HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2021-05-03 RegularMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD
MAY 3, 2021
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD METING IN REULAR MEETING ON
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021, AT FRIENDSWOOD CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 910 S
FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE FRIENDSWOOD TEXAS WITH THE FOLLOWING PRESENT
CONSTITUTING A QUORUM
TRISH HANKS
STEVE ROCKEY
SALLY BRANSON
ROBERT J GRIFFON
JOHN SCOTT
BRENT ERENWERT
MIKE FOREMAN
MARY KAY FISCHER
MORAD KABIRI
LETICIA BRYSCH
1 CALL TO ORDER
MAYOR PRO TEM
COUNCILMEMBER
COUNCILMEMBER
COUNCILMEMBER
COUNCILMEMBER
COUNCILMEMBER
MAYOR
CITY ATTORNEY
CITY MANAGER
CITY SECRETARY
Mayor Foreman called the meeting to order with a quorum present at 5 30 P M , all members were present
2 INVOCATION
The invocation was led by Pastor Mike Cervantes with New Hope Church
3 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE — United States and State of Texas
Mayor Foreman led the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States and to the State of Texas
4 PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
Mayor Foreman stated that in order to comply with the provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act, the
City Council may not deliberate any item not listed on the agenda as such the City Council will listen to
public comment and may (i) refer the item to City Management for further action or (n) direct staff for
the placement of said item on a future agenda During public comment speakers shall refrain from any
outbursts or interjections including but not limited to applause disparaging noises and remarks
Furthermore, any personnel complaints against a City employee, aside from the City Manager, City
Attorney or Municipal Judge shall not be discussed and shall be referred to City Management
Katherine Hale Friendswood resident addressed Council and stated she is concerned about the future of
the city, as well as, the city s land use map and the properties located at the end of Falling Leaf, the west
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end of Castlewood and along Wilderness Trails Drive She further noted concern for the construction
the proposed construction, or possible construction of the previously mentioned areas, and how that
construction would affect her neighborhood as it relates to zoning changes drainage and any related
subcommittee be expanded to include not just developers and realtors, but also include homeowners,
HOAs, some of the people from the Park Service, and drainage
Don Johnson, Friendswood resident and the Council's representative to the Harris Galveston Subsidence
District Board addressed Council and spoke in regards a subsidence report from said board that
Friendswood is not sinking into the Gulf as subsidence is under control He presented the Council with a
sheet of facts of how much does subsidence mitigation costs how does Friendswood compare to other
cities and other related information Mr Johnson also gave a brief overview of the Central Appraisal
District and information on a class to learn how to protest tax appraisals
Connie Ratisseau, Friendswood resident, addressed Council and stated that she had been coming to
Council meetings for the last three years primarily to talk about drainage issues She stated that she helped
promote the bond, particularly as it related to drainage issues, and felt that what the bond was intended to
do has not happened Ms Ratisseau stated that she had the following questions and/or comments on this
item
1) There's a line item in the budget about the 41 million that was for the drainage bond 6
million of it is a line item, I guess that's been expended, and then there's another item of 5
million My question is what exactly is that 11 million for because there is 30 million left
2) The City needs to have confidence in the Freese and Nichols model everyone needs to see
predictions at Bay Area Boulevard, FM 528, and FM 2351 against the actuals for Harvey,
3) As one day storms have not historically been an issue for Friendswood why were multi
day storms like Claudette, Allison, Harvey not studied, and
4) Why are there changes to 145 which traps water upstream ground rolled out"
Chief Robert Wieners, Police Chief, City of Friendswood, stated that back in 2016, the PD spent several
months assisting the Texas Rangers in recovering lost females who were murdered back in the 1997
timeframe Chief Wieners noted that for the last several years, William Reese has languished in custody
up in Oklahoma for another unrelated crime but his trial is scheduled to being on May 10"' He also noted
that the FPD has had personnel in Oklahoma City that have been testifying in the pre trial proceedings
Additionally Chief Wieners noted that there's been a defense attorney and an investigator that's been here
in Friendswood so it doesn't mean that they're doing anything more than just kind of getting a look at
