Jun 11, 2025 Planning and Zoning Commission on 2025-06-11 5:00 PM
June 11, 2025 Planning and Zoning Commission
Full Transcript
- Good evening.
Welcome to the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
It is 5.02 and I call the meeting to order.
My name is Tina Fergens
and I'm the Deputy Director of Development Services.
In light of Chair Pruitt and Vice Chair Pedrone
being absent this evening,
hence why I'm calling the meeting to order.
Our first item of business,
I should note that we do have a quorum present,
so thank you for that.
I should note our first item of business
for the work session agenda
is under item for individual consideration.
Item A, PZ25-132, elect an acting chair
for the Planning and Zoning Commission's June 11th meeting.
So the person that will serve as the acting chair
for this meeting will serve for both work session
and the regular meeting.
So if there is a motion to nominate a commissioner
from those that are present to serve as that acting chair,
we'll receive that motion please.
Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner McDuff.
- Yes, thank you.
- To nominate Commissioner Riggs.
- I will second that.
- I'll second.
- Thank you, Commissioner Dyer as well.
So with a motion and a second to nominate Commissioner Riggs
to serve as the acting chair, I will take a vote.
All in favor, aye.
- Aye.
- All opposed?
(all laughing)
Apparently you don't have a choice, so.
Well, thank you.
So if you wouldn't mind grabbing your name tag
and come have a seat next to me, I would appreciate it.
a little bit. - I love my partner.
- Don't stand there. (laughing)
- So we are here for Susan Cometon,
consent to the agenda items.
So moving on to number two, citizen comments
on consent agenda items.
Do we have any citizen comments?
Okay.
Moving on to item three, clarification of agenda items
listed on the agenda for this meeting.
Okay.
So then moving on, we're gonna do consider approval
of the Planning and Zoning Commission minutes.
There any comments on that?
- Any comment, please?
Been reading minutes this week,
so I was attuned to just a couple things.
I don't see a page number, but just some suggestions.
And on page one, following discussion,
the commission's consensus.
I think commissions is missing an apostrophe,
and the consensus was as follows.
Again, just editorial things.
On the second page, I might suggest,
we shared items on our Southeast Denton overlay district plan.
And we gave input, we offered some suggestions,
I might put, of other topics.
We talked about other topics such as health and safety.
We did talk about that.
Eric Chair Pruitt did talk about several things.
I'm just not remembering, but I do appreciate that.
Encouraged continued public engagement.
We did talk about that at length, I think.
But we did say health and safety on that.
And those would be my suggestions.
- So if there's a motion to that effect
to make those changes, what I would ask is that maybe allow,
actually, I'm thinking out loud.
Let us go ahead and work on those further
and bring those back to you at the next meeting
so that we can update the minutes
to include that information.
And then we'll have you take action on the minutes
at your subsequent meeting
so we can get those corrections noted.
- Sounds good.
Then.
Okay, so moving on to the consent agenda.
So we have, let's see, one, two, three, four.
Five, six, we have six items.
Are there any questions on the consent agenda items?
Okay, hearing none.
Okay.
- I submitted some questions on DPP25-0002A.
- Was staff gonna talk about those now
or are we waiting on that?
- We can address those now if you would like.
I didn't know if you wanted to frame up your questions
and then, and I think Ashley's prepared
to be able to address them.
- I mean, I'm okay, are we gonna talk about each one
and then they can talk about it then?
'Cause I'm okay with that.
It's gonna be right this second.
- So what we can do, if there are no questions
on any of the other items on the consent agenda,
then we can go ahead and entertain your questions
on that particular item D
because it is on the consent agenda
and Ashley's prepared to be able to address
the questions that you had.
- Okay, thanks.
- You're welcome.
Ashley, if you wanna summarize the questions
that Commissioner Dyer had provided.
- Good evening, Ashley Exit, Associate Planner.
So these questions were over PP25-2,
which is Churchill East, which is in a mud.
To summarize the questions that I did,
bring some visuals also.
I know one of your questions
was whether TCCI Churchill owns this other portion
to the West and they do.
That will be called Churchill West.
So that will also be developed,
that will actually be developed first
and then they will develop this portion here,
which is this plat, which is in the city of Denton's ETJ
and this is in Ponder's ETJ.
So we won't be platting this
and this is not part of the development agreement.
And I know your other questions
were this proximity to the loop.
And let me make this bigger.
I've tried to measure it here.
So this is the subject property
and then this black dotted line will be the future loop.
So it's approximately three miles
to the loop from this property.
And then 2449 is here to the South.
And then this portion of 2449, that is in Ponder's ETJ,
so that will be shown on the Ponder plat
and it will be through them.
- 'Cause that's Florence Road, correct?
- Yes, so it's Florence to the South
and that will continue as Florence
as it goes to the North through this development.
- So, 'cause just looking at the property
when I was looking at all the information
is it looks very landlocked, like it's not near a road,
but then when you start looking at the plat,
you can see that like Churchill's supposed to be there
and I don't know if that's the one
that's going straight out to 156.
But then I saw that some of them butted up again,
some of those lots are gonna butt up against Florence.
And I didn't know like,
it was hard to tell on the map
on both that East West Road
that goes from the property out to 156.
Right now, it looks like it might be a dirt road
or a very narrow, if it is asphalt or concrete,
it's very narrow.
So that's why I was just kind of curious
because I wasn't sure how many houses are gonna be in there,
but knowing that the property to the West
was also part of this development.
That's a lot of homes.
And we're all talking about the lack of infrastructure
for these developments and what it does for the traffic
and getting people to and from places
and fire and rescue and just all that sorts of stuff.
So do you know anything about like the roads?
- Yeah, so their TIA is under review now,
so it's not approved yet.
But in that TIA, they do discuss reconfiguring certain roads,
constructing turn lanes at certain roads,
installing traffic signals eventually,
and also tech stop maybe making improvements out here.
The TIA is still under review,
so those aren't final recommendations yet.
But once those recommendations are final,
they will be shown in the civil
and that will be approved before the final plaque
comes before this body.
- Do you know when the Denton side of this development
is supposed to get started?
I mean, I know you said the Ponder side's happening first,
but have they given you a timeline on the Denton side?
- It's a 10 to 12 year build out time.
- Okay.
- Okay, any other questions?
- All right, thank you.
- Thank you.
(faintly speaking)
- Okay, I'm getting coached over here, so.
Okay, so we're gonna move on
and the staff's gonna basically brief us
on the different public hearings.
And MPA 24-003 has been withdrawn
and it'll be brought to us at a future date.
So we'll move on to PDA 25-003.
- Okay, all right, thank you, Mia.
- Good evening.
Members of the commission, Mia Hines, senior planner.
This item is a plan development amendment
to establish some special sign standards
within our four-way development located
at the southeast corner of Vintage Boulevard and I-35W.
The proposed site, site plan for the site
and this travel center was approved in 2024.
And now they are coming back to do
or establish some special sign standards
as one of the signs that they are proposing
does not meet the code of ordinance
and they are proposing to add some limitations
that are not, or would otherwise be,
for some things that would otherwise be permitted
within the didn't sign code.
And so staff is recommending approval
as the request does meet all the criteria for approval.
And I do have a lengthier presentation
for the regular session,
but I'd be happy to provide any answers
to any questions that you have at this time.
- Are there any questions?
All right, thanks, Mia.
- Sorry, I do have one on this.
Mia, good work on everything, by the way.
Just a question on the public outreach here.
- Yes, ma'am.
- It seemed to me that all of the public outreaches
were done around Memorial Day holiday.
How long are we required to do,
do we have to do a public outreach?
- I believe it's 14 business days
for us to publish in the newspaper and post it.
That's pretty the pretty standard practice that we have.
- Yes, I just did as a comment, a shared comment.
I thought that was pretty close to the Memorial Day holiday.
And I don't know if folks would be as aware
if there were no holiday around.
- If I could see clarification,
is your concern regarding when the applicant
was working to host their public engagement
or is your concern regarding
when we sent out the various mail notices?
- Well, I'm looking under public outreach
on the agenda information sheet.
And it just, that's my concern
when I'm reading this where my note is.
- And those dates are related to the public notices
that we send out, Tina, to answer your question.
- Thank you.
It seems they were awful close to Memorial Day
when folks aren't maybe necessarily
thinking about those things.
- And I can understand your concern on that.
We actually, our notices go out slightly earlier
than what is even provided for by state statute.
Did the applicant do any public engagement?
Because I know that sometimes we do that direct outreach
or that they do that direct outreach.
