- Good afternoon and welcome to the city of Denton's
planning and zoning commission meeting
for Wednesday, November 13th, 2024.
Thank you for your patience while we waited for our quorum,
which we have now and I will call us to order at 5.19 p.m.
First item on our work session agenda
is citizen comment on consent agenda.
Do we have anyone here for that?
Okay, we'll move to clarification of tonight's agenda.
The first being the minutes for the 25th and 23rd,
25th of September, 23rd October.
Any questions, concerns?
Okay, consent agenda.
Any questions on the consent agenda?
Okay, items for individual consideration.
I'm gonna kind of move quickly through these, I think.
4A is an extension to December 11th.
Is there any question there?
Do you need a presentation in work session?
Okay.
Next item is 4B, ZCP 2004-0034.
Mia, I think, yeah, I'll go ahead and let you give us
a summary of that one since that is not.
Yeah, anything typical.
- No worries.
- Appreciate you.
I mean, I guess it is for Razor Ranch, but.
- It's my new normal, yeah.
- Yeah.
- All right.
Okay, Mia Hines, good evening chair,
members of the commission, Mia Hines, senior planner.
This item is a zoning compliance plan
for the Perdera at Razor Ranch.
It's a proposed multifamily development
on an eight acre property situated south of Panhandle,
just 200 feet west of North Bonnie Bray Road.
And staff is recommending approval of this item
as it meets all of the criteria for approval for Razor.
Just a little reminder,
the Razor Ranch overlay district requires
that site plans be reviewed and final approval
be granted by the planning and zoning commission.
That is why this item is coming to you this evening.
And I do have a more detailed presentation
to go over in the regular session.
- And I know we had some updated documents sent,
so I don't know if everyone had a chance to review those.
But obviously, you'll be presenting those tonight.
- Yeah, and just to cover, really the only change
is that there are some additional plantings
in the, within this landscape,
I'm sorry, this parking row here.
And then there's the transformer location DME referred to
of these utilities as opposed to the one
that was originally situated here.
So very minor changes, not to the overall site.
- Good, any questions from you?
Okay, thank you very much.
Our 4C item is like 4A, it is an extension request
to a date certain of December 11th.
Does anyone require to look at that in work session?
Okay, that'll take us to our public hearings then.
We'll get through those and get through questions.
5A is PD240003.
Hi, Angie.
- Thank you, good evening, Chair, members of the commission.
Angie Manglaris, Development Review Manager.
Give you a summary of PD240003,
the reserves at Brush Creek.
This is a proposed rezoning request from RR and R1
to a planned development district
with a base zoning of R4.
It is on approximately 15.44 acres of land
situated northeast of US377 and Brush Creek Road.
The purpose is to facilitate the development
of a 42 lot single family residential neighborhood.
It is consistent with the comprehensive plan,
specifically the future land use plan,
housing and population projections,
and the preferred land preservation plan.
Staff is recommending approval
as it does comply with our criteria for approval.
I have a more detailed presentation
that I can give during regular meeting,
but I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have now.
- Great, questions for Angie?
Angie, are we making the 42 homes part of this PD?
'Cause I didn't see that necessarily in these standards,
but are we incorporating them,
that development concept plan into this?
- Yes, so as part of the plan development plan,
the exhibits and the ordinance
include the development standards,
which are the written language, the development plan,
which is the 42 lots and their general layout,
as well as the landscape plan,
which includes those buffers and areas of open space.
So all of that is included as part of this PD,
and they are required to substantially adhere to it.
- Would it be possible that that number could go up, though,
'cause they don't have to adhere to that configuration,
do they, necessarily?
- The configuration could change slightly,
but we really only allow for minor amendments,
and an increase in homes is not contemplated
as part of a minor amendment.
That would be major and would have to come back to you all.
- Okay, sounds good.
Other questions right now?
Okay, thank you very much.
You're staying up here for the next one.
5B PDA 240002.
- Yes, this is a overlay plan development amendment request.
So the purpose here is to amend an existing plan development
with a base zoning of MN on approximately 3.18 acres
of land located just east of I-35 North,
and approximately 1,000 feet south of West Windsor Drive,
to facilitate the development
of an indoor recreation facility.
This one does have a little bit more history to it.
There was a straight zoning change
that was considered in 2020.
It was approved with conditions,
and that has translated to an overlay PD situation.
This overlay PD did establish several land use restrictions,
but did not adopt a concept plan.
So that leaves some ambiguity in what constitutes
an adjacent building, as called out
in the current overlay plan development,
and is not conducive for single building development.
At the original meeting this was considered at,
a site plan was shown with approximately seven pad sites,
and the specification was that buildings adjacent
to single family residential be restricted
to professional and medical offices.
So the purpose of this amendment is to remove
unclear language in the original PD,
as well as address concerns that the neighborhood
had related to this specific use.
It does retain original provisions
within the initial overlay PD,
including restricted land uses.
Those stay the same, as well as limited access
from Colonial Drive for emergency purposes only.
It does comply with our criteria for approval.
I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have now.
There's a more detailed presentation
for later this evening.
- Angie, do you know the hours of operation
of this proposed use?
- I do not, but the applicant should be here
this evening who could maybe speak
to the more business side of this plan.
- Okay.
Any questions, anybody?
- Thank you. - Thank you very much.
Okay, our next public hearing is 5CZ240011.
Julie is presenting that.
Hello.
- Good evening, Julie Wyatt.
Let me pull in my presentation.
See if I can find it.
Here we go.
Good evening, this is Z2411,
the DISD transportation facility.
Just a quick summary of the proposal.
Denton ISD is requesting to rezone about 10 acres
that they own from R6 to PF District.
That's consistent with our standard practices
for government-owned properties.
This is to zone at that PF District.
They are looking to relocate their transportation facility
from its existing site just northwest
of the Ryan High School campus
to just kind of north of the Ryan High School campus.
So from that yellow area to the blue.
The proposal is consistent with the comprehensive plan
and our future land use goals.
And we are recommending approval of the request.
I will be happy to answer any questions
and a representative will be attending tonight's meeting
to answer questions.
- Great.
Questions for Julie?
Julie, I was wondering if there's gas pumps
on the current site.
- Gas, oh, yes, yes.
- Right, 'cause they have fuel on the site for the,
okay, so those will be needing to be mitigated
if they're using that current space for school expansion.
Is that what I understand?
- So, and these transportation facilities
are pretty comprehensive.
It has a secure location for the buses.
It has offices.
It has fueling.
It has to be able to do some minor repairs.
So they're pretty comprehensive for their buses.
They are looking to repurpose that property
to some fields right now.
You may have noticed on the Denton ISD campuses
that they are installing,
I believe there's, on Ryan is going right here,
large athletic indoor facilities.
So they're looking to repurpose existing fields
to these athletic facilities
and finding other places on their campuses
for those fields.
In this instance, they are repurposing
the transportation facility for that.
And of course, they'll have to meet all regulations
associated with it.
- Okay.
Questions?
Yep.
Commissioner Perdon.
- Thank you, Julie.
One of the comments that we got from a community member
is security, which you said it would be a secure location.
Can you speak if there would be a fence at the location?
- Yes, so there's really two parts to the site,
and this is a straight zoning,
so it won't have a site plan associated with it,
but they have submitted it, so I have some information.
There is a secured gated area,
which that's where the buses will be.
Of course, they have drivers who have to drive
to the facility every morning,
so there's gonna be a portion outside of that gated area
for the bus drivers to park their personal vehicles
as they're driving the buses,
and then the buses, the actual,
those will be behind a fenced area.
- Okay, thank you.
- You bet.
- Anything else for Julie on this one?
Okay, thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- Our last public hearing on our agenda,
staff is requesting that we continue to December 11th.
They are gonna re-notice that we are gonna open
the public hearing and leave it open,
and then ask to continue it to December 11th.
Any questions regarding that?
Okay, all right, then let's get to our work session reports.
The first one being 3A, PZ24197.
Receive a report, hold a discussion
regarding the Tree Mitigation Fund.
And I'm not sure who is hosting that.
There we go, hello.
- Good evening, Chair and commission members.
My name is Ziad Carrot,
Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation.
And I'll pull up my...
Here we go.
In a previous Planning and Zoning meeting,
it was asked to come back with some answers
to some questions asked by the commission members
regarding the Tree Mitigation Fund.
The Tree Mitigation, as you know,
is used by the Parks Department
for a number of programs, tree planting, tree programs.
And so what I've done in this presentation
is just address your questions directly.
We'll be here to address any other questions
that may come up.
I have some additional staff members here
that can answer any specific questions
that you have about programs
or specific tree planting efforts
related to urban forestry.
So one question that was asked was,
how often is the Tree Mitigation Fund paid into
and payment is received into the fund
when plotting fees are assessed?
And so there's a standard process for that
when fees are assessed throughout that process.
And so it's, you know, as those fees come in,
it goes straight into the Tree Mitigation Fund.
And if you wanna ask me questions anytime,
please, I'll stop whenever, or we can wait till the end.
So the next question was,
what can the funding be used for?
It's very explicit in the code of ordinances,
what those funds can be used for.
Section 77.4 to be specific.
And I have another slide here that's an excerpt
from that code so that we can go through that in detail.
What recent projects have been completed with this funding?
So here's a list of projects that we've completed
in the last several years with Tree Mitigation Funding.
So most recently, we've utilized ground-based LIDAR
within parks, city facilities, and rights of way,
using, utilizing a contract that we have
with a company called Greehill.
So they've actually gone around
with a Google Street View looking car
with technology strapped to the top
that goes and inventories trees for their condition,
their type, their size within these areas
so that they can help us gather data
for informing our work process
in terms of maintaining those trees.
And so we're also working with them
on establishing an overall city-wide,
city-wide look at our tree canopy.
And so we're able to use that technology
in a number of different ways.
So the Tree Mitigation Fund is used
for those purposes as well.
For specific tree planting that has been completed
with this funding recently is annual Arbor Day Planting,
which is the first Saturday of November.
Our annual tree rate rebate program,
we planted on Shady Oaks Drive,
or we're preparing for our planting on Shady Oaks Drive,
and that's upcoming in this fall/winter.
There's a lot of steps that are involved with that
'cause every tree that we plant,
we wanna make sure that it has
adequate irrigation facilities that are connected to it.
So if it's trees that are planted in the medians,
we have to make sure that those medians are set up
for irrigation prior to any tree planting.
Hickory Creek was a recent project of medium plantings.
Joe Skiles Park, we had a major renovation
to the park recently and we utilized Tree Mitigation Fund
for planting trees along the trail within that park.
The same with Sequoia Park in the fall of 2023,
same at South Lakes Park and North Lakes Dog Park.
Last question that was asked was,
can tree funds be used to plant trees
in residential neighborhoods that would be impacted
by the development project paying into the fund?
The short answer is the funds that are paid
into the Tree Mitigation Fund are used citywide
for citywide priorities.
And not necessarily specific to a particular development.
And so the tree funds are prioritized to be used
within public parks, roadway medians and open space
that help to advance the goals and objectives
identified in the Urban Forest Master Plan.
And so we're typically utilizing those
to accomplish goals set forward
in the Urban Forest Master Plan,
which may or may not be specific
to that particular development.
So tree funds can also be used
for the neighborhood tree giveaways,
the tree rebate program that are programs associated
with Keep Denton Beautiful.
The tree giveaway is the tree your block program.
And the tree rebate program is another program
that utilizes a rebate program
for trees planted within private property.
So both the tree your block and the tree rebate program
are ways that we can work with private property owners
to get trees planted on private property.
So we use Tree Mitigation Funds
for public property planting.
And we have programs in place to help private residents
planting on private property as well.
So here's the excerpt from the Code of Ordinances.
You don't need me to read it for you.
I mean, there's specific reference in 774
in the Code of Ordinances for this,
but it's very clear what the tree funds can be used for
and it enumerates all the different ways
that it can be used, essentially,
that the Tree Mitigation Funds are in place
to help us advance our tree canopy efforts
and our environmental goals throughout the city.
And so it's very clear what kind of goals
we're trying to accomplish in the city
and that we are advancing that
with this Urban Forest Master Plan.
We included a bar graph on this slide
just so that we can have some visual
in terms of how the funding has been coming in.
The blue bar graph represents deposits
and the yellow bar graph are the expenditures
over the last 10 years.
And so you can see that there have been some fluctuation,
especially around COVID time in terms of
what has been coming in, what has been going out
in terms of being for the expenditures.
You'll notice the big yellow bar in 2019, 2020
was used for land acquisition.
And so that depleted majority of the funds in that year
to purchase East Lake Parks property in East Denton.
And so following 2019, 2020,
you'll see that we were building up the deposits
to start implementing more tree growth
or tree planting in the subsequent years after that.
And I just wanna include some projects
from our Arbor Day 2023.
This is in South Lakes Park.
And this is the tree your block program from 2021.
And so we're very excited to announce
that we have an urban forestry website created.
That is a recent development and accomplishes our goals
in the, one of our many goals
in the urban forest master plan.
So this is a link to that urban forestry website.
It has a lot of helpful resources,
has links to other webpages very soon
once we get the tree inventory processed
and visualized in a way that we're able to present it
to the public, we'll be posting that
on this website as well.
We have, as I mentioned, worked with a company
called Greenhill over the last couple of years
to inventory all these trees.
And so they're in the process of processing
the last bits of data so that they can help us
visualize through a sister company
with Davie Tree Resources to get that mapping set up for us.