different sites where different events occurred He noted that after Reese's trial is completed in Oklahoma,
he anticipated that discussions will then begin about bringing him back to Texas so he can stand trial for
the three cases that he has pending here
Mayor Foreman took the agenda out of order and called for Item 12 A
12 COMMUNICATIONS FROM MAYOR AND COUNCIL
A Operation Honor Our Local Veterans
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Fidencia Lena Councilmember for the City of Santa Fe Texas presented the Council with an overview
of Operation Honor Our Local Veterans, which is a local non profit committed to supporting and
connecting veterans Mr Lena presented his two veteran advocates and community leaders also in
attendance with him Mr Mark Ciavaglia, the organization s our legal counsel and Mr Jay Coppock also
a member and with ACU of Texas
Mr Lena gave his personal background as a veteran of the Unites States Navy, education, and professional
career He noted that Operation Honor Our Local Veterans is a local non profit that was established by
local veterans, there are six veterans that are part of the board that range in age from twenty six years old
all the way to sixty
Mr Lelia stated that they were interested in partnering with the City of Friendswood in order to place
veteran parking signs at City owned buildings and locations as well as with as many local private
businesses as would like to participate Mr Lena noted that something as simple as parking sign erected
in order to recognize the service of our veterans can really change a veteran's life and could potentially
save a life Mr Lena stated that his organization would provide the signs, and the City would partner in
providing the post and locations
Mr Lelia also noted that there are many veteran program, and events that they sponsor and would be
happy to provide that information the Council and staff in case anyone was interested in participating
and/or attending
The Council s consensus was to partner with Operation Honor Our Local Veterans for the parking sign
program and asked that City Manager Kabiri to update the Council on the program's progress in the near
future
5 WORK SESSIONS
A Receive and discuss a presentation regarding ongoing drainage projects
Assistant Director of Engineering Samantha Haritos presented the item and stated that she would give the
Council a general overview of the City's existing drainage projects and would then allow representatives
from Freese and Nichols to go over the Lower Clear Creek and Dickinson Bayou Study and what it means
for Friendswood
Ms Haritos stated that she wanted to give council a quick update on Imperial Estates and noted that they
are done digging, for the most part, they've reached a hundred and sixteen thousand loads, which they're
guessing is about 800 acre feet however there's still a fair amount of work left She noted that they still
need to go in and put the pilot channels in, and finish some of the other drainages Ms Haritos stated that
she is hoping that by the August presentation, staff will be able to fly a drone over the area and get a really
good idea of exactly how many acre feet have been removed out there
Ms Haritos stated that she would briefly go through the three Community Development Block Grant
Projects that have the most work going on right now
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The first one is Forest Bend that has a total grant amount was 3 4 million, the project is on schedule, and
they have submitted the 30% design and it looks like the pond will end up being about 53 acre feet and
it's really more of a series of ponds, kind of a meandering layout Ms Haritos stated that the 95%
engineering submittal is due at the beginning of June and at the end of June, they'll be submitting their
final submittal and then that project will be going to construction She noted that this project is a
Community Development Block Grant through the GLO and the City has a cost of about $25,000
City Manager Morad Kabiri stated that at this point, the costs is $25,000, however, the council may recall
that when CDBG came out with their first round of funding cities and the county each received a specific
allocation These weren't project specific and staff was told to go find projects that roughly fit in that box
given, so any construction overruns based on bids when they finally come in, and the word overruns is
not really the best word but it identifies costs that weren't scoped based on the grant These were grants
where the city got `X' amount of dollars, and the city goes and finds a project that fits as closely as
possible so likely this will come in higher than what the grant was for and any additional costs will be
paid for with either fund balance or drainage bond dollars Ms Haritos noted that this project does appear
to be coming in under budget, so hopefully there will be a little wiggle room when it gets to construction