- They did not, that I'm aware of for this site.
It's either undeveloped or undeveloping
in close proximity around them.
So there wasn't, they didn't reach out
to a lot of people in my opinion.
- Okay, so they will, Commissioner MacDuff,
they do receive a letter from us
that is sent directly to the property owners
within 200 feet.
There is also a postcard that we send out to all residents
based on our utility records,
because we realize some residents
may not own their properties.
So in the overlap area,
they would have gotten two notifications from us.
And then beyond the 200 feet,
those within the balance of that additional 300 feet,
we get the postcard.
So if they were interested,
they would have reached out to us
with both of those notifications.
The newspaper notice, I realize not everybody may read
the Dent Record Chronicle,
but hence why we do the two mail notices to help
with notifying those property owners.
- Can you point out which property owners
were actually notified?
'Cause I see it's only five.
- It's not, yeah.
Again, within the proximity of this property,
there really is that developing multifamily property
to the south that is within there.
Other properties are undeveloped parcels
within 200 and 300 or 500 feet.
So it looks like three of those properties
fell within that 200 and then two additional
fell within the 500.
- Okay, thank you.
Thanks, Mia.
Okay.
Moving on, then we're gonna go to MPA 25001.
Sarah?
- Sorry.
- Sure, sorry.
- Good evening, commissioners.
My name is Sahar Svandieri,
Senior Transportation Planner, Development Services.
Tonight, I would like to speak with you
about the Mobility Plan amendments.
And this one is for MPA 24-001A
for Underwood Road, Springside, and Corbyn Road.
But before I go any further,
let me explain a little bit about the Mobility Plan.
Mobility Plan, just like Comprehensive Plan,
is a long-range plan.
And the current Mobility Plan
was adopted by the city council back in March 2022.
But right now, as part of the Comprehensive Plan of 2040,
generally, the Mobility Plan establishes
the future roadways, pedestrian, and bicyclist network
to ensure the connectivity and efficient movements.
However, we should keep in our mind
that Mobility Plan is not intended
to provide detailed design of roads or plans.
It is more intended to provide general policies
and broad roadway alignments.
But it can be further refined as needed
based on the new development project
or new capital improvement project.
Also, this Mobility Plan has three major elements.
First is the roadway alignment.
Second is needed right away.
It refers to the width of the road
and the speed limit on the roads.
And the third is the roadway design standard.
So back to our amendments.
This amendment has four proposals.
The reason that they have all these proposals
under one amendment is that they are all located
in a very close proximity of each other.
So, and they are somehow interconnected.
That's why.
So it gets a little bit complicated,
but I will go one by one and explain the reasons
for each of these requests.
The general area of these requests
located at west, south of the city, east of airport.
And the first request is for Underwood Road.
As you can see in this map, Underwood Road
also identified as road number one.
This is the future northern extension of Underwood Road,
which means it's not existed yet.
Staff proposed to remove this section.
The second request is to remove the eastern,
the western extension of East-West Corbyn Road here.
The road that has been identified as number two.
The third request is to extend the roadway classification
of North-South Corbyn Road.
And the fourth request is about unifying
the roadway classification of a spring side road.
Thank you, any questions?
- Do you have a diagram of what,
when you remove Underwood,
remove that number two, the little East-West,
the little swoop up of Corbyn and make it the north?
Is that what, you're basically taking one and two out
and replacing it with three?
Is that how I'm understanding this?
- We are not replacing, but we are going to,
the north-south Corbyn Road is existed.
We are just extending the roadway classification.
But yes, the road is existed.
- Oh, okay.
- But we are going to re-align the southern section
of Underwood here to connect to West Corp.
- If you look at exhibit six,
that has a graphic depiction
of what our mobility plan would look like
if this amendment is approved.
So in your attachments, in your agenda packet materials,
again, exhibit six helps kind of show
what that end result would be, as Sahar was explaining.
- Thank you. - Any other questions?
Maryann?
- Yes, question and a comment, just a comment for you.
On the background on this mobility plan,
I appreciate the acknowledgement that we're moving this
to mitigate potential environmental impacts
and to improve accessibility.
And I will say that back in the day,
we used to drive these roads and hot rod.
And so I know right where you're talking
about the beautiful, some very beautiful...
- Creek.
- Creek and resources, natural resources.
So I appreciate being aware of this and moving the road.
- Yes, sure.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thank you.
- Sure.
- And you have the next item.
- Yes.
- All right, well, you're up.
- Good evening, Sahar Espandier,
Senior Transportation Planner.
This mobility plan amendment
is about removing a future collector.
As you can see, this collector located
on the west side of the city,
located between I-35 and western,
south of US-380 and north of Jim Crystal.
Staff proposes to remove this part of the,
this future collector.
It means that this road is not existed yet,
but because of the...
I'm going to explain it more after the next session,
but there is a railroad crossing here.
Also there is a flood pain to the north.
So, and there's enough road capacity around.
So after a detailed study,
staff proposes to remove this future collector.
- And Sahar, did you want to correct for the record,
it's the Kansas City Southern Railroad?
- It's the Kansas City.
I believe your staff report acknowledged the Union Pacific
and we realized we had an incorrect name.
So we'll make sure it's corrected for council.
- Okay, any questions?
No?
Okay, all right, thank you very much.
So we'll go back to the work session portion
of our agenda.
(faintly speaking)
- Okay, we're going to receive some work session reports.
So up first, we have PZ 25-123.
Julie.
- Good evening, Julie Wyatt.
Let me pull up my presentation.
All right, good evening.
I'm Julie Wyatt and I am a principal planner
with the city of Denton.
And I'm presenting a bootcamp to you tonight
regarding area planning and zoning district overlays.
So just go over what we're going to talk about first.
We're going to start off with area planning,
talk about what they are, why we do them,
how we create them, talk about how we implement them,
what our prioritized areas are,
and then some adopted area plans
that we have within the city.
And then we're going to shift to overlay districts.
And we're going to, again, talk about what they are
and how they're created.
What our Denton Development Code says
about overlay districts are some existing overlays we have,
and then a brief overview
of some upcoming overlay districts.
So first, we're going to start with area planning.
So before we talk about specific area planning,
I thought it would be best to kind of set the table
about how they fit within our hierarchy of documents.
We start off with our policy documents.
And the big policy document we have in the city of Denton
is our comprehensive plan.
It's Denton Plan 2040.
It was adopted in 2022.
And it is a broad document that covers the entire city
and all aspects related to the city.
You hear us say from time to time here on zoning cases
and other items that come before you,
the comprehensive plan is the 30,000-foot view.
So if you're in an airplane looking down on the city,
that's what that comprehensive plan is.
We have other plans nested within the comprehensive plan.
And Sahar just talked about the mobility plan,
and that's one of them.
Those specific plans are, they're citywide,
so they cover the entire city,
but they are related to a specific subject.
So think mobility, think about capital projects,
maybe economic development, drainage.
So we have some of those citywide plans
that are nested within our comprehensive plan,
but they are just subject-specific.
And then we get to area plans.
And those are a little bit closer to the ground.
We say they're about 5,000 feet above ground.
Area plans allow us to take a deep dive
into a particular area, so a geographic boundary.
And so if the comp plan looks at the population,
in total population of the city,
an area plan will look at it at the block level
or the neighborhood level.
We're looking at things like demographics, area needs,
land uses, parks, all of that
at a very detailed, specific scale.
And then, so we've got these policy documents.
And then those then inform our regulatory documents.
And that's where the rubber hits the road.
And that's at the ground level.
That's things like our debt and development code,
our zoning map, our capital projects, construction,
things that are being built.
So all of those policies really should inform
what our laws are and what we build within the city.
So now I'll talk specifically about area plans
in relationship to the comprehensive plan.
Denton 2040 does recommend a variety of area plans
in order to achieve the community's overall vision.
It's both mentioned in our land use element
as well as our community character in urban design element.
So area plans are a part of our comprehensive plan.
So what are specifically area plans?
If it's done right, you end up with a document.
And we have several of them,
and we'll talk about them tonight.
But they should be forward-looking.
And they allow stakeholders, residents,
to determine what their community,
their specific neighborhood should look and feel like
in 10 to 20 years.
As I mentioned, they are specific to a particular area.
So it is looking, once again, at a specific neighborhood,
or maybe it's a district, maybe it's a corridor.
But they are particular to one part of the city.
The public engagement should be really focused
on an area plan to refine that community's vision,
to figure out what it is that they want to see
in terms of land uses and parks
and mobility within their community.