And so once that is done,
it'll be live on the urban forestry website.
And we also included a couple of other links
for the tree rebates program
and also the Keep Deton Beautiful website
for additional resources.
- And with that, I'll take any questions that you may have.
- Questions?
Yep, Commissioner Perot.
- Thank you, Chair.
So full disclosure, I'm the one who asked
about the nearby neighborhood question number four
that I'm sure was confusing and a head scratcher.
My intention was really about,
I understand our development code
has street tree requirements and that sort of thing,
but the majority of our lots in the city
were developed before 2019 and before 2002.
And therefore, there's a lot of areas
that do not have street trees.
And so I guess my reading of it is you said medians,
but my reading is that if there is a,
if there is city of right-of-way
outside of the roadway cross-section,
then street trees could be planted there.
But maybe some of these neighborhoods
don't necessarily have enough right-of-way
on the edge for a tree planting.
And so in order to plant street trees in a neighborhood
that does not have them with tree mitigation funds,
you would have to actually obtain an easement
or purchase land, which my reading of that 774
is that no provisions in there would apply
toward that capability.
Is that accurate?
- Yeah, we're not actively seeking to purchase land
to plant trees on them or take their easements
or things like that.
And when I mentioned medians,
those are typically the spaces in between the lanes
versus the parkways on the outsides of the right-of-way.
- Right. - Yep.
And so a lot of that is because we control,
the city controls the area in the right-of-way.
And so, but the street trees would be planted
perhaps in the right-of-way,
but the maintenance obligations fall
to the adjacent property owners for that tree maintenance.
And so with us, the city, trying to accomplish our goals,
we can plant trees in the middle medians
to help with heat island mitigation
because the shading can get on concrete in different angles
and we have more control
over maintaining those trees in the long-term.
- Okay, I mean, there's probably grading reasons
why trees in the parkway don't require
as much active irrigation and that sort of thing, right?
- What do you mean by grading reasons?
- Well, typically a roadway is crowned,
so water's flowing away from the trees now,
whereas at the edge,
water's flowing toward those areas now,
both from the development property
as well as from the street.
- I see what you mean.
- You know, it just seems to me like
we ask a lot of residents that are impacted by development
to take one for the team, so to speak,
and endure larger change near them
for the good of the whole city.
And we have a lot of streets in neighborhoods
and in small business areas that don't have street trees.
And it's a clear need,
it's a clear benefit to our society,
it aids with stormwater retention,
it could go on and on, right?
And so I'm not saying we have to do that
or move toward that,
but it seems to me like one sort of low effort,
low lift way to make sure that
if a development is going in in area A,
and because of the particularness
of where they have to clear and build the building,
et cetera, a high portion of canopy coverage
within that area A is going away
because of the development, then amending that nearby area
with street trees that we know is traffic calming, et cetera,
might be a way to make sure that we're improving
more than just that one plot of land, so thank you.
- Other questions?
And there's nothing in the code that talks about
something like that can't be done, right?
It's just not something you're actively looking to do,
is that how I'm interpreting like?
- It's not that we are not looking for areas
adjacent to existing developments to replant,
it's that we're looking at the city holistically
in terms of trying to identify needs.
And so we look at different factors
like the heat island effect throughout the city.
We're looking at stormwater areas
that we can bolster tree planting in areas
that may have less or more need
than the areas adjacent to these developments in question.
And so I'm not saying that these areas cannot be planted.
What we aim to do in terms of those plantings
within the rights of way are in the medians, though,
not on the parkways.
And so I think that if there was a road
that kind of fit that criteria,
that was adjacent to a private development
that was removing a lot of tree canopy,
then that might be a good candidate for the city
to come in and plant within those medians.
But knowing that there are a lot of other priorities
throughout the city that need to be addressed as well.
- How are those priorities set?
- Great question.
And so right now we're looking at
the Urban Forest Master Plan as a way to revisit
after a couple of years now that it's been adopted.
We're looking at our data that is coming in
to help us establish what our inventory is
and integrate the data into a GIS kind of collaborative map
that shows those overlays of heat islands,
heat island effect throughout the city,
city-owned controlled property areas
that are lacking in tree canopy
in areas that have a greater equity need.
And so we're looking at those now actively
to help us identify those.
The last several projects that we've identified
were mainly roadways that were put in
that were lacking in tree trees for all intents and purposes,
not necessarily connected with a particular development.
But like Hickory Creek and some of those others
that I mentioned, and those park projects,
and those were projects that were very obvious
to staff that needed additional trees.
And so now that we're getting the data and required
to make those kind of city-wide looks, those are things
that are already outlined in the Urban Forest Master Plan
and we just need to put everything together
to kind of put together our, we have a five-year plan
but help refine that five-year plan
to help us get some of those larger goals met.
- Okay, that makes sense.
Yeah, and there's no timeline
on when funds have to be spent, right?
Is there-- - Correct.
- There's nothing in there that talks about
how much you can have in there
and how quick you have to use it, nothing like that.
Okay.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Thank you for enlightening us on that.
- Thank you. - Thank you very much.
Okay, our next work session report is 3B-PZ24221.
That's received report hold a discussion
regarding the Department of Parks
and Rec's master planning efforts.
Hello.
Hello, how are you?
- Good.
- So good evening.
Ramir Martin with Parks Recreation Department.
Thank you for having us,
being able to have an opportunity
to be able to talk about our master plans
and updates that we have done thus far.
And again, there are two master plans
that we're gonna give the update on
and the first one is the Parks and Recreation
and Trail System Master Plan
that was adopted in March 2022,
as well as the Aquatics Master Plan
that was recently adopted this past February in 2024.
And one of the things in these documents,
the key findings when you're looking at those first pages,
the most used facilities on there,
you have our natatorium, the Waterworks Park,
you have the dog park, Clear Creek Preservation Area,
as well as our senior center,
which allows us to be able to know
that those are areas that we want to be able to focus on
with some of our bond packages
that we will speak to in a minute.
The top reasons for not using our facilities,
this is one that we got to continue to be able to dig into
because when you look at some of the ones
that are listed on there,
again, not knowing where we're at,
not knowing the location of some of the things,
not meeting the needs of the community,
those are things we want to dig into further,
but being able to try to address those
with some of the bond issues
and as we continue to progress on that way.
Top desired amenities,
again, when you look at some of our trails,
they talk about open spaces, splash pads,
nature centers and things that way,
and then you talk about events, community events.
That's one that hopefully if you were around the city
in the month of October, you know that that was one
that we definitely tried to make some progress on
and being able to have some community events
and really be able to engage the community with that month,
but those are amenities that we're trying to be able to reach
and things we're trying to achieve through the master plan.
With the vision for the master plan and the goals,
there were six goals that were identified there
and I kind of point to the first two and the first one
because all the two that kind of, you know,
address the senior center as well as our pool amenities
where it talks about being able to complete our park system
and then being able to, you know,
make sure our park system amenities are up to
what the public is looking for and what they need that way.
So there's kind of some images of the, you know,
some of the needs that kind of speak to the senior center
as well as looking at the, you know, the pool,
the aquatics pool, the master plan or the waterworks pool,
which are two bond issues that, you know,
I speak to that way.
So you got the senior center to the active adult center
and the improvement to the water park.
So the active adult center,
that bond issue was approved last November,
which we are thankful for as you can see that that was a 47,
you know, million dollar bond, you know,
with 900 of that going to, you know, public arts
and that's design funding will begin next fiscal year, 25, 26.
And one of the things that we are now doing with that,
because you talk about the progress and challenge,
we engaged and created a departmental steering committee,
you know, that has been established,
being able to, you know, do an internal look
at trying to be able to look at the different things
of confirming that program for that facility,
research and the feasibility of, you know,
possible locations as well as identifying
future staffing needs.
And one of the things that we just spoke with,
with, you know, our finance, you know,
finance department is looking at trying to get some funds
to be able to have a consultant come in and help,
being able to help secure the right location
or being able to identify that location.
Because right now we do have two properties
that are there, three properties,
when you look at the current location and in Quaker town,
as well as you have Mac Park,
as well as some property on Orion Road where the library is,
which was kind of spoke about a little bit
as opposite of different options,
but wanted to be able to bring in the consultant
to be able to further help validate some of those,
those discussions and being able to engage the community
in those, those, those talks to make sure
we're putting the right product out there,
putting the right location and being able to have
the right type of staffing needs
to be able to support those facilities.
And so again, you just seen the pictures
of just variety of facilities across the,
across the state and across the country.
And I point out the two bottom pictures
because when I was in the County of Loudoun in Virginia,
we had five senior centers that we had built there
and the most recent one down there
where the conversation came up, Pickleball.
So you see that, again, we had a multi-purpose space
that actually has three Pickleball courts in it,
but then they're multi-purpose spaces to be able to use,
as well as the other facility down on the other side,
this kind of an active area,
kind of a passive area type of deal in there
with the like fireplace place in there.
And one of the things I looked in there
and they wouldn't let me in the senior center quite yet,
but there's a nice little fireplace
and I wanted to put a chair
because it overlooked a nice little pond and outside area,
which I try to dedicate that for myself,
but I'm no longer gonna be in Loudoun
and I'm not gonna be in Loudoun,
so I guess that's for somebody else to be able to enjoy.
And then you have a Water Works Park phase one,
which that was another, you know,
bond approved last November.
And so the whole park bond was that $33 million bond,
but 15 million of it was dedicated,
or designated for the phase one of Water Works Park,
which actually we're in current design phase of that
right now as we speak, just had a meeting this afternoon,
really trying to finalize what that plan looks like,
but that construction is scheduled to start in the summer
and be completed by the following summer for participation.
And then on that project, what was listed out in the bond
is it is going to be able to look at the projects
where there's the unique feature is that youth play feature
that's gonna be a nice signature piece
to add more usability in there,
and then being able to have more outdoor lap lane pool space
that we can use to be able to program
and have more swim lessons because within an auditorium,
there is that competition with being able to supply
the DISDs swim programs and aquatics programs,
and then there's not enough public space
when it comes to lap things,
and this will be one of those solutions
to be able to try to have those booking seasons
when you have, try to have a heated pool
where you can still do some stuff
to be able to maximize those lanes throughout the year.
So that's kind of the phase one, working through that.
One of the biggest challenges is the cost of construction
keeps going up, and trying to be able to fit that
into the budget, one of the challenges is making sure
we're able to fulfill the bond request on there
with some of those different things,
but that's where we're at on that project.
That project is getting closer to being able
to be completed that way.
So that was the pool, the two bond issues
that we had that way.
Any general questions on that or anything
that's dealing with our master planning efforts
and trying to be able to be good stewards of,
following the plans, I think that's the biggest thing
is activating those plans.
We pay a lot of money to be able to have plans,
and our job is just to be able to continue
to activate those and live through what those actions are
and trying to be able to do those recommendations.
- Questions?
Obviously on aquatics, been an awful lot of talk
about the pool in the city off Quaker Town.
I know that's just a future, right?
But can you give us any kind of idea
of how you're gonna approach that?
- Well, I mean, if you look at the master plan
for the aquatics master plan, it spells it out.
It's pretty much pretty simple.
There's three recommendations that were made
in that plan was we maintained business as usual
with that, accommodating what's there in a number two,
being able to continue to maintain those programs
until there's other facilities built
that may disperse some of the swim teams
or may disperse some of that,
and then evaluate that project there then.
And the third one is really being able to make sure
we have a capital improvement plan in place
for an aging facility.
And we know that that building is aging out,
and at some point, it's gonna have to have major repairs
or a replacement on that.
But when you're looking at, again,
that's our plan is where we're staying the course
until we have amenities that can be able to offset that
before we can make those type of decisions.
So right now, we're just business as usual.
The pool is open until further notice,
as we start to be able to look at other plans
and trying to be able to deal with what we're maybe dealing
with Southwest Park and there's other aquatic facilities
coming on, then seeing what that does
to the population in traffic.
But as of right now, we're business as usual
and staying the course.
- Any questions?
Commissioner Prudt?
- Yeah, I appreciate the information.
And certainly, our parks department is great, right?
I sung the praises of our planning department
for reaching out during the Southeast Denton Plan.
And I remember the efforts that were done
during the major parks overall plan back in the 2019
timeframe, I believe it was.
And it was, they took advantage of all the places
they could go, so not doubting that at all.
I do want to bring up a couple things
that I see as maybe evidences of the silos
in local governance that sometimes need
to be peered at and combined between sort of land use
objectives and parks and public facilities.
You know, when I read through our comp plan,
it continually talks about the synergies
of public services within the core of town
and how that can grow things together.
When I look at the history, I see back in the,
call it the '80s, I'm sure it's overgeneralization,
the suburbanization of Denton really kind of
started to grow and pop like a popcorn kernel.
And then we had a lot of people not in the core
of Denton anymore, right?
And so, for whatever reason, our downtown
has not had very many people there.
And that's why in these plans that are referred to,
they make notice that 50% of the people
using the Civic Center Pool right now are from summer camps.
Well, it's true, it's mostly true,
because people don't live downtown.
As I shared, when we adopted the downtown plan,
the residential home density downtown is lower
than that of most suburban neighborhoods that we have, right?
So we got a lot of work to do.
I see the potential for combined facilities,
and I think our downtown plan harnesses that.
It shows the importance of having some sort of parkland
in southern downtown if there's gonna be
a lot of development activity there.
I see the potential for a resurgence of students
and elderly and everybody who might want to live
in the core of our town to be able to utilize services
like the Civic Center Pool.