Ms Haritos stated that the next project is the Clear Creek Utility Rack Relocation, which is an
infrastructure grant for two projects She noted that the amount allocated toward this project was
approximately 1 2 million and the the remainder of the grant will be going towards the Deep Wood Project,
however this project hasn't really moved too far along and will be presented to the council at the August
meeting
Ms Haritos noted that this project has its 30% designs submitted that included a geotechnical evaluation
the environmental assessments, located utilities, and while staff was locating utilities in the area, they
realized that the city does not have easements out there so that's going to become a part of the project as
well She further noted that they are working on the preliminary staging plan and have just submitted the
60% design, and is kind of tracking along with the Forest Bend Project Ms Haritos noted that they will
be going out for big at the end of June and the construction phase will follow for an eight month period
Ms Haritos noted that the three projects that she is discussing all Community Development Block Grants
through the GLO and the city does not have a cost share with this, but any overages will likely come out
of either flood bond money or general fund Mr Kabiri noted that since this particular project involves
water and sewer the city might be able to use some water sewer funds for the overages for this particular
line relocation
In response to a question from Councilmember Rockey, Ms Haritos clarified that at this time, there is no
existing easement through Polly Ranch or on the Terra Bella side Mr Kabiri noted that staff may be able
to lay claim of the prescriptive easement just due to the presence of the lines for a greater part of 40 plus
years but it still needs to be worked out since these are grant funds and the General Land Office (GLO)
wants certain documentation in place beforehand
Ms Haritos stated that the last Community Development Block Grant is Frenchman's Creek which is an
acquisition grant and has no cost share, but any overages again will come from the city The grant is for
the acquisition of the two buildings closest to Clear Creek and as a side note Galveston County also
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applied for a grant from CDBG to acquire the rear three buildings so the city and county are working
together to move this item along as it is has a potential for a future flood control project So far, the City
of Friendswood is at the appraisal stage for the two buildings which should take about four weeks She
noted that they have saved money by bringing some items in house, such as the environmental assessment
which is 90% complete
Ms Haritos noted that the 30 Clear View Property Buyout Project is not a grant and is an estimated 5 46
acres The closing price for the properties was $423 038 and it closed on April 30th She noted that the
Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District is already out at Clear View Terracing Properties and
they're excited to get out this property as soon as possible Mr Kabiri noted that the reason this project
was not a grant funded effort is because there's not a structure on the property so it doesn't qualify for any
buyout dollars
Ms Haritos noted that the last project she wanted to talk about is the Timber Creek Bypass Channel She
noted that this is in house modeling to study the effects of bypass channels by (1) removing the plug and
seeing what happens and (2) removing the plugs and replacing it with box culverts, to analyze the impacts
of hypothetic storms and historical events, such as Harvey and Allison She noted that they hope to have
this analysis done by the end of May
Ms Haritos completed her presentation and opened up for questions
Councilmember Rockey stated that Ms Ratisseau had mentioned that there's $11 million spent on a bond
and asked Ms Haritos to comment on that statement Ms Haritos noted that $5 5million went towards
Imperial Estates, $423,000 went to 30 Clear View, and about $60,000 that went towards some buyouts
that came from the Fire Marshal's Office Mr Kabiri noted that just to add to Ms Haritos commented
the city purchased the Mingle Wood properties, the 11 properties along the Clear Creek back off of
Whispering Pines in conjunction with the Drainage District The 11 million that have been talked about
in numerous meetings, in addition to the drainage quarterly updates that was just presented has not all
been spent He noted that in the first round that was issued in 2020, 5 5 million, 6 million was issued, 5 5
million went to the Drainage District for the Imperial Estates Terracing and Inline Detention Project The
remaining money that's going to be issued later tonight has not been spent yet, however, as the city
acquires properties and there is a need to supplement projects that are grant funded the city needs the
