Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'm is 530 on Wednesday September 2nd 2026, and we're gonna call this Planning Commission meeting to order Miss Jessica, can you please?

Call the roll yes Chairman Munoz is absent vice chairman Hedrick here Commissioner Budd here Commissioner Cantu here Commissioner Teichelman here Commissioner Esparza Here Commissioner Jackson here Commissioner Cervantes here and Commissioner Garcia here We do have a quorum present to conduct the meeting

Thank you. Next, we have our public comment. Can you please read the rules of public comment? Yes.

Citizens will be allowed to attend and make public comments in person at the City Planning Commission meeting. The public is invited to speak on any agenda item and any other item that pertain to the Planning Commission. Comments are limited to three minutes. If you speak during this period, you will not be allowed to speak again when the specified item is being considered in order of the agenda.

Thank you. I'll go ahead and open public comment. Do we have anybody here that wants to speak on any items? I see none, so we'll go ahead and close public comment, and we'll move on to approval of absences. I'll entertain a motion.

I make a motion to approve.

Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Okay, the motion passes. Now we'll move on to approval of minutes. Can I get a motion for that?

Move to accept the minutes as presented. Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Okay, the motion carries. Next, we're going to move on to our public hearing discussion and possible action on item A.

So it's not just a single property. It is a development per se. There is some roadway dedication involved as well. But of course, they wanted to try to do septic tanks instead of extending wastewater to the nearest connection to the north. Per the UDC, for the final plot review, they of course need to provide the improvements of infrastructure, including water, stormwater, in this case wastewater. So it needs to be adequately served. The definition of reasonable accessibility for wastewater is if they're within a thousand feet of the connection point, then they have adequate capacity from the city system. If they're over a thousand feet, we wouldn't even be here for a waiver because if they're over a thousand feet away from an existing wastewater connection, it's understandably septic. So for consideration of the waiver, we of course wanna make sure that granting this waiver is not a detriment to public health safety or welfare. The safety is forefront at all times. Also should not affect any of the other areas around this property and limit any sort of feasibility of the use of the property. So considerations, I'm hoping you can kind of see the measurements on this map. I tried to make it as big as possible. But the closest manhole is to the north, 935 feet from the corner of the property. And this is where I can see where the applicant is saying, well, it's over 1,000 feet of construction, but it's that 935 feet that is the number, that's how far they are from the connectivity to their parcel of property. So in development of any parcel of property, have to extend services along your frontage for continuity of services to the neighbors on the other side of you. So the 465 foot of frontage would need to be built regardless of if the wastewater was right at their property line or not. So for that reason, it is 1400 total, but we're looking at that 935 feet from the actual connection point. So from that, other than the idea that they are, they do have availability there. That manhole has plenty of depth. There's no issues to using it in splitting this up into five lots. They would have enough room for the septic spray field technically. But I think that what a lot of times gets missed in the conversation is that that spray field can't be used for anything like the spray field. You can't play it. You can't have a pool in that area. So people are going to have backyards that essentially they can't use. And that's where in, in, Where I'm going from it is the safety aspect. It might be a safe system, but people just won't be able to use their backyard. They can't put a burn pit, a picnic table back in there. This is also the nozzles of these spray fields. The spray field cannot extend the property line, so it's not like they can put it on and spray it into the empty field behind them. That's eventually going to get developed too, right? So they're going to have to be spraying inside their property. Essentially, it's a minimum half acre because of the territory that it uses, but it's going to make a hassle for the homeowners. So a typical septic system, we're not really in the construction business, but just know if you're looking at a $20,000 septic system, and the idea if it was one house on one lot, but this is going to be five lots. So the more lots, the more that you can divide that Um, that impact, uh, we did not get a cost estimate. Um, I think the last one that we saw, which some of you were here for, we had a cost estimate from the engineer, um, to, to see what that looked like. We did not have it here, um, to see what it would, it would divide up among, among the lots that would be absorbed. So for the, for the reasons of the, the safety of the homeowners in the future, um, Recommending denial, but of course you can choose to to you're the decision-makers Any questions is this proper?

What is this property currently zoned as? I'm sorry.

I know this is a plaque question, but It's industrial compatible so that it because of its proximity to cavernous field So so it could potentially be zoned for residential use Mean because it looks like a bunch of light industrial all around this area really the big thing and Bria brings up a good point Whenever you have these The variable is the size of the septic spray field is based on the number and correct me if I'm wrong the fixture count I mean on the inside of the building so because that's a open-ended question if you end up putting an industrial use let's say for example that has a high demand or multiple fixtures that field grows and The owner right now is a boat and RV storage business. That field can't be used for storage, which would inherently be backwards to the business. If they try to open boat and RV storage, you can't park boats or RVs in that spray field because they would be sprayed with all kinds of nastiness. So it creates this vicious loop of if we, if I should say we, if the council or the commission was to say yes, you are essentially creating land that can't be used for anything else. No buildings, no parking, no storage, whether indoor or outdoor, that is now a no man's land. Right. Plus when it rains and it sheet flows, all of that nastiness will now trickle down into associated property. So you'll have very green grass luckily, but good crop. That's about all you'll have.

I wouldn't, I don't know if I would eat anything that came out of that crop, but, uh, also with the, the main purpose of, um, on commercial developments with the, The debate on the stormwater is always the cost comparison between a detention pond or underground. Underground's never costly. It's always wanting to do a detention pond. So in here, you have a spray field and a detention pond. You have nothing left for your business.

Did we, I thought we had, it was about a month and a half ago, didn't we have something similar to this in Flower Bluff?

Yes.

So it was a very similar thing where it just reached the minimum threshold for approval on this, but we denied it for this exact same.

It was a hair, just a slight hair under, but the reason for that, and it's multiple factors that come into play, but first and foremost, as Brita says, safety first, and that trickle down as we have on every single plot. I don't know if you ever read into those comments that repeat themselves, but it always talks about the receiving waters. And every time that one drop of rain trickles through the system, well, that rain washes everything else that's in that spray field. And the closer you are to a body of water or a ditch, it's going to sheet flow right into it.

So piggybacking on what Commissioner Esparza was talking about, has this applicant expressed any interest in rezoning or expressed any interest on what they want to actually potentially put there? Or do we have any idea on that? Because I think that would affect everybody's decision if we knew that ahead of time.

