Planning & Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the planning and zoning meeting to order. October 16th, 6:00 planning and zoning meeting for the city of Josephine. Okay. And uh Madame Secretary Oliver, we're short one, but we still have a quorum. Basically, we can conduct the meeting. And if you'd like to uh stand and for the pledge of allegiance. Get that out the way. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we're going to go ahead and skip the invocation there members. Uh the next item is number two, planning and zoning meetings from June 18th. Had a chance to look over them and if you have any comments or whatever, just go ahead and make them and uh make a motion whenever you get ready.

All right. Uh, I make a motion to approve the minutes from the June 18th, 2025 regular meeting and second. Second.

Okay. And all in favor? Okay. Next item is u new uh business and that's swearing in new members to the planning is open. And madam secretary, I'll let you handle that. We both can come up here today.

Mhm. Yeah. Today. We have I'd like to welcome uh Dr. Love and Mr. Reese uh to the planning and zoning committee. Thank you for volunteering. [Applause] Okay. Next item, item 3.2, okay, is to receive a report and presentation from Kimberly Horn and Associates on the draft on the draft park and trails master plan and

provide recommendation to the city council. That's um

Mr. Chairman, members of the commission, um just to introduce the item before our team from Kimley Horn um comes up to the podium. So, this this is um an element of the comprehensive planning process for for cities and this is to my knowledge the first parks master plan that the city has had. The adoption of this plan will allow us to uh seek funding for grants from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. And um the K the team at Kimley Horn has been hard at work over the past I want to say nine months, eight to nine months. And uh this is the culmination of a very um um significant effort and and public input process as well. And um they'll be here to present, answer questions. If you have questions for staff, we'll be more than happy to answer those as well.

Thank you, Miguel. Uh, good evening. Uh, my name is Ignasio Mia with Kimley Horn. Uh, uh, thank you, chairman, and uh, commissioned uh, for this opportunity to give you an update and congratulations first of all for getting to this part with the draft uh, plan as as being uh, the first plan. It's as Miguel indicated, it's a very important component for uh the growth of your community. Uh so with that, I will advance.

It's on the side. I think

okay, we can just scroll down as as you Okay. I I'll just ask to advance.

Yeah. Okay. Yes. So just a overview of the presentation. We're going to give you a high level of what is a parks and trails master plan. We're going to hit on the schedule uh briefly and then we'll go into the uh overview of each of the uh chapter components. Um and then we'll discuss next steps. Next slide please. So what is a parks and trails master plan? And as uh Miguel indicated, this is a strategic plan that really guides uh a community for future development of trails uh parks for your community. As you're experiencing growth, this is very important for the quality of life of your community. So, this is one of those uh key components that really sets that up. And part of the process is is really to uh assess existing uh facilities within your community. uh we did a demographic analysis uh established the vision and also identify those priorities for your community in regards to uh existing future parks and uh trails and um for the community. Uh next slide. Um and as part of the the benefits um for establishing uh a plan is really through the community there was a prioritization based on what is needed in your parks. what uh is now or what's the need for the future and as well as trails. So that was a priority uh base that was established through the community engagement and and as um we said it's a funding opportunity. Texas Parks and Wildlife looks at these plans and uh and they look at the components in the plans that really show that a community is growing and they have they took it through the public engagement process and and it really opens up for those future funding opportunities for uh parks. Um some of those grants open

up in August, some of those open up in February. So it really uh tease you up for applying for some of those uh grant opportunities. And not just that, but there's also uh the uh text alternative grants, the TA that uh really uh also can be uh used for uh applying for trails or even the NCT COG. They have some grant opportunities that they look at some of these documents um uh for establishment and and u uh they weigh in substantially in getting some of those grants and and it's also a policy guide. Uh, for example, it this may tee up uh uh revising your parkland dedication ordinances as you develop uh in the future. It's a guide that really supports a parkland dedication or fees uh on development. So, next slide. And and again, just uh briefly on the Texas Parks and Wildlife um grant, it really helps uh uh fund uh some of those uh parks are funded by Texas Parks and Wildlife, and it really is something that as you engage in future development of those parks. That's one of the check boxes that the um uh grant application checks that you already have this uh plan in place and it was vented through your community and the community identified those priorities for your community as well. Next slide. Um, as far as a schedule, this was a 10th month uh process. uh when we started in February doing the existing conditions, we assessed u your facilities, park facilities, your trails and we did a needs assessment with the community having an openhouse uh where we engaged the community in some of those prioritizations, the vision for parks and trails and then we developed the plan components in in March through uh July August time frame and then once we had that draft we took it to an online engagement

uh where we did a survey and build more consensus on those uh plan components and um now we prepared a draft and we're here to present that and that's what uh my partner uh and will do. So

thank you. Good evening planning and zoning commission staff. My name is Anna Rder and I'm here to go over some of the content of the master plan. So there are six chapters in the plan. Starting with introduction, we look at community context and engagement. Moving through with strategic direction, and then four and five look at the parks and the trails. And then finally, chapter six goes over plan implementation. We'll start with chapters 1 through three. To comply with TPWD funding, uh we did an overview of um demographics data. We looked at population growth as well as um giving a population um um projection and we used a moderate 4% rate for that. That'll come into play later when we go over the level of service analyses in chapters four and five. Next slide, please. We also looked at key household characteristics and race and ethnic composition in Josephine. As part of the plan, we were asked to conduct one public engagement event in the community um to get feedback and present um the existing data that we had on the parks and trails system. So in the beginning of April, we hosted an open house in conjunction with the opening of the new community center. Um there were around 50 total participants, so we had really good turnout. Um, and then we had seven stations where the public could go to each station and provide their own public input for both parks and trails. One of the stations asked the community about their priorities for the parks and trails system. And from our results, we found that there's a really big emphasis on enhancing natural areas and open spaces, expanding programming and events in parks, and also improving trails and connectivity.