money on hand in order to have those partnerships in place Mr Kabiri noted that the original premise of
the bonds is still being met staff is pursuing inline detention and terracing where they can and is putting
those funds towards those efforts staff is not putting these funds towards offsite detention systems or
anything that's off of Clear Creek
Ms Haritos introduced Chuck Wolf, Project Director and Brian Gettinger, Project Manager with Freese
and Nichols who will give a presentation on the Lower Clear Creek and Dickinson Bayou Watershed City
with a focus on the impacts on Friendswood This is a regional study that had multiple partners including
League City the Army Corps of Engineers Harris County Flood Control District Galveston County
Brazoria Drainage District 4 Dickinson Webster Nassau Bay Pearland and Friendswood
She noted that this study limits are from FM1959 which is Dixie Farm Road all the way down to Clear
Lake with a focus on the Clear Creek and Dickinson Bayou Watersheds The study encompassed three
different phases (1) discovery and baselining phase (2) a watershed study phase and (3) a project
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identification phase and totaled approximately $1 3million Friendswood's financial contribution was
$41,000
Ms Harrtos noted a few key points to the study
1) These models addressed a range of storms including smaller storms and the smaller storm
models may prove useful to help guide the city of Friendswood towards future buyouts,
where structures need to raise
2) The models developed for the study addressed several limitations that were stated in Dr
Bedient's study These new hydrologic and hydraulic models will be used in the City of
Friendswood's master drainage plan and will save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars
of work that we would otherwise have paid for as part of our master drainage plan The
study investigates the magnitude of potential downstream impacts of potential flood control
projects in Friendswood including terracing or channelizing The study indicates to what
order of magnitude mitigation would be required and our guest speakers will touch on that
a little bit
3) The study further investigates the viability of offline detention given potential future sea
level rise and presents those findings on whether or not this is a strong flood control
alternative
4) The study is completely independent from the upstream federal study and assumes no
change from existing conditions in the watershed upstream of Dixie Farm Road Harris
County Flood Control District and the Army Corps of Engineers have stated that they are
committed to fully mitigating for the federal study so please keep questions and comments
focused on this study tonight
Mr Chuck Wolf thanked the council for allowing them to present the findings of their study and stated
that he would be going over the project purpose and background the existing flood risk and sort of the
flood risks that came out of the modeling that was done for the project, mitigation alternatives and then
sort of what we see is the path forward
Mr Wolf noted that the project's purpose is really to develop a comprehensive set of solutions based upon
the vulnerabilities they saw and the riverine section of the creek So they did not going beyond the creek
boundaries, and did not go back into every single municipal jurisdiction Storm sewer system, for example,
they looked at what can be done with the creek within the context that it is a riverine study so they are
trying to drop the water surface elevation in the river or in this case Clear Creek, during a significant
event In the storm analysis, this is a question that came up earlier, it's come up a few times in public
meetings
Mr Wolf noted that they used storm analysis for a 24 hour duration Atlas 14 event for planning and
modeling purposes, it's a bit like a flash flood event, and creates a high flood level very quickly When
they modeled it against Harvey it created a higher flood level very quickly Harvey was a longer event
but once a flood event happens Friendswood floods therefore if the city floods for multiple days
Friendswood will remain flooded
Mr Wolf noted that one thing about a riverine study is that the damages in the study are going to be
understated because they are not able to account for all of the network systems back into each municipality
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Additionally the benefits of this study will also be somewhat understated because as the water level goes
down the creek, all those areas will flow better, and they'll have better contributions
In the project area, the focus that they took was on the area from Dixie Farm Road or FM1959 out to
Galveston Bay, which is a pretty significant area that was broke into 3 different reaches
• Reach 1 is shown in red it's pretty much the Friendswood reach
• Reach 2 is a sort of bifurcated by interstate 45 and
• Reach 3 is where the creek starts to be heavily dominated by Clear Lake