But it's not cheap, right?
So I understand the rock and the hard place
that our Parks Department finds themselves in,
looking at facilities and well, where could we site them
so that they would get the most use?
When I'm looking at it here from a land use perspective,
I'm thinking how can we make sure that we allow people
to live where they want so that facilities we have
can get the most use, right?
Just as sort of a better bang for the buck perspective.
So, you know, there's also reference in the comp plan
about these types of amenities affecting nearby land values
and therefore drawing more development
and that sort of thing.
So I would just ask that as we go through
the implementation phases of these plans,
we look really hard at does siting civic amenities
in the outskirts of our town align with
where we want the growth to occur?
So, thank you.
- Thank you, other questions?
What's the, how often is the master plan looked at?
Like, what is that timeline for you all?
- Typically a master plan is, you know,
five to 10 year, you know, type of deal.
I mean, with ours being just in 2022,
we're in year two and year three of it.
So there's a lot that is still needs to be unpacked,
a lot that we can still address,
but each year we look at it from a strategic plan
and try to be able to-- - Okay, that was gonna be
my next question, so annually you review that?
- Yeah, you put a strategic plan to try to be able to attack
some of those concerns or some of those issues
that were addressed in that master plan
and try to eat that elephant like one bite at a time
to, you know, kind of have a plan
where you're making the right decision,
especially when you start getting to budget time
and you start to need resources and things that way,
but really looking at how do we maximize our resources,
you know, maximize our partners.
Right now we're, and in conversations with UNT and TI,
you know, DISD because their school systems are growing,
their needs are growing.
How do we, you know, maximize those resources?
When you look at, we have a volleyball program
that's about to kick off that has grown from 45 teams
or 100 teams and serving over 2,000 youth.
And right now we're at the, you know,
the mercy of UNT to use their facilities
as well as DISD to try to use their facilities that way
where we're renters, we're users of those spaces
and how do we maximize that?
Because right now we're getting to that capacity
when we're looking at our capacity for growth
that we may have to make some of those tough decisions
of do we cap our programs?
And then we have a city that's just growing,
but we don't want to cap,
but we need those resources to be able to do that.
So I think, you know, every year we're looking at
how to be able to activate our plans,
but also living in a everyday, you know,
existence of saying, how do we strategically continue
to be able to serve?
- And so you're staying on top of any changes
that occur that you need to be on top of.
That's great, that's great.
Anything else?
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Very much. - Appreciate it.
- Yeah, I appreciate you being here
and taking the time and filling us in.
- This is what we do, you know, this is what we do.
I mean, this is a part of being able to educate on,
you know, uniting, growing, and playing together.
So hopefully you guys took a part of Halloween.
I think Gary said we're going to cancel next year
so that we're not doing Halloween for 31 days.
We're only going to do it...
(all laughing)
35 days.
- Starting early. - Starting early.
There's only what, four weeks,
four weekends in this October coming up.
So we have to find a way to maximize
that fifth week somehow, so.
- Oh, but a new review.
(all laughing)
You already found a need.
We do have another report, and that is 3C-PZ24211.
And I'm thinking we might want to do that as late as it is.
Why don't we take a quick recess, grab your food,
come back as soon as you can
so then Haley can start the presentation.
We'll go ahead and recess at 6.05.
- Good evening, and welcome to the City of Denton's
Planning and Zoning Commission meeting
for Wednesday, November 13th, 2024.
With a quorum present, I'll call us to order at 6.36 p.m.
First item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance
to the U.S. and Texas Flags.
- I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Honor the Texas flag, and pledge allegiance to thee,
Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible.
- Thank you.
First item of business for us is to consider approval
of our minutes from September 25th meeting
and October 23rd meeting.
Commissioner Villarreal.
- Move approval.
- Thank you, Commissioner Padrone.
- Second.
- Okay, we've got a first and a second for approval.
Any discussion?
Okay, let's vote on the board, please.
That motion carries four zero.
That will take us to our consent agenda for this evening.
Commissioner Villarreal.
- Move approval.
- Commissioner Padrone.
- Second.
- First and a second for approval of our consent agenda.
Any discussion?
Okay, let's vote on the board, please.
That motion carries four zero.
That will take us to items for individual consideration,
our first being 4A, FP240039.
Mia is here for presentation.
- Good evening, Chair.
Members of the commission.
Give me a second to pull up the presentation here.
Apologies, this is.
Okay, here we go.
All right, Mia Hines, senior planner.
This is a final plat for the Steward Apartment Addition
located at the southwest corner of Luke 288
and Steward Road.
At this time, the plat does not meet
all of our criteria for approval,
so we are recommending denial.
However, staff has no objection
to the request of extension to December 11, 2024.
At this time, I'll take any questions.
- Thanks, Mia.
- Any questions from you?
Thank you very much.
Commissioner Villarreal.
- Move approval of the extension request
to a date certain of December 11, 2024.
- Thank you, Commissioner Pruitt.
- Second.
- Okay, we've got a first and a second
to approve the extension request
to a date certain of December 11, 2024.
Any discussion?
Okay, let's go ahead and vote, please.
That motion carries four, zero.
That will take us to 4B, ZCP 240034.
Mia is here once again.
- Good evening again, Chair.
Good evening again, Chair, members of the commission,
Mia Hines, senior planner.
This item is a zoning compliance plan
for the Predera at Razor Ranch.
It's a, the consideration is for a site plan
for new multifamily residential development
on a lot at approximately eight acres
located south of Panhandle Street, 200 feet east,
I'm sorry, west of North Bonnie Bray.
Adjacent land uses for this development.
The property itself is undeveloped.
There are additional multifamily developments
to the north in developing multifamily
residences to the north there.
There's a medical office to the south,
an undeveloped property to the west,
and a gas-full and drainage facilities
to the east of the property.
The zoning here is the south mixed use district two,
that's the base zoning within the Razor Ranch overlay,
and the residential or multifamily residential
proposed land use that they are trying to develop
with this site is permitted under that zoning.
Just a little reminder,
we don't see zoning compliance plans often.
The Razor Ranch overlay does require site plans
to be approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission
as opposed to the typical administrative review process
that we do, and with this review,
we do have a site plan for you, landscape plan,
as well as four-sided conceptual building elevations.
We are looking to make sure that it complies
with the requirements of the Razor Ranch overlay
and the approval criteria listed here.
The site plan itself, just a little detail,
that full layout has been provided to you in your packet.
There was an update since the publication
of the backup for this meeting.
The minor changes that you might notice
from what was published and what you have received today
is that there are some utility relocates
in this northern corner of this parking row,
as well as some trees added
in place of those utilities also.
The proposal comes with a one-residential,
one-multi-family residential building with 242 units,
a total of just over 41,000 square feet of open space.
That includes a pool courtyard area
within the middle of the building,
a dog park and a pickleball court
sort of on the southern end of the building,
and then parking is per the requirements
of the proposed unit breakdown at 387 spaces.
And then this site overall has access,
two driveway accesses to Panhandle Street
as well as a driveway to the south
through this little sort of narrow strip here
onto Scripture Street.
They are meeting the landscape requirements.
The minimum landscape area requirement
for this sub-area is 10%.
They are offering 18% as well as
the minimum tree canopy coverage that is supposed to be 20%.
They are offering well over that at 37%.
They are proposing street trees,
given consideration to existing easements
and things of that nature, and parking will be screened.
All parking visible from Panhandle Street will be screened.
So here are the proposed conceptual elevations.
As you can see, they're proposing
various masonry material for the buildings.
The building itself is supposed to stand at four stories,
and that is, of course, in keeping
with the razor ranch requirements.
So again, they are meeting all of our criteria for approval,
and with that, staff is recommending approval.
At this time, I will take any questions
or comments you have.
- Thank you, ma'am.
Any questions?
Okay, thank you very much.
This time, Chair can look for discussion or a motion.
Commissioner Prueck?
- I'll move approval as presented.
- Thank you.
Second?
I'll go ahead and second.
Got a first and a second for approval.
Any discussion?
Okay, let's go ahead and vote, please.
That motion carries four zero.
That takes us to four C, FP2, four zero zero three one.
Angie is here for presentation.
(clears throat)
- Good evening, Chair, members of the commission,
Angie Manglaris, development review manager,
here to present FP2, four zero zero three one.
This is a final plat for Hobson Lane.
It's a storage facility, or proposed storage facility,
on a zoning of SC.
It is approximately 2.1 acres of land
generally situated at the northeast intersection
of Country Club and Hobson Lane.
At this time, there are some outstanding comments,
and staff is recommending denial of this final plat,
however, has no objection to the request and extension,
which could be granted to a date certain of December 11th.
This would be their first extension request.
I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have.
- Thank you.
Questions for Angie?
Commissioner Villarreal.
- Move approval of the extension request
to a date certain of December 11th, 2024.
- Thank you, Commissioner Prueck?
- Second.
- Got a first and a second to grant the extension request
to a date certain of December 11th, 2024.
Discussion?
Okay, let's vote, please.
That motion carries four zero.
That will take us to our public hearings for this evening.
I will just make note that public hearing five D,
that's the last one on the agenda,
that one will not be heard tonight,
that is being postponed to our December 11th meeting,
and that's five D A E S A two four zero zero zero three.
So with that, we'll move into five A, PD two four zero zero
zero three.
I will open the public hearing
and Angie is here for presentation.
- Thank you, Chair and members of the commission.
Angie Manglaris, development review manager,
I'm here to present PD 24 zero zero zero three,
the reserves at Brush Creek.
A little bit about this request and some site data.
This is a rezoning request from RR and R1 districts
to a planned development district
with the base zoning of R4.
You all did previously see a case on this,
the subject property a little over a year ago
in June of 2023, that was a straight zoning request.
For a total of 18 acres of land
that contemplated R6 on approximately 15 acres of land
and SC on the remainder at the hard corner of US 377
and Brush Creek Road.
At that time, several members of the public did speak,
expressing concern specifically surrounding
the residential uses, the density of R6,
as well as other residential uses
that could be allowed by right in the R6 zoning,
including duplexes and townhomes.
And the planning and zoning commission
did recommend denial of that request
and indicated this development would be best to come back
as a planned development request
where the site plan could be specified
and where the development standards
could be amended where necessary
to address some of the residential concerns.
So that's a little bit of history on this project.
So this is the rezoning request is for 15.44 acres of land.
It's generally situated at the Northeast intersection
of US 377 and Brush Creek Road.
It is predominantly open pasture.
It does have an existing residential structure on site
along with some associated accessory structures.
It is part of a larger 18 acre tract of land.
The hard corner is not considered as part of this request
that will retain the R1 zoning.
And at a future date, should the applicant wish
could come in and request a development at that time.
The future land use in this area
is predominantly neighborhood mixed use
with rural residential along the Eastern property line.
It is surrounded to the North and South by R2 and R1 zoning
in the city limits.
To the East is city of Denton ETJ.
It is a established single family residential neighborhood.
To the West is US 377.
Further West of that is PD zoning.
It is residential is the Sagebrook development
which is currently under development.
Road systems in the area to the West is US 377.
It's a North South roadway.
It is owned and maintained by TechStot.
It is designated as a primary arterial on the mobility plan.
It's ultimately planned to be a six lane undivided roadway.
At this time, TechStot's project tracker
does not have an estimated start date
on when improvements to that roadway would occur.
Brush Creek Road is located to the South
of the subject property.
It is an East West roadway.
It is designated as a primary arterial
and ultimately will be realigned Westward
connecting with Allred Road,
serving as an East West regional connection.
So the development plan,
I'm gonna talk just a little bit
about the specifics of this plan.
This is for a 42 lot single family residential development.
It is a proposed gated community
with privately owned and maintained streets.
The development standards which are adopted
as part of this PD restrict allowable uses
to single family residential homes as the primary use
along with some customary accessory uses
including an accessory structure or a detached garage.
It does have a base zoning of R4
with slightly larger lot sizes
than what is required by DDC
with 60 feet wide by 120 feet deep
versus 50 feet wide and 80 feet deep per straight DDC.
It does add the definition of lot width type B
which applies to these thoughts here.
It's really these two.
We're situated on a curve linear street.
It takes the lot width at the front line setback
rather than along the right of way.
The proposed PD location given that it's situated
at the intersection of two primary arterials
is appropriate in scale.
It does provide a transitional area
from the higher density developments
that we are seeing and expect to see along US 377
to the lower density developments
in the east in the city's ETJ.
A little bit about the landscape plan.
Along the eastern property line,
the PD does provide a 10 foot wide landscape buffer.
It consists of a six foot tall masonry wall
and a continual row of trees.
The southwestern property line of the PD district
does provide for a 15 foot wide landscape buffer
between the developing tract and the remainder tract.
The development plan includes approximately 8.6 land area
of open space.
That includes a retention pond
as well as some passive recreational areas
that are linked through an internal sidewalk.
Where street tree requirements could not be met
at our rate of one tree per every 30 linear feet,
those trees were placed in HOA lots
for a total of 15 street trees situated in HOA lots.
This was reviewed in accordance
with our general criteria for approval
as well as criteria for approval
for plan development districts.
Staff is recommending approval.
It is consistent with the comprehensive plan.
It does provide a greater level of specificity and detail
than required by the DDC.
It is intended to promote compatibility with the area
and minimize adverse impacts.
A little bit more about that.
As stated earlier, predominantly the future land use
for this area is neighborhood mixed use
which calls for predominantly residential development.
