Planning and Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the study session meeting of the City of Farmers Branch Planning and Zoning Commission. It is presently 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 23rd, 2026. As we begin our study session, I'd like to start by thanking the commissioners for their service. And up first on our agenda items in study session is item A1, discuss regular agenda items, which takes us to item C1. Consider approval of the February 9th, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting minutes and take appropriate action. Commissioners, any errors, typos, corrections? All good.

All right, we'll move right along then to item C2. Consider request for a final plat approval of FB35 Design Center, subdivision lots 1 and 2 located at 12197 Denton Drive and take appropriate action. Thank you, Brian.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, commissioners. Um, Brian Campbell, planner with the planning department. Um, here on behalf of Brett Mangum, lead planner. Um, he did all the heavy lifting on this case. I'm just here to present it before you tonight. So, want to make sure I give credit where credit is due. Um, if you all have any questions, I'd be happy to take those now where we can wait until um, the meeting. Um, as it says in your staff report, it's a final plat to subdivide the subject property into two lots of records, one for an office building and one for a warehouse building. Thank you, Brian. Questions? If you could please bring up the first page of the staff report.

Sure. Okay,

there it is. Thank you. Oh, yeah. There we go. Yes, it's still there. Um, second paragraph under background. Uhhuh. Second line from the bottom. Uhhuh. The word is Easter. I I think you meant Eastern. Oh, it's Eastern. Yeah, that's a typo. Thank you for pointing that out. But yes, it's supposed to read Eastern. Just thought you might want to correct that for the record. We appreciate that. Unless you just want to capitalize E. But otherwise, no questions. Okay. Well, thank you for pointing that out. We appreciate it.

Just show you that I read it. Well, we appreciate you doing your homework all always. And um just a note around uh plats. I know that we've recently had one, so I think the commissioners are all up to date, but remind us about the ministerial quality of plat.

Absolutely. So, um, as Amber said, as Madame Chair really said, um, plaid approvals are a ministerial process. Um, approval stops with the planning and zoning commission. And so, um, which so if the plaid meets all of the technical requirements per the Texas local government code and our own pladding requirements, um, which I can confirm this plaid does, um, it has to be approved and planning, like I said, plat approval rests with the planning and zoning commission. Thank you as always for making us uh you know well aware and and up to date. Of course. All right. And any other questions? Yeah.

Just so there's something unique about this that this one comes to us because normally we don't see these on plat. So what what's special about this one?

So yes. So, we have specific criteria in our um subdivision ordinance, and I can um follow up with an email with more detailed um information. Basically, um it boils down to the amount of civil working, the amount of easements that have to be dedicated um for this particular plat because this is a brand new um groundup development. a considerable amount of easements are going to have to be dedicated and civil work is going to have to be done which so which is why we're bringing this before you versus um plats I would say for an existing building where they're just maybe wanting to subdivide the lot as long as the two um resulting lots made the required setbacks and whatnot that's one we could approve administratively.

Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks again, Brian. You're welcome. Don't see any further questions. So with that, we'll move to item D1, where we will conduct a public hearing and consider amending the comprehensive zoning ordinance of the city of Farmers Branch, Texas by amending subsection K, additional parking requirements of section 4.3, parking and loading by amending sections A to B I of paragraph 5, amnesty program permit to extend the garage conversion amnesty program to July 31st, 2026 and take appropriate action. All right. Thank you, Scott.

Thank you, ma'am. See if I can find Do you need me to navigate to the presentation?

Okay. You're welcome.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Thank y'all for having me here today. Um, we had originally brought this back to you in July of 2024. And back then we had stated that the point of this was to get the illegal garage conversions permitted legally. Um check for life safety issues. We have done that and we've done a fairly good job of it. However, we did not do a good enough job. So by the direction of council, we they would like to extend and we would like to extend this another six months so that we can better our citizens and make sure that we can get all these back to being legal, everything is life safety is met and then we can stick with our normal ordinance and go about our day. So, we're coming to you today to propose to amend this till July 31st of 2026. I'm here to answer any questions, concerns that y'all might have. Can you just do you have any sense for how many and I would just be a guess but how many opportunities there are out there that that that have garage conversions versus how many amnesty applications have been processed. Do we have any sense of a percentage of how much of that has been covered?

Right now we're roughly about a little over the 60% mark. So 60% of illegal conversions have been been permitted been permitted through the amnesty program. Wow, that's amazing. That's a larger number than I would have expected. Yes, sir. But we're we're going for 100%. Okay, that is our goal. All right. Thank you.

You're welcome. So what is the So what is the big obstacle with people who aren't getting permitted who you you either suspect or you've seen have just wires hanging all over the place? And I mean how how are you encouraging them without saying do this or else?