And ultimately, they point the way.
They give us a roadmap on how to achieve that vision.
We have a variety of reasons as to why we do area plans.
And they can be very unique to a specific area.
But generally, they are intended to refine that vision.
It's also looking for areas of protection.
So if there is a neighborhood
that really wants to protect a certain resource
within their community,
area plans are a good way to determine that
and determine how to protect it.
They're good at identifying areas of change.
Maybe a community wants to see some redevelopment
or a change in the particular land uses.
They help us understand and respond to community,
to specific issues or needs.
They plan for opportunities.
We're gonna talk about the Design Downtown Denton Plan
in a few minutes.
And one facet of that plan is the area south of downtown
has recently come out of the floodplain.
So how are we gonna plan for that opportunity
for that part of the community?
Identify infrastructure needs,
maybe mobility challenges and how to address those.
And provide the community an opportunity
to provide input in future land use decisions.
Our comprehensive plan has this map within it.
And it identifies certain focus areas,
centers, corridors and gateways within our community.
And those are really suggested areas for those area plans
because the comprehensive plan recognizes
they need more detailed planning.
So how are our area plans created?
While there is not one right way to do it,
there is a framework that most area plans do follow.
And we'll just go over these briefly.
So first we've got pre-planning.
That's identifying the purpose.
Maybe what are those opportunities or challenges
for a community?
Also, before you kick off the plan,
you wanna start identifying stakeholders.
Maybe create a work plan of what you wanna achieve
with the area plan.
And then if necessary, retain a consultant.
Once you've done your pre-planning,
you kick off the plan
and that really is the start date, right?
You're starting to discover key issues within the community.
Appoint a steering or advisory committee
to help validate any findings
and keep you on the right track.
The biggest part of any area plan,
or at least that we've had recently
within the city of Denton,
is that vision and existing conditions.
And that's really two parts within that section.
It is a whole lot of public engagement,
talking to the community,
understanding what their concerns are
and what their vision and their hopes and dreams
for their neighborhoods.
So that intensive public engagement,
but also getting an understanding
of the existing conditions.
And that really is a lot of research.
So you've got either a city staff
or a project team or consultant
looking at things like demographics,
understanding what those existing land uses are.
What is our infrastructure?
What are our public facilities within that community?
And then we also look at those demographics.
So we can understand what the population is.
What is the market demand for housing
or for other services or facilities within the area?
What's the tax base?
So looking at all of this data,
all of this information goes into writing the plan.
So we write, the project team writes the plan,
reviews it, and then it goes to the community
and policymakers for validation,
for response, for feedback.
And then that starts all over again.
So the drafting plan is a real iterative process
in that we go with little sections and say,
does this sound right?
Is this what we wanna see?
Get that validation and then go back and refine.
Ultimately, you hopefully end up with a plan
that when it's presented to the community,
it is accurately reflects what the community wants to see.
It goes through public hearing
and then adopted by city council.
That process takes about 12 months,
maybe a little bit longer.
With an area plan,
you don't wanna get an analysis paralysis.
You wanna get in and move forward and get momentum going.
Area planning does not stop there, however.
Then you have implementation.
And there's two parts to implementation
the way I think of it.
First, you've got the land use policy.
You've got that directive within the plan.
And that's where the community is saying,
look, this is what we wanna preserve.
This is what we want to change.
And those really inform some of those decisions
that you make or that the analysis that staff does
in terms of things like zoning decisions
or those types of projects that you see before you.
It also can include some design elements
that the community would like to see,
some additional protections
or community character that they wanna protect.
So that's that policy side.
We've also got the action steps.
And these are these tasks that staff would carry out
or community members,
and that would carry out a policy or a project.
These should be steps to help us achieve the goals
that the community has set forth.
One thing that we wanna do in our area planning
is make sure that our steps and our tasks are attainable.
We wanna make sure we can achieve the promises that we make
and those elements that we put in the plan.
They should include a timeframe.
When we think we can accomplish this task,
identify the responsible agencies
and then how to pay for it.
In 2022, when the city council adopted
the current comprehensive plan,
they also prioritize some areas
that they would like to see some area plans.
So they talked through 10 areas.
They recommended three, four area plans.
The first one was the Northeast Denton
that's at Loop 288 and Sherman.
That plan did go forward with analysis
and some drafting of the plan.
It was paused to allow the community members
to explore opportunities for funding
for a future state part.
So that's on pause right now.
But the other two prioritize area,
Southeast Denton and Downtown Denton,
those plans have been adopted.
They were adopted last summer.
We'll hit them just briefly.
So Southeast Denton, I know Mia talked about it.
I think it was last meeting.
And we had a specific purpose
of why we went forward with that plan.
And that was first to acknowledge
the generational trauma associated
with the displacement of Quaker Town families,
but also to address residents' concerns
of current concerns, places that they wanted to protect,
places that they wanted to see change.
The process for the Southeast Denton area plan
included a tremendous amount of public engagement,
over 40 engagement activities, and it ran the gamut.
We did standard neighborhood meetings all the way to,
there's a picture here in the middle of your screen,
man on the street interviews
in front of local businesses and parks.
And so we wanted to talk to as many people as possible.
Ultimately, it was adopted by city council
and with a vision
that the community wanted to make sure
that cherished history and that black culture
was protected and preserved,
but also to create a community
where all were welcome for the future.
So it was a really great experience.
And then we had the design downtown Denton plan.
And that purpose was to ensure
that downtown remains relevant for the future.
And they did a lot of public engagement as well.
It also followed kind of that planning process.
And that one was unique in that
the stakeholders were extremely diverse.
They had business owners all the way to visitors
who just came to, who don't necessarily live
in the community, but come to the downtown square for events.
So they had a lot of really engaging
and innovative ways to talk to the community.
They used the internet really well in social media.
Looking at Cameron, she did a great job.
And they just, they really reached out
in really interesting ways to get that feedback.
We also have older adopted plans.
We have a Fry Street area plan, Edenia area plan,
and an Oak gateway area plan.
A couple of these plans are pretty old.
And just to let you know, kind of like comprehensive plan,
they should be updated regularly
in order to make sure that they stay current
and that we inaccurate and that we are
accurately reflecting the community's vision.
So now we're gonna leave area plans
and we're gonna go where the rubber hits the road,
and that is overlay districts.
So what are they?
They are zoning tools to implement area plans
or to address localized needs
or to achieve other policy goals.
So there's a variety of reasons
of why we have overlay districts.
They actually sit on top of the zoning
and they can modify the regulations where they're needed,
but that underlying zoning stays in place.
They often require substantial coordination
between property owners, staff, stakeholders,
and the process to put a overlay district in place
or to amend it is the same as zoning.
So when the live work overlay comes before you,
it will function very much like a zoning public hearing
where there's notification and a public hearing
ultimately approval by city council.
The Denton Development Code Subtractor Four
outlines how we need to structure our overlays
in the city of Denton and approve them.
And there are three parts.
There is the statement of purpose, the why,
a boundary map, and then the regulations.
And those regulations should provide that protection
of features that the community has said
that they wanna protect or that are of special concern.
It can change the levels of permission for land uses.
It can have special design standards, performance standards,
or other standards related to different uses,
and then any other matters of importance.
I think we have seven overlay districts.
I may have miscounted,
but just gonna briefly touch on them.
So we have the Fry Street overlay
that is an orange on your screen.
The purpose of that was to protect the public peace,
safety, cleanliness, and general welfare.
This actually came out of the Fry Street small area plan.
And so it regulates things like parking,
solid waste containers, signs, setbacks,
and then residential and commercial density.
We have the Denton Square District.
That was intended to make sure that we preserve
this cherished community asset.
And so it establishes design standards,
demolition approvals, and also approvals
and certificate of design consistency procedure.
We have three historic districts in the city of Denton
that Cameron manages as our historic preservation officer.
These historic districts are intended to protect,
enhance, and preserve these structures within the community.
And the regulations include things like
architectural standards specific to those areas
and approval procedure, the certificate of appropriateness.
And then three overlay districts we don't see very much.
Well, you see the Razor Ranch District quite a bit,
but the municipal airport overlay,
that really is related to the functioning of the airport.
It is really specific to that area.
It regulates things like the height of structures,
also limits the uses because you don't wanna build a house
next to a runway, right?
There are noise implications.
So provides those regulations specific
to the functioning of that airport.
Unicorn Lake Overlay District, that is mainly residential.
