So after determining that a quorum is present, I hereby call this meeting of
the City of Denton's Zoning Board of Adjustment into session. The Zoning
Board of Adjustment of the City of Denton, Texas will convene a special call
meeting at 5 56 p.m. Item number one on our agenda is the U.S. and Texas 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. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the Texas one state
under God, one indivisible. My name is Connor Hall. I am the vice chair of the
Zoning Board of Adjustment of the City of Denton. Prior to commencing our hearing, I
would like to review our meeting format for the benefit of those in the audience.
The board consists of seven regular members and three alternates. The members
of the Zoning Board of Adjustment are residents of the City of Denton. We serve
voluntarily and have been appointed to our positions by the City Council. It takes
six votes to authorize a variance from the city zoning or sign ordinances. If
there are any members of the public who wish to speak on item, please fill out a
blue card and hand it to Kathy. We will now commence our regularly scheduled
agenda. Item number 2A, ZBA 26-072. Receive a report and hold a
discussion regarding best practices for the Zoning Board of Adjustment's procedures,
powers, and duties.
Good evening. I'm Julie Wyatt and I'm the staff liaison for ZBA. So I'm getting up
here to talk to you about best practices for ZBA. We're not going to go over all
the procedures this time. I know you kind of go over them every year. We're going to
do something a little different. So ten best practices. My assistant here on this
one is Hillary. Hillary's going to help me with this. A lot of these are legal items and so she's the
better person to talk about it. Absolutely. So this first one is that the chair is
in charge and it's important to follow the meeting format. There's a couple of
reasons for this. The first is that ZBA's role is consequential. What you decide
becomes the law of the land in Denton. If we're doing an appeal of an
administrative decision and you change the administrative decision, then that's
how that provision is interpreted going forward. Kind of a big deal. As you all
noticed, Connor, our chair for today's meeting, read from a script. That's
because structure is so very important. And as Julie noted on this lovely
well-compared slide, we just want to make sure that we provide a procedural due
process for the city and for the applicant and that we do everything
correctly and in the right order. And what that means is that, especially when
we're doing hearings for variances, there are kind of two phases of the process.
The first is receiving evidence, asking questions. The second is deliberating and
there needs to kind of be like a brick wall between the two. So in the script
and Susan, as your private humanitarian today, might be like, "No seriously,
everybody. Are you done asking questions?" And that's part of why is that the record
needs to be, we need to be able to point to a product that is the record so that
in the unlikely event this gets appealed, we have good information. Exactly, think
of 12 Increment. I haven't actually seen this. It's one of my favorite movies. Oh my goodness. It's Daily Break. I need to go do some legal homework. But also, like your typical episode of Law and Order, the jury is
in the courtroom hearing the evidence, then they go away. Here, because the Open
Records Act and Open Meetings Act, we have to do it all in the open. So that's
why we receive evidence, then we deliberate on the evidence. And this next one relates to the Open
Records Act is to use your city email and check it regularly because your
city email is a way to keep city records and personal records separate. And this
is a good thing that's in your interest because you don't want tech services
asking to look through your whole email if you're a custodian of a record. I'm
gonna back up. I used some key words there. When you're doing the business of
the city, you are creating city records that could be responsive to a
Public Information Act request. And you are a custodian of those records if
the email is in your inbox or something. To keep your personal information and
your public servant information separate, it's in your best interest to use your
city email for city business. And to keep your personal email, we don't need to
know what kind of anime stuff you subscribe to. That's all good. But that's
just the best way to do it.
Yeah, alright. Okay, number three. So we've gone over number one and number two. Number three of the ten best
practices is keep meeting discussion items listed to what's on the agenda
only. Like Hillary said, the Texas Open Meetings Act is really important. We have
to post the agenda at least three business days before the meeting. And we
have to let the public know what we're going to talk about. So it happens quite
frequently. We're discussing something in a meeting, you're deliberating on
something, and it reminds you of something else. And you want to say, "Hey,
what about this thing?" Don't. Hold that thought because there's a time
at the end where you could say, "Hey, this item occurred to me. Can we put it on a
future agenda?" That's the time for that to happen. So we want to make sure that
we stay in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. If you have something
off-topic, wait till the end. Number four. Be mindful of creating situations which
may lead to a walking quorum by avoiding replying all and forwarding messages to
other members. If you reply all to your email, you could inadvertently create a
quorum. Or if, say, you have a friend on the ZBA and you're like, "Oh, we're
gonna see this case next time." Don't do that. Don't email it. You know, reply to
Kathy only or to me only, anyone in the city. Don't reply all. Number five. Review
the meeting calendar carefully. Try to attend all meetings and let staff know of
scheduling conflicts or confirm attendance as early as possible. We all
have lives. We all have things that happen, right? And we have you look at
that calendar in November or December, and you may not know where you're gonna
be in July of the next year. And that's okay. We all, like I said, have lives. But
we want to make sure, you know, if in March you plan that vacation for July and
it's gonna interfere with ZBA, let Kathy know. Let me know. That way we can start
planning around it. And this has come up in the last two meetings is that we have
to have six out of seven. ZBA is really unique in that. No other board or
commission regularly has to have that many vote to approve or deny something. So
you, it's a high bar. And that's probably why ZBA has alternates. Because that way
if somebody cannot attend, we have, you know, you're doing great. I just think this is a good
opportunity to put a plug in. Dear commissioners, if you know of anyone who
might be interested in serving it, make them. We're press gating now. Yes, right now, yes, we have a room for
alternates. And so come on down. Any questions? I guess has the, specifically
for number five, has the, has it been updated that the two people that are
because I've told two city councilors that and it's sort of, I think if it was
updated, it would be on the city like, hey, we have major vacancies here, not just the
alternates. They would put a bit more of a fire. I believe they have now been removed from the city.