At another station, we looked at um preferred amenities for residents. So um what types of amenities and programming they like to see in parks and trails. Um the most preferred amenities in both parks and trails was more walking and biking trails in the community as well as more shade and seating areas. From the open house, we were able to um put together the vision statement and the guiding principles for the report. Um we came back in July and took that vision statement um the guiding principles and action items and actually surveyed the community on their thoughts to see if the community priorities aligned with um what we put together for the strategic direction. Um so that that survey was open for about three and a half weeks. Um there were 123 total participants and about 35 fully completed surveys. Overall we received really positive feedback from this survey. Um over a third of the questions received a 90% approval rating um which is really high. And then we received some really good input from the community in written response form. And all of those as well as our feedback from the openhouse can be found in the appendix in the report. The strategic direction for the plan establishes a long-term vision for the future park and trail growth in Josephine. Um this involves both the vision statement and the guiding principles. Next slide please. So the vision statement again was put together from the input that we gained in the open house. It was put out to the community to provide input. And then this is the current vision statement which is Josephine will create a connected and active community focusing on family-friendly amenities, access to

nature, safe recreation areas, and accessible open spaces for all to enjoy. We also developed the guiding principles. So this will help guide um the plan and future development in the city. Um the first is enhanced connectivity throughout the community, park and trail amenities in both um both those parks and trails and then preservation of open space and natural areas as well as diverse program programming. So moving on to chapter four, this was looking at Josephine's um parks um inventory as well as the needs assessment. Um so this um inventory is looking at we first established park classifications um to help create a framework um as we were developing what those parks look like. So each of these types of parks are identified by their size, their service area, and then their acre per 10,000 people. They also vary in their um types of amenities in each park. So, for example, a pocket park is pretty small typically and may only have benches, a small playground, whereas a community park serves a much um larger portion of the population and therefore will have um greater amenities that are passive and active. For example, um recreation fields, walking trails, etc. And then in the spring of this year, Kimley Horn went out and inventoried the parks in Josephine, both within the city limits and within the ETJ. Our team inventoried not only the um public parks, which that would be city park across the street. Um but it also looked at the private parks as well um in those neighborhoods.

Josephine City Park was classified as community park because of the types of amenities that it has and because it serves multiple neighborhoods. Um most of the other parks were neighborhood parks. So those are the ones that are in Magnolia Point, Riverfield, Fountain View. Um that's what we classified those as. And then there are also some linear parks and open space within the ETJ. The plan also provides a deeper dive into um Josephine City Park and looking at the types of amenities and the conditions of the infrastructure. Um we found that there are a lot of existing amenities for example two basketball courts, splash pad, two playgrounds, um covered pavilions, restrooms, parking lot, etc. Um the biggest issue we found is that it lacks accessible routes to most of those elements, but there are a lot of opportunities for walking paths or recreation fields in the future. So from our parks inventory and our level of service um analysis and the parks classifications um this park service area map was developed. So, as you can see, um this is showing areas in Josephine that are currently being served by parks. Um and the areas which are not. Um so, areas to the west of Josephine are currently not being served by parks. Um and then if you were to take away all those private parks and just keep um city park, a lot of areas within the east would also be in a park deficit. Um so this park level of service um it looks at national benchmarks um the national rec recreation and parks association provides recommended level of service ranges um in order to identify park surpluses and deficit in

acreage. Um so as you can see in 2024 um there is within the city limits itself about a 13 acre park deficit and then we also looked at 2040 using that 4% um projected population growth. Um and there would be around a 25 acre park deficit if um there are to be no parks built in between now and 2040. Um this also looked at city limits and ETJ combined. Um and so there is a little bit of a deficit in 2040 as well. Next slide please. The the plan also looked at the level of service of amenities. So I identified some of the deficits and the types of amenities that those parks have as well as some surpluses. It is important to note on this one though that it it takes into account private parks. So that is why there there is a surplus in playgrounds, splash pads, swimming pools because it was taking that into account. And then the plan also looked at um existing city facilities and resources like um parks, schools, etc. And now we'll move on to chapter five which is looking at Josephine trails. So similarly to the parks classifications, the plan also provided trail classifications. So we identified three different types. Recreational, multi-use, shared path, and multi-use side path. Um recreational trails are typically paths or loops within an existing park. Um shared paths are typically um within a greenway easement whereas a side path is within a rideway or follows a rideway. And NCT COG and other national standards typically recommend that the minimum path width on these trails is 8 ft. Next slide, please.