There's a little bit of piece that is commercial within it,
but it was intended to provide
kind of that variety of housing type.
It also has private streets within it.
And then those dimensional standards.
And then we have the Razor Ranch Overlay District.
That is one you're very familiar with.
And that it was intended to provide that combination
of land uses to encourage that real commercial district.
And then you've got three proposed overlay districts
you are gonna see in the near future.
We have the Southeast Denton Residential Overlay.
Let me back up.
These stem from the Southeast Denton Area Plan.
So these were a recommendation within that.
So this is one of those action steps
where we're creating the regulations.
So the residential overlay community really wanted
to make sure that the neighborhoods
within Southeast Denton were protected.
Not only in terms of use,
but in terms of scale and character.
And so that residential overlay is intended
to make sure that we protect those neighborhoods.
We also have a height limitation overlay
and that will be coming forward.
And that is area in blue on your screen.
And that is just intended to make sure
that any commercial development
near residential areas is compatible.
And then the Southeast Denton Live Work Overlay.
I know you heard about that last meeting.
So I won't go into detail with that.
And that's the area in pink.
That concludes my presentation.
Sorry if it went along, but a little long,
but I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them.
Or Tina might jump in if I can't answer it.
- What if a resident wanted to talk
about an area plan for their community?
I mean, is it the city that prompts these
or is it residents that kind of says,
"Hey, can we have an area plan over here?"
- I'm gonna let Tina answer that.
(laughing)
I guess technically it could be both.
You know, with the work that we've done here in Denton,
I think it's, well, I think we've probably had
kind of a combination because wasn't,
not Price Street, the Oak Hickory Gateway,
wasn't that really resident driven?
It predates me.
So I'm just trying to...
I think, let's put it this way.
I know Northeast, well, Northeast Denton's a great example.
I know the residents in Northeast Denton
were interested in having an area plan adopted
for the area of the community.
In fact, they drafted their own area plan.
And as a result of some of the work they did,
coupled with the timing coming out of our adoption
of the comprehensive plan where we were prioritizing
our future area plans, that is what kind of helped
probably move that area up to number one on the list,
not to mention, you know, some of the other development
interests we were seeing within the area.
But that was truly, I would say driven by residents,
but also staff and elected officials in that case.
So it's possible that residents could put forth,
you know, we've come up with this list
when we did the comprehensive plan.
As Julie mentioned earlier, you know,
we would probably revisit this list
and see if those priority areas, you know,
a four through 10 are still in the correct order
if we were to do any future area plan.
But also we'd take into consideration
what we're hearing from the community.
Sorry, that was kind of long-winded.
I was thinking through that one.
- No, it's okay.
I just feel like my little neck of the woods,
like it's like the forgotten stepchild.
Like there's nothing happening over where I live.
I don't even think it's on that map.
- I think you raise a great question.
So, I mean, if that's an area that the commission feels
needs to be studied, you can make that recommendation.
We could also work it through council's
two minute pitch process.
I'd have to give a little more thought to it,
but if we were to go through and identify
future area plans that would need to be done,
we would look for that kind of feedback.
- We just, we have a lot going on there.
And because we're the very southern most part of Denton
where it has a border with North Lake,
like there's a lot of stuff happening there
and a lot of concerns by current residents.
And I'm sure once landmark starts opening up sales
and we're gonna have residents there,
there are also going to be some future concerns
that I think people just don't even realize yet.
- Yeah, I can understand why you say that.
And, you know, it probably really hasn't crossed our minds
in the past really to focus on the year
because with the ropes and ranch zoning
that was customized and put in place for that area,
then you couple that with all of the work that was done
with the formerly known as Hunter landmark development
and coal ranch with the municipal management districts,
the master plan community zoning
that's already in place there.
We might've felt like we had checked the box and moved on,
but you're right, there's, you know,
because it's already has the zoning entitlements in place,
we probably haven't viewed that area as much of a priority,
but it could definitely find itself resonating
near the top of the list sooner or later.
- Maybe this is a great conversation to have
with Councilman Hall and myself and staff
about what's happening over there
and what are some potential immediate needs.
- Yeah, I think that's fine.
I would definitely love to sit down
and visit with you further on it.
And then we could, and then if you feel it's necessary
to go to Councilman Hall and we can definitely talk
about what those next steps might be
or if that's a subsequent conversation
with the planning and zoning commission,
but we could look into that.
I think Hillary has an idea too.
- Oh, my idea is to take this offline
so we stay to posting.
- Oh, okay, all right.
Thank you for putting me in check.
- No, you could finish the, you got to the right place.
- Okay, very good point.
Any other questions?
- I noticed on one of the slides you said
as part of the planning is that the city
hires a consultant.
So a consultant usually writes
the small area plans for the city.
- You know, the city and Tina may wanna correct me
or weigh in, but the city has done it both ways.
They've done them in house.
You know, they're pretty big projects
and there are some communities
that are called small area plans,
but in Denton, we make them, we supersize our area plans.
And so they're often so large
that additional help is needed,
but Tina may wanna weigh in.
- Julie's right.
We don't necessarily have to retain a consultant.
On these area plans we did
because of their size and scale,
also with the size of our staff, we were limited, right?
When we hire a consultant team,
we really view them as an extension of our team, right?
We are one project team.
They just help provide an additional level of expertise
that we may not necessarily have in house.
And then, so we, you know, bring them to the table
to be able to help us accomplish the effort.
There are consultants who, in the case of Southeast Denton,
one of the sub-consultants on that team
has made it his life career
working with communities that have experienced past harm.
And so he really brought unique perspective
in helping our team work with that
'cause no one else on our team had that experience.
And so we'll bring those consultants in
for those levels of specialty experience.
Our design downtown Denton plan,
Zach and his team that we brought on, super helpful.
They've done numerous downtown plans
and really can speak to
some successful implementation efforts
'cause they've been involved in that as well.
And so they, again, we're an extension of our team
to allow us to be able to partner with them
to help us create a plan
that is most appropriate for our community.
I viewed it also as an opportunity for my team
to learn from those experts
because then, you know, we've got great talent
on our staff as well who, you know,
depending upon the type of area plan
that we were working on,
it's possible we could accomplish it all in house.
It's possible we might need to bring somebody on
to help us with the effort.
So it's not a must.
It is definitely was a huge benefit for us
on those particular two projects.
And even on the Northeast Denton plan,
just given the level of public engagement
that we were doing also on that plan
and the complexities associated with it.
- Just a comment.
Can you go back to your slide that had frustrate on it?
- The area plan or the overlay?
- Well, which it has frustrated, is it the overlay?
Where it gives us the date that was updated.
That was the plan, I guess, the area plan.
1999, gosh, that might need to be looked at
just as a comment.
I know it's not a priority and, you know,
we've moved a lot of our businesses
and activity from Fry Street to downtown.
Not sure how long that's been in place,
but just speaking for my area of representation.
- Yes, and so we adopted the Oak gateway area plan,
those recommendations and vision.
That one kind of enveloped Fry Street.
I don't think it was necessarily focused on Fry Street.
So I think it kind of maybe split both,
but yeah, it's something we'll take note of
'cause they should be updated regularly.
- Keep in mind, we have not, as I've understood it
and I looked at Haley and Julie many times and Sean,
because they have the most tenure here compared to myself.
But we have done those area plans from time to time,
but we have not had like staff fully dedicated
to be able to do those efforts.
A lot of times those area plans are done
from a reactive point of view as well,
just because of issues that are going on
in a particular area of the community.
And so we were able to allocate the resources
to be able to do so.
We're fortunate now with the size of the staff that we have
and especially having kind of a small
long range planning team.
They're still responsible
for doing development review as well.
But we're a little better positioned for us
to be able to do projects of this nature.
So if it requires additional budgetary financial resources,
then the projects are gonna be paused for the time being.
But we definitely have the talent in-house
where we can visit certain areas.
And like I said, a lot of our effort,
we're responsive to what is the Mesa or the foremost need,
which the statutory requirements are the plats
and the zoning compliance plans
and the civil engineering plans.
But we do try to make sure that we have more of a focus
with our long range planning now,
just because we have not fully benefited
from that in the past.
- Well, it takes time, right?
- Thank you. - Thank you, Julie.
So since y'all voted me as temporary chair,
I have to go ahead and say, I missed something already.
So we're gonna go back and review the regular agenda
and we're gonna go to item four,
items for individual consideration.
Now we're gonna talk about, to start off,
plat FP25-0018, Mia?
- Yes, sir.
Oh, I'm not trying to go to Zoom.