According to their plat submittal, it is purely to subdivide for multiple lots. Usually that comes right before a sale. but it was not expressed on what that future commercial business could potentially be. The industrial compatible does have a pretty stringent list. It's very similar to ACUS of what can go in there, but even with that, you can have retail, you can have offices, you can have medical, you can have all sorts of things.

What's the ACUS zoning for this?

It is not within the ACUS, but it borders upon it. So that's why we created, back in the day, the compatible districts.

I'm just thinking if it's an industrial use, then it's less of a hazard, I would say, having septic sprayers than if it's a residential neighborhood. That's kind of a different mindset.

More of land use at that point, which would be investment purposes.

And it's set to be divided in five? That's...

They go down to three the planner assigned vice chair of Commissioner rather mark Zanz is here.

He's more intimately familiar with Mark Zanz planner to plan development Yeah, those are specific when they come in with those so they've come in with five lots and they're very specific to be five lots and from what I understand with phone conversations with the developer and with the Engineer that these are going to be all commercial There's no guarantee it's gonna be commercial That's correct it could be something else in an aisle There's not a guarantee of what commercial right?

Yeah, there's a there's a huge difference if it was like a storefront with one restroom versus you know Yeah using a whole bunch more water with more spray But at the end of the day if this is all we have in front of us

Right. I think so. Just my question was in three. So three is dependent because the conditional approval is dependent on what happens on two? Because here, because it's the same lot, isn't it?

No. Item two is the waiver for the wastewater and item three is just the actual plot.

Item three is the actual plot. Okay, and then we have to get the wastewater Determination first before we can do anything with the plan.

So if it's denied then there's nothing to happen on You can still conditionally approve the plot they would just have to Put it with sewer and they would have to submit their PI plans showing sewer as opposed to showing septic Thank you Do commissioners have any other questions at this time I Okay, I'll go ahead and open public comment. If anybody has any comments on this item? I see none, so we'll close public comment and I will entertain further discussion or a motion.

I'll make a motion that we accept the denial as proposed by staff.

I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor of staff's recommendation for denial, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Okay, the motion carries. And that was for item number two. So now we'll move on to item number three, which is the conditional approval of the replat of that tract.

Good evening, commissioners. Elena Buendia, Development Services. The plat before you is PL9393. We are doing that conditional approval, which will require the wastewater construction. The, oh, new reading glasses. Sorry about that. Replat of Brazina Farm Tracks, Lots 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, and 3E, Block 1, five acres out of District 3. The plat has met now all TRC comments and meets Texas Local Government Code, Unified Development Code. Staff recommends conditional approval without wastewater construction.

Any commissioners have any questions or comments?

Is there a timeline on this? For what?

So if the plat is approved, the timeline is they have one year to begin construction. Otherwise, the plat will expire. Yes, sir.

I will open public comment on item number three if anybody has any comments, please step forward I see none so we'll close public comments, and I will entertain more discussion or a motion I'll make a motion for the conditional approval of item three second Okay, we have a motion in a second all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed the motion carries I So now we will move on to our training workshop presentation.

All right.

Who is the presenter on this side?