The plan went ahead and inventoried all of the existing trails in Josephine. Um there's only one trail loop in the city limits and that's in Fountain View. The rest are within Magnolia Point um or Riverfield. It looks like it got slightly cut off, but the total trail mileage in Josephine um city limits and ETJ is 3.39 miles currently. But if you consider what's directly within the city limits, it's only half a mile. Um and Riverfield Trail is the only one of these that meets that minimum 8 foot standard width that's recommended. Next slide, please. Again, a level of service was um put together for the trails. As you can see, there's a deficit in both city limits and the city limits and ETJ right now. And um if no more trails were added, there would be a pretty significant deficit in 2040. And this is based on um Dallas Fort Worth has a standard that they typically go by that is one mile, sorry, one mile of trail per 10,00 persons. For the resource-based assessment on the trails, um it was found that some existing facilities um lack connectivity via trails and sidewalks. And there are a lot of opportunities for safe trail connections to school as well as developing within flood planes, easements, rideways. And there's also a really good opportunity to connect with other municipalities for regional trail connections. And lastly, we'll go over chapter six, which um discusses the plan implementation. So, the parks and trails master plan is a map that is intended to guide future park and trail growth and identify opportunity areas within the community. It builds off of the needs assessments, level of service assessments, and the

existing park and trail inventories um that were conducted in chapters four and five. Um so as we pull this map up, we do want to caveat that these are not exact locations of development um for these parks and trails. It's merely showing um opportunities where we see there are deficits right now for park and trails. Um so if you see the dashed yellow line faintly in the background, that is showing that park service area that we showed earlier. So anything outside of that line is currently not being served by a park. Um, and as you can see, a lot of those areas outside uh of that line are um we would recommend neighborhood parks since looking at the future land use plan, most of those areas are delineated as single family uses. So, neighborhood parks would be an appropriate use in this instance. Um there's also opportunities for city park um to expand to be a larger community park, add more amenities and become part of the future hub. Um and then there's also opportunities for special use parks and some existing flood planes, preserving nature as that was um a topic discussed during the open house and survey. And then for trails, one of the biggest opportunities is looking at that um railroad easement and developing a trail there, which was discussed in the 2023 comprehensive plan. Um and developing trail heads along that as well. also looking at future text paths along FM6 um and also the potential outer loop trail that would come from um the Colin County thoroughfare plan and the implementation matrix was developed um because it it was a portion of the TPWD requirements to provide an implementation plan. Um so it provides

um action items and gives strategic timing for each of those action items as well as resource availability. Um so it should be used to help track planning progress and um make sure that it can guide those development decisions and ensure that the the plane is on track. I've included a couple snips here of what those implementation um tables look like in the report. Um, so as you can see, it lists the action item and then it also describes what type of action item it is. So if it's a study, is it a partnership? Um, and then the timeline of implementation. It also lists the responsible parties and partners that could be um partnered with for um collaboration. In addition, um there was an investment projects list table that was broken out of that implementation matrix. So, this looks at all of those types of investment projects that might take more time and resources to put together. Um, it lists the priority of them, so low, medium, high, um, to help prioritize projects. And then it also gives an estimated cost with dollar signs. And in the report, it it gives a range of what those dollar signs mean. So, for our next steps, um, our team is going to incorporate any feedback that we get today. Um we're here tonight um to get recommendation for council adop adoption in November and then we plan to hold a public hearing and adoption at city council on November 10th. So with that are there any questions and comments?

Okay, first of all thank you very much for being here in your presentation. You said it took nine months to put this together. Yeah, I I have to admit this is an amazing document here. A lot of good information, demographics, just mean something I'm gonna hold on to uh because we can't do this every year, but it's some very good information here. So, let me uh just kind of go through a few things. I mentioned a demographics. Uh okay. you explained the deficit. I was concerned with that deficit there. You mentioned two basketball. I think we got three of them out there, but uh that's okay. It's not a big thing. I understand what you're saying as far as the deficit. I I

made a note of that there. Uh let me see. This is a over 200page document here. I have a couple of things. Again, my comments are mainly on the positive side. I find this is interesting. This housing uh this draft here concerning the housing, the rental occupants and everything in this area.

Mhm. That's that's some good information. And I guess it's it's a good thing nowadays maybe the mud is providing green space and park for the uh residents because that takes the pressure off the city because we really don't have the the room. But uh that's great. So okay as I look through this again mainly my comments are positive. Uh you mentioned here I think we are funding and this is a very important part of this this document here the local funding state funding and federal funding and I understand without a plan we really probably can't get a lot of funding so we have to have a plan like this in place. Okay. Uh, I'm going to give you one little document here. You said this is a draft. You may have to update. Can I hand this to you? This is not a major issue here. It's just uh one of the pages you have the member's name

and there's a couple left off. That's okay. We'll adjust that. Thank you. That's not a major but overall uh of course my colleagues will have questions and or comments. I like this this information. This is a plan and we need a plan and uh I'm glad we took this step in this direction. The city did uh because this not only for the city of Josephine but the uh citizens in the in the ETJ also. So I think this is an excellent document. I really like the uh what you what you provided here. Uh colleagues, any other comments? Yeah.

Uh, concerning the city of Josephine and the ETJ, I guess the grant is that awarded to the city of Josephine or is it to the ETJ area or Sure. uh the the grants uh depending on what you're applying for. For example, if if if but they would apply for anything with the city within the city limits if so so it would improve any improvements within the existing current city limits.

Yes. And that's like the Texas Parks and Wildlife grant. Uh some of the like the Texas alternative uh grants, they may expand. So, it all depends on on on what type of grant you ultimately uh want to apply for. Okay. So, I guess if we do we're lucky enough to get a grant, then it goes to the city of Josephine. Yes, sir. And right now we're you guys say that we're 13 acres short of parks and trails and all those good things. Where in the heck are you going to get the land? Well, part part of that is is if there's uh we talked about some of those uh open spaces. Uh wow.