That's gonna pop up, so, so sorry.
Okay, combined plots.
(mouse clicking)
Okay, Mia Hines, senior planner.
This item is a final plat for Hickory Grove, phase four.
The Hickory Grove subdivision is located
within a municipal utility district
located just north of West University Drive
with the previous phases sort of moving north, northwest.
This phase, phase four, is approximately 80 feet east
of Nail and Jackson Road,
or the intersection of Nail and Jackson Road
and includes approximately 115 acres.
At this time, the plat is not ready,
or does not meet all the criteria for approval
as presented in the DDC, so staff is recommending denial.
However, we have no objection to the requested extension,
which could be granted to June 25th, 2025.
Any questions?
- So what exactly is not meeting the requirements right now?
- I believe with this one, it's some minor things.
I know that they have some notes.
It's provided in the backup for sure on the staff analysis,
but there are some notes related to gas wells,
and then there's some minor sort of detailed things
on the plat that they need to address.
For the most part, lot sizes, the orientation,
it's in line with the phasing plan
that was adopted for this,
so the bigger picture stuff there, they're ready,
and I suspect that they should have it ready for approval
by that next extension date,
if that works out with the submittal calendar,
which I believe it does.
- Okay, any other questions?
- Excuse me, so is the applicant asking for the extension?
- Yes, ma'am. - Thank you.
- And that is provided as exhibit six,
or five, I believe, in your backup.
- And we tend to get a lot of these each meeting,
so, okay, well, thank you.
- Yes, sir.
- We'll move on then to item 4B, FP25-0020.
Matt.
- Good evening, commission.
Matt Bodine, assistant planner,
here to present a final plat
located approximately 610 feet west of Teesley Lane
along Hickory Creek Road.
This is about a 10 and a half acre tract
for the development of a self-service storage facility.
At this time, the plat does not yet meet
our criteria for approval,
though they are requesting an extension of the review time
to a date certain of June 25th,
and staff has no objection to their extension request.
Here to answer any questions.
- Okay, any questions?
All right, Matt, thanks. - All right.
- Okay, that being said,
we'll jump back over into our work session mode.
- Okay, well, I've just been told
there's a very important notice.
Dinner is here, so we're gonna pause,
let everybody get some dinner,
and then we'll come back
and we'll go back into our work session, so.
- Okay, I'm gonna call back to order our work session.
The time is 616, and to move on,
we're going to our work session item 4B.
Oh, no, I'm sorry.
Yep, 4B, PZ25-131.
All right, Mia.
Oh, also, before you get started, Mia,
for the sake of time,
let's just hold all questions until the very end,
and that way we can make sure that we get through it.
- Cool. - Yeah, thank you.
- Mia Hines, senior planner.
This item or this work session bootcamp presentation
is essentially all other applications.
This is everything but the kitchen sink, a little bit.
Of all other applications
that the Planning and Zoning Commission considers
that doesn't necessarily fall in line with
or fall into the categories of like plats
and other things that we've covered
within this bootcamp series.
So, so far, I just want to show this slide
because so far, to remind you all what we've covered,
Julie just did a great presentation
over the area plans and zoning overlays.
Earlier this year, I did that planning one-on-one bootcamp
that talked a little bit about
comprehensive planning process as well as the overview
of some of the development applications
and process that you all see.
We've also done zoning and PDs,
SUPs, annexations, platting, and subdivision variances,
and today's presentation,
we are gonna be talking about alternative ESA plans,
historic landmarks and district designations,
DDC tax amendments, policy plan amendments a little bit,
and then some special zoning compliance plan applications
that the commission is responsible for reviewing.
So we'll start with those alternative
environmentally sensitive area plans or the AESA plans.
For a little overview about what we're talking about here
are those environmentally sensitive areas,
specifically cross timbers upland habitat,
riparian buffer or water-related habitat areas,
and undeveloped floodplain.
Those cross timber upland habitat areas
are those remnants of eastern cross timber forests
within the city.
That riparian buffer area is the area within 50 to 100 feet
of the centerline of a stream,
just depending on the watershed size,
and then the undeveloped floodplain is that area
within the FEMA 100-year floodplain.
And essentially, the DDC has different ways
that these areas are to be preserved
or if developed in how they are to be treated.
The alternative ESA plan provides an opportunities
for developers to offer things outside
of what the DDC would allow for,
but still within certain limits
that ultimately yield to a higher quality engineered plan
and mitigation for environmentally sensitive areas
in relation to developments.
So typically, Christy Upton is usually the one
that presents alternative ESA plans to you all,
and she'll come to you with a little bit of information
similar to this.
Well, she'll start off with the ESA field assessment
sort of site inventory,
letting you all know what environmentally sensitive areas
specifically are on the site of the proposed development.
She'll also provide some information
on the proposed development itself,
what land uses are being proposed,
as well as sort of how the environmentally sensitive areas
are to be disturbed.
And then she'll provide you with a mitigation plan
that the engineering or the developers
provides the city staff for review
that lists how the development proposes
with their disturbance
of these environmentally sensitive areas,
how they propose to sort of mitigate for that
and ultimately develop a higher quality product.
So that's ESAs.
Next is historic landmarks and districts.
I start with this slide to make sure we're sort of all clear
on the difference between a historic landmark
and a conservation or historic district.
Notably, historic landmarks are those buildings,
districts, objects, sites, or structures
that are recognized by the state or the US nationally.
They come with a plaque of some sort.
And those conservation and historic districts
are more like zoning overlays
that we just sort of learned about
that are recognized at a city level
and passed locally at a city level.
So here's some examples of some of those landmarks
and districts that we have in the city.
Landmarks are included in those images on the left.
The courthouse, for example, is one of those landmarks.
The districts, like I said, are more like an overlay.
So those maps that you see there to the right,
we have that Oak Hickory Historic District,
that Belle Avenue Historic District,
and that West Oak Historic District
that all come with, as Julie stated,
some additional design requirements and standards
to sort of preserve the historic character in that area.
Where this body comes into play
is after the Historic Landmark Commission reviews
these applications for historic significance.
This body provides a recommendation to the city council
and then they ultimately make a decision.
This is a little bit different,
not too many applications that this body sees
also is seen by other boards.
So Cameron typically provides,
she's our historic preservation officer,
she typically provides an overview
of those presentations when that comes forward.
And then this, once those items are passed,
is a map showing all of the city's historic districts
as well as all the historic landmarks.
So those dots are the historic landmark points
that we have throughout the city,
and then the sort of shaded area are those districts.
And this is available on the city's website as well.
Okay, so the next category or the next type of application
and I wanna talk about is the DDC text amendments.
These are simply what they are.
They are amendments to the regulations
as provided in the DIN development code.
And this body is a recommendation body for that,
and then city council approves it ultimately.
DDC amendments are initiated
through various different reasons.
Sometimes it's city direction,
city council has asked staff to take up a specific task.
Or sometimes there's industry changes or challenges
that we as staff have noticed
throughout the development process
or something along those lines.
And we sort of feel that there is a need
to take the initiative and update the code
to meet those challenges.
And then sometimes it's legislative challenges and changes.
So I know we're, excuse me, in a session right now
where we're gonna probably have to develop
or update our DIN development code
with one of these DDC amendments
or a few of these DDC amendment text
because of we're having to respond to legislative changes
and things at the state level.
Once that idea starts for DDC text amendments,
we move on to staff research and analysis.
That's done throughout the whole process,
but a part of that research and analysis
is community engagement as well as sometimes,
depending on the topic,
taking it forward to the development code review committee,
which is made up of some of this body
and some of city council.
Once we've done all that research and analysis back and forth,
staff will form a recommendation on the topic
and those amendment changes.
And then it'll come before this body.
This body will make a recommendation.
City council will make a final decision
and then it'll be added to the DDC as an update.
The next class of application that I wanna talk about
is comprehensive plan amendments.
Like I said, we did that comprehensive planning process
overview in February.
Julie just gave a good presentation
over area planning and that nature,
but I just wanted to just a little bit talk about
or mention that this application process
does come before this body.
And of course, in the event that any of the codes
that Julie mentioned needs to be amended,
you all would be a part of that process.
This is that future land use map
that's adopted with the Denton 2040 comprehensive plan.
Typically when a cop plan amendments
just plain come before you all,
it is to amend a future land use designation on this map.
So it's to change one color to another,
and of course what that color represents.
An example could be one of the things
that we're considering I think is the 380 corridor area,
potentially doing a comprehensive plan amendment
in that area that would ultimately change
what that future land use designation is for that area.