It's a London and I are going to tag team on this one. Uh, so we get to spread the suffering. I mean the, uh, ability to inform the commission, the popcorn. So, uh, we had the pleasure of, of having commissioner Garcia come in. Uh, yesterday and we gave this exact same presentation, so it'll, it'll be a little familiar to him. We didn't have Commissioner Cervantes available. I heard he was at an ACDC concert, so I'm jealous. Didn't bring us back any merch, but that's okay. We'll let it slide this time. But this is our Planning Commission 101. It's good to give an annual refresher anyway. We did have a few new commissioners come on that didn't have a chance to have this orientation. So it's a good opportunity. And we figured since it was a slow agenda, Let's go ahead and put this on so we can keep the conversation going, especially when it comes to things like pods and special permits, which are still coming. But I'd like to see this as a series rather than just an annual event. So as you see topics, please feel free. This is conversational. So it's not just in fact, we had an internal staff meeting this morning training about site plan review. And I always open with, I don't want to ever feel like I'm talking at a group. It's a conversation. So feel free to interrupt, ask questions, make comments. That's the whole point. So starting with the breakdown of development services itself. We are essentially I'm only talking about two divisions today, but we really have a unspoken third and that's code enforcement. Sometimes Tracy likes to call them our begging cousin or begging stepbrother because we help them with funds. Sometimes they are the only part of our department that is funded by the general fund development services itself between land development and building. is a special revenue fund, meaning we have to make our own money in order to survive. Within those two sides of the house, Building division is going to handle everything of I turn in plans for them to be reviewed. Our wonderful front counter staff that helps phone calls and customers day in, day out. I don't know how they do it, but they are some great folks. We have our permitting division, which are going through the actual plans themselves, checking them against multiple versions of the international codes when it comes to electrical, plumbing, your building or residential codes. And then our fantastic folks that are out in the field that are verifying that everything is built to spec according to the approved plan sets. On our side of the house, what you'll see mostly at your planning commission hearings is everything zoning, plotting, and then Bria just stepped out, but Bria is our department engineer. She is reviewing at first pass every public improvement plan. So the very wastewater plans you just voted on a moment ago, she will be the first person to review them as those construction plans are submitted. And then they will also be in discussion with Corpus Christi Water, which handles everything water and wastewater. So we have partners in other departments, including the Health Department, which reviews all of our septic systems. They do chime in and give comments, not only on specific projects, but also as members of the Technical Review Committee, which reviews all of our plots. So within land development, as I mentioned, we have divisions within division. At some point, you end up going blind because you're trying to figure out which column am I under. But nevertheless, land use is everything zoning. We have planners that... answer those phone calls and emails all day along with plotting. And then, as I mentioned, Bria right now is a one woman army, but she has done an amazing job in reviewing all public improvements. We do have, if you know any engineers that are looking, we do have openings for engineers. Hopefully that will be posting fairly soon as soon as the new fiscal year starts. Now functions within land development, one that you don't see too often, but you will see more upcoming in the year, especially when it comes to data centers and short-term rentals, along with legislation happening at the state level, are code amendments to the Unified Development Code. That is when we actually crack open the book and make changes to the rule themselves. You will also see, of course, regularly rezonings, plots, and while you won't see public improvements necessarily before this board, you will see how plots are involved with public improvements, meaning if you see a new residential subdivision, there will be corresponding water and wastewater plans, stormwater quality management plans, which are all part of that plotting process. And as you know, rezonings, which is a longer term, project happening because those take about 80 days to go from inception at actual application completeness all the way through City Council so your recommendation after you vote on it gets forwarded to City Council and just as we had a handful go yesterday go for two readings and then lastly the boards and commissions that we work within as land development as of course you all as planning Commission we have the Board of Adjustment I lovingly call it oops board because that's usually once somebody's made a mistake, they need to come back and rectify it and they go through a variance process. And then the Landmark Commission, which deals with historic preservation. Any questions so far? Now, your typical agenda, as you'll see tonight, is both zoning and plots. And in some cases, you'll see time extensions. I know that's everyone's favorite of how many strikes do they get. We don't have official policy of how many strikes. But at some point, you have to ask yourself a question of is there intent to actually proceed with the project? Those are your time extensions. Your waivers, you had one tonight. How close are they are to the line, literally, of having wastewater service? You may have waivers come before you for sidewalks or street construction. We've had some of those in past meetings. And then the plats themselves. Are they a final plat, a replat, preliminary, master prelim? I'll go through that chain in a little bit, in a few slides. And then rezonings. You have your standard rezonings where you're going from District 1 to District 2. You may have special permits or PUDs. I think all of you have now had the pleasure of dealing with PUDs and how kind of intricate they can become and ultimately give a formal recommendation that will be forwarded to Council. Now, where do we fall within this framework? There are multiple aspects. It all starts with the big umbrella that is called Plan CC. Then that started back in 2015. That, if you can imagine, those of us who grew up with Encyclopedia Britannica, the comprehensive plan is Britannica itself, from Volume 1 all the way through Volume Z. So as much as we like to think Plan CC is just this one book, it's really the guide to open up every other chapter. So it is your guiding document, it is your preface, but within Plan CC, You have all of our utility master plans. We have every area development plan. Those are roughly about 10 of them that cut up the city into puzzle pieces and have very specific policy guidelines for your area of the city, meaning the one for the bay side is different from the one on the island, which is different from the one in Cal Allen, which is different from the bluff, because those have their own unique cultural and environmental concerns that they have to deal with. So a problem of a high water table, which may happen in the bluff, doesn't really apply to Annabelle. So that is why we have area development plans. With that, nested within the area development plan is the future land use map. You'll hear that term pretty commonly with rezonings. Is it consistent or inconsistent with future land use? Now, being consistent or inconsistent isn't always a golden ticket to approval or denial. And I'll tell folks that every applicant, we have a pre-submission meeting when it comes to rezonings and we give them the same speech of just because it says red and you're asking for commercial doesn't mean you're automatically going to get an approval or just because you're asking for commercial and it happens to be colored residential doesn't mean it's an automatic denial. The reason for that is those future land use maps are updated as area development plans are updated and that's something we're hoping to change to where as we see a pattern of rezonings and I'll give you an example. If you can imagine the area around Toys R Us on Airline or parts of Everhart between Town & Country Shopping Center and Staples, those former single-family homes are turning commercial. Or if you can imagine behind Moore Plaza on Williams, those were originally all residential homes on Gardendale, and they have slowly turned commercial. that's an opportunity to where we have a checkerboard or i like to call it the picket fence you'll see so many pickets turn red for commercial but you may have some remainders that are still on future land use as residential they really are for all intents and purposes commercial the map has not caught up with them yet so we have parts of the city like the port airport violet area that is still operating on a future land use plan and an area development plan from 1995. it has not caught up yet that's as we have funds available to have a consultant help us to update those plans, we can do them in house, but that means we're taking folks off of your day-to-day projects and now focusing it on an area development plan so that you're, you're always robbing Peter to pay yourself though. It's not even to pay Paul. You're just taking money out of your right pocket and putting in your left saying, I'm not going to have the staff member work on a zoning case instead. It's on an ADP. But that zoning case still has to get done. That's why we end up having consultants. It's not that we don't have very great qualified staff. It's that it's very time consuming and it takes multiple months to get through an ADP. And it's a very public, transparent process. So you can imagine it takes time. I say all of that to say future land use map will hopefully be amended on a quicker basis where we don't have to wait for an ADP. If we see a trend happening in certain parts of the city, we can take nested pieces of the future land use map and have it updated through council. Please. So there are two factors where we can internally as staff say we're seeing trends happening. Let's make an update or we can have recommendations come from council or planning commission. It