It does note that some local serving retail uses
are appropriate along the eastern property line
is some rural areas future land use designation
as you transition further east toward the city's ETJ.
The subject property does serve as that transitional area
as stated earlier from the higher intensity
and density uses along US 377
as you move east towards the city's ETJ.
The PD does limit allowable land uses
and it establishes enhanced design standards
that are intended to reduce incompatibilities.
This is also consistent with the population projections
of the 2040 comprehensive plan, specifically table 1.3
which calls for the additional need
for approximately 19,800 single family detached housing
units in the city.
This development would provide an additional 42 units.
Likewise, it is consistent with goal HN1
to develop and maintain a housing stock
that meets the needs of all residents.
There is no ESA or other areas designated
to be preserved on our maps and so it is consistent
with the preferred land preservation plan.
Just a little bit more in detail
regarding design standards and compatibility.
There are a couple standards that I'd like to point out
where this PD proposes a greater level of detail
than what will be required by the DDC by right.
So first, this PD is not introducing any new
or incompatible activities to the area.
As I said, they are restricting the allowable uses
in the zoning to single family residential
and customary accessory uses.
When residential is developing adjacent
to existing residential, the DDC compatibility
buffer requirements do not require any additional buffering
between those two land uses.
The applicant is providing a 10 foot wide landscape buffer
along the eastern property line of the PD
where adjacent to existing single family.
Likewise, a 15 foot wide landscape buffer
is being provided along the southwestern property line
of the PD district next to the undeveloped out parcel.
The landscaped HOA lots are intended to provide
some visual relief along public rights of way
and the PD is proposing a slightly larger R4 lot size
which will maximize distance between the existing homes
in the proposed new development.
Public outreach was conducted in accordance with state law
and the Denton Development Code.
This property is, as we stated,
bordered by some land area in the ETJ.
So six notices were mailed to property owners
within 200 feet and 70 postcards were sent out
to those within 500 feet.
Several emails have been received since the packet did go out
and those have been forwarded to you.
Since the last time a case on this site was considered
by the Planning and Zoning Commission,
the applicant has held three neighborhood meetings.
Staff is recommending approval
as it meets our general criteria for approval
as well as criteria for approval
for plan development districts.
The next step would be city council on December 3rd.
I am happy to answer any questions you all may have.
The applicant is also here with a presentation
and they can answer any questions you have.
- Great, thank you Angie.
Questions for Angie?
Quick one, with Sagebrook you mentioned it's zoned PD.
It does not have an underlying zoning?
- It does, it may be R6,
but I can check that real quick and come back and confirm.
- Yeah, and that's what it looks like to me as well.
- It's R6, yes, it's R6.
- Yeah, okay, very good.
Thank you.
Anything else for Angie?
Okay, with that then, we'll go ahead
and invite the applicant down for presentation.
Hi, if you'll give us your name,
your time will begin.
- Hello, good evening commissioners.
My name's Omar Awais.
I am the owner of Kana Capital
and we are representing the owner of this property
under our Kana Consulting business.
And you wanna introduce yourself as well?
- Addison Rogers, I'm the director
of community planning for Toll Brothers.
- Great.
I think we have a presentation.
(Annie laughs)
Is it up here?
- Sorry, yeah.
- There we go, awesome.
All right, good evening commissioners.
It's good to see you again.
Last time you saw me was about a year ago
and I wanted to quickly go through some of the history here.
Just as a reminder, I know Angie did a great job
with going through everything that's happened
over the last year on this.
But this property has been presented to PNZ
more than just one time.
I think it's probably three, maybe even four times.
And it started off with a multifamily proposal
that obviously didn't go through.
It went to a different kind of multifamily.
That didn't go through.
And then the last time was with me and I came in
and we presented an R6 zoning
and presented 40 foot lots in the neighborhood.
I wanna say it was somewhere in the range of 60 to 75 lots.
I forget how many lots it was.
And obviously that was denied due to a lot of opposition
from both the neighbors and then several comments
that we received from PNZ.
So since we started working on this project,
we've held neighborhood meetings,
quite a few of them, six total neighborhood meetings.
And we've had attendance from a lot of the residents.
The folks that we've invited to these neighborhood meetings
were not just people within the city of Denton.
It was also with folks within the ETJ.
We wanted to reach out to everybody
that was surrounding the area
to make sure that neighbors were involved in this process.
Now we've obviously received a lot of comments from neighbors.
The biggest one is we'd rather not see anything developed here.
Short of that, we were trying to take as many comments
as we can from the neighbors
and try to incorporate as much as we possibly can
into the plan while also making it possible
for us to develop it.
So I went through just five really five big points here
on what we've done since the last time we've been here.
One of the biggest comments that we got was
if you do an R6 zoning,
by right you might be able to do duplexes and townhomes
and potentially high density type development out here.
The recommendation was to come back with a PD
with a set number of lots, single family,
and a whole bunch of other requirements and restrictions,
which I'm sure you're all familiar with the PDs
in the city of Denton.
They can be very detailed and quite a bit of work goes
into pulling those documents together.
So we've pretty much spent the last year going through that.
One of the other comments we got was neighbors to the east
really wanted some privacy on the east side backing up
to their houses.
So it was suggested that we put up a six foot masonry
screening wall on the east side.
We did that.
In addition to that, we also put a landscape buffer
so that we can plant a whole bunch of trees all the way down
and provide even an extra layer of privacy on there.
So you can see that on the exhibit there
where the green line is on the east side of the property.
One other comment we got was from the neighbors.
That was not from you commissioners was bringing homes
in the two to $300,000 range with impact values
for specialty properties to the east.
One really only way to be able to help accommodate
some of those comments was to turn this into a,
more of a luxury neighborhood.
And the way to do that is really two ways.
One, which is increase the size of the lots
so you can increase the size of the homes
which we've done here.
We went from 40 foot lots to not 50 foot lots,
but 60 foot lots and reduced our lot countdown to 42 lots.
The second thing we did was convert this
to a gated community, which allows us to be able
to build more luxurious home in this neighborhood
and allows us to be able to charge more per square foot
because gated communities help us accommodate that.
One other comment that we received also last time
we were here is you all wanted very specific information
on who the builder was gonna be and pictures and images
of what houses were gonna be built here
just to be able to visualize what this neighborhood
is gonna look like.
So we're happy to say that we have Toll Brothers on board.
I'm sure you're all very familiar with Toll Brothers.
They're very big in DFW.
They're actually very big nationally.
They're a great luxury builder all around the Metroplex.
I know they have some projects in Denton
that they're doing right now,
along with a lot of other surrounding cities.
So I invited Addison here with me
right after I finished with this slide.
He'll go through exactly the houses
that we're planning on building in this neighborhood
so everybody can get a good look
of what that's gonna look like.
Back to the gated community.
One of the comments that we also received
was maintenance on public streets
and reducing the burden on the city
to maintain streets for new developments.
That was another reason that we converted this
to a gated community so that the HOA and the residents
can maintain the streets and it wouldn't be
an additional burden on the city of Denton.
Really, all in all, look, we've gone through this
for quite some time now.
As the developers, I feel like we've given up
quite a bit for this property and to accommodate
what surrounding residents want,
what you all commissioners would want,
and what the city would like to see.
We've really tried to provide a really nice product here,
something that the city can be proud of,
something that we can be proud of,
and we've readjusted and reworked through the land plan
many, many times at this point,
and I feel like this is something that will not only
be able to allow us to be able to develop this property
that's been sitting out here for a really long time,
but it would also allow us to build something
that works in this area.
It's a good transition spot between the acre lots
to the east and the 40, 50 foot lots to the west,
and having Toll Brothers on board to do this
only adds to the legitimacy of the project
along with the luxurious and beautiful aspects
of the homes that we're gonna be able to build here.
So I'll stop talking here and we'll go to the next slide
here and I'll let Addison start going through Toll Brothers.
- Appreciate it, Omar.
So as I mentioned earlier, my name's Addison Rogers,
Director of Community Planning for Toll Brothers
here in Dallas.
For any of you guys that may not be overly familiar
with Toll, who we are, we are a national home builder
currently building in about 60 markets across 24 states
and across this great country.
With that said, up in front of you is this slide
that's from our website.
It kinda highlights the pillars of who we are as a company
and what we believe.
Most specifically, the idea that we wanna build
in prestigious locations, communities like the Preserve
at Brush Creek and Denton.
We have featured distinctive architecture
that also goes with unrivaled choice.
That's kind of the combination of the uniqueness
of the plans that we bring as well as our individual
selections that we offer to our buyers,
be that as offered options inside of the home
or structural options that they can add
to make each individual home unique
to their individual family
and how they intend to use the property.
And lastly, it's that idea of extraordinary customer service
from the second that you walk into
any one of our model selling centers
through the last end of warranty meeting
that you'll have with our team
as your home expires the structural foundational warranty
many years down the line.
Our goal is just to deliver an experience to our buyers
that's unmatched in the new home production world.
With that, we're just gonna chat quickly
on some of the intended architectural styles
that we would love to see built in this community.
Very similar, if you guys are familiar
with our Vickery project down in Copper Canyon,
you can see some of this architecture
that's been built in that community.
As Omar mentioned, we're also currently building in Denton
in our Parkview community, which has been a great success
for both us and I believe the city of Denton as well.
In front of you, this is our Hill Country elevation.
So this is an ode to kind of the both Hill Country in Texas
and more Southwestern architectural style.
These plans are gonna feature stone as well as some stucco
and some metal roof accents.
Again, just really calling into
that Southwestern architecture.
Our Tudor elevations are a modern spin
on what has been a very traditional plan.
Those are gonna be a painted brick
as well as the just modern steep pitch roof lines
as you would see common to a Tudor plan.
Classic, this is a minimalist plan, if you will.
The devil here is in the details.
It's in the small brick detailing,
the soldier courses, brick rows.
And again, that painted brick, just super elegant
when delivered as we can in our communities.
Modern farmhouse, contemporary twist
on a staple that built this country
across the United States.
Again, vertical board and batten
as a primary distinctive decorative feature
as well as some stone stucco and brick work as well.
And then last one that we'll talk about quickly
is just our Mediterranean,
whether that be products similar to like a French Riviera
or more on the Iberian Peninsula
or even towards the GNC area in Greece.
But these are that typical low pitch,
they will have a tile roof that you can see is,
again, super popular both in North Texas
and a classic piece of architecture.
With that, any questions?
We're here.
Let me find, I'm gonna switch my screen back
to see if we've got any questions for you.
Commissioner Villarreal.
- Thank you, Chair, this is for Omar.
Appreciate you coming back with this compromise plan.
I know in the backup material,
and you mentioned during your presentation,
that you had three additional meetings with the community.
At the end of the meetings, the community,
were they amenable to your compromise plan?
Were they amenable to the changes you were making?
- So I'd say, in all honesty, 75% were probably not.
We had a meeting a couple of weeks ago,
one person showed up to that meeting
and they were not on board with the project.
Even we tried to explain everything that we've done.
The meeting before that was probably a little bit better.
There were some conversations about what can we possibly do
and we talked about that,
including the fence on the east side,
including the pond and having the fountain in it
and all the landscaping going on there
and making it gated and talked about traffic issues
and the TIA that we did.
So we really tried, it's a judgment call.
I guess we'll find out tonight.
I'm sure you'll hear a lot of opposition to this,
but we really did try the best that we could
and took a lot of the comments and just did what we could.
I think intent is a really important thing here.
The fact that we reached out to residents
that were not in the city of Denton, that were in the ETJ,
just to make sure, because they're neighbors,
we wanted to make sure we did the right thing.
We invited everybody we possibly could to these meetings.
We send out things in the mail.
We reached out to HOAs to let them know,
to blast it out that there's a neighborhood meeting happening.
So we did the best we could,
but I obviously can't make everybody happy.
- Appreciate your perspective.
Looking forward to hearing from the community.
Thanks. - Yep, thank you.
- Thanks.
Anything else for our applicant?
Omar, let me ask you this.
With the line of trees that will buffer that neighborhood,
to the east, what are you thinking, envisioning?
'Cause all those have to be planted, right?
There's nothing there now.
- There's nothing there now.
So not only is there a line of trees,
there's also a six foot brick screening wall
in addition to that.
I believe we call out the type of trees
that we have on there.
What will end up happening is once those houses are built,
'cause you don't wanna plant the trees too early
and then home building starts, you tear those trees up.
So what will happen is part of the development,
we'll put the screening wall up
to provide that privacy immediately.
And then once the houses are built,
with every house that gets built,
Toll Brothers will come in and they put the trees
in the backyard within that easement.
All that's included not only in the PD,
but it's included in the CCNRs and the HOA guidelines
to make sure that those trees get planted.
Whether Toll decides to wanna do them or not, it can't.
It's in the CCNRs and it has to be done that way.
Otherwise, the HOA will have to come in and do it for them.
- Okay, good, great.
Anything else at the moment?
Okay, we'll let y'all sit down and we'll call you back up
if we've got other questions.
- Perfect, thank you for your time.
- Sure, thank you.
I don't have any cards wishing to speak.
I've got a couple of cards not wishing to speak.
So when I call you, if you want to speak
and you've changed your mind, please raise your hand.
If you will then give all the cards, please,
to our secretary, that would be great.
That way I'll have the cards.
(laughing)
In the meantime, I'll call out what I have now.
Jay Suk is in opposition, not wishing to speak.
David, it's hard for me to read that.
David and Shen Brunson in opposition, not wishing to speak.
Amy Blackburn in opposition, not wishing to speak.
Okay.