Similarly, you have a mobility plan amendment
on your agenda this evening.
And typically it is a request to change one of the colors
on this map essentially.
And that's either reclassifying one of the roadways
shown on this map or adjusting the structure of those.
And then lastly, one of the other things
or the other thing that I wanted to mention
was those special sort of one-off site plan applications
that this body has to review every once in a while.
And typically in the past,
our plan development districts require the adoption
of a detailed site plan prior to development
being allowed to develop.
And so those will come back before this body.
The plan development amendment actually
that I have on tonight's agenda came before this body,
I believe in July of last year,
with a detailed site plan for that to be adopted.
So you'll see cases like that.
And then one of the other cases,
I think that I'll have one of these next month
is a razor ranch overlay site plan
or zoning compliance plan,
which per that overlay standards,
all site plans for development south of 380
has to come before this body for final approval.
So typically if it's a site plan
as a part of a plan development amendment
or something along those lines,
that comes to this body for recommendation.
And then because it's an ordinance and a zoning change,
it does have to get approved, final approval by city council.
Those razor ranch applications,
this body is the final recommending or approval body.
And this is an example of that.
This one is for that Razor Town Center.
That's a multifamily development south of 380,
located in Razor.
And typically I'll present the basic facts
of what the development is proposing,
the site plans, landscape plans,
elevations and things of that nature.
And then how it stacks up against the criteria for approval.
That pretty much concludes my presentation.
I know that was a lot of different topic areas,
but I'll happily take any questions or comments
that you have at this time.
- Okay, any questions?
All right, good job.
Thank you.
Thank you.
- Okay, well, with that being said, that's all we have.
So I'm gonna adjourn the work session at 6.27 PM.
- Good evening.
Welcome to the Planning and Zoning Commission
meeting tonight.
I'll be acting chair tonight,
and I will call this meeting to order at 6.42.
And with that being said, we do have a quorum present.
So the next order of business is to move on
to the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag, Texas flag.
So please stand and join me.
Pledge of Allegiance.
- 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.
- On the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the city
of Texas, one state, under God, one indivisible.
- Okay.
Moving on, I just wanted to make an order of business.
So item 5A on the public,
on the, yeah, it's on the public hearing portion
has been withdrawn.
So that will not be considered tonight.
We will move on to the next items.
So that takes us moving on to item 2A.
Basically consider approval of planning
and zoning minutes from the last meeting.
Commissioner McDuff during the work session
pointed out that there were some errors,
mainly editorial, clerical errors.
So we're actually gonna push that,
and we will consider that at the next meeting.
And then that takes us on to the consent agenda.
And so if there are no questions on the consent agenda,
I will entertain a motion.
Commissioner Dyer.
- I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda
as presented.
- Okay.
Commissioner McDade.
- I'll second the motion.
- Okay, let's vote.
Okay, with that, the consent agenda item passes.
And that moves us on to items for individual consideration.
Item 4A, FP25-0018, Mia.
- Good evening, members of the commission.
Mia Hines, senior planner.
This item is a final plat of Hickory Grove, phase four.
This property is located
within a municipal utility district
located just north of West University,
or between West University, US 380, and Jackson Road.
This phase, phase four, is approximately 80 miles east
of Jackson Road and FM 156 North.
At this time, the plat is not meeting
all of our criteria for approval,
so we are recommending denial.
However, we have no objection
to the applicant-requested extension
to a date certain of June 25th, 2025.
At this time, I will take any questions.
- Okay, are there any questions for Mia?
I'm gonna entertain a motion.
Thanks, Mia.
Commissioner McDuff.
- Motion to approve the extension.
- Okay, to the date certain of June 25th, okay, okay.
- I'll second the motion.
- Okay, let's vote.
Okay, and the item passes.
That takes us on to item 4B, FP25-0020.
Matt.
- Good evening, Commission.
Matt Bodine, Assistant Planner,
here to present a request for approval
of the final plat of lot one,
block B, Hickory Creek Center addition.
The approximately 10 and a half acre track
is located on the south side of Hickory Street,
about 610 feet west of Teesley Lane,
and this is for the purpose of developing
a self-service storage facility.
At this time, the final plat does not meet
our criteria for approval, so we cannot recommend approval.
However, we have no objection to the requested
plat review extension to a date certain of June 25th.
- Okay, are there any questions for Matt?
If not, I'll entertain a motion.
- Okay, Commissioner McDuff.
- Motion to approve this first extension.
- To the date certain June 25th?
- To a date certain of June 25th.
- Okay, Commissioner McDade.
- I'll second the motion.
- Okay, let's vote.
- Okay, motion passes.
That takes us, moves us on to item five, public hearings.
And as a reminder, item 5A, MPA 24-003 has been withdrawn,
and so it will not be considered tonight.
That takes us on to item 5B, PDA 25-0003.
It is a public hearing,
so I'm gonna open the public hearing at this time.
- Chair, acting chair, I am concerned that I have a conflict
of interest on this item and would need to recuse myself
if I hear the merits of this case.
Therefore, I'd like to make a motion
to continue this public hearing
to the commissioner's next meeting of June 25th, 2025,
to allow more commissioners present to hear this request
that would meet a quorum if lost this evening.
Excuse me.
- Okay, we have a motion.
Do we have a second?
- Can I ask a question first
before we second?
Will there be enough time to get notice out?
Do you have to send another notice out
before the next meeting?
- Since her motion is to a date certain of June 25th,
no, we would not.
So this serves, if this request is approved
by the commission, that serves as notice
to the applicant and anybody that's here
that might be interested in it,
that it's being continued to the 25th.
- Okay, I'll go ahead and second.
- Okay, we have a motion and a second to continue.
Let's vote.
Okay, motion unanimously passes to hold this,
basically to push it to the next meeting.
Okay, that takes us on to item 5C, MPA 250001.
Well, actually, let me close the public hearing
for item 5B, that item.
- Actually, you're gonna leave it open
since we continued it.
- Oh, well, nevermind, I'll correct it again.
We're leaving that open.
So we'll leave that one open
and we will open item 5C, MPA 250001.
- Good evening, commissioners.
My name is Saharis Van Yeri,
Senior Transportation Planner,
Development Services.
Tonight, I'd like to discuss about a mobility plan amendment
for Underwood, Springside, and Corbyn Road.
But before I go any further,
let me talk a little bit about the mobility plan.
Mobility plan, just like a comprehensive plan,
is a long-range plan.
And the current mobility plan was adopted
by the city council on March 22nd
as a part of the comprehensive plan for 2040.
So the mobility plan establishes future roadways,
pedestrian, and bicyclists network
to enhance connectivity and efficient movement.
This plan is not intended
to provide detailed roadway design or plans.
Rather, it is about general policies
and broad roadway alignment.
But it can be further refined as needed
as part of a new development project
or new capital improvement project.
Basically, this mobility plan has three major elements.
First is roadway alignment.
And second is right-of-way,
which refers to the width of the road
and speed limit on the roads.
And also the roadway design standards.
So this mobility plan amendment has four requests.
The reason that I have all these proposals
under one amendment is that they are all located
in a very close distance from each other,
and they are almost interconnected.
So going towards all of them one by one,
and I will explain all of these
in more details in later slides.
So the first request is to remove
the future northern extension of Underwood Road.
As you can see in the map to the right,
which is about located south of Airport Road or 15,
or FM 1515, and to the south, a terminus at Springside.
But I should mention that the general area
of these requests located at southwest of the city of Denton,
and like east of airport.
So the second road and second request
is about removing the future
western extension of Corbin Road.
The third request is about extending
the functional classification of north-south Corbin Road.
Also, the fourth road is Springside Road,
which we are requesting to unifying
the roadway classification to a collector
as the roadway classification for a Springside.
So now Underwood Road.
Existing Underwood Road located
between Springside to the north,
and FM 2449 to the south.
However, according to the mobility plan,
the northern part of Underwood is extended
to FM 1515 or Airport Road.
The staff requesting to remove this portion of Underwood
because of the following reasons.
First, as you can see on the map to the left and up,
this road located inside a riparian buffer and floodplain.
Therefore, in order to avoid
any adverse environmental impact
and disturbing the bottomland hardwood and local wildlife,
staff request to remove this portion of road.
Also, as you can see, this road is located between
West Court as a secondary arterial
and Corbin Road to the right.
So in the absence of this road,
there will be enough road capacity
to take care of the traffic movement in this area.
The map to the left-hand bottom of the page
shows the final configuration of this road.