Mr Wolf noted that he is a faculty member at Texas A&M and they do resiliency research, where they
look at the Houston area a lot so he has a great deal of respect for Phil Bedient and what he's done with
Hazard Alert System, Flood Alert System, among other things He noted that he was happy to see that
his information was available for the study and they were able to look at 40 or so years of background
data, but a lot of it happened without any kind of modeling of current precipitation that are now considered
to be the best standards for precipitation, which is the Atlas 14 data
Mr Wolf noted that Mr Bedient s study, which was published in 2019 actually covered Atlas 14, which
is a step forward from prior studies just in and of itself He noted that a lot of the recommendations that
came out of the study were included in their own model and a lot of the recommendations that have come
out of this phase of the study, confirm a lot of his findings However, there are some differences due in
part because of the more advanced nature of the modeling they were able to undertake So that's why
council will be able to see some differences in the data and outputs Mr Kabiri noted that in his study,
Mr Bedient himself identified those limitations with the study and suggest that there were additional
areas that would need to be looked at, which are now being looked at as a part of this project Mr Wolf
noted that this limitation was noted in his executive summary, however, he did want to point out that in
his formal conclusions the biggest conclusion out of the report was that you can do a lot with conveyance
improvements throughout Clear Creek and some forms of diversion once you get south of Bay Area
Boulevard to take that excess flow and get it out to the real detention pond which is Galveston Bay
Mr Wolf noted that he was going to go through the existing flood risk pretty quickly the second part of
the study was the ground for existing flood risk He noted that they looked at Hurricane Harvey and
actually used it as one of their calibration storms Mr Wolf stated that they were also working with Harris
County Flood Control and the work they were doing for the modeling of Clear Creek and used this
information as well He noted that they also looked at Hurricane Harvey as part of the solution sets which
is why they know they have the 24 hour hundred year event that actually creates a higher impact than
Harvey through the model
Mr Wolf stated that the modeling approach they used which is a slightly different approach to the
modeling than what was done in the vulnerability study He noted that that was 1D what is called the
steady state model so it is sort of routing flows through the creek Mr Wolf stated that his group used a
1D/2D unsteady state model, which basically means that they are still routing flows to the creek, but now
the modeling is able to actually take into account the changes that are happening every single time
increment as opposed to just being a passage of the water through a model He noted that what this does
is it gives a much better resolution on flood risk once out of the creek channel
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Mr Wolf stated that they also used this process with their hydrology ram on mesh as they sort of took the
precipitation, put it on the ground, and let the lidar move forward He noted that they have had the benefit
of the 2018 lidar because it was available for them to use for their study while the information was not
available at the time of Mr Bedient s study
Mr Wolf noted that their study had a little bit of a different modeling strategy and a lot of different levels
of work, so to get back to Ms Harrto's point, they looked at Galveston County tributaries because Harris
Flood Control was looking at the Harris County tributaries so they we were able to put the two models
together and create one model Therefore, we now have very high resolution modeling data for Mary's
Creek, for Chigger Creek, for Cowart Creek as well as for the other creeks along the basin all this is
something can tie into municipal systems and because Friendswood participated in the project you have
access to those models and information To put this into perspective, the modeling effort on this was
about $410 000 just on Clear Creek more specifically the lower part of Clear Creek He noted that a
significant level of effort went into developing a highly refined model that we have very high confidence
in which can be used for modeling flood risk and modeling solutions
Mr Wolf stated that in addition to looking at the Harvey event, they also looked at the Atlas 14 event, and
showed the council a chart that outlined the 100 year 24 hour and 500 year 24 hour event He noted that
the 500 year event is the blue and the 100 year is the yellow that's 1% chance of occurrence in the 100
year in any given year and 0 2% in a 500 event Harvey's in the middle and then the 596 hour and 196
hour events are on the end from Atlas 14