Let's see, I've got Carol Hasley is wishing to speak
or I probably said your name wrong and I apologize.
- Hi. - Hi.
- If you could just state your name, your time will begin.
- Carol Hasley, I live in the hills of Argyle
which is right behind this development.
I'm gonna admit that I'm not really prepared.
We were here last time when it was the other proposal.
I guess I wanna know with a,
it came up last time, this whole plan development.
How do we hold them to what they say
if it gets approved because those are the details
I don't understand.
I'm still not sure that R4 sounds like the right buffer.
Gated community, how do they,
what happens when they don't do that?
What happens when it's not gated?
What happens when it's not the luxury development?
Can you, yeah, I just have a lot of questions
so every instinct in me is to still be opposed to it.
- Thank you for sharing that.
I'm gonna actually have Tina address some of your questions
'cause yeah, most of your concerns
are actually written in this PD, so.
- Thank you, I was trying to make sure
I get all of your questions.
So the main issue regarding how do we hold them
to what is being presented.
So the plan development district standards
that are included in the agenda packet this evening
have all of the development requirements
that Ms. Manglera spoke to.
So the plans that were included
as part of the agenda materials
will be attached to the ordinance
and that is what we enforce.
The pictures that are shown regarding the builder,
the plan development district does not stipulate
which builder has to build within the neighborhood.
So while the applicant currently has Toll Brothers
in partnership with them, there's no guarantee
that Toll Brothers would actually be the builder
associated with that.
That could change.
We do not stipulate within
plan development district regulations
what builders build within the development.
Regarding the R4 being the correct buffer,
based upon our analysis and looking at the zoning
in the area, we believe that the R4 district
would be appropriate, especially given the concerns
that were expressed at the prior meeting
with I believe it was the R6
that was previously presented several months back.
And then regarding the gated requirement,
so that is included within the plan development district
and so if this request were ultimately be approved
by city council, then the private streets
and gated requirement holds true.
If the applicant in the future, Ursus Magus,
if this development is approved and the lots get built
and residents live there and later on the residents
decide that they no longer want to maintain the streets,
they would have to have the zoning amended
to remove that requirement.
And then, and I guess your last point was the builder,
so I've addressed that.
So I believe I addressed all your questions.
- Thank you, Tina, I appreciate it.
Next card I have is Dennis Brown.
I think it says Brown, I'm sorry if it doesn't.
(Tina laughs)
- I'm Dennis Brown. - Hi there.
- I'm a resident of Country Club Village.
I think the proposal sounds great and it looks great,
but being the city of Argyle,
those students or those will go
to Argyle School District, correct?
We're overcrowded.
I don't know if you've ever been down Brush Creek Road,
but the roads on the side are falling off,
the construction and so forth.
You can hardly even get down.
It's a 30 mile an hour road.
Would this, would they be required
to fix that road or something?
Or is that the city that would have to fix that road?
'Cause right now, they have an entrance going in there.
That road is absolutely atrocious.
I mean, the plan looks great and so forth,
but they're going to our school that's already overcrowded.
Our taxes are through the roof
and it's just gonna put more children at our school
that our school taxes and stuff would be paying for.
And I don't know if they, when Buckeyes is put in,
they always put in the road infrastructure and so forth,
but that road right there at Brush Creek
is absolutely atrocious.
And I don't know how I can support going into there
and putting more traffic on 377 and Brush Creek.
So, that's my concerns.
- Thank you for sharing them.
Angie, can I invite you down, please,
while we've got these questions right in front of us,
for you to address anything.
Does the developer have to do anything
with regard to the road right now?
And have you talked to Argyle ISD
or has the developer with regard
to this development going in?
- I did connect with Argyle ISD.
I'll address that one.
That's the easier one first.
Just to see what the development was on the radar
and also to predict how many students
that this development would produce.
We have our own equation for DISD,
but rely on Argyle ISD as they're their own experts.
They do predict that this would add 31 students
to the district.
I did not receive any indication
that that was a number that could not be accommodated
by the schools.
So that's the information I have from Argyle ISD on that.
Regarding Brush Creek Lane or road,
it is designated on the 2022 mobility plan
as a primary arterial.
At this time, it is not at primary arterial status
and the developer is required to dedicate
to achieve one half of the ultimate right of way.
So primary arterial has an ultimate right of way
of 135 feet along their property line.
They're required to dedicate to achieve 67 and a half feet
as well as make those improvements
along their property line.
Ultimately, at a future date,
I don't have that date, it's not slated yet,
but Brush Creek is slated to be improved
as a primary arterial,
serving as that ultimate east-west connection
really throughout the city.
It would connect into Hickory Creek Road
further to the east and then as you move west to Allred,
providing for that east-west primary arterial connection.
So those improvements are obviously longer term,
whereas the applicant is required
to improve their frontage with construction.
- Great, thank you for addressing that.
I'm gonna continue to read cards that I have.
David Haslees is in opposition,
does not wish to speak unless they've changed their mind.
Okay.
Alexander Allen,
not wishing to speak?
Okay, in opposition.
Lane Tidwell,
in opposition, not wishing to speak?
Okay.
And Charles Cassidy,
in opposition, not wishing to speak?
Or would you like to?
If you would like to, yeah,
please come down to the microphone
and the floor will be yours as soon as you give us your name.
- Yes, Charles Cassidy, Hills of Argo.
I was just curious regarding the meetings he mentioned
to the neighbors.
So as far as the neighbors in the area,
did you receive an invitation?
- If you could speak into the microphone, I'm sorry.
- I'm sorry.
So show of hands for neighbors in the area.
Okay, in the area.
Did you receive an invitation to any meeting?
Okay, thank you.
- Okay, thank you.
I don't have any cards in front of me.
Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?
Okay, with that, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing.
I'm gonna open the floor for discussion or a motion.
Omar, I do have a question for you,
if you don't mind coming back down here,
'cause I'm gonna ask that with what was just brought up.
Can you tell me where you mailed to?
- We have a list, we got a list from Angie about,
I wanna say, was it a year ago or so?
Whenever we started doing the whole neighborhood
meeting thing, we have a list of addresses,
and we've got, I can provide that list to you
after this meeting.
It's the same list that we've sent it out
for all six meetings.
- It's the notification.
- Well, not only the notification, no,
we also added to it the properties to the east.
I'm not sure why folks haven't received it,
but we have, I can provide that list to you.
There was, Tara, how many were there on that?
- About 32. - 32.
So we sent out 32 bailers to folks for these meetings
within two weeks of any meeting before it was held.
So, again, not sure where, why people were receiving it,
but folks showed up to the meeting.
- Well, yeah, I guess I'm assuming you didn't hit
all of Hills of Argyle.
- Yeah, it wasn't the entire Hills of Argyle, exactly.
Yeah, it was people within an X distance.
- Yeah, 'cause I think, yeah, there's only
maybe a street that comes within that 500-foot buffer
anyway, yeah, okay, that makes sense.
Okay, thank you, I appreciate that.
- Thank you.
- Commissioner Pruitt.
- Thank you, Chair.
A question for staff about some utility locations
and how that works out.
Sorry, the map, the GIS map I'm looking at,
I think it used to have water and wastewater layers
on there, and I don't see it now.
So, I'm just trying to understand, would this water
and wastewater service be extended southward along 377
from the north of Hickory Creek?
Where are utilities coming from, and who pays
for the extensions from, and where do they exist to?
Does that make sense?
- Sure, and I would have to go back
and look at the utility plan.
You are correct, our infrastructure's not available
on GIS anymore for...
Legal reasons, security reasons.
It has been reviewed by our engineering team,
as well as representatives from our water
and wastewater departments, and they have determined
that the connections can be made.
I do believe that they were from the north,
but again, I would wanna verify on that plan
before answering with certainty.
But no capacity issues were identified,
and they did receive the okay to move forward
with the plans as presented from a utility aspect.
- Okay, yeah, I guess I'm just trying to identify
whether this would require non-pipe infrastructure
that would have to move into the city's capital plan
or not, be it lift stations or pump stations
to achieve pressure, given there's a Hickory Creek corridor
north of here, and that sort of thing.
So maybe you don't have all the answers,
but if there's any way to speak to that
or give me any information, I'd appreciate it.
- Sure, and I can certainly,
I don't have all the information.
To my understanding, there was no lift station needs
identified as part of this project,
but if it's okay with you and members of the commission,
I'd like to report back with more firm answers than that.
I can send it out to you all via an email
as part of a follow-up and include it in the council backup
so that information is provided.
- Okay, thank you. - Thank you.
- Thanks, Angie, I don't see any other questions
at the moment.
Yeah, are there any questions, discussions?
Motion?
Okay, well, I'm gonna go ahead and move approval
and I'll say why.
This plan, compared to anything we've seen on this,
it makes sense being transitional
from the rural houses around it,
with the density that's across the street,
and this is less, with the restrictions in the PD
with regard to lot size, with the gated community.
There has been engagement in the neighborhood.
We do have a lot of opposition cards here.
Unfortunately, I don't know exactly why.
One concern was raised that, how is this guaranteed?
And those questions were answered.
The rest, unfortunately, I don't know why,
we don't know why, we didn't hear why.
So that would be helpful, but without that,
I have to go with what staff presented
with what I know and what I can see
with the project presented, and it's a good plan.
I hope it is Toll Brothers if this does go forward,
because they're a fantastic builder.
It would be great to have in the city of Denton
another project by them.
So with that, I do motion approval.
And we'll see if anyone would like to second that.
Okay, seeing none, we will pull that.
So we do have to take action, Commissioner Villarreal.
- Move denial.
- Got a first for denial.
Okay, Commissioner, well, we do have to take action on this
so we could continue the discussion.
Please, Hillary.
- Observing that we have four commissioners present
and that there is some reluctance to second either motion.
A third option, main DB to motion to continue.
- Continue to where we have a bigger commission.
- That wouldn't result in a tie.
- Well, we can't even get a motion on the floor
at the moment.
Okay, we do have utility information, okay.
Well, with that, since we don't have a second there,
go ahead, Tina, with your information, please.
- So I received correspondence from the staff
that there is water, existing water to the north
and then also sanitary sewer available to the south.
- Commissioner Pruitt.
- Okay.
I'll move approval, but I have a few thoughts
and thank you for that update, Tina.
These types of applications are what happen
when we do the whole baby bath water thing.
I don't feel that this commission has a
mandate to continue the segregation
of economically separated housing in this city.
I don't feel like extending development
south of Hickory Creek is wise from a fiscal
or growth perspective.
Will it happen and come north to us?
Yes.
With that said, there are some benefits
to how this sausage is made
and we'll just see what happens with four members.
Thank you.
- So your motion is to--
- Sorry, I move approval.
- I will second.
So now we've got a first and a second
for approval on the floor.
Discussion, thoughts?
Okay, let's go ahead and vote, please.
Okay, that motion will pass 3-1.
That will move it to city council.
Angie, you told me December 3rd it will go to city council.
That will take us then to our next public hearing,
that is 5B PDA 240002.
I will open the public hearing
and Angie is here for presentation
and we will give it just a couple of minutes
for the room to clear.
(people chattering)
Okay.
(people chattering)
- Amy, just there.
- Yes.
(coughs)
(people chattering)
- That is a loud group.
Yeah, I think you can go ahead and start with microphone,
I'll drown that out a bit.
- All right, chair, members of the commission,
Angie Megler is development review manager,
here to present to you PDA 240002.
This is elite hospitality, Pickleball and Restaurant.
So a little bit about this request.
This request is to amend
an existing overlay plan development district
with a base zoning of MN.
This is approximately a 3.185 acre tract of land
as currently undeveloped.
It's located east of I-35 North
and approximately 1,078 feet south of Windsor Drive.
It has a future land use designation of low residential.
Zoning in the vicinity is varied.
To the north is existing PDMN.
To the northeast east, southeast and south
is residential zoning, R6 and R3.
To the west is I-35 North
and further west of that is highway corridor zoning.
So as stated, this is a request to amend
an existing overlay plan development
and I'd like to spend a little bit time to talk about
the current zoning on the property, which is PDMN.
So back in 2020, there was a straight zoning case
for this piece of property from R2
to mixed use neighborhood.
At the time that this was considered,
to address several neighboring concerns,
the applicant proposed several conditions.
And those conditions were attached to the adopting ordinance
creating what we call today an overlay PD.
Some of those conditions that were adopted
at the time of the zoning ordinance
were prohibiting several land uses
that included hotels, motels, bars, taverns,
multifamily developments,
establishing site design requirements,
specifically requirements that restrict buildings
adjacent to residential zoning
to be medical and professional offices.
And so we have residential zoning,
as stated to the east and to the south,
as well as some parking orientation requirements.
The purpose of this amendment is really twofold.
The PD overlay at the time did not adopt a concept plan,
creating a bit of ambiguity
and how to enforce some of these standards,
specifically the adjacency requirements.
The site plan that was shown at that PNZ meeting
contemplated a garden-style development
with approximately seven padstites.
Those conditions are not necessarily conducive
to a single building development on this lot.
So it's to remove challenging and problematic language,
as well as to incorporate additional language
to address concerns as it relates
to the development of this site
as an indoor recreational facility.
So that's a little bit of the history.
This proposed plan development, overlay plan development,
as stated, removes some of the language
in the original adopting ordinance
that limits uses adjacent
to the eastern and southern boundary.
It does retain all of the same prohibited land uses,
as well as the restricted access from Colonial Drive.
So access from Colonial Drive,
which is just to the south of the site,
remains as emergency only.