So as you can see, the northern section of Underwood
will be connected to the West Court
by re-aligning to the left with the care.
The second request is for East-West Corbin Road.
As you can see in this map,
the East-West Corbin Road started from east of I-35
from Bonnie Bray Street, crosses I-35.
Of course, the crossing is now closed,
but the focus of this request
is located inside this orange loop.
As you can see, according to the mobility plan,
this future extension of Corbin Road
crosses three properties.
So after a detailed study,
staff recommends to remove this portion of road
to avoid disturbing the surrounding properties.
Also, the absence of this road
will have no impact on traffic flow
because of the existing Corbin Road
and a Springside Road in a very close distance
of this target road.
There will be enough road capacity
to take care of the traffic movement.
The third request is about
extending the roadway classification.
Currently, the Corbin Road existing between Airport Road
all the way south to the East-West,
connecting to the East-West Corbin Road.
But mobility plan only identify
these roads from airport to Springside as a collector.
Staff recommend to extend this roadway classification
to provide better connectivity
and improved access for residents around this area.
The fourth request is for Springside Road.
As you can see in this map,
Springside Road, which is located in the orange circle,
is located between West Court Road and Corbin Road.
The western section of Springside
has been identified as secondary arteriole,
whereas the eastern section is identified
as a collector in the mobility plan.
Staff recommends to unify this roadway classification
as a collector
to provide the unifying roadway classification.
Just for some background about this roadway classification,
this roadway classification refers to the width of the road
and the speed limit.
As a collector, the roadway should have 65 feet
of total right-of-way,
and the speed limit will be from 30 to 35 miles per hour.
However, as a secondary arteriole,
the right-of-way will be 110,
and the speed limit will be 35 to 40 miles per hour.
So we recommend to downgrade this roadway classification
to a collector, especially because this area,
located in a complex kind of land use,
the mix of rural residential and heavy industrial area,
this road is going to be used by passenger cars
and heavy commercial trucks.
So by lowering the classification
and lowering the speed limit,
we are providing a safer passage for all the road users.
And of course, because it is very close to the airport road,
there will be enough road capacity,
because airport road is a primary arteriole,
so they can take care of the traffic flow in the area.
So as you can see, the map on the right
shows the final configuration of these proposed changes.
All these proposals meet the criteria for approval,
especially regarding to the comprehensive plan,
future land use and mobility plan.
We have done the public outreach for this area.
We had an in-person meeting back in May 7th with residents,
and we addressed the questions
and explained the process for them.
We had newspaper ad, website announcement, property signs,
and we have also made the notices
to 200 and 500 buffer around the target roads,
and we have received one written letter
in favor of this request.
Staff recommends approval of this proposal,
as it complies with the criteria in section 271D of the DDC.
The next step will be a public hearing
at City Council on June 17th.
Thank you.
- Okay, are there any questions from the commission?
- I do.
First, just commending the city staff
on recognizing that this is going to help the environment
and all the wildlife there.
I have to assume, as well, that Underwood,
by taking that out, I would assume
there would have to be a bridge going over there,
over the creek, so that's also a money saver
for the city as well.
So way to go to save the city some money, so thank you.
- Sure.
I will say, it does look like this configuration.
Obviously, it avoids the wetlands and the,
or not the wetlands, the floodplain and the habitat,
but it also looks like it ultimately
reduces the surrounding residents,
and so this seems like a good thing.
I'll just say that.
That being said, it is a public hearing,
so if there's no other questions from the commission,
I can take questions.
That being said, I have one card,
so we'll start with the cards.
Mr. Kyle Eaton, please come up,
state your name and address, and you have four minutes.
- My name is Kyle Eaton, I'm at 2999 Corbin Road.
I'm actually on the other side of 35,
but this was brought to my attention,
and so really kind of what I want to focus on,
on this item, is the including but not limited to.
So I guess my question, my concern on this,
is item number one,
which is removing the piece of Underwood,
and the concern that I have with that is,
I guess the role potentially that,
I think it's Walter P. Moore,
I think he was the consultant that did the mobility plan,
what role he actually played,
what role they played in this whole process,
because when I look at Underwood,
yes, it's in a floodplain,
it's not just crossing a floodplain,
there's about 2,700 foot of road that's in a floodplain.
So my question is,
how do you make this recommendation on a mobility plan,
and it gets to this stage,
where somebody on city staff has to catch it and says,
somebody, we can't do this, this is impossible.
And I don't think it's limited just to
that portion of the road,
and my concern is that we've hired these outside consultants
to try to save money,
and what we've ended up doing is we have people
that don't know the city,
they don't know the city,
and then that has very real consequences
for the people that live here,
because whenever a developer sees a secondary arterial,
I can tell you they are rubbing their hand
and say, mixed use, let's put mixed use there,
'cause the roads will support it,
we're not gonna get pushed back on that.
So that's my first concern.
My second concern is,
why are we stopping on downgrading it
on the collector on Corbin Road, just to that one section?
I have the I-35 schematics right here,
and there is no connection to I-35 for Corbin.
And so my question is, on the north south of Corbin,
where we're downgrading it to a collector,
why does it stop there?
Why not take it, the remainder of the way, 235,
and make downgrade that as well?
That's about 300 foot of road,
300 or 400 foot of road, that serves three residents.
And so I don't understand why,
if you're making these changes already,
you just don't go ahead and you finish them out.
It doesn't make sense to leave out another portion.
That's a secondary arterial in my opinion.
Thank you.
- Okay, it is a public hearing,
so if anybody else would like to speak, please come up.
Please state your name and address,
and you have four minutes.
- Kevin McKinney, and I live at 2057 Underwood Road.
And the concern I've got is that we had a plan,
then we changed it and came up with a new plan.
And then before May 7th, we had a new plan,
which is what you are trying to stop.
Is that what we're doing?
You're trying to change that and go to a new plan?
We're Underwood Road, is that correct?
Did I read that right?
- So currently, Underwood Road runs north of Springside.
This would remove that portion.
- Right, okay, all right.
And the Corbin Road Bridge is not gonna be reopened?
Was that, yes, no?
- That would be something for staff,
but this is really not a back and forth.
This is a time for you to--
- I'm just asking questions.
You asked for any questions, these were the questions.
- Okay, we'll let staff answer them when you're done.
- Because I had to actually contact the P&Z
to get notified of all these meetings.
I'm just worried about my piece of property,
and from what I remember on Underwood Road,
there are four houses, there's four houses.
And then on Corbin, there's three residents.
And Springside, one.
I mean, and we're here.
And this is what's affecting us.
You're home, nobody wants at your home, your home.
Nobody wants coming in and taking roads over, driving down.
You're talking about the safety on that road.
It's 30 miles an hour now.
It's a blacktop road on Underwood.
And it says no trucks, no one's enforcing that.
Y'all, the city built a bridge to keep it from flooding.
And they're just destroying the road
and doing 50 miles an hour down that road all day long.
So if you've never been down Underwood Road,
y'all might want to go take a visit,
what you're voting on, okay?
That's my point.
- Yeah, are there any other public speakers?
You'll have to come up to the podium,
state your name and address.
Okay, is there anyone else?
Okay, one more time, anyone else like to speak?
Okay.
Okay, well, if there's no other public speakers,
then I'm going to close the public hearing
and open it up for questions.
Commissioner, are there any questions?
Okay, well, I do have a couple of questions.
One, it looks like as if this proposal
would ultimately have less of an impact
to the residents and to the area around it.
It seems to me like this would be less of an impact
than the current plan.
I'd like staff to kind of come up
and talk about their analysis and from a traffic side.
- Good evening, Chandra Muruganandam,
city traffic engineer, city of Denton,
transportation services.
So based on the proposal we have,
we are actually downgrading some of the roadways,
so that should actually be less impact to the residents
as what is in the classification right now.
We are actually reducing it from a secondary arterials
to collectors, so that we'll be having
less right of way undertaking in the future
when the developments occur on those areas,
on those roadways.
- Chandra, can you speak to why Corbin Road
on the east-west portion was not downgraded as well
as part of this request?
- So right now as we see, we have to see
on the mobility plan what is on the development plan,
not right now, what is on the 2040,
as per the 2022 adoption of the mobility plan.
So as the land area is available for developments,
those roadways will be, has to match those classifications.
But if the data supports to downgrade it
and offer to provide the enough level of service
and with the development numbers that showing,
then we could downgrade it.
But as such, when these studies are done,
the models predict how much trips are projected in the 2040
and we will be relying on those models
to have these classifications done.