Okay. So that would be helpful going forward. And two, on the one that was, like, don't bring up, I'm
guessing that's more of, like, save everything that's not a part of the case
for the afterwards, right? Yes. Because I don't know, like, what we could bring up, like, that would. I don't know if it
happens as often in this board as it might happen, like, in planning and zoning
commission, where they talk about a broad range of topics, but it could happen
here. And so that's why we just want to make sure that whatever, whatever we talk
about needs to be related to what was posted on the agenda.
Number six, use the DVC's criteria for approval in your decision-making and
clearly state your rationale. Why do we do that?
Variances cannot be used to vary in use and they're not permitted to alleviate
inconveniences or financial burdens. It's not just because you want to, right?
There's, there's criteria for that a project has to meet. Also, you can't,
there's no variance for use. So if you are in a R4 district, you can't get a
variance to get multifamily in there. It doesn't work that way. We have really
specific criteria for approval, sorry, and they have been written to meet state
law in the city's policies. And the applicant must demonstrate that they
meet all criteria. So it's not just one or two, they should meet all of them. When
making a motion for denial, if that is your choice in a particular variance, the
board member must state the specific reason and why the applicant has not
met the criteria. So I have an example here. So an applicant wants to build a
large mother-in-law suite, but her plan encroaches three feet into the side
yard setback of her standard suburban lot. She could revise her plan to a way
without encroaching into the side yard setback, or she could reduce the size of
that, of that suite. But if, if after hearing all of the testimony, after
you've heard all the presentations, if a ZBA member wishes to make a motion for
denial, he could state the following to effect. I make a motion for denial, the
applicant has not demonstrated a special circumstance that applies to her lot, and
the setback does not deprive her of a reasonable use. Something to that effect.
But what you really want to do is use that criteria for approval to state why
you are recommending denial. And that will help your chair out, because prior to
calling for a vote, the chair must take the grounds. So it's really important.
Once again, like Hillary said, we're creating a record. So Julie, just for the
sake of fullness, how would you recommend they talk about making a motion if they want to
approve it? Well, our script, or I believe the letter, you could, you could say that
it complies with all of the criteria set forth in DDC and then the, provide the
numbers. You certainly could say it meets the criteria and list them out. So there
are a variety of ways to do it. I think, I think on the script, it can be very
consistent with just it meets all of the criteria. All right, number seven. Don't
discuss an agenda item with board members outside of the meeting. Once again,
Texas Open Meetings Act. It also prevents the appearance of impropriety. So if
you see a ZBA member out in the world and you're like, oh, we have this coming
up. I wonder what's going to be or I know this person. Don't talk about it. Don't
talk about the agenda outside of the meeting. Leave it all for the formal
discussion here. Number eight. If an agenda item creates or appears to
create a conflict of interest or personal gain, refer to the ethics
ordinance or request an advisory opinion. Why do we do this? Well, as a city
official, it protects you, the city, and it also enhances public confidence. So and
we can give all of these slides to you afterwards. There is a link to the ethics
ordinance and that can get you to where you need to go in order to get an
advisory opinion if necessary. Number nine. Check your city email account often
throughout the month and the week before day of the meeting. Variance requests can
be unpredictable sometimes. This can cause the meeting schedule to change. You
know, some of, unlike say the Planning and Zoning Commission, ZBA has some
specific timelines on specific items. For instance, an appeal has to be done
within 60 days. So that may not completely align with your calendar. So we
may be contacting you to do a special call like we did tonight. So make sure
you just check it from time to time so we can make sure we're communicating
effectively with everyone. This is the primary way we ensure a quorum. I'm sure
you hear from Kathy a lot or the admins finding out if if we are going to make
quorum. We will call. We do try to try to gather everybody. So we'll call if we
don't hear from you, but if we hear from you via email, we won't have to call you.
Also, if you're having technical difficulty with your City of Denton email,
let us know. I am not very tech savvy, but tech services can help you out like
that. And number ten. If you're unsure about anything, your role, process,
procedure, ask. No question is too small and we are here to help. We've got all of
we've got my contact information, Kathy's, and then Haley, Angie, Charlie, and
Hillary, if you need to get in touch with any of us. And that concludes the
presentation. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them or I might
kick them to Hillary.
Great. Thank you for presenting very thorough and well explained. All right. Moving on to item number three A is ZBA 26-205.
Consider the approval of the December 15th, 2026 minutes and March 23rd,
2026, no quorum minutes. Each member of the board has been provided a copy with
a copy of these minutes. Are there any corrections, additions, revolutions to these
minutes? Seeing none, the Chair would entertain a motion on item number two B.
