don't think

02:10:33.320 --> 02:10:39.720
 in for all the time on commission we've ever had a demographic work session item where

02:10:39.720 --> 02:10:47.240
 we break down what is the number of, you know, units in the city of Denton that are in multifamily?

02:10:47.240 --> 02:10:51.060
 What is the number of units that are single family residential? What is the number of

02:10:51.060 --> 02:10:55.920
 units that are located in mixed use area or zoned and specifically a residential single

02:10:55.920 --> 02:11:03.920
 family residential only area? I doubt that we have hard numbers on number of rent versus

02:11:03.920 --> 02:11:10.520
 zone, but I think it might be good information that we do that on a more periodic basis for

02:11:10.520 --> 02:11:15.840
 commission, just so that as we have these types of conversations, I think there's plenty

02:11:15.840 --> 02:11:21.920
 of and assumptions and we can feel like there are hundreds of thousands of apartment complexes

02:11:21.920 --> 02:11:27.040
 around us. But in true reality, it may not be that way, or maybe we can just at least

02:11:27.040 --> 02:11:31.960
 be more informed. And so I think that it might be good to also have that demographic data

02:11:31.960 --> 02:11:36.000
 that might help to lean towards what commission approves trying to get to, which is these

02:11:36.000 --> 02:11:40.940
 are homes and diversity of housing as part of the 2040 plan and us being able to talk

02:11:40.940 --> 02:11:47.360
 about it from the data standpoint might give us a reality of, yeah, we have 40% renters

02:11:47.360 --> 02:11:51.960
 in the city of Denton. I have no clue making that number up, which comparatively against

02:11:51.960 --> 02:11:57.140
 other cities is low, high, comparable for being a college town, so on and so forth that

02:11:57.140 --> 02:12:01.220
 might be just some good perspective for us as a commission to obtain.

02:12:01.220 --> 02:12:09.320
 I think that would be an excellent work session item, yes. Okay, anything else for the matrix

02:12:09.320 --> 02:12:15.160
 or any concluding items? Commissioner Villarreal.

02:12:15.160 --> 02:12:20.260
 Yes, just wanted to remind folks that early voting for the bond election and the Texas

02:12:20.260 --> 02:12:25.400
 state constitutional election does begin Monday, October 23rd and election day is Tuesday,

02:12:25.400 --> 02:12:30.120
 November 7th. Thank you for that. And there is great information

02:12:30.120 --> 02:12:36.660
 from the city regarding the bonds, so if everybody needs information on those propositions, they

02:12:36.660 --> 02:12:46.000
 are very well documented online, so I would encourage everyone to do their homework before

02:12:46.000 --> 02:12:49.240
 voting day. Thank you for that reminder, Commissioner Villarreal.

02:12:49.240 --> 02:12:51.840
 And with that, I will adjourn us at 8 p.m. Thank you, everyone.