And it does add several provisions
to address neighboring concerns,
including height restrictions,
enhanced landscape buffering requirements,
increased setback requirements,
and building design specification standards
specific to the development
of an indoor recreational facility.
This was reviewed against our general criteria for approval,
as well as our criteria for approval for plan development.
Staff does find that it is consistent
with those criteria for approval
and is recommending approval.
As stated, the future land use for this site
is low residential,
which does predominantly envision lower density
single-family residential neighborhoods,
ranging from one acre lots up to five units per acre.
Low residential future land use category
also recognizes that land uses
that support residential neighborhoods
may also be appropriate in this area.
While the proposed development is not consistent
with the intent that this developed
predominantly as low density residential,
it is consistent with the idea
that supporting land uses in residential areas
may be appropriate within the low residential category.
Furthermore, given the site's proximity to I-35
and specifically its access on I-35 frontage roads,
it's unlikely that this site does develop
as low density residential,
and the PDM and zoning that exists today
is appropriate for this site's location.
It's also consistent with the fiscal
and economic vitality goal
to increase Denton's tourist and economic potential.
The intent is to develop this
as an indoor pickleball facility.
Pickleball is a growing sport, increasing in popularity,
with its strategic location along I-35,
just north of the razor range overlay developments.
This does further our goals towards increasing
some of that tourism to Denton.
There are several design standards that are incorporated
to address any compatibility issues as well as concerns.
One of those is limiting the maximum building height
to 36 feet, by right, buildings in MN zoning districts
could be up to 41 feet, 65 feet is allowed with an SUP,
so this would limit that height to 36 feet.
The proposed development does propose
a 15-foot wide landscape buffer
along the southern and northern property lines
were adjacent to single-family residential uses,
so that would be this corner up here were adjacent to R6
as well as this southern property line,
and a 20-foot wide landscape buffer
along the eastern property line.
This landscape buffer shall include 30 points
from the DDC's Table 7 Point G.
The proposed development plan also incorporates
a 35-foot rear yard setback,
and then incorporates some specific design standards
should this develop as an indoor recreation facility,
and that includes a butterfly roof element,
which you can see in this concept drawing here,
kind of the V-shaped roof line,
as well as some specific architectural variation
requirements, including that no more than 30 linear feet
without having a horizontal or vertical break
along that facade.
Public outreach was conducted in accordance
with both state law and the DDC.
Mailed notices were sent out to property owners
within 200 feet, as well as the courtesy notice
within 500 feet.
We did receive one response that is within 200 feet
via an email that was forwarded to you all.
The applicant has held six neighborhood meetings.
I'll let them speak to their specific engagements
on this property.
Staff is recommending approval, as it is consistent
with our general criteria for approval,
as well as that for PDs.
The next step would be city council on December 3rd.
I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have.
As I said, the applicant is here.
I believe they have a short presentation,
and they could also answer any questions.
- Great, thank you, Angie.
Any questions right now for Angie?
Okay, thank you.
I do have the applicant's card right here,
so I'll go ahead and invite Amy Bissett up
for her presentation. - Good evening, commissioners.
Amy Bissett, 97 Lynn, 109 North Elm, Denton 76201.
I'm gonna pull up my slides real quick.
Hopefully, there we go.
I did watch the work session discussion this evening,
so I do wanna start by doing my best to answer
the one question that came up during work session.
Chair Ellis, you asked about operating hours specifically.
We have had multiple conversations with our client
about operating hours.
This is their first facility like this,
so they don't have a solid answer for that.
They do not have set operating hours yet.
However, what you can expect is that it would operate
in the morning hours like a gym, so opening early,
and operate into the evening hours like a restaurant,
so would be open later on Friday and Saturday nights,
but typically closing around the time that restaurants
would close on weekdays and weekends.
That's what we know so far about that.
You already know the location,
so I'm gonna skip over that.
I do wanna talk a little bit about the zoning
that was done in 2020.
We have met with the neighbors six times,
and I've had multiple one-on-one conversations
with neighbors as well, and one of the first things we did
with our first neighborhood meeting was acknowledge
the fact that there had been considerable concessions
made in 2020 with the PD overlay that was approved back then,
and set out our goal to comply with as many of those
conditions as possible, or to come up with alternative
conditions that best address the neighborhood concerns.
This was the concept plan that was presented back in 2020,
and I do wanna go over it just a little bit
so that we can talk about how our initial concept plan
attempted to comply with this.
As Angie said, there were seven buildings.
They were ranging in size, and the ones closest
to the eastern property line and the southern property line
were restricted to be single story,
and then this connection to Colonial Drive
was restricted to be emergency access only.
Additionally, there was use restrictions
that the buildings closest to the residential neighbors
would be restricted to professional and medical offices,
clinics, or residential uses, and that the parking
on the east shall be located between the buildings
and the east property line to provide a buffer
to the residential.
Our client who owns this property today purchased it
after this PD was approved, and while their proposed land
uses are permitted under this PD as it exists today,
the way these restrictions are written
make it infeasible to develop currently.
So the prohibited land uses that were there,
that were adopted in 2020, we are proposing
the same prohibited land uses today.
I do wanna point out that what is permitted
under the current zoning is an indoor recreational facility,
including concessions and including a restaurant,
which is what we're proposing today,
so we're not proposing a change to the allowable land uses.
An indoor pickleball facility is what's being proposed,
and you can see this was our initial concept plan,
and just to kind of toggle back and forth
between the former concept plan and this one,
we tried to comply as much as we could,
including putting the parking between
the eastern property line and the buildings,
and trying to configure the site in a way
that was as consistent as possible.
We did hold a total of six neighborhood meetings.
We had two in March, where we presented
that initial concept plan that you just saw.
We received quite a bit of feedback from that,
which I'm gonna go through with you in a moment.
We went back to the drawing board,
came back in June with a new concept plan,
which is generally consistent with what you see tonight,
and after we went through city staff review,
which started in June, we went back
with two more meetings in September
to just confirm the details and go over
all the specifics with the neighbors.
Of those six meetings, we had about five to 10,
on average, per meeting.
So our initial meetings in March,
the concerns that we heard from the neighbors included,
our dumpster location was near the residential property line,
and they were concerned about food waste
and associated pests that might be attracted.
And the location of parking,
while they had preferred the parking
to be between the buildings and the property line,
in 2020, the preference of the neighbors as a whole
in our engagement was that they did not want the parking
to be between the building and the property line.
They were concerned, we had in this initial concept,
some outdoor pickleball courts.
They were concerned about noise pollution,
and specifically the noise of those outdoor courts,
which you'll see in our new concept plan.
We have removed those, and everything is indoors,
other than just a courtyard that's nestled
between buildings that proposes no sports use.
They were concerned about the possibility
of people coming into the neighborhood through,
there's an existing sidewalk easement
that comes across the north end of the property line here.
They didn't want people coming from the development
into their neighborhood by utilizing that sidewalk easement.
They were concerned about serving food and alcohol.
That is one of the two concerns
that we have not addressed of theirs.
However, food and alcohol in a restaurant
would be permitted under the zoning as it is today,
and that's an integral part of their business plan.
So it is proposed as a part of this development.
It would be a restaurant that is interior to the facility.
And then secondly, the neighbors to the northeast of us
have significant drainage issues that exist today.
They experience flooding on their property today.
We've seen videos of it, we've seen photos of it,
and they have drainage concerns that are valid,
that occurred when the development to the north
went in several years ago.
You all know that the best we can do to address that
is to comply with the drainage criteria that exists today,
which would prevent us from creating
more of an adverse effect on their property.
So this is kind of our site plan today.
I'm gonna zoom in on it in a minute
and just point out a few features.
But we did relocate the dumpster to the front
of the property to get it as far away
from the residential uses as possible.
We relocated the parking, we moved it to the north end
of the lot and pushed the building to the south end.
We removed the outdoor pickleball courts,
this little area in the middle here
is the only thing that's outdoors
and I'll show you a rendering of it here in a minute.
And we're proposing fencing to prevent
the pedestrian connectivity between the development
and the existing neighborhood.
As I pointed out already, what we did not change
is serving food and alcohol indoors,
which is permitted under the current zoning today.
Angie went through all of the conditions
that we're proposing.
I won't reread those for you all,
but I do wanna just zoom in on the site plan
for a minute and point out a couple of things.
So in this particular version of the site plan,
north is to your right.
And you can see here the dumpster location
and how that's been positioned away
from the single family residential.
We are proposing an eight foot masonry wall here
and then on the south end as well.
Colonial drive will be emergency access only
and then the way that the ordinance is written,
we would be required to put a eight foot fence
or masonry wall where none exists today
on the eastern property line.
The reason that we wrote it in that way
is because if there's an existing fence
that is near existing trees,
we don't want the neighbors to have to lose existing trees
in order to get a fence put in there.
So that was kind of the overall preference
of the neighbors that we had the flexibility.
We had to provide a screening wall if they didn't have one,
but we had the flexibility to determine what it was
based on tree preservation and personal preference.
Here's a couple of renderings.
This is the entrance.
This is facing south, the main entrance into the facility.
Here's one looking up from an aerial
where you can see the indoor courtyard.
I'm sorry, the outdoor courtyard.
Here's a view of the courtyard itself
and here's a rendering of the west elevation.
And that is all I have.
I do have, the property owner is here
if you have any specific questions
that you would like to ask them,
but I'd be happy to answer any questions as well.
Thank you.
And I know we have several neighbors here
and some of them may wanna speak, so.
- Yeah, do have some cards.
Thank you, Amy.
I think we do have a question for you, Commissioner Peruette.
- Thank you, Chair.
Just a couple quick ones.
We've had this overlay PD process now
for maybe a year and a half, I think.
What has been your experience going through this
as far as the difficulty of this tool
versus the full PD tool?
And I know this is a little different
'cause it was a PD before,
but if you can offer some experience there, I'd help.
- I have the benefit of having had the opportunity
to do overlay zoning prior to the 2019 code being implemented
and so I've experienced both
and what I like about the overlay PD
is that it is a simpler tool
to be able to write in some conditions
that help to address neighborhood concerns
without having to spend $250,000 on full sets of plans
to get a PD approved and we'll call it 100,000.
It just kind of depends on the complexity of it,
but it's a more straightforward tool
that allows us to get what we need to get accomplished
with a neighborhood when the concerns can be addressed
in a text overlay.
- Okay, and then I guess in the discussion
with the neighbors to the east,
I'm imagining this is only 250 feet away
from the 35 right of way
as far as the back property line, approximately,
that by far from a noise concern perspective,
it's primarily road noise from 35, is that accurate?
- It is and we've talked about
how the construction of the building itself
will block some of that road noise.
I think that the noise pollution concerns come from,
if the restaurant's open until 10 p.m.
or the facility is and people are leaving
and joking and being loud or there were some concerns
about whether or not you'd be able to hear pickleball
from inside the facility,
but we've addressed that with our architect
to be sure that the wall panels are insulated
and would prevent that sort of noise travel.
- Okay, thank you.
- Anything else for Amy?
- May I share one more quick thing
that I forgot to share? - Of course.
- We have offered, if we make it through this PD process
and move into full civil design
to do a site visit with our civil engineer
to kind of look at some of the drainage issues
and see what we can do to help actually address them.
We certainly don't wanna make 'em worse,
but we'd like to try to make 'em better.
- Great, thank you. - Thank you.
- Okay, I do have some cards in front of me.
Rose Scott.
Hi there, if you'll state your name, your time.
We'll begin and if you could speak into the microphone,
that would be great.
- My name is Rose Scott.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak to y'all this evening.
And I understand if I put a picture over here,
it can be-- - That's true.
We just gotta-- - Magically.
- We gotta get the eye in the sky going,
which our magical people in the back will do.
There you go.
- This is what we're talking about
when we say a water problem.
Brought to us by the city of Denton,
which allowed the development of Windsor Farms.
And we have been fighting this for 17 years now.
And this was taken in May.
And you can't tell, see this?
- Oh, if you could use the microphone, please, I'm sorry.
- Okay, I'm gonna put this right here and see what it does.
This is the edge of our porch, right here.
Here's the pole, here's the light.
This is the lapping water.
And I have spared you a picture of our garage,
which also gets water.
One more.
Our backyard.
I think you can see clearly what we're talking about
when we say we have huge concerns about the water,
the drainage, when we know that there's going to be
a development of 3.185 acres
that's covered in building and in hard surface,
impervious to drainage, except for runoff.
And the last thing we are interested in
is more that runs off either into our yard
or the Williams yard or anybody else
who abuts this property.
I will point out too that 3.185 acres
actually equals 138,956.4 square feet,
which will be incapable of absorbing water.
So where does the runoff go?
Well, there was some sort of, well,
maybe we could do a pond or something.
We have heard solutions before, and they didn't work.
So this is our massive concern.
Of course, we're also concerned about the parking behind us,
about headlights and cars doors slamming as people leave
having been in a restaurant and a pickle ball or the noise,
the garbage that'll attract rats about the overall privacy.
Yeah, we're concerned about those things too.
We surely are.
And I will say that Amy, thank you,
has been a very gracious facilitator to this business.
We appreciate the way that's been handled,
but we still have grave concerns.
I said in mine that I was conditionally approving.
Basically, I hate the thought of this.
I also realize that development is inevitable.
And if it must occur, that surely it can occur in a way
that doesn't cost the existing neighbors thousands of dollars
to fix the screw up that by no fault of our own
was brought literally to our own homes.