Yes. Some of those green green corridors would apply for some of those uh areas and and maybe that's a strategic goal is identifying and and getting some of those uh uh securing some of that land for some of those open spaces and parks because I mean the only one as you guys mentioned was the the railroad right away, right? I mean other than that I don't Yeah. And words

and as part of the the overall map that showed the different nodes um again uh and it mentioned that those are just uh locations. They're high level. So it's it sets up a strategy for okay if if there's a general location here based on our future land use maybe that's an area as as uh development occurs. um that'll inform uh uh also like as part of an overall development that a park and open space is needed for that area. So so that that is part of that long-term uh vision as big developments occur securing some of that land as part of that development.

Right. Well, I know that uh I don't know if you're we had a pretty good flood here 9 10 years ago and I don't know how that's classified flood zone. Is it a 100red-year flood or is it deemed you can't build on it? I mean, that might be a good area for to look at to right open land. And and typically those 100-year flood planes are great for uh those uh corridor connectors for trails because you can do um uh trails within those areas because they're expected to be, you know, in a flood zone. Um and as far as those those are great appropriate for those areas. Yeah. I mean, you see other places do the same thing. They're usually trails along creeks that have see the flood and all that.

Yes. That stuff. So, um, and this may be looking far down the road, but connecting cities. I mean, is that a plan that anybody's working on or looking at, you know, trails to Leavonne or Catvilles or to Roy City? I I can chime in on that. So this plan happened to align at about the same time with the Colin County regional trails plan and part of that vision and and it is shown in our comp plan is to create what we're technically calling the cotton belt regional trail along the abandoned rail line

and that essentially would hope to connect the area of like wy through that ride ofway up to Greenville and potentially beyond similar to the trail in Farmersville that goes all the way to Paris. I think it's called the Chaparel Trail. That is the vision that that the county and and some of the communities around here are looking at doing that regional partnership and part of this plan would help us start creating a more comprehensive effort to secure funding and start actual planning efforts to get that to become a reality. So then something we are looking at then Yes.

Good. Good. Um uh like I said, the only walking trail we have is over here at Mountain View. Is there any way I mean have we discussed with them as far as implementing that into the city or are they just saying we don't want any part of the city?

So So a lot of our park and trail infrastructure is HOA owned and maintained. Um, as new developments come in, particularly in planned developments where the city has more leverage to negotiate, we will seek to incorporate more u park land dedication. Uh we're also looking to strengthen our current requirements. So even in our ETJ, we can still part of our subdivision regulations include a component for parkland dedication that could be used for trails. So, um, we're looking to strengthen that to get more open space and recreation spaces out of new developments. As far as existing developments, um, there could be partnerships potentially, there's a grant to work with the Fountain View subdivision to widen that trail or potentially expand it. Um, if the property next door develops, obviously the city staff would like to pursue an opportunity to potentially expand that park into the new development. So, um there are there are going to be opportunities to to look at increasing our our um land area within the city limits.

All right. Thank you. Um one more question is um so we get a grant to do all this building trails and parks and whatever. Uh after we get all that done, whose responsibility is it to maintain all that infrastructure? that point. If it's a HOA owned, maintained park, it would be them and otherwise it would be the city. If it becomes a dedicated city property, then the city would be responsible for the long-term maintenance of that park. Okay.

Does anybody put any numbers to that as far as maintenance on that is what it would cost? that would be more of a long-term strategic planning effort and as in preparation for grant applications and things like that because usually that includes a component about thinking about the long-term costs. So yes. Yes. If I could just add a little bit to that cuz as you're um adding to your ordinance as far as parkland dedication or fees in lie of of those that's where you're starting to also put language in there that some of those fees can go toward some of these uh improvements and maintenance of not only uh your existing but also the future uh parks and trails as well. Okay,

I think that's it for me now. [Music] Nope. Okay. Doctor

got one about the methodology of the study. Is it common practice to include the neighborhood HOA parks in this type of estimate? Uh typically uh it's it's more on the public facilities, but in this scenario because it there was so many of of existing, we we wanted to make that aware that it does incorporate that information, but we know that a lot of those aren't uh accessible to everybody, especially if some of those communities are are gated. So looking forward, that's that's when we talked about as you're securing these PD, you know, overall developments, it's making sure that some of those are uh available to the general public as well.

Right. So then your estimate of our of the deficit for citizens who don't live in a neighborhood that has their own park, it's actually a very conservative estimate, right? They they have far fewer amenities if they're not part of those communities.

That's correct. Okay. Um, if I could I see your concern and and part of that as part of new standards as new developments come in particularly with development agreements and plan developments even if they're HOA owned and maintained sometimes cities can require and in my experience we've done this where even if it is an HOA owned and maintained park we still allow or require public access because essentially it still serves a public purpose. it just happens to be uh the ownership and liability goes to the HOA but sometimes it's a part of the negotiations when with uh regarding new development to um obtain more public um land I mean public usable land

one more question uh you mentioned in the report using Dallas Fort Worth parameters like what you say a mile for every thousand people. So Dallas and for that they have quite a few miles of trails and everything. So I guess why why that standard? I mean we're not a Dallas or Fort Worth obviously. I mean is Plano the same a mile for every thousand people or is Murphy the same or

Yeah. And again yeah that's that's a benchmark when you do a lot of these uh plans. We uh it's it's separate but since it's a local we we also look at benchmark of of uh similar communities and and we use that as as a uh a benchmark and starting point. So yes I mean just based on our current population we need like two and a half miles. Right. Right. All right. And that's and that that's what you said. You're like a you know like a in your current city it's like what you said one and a half miles right now or and then your ATJ half a mile right

okay Mr. Reed any any comments sir? Okay let me just ask uh Mr. Miguel, one question is I understand years back that there is a fund in case a development doesn't provide green space or park there's a fund that they can donate to for the city. So to enhance our parks

in in in ordinances when they they have the option to do natural land dedication or a fee in lie of and it's calculated at a certain rate per um dwelling unit or or acre that they cannot provide. Um typically uh the developers will look to provide and and ex use amenities. So, for example, there are the retention ponds or detention ponds. They'll build, you know, a trail and potentially a little park, you know, some smaller open space, but um to help count against that land dedication, and then sometimes they'll do a prata of the the fee which goes into a fund to fund improvements to existing parks or potentially a larger regional park

funding may allow. Okay. Okay. Members, if there's not any other comments or questions, is there a a motion?