can make a recommendation to us to say, hey, I've seen so many zoning cases or I've seen a trend happening. Will staff take a look at this area of the city and make an update or at least report back? What would a timeline for an update look like and how do we get from point A to point B? Similarly, we have ongoing updates under specific plans. Everybody loves the ACUs, the Air Installation Compatibility Use Zone. Some members of the public call them the crash zones. I like to call them the flight zones. It sounds a little nicer. But they are literally called accident potential zones for a reason. It is where the potentiality of, God forbid, knock on wood, an accident were to occur. It is that departure zone. and arrival areas of the various naval installations. They also form loops because these are the training patterns of what the Navy lovingly calls baby pilots. I like to call them 16-year-olds with keys to a Ferrari because they're first and second year pilots. That's not to say they haven't logged many an hour in a simulator, but these turboprop planes that they are flying do not, just as I said this morning to staff, they don't have ejection seats, which means You have to maintain an altitude and bail out at the same time, and you're hoping to aim around Gavinus Field and the school and apartments and hopefully not hit anyone. That is why we have those zones in play. Hopefully it doesn't happen, but that's why they exist. Other things you'll have are historic preservation plans. And then our mobility plan, which covers all of our hike and bike trails, as well as upgrades to the urban transportation plan, which I still call it the UTP, but it's the roadway master plan. I know it's a lot, so I would say this presentation is like drinking from a fire hose, so please feel free to ask questions. When it comes to the UDC, everybody loves the UDC. I still call it utterly disastrous concept instead of unified development code, but it is the muscle, and that's why that is there. The comprehensive plan is the mind. That is what sets all our policy goals and perspectives together. The UDC is how you enforce those things. So it's nice to have a plan that says you should have more landscaping on Padre Island, but how do you mandate that? You have to do it through the UDC and the island overlay that makes it happen in reality. So that is how we avoid the old saying, the plant sits on the shelf. You have to make a rule to enforce it. Majority is through plats. So as a plot comes in, that is when parks department comes in and says, you have to build the trail because it's on the mobility plan, which lives in the comp plan. So what is the UDC? That is 560 pages. That was originally, and it's probably gone up to 600 by now. It was originally seven different ordinances pre-2010 that every time we did plan review, we would have to go through seven books. Now it's one big book which does help things in review it centralizes it it doesn't mean that there aren't conflicts within the code itself those always exist that is why we have folks that as we apply rules we discover potholes not in reality but potholes within the code that we have to patch. and make sure that different sections talk to each other. But within the UDC, Article 4 is all about your zoning district. So when you hear RS6 to CN1 or CGN1 to CG2, that's where it establishes all of your commercial districts and residential and industrial. It establishes your uses, which means how do we define what something is? The example I used this morning was Tesla charging stations. That does not exist in those words of electric charging stations in the UDC. The closest thing we have are fuel sales and service. It is an electric fuel for a vehicle, so it can be similar to a stripes, but it is its own version. That is until we can get a definition updated in the UDC to specifically call out electric charging stations. Just an example. Use standards. Those are the things like setbacks, height restrictions, buffer yards, landscape requirements. Those are use standards. And then we always have the nonconformities. Those are properties that have existed forever. Maybe a 25 foot wide lot. Those are the most common that we see that has a single family home on it. And it's had a single family home on it since 1940. What do you do with those when one lot is being sold or God forbid somebody has a fire and they want to rebuild, how do you keep those non-conformities going, or do they have to come into conformance? That's always a fun topic. This section of the UDC is just to give an example, same one I shared this morning with staff, with our great inspectors that are out in the field, is inside the office, and it's always an opportunity of the folks in the office don't always talk to the folks that are out in the field. So when we have every other Wednesday, great training opportunities that are open to the public, so if If ever you're interested in attending our meetings in the office, please feel free to come by. It's every other first and third Wednesday of every month. We have ongoing training on all sorts of topics. The one this morning that I gave to the inspectors was all about how we review site plans in the office and how does that translate to in the field? Because even if something is approved in the office on paper. doesn't always translate we've we've all shared horror stories and scars of a house that was approved on paper and then miraculously in the field it moved over three feet i guess it grew legs but that's a danger because now all of a sudden it's on top of a gas line that is why it's important for inspectors to check the plans to get out your tape measure because it never happens exactly Luckily, it doesn't happen often. Thank goodness, but it does happen. But on the paper plan set, that is when we review setbacks to make sure you stay out of easements to how many parking spaces you have. A question came up today, in fact, about lighting standards. If I put lights in my backyard for a tennis court and it bleeds over onto my neighbor, how much light is allowed to bleed? And that's one foot candle. So somebody has to stand on the fence line with a light meter and say, is it too bright? Uh, usually that can be fixed with a cutoff shield and they just need to aim the lights down and everybody's happy. But, uh, it's just neighbors being neighbors. And sometimes we have to play the referee, but that's okay. That's part of the business. Uh, and it's usually can be solved with a phone call. Just tilt your lights a little bit to the left and everybody's happy. But, uh, A more common one that comes up are things like buffer yards, how many points, what kind of fence do I have to put up between commercial and residential properties, what type of business can I even run out of the home, things like home occupations. The story I told this morning, if anybody is on TikTok, you'll hear about this cake pop fiasco that happened between an Amazon driver and somebody who's running a bakery out of their house. I'm getting blank stares, so I'm guessing nobody heard the story. So it's making its rounds on social media. Amazon driver is dropping off a package. There is a cooler off to the side full of cake pops. And it's a home bakery. And somebody put, help yourself. And that's the business. Help yourself to a cake pop. So he assumed it was free. took a cake pop, went on his way. He was then accused by the homeowner, who also runs a bakery, of theft for a $4 cake pop. His wife paid for it online, sent the company $5 for the issue, and they still are calling him a thief. Ironically, this is a city in California, go figure, sitting california where the rules in that particular city do not allow bakeries out of the home so by then making such a big deal code enforcement became involved so i was telling here's this morning whenever you think that this has to be dumb that i'm citing someone for grass i'm citing someone for junk vehicle or does what i do on a daily basis matter it matters you wouldn't think but it matters uh... that Who would have thought that a code enforcement officer was tipped off that this bakery is illegal and that city's officer had to pay them a visit and say, shut down your bakery and move to a commercial space. Why? We have zoning districts. You're going to have to move all over four dollars. So they say, here's a lesson in how to ruin your business with four dollars in your pocket. But that just goes to show why home occupations in Texas, at least there is Texas cottage law, which does allow home bakeries to exist. but you cannot retail the goods out of the home. You still have to have the guy that approaches me at 2 a.m. trying to sell me banana bread. That still has to happen, which, by the way, 2 a.m. banana bread is amazing. If you've never had it and after a very long night, you really can't pass it up. It's a genius idea. I wish I thought of it, which leads into a very next discussion, bars and nightclubs. So bars and nightclubs are only allowed to exist in the general commercial district or I believe we allow some of them in the light industrial district. The reason for that is, and you'll hear many times, and I believe some of you have asked this question, what is the difference between neighborhood commercial and general commercial? There are only three uses that are not allowed in neighborhood commercial that are allowed in general. Bars and nightclubs, which I count as one, car dealerships, and mini storage. Those three uses must be in general commercial. You will never see mini storage, bars, or car dealerships in neighborhood commercial because they generate so much noise, obviously lights, and traffic. They're high traffic demand uses. That's why we don't allow them in neighborhood commercial. That doesn't mean you don't have bars and grills. And the difference is between a restaurant and a bar is the magic number, and that is 26%. What does that mean? It means that to be a restaurant, 26% of my gross revenue has to come from food, which isn't really that high of a bar to me. No pun intended. But 26% has to come from food sales. And if I can meet that mark and show my receipts, then I am now a restaurant, not a bar, which means I can be in neighborhood commercial. I can still stay open to 2 a.m. I can get the same TABC license. Barring that I'm not close to a church or a school within those 300-foot buffers, I can still retail. No problem. A liquor store. That's another common question we get when it comes to... General commercial you can have liquor stores and neighborhood commercial.