And as a case by case, these are at a high level maps.
We will take a closer look at it
as the development comes in to see if it fits the needs,
whether it supports downgrading,
whether it has alternate capacities to handle
the future traffic.
- Yeah, Bettina, would you like to add something?
- Yeah, I just wanted to add something
just to follow up to a comment that Chandra made.
So he's right, when we did the update to the mobility plan,
these are, there are models that are in,
while the city may hire a consultant team to assist us,
staff is intimately involved with making recommendations
as well as to what the mobility plan map should show.
So to his point, you know, we do the analysis
that we have at the time, it's a higher level analysis.
We do have the ability though to study areas
and make amendments to the map as needed
because we realize sometimes conditions can change
within an area or we're seeing a different
development pattern and so it's worthy to go back
and do a deeper dive analysis on recommendations
associated with the mobility plan.
So that's why you have the recommendations
that are before you this evening to make those changes.
I had one I thought and I just lost it, I'm sorry.
But it, oh, the other thing is, keep in mind,
when the mobility plan is adopted,
and Chandra, you can correct me if I'm wrong on this,
but we actually have language in the plan also
that acknowledges that the roadway alignments
have the ability to shift 1,000 feet in either direction
because again, we're looking at locations of roadways,
it's a higher level analysis that's done at the time
when we're adopting the plan.
We realize we may not have gotten it perfect,
possibly on alignment or some conditions have changed
or we're working with a property owner
where that alignment might need to adjust.
And so the mobility plan has some level of flexibility
built into it regarding where the final road does land,
if you will, on the ground.
But so we have that flexibility built in there.
So again, it's taken into consideration
as conditions are evolving whether or not
we have the ability to or whether or not it's necessary
to make some of those changes.
- That's right.
- Okay, any other questions from the commission?
Yes.
- I had a question regarding the comment
about the 300 feet of Corbin Road
not being completely extended to 35.
And I'm sorry if some of what she said,
Tina addressed that, but is there some reason
why that wasn't considered or is it not in the plan?
- As such, we have been told from the design team
that is part of the plan.
And they are in a schematic stage at this time.
And we have to take a look at specifically
on what section they are mentioning
that portion of 300 feet,
they are wanting to take a look at it.
And how much distance is it to 35?
What's the distance?
He mentioned 300.
- So on this plan, in the mobility plan amendment,
the roadway that the Corbin Road shown on this map,
there will be a bridge that's constructed
the north-south Corbin that was closed
due to a fatality back in 2010.
So that portion of the bridge is still intact.
That plan is to build it back.
- Okay.
Any other questions?
I know the public hearing has been closed.
I'm sorry.
Okay, with that, I'll entertain a motion.
- Okay.
We have a motion and a second.
Commissioner Dyer.
- I'd like to make a motion to go ahead
and move forward on recommending the proposed changes
to the city council.
- Commissioner MacDuff.
- I'd like to second this motion.
And may I add something, a comment here?
- Sure.
- Commissioner MacDuff did before.
Commissioner Dyer did before.
I want us to move forward with this,
but I certainly want us to take into account these comments.
- Okay.
Well, with that, let's vote.
Okay, motion passes four zero.
Moving on to item five D, MPA 25-0002.
And I will go ahead and open the public hearing at this time.
- Good evening, Sahar Isfandiari,
senior transportation planner.
This is MPA 25-002A,
which is about removing a future collector.
As you can see in this map,
the general area of this future collector
located at the west side of the city.
To be more specific, it is located
between item five D and MPA 25-0002A.
It is located between I-35 and Western,
south of US-380 and north of Jim Crystal.
So, as I mentioned,
staff requesting removing this future collector.
And the reason behind this request is,
first, as you can see this future collector
located in the pink circle.
There is a railroad, Kansas City Southern Railroad,
that crosses this future roadway.
So, according to the regulations,
we need, in order to open a new crossing,
we have to close at least two or more
other existing crossing in the city to open a new one.
And of course, any new crossing
will have its own safety concerns.
The second reason is that, as you can see,
the northern section of this road
located inside a floodplain.
So, in order to prevent any adverse environmental impact,
we are requesting to remove this future collector
from the mobility plan.
Also, noticing that this road
located between I-35 as a highway
and Western Road as a primary arterial,
there will be enough road capacity
in the absence of this future collector
to take care of the traffic movement in the area.
To the right, you can see the future
or proposed mobility plan.
And this proposal meet the criteria for approval,
especially regarding to the comprehensive plan,
future land use and mobility plan.
We've done the public outreach for this request
through newspaper ad, website announcement,
property signs, we have also mailed the notices
to 200 and 500 feet buffer around the target road,
and we have received one written letter in response
and in favor of this request.
Staff recommends approval of this proposal
as it complies with the criteria in Section 271D of the DDC.
The next step will be a public hearing
at City Council on June 17th.
Thank you.
- Okay, are there any questions for staff
from the commission?
Okay, this is a public hearing,
so if anyone would like to come up and make comments,
you are more than welcome to do so.
Okay, looks like we don't have anyone,
so in that case, I am going to close the public hearing
and commission if there's any discussion
or if anyone wants to make a motion,
I'd entertain a motion.
Okay, Commissioner Dyer.
- I'll make a motion that we move forward
to recommend to the City Council
the changes in this proposal.
- Commissioner McDonough.
- I'll second the motion.
- Okay, let's vote.
Okay, item passes unanimously.
That takes us on to Item 6A, PZ25-022,
hold a discussion regarding the planning
and zoning project matrix.
- Thank you, Chair Riggs.
So there were no changes made to the matrix
that was included in your packet
since there were no requests from the prior meeting.
And then also regarding actions
that council has taken on development projects
that the commission also may have heard previously.
Since your meeting on May 28th,
the commission only had, or excuse me,
the council only had action on one agenda item
and that was the Denton-195 project.
The applicant had requested that the item B
continued indefinitely and to allow them
to be able to make some additional refinements
to their application.
So at such point in time when that application
is ready to proceed to council,
staff will re-notice for that public hearing
and send out the required public notifications
to the various property owners and residents
at such point in time when that's ready to move forward.
And I do not have any date on that,
but otherwise that concludes my report.
So thank you.
- So question on that.
- Yes, ma'am.
- So if the developer is going back
and making changes on the 195 project,
will it go back to the PNC before it goes back
to the city council or does it just go straight
to the city council?
- So that depends.
Not knowing what changes of any they might make.
If they were significant changes,
then we would still take the item back to council,
but it could be that our recommendation
is that it's brought back to the commission.
Not wanting to get too off posting
before I get the eyebrows again, so.
But that's kind of the basic how that would roll.
But we don't know.
So we'll make that decision
once we receive more information.
It's a great question.
- Thank you.
Thank you for answering it,
not for the great question comment,
but thanks for that too.
- No problem.
So I know we have some new commissioners.
So just, we might not have talked about the matrix
in your commissioner training, so that's my fault.
But what we use this matrix for
is that if there are any particular special topics
that you would like staff to bring back to you
in the future so that we can have that discussion
or more posted for it,
this is the time to be able to make that request.
So you'll see on the matrix attachment
some requests that have been made in the past
that we have pending and we've noted
that we'll bring forth that at some future date.
So we've got a couple of items
that are on your matrix for now.
And then also we have our PNZ bootcamp presentations
that the staff has been doing
and we've been scheduling those as needed.
But again, if there is a particular request,
a special project that you're interested
in the staff working on,
this would be the appropriate time to make that request.
We will add it to our matrix
and note the commissioner who requested it,
the request date,
and then we will get it also programmed
into our work program.
- Okay, are there any other questions?
There is no action to take on this item.
- There's no action.
- Commissioner McDuff.
- So as an addition to the matrix,
I just have on my clipboard,
I'd like to talk a little bit more
about techniques of public engagement,
just so we would all know those methodologies.
So that's on my clipboard, number one.
- So when you say,
just to make sure I understand the request,
so I know what we bring back.
So when you talk about the techniques
of public engagement methodologies,
you're talking about public engagement
that we as staff do?
- Yes.
- Okay.
- Yes, ma'am.
- We can add that to the matrix and bring that back.
- Thank you so much.
And that may be already part of our boot camp training, but.
- We'll double check,
but nonetheless, we'll make sure we get it added.
- Thank you, ma'am.
Any other requests?
Okay.
There are none.
Moving to item seven.
Are there any concluding items?
Okay.
There are none.
I am going to close this PNZ meeting at 722.