What's what's the motion number? This is to receive a report and presentation from Kimberly Horn and Associates to draft on the draft park and trails master plan and provide a recommendation to the council. Just the the motion that lasts. Yeah. The the motion would be to recommend approval or and a recommendation to city council to go ahead and move forward. Mhm. Okay.

Okay. So, uh I'll make a motion to uh approve the report and presentation from Kimley Horn and Associates on the draft parks and trails master plan and uh provide a recommendation to city council for approval. Is there a second? I second. And all in favor? Okay. Okay. Again, thank you very much. It's an excellent document. You did a a great a great job here. Really appreciate it. It's something I'm going to hold on to this for a long time. Thank you very much. Well, it's the work of your community, too.

Okay. Thank you again. Okay. Okay. Our next item is 3.3 open public hearing concerning case number Z25-00001 uh 126 Main Street. Uh we're going to conduct a public hearing concerning the testimony and consider testimony and make a recommendation to the city council on res on the resoning request from Lucas. Did you can you pronounce your last name, sir? Thank you. I'm glad you came up. Yeah, it's Sheerart. Okay. I was going to be silent. If you take the tea off and I'll make sure

Okay, sure. I was going to uh spell it, but I was going to get it correct. And again, this is to amend the zoning ordinance and zoning map of the city of Josephine and each being a part of the code of ordinance uh from single family one single family residential to commercial on approximately 1 35 acres of land generally located at 126 Main Street. Okay, Mr. Correct,

Mr. Chairman. Um Mr. Sherhart here is the applicant. He'll be ready to answer any questions. Um if you can go open the file and just yeah go through the staff report fairly quickly. So um you can technically see the property just outside across the street. Um it is the one single family lot that's already that's currently occupied. And then that large square as you can see in your screen in the back that's about an acre that's fronting on an unpaved alley. So that's a city rightway alley at the moment. Um, Mr. Sherhar would like to zone that to general commercial. There are no um defined uses at the moment. It is currently surrounded by single family homes. Um, some of those uh properties are already zoned commercial um in the adjacent vicinity. Um, this is a traditional reasonzoning process. So, there's no requirement to ask for a concept plan or a proposed use. So, just keep in mind any use that would be allowed by right in this zoning district would be a permitted use within this property if this request is adopted. Um, there is a separate zoning case for changing the code to remove some automotive related uses from that commercial zoning district and I'll touch more on those at a later time. Um, future land use plan designates this as uh the city center. So, a commercial zoning district would be um in alignment with that future land use plan to create a a a retail uh scene here in our main street. Um we have received no letters of support or opposition to to to right now. Um and we recommend approval. Mhm. John, you could

I have one thing and I don't think it's important, but I just want it's technically two addresses, so I don't know if that's relevant here, but I just want to make sure like the the back lot I own it individually, so I wouldn't want it to be separated through that process. I wanted I needed to have the two different addresses, but there again, not sure if that's relevant here. But, uh, other than that, you hit the nail on the head. So, okay. And the the legal description is for the two separate lots. It's two two separate plated lots at the moment. Yeah, I was going to say the legal description will take care of that. Uh uh right now uh go I didn't call the the time of opening a public hearing, but we can open the public hearing now. Your comment is fine, sir. Uh yeah,

if you liked what she had to present, you're not going to like me at all because uh I've just basically didn't even know I was going to need to speak about this. So I apologize about that. Had a lot going on personally. So uh but if you guys have any questions for it about me, please let me know. Weird. Are you currently living? I am. Yeah, I am. And the neighbor next door as well. Um, you know, there's a possibility there to down the road, really soon down the road to to possibly uh do a deal with a developer on all three pro properties. Conversations have been happening. So, I think it would it probably would happen kind of all three at one time if he comes in and does the reasoning for his by the next couple of months. So, Okay.

Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Madam Secretary. On the uh time on the public hearing, I didn't give you a time. You have it down as it's open right now. Well, we thought it was open at 6:4. That's fine. That work. That's good. Yes, we have it. All right. All right. Thank you, sir. Appreciate. Is there any other comments from anyone concerning this uh item? If not, we're going to close the public hearing. And you have the time. Is it 6:47? Great. Members, any comments or concerns?

Yeah. No, if it's the future use, the property to the south is commercial, right? Just tore down there. What? So, there was uh and something I'm going to bring up next month. Um, we're discovering some scriveners errors on zoning maps when the zoning classification list was changed. We used to have C1 and C2

and as those things changed names and the map started changing that corner piece where that metal building was just torn down, that corner house is shown in our current map as commercial, but it is own single family residential. However, that property owner has expressed an interest. he bought up that and the two adjacent parcels fronting FM6. Uh he has expressed an interest in seeking a commercial reszoning in the future. But other properties along that roadway south of this property are zon commercial, just not all of them. [Music]

Any other questions, comment members? Okay. Is there a motion?