I can be right next door to a school because they are not consuming on-site Question there's a restaurant in a commercial zone have to put up a back fence like a bar does a So like a privacy fence or noise barrier, whatever you want to call it It should a buffer yard would require a fence.

So in the buffer yard section of the UDC is It says you must acquire so many points, but the very top line, which I swear no one reads, says the first five points has to come from a fence. So no matter what, they're obligated to build a fence. Now, if it's existing nonconforming and they're doing like a tenant finish out and it was a restaurant for years and I'm coming in with another restaurant. I can't retroactively make them install it. Usually they will install the fence for security and privacy reasons, but that is the difference between being a good neighbor and what I can require someone to do. And that does come up often.

And if it's just like a standard six foot wooden fence, like let's say you have an existing neighborhood with a six foot wooden fence in the backyard. And then the commercial building is built behind it. Does that wooden fence count or they need to, you cannot count someone else's fence.

Now, The most common complaint when I tell folks that and we all of us in the planning division have heard the same thing is well i'm going to have this no man's land of six inches of grass, how do I cut that. Well that's where you get creative and you use roundup and you try to find ways of keeping grass from growing in those areas, but you end up with. A fence against a fence, which is actually a good thing for noise in the long run it absorbs more noise so. That cuts down on complaints. We have seen that very commonly with quick car washes, not to call out very specific businesses, but that came up about screening and the same argument was made. Well, there's a fence already there. Why do I have as a car wash have to put up a fence? It actually helps with noise. In the long run, that little bit of investment you're going to make on the fence will cut down on the calls you're going to get from those neighbors saying the blowers are too loud, which sure enough, they still call. and say it's too loud, but that noise absorption keeps them from crossing that threshold where it's now a noise violation. So it does serve a purpose. Okay, on the next one, I'm sure most of you are familiar with what is zoning, so I'll skip this slide and land use. We kind of just went through that, what is zoning and land use. To districts, this chart is always handy to show you Some cities in Texas have what are called, and there's a fancy word, cumulative zoning, which means as I climb the ladder, I'm allowed to have everything under it. So the old zoning ordinance in the city and some ordinances throughout Texas say, if I have, let's say, neighborhood commercial, I'm also allowed multifamily, single family, all the way down to farm rule. You get to capture everything under you. When we adopted the UDC, we moved away from that to more of a hybrid. What does that mean? It means that If you're commercial zoning or neighborhood commercial, you're not allowed to have single family and that is to keep a separation of uses. You're not allowed to have a farm rule use and that's to prevent, you know, crops popping up in the middle of the city. It rarely happens because you would have to do so much work. But nevertheless, that's why it was created, especially in the light and heavy industrial areas where you do not want housing because it could be an inherent danger next to hazardous materials. or in the ACUs or adjacent to refineries. It is things that may generate a public health and safety concern. So even though you're in light industrial and under a traditional zoning, you would be able to have residential. We took that out when the UDC was adopted in 2010. So, but this chart nevertheless shows you how you go up in intensity of land uses. As you go up the ladder, the more things you can have in that zoning district and the more intense those things may be. like a welding shop versus an apartment complex or a car dealership versus a Walgreens. They're going to climb in intensity of traffic and noise. Now, special districts and overlays, you will see this one come up regularly when it comes to RVs and RMH. That is becoming very popular, especially in areas that have sat vacant for a number of years. You would be amazed how many calls we get a day asking, can I put an RV on this site? How many acres do I need to have an RV park? because it is in high demand, not only for winter Texans, but many refinery workers that are working on turnarounds. It's cheaper for them to rent an RV or to buy an RV and drive down rather than to live out of a suitcase in a hotel for three months. So that is becoming a more common request. You will see specific overlays like the island overlay. The island overlay has four things that it covers. Architectural standards, meaning the building has to look a certain way. The color palette, buildings have to be of a certain paint color. the landscaping standards and signage standards of what type of sign or what kind of landscaping they can install. Of course, that one, I think, has kind of served its life cycle because then you have a Sonic and a Starbucks, which has their national branding. We really couldn't enforce our color palette on Sonic because they use, and it's literally called Sonic Red and Sonic Blue, Ocean Blue. They have their own color palette. If they were to go traditionally by the island overlay, IT WOULDN'T HAVE MET SO WE DO HAVE TO MAKE EXCEPTIONS WHEN IT COMES TO CERTAIN BRANDING HENCE WHY THERE IS ACTUAL PUSH RIGHT NOW TO SAY DO WE REALLY NEED THE OVERLAY ANYMORE BUT IT'S A STORY FOR ANOTHER DAY NOW GETTING INTO THE REASON ANY QUESTION SO FAR QUESTIONS COMMENTS OKAY GETTING INTO THE REZONING PROCESS MOVING THROUGH THE STEPS AS YOU'LL SEE IN IN-HOUSE WE DEAL WITH THE APPLICATION The public notices, the signs that have to go on the property, the yellow papers, you'll see some folks with their pitchfork hold up. I'm opposed to the zoning. That is when we then get to the public hearing. So you will see the you are here symbol, just like the old Sunrise Mall maps. You are here. This is when the case comes before the Planning Commission for your recommendation, for your review, your ability to ask questions, make comments, make potentially adjustments on the recommendation. But ultimately, voting on a recommendation to take to city council. Now, in-house, there is an entire section of the UDC devoted to what do we consider when we look at a rezoning. That's section 3.3.5. It's actually a very good section to read. It's not a long section. It's only a couple paragraphs. But it breaks down what we call a rubric or a grading sheet of does this zoning cut mustard meaning, is it a reasonable request. Is it in line with the COMP plan, of course, as I mentioned, you always have the future land use map that is supposed to be a guide and kind of give us direction. At times it's like reading a crystal ball, it can be a little fuzzy so we as staff have to take all factors into consideration. I jokingly say it's like toothpaste. It's always four out of five dentists agree why there's never a toothpaste five out of five dentists agree. But there are times in which you will see staff recommendations, which will say you are generally consistent, meaning you check for the boxes, but you may not meet future land use or you may have a use that is along a corridor that which it's mostly zoned residential, but we see a trend of it turning commercial. So you may have some that are, you're not quite over the line, but we still feel it's only right that through due process, we present the case, show all the factors for and con to a potential rezoning. And that is why it comes before this board to help us make that recommendation and for you to give your input. But as I said previously, Even public comment, that's the one thing when folks come in, they'll ask a very loaded question. What are my odds of the rezoning passing? That's why I don't play in Vegas. I'm terrible at odds making. I don't do DraftKings or any of that. I'm bad at it. So that's why I'm not on a fantasy league. What we do tell them is tell your story of the rezoning. What is your ultimate goal? How many boxes as we review it do you check? Do you check? And it's not so many of, You have to check so many in order to pass. It's that it's important that as the applicant tells their story on the rezoning to factor in these things that we have to consider. So if it's saying, hey, I want to change this law because my dream is to have my boutique. We had one on Santa Fe not too long ago where on one side of the street you have sugar bakers, which is the old Citgo sandwiches. You have a pizza place, but across the street it was all offices. And a lady came in and says, I want to open a boutique. Technically on that side of the road was residential and office, but right across the street is a restaurant and neighborhood commercial. It's not outside what we say the realm of reasonableness to ask. Even though I'm adjacent to residential and even though I'm across the street, I am pretty close to kind of tie the two halves together to say my request is very similar to what's adjacent. And adjacent doesn't always mean right next door. It has to be within a reasonable distance. What that reasonableness is is always up for debate, but that's where we as planners kind of say, you're close enough, and let's get you before the commission for comment. It will stay the same for another boutique. There are ones... Good question. So when special permits come up, those have specific timeframes attached to them where if the business closes or if the land never develops, they will expire and it reverts back to the base zoning. Those are the ones where we think as staff, like the one on Greenwood, it could be a little tricky that if the property flips or if something happens or it never develops, that is a motivating factor for the developer to keep moving, to not let it sit. So getting to plats, that's always a fun discussion to have about plats. What is the purpose? What do they do? The goal at the end of the day is to have a legally subdivided piece of property. It's not a fractional. It's not so many feet of. It's not a remnant of an older subdivision. It's a legal plat of property, which has a lot and block number attached to it. And the second part is to get it on the grid. So when we see folks that are just like the one tonight where the wastewater line didn't quite reach them, the goal is to get them on the wastewater system. We're in the 21st century. Septic systems exist, but that should be an exception, not the rule. The goal is to get them on water and wastewater to be serviced by modern commodities, not