Um we're sending out flyers, mailers. We're when I see them doortodoor, I'm talking to them, um, explaining to them why they need to get it converted. And a lot of that is so when they do want to do a remodel or an addition to the home, it doesn't come back and say, "I'm sorry, we can't. You need to convert this back to a garage or you need to build a second garage." The other issues that we have found even more recently is people are having problems selling the home because the permit's not on record. And so now the land company, well, you need to get this permitted. Well, I can't get it permitted, so now I got to convert it back. So con communicating that to the citizens is helping them understand why they need to come it in and that we're not coming out. We're just making sure life safety is met in that garage conversion. As I recall from the original uh deal, one of the parameters was this amnesty only applied to conversions that were completed prior to some date.

Correct. And can you do you know what that date was? I I don't recall. The original date was because the ordinance came about in 1994. The month I'm a little off on, but that was the original date. But it's hard when researching it, if you can't find a permit, it's hard to distinguish when the conversion actually happened, right? So, we we know permits that was created prior to 1994. I can prove that it existed, but it's hard to prove when it didn't exist, when it got converted. Um, so I guess my So we're extending the application date.

Yeah. To the proposal is to extend the application date. So that doesn't mean that somebody could do a garage conversion now. And then so they have to have completed the conversion by some date prior to January 31st or whatever, right? Which that date, I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. So that date was prior to that July 17th of 2024 when we had actually amended the ordinance. So since that's when the ordinance was amended, the conversions prior to amending that ordinance, okay, is what we're looking

I just wanted to make sure we're not extending that date. We're only extending the date at which they can apply for this uh amnesty. But yes, we're not extending the number of candidates subject to amnesty by doing this. You are correct. Okay. Thank you. You are.

Question. What what do you have an average age of some of these homes? Because I know that a lot of them were 40 1940s, 1950s. And is there has there been any kind of survey among the people who work for the city or contacted these homeowners to get any kind of idea as to what kind of shape these are in how much work would have to be done and and would that be safe? There has not been because that is part of their right um as to where the shape it is. the ones that we have gone out and inspected the homes are still in fairly good shape.

Okay. Um so I mean it's not we would address issues that hey you probably need to get this fixed but we're we're not going to hold it up on the inspection process. Um and we would give them the avenues. We have avenues in code enforcement to help things trend that way with minor home repair programs, code compliant. I mean, different programs in place to help them better establish and fix the minor repairs that might need to be done.

Great. Thank you. And furthered. Yep. Why why six months? If there was uh we've had almost two years, is there something that prevented action from being taken? And is 6 months enough to get to the 100% that your goal is?

We do believe 6 months is enough. Um we have been sending out the advertisement since the deadline and the the request to extend it. We've gotten in several applications since that time frame that have been put on hold until we get permission to extend it for that six months. And that six months, I think, will get us to that goal and getting into compliance as we have that communication going out there. The people understanding now what it is we're actually looking for. And so there you've seen more and more applications coming in. So is there a change in the communication that's going to take place in the six months or you've already reached all the parties that need to be notified?

We've reached most of all the parties that need to be notified. We will keep on reaching them. Is there like a change in how we're going to communicate it?

Uh verbal so more people came to the town hall meetings um just the simple two to three that we've had since this started. than did at the very beginning and that communication in the town hall meetings saw an uptick in the applications coming in. Um the change in verbiage in our flyer that will be going out again that changes people see it on Facebook, they see it on Tik Tok, all these social media platforms that the city has. They're seeing that communication. They come in, they ask questions, they communicate whether it's me or with other staff members about that. We inform them and then they're more objective to allow us to come in to inspect their home. Well, the garage conversion.

The last question, if we reach 95%, are we going to continue extending or is is this like the drop dead date? Like what is the goal? As of right now, this would be the drop dead date. So the our our goal is high and we are going to do our best to achieve that goal. Okay. Great. Thank you. Any further questions? All right. Thank you once again. Thank you all.

All right. And that takes us uh back to our study session. Agenda item A2, discuss agenda items for future planning and zoning commission consideration. Commissioners, any items? All right. Well, seeing none, that will conclude our study session meeting at 6:46. We will pick up with our regular meeting at 700 p.m. Thank you all.

Good evening and welcome to the City of Farmers Branch Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. It is presently 7:03 p.m. of Monday, February 23rd, 2026. We'll begin this evening uh firstly by thanking the commissioners for their service and then proceeding to citizen comments. This agenda item provides an opportunity for citizens to address the planning and zoning commission on any matter that is not posted on the agenda. Anyone wishing to address the commission should complete a citizen comments registration form and submit it to the chair prior to the start of the meeting. There is a threeinut time limit for each citizen to speak with a reasonable limitation on speakers on any one topic or item with a maximum of 15 total minutes on the same topic item. Anyone wishing to speak shall be courteous and cordial. The planning and zoning commission is not permitted to take action on any subject raised by a speaker during citizen comments. When called, please approach the podium and state your name and address prior to beginning your comment. And please direct all comments to the commission and not to the audience. This evening, we have no one signed up for citizen comments, so we'll proceed to our regular agenda items, beginning with item C1. Consider approval of the February 9th, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting minutes and take appropriate action. Commissioners,