Item number three A. Second. All right. All in favor of approving the
minutes, raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Motion to denial. Okay. The ayes have it. Six in favor, zero
against. Great. All right. Now, moving on to item number three B is ZBA 26-006, which
is, I believe, an error on the sheet that says to elect the Vice Chair for the
Zoning Board of Adjustment. Chair and Vice Chair. I believe it's Chair and Vice
Chair. Okay. So I suppose we should probably start with the Chair first. Going
forward, are there, is there anyone who would like to make a nomination for Chair?
I'd like to nominate Connor Hollis, Chairman of the Board, in a second. Okay. Are there any
other nominations for this position? Okay. Seeing none, should we do both positions
and then vote as one, or should we vote on each individual position? However you
want. I mean, you have a, you can go ahead and vote on this one and then do the
next one since there's, yeah. Okay. Okay. We'll go ahead and nominate for, we'll go ahead and
vote on Chair and then we'll move on to the Vice Chair position. Does that work
for the board? Okay. All in favor of nominating Connor Hollis as Chair of the
Board of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, raise your hand and say aye. Aye. All opposed. Okay. The ayes have it.
I have been named Chair of the Board. Cool. All right. And now, now we should go
ahead and nominate a Vice Chair for the board. Is there anyone who would like to
vote for the nomination for the Vice Chair position? I'll do it since nobody else did. I mean, I was about to do it. I know, I was going to nominate Liam. Okay. All right. Okay. Are there any other
nominations for the Vice Chair position? Do we need a second for the nomination? I just did in case. Okay. Seeing none, we will go ahead and motion to vote. So, or did I say that
correctly? You can take a vote. I mean, if you'll, if you want to do a second and
vote like you did the first one, just to be consistent, that's fine. Generally, you
get your nominations and then you can take a vote. Okay. But, yeah. Okay. Is there a second? We probably. To be consistent? To be consistent. That works. Is there a second? Okay. Thank you, Member Registrar. All right. All in favor of voting for Member
Wakefield as Vice Chair of the Board, raise your hand and say aye. Aye. All opposed? Okay. The ayes have it. Congratulations, Mr. Vice Chair. I'm going to give the name to Mr. Chair. I'm Vice Chair. All right. Excellent. So. Okay. Now, since that has been
concluded, we will go ahead and move on to our next item. So, we are having one variance hearing tonight and that's going to be on item B26-0002A. In the interest of time, I will swear in all witnesses of this time. Will all witnesses who will provide testimony at today's hearing, please stand and raise your right hand? You guys want to speak? All right. Under penalty or pre-jury, do you use
swear or affirm that any testimony or information you provide or any statement you make before this board is complete, true, and correct to the best of your knowledge and ability? If so, please answer, I do. Okay. Is there any witness who was unable or unwilling to take this out? I see none. So, I'll go ahead and move on. So, in order to ensure an orderly meeting, the hearing procedure for each variance will be as follows.
One, no person shall speak unless they are recognized by the chair to speak and then shall only speak from the podium. Second, or first, the city's presentation and questions from the board. Next, applicant presentation and questions from the board. Then, after the parties have finished their presentations, members of the public may speak on the item.
Finally, the board may ask any follow-up questions of staff or applicant that were raised by the public and not previously answered. Finally, at the conclusion of the evidence, I will close the public hearing.
So, item number 4A is B26002A. Hold a public hearing and consider approval of a variance from Denton Development Code subsection 7.9.4B regarding the maximum amount of parking spaces allowed for an automotive fuel sales development located on approximately 2.73 acre property of the northeast corner of the intersection of Cooper Creek Road and University Drive.
The B26002A, QT1899, maximum parking mat for me. So, the matter before the board is whether to grant a variance to the city's development code or regulations regarding parking. I now open the hearing.
Good evening, board. This is the QT1899 max parking variance. So, to start with some background, this invariance is associated with a 2.73 acre site at the northeast corner of University Drive and Cooper Creek Road.
This request is associated with the proposed redevelopment of the site as stated for the automotive fuel sales use. Essentially, that is re-task station.
So, the plans are under review by the city staff and because they don't quite meet them, we're here with a variance request. That request is for an additional 16 parking spaces for a total of 39 parking spaces.
The DDC requires a minimum of 15 for this site and staff is only able to approve up to 23, hence why we're here before you today.
So, as was mentioned in the previous item, there are six considerations or six criteria that must be met and so I'll go through each one and staff's findings with each one.
So, the first one being that there are special conditions that apply this parcel that generally do not apply to others, of which the strict application of the DDC deprives the applicant the reasonable use of the property.
The staff's finding is that the special condition for this site is its location near several heavily trafficked major roadways in the city. Cooper Creek Road and University Drive are primary arterials on the debt mobility plan.
This means that they are meant to facilitate traffic across the county and regions of the city.
Now University Drive, also known as US380, is a special arterial because one is state owned and secondly it serves as a major corridor for east-west connection across all of the northern DFW metric flex.
So, because of that, it tends to see more traffic than other arterials in town. That, in combination with the loop, sees quite a bit more traffic than other areas of the city.