Um, I make a motion to um approve reszoning to uh from single family to commercial of case number Z25-001 0001 yeetss edition lots 10B and 11. Second. Second.

Okay. All in favor? Okay. Thank you. Our next open public hearing is item 3.4, case number CA25-00002-8. And this is to conduct a public hearing to con consider testimony and make a recommendation to the city council on a city initiated amendment to the code of ordinance chapter 10 article 2 section 2.4H 4H engineering plans to allow the city engineer to accept a preliminary engineering plans in lie of detailed final engineering plans with the submitt of a preliminary plat at the applicant's request. I'm going to open a public hearing and Mr. McGero I think you have a comment on this.

Yes. So, um, this one's a a a change that has been caused based on our code. So, our current code as as written subdivision and zoning are more geared towards single family residential development. Um,

we're seeking and and receiving greater interest in in commercial development. And currently under our our regulations, when an applicant submits a preliminary plat, they're being required to submit a full detailed engineering set. Um because we have a 30-day deadline to approve plats, that is just not sufficient time for our engineering team to review a full detailed set of plans, send comments back, receive them, and then go with the usual back and forth because it typically takes at least two rounds of review to review engineering plans. So, uh, this is really to break off the process and and have preliminary engineering which would still give us an idea of whether a development is feasible when we present it to y'all for approval. And if that preliminary plot is approved, there will still be a requirement for final engineering plans just at a later time. And they they would submit those, it would be reviewed, and then the city would issue a site development permit to begin uh infrastructure construction and so forth. But they'll have the preliminary plot that would show you give you a general picture of what is being developed and how in a particular property and this is separate from the site plan process which is even more detailed when it comes to uh non-residential development

and and normally with those 30 days if you have a question that if the engineer has a question it goes back to the developer and that's part of the time the clock is still ticking. Yeah. So, so we we strive for two week reviews depending on the complexity. Sometimes those take longer. We try to work as fast as we can. But we are at the mercy of the developers engineering team whenever we send something back. So we can send something back and they can take as long as two weeks, maybe even longer to resubmit. So we're just we're cutting it way too close with our timelines at the moment. So, we're just trying to avoid issues where we're forced to approve something that we still don't have a very full picture, but we have our preliminary engineer will still allow us to do that.

Okay. We have in Josephine a lot of experience with houses. So, we have the basically a concept plan, preliminary and a a final. So, this is a little different for if we get into commercial. I mean, this would apply to single family residential. And um some of you may have been here or heard the discussion at at the city council when I brought this up in a general briefing.

Um in single family residential, they like to do preliminary plats for large subdivisions. So for example, somebody wants to do a 2,000 30,000 lot subdivision. They'll do a preliminary plot for the 2,000 or 3,000 lots showing all the different phases. And to require full detailed engineering for a two three,000 lot subdivision as our code is practically impossible to review within oh even six months or even a year I think our engineer had mentioned at the council meeting.

So um and then if the preliminary plot is approved then they do final plots with final detailed engineering for each phase. So this is essentially this would uh streamline development. Uh, one of the biggest complaints that the planning and economic development teams have heard is there is no streamlined development process in multiple cities. We're trying to make sure we follow something that sets clear expectations and guidance for developers to uh make the process not be faster necessarily but just be smoother for everybody involved. And one other comment. So for planning and zoning, what will we see here in the future if this is

essentially if somebody submits a preliminary plot um engineering will give you uh a breakdown of the preliminary engineering and give you a report stating this based on preliminary engineering this is something that's feasible. And keep in mind under this provision, if adopted as as as it'll be written, it will still allow the engineer to require full detailed engineering if they see fit. So this is just an option to go with preliminary engineering. And if the city engineer says, I need more information, I need a full detailed set, he can still request that. And if it comes to that, what we will probably have to do then is recommend a denial of the preliminary plot until you have the full detailed engineering, which we would be allowed to do that by law. And we can work informally over the next week or few weeks to eventually bring the plat back with the final detailed engineering.

Members, any other comments? I'm just trying to remember. Was it here within the last 12 months that we changed the 30-day thing either shorter or longer? I mean, when too long ago,

it's it the change has been in effect since 2019, but um as I've been reviewing our code, I'm finding these questions and and we had a a a development who's potentially doing two to 3,000 homes reach out and say, "Hey, is this truly a requirement?" because this is practically impossible. And you know, speaking personally, professionally, uh we want to make sure from a planning perspective or planning field perspective, the last thing we want is the state to say, "Hey, your construction plans are also taking too long and holding plans. Now, you have 30 days to approve those as well." So, that's another worries. We want to keep the 30-day deadline to just plots and try to break off the engineering part. So otherwise, we'll be pressured to review things. And the last thing we want is to miss important issues like water availab or water infrastructure, you know, capacity, resiliency, and more especially drainage too. We need to make sure that the drainage provided is efficient. So, if we don't do 30 days, I mean, are we going to put a deadline on them 60, 90 days, something like that, or we just going to leave it open-ended

for engineering plans? Yeah. Well, technically the way this would work is if they submit a a preliminary platinary engineering, we recommend approval. The council, the planning is only commission and council both approve it. Then that would kick off a there is no, it's open-ended at that point. The developer will start designing their detailed engineering plans and they would need to submit those for review before we allow any kind of construction and is there any timeline on when they have to submit those? No, but that'll be on them because Oh yeah, most of them will want to move fast. So they'll just turn them in as and we wouldn't have a timeline to approve those. So that means we would have

in a limited amount of time to review and go back and forth. So it would really give us even more time to really look at things more in a more detailed manner and catch the small things.