I move to approve the minutes as drafted. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any further discussion on the item? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor of approving the minutes. All right. Thank you all. And next, we'll hear item C2. Consider the request for a final plat approval of FB35 Design Center subdivision lots 1 and 2 located at 12197 Denton Drive and take appropriate action. Thank you, Brian.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, commissioners. Good evening. It's a it's a privilege and a pleasure to be presenting before you this evening. I'm Brian Campbell, planner with the planning department. Here on behalf of Brett Mangum, lead planner, here to present you tonight on the final plat for 12197 Denton Drive, also known as the FB35 design center. And so this is the subject property. It is zoned plan development district number 32. The applicant is Farmers Branch Denton Warehouse LLC who's seeking final plat approval in order to subdivide the subject property into two lots of record um one for a office building and one for a warehouse development. Um per the zoning amendment and detailed site plan that was approved back in November of last year. Uh so now on your screen is the proposed final plat and this is the approved detailed site plan. Um I can confirm that this final plat does meet um all the requirements of the Texas local government code as well as the city's platting requirements and is consistent with this approved detailed site plan. And so that concludes my presentation. If you have any questions um I'd be happy to take those. Um but otherwise, thank you all so much. Thank you. Any questions? All right. Seeing none, I'll hear from the commissioners.

I would make a motion to approve the plat as presented. Thank you. Second. Any further discussion on the item? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. All those uh in favor of approval. Excellent. Thank you very much, Brian. Thank you, commissioners.

All right. Next up, item D1, a public hearing. We will conduct a public hearing and consider amending the comprehensive zoning ordinance of the city of Farmers Branch, Texas, by amending subsection K, additional parking requirements of section 4.3, parking and loading. by amending subsections A, 2, B, and I of paragraph 5 amnesty program permit to extend the garage conversion amnesty program to July 31st, 2026 and take appropriate action. Thank you, Scott.

Thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners. It's good to see you again. So, we brought this originally back to y'all in July of 2024 and had a one 18month amnesty program through continuous education and council's discretion. They would like to extend this another six months. As you know that the background of the conversions was illegal garage conversions that happened prior to the adoption date of this ordinance of July 17, 2024. Any conversions that happened after that date are not part of this program. So we are here to try to get as close to 100% compliance as possible. And that's why this six-month extension is under the direction of city council. This is only going to be till July 31st, 2026. After that, that is our drop dead date. If it has not been converted, it's still legal. And I'm here to answer any questions, concerns that y'all might have.

Thank you. Any questions? Yep. I I've got one question that just popped up. Has there been in the past any inclination by either city staff or anybody else reaching out to like Westlake Ace Hardware or or any any of the places that people usually go to buy stuff for home repair and maybe partner with them to give homeowners a little bit of an incentive to, you know, say, "Hey, look, if if you do this, this is going to be required to do. We've got the hardware store. We got Home Depot. We've got Lowe's. You know, pe people we can partner with to maybe set up A, B, C, and D ways to do this so you can get it done, give you a discount or or get partner with the home improvement places to have a discount and maybe get people off of their off their seats and get it done.

Well, we would consider that as a city. It would not be a city's objective to go out and search for businesses to do that for. It would have to be the business themselves coming to us and offering to help. And then we would consider and look at any legal ramifications that might exist. Right. My question is the the MC program is for garages that were converted illegally, which meaning they didn't get a permit for it to happen, right? Yes,

that's what it's for. Okay. So, what if you my my question is um if I if you recently bought a home and it was inspected and it passed inspection, the city would still need to come out and inspect the garage again. Well, it if it had passed a permit inspection, then we don't need to come out again. we would have found that therefore our permit would have been pulled to convert that garage.

Okay. My my next question is if when you come out and inspect it, is the goal to have the garage if it's converted into like closed in, is the goal to have everyone convert it back to a garage or is the goal just to make sure it's safe? Just to make sure it's safe. Okay. Okay. Thanks again. Thank you again. Any further questions? All right. Uh with that, a reminder this is uh a public hearing. I would move that we close the public hearing. Second.

Any further discussion on the item? And seeing that there's no one here to speak at the public hearing. All right. Great. Then we'll hear a motion. move to end the hearing. Oh, we already did that. Sorry. Thank you. I'm See, I am I'm off my game. Uh, we will then have a vote. Thank you all. Um, all those in favor of ending the public hearing. Thank you. And with that, the public hearing is closed. And now we'll move to an a motion on the item.

I move to approve agenda item D126-ZA-2 as drafted. Uh recommendation for approval. Mhm. I second that. Okay. Any further discussion on the item? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. all those uh who want to recommend approval. All right. And this will go to city council on the 17th on the 17th. Thank you all again. And with that, uh we've reached the conclusion. We will adjourn at 7:13 p.m. Thank you all again.