Now, how that affects this property was analyzed in a parking demand analysis. So, any parking variance that staff looks at, we asked for an analysis and the applicant submitted one.
They looked at two gas stations in other cities, under the same franchise, that have similar special conditions to this one, being next to major roadways, state or federal owned highways that are particularly busy.
They're about the same size building. The major difference is these sites they looked at have more parking available on site than we would allow here in Denton.
The analysis found out that at these sites, both the parking demand as well as the occupied spaces during the event of time significantly exceeded what we in the city of Denton would allow.
And so, I'm looking back to the consideration. The strict application of the DDC with these considerations in mind is depriving the applicant of their ability to safely operate their intended business due to insufficient parking as required by the code.
The second consideration is that the veterans will not be detrimental to the public welfare. This variance is meant to serve the public welfare. Staff does find that statement to be true.
In the applicant's narrative, they've stated that similar sites without sufficient parking do see safety risks with people parking in spots not meant for that action or for that activity creating safety risks there.
Additionally, the city has seen evidence of such safety risks at gas stations and other parts of the city where there isn't sufficient parking. That's talked about a bit more in the staff analysis.
The third consideration is that this variance is the minimum that would accomplish the purpose. Staff does find that statement to be true. Other options such as expanding the building footprint are not viable as the amount of expansion that would be needed would interfere with safe navigation of the site.
Use of on-street parking is not viable either because it has prohibited along their adjacent roadways.
The fourth consideration is that the little enforcement of the DDC results in an unnecessary hardship and that the guarantee of the variance would preserve the spirit of the code.
For this variance, the DDC max parking limit itself is claimed as the unnecessary hardship.
Generally, our parking requirements, they don't consider site-specific standards. They're applied to general land use categories, and so the special conditions of the site are considered when creating those parking minimums and required maximums.
To show that the spirit of the DDC is maintained, the site plan that's been worked on with the staff and the applicant incorporates the additional parking spaces and is still able to meet all other requirements of the DDC criteria manuals that we would have for the site.
Fourth, the granting of this variance is not solely for the purpose of mitigating financial hardship. Staff finds that to be true is for the purpose of increasing parking. It is for the purpose of designing the site that will avoid safety risks related to insufficient parking.
The final six consideration is that the need for variance does not result from the variance actions. This site being located next to major highways is not the result of the owner.
Now, staff can't quite reach to a point of recommending approval, the reason being the unnecessary hardship. The code itself is not typically what is seen or is considered to be a hardship.
However, if the board reasons differently or based on applicant public testimony, there is a compelling unnecessary hardship in this case. Staff really has no objection as should the ZB decide that way, just ask that the condition be added, that stormwater drainage created by additional parking be mitigated.
And as a side note, that is worked into the current site plan, so that is a general thought.
That is the presentation. I'm not here to answer any questions.
So what is the area around the gas station like zone 4 and what is currently around it?
Zoned around it is various commercial industrial zoning districts, LI, general office, maybe some sort of corridor. It's generally commercial and industrial.
And then what is the future land use plan?
Similarly, also, I think either my first or second meeting as a member of the ZBA board, we had another QT, but at like the intersection of 380 and I-35.
And like, I guess, is it because that it's new that it's sort of the precedent that we sort of that we did vote to give them the additional parking spaces because we saw the safety need for it?
Why didn't that apply to this?
So at the corner of 380 and I-35? Yeah. Universe. Chairman. Yes, go ahead. Okay. So I remember that case. You didn't prepare one. So our recommendation was similar to this here in that we don't necessarily find a hardship, but we can kind of see where you guys might find one.
Traditionally, in case law hardships need to be something like I can't open my business without this for your hands, but the totality of the circumstances and what the applicant might present may lead you to find our tip.
And so that's what's it. Okay. Can you describe what the drainage mitigation that you said is already incorporated? I think you'd be best to fill that question to the advocate of testimony.
You can't really speak in specifics on that. Would you mind going back to where the map was showing us where the what else was already there? It was like.
Yeah, yeah, that one. So so that that's remember Whitefield's question was about mine as well of what else was all around there. It does look like there's significant amount of industrial build up. It doesn't look like any of that is residential.
Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So to the north and to the west is industrial uses a little bit and to the east to the west or the east and south or other industrial or commercial. Thank you.
Where are the additional parking spots going to be located? Is that an extension of the same parking lot or is that going to be a separate area? So it's incorporated into the overall design.
There isn't necessarily a separate section. That's the 16 extra as all of the 39 spaces. I just kind of worked into one piece.
Now, sure. Now, without these additional parking spots, are you talking about a peak hours that you foresee or it is foreseen that there are going to be cars that can't park and they're going to be waiting for parking spots or something like that?
Or is it just to make sure there's going to be enough room for people when they come here? So for that, I would turn to the parking demand analysis as part of the answer.
Yes. And the applicant for sure can expand. At similar gas stations, we have seen that what we would say is the max parking site size, the number of people visiting and customers far exceeded that.
So it would be S. As we wouldn't let the current codes in, we wouldn't be able to meet the demands of these places, which are similar situations to what's being presented.
Okay. So like this was worked on the city staff. Was there a previous design or would they have to go back and like change up the plan?