And I thank you for listening.
- Thank you very much, Ms. Scott.
The next card I have is John Scott.
If you'll state your name, your time will begin.
- My name is John Scott.
And yes, I am related to the previous speaker.
We lived in that neighborhood.
We were the first people to live in that house.
The coyotes ran the field and all that kind of stuff.
And when the development came north of us,
this is background, this is very important.
When the development came to the north of us,
I was concerned about water issues.
They have raised the level of the earth up there nine feet.
We were assured everything was going to be fine.
In front of me, an email that was sent to me
on June the 28th, 2007, assuring me
that they would take care of the development issues
by kind of building a swale to the north of us
to keep things off our property.
That swale, which is completely inadequate,
was completed in 2022.
So we've been living with this problem.
I went to the builders who were building
the property up there.
I said, we got problems with drainage.
His solution was, basically, we've been allowed
to build this development up here, go away,
but I'll concede by putting downspouts
on two of the houses up there,
which did absolutely no good.
This is only going to get worse and worse and worse.
As Rose said, we have just spent thousands of dollars
on some drainage fixes in the backyard.
That seems to be an improvement.
But what's going to happen is behind us,
all of those trees are gonna go away,
no matter what they tell you.
They will go away.
They're just junk trees under the power lines.
And water's going to flow freely.
And our house, and of course Greg,
they've had water in their living room.
We've only had it in our bedroom one time.
We've had it in our garage.
What she showed you, the photos of our back porch
is very typical.
The backyard floods constantly.
And this will be up against our property.
I have grave concerns this evening when I found out,
and by the way, I echo what Rose said,
that they've been very gracious and very fair
in their conversations with us.
I must say I am not at all pleased
knowing that there's going to be alcohol served out there.
This is not going to be your kids going
and playing pickleball.
This is going to be people out there drinking
until the time they leave,
and it's going to get really loud and noisy.
So I was sort of on the border about saying
I wholeheartedly approve this,
until I found out about the alcohol sale.
Assuming that they would take care
of all of the other problems.
Which for me, I know I sound like a broken record
talking about the drainage.
These poor people are hearing me,
sick of hearing me talk about it.
But I can't tell you how many times
I've been up at three o'clock in the morning,
sweeping out the garage and digging trenches by my driveway
to get the water to flow away from the house myself,
and trying to direct water around the house somehow
so that it won't go into their house.
Because you go down the hill,
and it's like this from here to the end of street,
and it's all down from there.
So I hate to say it,
but because of the alcohol sale issue,
I must change my vote to being opposed to this,
because we have spent too much money on our house,
and too much money trying to take care of what
the developer is intending to fix,
that the city has never addressed properly.
And I hold the city responsible for the photos
that you were shown.
Any questions?
- I do not see any questions,
but thank you for your concerns, appreciate it.
Next card I have is Craig Williams.
(clears throat)
Ty, if you'll state your name, your time will begin.
- Hi, I'm Craig Williams.
I live next door to the Scotts.
And basically I put in my provisional
or conditional approval as well.
They have done their due diligence with the meetings.
We have had a lot addressed,
but there still are some concerns.
Mr. Scott said about the drainage,
it's, I didn't spend as much as he did,
but I've spent thousands of dollars myself
with French drains and repairs from flooding.
But so yes, that is a very big concern
that if the drainage be handled properly,
or at least the city could get a handle on it.
And another thing I'm just kind of concerned about
is I guess pickleball is getting really popular,
but I feel that Denton is trying to become
the North Texas hub of pickleball,
because within this property,
there's I think three other pickleball courts
within six miles.
You have Drinkers Pickleball.
It's on where the old Brookshires was,
was it Teasley in '35.
There's the Pickler, which I think is,
took over the drug emporium that was on University.
That's about three miles away.
And then you've got the brand new really nice courts
that the city put in, the pickleball courts there,
and the new tennis center, I believe,
right at the North Lake Park.
So there's three, there's three pickleball courts,
I guess, or facilities,
the furthest being six miles,
other being two and three, respectively.
So I'm just, the concern is this like,
is this a fad that's gonna go away?
Is this something that's gonna really blow up?
If it's gonna blow up, I guess okay,
but if it's a fad that's gonna go away,
then I'm kind of wondering,
I don't wanna have an empty facility sitting there
or have it repurposed,
or we're having to come down here again
for another zoning,
another zoning change.
The one in 2020 that we approved to,
we really thought that was a win for all of us.
But then it sold, I guess, so I mean,
I'm also concerned that what happens
if this gets approved and then this new ownership
decides they can't do this or don't wanna do it,
and something else happens, unforeseen,
and then they then sell it to another owner
who we're gonna come back in here
'cause they wanna tweak it again.
So those are just some of my concerns
that I had with this,
and I'll also echo John's concerned about the alcohol.
I know they kind of, it's a restaurant, I guess,
that will probably serve alcohol,
but I'm also kind of concerned about the,
I mean, it's kind of in a neighborhood.
There's really nothing else around us that has that.
I mean, there's some restaurants down in University.
There's the Chili's and a few other places that serve,
but this is kind of really almost more nestled
into the neighborhood in a way.
And one other thing about the access to it,
I think they were talking about not being viable
for residential because of the access problems from 35,
but I mean, if you're driving down the road,
you're gonna have to exit University,
the University exit, which is horrible right now anyway,
to then go north to get to this facility
'cause it's a one-way service road,
or they're gonna have to come around
and drive through the neighborhood to get to it.
I don't, not sure, there's gonna be a huge amount
of traffic coming through the neighborhood,
but if it's something they're leaving a bar
and have had drinks and are driving through the neighborhood,
it might be a little bit more problematic,
but in any case, that's all I have then.
- Thank you.
- Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Mr. Williams.
Next card I have is Charles Lee.
Don't see Mr. Lee in here.
Okay, I'll go ahead and call the other card I have
and then we'll see if Mr. Lee is back.
Elizabeth McDonald.
Hi there, if you'll state your name, your time will begin.
- Okay, thank you.
I am Elizabeth McDonald, and I'm the email that was sent,
and so you may have already seen some of the,
I guess, comments that I had.
I would like to echo what the previous speakers have said
in terms of connecting with Amy, she has been fantastic.
I really appreciate so much her, just her time with us,
and asking questions individually.
That really helps ease fears,
and so I'd like to really honor that in her.
And I would also like to say that I don't know
that I have the same exact drainage issues
that my neighbors have, but we did have to put
in a French drain, we did have some water in our home
right after we moved in, and the French drain has helped,
but there's always just this running to check the back porch
to make sure we're not having a big situation,
every time we get a lot of rain, so I do think that
if that could be addressed, that would be fabulous.
My two main concerns are, we do not know
the hours of operation, that's the first one.
And at this point, I think we should know that,
for me to feel any sense of an ability to say
that I do approve this.
So I want full transparency, and I'd like to really know
what is going to occur with the facility,
so I think that should be provided.
I'm grateful for what Amy shared tonight,
but I would really like to know what that's gonna look like.
And then the other is the noise.
I'm very concerned about that.
Now Amy did, when I spoke with her, she did say
that we would not hear a thing in the building,
which is great.
And I like the courtyard, but I'm concerned
that that could be an area where people start playing music
or they're out there talking really loud or doing things
that would not provide the peace that we need
to be able to live peacefully in our homes.
This is where we live, this is where we are.
And I actually have worked out of my house online,
and I would need the peace and the quiet
to be able to even focus and concentrate.
So I think that knowing what we're up against,
what that would be, would be great.
And also if we could also find out how big the restaurant is,
how many people it will seat, I think that would help me
to understand a little bit more.
I wanted to say that I was in favor,
but I can't until I have those answers.
I love Denton.
My sister who's with me, she got her degree
at the University of North Texas.
I'm thrilled for Denton to have businesses
that will succeed.
I had the privilege of working
for Texas Women's University for 16 years.
And so I'm not against wonderful things occurring,
but we do need to figure out how we can make this work
for our neighborhood so that we really can do this
for our neighborhood so that we really don't have to see it
or hear it, hoping that everything would be so successful
with whatever gets provided there in that area
for a business, but in a way that we can
live comfortably in our homes
and still be contributing citizens to this city.
And so those would be my thoughts.
Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
Okay, so that leaves me with the last card I have,
which is Mr. Lee, and I will give him one more minute,
if that. (laughs)
If not, his would be the last card I have.
Is there anyone here who did not fill out a card
who wishes to speak on this item?
Okay.
(faintly speaking)
I will go ahead and close the public hearing.
And I will open up the floor for discussion or motion.
Commissioner Pruitt, sorry.
- Thank you, Chair.
I'll ask a question for staff
that we may not have the answer to,
and I'm sorry that that's my mode of operation.
This evening. (laughs)
Just in general, you know, I look at the topography there.
I'm not able to look at the drainage infrastructure
because apparently somebody's gonna throw a bomb
in the sewer.
I just, help me understand why it's so bad.
When I look at the topo map,
it looks like the flow of water is from north to south.
The subject property is actually kind of from northeast
to southwest, sort of away from the neighbors to the east.
And it doesn't look like it's a great deal
of watershed coming south.
At the same time, the area just to the east
was developed a long time ago
when our drainage standards and stormwater systems
were not the same standards as they are now.
I believe the Windsor,
what's the name of it again, Windsor?
- Windsor Farms. - Farms, thank you.
It looks in the historical maps
like it broke ground in 2005, I think,
and so that was a long time ago.
Thank you for listening to me ramble.
The question is really, it doesn't look to me
like the subject property has a lot of watershed
that will flow toward the neighbors to the east.
It looks to me like perhaps a significant portion
of the drainage issues are adjacent,
but not related to what might happen here.
And so I wanna make sure we set up expectations
and let the residents know whatever process
or status the stormwater update is coming
to be able to have realistic expectations
about how much improvement might come
so that we don't get ourselves in a situation where,
well, I thought this development was gonna fix it
and then it didn't, and then what do I do?
Does that make sense?
- Yes, I follow, and I'll try my best to address it,
and then Tina can chime in and add more color to it
if I can't adequately capture everything.
So your initial glance at our inner maps is accurate.
There's not existing floodplain on the area
nor any riparian or water-related eases,
either on the site or immediately adjacent to it.
There are some of those areas further to the northeast
on the north side of Windsor,
and it is likely that some of these drainage concerns
are part of a larger area drainage problem.
As it comes to the development of the site specifically,
should this go forward to civil engineering plans,
detailed engineering review is required,
and that includes a review of the drainage systems
on the lot.
I don't know that I could speak to any sort of guarantee
that it might improve the situation.
It likely would put, it would add impervious surface,
but would also account for that impervious surface
and could not increase the flow of water.
If there are known issues on site,
that could be an opportunity for them to be improved,
but that would need to be done and reviewed
at that time of study, which at this point,
we're just not there quite yet.
We're still talking about the nuts and bolts of the zoning.
- Yeah, totally understand.
Maybe just if there's an update for the residents
on what we're in the process
of the stormwater needs assessment we are
and what that planning phase is.
It's been a long time since I've heard
that we were putting together a large report like that.
Even if it's something where we work with the applicant
to distribute that information to the residents,
I just wanna make sure we don't have a,
I thought this was said and now it's still a problem
situation, does that make sense?
- I don't know if I have anything really more to add
other than I'm not aware of a master stormwater plan
that's being developed.
I know we were working on water and sanitary sewer,
but stormwater escapes me right now.
I will attest that I am not an engineer, nor is Angie,
so we're land use planners, but here more recently,
typically what we find with our development projects
because of our standards being to a higher quality
and higher level of performance,
potentially compared to decades ago,
that we are very concerned regarding making sure
the development or when a property develops
that they are not, that that development
is not increasing any stormwater runoff.
They do have to account for the developed conditions
so that it is not at a worst level of runoff,
that's a way to describe that,
so that it's not a worst level of runoff
prior to pre-developed conditions.
So if 50 cubic feet of water were leaving the site today
in an undeveloped state, then after the property
is developed, no more than 50 cubic feet of water
could leave the site, to use an example.
So we are conscientious of it, and we look for that.
I think if, also I would point out that many times,
obviously this did not happen when the neighborhood
to the north of the residents who have expressed concern
happened their situation, but today,
I mean we are very conscientious of drainage concerns
as we review construction plans to try and ensure
that we're not creating any situations
where there's adverse, negative drainage implications
on adjoining properties.
We treat that very seriously.
- Commissioner Pridharm.
- I have a question related to noise,
and Amy, I'm not sure if you address this.
What's the max capacity?
- That's an interesting question,
and it's kind of a challenging formula.
I don't know off the top of my head.
If I can pull up the site plan,
I can at least show you guys how many
courts we're looking at.
Give me just one second here.
We've got 16 courts.
As you can see, the seating area is very small.
It's not like we're seating hundreds of people.
It's gonna be a concession style restaurant
that's intended to be an accessory use
to the actual pickleball courts.
The actual capacity would be a function
of a number of things from whether it's sprinkled
and how many parking spaces there are
and what the square footage is
and what the construction type is,
so I don't have that specific answer for you.
Unfortunately, I can tell you that we've got
roughly 70 parking spaces,
so that probably gives you some gauge there as well.
I do also, if you don't mind,
I want to address Commissioner Pruitt's question
about drainage.
Yes, the site drains from the northwest to the southeast,
and we account for that in terms of where we believe
the detention and the drainage will be handled.
We also believe that some of what's coming from the north
is coming across our property
and that we would have to handle that as well.
I'm sorry about that, but did that cover your question?