too much unless you're outside in the rural area and you have no choice but the goal is ultimately always have them on a legal lot and get them on the grid so they are provided we got a question so what about all the properties that are on the south side on the other side of Oso that are all on those septics right what's the eventual goal for that for that for all those homes up and down

So you are touching on a big topic of service versus sprawl. So it is now the cost of how much would it cost to extend services? One, should we extend services out there? And this is where it's a chicken and egg argument. Should development be happening south of the Yosa? And we know it is happening, but should it be happening? If we install infrastructure as the city with the Robon project, is that going to encourage higher density? And is that a good thing? I'll give you an example. So on the south half of the bluff, once you cross Purdue or Caribbean, you now are in the realm of septic around the mud bridge. Folks would say, well, if you open it up for development, you'll increase the tax base. So I have all these good things. Yes, but it's under the flight zone for Waldron. So putting the infrastructure in attracts more density in an area where we don't want density because the ACU says you can't have anything more than two units per acre. So it's this constant, not always just put the line and everything's good. It's a philosophy of, do we have the ability to service it with police? So if we extend lines out there, density goes up. Now we need another fire station, another wastewater treatment plant. So that is why the goal is to get them on the grid, but sometimes getting them on the grid opens up five other doors. So I know it's not the clearest answer, but it's to say that It's not always as simple as just drop the line. It opens up five other questions.

I can only imagine the expense of doing something like that.

Right. Because I know those wastewater stations ain't cheap. Wastewater stations is the trickiest and the most expensive because most of that area of the south side is serviced by Oso on Ennis Jocelyn, which is at almost capacity. And then now you're having to extend to Greenwood, but you're having to pipe. And I'm sure we've had this discussion, not this past CIP, but the one before. having the project to connect the london area all the way up to the greenwood wastewater treatment plant which is hovering around the i think it's at 47 capacity eventually development will put that one at capacity and then you have to ask the question do we build another one or do we build one big one and have everything cycle to it i don't know it's way above my pay grade but i can say both options are expensive yeah thank you yes sir So why do you need to plot? As I mentioned, it's for the legal subdivision of property. At times, it can be as simple as a homeowner comes in and says, I want to sell the other half of my property. What do I need to do? Or I want to build across a lot line. What do I need to do to combine those two lots together? It could be sometimes a sale of a property and the title company comes in and says, hey, is this lot plotted? Because we're not quite you know, comfortable with insuring it yet. Or insurance comes in and says, what are the, what's the odds of them selling off this other half of the property? Or there may have been a pool that was installed without a permit and it was done on an unplatted piece of property or a fractional lot. You would be surprised the funny things that come in. I call the title companies the property police because, or the detectives, because they find things that we don't even find as the city and they'll ask questions. And sometimes the only resolution is to replat and to fix those lot lines. Not a terrible process, but like everything else, it adds time and expense. Now, there are some exceptions. Why we have preliminary plots, I know that's going to be on the next slide, but if you have land subdivisions that are greater, and when we say subdivision, it doesn't always mean a neighborhood. Subdivision is the subdividing of land. If you have portions that are greater than five acres, you don't have to final plot them. You can have For instance, we had a property for a stripes that was a 60-acre tract. They only wanted to plat two acres for stripes. They can leave the remaining 58-point-something acres unplatted, but it has to be entirely under one preliminary plat, but you're only going to final out what you're going to build on. Happens a lot with dollar stores, happens a lot with stripes, happens a lot with Walgreens. Back in the day with Sears, you would have one block and then a large tract of unplatted land. You also have issues in which other things that have exemptions. There was a question today about governmental entities. Does the state have to plot? Of course, anything dealing with the state, they can tell us very nicely to kick rocks or pound sand, whatever the phrase is, to put it politely. But the state doesn't have to pull permits from us, and they don't have to plot. If you're part of a school district, same thing. They don't have to plat because they are a political subdivision. They have taxing authority, which means they do not have to come to us. But we typically all hold hands and we sing kumbaya and they do come in plat because they want to have a legal piece of property. So just because you don't have to doesn't mean that some folks will be nice and they'll come in and say, we still want to.