There would have to be pretty significant design changes. And to clarify that it's basically just general land. Is the parking minimums and maximums the same throughout the entire zoning?
Correct. So they're based on the use. And so no matter where a gas station is, okay. All right. My using my phone, which just, if I was looking correctly at the regional area, we're talking about an area on three 80 that is west of two 88.
And at Copper Creek, if it's right on what I called up, is the extension of Mayhill as it passes. So that puts it out in an area that really doesn't have a whole lot of development out there that in my estimation would be impacted negatively.
If it were to have additional parking areas, you do have the request in there, which is justifiable, excuse me, with the fact that whenever you add anything that's black top concrete or that, you're going to have additional water runoff.
So what water table carry off runoff is available at and around that intersection in order to mitigate the runoff, which is one of the comments that is a thought that the staff has no objection if the storm drainage is mitigated.
Yeah, okay. So to answer your question, I can probably speak a little more detail, specific to our site. But generally, they have to make sure that any runoff, they aren't negatively impacting neighboring properties, any more than what's going on now.
So any sort of stormwater onto the site, and if it's sufficient volume, they have to contain so that they know from the general area. So they look back into the plan.
Okay, so if I'm understanding it correctly.
All right. Who worries about mitigating the runoff? Is it just done by the way they
function with grading the law prior to they are going to, is there going to have to be a attachment to city sewers, or they have a one there? Have you, you know, just kind of help me follow up.
What would be entailed totally in order to mitigate it? Who does what fall off? Does it fall on the property owner totally? Does it take into account services that have to be provided by the city?
Tell me and in regard to that aspect, please. Yeah, so the applicant is responsible for designing the site to check to make sure that they aren't negatively impacting what's around them.
As for the exact specifics of for this site, what entirely is involved, probably best explained by the applicant.
They're, they're able to answer those questions, those questions.
Generally, they have to make sure there's nothing.
Conditions are made worse.
And they've been able to demonstrate that they can.
Yeah, for any specifics for that question.
Going back off when you made the comment about enlarging the footprint of the building.
By doing that, one changes what is a typical, you know, building, you know, like you do a McDonald's or that they all have their specifics.
But how much additional would have to be done in order to provide them with the corresponding additional parking spaces?
And is the area that they are developing sufficient enough to take a bigger footprint for the building?
Yes, I did look into that.
It would have to be a very significant increase in the building footprint, more than double.
Getting close to triple the size of the current building in order for the ratios to meet.
And so that would have a significant impact on how the overall site works.
Did you want to add something? I was going to add just a little bit on some of the drainage questions, if I could, or the water ones.
Angie Mingler, Assistant Planning Director, not an engineer, but just wanted to maybe add a little bit of clarity and color to some of the water on where that drainage goes.
This area generally drains towards U.S. 380, and any project that we look at, our engineering team also looks at to ensure that the water discharge is not greater than what it is today.
That's part of our code is that any parking above and beyond this maximum that we're seeking needs to be designed in accordance with I-Swim standards, and those are standards that are adopted by the North Texas Cog.
And they help sort of address some of those overall drainage concerns, so it could be things like permeable pavement or other mitigation measures, and the applicant can also speak to some of their design standards as it relates to that.
But I just wanted to kind of clarify some of those drainage questions and how that's looked at from stack, both at this level, but also at the next level, which is the civil engineering plans, where all that information will be checked.
Thank you.
Yeah, I forgot to ask this, I meant that earlier. It's been a while. I think a former board member asked this, but I don't remember the answer.
I guess, how, when the decision for maximum parking, what was sort of the reason for the number chosen, and how long ago was that?
Generally in the code?
Yeah, like for like the gas station parking.
Sorry if it's very specific and in the weeds not question, I'm just...
So, the ratio of one space for drainage square feet in the building, generally aligns with what's required for general detail.
Okay.
So, it's general retail and not, okay. Yeah, got it.
I have to do another question myself.
I guess the parking demand, when that's measured, does that account, and this might be a separate metric, I could be wrong on that, does that account for, I guess, the impact of local traffic around, like, I guess, around the gas station, or is that a completely, like, does that account when that spectrum and forward parking demand, is that accounted in that, or is that like a completely separate metric?
So, local traffic probably plays the biggest role in a separate study called traffic impact analysis, which assesses things like, do you need turn lanes, do you need, like, a stop light or something that you're by, and there's applications like that, and so it factors in, okay, what's going to be the impact on the local traffic there.
And that was done as part of this development, and those considerations were worked into the site plan, but that's been part of the presentation.
Okay, excellent. Thank you.
And, sorry, this is just, how is the minimum 16 determined to be the minimum number required for the variance?
Yeah, so when you apply the ratio to this site, you see that the minimum required of 15, the staff can, there's various ways staff can improve more than that.
So as, sorry, I'll go back. So 15 is the minimum. The maximum in the code speaks to 125%, which is 19 spaces.
Now, the director can approve a modification to that map, that maximum up to 150% of the minimum required, with that we would require a parking domain analysis to justify that request.
But the DDC does put that cap at 150, which would be 23 spaces. They've requested 39, and so that difference is 16.
So there's a site parking requirements and considerations, and it just tells me that we have one space for 350 square feet of a building.