Yeah, understand. But you know, projects, buildings, they fall, deals fall apart and if they don't have a timeline to get it in, then we could potentially be losing a customer if they can't come up with the funds or don't want to do it or whatever. Well, the the challenge right now that we're seeing is, you know, their their risk from a developer's perspective is the risk is that they spend a significant amount of money up front on detailed engineering for something that may not be approved if it is determined not to be feasible. So, what this does is it protects the city that we still have a good idea of whether something could work and we'll still have the ability to do the detailed engineering and the developer says, "Well, I don't have to spend, you know, $50,000 on a detailed engineering set up front. I can spend maybe 10 on the preliminary and then I spend the 40 or whatever's left over after the fact to continue the process." But but we cannot request a timeline on when they submit.

And I'll turn them in just for a second. Usually by the time they're submitting anything preliminary, they've already gone through a water study and a sewer study early on. So we do have that information. Those basic plans are also going to show where the connections are going to be. They're just not going to show how deep the lines are or maybe, you know, the more um very very detailed plans. So and they'll they'll phase it in. So, if it's a 10-phase subdivision, you know, they may submit phases one and two uh with those construction plans when it's time. And then, you know, when they get um a percentage built out, u the new maybe sections three and four, phases three and four might kick in and they'll go ahead and start to submit those plans, but they will not get a pre-construction meeting until they have a complete set of plans approved by our engineers.

Yeah. And I guess my concern isn't really with the residential, it's more the commercial industrial type projects. So normally by the time they do a preliminary plat they've also have done a site plan. So at that point they have a even more general idea that whether something could work. So, so this this we're I mean bottom line is that this change is intended to entice the non-residential the commercial developments and and kind of make

try to reduce their risk because that's one of the things they look for is what is their risk factor, how easy it is to do business with the city and how easy it is to get from the ground up. So, we're just trying to make it smoother for them. understand, but especially in commercial type stuff, you know, maybe they got to get funding and they say, "Oh, well, we'll get that to you next month and then it's next month and then it's three months." Well, because they can't get funding or something to hold them up.

So, so we do have a provision where preliminary plats expire within two years. So, I know it seems like a long time, but I mean, I've been in planning for seven years now in different cities. I've never seen a preliminary plot expire and it it's really even when during COVID I didn't see one like they they were still able to to make things work. It's it's really unlikely for a business that's gone already this far to to kind of stop or slow down by this time. The the wheels are already turning pretty pretty quick. All right. I just like CA understood.

Are there any other comments? Was there any thought uh discussion on separating commercial from residential? This seems like a a gift horse for the residential. I can see it for as part of the new UDC and and um we're we're looking at McKini for for their development model and they do have a breakdown of residential and non-residential. So, um, when the full UDC comes in and our development process is outlined, you will see a separation. But at the moment, right now, there's no legal avenue to separate the two. Are there any other comments?

Okay. You could add if if if that is the commission's prerogative, you could add this to your motion if if you want to see that change. Yeah, there's no there's no I mean I'm just being upfront. There's no need to approve this right now. If you'd like us to go back and make that change, I'd be more than happy to look at that and find a way to make that change. That was a good way you put that question because residential, like I said, we've been doing that for a long time. But commercial's a different animal. And maybe we should separate out the practices there.

Okay. If if if the commission would like for us to revisit that, uh there there you could uh table and make the request to for us to come go back and bring it back with the revisions. Yeah, you you could continue the public table the item, continue the public hearing to say next month I can bring it back next month so we don't have to advertise again. We can bring it back next month with the changes and we can All right, that's fine. bring that up. As long as it, you know, it's my opinion, your goal was the commercial. Long as we don't do anything to hamper that, then

and it sounds like that's what your your goal is to smooth the make the process smoother for the non-residential side, but still keep residential the same. And I would imagine down the road as we get bigger and bigger, we're going to have engineers. One can handle the residential, the other one can do the commercial and split that up so you don't Yeah. have experts in one side or the other. Yeah. I mean, ideally, you won't have it in house, but yeah, the way things are right now, it's it's it's a little difficult to get in house people, but yeah, we'll be more than happy to to explore that and bring that back with that change. Okay. We just going to table this uh a motion on this one or just

it would need to be a motion to table and continue the public hearing to um next month next meeting to the next to the November meeting. Okay, make that motion. Yes. Okay. Um, I make the motion to uh table the request of uh case number CA25-00002- A, amendment to subdivision ordinance subsection 2.4H to permit preliminary engineering at time of preliminary plat uh to next month's meeting.

Second. I second. and all paper. Okay. All right. Okay. You got it. Okay. All right. Thank you. Good point. Uh so we close the public here on that and go to the next item. It's also you can't close. I'm sorry. It's just been it's been continued. Right.

Okay. You're correct. I'm just trying to get to the next item. That was my goal. All right. Uh, next item is 3.5 open public hearing case number two I mean CA 25- WW I mean 0002-B. This is to conduct a public hearing to consider testimony and make a recommendation to the city council on a city initiated amendment to the code of ordinance chapter 14A section 36 changes to the amendment uh to all zoning ordinance and district and administrative procedures to repeal subsection 36.5.2 two, which requires a 34th majority of the city council to overrule a recommendation by the planning and zoning commission that a proposed change to a regulation or boundary be denied.