So does that mean that the land, whether

it will become city property. So that's been a question going around city hall of what do we do with it? So once the bridge and every overpass comes down to grade, back to ground level, the state gifts that land back to the city and say, do what you please. If we as a city close off portions and gift them to adjacent property owners, which is a big if, that property owner could potentially come in and say, I'd like to replat to have those two pieces joined in with my parent tract. I hope to be retired by the time that happens. Okay, so plat hierarchy. This is the biggest question that comes up not only from customers coming in, but you'll hear what is a master preliminary? What is a preliminary? What is a final? When do I do what? All the way to your left, your master prelim. As all of us did in kindergarten, we probably did the same puzzle of a fruit basket. That's the example I like to use. It's a big puzzle picture. You're seeing the big picture at the master level, which means I'm only showing density and a rough layout of roads. That's all that I have to put on a master prelim. It is the least detailed plot of all the plots as required in the code. The next step is preliminary. The preliminary plot will only have a section of Which is usually multiple units up to usually about three there's not a required number, but you usually won't see more than three units on a preliminary plot if we're talking residential. And then your final is just one unit i'm ready to build i'm putting in my infrastructure and i'm ready to proceed forward. Now, within finals, there are a couple of flavors you have reports, which means I may have we just had one yesterday. a couple of lots and I closed an alley behind me and I want to integrate it now, that's a replat, meaning I have a fractional lot and I want to integrate it into the lot I already own. We could have a vacating plot. We had a gentleman come in on the island. He split his pie-shaped lot into three, changed his mind a year later and said, no, I want to build a big house after all. He can vacate that plot, which essentially he can go back in time, say I don't want to have that plot anymore, subdividing, vacated, and it reverts back to the original one tract of land. Within replats, there are three flavors. Your regular replat, which I mentioned, you may have fractional lots along with whole lots. A minor plat, also known as an administrative plat. means I have up to 20 lots that I'm combining to no less than six. I can do that administratively. I don't have to come before the Planning Commission. I can take 20 lots and shrink them down, or I can take two lots, erase the dividing lot line, make it one. I don't have to come to Planning Commission to do that. To Texas local government code grants municipalities the ability to do that in-house. Folks are, of course, very happy with doing that because it saves them two weeks from having to come to planning commission. They can do it on a rapid turnaround. The only other one that you'll see that's done administratively, other than vacating and minors, are also known as administrators, are amending plots. Amending plots happen if I want to adjust a common lot line. We see those many times within shopping centers. So if you can imagine Chili's sits in front of the mall. If Chili's one day said, I want to buy five more feet from the mall, you can shift that lot line over. You're not creating a new lot and you're not. reducing a lot, I'm just moving a common lot line over five feet. That can be done administratively as an amending plot. I'm only making an amendment to it. I'm not making a true change plus or minus when it comes to density, which means I'm not creating or dissolving lots. I know it's a lot, so I'm going to go through this a little more in detail. Master prelims, again, are your biggest phase at the widest 30,000 foot level to where I'm looking at FUTURE OF PHASING WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT, AND I'M GIVING JUST A VERY ROUGH LAYOUT OF ROADWAYS. HERE'S AN EXAMPLE, NOT TO PICK ON BART, BUT IT'S THE MOST RECENT ONE I COULD THINK OF, LONDON TOWN. SO THIS IS LOOKING AT LONDON TOWN IN ALL 13 UNITS. MOSTLY WHEN WE SEE MASTER PRELIMS, THESE ARE A 10-YEAR PHASING PROCESS. IT'S GOING TO TAKE YOU 10 YEARS TO BUILD 11, 1200 HOMES. You may see that on Saratoga Ridge or Moses has it for King's Landing, 13 units into the future. It's going to take a decade to get through it. So looking at the big picture. Then we will get into preliminary plots, a nested piece within that big picture that has a shorter timeframe for expiration, meaning I only have two years that this is good for where a master prelim is good for 10. So now I'm getting to a smaller portion. I'm now showing my roadway master plan, meaning the cross section of the street, your sidewalks, your roadways, more detail on your utility layout for water lines and wastewater lines, and your first pass at looking at drainage happens at the preliminary phase. Here's an example. Three units of 13 were done in one preliminary plot, units two, three, and five. And then lastly you'll have a final plot that is the smallest level that is where I'm construction ready I have my public improvement plans that I will be submitting they're being reviewed I'm now putting those plans those those lines into the ground and I'm ready for rooftops that's at the final level. As I mentioned you'll have these others replats which do require planning commission approval but they are small in nature they're usually no more than a few lots being combined. And most of the time it's because there's a fractional leftover lot. You see it in old neighborhoods where half of a lot may have been sold to one neighbor and half the other. So on their legal description, you'll see lot one plus the west 50 feet of lot two. And then the next property owner will have east 50 feet of lot two and lot three. To combine those together, that's a true replot. The difference between that and a minor is that I'm now combining lots 1 and 2. They have to be whole pieces put together, not east half, not 20 feet, not northern corner. It has to be lots 1 and 2 as a whole combined together. That can be done administratively. Now, the things that BRIA deals with on a daily basis is your public and site improvements. So there are two times public improvements can come into play. One is obviously through the plotting process in which I have to install infrastructure to meet water, wastewater, stormwater demands, and fire protection. Other times that public improvements can come into play is during building permits, meaning if I have a piece of property that's zoned commercial and originally I was going to put a shopping center, I changed my mind. I'm now going to build an apartment complex. Apartment complexes have a much higher threshold for fire protection than than a shopping center, so that may necessitate me to install a fire hydrant. That fire hydrant now requires a water line. That water line is a public improvement because it must be dedicated to the city for maintenance and inspection and acceptance. So that is when you can have another type of public improvement that has nothing to do with plats. 