Any building in town that is 350 square feet, or is it specifically for a gas station service type building? So this applies to a gas station service type building, not ratio.
Okay, so are we also taking into account if anybody were to go pump their gas and leave their vehicle there at the pump in order to go into the station, because they didn't want to buy something or use the restroom or that?
Is any of, you know, is any of the parking space included with the area that the pumps are? Or is this totally different area?
So the parking space is counted. You don't include, I guess, at the pump as a separate activity going on. So it's just marked stalls. Let's talk about that.
Okay, so we're talking about that that's the site-specific factors of it being parking spaces around the pumps.
How long ago? I believe Leah inquired on this, but how long ago were these ratios developed?
These were part of the 2019 development cut, so that's seven years ago.
So we're talking about 20. Okay. All righty. I think that exhausts questions for right now, until we have people requesting. Okay. Thank you.
Are there any other additional questions for city staff?
Thank you for presenting.
Will the applicant please present any evidence or arguments to support their request?
Good afternoon, everyone.
Congratulations, Chair and Vice Chair. Thank you.
I'm Torrey Samuels, real estate project manager with QuickTrip. I'm 8700 Freeport Parkway, Irving, Texas.
I just want to start by thanking you all for your time tonight and for working with us on hopefully improving the variance for parking here.
So I'll go ahead and get right into it.
So here's our previous site plan. I know someone asked about what it looked like before.
So here's our previous site plan. We were asking for 48 total parks.
So over here, these are the less desirable for the parks that are typically used for employees and same down here.
These are what we refer to as primary parks all around the building in this pull through row here.
This is our new site plan. We reduced the employee parks here by three.
So it went from seven to four. We reduced it from 12 to eight here.
We lost the park here and an additional one down there.
And what this does is it causes our employees to have to park in some of the primary parking spaces or where our customers would typically park.
And it just kind of is a domino effect.
Go ahead and hop over here.
This may seem off topic, but we do offer many to order fresh food.
So we offer subs, extra large pizzas, personal pizzas, grilled cheese, tacos, you name it.
We have a lot of food and people do stop in to have their lunch, dinner, things like that.
And some of our newer offers are we have buffalo chicken wings, chicken tenders, mozzarella steaks, you name it.
We have a lot of fresh food that's really good in my opinion.
And with that said, that leads to people sitting in their cars longer, which inherently takes up more spaces.
And I'm not sure how I go back here. Here we go.
People are sitting in their car eating, take some more of these spaces. So I think like you mentioned, people will start parking at the canopy.
People start parking at the canopy.
Well, when new customers come into the site and they want to get gas filled up, that causes them to circle the site looking for looking for parking,
which makes it less safe for other customers that are trying to enter into the building.
So it's kind of a domino effect and it affects really every aspect.
You don't have enough parking.
Someone had mentioned earlier that west of I-35W and US-380, we do have another quick trip there that I think you guys did see a couple of years ago or maybe last year.
And you'll prove something very similar.
So this dates all the way back to 2017, just kind of showing a history of the problem and how it helped to resolve it.
There's only three parking stalls open here at the front and there are people parking in front of the trash enclosure.
Typically when people start parking in front of the trash enclosure or in the fire lane, it's because there wasn't parking when they got there.
So just kind of slide through these.
Here's another example.
Very few parking spaces available.
Same here, 2018, five stalls available, someone's in the fire lane here, here and then someone also in front of the trash enclosure there.
Similar situation here in 2019, more people in front of the enclosure.
And you can just see there's years and years of history showing that this is an issue.
That's kind of why we want to get ahead of this so we don't have to have that problem and operate at a safer capacity from the jump.
Here we go as well.
Just a couple of parks available, people in the fire lane.
And here is the additional parking.
This is the best area that I could find of it.
So sorry for the blurriness, but we did add the additional parks here and they're essentially almost all the way filled up.
That site did start with 27 parking spaces and 14 additional for a total of 41.
We're asking for 39 here.
So it will still be less and it should mitigate the safety concern here and help with the flow of the site.
Here's just a few photos of examples of just how every stall is utilized and during peak hours how that can get.
For the trash enclosure, fire lane, more of the same here, just cars everywhere, more of the same here.
And that's all for my presentation.
I'm here for any questions.
And we also have our civil engineer here for any super technical questions.
Yeah, I hope that's your whole request to agree to this.
Yes, my question is how to phrase it.
I want to know essentially how many handicapped spaces are part of the plan, have to be included in the plan.
If there's a difference of those that are within the plan and then the additional variance or if having handicapped spaces,
does that if you have 39 spaces, does that mean you have to have two that are handicapped spaces?
So there's a Texas standard or I guess a national standard for ADA compliance.
So up to when you get to 51 parking spaces, you have to install a third one.
So we have two right now because we're less than the 51 there.
So there won't be a difference then if it's what is in the plan without the variance or if it is with the variance, you still need two handicapped spaces.
Correct, we'll still meet the national ADA code.
Did I understand with your comments up to the left hand side with one of your graphics that you had a prior approval that took it already up to a certain?
No, so that was a different site.
I was referencing the site that I was talking about the last year referenced earlier.