- Thank you.
- Thank you, Commissioner Villarreal.
- Thank you, Chair.
Amy, a quick question.
I know this came up earlier.
I'm not sure if you mentioned it,
but we know there's gonna be alcohol sales.
Is that just beer and wine or is there a full bar?
- It would be a restaurant, so it's not a bar.
It's a restaurant that would serve alcohol,
so it would have to be less than 50% of the sales
would have to be predominantly food.
I don't know that they've made a decision
about whether or not they would serve mixed drinks,
but I would go on the assumption
that if they want a full restaurant,
that they probably would.
- Got it, thank you.
- Commissioner Villarreal.
- I'm gonna move approval.
Amy, I think you did a great job
really talking with the community here,
just getting folks to come and even offer conditional support
after the amount of hardship they've been through
due to surrounding development, I think,
shows a lot of effort on your part.
So I understand there's a lot of concern here,
fully understand the concern.
Hopefully we can, the city can help address
some of those drainage issues with y'all.
But with what we have currently, I'm gonna move approval.
- Thank you, Commissioner Pruitt.
I will second, and I'm glad to see this property
moved to an overlay PD instead of a full PD.
So, yeah, thank you.
- Got a first and a second for approval.
Any discussion?
Yeah, I'll go ahead and just say a couple things
and understand the drainage issue
and hopefully we'll continue to talk about that.
I'll be bringing that up at the end of the meeting
as a matter of fact.
It's certainly not the fault of this developer, those issues.
And this development won't make that worse,
it can't make that worse.
So that in and of itself I think is a separate problem.
The compromises that have been done
in relation to the protection of the neighborhood
is pretty substantial.
When you look at how it's zoned now,
restaurants are allowed.
So that can be done, it has just limiting
right behind the homes, it to offices,
but restaurant is allowed now currently on site.
So with this the way it's done,
with where they've moved things,
with where they've put parking,
all of it is done to help protect the neighborhood
that's already there.
What we have now sitting on the property,
other than that little bit of east side
that says it has to be medical offices,
that's the only protection that's on it.
It could be anything else that's permitted
in the zoning district without any kind
of compromise made.
So yeah, I think the applicant has done
a great job reaching out.
I mean, I think you all have valid concerns,
but I think they're concerns that are aside
from this request.
So with that, is there anyone else
who got a first and a second for approval?
Yeah, go ahead, yep.
Thanks to my subject matter experts
working behind the scenes.
They were able to share with me
that apparently our engineering staff
did present a stormwater master plan needs assessment
to city council back in September of 2023.
We have not found though yet
where the plan has gone back to them for adoption.
So we presume that that's still in the works.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, there's nothing else.
We'll go ahead and vote please.
(mouse clicking)
That motion will carry three, one.
That will move to city council then December 3rd.
Okay, next is 5C, Z240011.
We'll open the public hearing
and invite Julie Wyatt for presentation.
Good evening.
There we go.
All right, good evening.
I'm Julie Wyatt and I am presenting
Z2411, DISD transportation facility.
All right, so the request before you
is to rezone approximately 10 acres owned by Denton ISD
from our sixth district to public facilities district.
The property is located or it's situated
in the east side of town located just north
of the Ryan High School campus, south of Mills Road.
So kind of sandwich between those two.
And it's shown in blue on your screen,
the outline blue here.
There you go.
And really there are two purposes for this request.
First is it's consistent with the city's typical practice
of having public facilities zoning
on properties owned by government entities
in that city, state, county, and school.
It's also intended to facilitate relocation
of their transportation facility
that is located just west of the subject property
and it is outlined in yellow on your screen.
So there's the current.
The Denton development code classifies this use
as a community service.
It is important to note that community service
is actually allowed in all zoning districts
within the city of Denton.
But this rezoning would help them develop
in a way that those design standards
would be consistent with the use that they're proposing.
So we reviewed the case against the comprehensive plan
and it is consistent.
It's consistent with the future land use designation.
First of all, the subject property is designated
as low residential.
Typically we see low density single family
for low residential,
but that category also includes the supporting services
like educational facilities.
And this PF district is consistent with that
not only in zoning, but also in that use
and that it does further that educational mission
of Denton ISD.
It's also consistent with our housing goals
to provide those adequate public facilities
and because it is consistent with that educational mission,
it's consistent with that goal as well.
We also looked at impacts to the surrounding property.
This is kind of a unique case,
something we don't see very often
and that the use is actually located
just about 420 feet from the proposed location.
So it's really not introducing any new uses
to the area or activities.
There really is just shifting it toward the east.
Any new development would have to meet current regulations
and that includes things like street trees,
screening, landscaping, buffering,
and site design considerations.
Because the use is existing and operational
just down the street,
we don't anticipate a significant increase in daily trips
associated with it.
And consistent with what they have currently
on their transportation facility,
they are proposing a right turn lane into the site
that allow those buses to move out of the travel lanes
to get in the subject property.
And you can see, there's, I took a couple of photos
and here's that existing right turn lane
into the current facility.
And here is a photo of the future location.
Public outreach was sent out.
We did hear from one community member
and I think you got that email.
There were concerns about Mills Road
as well as some security on the side.
I think we addressed the security question
at work session in that they will fence
and make sure that those buses are in a secured area.
We've also forwarded the community members' concerns
about Mills Road to our transportation folks
so that they can start reviewing the area
and see if there are any improvements
that can be made to increase the safety in Mills Road.
And we've also forwarded it to our police department
just so that they are aware of concerns on Mills Road.
So based upon the criteria for approval,
staff does recommend approval of the request.
I'll be happy to answer any questions.
The applicant or a representative of the applicant
is also here to answer any questions
that you may have regarding the proposal of the request.
The anticipated council date,
if it moves forward tonight, would be December 3rd.
- Thank you, Julie.
Any questions for Julie?
This is a public hearing.
The only card I have in front of me is Mr. Lee,
who is not here in attendance.
So is there anyone here wishing to speak on this item?
Yeah, come on down.
If you will give us your name, your time will begin.
Hi.
- Sure, hi, my name is Amanda Collins.
I live on Kenningham, excuse me, which is just off of Mills.
I'm a newbie here, so I didn't fill out my card.
I'm sorry, I'll do that next time I'm here.
But I just wanted to say that I am in favor of it.
I don't have any large concerns.
I feel like my house was on one of the maps
that was shown up there,
'cause that's how close we are to Mills Road
and to this new, I don't wanna say development,
but project that's gonna happen.
I think, again, we are concerned about the road.
I've lived here in that particular house
for about 11 years and 10 years.
And the amount of times that we have gone head on
with other cars because of people
walking up and down the roads,
the amount of times that we have gone head on
just because of how narrow the roads are,
there's no room for air, there's no sidewalks,
people have to walk in the road
or they're walking in these unmaintained deep ditches.
And so that's really, I think,
the biggest concern for a lot of people.
But like I said, I think that what could be going there,
when we saw that both of those two residential properties
had been sold is always very scary
'cause you don't know what's going in.
So my vote is yes, I would love to see it
go to the school district.
I would love to see it,
or it has gone to the school district,
but I would love to see the school district utilize it,
especially that I have two small kids at home
and they're gonna grow up and go to Denton Ryan.
And so, like I said, I just wanted to say
that I'm in favor of it,
just concerned about the road issue as well,
but that's my two cents about it.
So thank you for listening. - Appreciate the same.
Thank you very much.
- Okay, is there anyone else wishing to speak on this item?
Okay, seeing none, I'll go ahead
and close the public hearing.
And I will open the floor for a motion or discussion.
Commissioner Perdom.
- Yes, Julie, if I could just ask a question.
Do you know if there's any existing speed reduction devices
on the road right now,
just because we did have the comment
from the member of the public related to speed?
- As far as like a school zone?
- Or anything to reduce speed?
- Not that I'm aware of right now.
And I drove it this morning to take the picture,
and I did not see any school zones,
but once again, our transportation folks,
it's on their radar.
I'll make sure to follow up with them
to see if there's anything that can be done.
- Okay, thank you.
- Sure.
Commissioner Perdom.
- Thank you, Chair.
I actually have a question for the applicant representative.
Did you say someone was here?
As you're coming up,
well, I'll wait for you to introduce yourself, sorry.
- Yes, my name is Anthony Milvitz
with TNP 3200 South Interstate 35E.
- Okay.
Do you have any information on
why the choice of the moving the location?
I think the information we got from staff
was we wanna move the bus service facility,
and then perhaps have some more field area
where the existing facility is.
Understand that not opposed to the process
of moving the pieces around the board,
I'm just trying to understand
that seems like a very expensive option.
- Yeah, I understand.
They're just out of space, frankly,
at the current transportation facility.
It's just about five acres,
and the new facility is almost 10 acres.
It's a space thing.
You'll notice a lot of the buses
are parked outside of the facility,
just either they're needing maintenance
or they're just not in use.
And that would provide the ability
to have all those behind a secure fence
and enough space for operations.
- Thank you, that makes sense.
It's just from eyeballing the existing concreted area,
it looked like it was about the same size,
but I guess some of that area is devoted
to a different use or something right now.
Yeah, okay, thank you.
- No problem.
- Thank you for being here.
And Commissioner Prud,
thank you for answering that, asking that question.
Yeah, I've had the same question
'cause it looks like it was way more complicated to do that,
but knowing that you're doubling in size
now makes complete sense.
Commissioner Villarreal.
- Move approval.
- Commissioner Pedro.
- I second.
- Okay, we've got a first and a second for approval.
Any other discussion?
Okay, let's go ahead and vote please.
That motion will carry for zero.
Taking us to 5D, AESA 240003.
I will open that public hearing
and staff is requesting that we continue this item
to the December 11th meeting.
Commissioner Villarreal.
- Move for continuance to the December 11th, 2024,
planning and zoning meeting.
- Okay, Commissioner Pedro.
- I second.
- Okay, we've got a first and a second
to continue this item to the December 11th,
planning and zoning meeting.
We will leave the public hearing open.
Any discussion?
Okay, let's vote please.
That motion carries for zero.
That will take us to our planning
and zoning commission project matrix.
And I will give the floor to Tina.
- Sorry, my space is not big enough.
So with respect to matrix report,
so this evening we did address two items on the matrix
regarding receiving the update
from the parks and recreation team about their master plan
and then also regarding the tree fund.
So we will go ahead and remove those items off the matrix,
if that works for you all.
There were no changes otherwise made to the matrix
from your meeting last week or at the previous time.
Also, we have no city council actions to report
since we had our last planning
and zoning commission meeting in speaking to city council
for city council's benefit as well as for staff's
so that we can make sure that we represent commissioners
correctly.
If you're gonna be voting in opposition to a motion,
I do ask that you provide comments
as to why you're gonna be voting in opposition.
Reason being is 'cause council does ask that of us
and so we wanna be able to answer them
and represent any commissioner voting in opposition
to a motion correctly.
So if you could kindly help us with that,
we would so greatly appreciate it.
So thank you.
- Thank you, Tina.
Anything to add to the matrix?
- Yeah, and I'll just completely piggyback on that
'cause that's been a thing for me too.
That is so important.
It's important for the applicant.
It's important for staff
and it's certainly important to city council
as they have the last word on these projects.
Commissioner Prudt.
- Thank you.
I don't actually want this added to the matrix,
but I wanna put a pin in it
because I don't know when the right time will be.
I did go back and look
at that stormwater master plan very briefly.
It looks like a different phase of work
than our typical planning master plans
in that it's really sort of a set of procedures and goals
of how the analysis should be taken place
to look at our stormwater infrastructure.
So I imagine there's a lot of effort
that has already started or will soon start
to start looking at smaller areas
before we would have any actionable information about them.
But I may not be here
or we may not know as a body when that occurs.
So if there's a way of making sure as those smaller studies
to show where the needs are
at a more granular level within the city,
start to become available and actionable
from a land use perspective,
I think that would be important.
But it may be four years from now.
Does that make sense?
- I believe so.
So let me paraphrase and see if I understood you correctly.
So as those smaller drainage studies are being completed,
you're wanting us to address it how
with respect to land use?
- Sure, just to understand what the needs are,
especially as it pertains
to already developed areas in the city.
We've talked about infill before.
Many times that's made more complex
because of the drainage issues.
And so I think understanding what the long-term plans
are for areas will help us feel more confident
about development applications that come in
where we see drainage issues existing
as opposed to creating drainage issues with new development.
Does that make sense?
- Yes, thank you for explaining.
- Thanks.
- Thank you, Commissioner Brode.
Yeah, and just on the note of the drainage issue,
if there is anyone, and I don't know if that's possible,
but if there is anyone from the city
that can reach out to the Scots and Mr. Williams,
we've got their information.
Clearly they've talked to the city before,
at least the Scots have,
and clearly have had communication with them,
but something didn't happen with follow through
or what have you, but can we just be proactive
in at least reaching out to them?
And again, I don't think it was the applicant's issue
to have to hold on to, but I think it is the city's.
And again, we all have drainage issues in this city.
Personally, have had to put in a major French drain.
So it certainly exists.
There seems excessive, and then again,
with their discussion with the city,
I just want them to have a better,
just a better, some closure.
I mean, if it's on the list that things are being taken care
of and it's being looked at,
just that someone could communicate with them, please,
I think would be really important.
- Yes, ma'am, we can do that.
- Thank you, appreciate that.
Okay, anything else for the matrix or continuing items?
Okay, let's go ahead then and adjourn at 8.34 p.m.
Thank you.