99% of the time, it's going to be involved with a plat, but nevertheless, I like throwing it out there because it shows that Even in a world of the UDC where it's supposed to be black and white, there is always an outlier or a scenario which we now have to get together as staff, put our thinking caps on and figure out, okay, how do we figure out this process? But we get there. Plat waivers, you just had one of those tonight of someone requesting a deviation and relief from a code requirement. In this case tonight was a wastewater line. Others you may see is to build a street or to put in a sidewalk. Those are other flavors of plat waivers or construction waiver requirements. Now, the plat application process itself is a completeness check. The first half is what you see, what we do in the office. We have to go through it to ensure that the application is complete. Why is that important? Why is it on this slide? The last legislative cycle, the state of Texas adopted that every municipality must publish what it takes to become complete. And despite the smirks of others in the office, I always blame Austin. The People's Republic of Austin had a method of saying, I turn in my plat and staff would come back and say, oh, by the way, you need a tree survey. Oh, by the way, we have an endangered, you know, three toed frog on this site. You need to turn in another survey. And it would drag out the plotting process of requirement after requirement, and they would move the goalpost. And that's just me picking on Austin. It's not just Austin that was doing that. Fortunately, here in Corpus Christi, our table, our checklist has been a pattern for years. We just never published it because we didn't change it. It says you have to turn in two sheets, and I see Justin smiling because he probably has a copy of the old checklist on his phone. You had to turn in two sheets, you had to turn in your stormwater quality management plan, you had to turn in a survey that stamped your tax certificates, and it was laid out. When the legislature changed and said you now have to publish it. It was easy We took our checklist and we published it in the UDC to say these are the ten things you must turn in for us to declare You complete why that's important is that state also established what we call the shot clock That means if I turn in a complete application and I as the applicant choose to go what we call the statutory route I have to as staff get that plot in front of you in 30 days Otherwise, it just gets approved And that's if that alarm doesn't send off alarms in your head, it should, because that means we have very little staff time to look at it, to get it through step two, which is the technical review committee. All of those folks meeting together, looking at the plot. Now there's double edged sword to it, which means if I, as the engineering firm choose that path, I do not get to make revisions, meaning however staff gets it in that state, it comes to you as planning commission. I can't make changes. I can't go directly to jail. I can't, you know, skip, skip, go pay $200. I don't get any of those options. The plots you see before you have gone through the revision process, meaning the applicant has chosen the longer path because they get the opportunity to have a back and forth discussion with staff and they get to make revisions and you come here with a recommendation of approval from staff. We don't see very many folks Take the statutory route because they pretty much have to turn in a perfect plot and it's not that we're looking for imperfection, but People are human so they make mistakes they leave something off That's a comment that will follow it all the way through the process And it's only under the alternative route to they have the opportunity to make that correction So I'm just like explaining the backstory and I know it's a lot and I know this is dry material but All of that origin story kind of tells you how we get to each of these projects and how they arrive here. It always seems like, I know these meetings can be just short and you just say yes to plots, but it had to go through four weeks of process in the office to get to an easy product of saying motion to approve. And we appreciate that, but we also always want to show you behind the green curtain of how the sausage is made and how we do get here. But as I said, you have to go through all of these steps when it comes through. taking either the statutory route or the non-statutory route. And this one I'm showing on the screen is the non-statutory, meaning they get the opportunity to make revisions before coming to planning commission. Now, the TRC is made up of internal and external stakeholders. So the internal ones are Corpus Christi Water, Public Works. We have Traffic Engineering, Corpus International Airport, Parks Department, And then externally, we have the RTA, AEP, NEC, the Navy comments fairly regularly, and then other folks like TxDOT will make comments on those plat reviews. Those comments are then combined, and if the applicant chooses the non-statutory route, they get a sheet of those comments, just like you see in your packet, and they have the opportunity to make those corrections. We always want to make sure you're seeing the comments that we are filing So if the applicant comes up and makes comments saying nobody didn't nobody called this out on my plot. Yes, this is why we give everyone a copy. We're all working off the same playbook. You see the comments we're making on plots. The goal is you'll see the word close next to them, which means they've been resolved and they gets to move forward to planning commission. But all those comments originated from either development services staff or members of the technical review committee. Now, public notices, you won't see too many of these because it's very rare that a plat has a public notice. To be a public notice, you must be a replat first. You must be zoned residential or have been zoned residential in the last five years, and you have to be asking for a waiver of some type. If you don't check all three of those boxes, you do not have to send out a public notice for a plat. All other plats are just brought before the commission, and they're voted out. up or down. It's very rare you will see someone vote denial, a commission. I think in 18 years of being with the city now, I've only seen a non-action once. I've never seen a Pina Commission vote no and denial. There's two reasons for that. One, you have to be absolutely legally sure of why you're saying no, because if you're not, an applicant can not only come after the city, but can come after you as commission members personally, legally, and sue. So that is why we don't like bringing, that's not to scare you, it's just a reality, why we do our best to work with the applicants and bring you an approval recommendation to avoid there being a potential recommendation of denial. The only path that has denial is the statutory path, and that means there are unresolved comments, and then it flips to the applicant that they only have two weeks to come back to you and fix whatever those comments are. Again, why no one selects that path is because it's very fast and it can get very messy very quickly. Hence, they select the alternative. And that was my last slide. Again, I know it's a lot. It's drinking from a fire hose. We can always have this ongoing conversation. That's the goal of these presentations is that this is not your only opportunity to visit with us with staff. As I said last time, give out everyone my cell number. You don't have to wait to this meeting to ask questions. We are at the office. always feel free to come in if you want to sit down talk about a specific case there's of course because our attorney sitting next to us i always have to be careful how much detail we can share with you so it's not interfering with your decision making process so i always like to say we're there to inform you not to say which way you should vote so i can say on the record that's that's the goal but we can give you as much detail about the case as you would like to hear so long as you're not deliberating with each other outside of this meeting so we stay on the right side of the Open Meetings Act. But as long as you don't have any questions, that's all I have for tonight.

Any commissioners have any questions?

Nope.

Well, we appreciate it, Andrew. Thanks for reviewing that for everybody. Whether you've been here for a month or been here for three, four years, I think it's good to get a review session on it. And just everybody be ready. We will have a quiz in two weeks on it. It is open book. So moving on to the director's report. Are there any directors?

I think I spoke enough tonight, so we're good.

Future agenda items. Do we have any future agenda items? Just only comment I have is please make sure you leave Dr. Demas a review on rateyourprofessor.com. If that's it, then we are adjourned. Thank you.