I was just comparing it because it's a similar situation and similar numbers.
And then as has been asked in regard to the handicapped spots, it's my understanding that there's a certain proportion of spots if you've got 100 spots that there's a certain percentage.
Do you know that percentage offhand?
So are you calculating it out?
Or does anybody here know it?
Yeah, there's not a technical percentage.
I believe it's a set number by the ADA, which is for us since we're less than 50 parking spaces, it's two parking spaces.
So we have two handicapped stalls available.
Did one of the applicants want to add a comment?
It's about the ADA spaces.
Also, I saw that you had the update. Thank you for bringing that up. But how much has the situation improved since that has been added, those parking spots been added?
Is there still similar issues with people parking where they're not supposed to?
I actually don't have current data on that. But as you can see in this aerial, the parking here is pretty full with the additional parking spaces.
So my belief is that it's helping significantly.
Are you expecting, because I know that Mayhill, I think the Mayhill/Crooked Creek, that's a four-lane road, correct? Or is that a six-lane?
Mayhill, Cooper Creek, are you looking to help?
I believe when you're driving, it's four lanes up until you get to the intersection, and I think it goes to two once you get on Cooper Creek.
Are you expecting a similar level of traffic because you're along 380 as the I-35/380 route?
Correct, yeah, we're expecting similar.
I guess could you walk us through the water mitigation that you're doing, like the runoff mitigation that you're doing on the property because of the additional?
I'll do my best here. I'm a non-engineered point of view. But essentially here is, this is all underground detention, this gray shading here.
So essentially all the water will be routed through our drains, stored underground, well not stored underground, but it will run through an underground detention system before running into, I'm not sure where we're actually connecting, but I believe it's into the tech stock drainage system.
You selected or showed where employee corking was going to be. Correct. How many of your total spots are going to be dedicated for employees?
Typically, well there's roughly, what's that? That's nine there, and typically there's three to five employees on shift, but between shift changes there can be anywhere from eight to ten depending on the time, the demand, and the site. So it really varies.
Is there any way or reason that I as a customer, if I see a open spot over in what you're usually considering for employees, excuse me, that would restrict me from using that spot or anybody else?
No, absolutely not. So anyone can park in this spot, but typically that's where our employees park. That way it's a less desirable spot. You wouldn't typically want to park way back here and walk all the way across the parking lot with trucks driving through there, cars driving through there.
Yeah, typically it's just where our employees park, so they leave the more desirable spots open for customers. I was just wondering if it was, you know, roped off and using that for a shift. But yeah, anybody's going to park any better place closer as has been demonstrated.
Are there any additional questions for the applicant?
Seeing none, I think now that the applicant, thank you for presenting Mr. Samuel. Now that the applicant and the city have presented their testimony, evidence, and arguments, is there anyone who wishes to speak regarding this variance? If so, please come forward and state your name and mailing address. You have four minutes to address the board.
Okay, so seeing none. After hearing all the testimony, evidence, and arguments, and questions and answers, as well as hearing from all those desiring to speak in support and opposition to the variance, I will entertain further questions from the board for any of the parties or the speakers.
Okay, hearing none, I now close the public hearing. The board will now deliberate and decide on the variance request. Upon the completion of the board's deliberation, the board shall render an unbiased decision based on the record and supported by reasons and finding a fact.
In considering the variance, this board shall consider the facts and information in the agenda backup, including staff written analysis of the variance, the applicant's narrative, and testimony presented in the public hearing.
In the board's consideration and evaluation of the requirements of the applicable standards from the Dental Development Code, the board may either grant the variance as presented or with conditions. The board shall not grant a variance to any applicant solely for personal convenience, financial hardship, or other reasons unrelated to the property.
If the board grants a variance, the variance shall be granted only to the extent that it's reasonably necessary to remedy the hardship.
It's known that the board may impose conditions relating to the requested variance. If the board grants a variance, the decision shall state that all conditions for a variance were met, specify the degree to which the regulations are being varied, and be signed by the chairperson.
And the other option is that we can deny the variance.
If the variance is denied, the decision shall state the conditions for the variance which were not met. All decisions of the board granting or refusing a variance shall be reduced to writing and signed by the chairperson.
So now, let's go ahead and focus on deliberation. Are we very nice? This is more of a question of wording for if we do approval. So, like earlier it was said, so if we do approval of this, would we put, if we so chose, like specifications that it would be the design that was presented to us, or is that just sort of automatic?
If you, if you're not making any changes, I think you can say as presented. Okay.
Or as presented by staff. So, I just wanted to make sure, sorry, I just wanted to make, for my own.
Yeah, if you're going to make a change in your motion, make sure you make that clear, but otherwise.
And I'm sorry, the recommendation from staff was that if we so desire to yes, approve that we might consider approving it with the condition of a stormwater discharge mitigation being added. Yeah.
In any, so we have the choice of approval as presented approval as presented with the addition of that language or denial for these reasons. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think that's the. Yeah, that's what I was trying to get. That's what. Thank you. That was what my brain was going to.
I think yes. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. I did have another question. If we were to go into deny, I guess, deny the variance. I know say staff agreed to, I guess, or at least they were willing to go up to 23 spaces as opposed to 39.