Miguel, chairman, members of the commission. So, um, currently if you recommend denial of a zoning change to the text like like the previous amendment or a change to a property zoning designation, um, the city council would require a threequarters majority to overrule that recommendation if they want to approve it. The state repealed the enabling legislation that would allow the city council to do that. So, basically, it it reverts to a simple majority moving forward. So, um because our code is in conflict with state law, we have to remove that specific provision from the code. Now, there are other instances in the state law that allow a count that require a supermajority from city council to overrule your recommendation. Um and those are in cases of protests when when a zoning is contested or something like that. But for example, any other uncontested change to text or a map amendment, um the council could just do a simple majority. So we're just doing clean up here. That's all it is.

Okay. Okay. Go ahead. M love had a comment. Okay. This is not really going to affect planning his own. This is council. You got to follow state law. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Fine. Uh, is there a motion? If no, no comments, there a motion to Yeah. Yes. You got

That's okay. Well, I need you over there, so stay on it. So, we have the uh public hearing is open, so we could close the public hearing at this time. All right. And if there's no comments, is there a motion for this item? Okay. I move to recommend approval of case number CA25002B, repeal of zoning ordinance subsection 36.5.2 as presented. Second. Second.

Okay. And all in favor? Okay. The next item is 3.6 open public hearing case number CA25- 00002- C. conduct a public hearing to consider testimony and make a recommendation to the city council on a city initiated amendment to the code of ordinance chapter 14A section 22 use of land and building to revise the permitted use uses in multiple zoning categories and require a special use permit for certain uses in the commercial or general General Commercial Zoning District going to open a public hearing on this item. And Mr. Miguel.

Um, Mr. Chairman, members of the commission, um, this item and Oh, Jerk, can you open the use chart and scroll down to page chapter 14? Go to page five. The one that has the highlights. Yeah, members, you might chapter 14. Zoom in, please. Sorry. Sorry. I just want to make sure that's what he's going to

and yeah, just show those maybe a little. Yeah, that should be good. Okay, so uh as some of y'all may know, we we have a site plan under review for a third gas station in our city. Does have a Sonic restaurant in it, but that's besides the point. Um the the u the response from the public has been negative to seeing a proliferation of service stations in our city. They're currently allowed by right in the commercial zoning district and um in an effort to protect the limited land within the city limits uh that zone commercial um from encroachment from auto related uses and the goal from our feedback that we have received is to bring restaurants and and retail. So we want to preserve those within the city limits to maximize the sales and property tax revenue from these parcels. So uh we've gone um we've looked at the use chart of particularly the section auto related uses to require specific use permits which would allow the commission and city council to have input over where these types of uses could go in the commercial um other than just allowing them by rights. So if somebody does come in say at this at this corner if it is resone to commercial and say I want to open a gas station or a quick loop well they would need to come to you and the city council to ask for a specific use permit and then you would have the discretion to approve or deny the permit based on its alignment with the comprehensive plan and so forth. Um so the uses that are um proposed to be uh removed from being by right uh are shown here in your screen. Um this does affect four properties that have either existing uses so the two gas stations the proposed gas station and

the auto mechanic shop on FM6 the Ferrari and European car place. Um, in those instances, if this is approved, they would become what's called a legal non-conforming use. So, basically, they can stay in place as is and can rebuild in limited scenarios. And, um, one of the affected property owners is here. Um, he we've met and we will be visiting with our city attorney to ensure um that their rights are protected as well because the city has no interest in shutting any of the existing users down. is really just protecting the city from more uses of u that kind.

This is a open public meeting. So do you have do you like to comment? You come to the mic sir.

Good evening gentlemen. My name is Firos. I am one of the owner three. We are three owners. So um we met with him after I got a letter about this. So what I was requested is I requested him that if anything happens any accident or we can I can rebuild it. So that was one of the issue I raised to him. He says that if joning is changed and if he's grandfathered in if something happened to the building I will have limited opportunity to rebuild it or I may not be uh get permission to rebuild it. That was my main concern. So that um I request that to have the right if anything happens to the building in the future I can rebuild it.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And to to address that concern we're visiting with the city attorney to make sure that when the ordinance is written there there are protections for those property owners. Okay. Great. Any other comment from the Well, I just based on what Miguel said, if uh we got to get the city attorney involved. We probably don't want to do any thing on this until we hear back for sure that we're doing everything correctly and legally. Our our current code already has that protection. The the uh the current regulation that's a separate co uh section of our code

and um this would be addressed between now and the time for city council approval. And if there are issues that are still don't feel resolved, we'll probably ask the city council to to table the request. And if if you would like to table this request, we can do that as well. We will do the same thing as the previous one. But I feel comfortable recommending approval as presented. And we will work with the city attorney to address that and make sure that they're 100% protected. And if at any point it is determined that they're not 100% protected, we will withdraw the request at city council until we can address that. Okay. Let me actually

just making sure everybody's covered legally so no. Yeah. Anybody gets in trouble or the city? No. Our interest is in preserving their property rights as well. And want to just close the public hearing. Any other comments? Now we can talk. Okay. Okay. Still other comments there. Is there a motion on this item?

Okay. Okay. I move to recommend approval of case number CA25-00002- C. Amendment to use chart for amendment to use chart for automobile and related service uses as presented. Second. I second. And all in favor? All right. Thank you everyone for being here. Uh Mr. Chairman, I think our other alter Miss Miss Chelsea is here and I was wondering we can swear her in. Yeah, that's that's what I was

trying to say there. If we we can do I'm sure we can do it now. That's why we're still at the meeting. Come on up, Miss Young.

She's going to she going to sway. Mhm. You saw [Music] the state of Texas and the best to the best for your ability to preserve, protect Constitution.

Okay. Our meeting is ajourned. Okay.