Would that mean if we were to deny it, it would go just to the 23 and not the original 19. Well, if they already got approval for the 23, then I would guess that they can still do the 23. Okay. Yeah.
Okay. All right. Anybody else have anything to say first? I mean, I don't see this any different than the approval we did for the current, like, the location we did, like, last year or, like, two years ago.
I think you like the QT off of I-35 and University, and especially if you add the stipulation of the stormwater mitigation, especially with what's going to be around it, what's currently around it, and the location that is like, I see no difference.
So we need a motion. It looks like it. Would anyone like to motion to approve the variance with the stipulation that a storm drainage system would be added?
I make the motion that we approve the variance with the stipulation that stormwater mitigation is included. Or required. Required. Would anyone like to second that motion? I'll second that.
Okay. So, all right. It looks like, so there's a motion here. So having received a motion and a second, is there any further discussion on the variance before we vote?
Okay. Seeing none. Out of the board. Oh, hang on a second. I think we just lost over this, I believe. I'm going to skip a couple things.
I think really just let you would announce kind of what it is they're voting on. I mean, I think it's probably clear to everyone, but just for the record that what the motion was with the condition that it's required was the motion and that it was seconded.
Okay. And then, and then take the vote. Is there any way to put the phraseology up so that everybody knows for sure what that is? Yeah. Yeah, that was the thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It was like the motion that it meets the requirements in a while.
Yeah. Thank you, Kay. If we did this monthly, I think we'd be able to do that question, but go back to the one that you were at.
Yes, that's the one. Yeah. Okay.
Okay.
Okay. So then the motion would entail the words that requested variance is granted with the condition as recommended by the staff.
Yes. I think it was more clear the way that it has been made and seconded than that actually. So then it would go to the second page, which is what the actual variance was.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And if you want to add what your reasoning is, I think that was discussed as well. Yeah, I'll add it for the reasoning.
As it being by like a bit like arterial corridor is not the fault of the owner. We have approved something very similar beforehand, and it doesn't, and none of any other rule is violated to be like no other requirement of
the DC is violated by the additional variance. It is just the parking maximum itself that we are giving it.
All right. So you're, even though we found a second, we can make this work. You're amending your, your motion to add that. Yes, to your findings and do you agree? I accept the amendment. Okay. All right.
Thank you. I think we're there. All right. So all in favor of approving of the variance with the stipulation that a storm drain is required with a storm and water mitigation storm water mitigation system is included.
Raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed. Okay. The guys have it. Six zero. Excellent.
So the variance is approved with conditions.
Are there any concluding items before we go?
Two, this is just for me because I'm going to ask this question every time. Could we get, just to save staff time and for them to be prepared, could we like in the future, like whenever we have a variance hearing have like what the current land use and what future land use and current like development is?
That's the problem with that. We just need to keep in mind that we're not, we're talking about what the variance is about. The variance, it's not that, but I do think that it sort of matters. Like it's, especially if we have a.
No, we need to understand the site and the. Yeah, I know. I know. I know it specifically, but it's just. Staff liaison? Well, just so I clarify. So you want the surrounding land uses so we can feature land use?
Yeah, just so like what we know what the area is going to, like it's sort of like not to bring harp on this poor person, but like if somebody, like if it was going to be say the future, like say like one use is going to, it's on the way in and like one use is on the way out, you know that sort of thing.
Also, is there a way that we can pass a recommendation to I think it'd be DCRC about looking at
looking at like, because this is the second such case that we've had like with a gas station on an R2 like to arterial in like high heavy traffic roads, like looking at the parking parking maximums not necessarily like. So what I can tell you is that the most effective way to do that is going to be to talk to your council member.
Okay, that's a member, but I can also tell you that a citywide parking study has been in progress for a while and that DCRC is talking a bit to do this.
Yeah, it's not so much I like I love parking spots is I just want the parking maximum to look at all more factors involved rather than just the state like the square footage.
Sure, sure, and it's definitely on DCRC's radar. Okay, that's.
If you were to do that.
Does that entail taking things in regard to parking to the planning and zoning, or does that just fall under a separate aspect of being just the DDC.
The DCR sees the development code review committee it's made up of three members of City Council, and three members of planning and zoning and what they do is they talk with staff, I don't need to be answering this Julie you've got this.
They provide guidance and policy decisions so things like parking standards would be something that DCRC might give staff direction on, but yes if there were any changes to our parking standards, it would require a text amendment to the development
code going to the planning and zoning Commission ultimately approved by Council or denied.
I don't know this much. So like, I'm guessing like we as a board can't give a recommendation to another board.
Okay, that's okay that's what it is. Yeah, it's just that we see things it's just like hey, we didn't see the area seeing something here multiple times grants, it's too, so it's not yet a trend, but it's, you know,
it's, maybe it's just mainly because I'm in the chair position. So since we do have an additional item that was added last minute is there something is that something we have to vote on to, I guess.
What is which, or I guess regarding I mean, that's just a request that staff considers to maybe bring back and discuss further but yeah no action on anything that gets added later.
No question. Okay. Are there any additional items to present to the board before we conclude today's meeting.
Okay, hearing no items, I adjourn the meeting at 712. Yeah.