So based on Atlas 14 you get a higher storm intensity with the 500 year event it hits very quickly even
the 100 year hits very quickly, and Harvey sort of took a little while to get up to speed, and then it really
took off By the shape of the curves you can see that we end up with essentially the same flood impact
or actually we end up with a little bit worse flood impact to the 500 year 24 hour event The 100 year,
even though it's a lower level of total precipitation still creates a bigger total flooded area, and that's what
we thought was a more conservative way to look at the alternatives analysis that we were going through
He noted that they did look at Harvey which was, as we all know, a pretty massive storm
Mr Wolf noted that when they take all this information, they can run different scenarios and identify the
areas that will have flooding issues The flooding hotspots in Friendswood are located at Mary's and
Turkey and Cowart's Creek coming in, other hotspots not in the city include 145 in League City, the
Nassau Bay and League City area just upstream of Clear Lake and there's a spot up at Shoreacres
Mr Wolf showed the council a chart with another way to look at the data by looking at it across the
gradient of the creek itself which shows that we're sort of running upstream as on the right hand side to
downstream on the left hand side
Mr Wolf stated that his team also looked at the total cost of the different events, as well as, the number
of structures that were impacted so in looking at the 500 year event it could potentially impact over 8 000
structures and result in an estimated $2 billion worth of damages In looking at a 100 year event because
there is much less intensity, it drops off significantly but it's still a substantial impact, by about $600
million as far as impacts
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Mr Wolf stated that they spent quite a bit of time looking historically at the studies that had been done in
order to identify some of the good ideas that came resulted and also to review what the community
feedback was on said ideas was there was a lot of feedback particularly related to aesthetic and
environmental concerns Mr Wolf noted that the constraints put forth for the alternatives in the model
are not intended to be hard and fast constraints that would never be considered for other future reasons,
and the reason behind these were that for the most part these were things that they felt could create
significant delays to the implementation of the project and the longer the delay the more potential there is
for another flooding event
Mr Wolf noted that the first item to address are the environmental concerns that would result from the
clearing and de snagging or widening downstream of Bay Area Boulevard Also this idea of no open cut
crossings against 145, it's really a significant schedule impact potentially, but it's also a life safety main
arterial corridor issue If we can find ways to solve the problem without having to do another open cut
crossing of 145, it's a better solution because we can implement quickly If we do end up widening the
cross section across 145 at some point in time it will only make the other options better Additionally
they looked at no additional conveyance into Clear Lake without additional conveyance out of the lake
and this is mostly because they were seeing that everything kept pushing water down to Clear Lake and
that just ended up causing flooding in Clear Lake which is still a downstream impact that has to be
mitigated Mr Wolf stated that they are not interested in individual concepts, but instead looked at a lot
of individual concepts as they went through the project and ultimately concluded was none of them in
and of themselves, will actually solve the problem because the problem is much bigger than any one
solution
Below is a list of the individual concepts evaluated by the team
Detention
• Friendswood Basin
• Timber Creek Basin
• Clear Lake II
Bypass
• Turkey Creek Bypass
• FM270 Bypass
• Clear Lake Outlet Expansion
• Shoreacres Flat Gate
Channel
• Clearing and De Snagging
• Channel Benching above OHWM
• Full Widening & Benching
Tunnel
• FM 1959 to Clear Lake
• FM2351 to Clear Lake
• FM528 to Clear Lake
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Bay Area Blvd to Clear Lake
145 to Galveston bay
Non Structural
• Property Buyout/ Elevation
Bridges
• Replace All Bridges
• SH3 & UPRR
Mr Wolf noted that the bypassing was looked to be able to move flow around different areas to optimize
the flow in the creek, they also looked at the clearing, de snagging, and benching, as well as, benching
above the ordinary high watermark by going straight up right to the ordinary high water mark which is
where they cut the bench for the options Mr Wolf noted in response to a question from Councilmember
Griffon that his team was and at the same time was not surprised that the channel benching at the ordinary
high watermark was so cost effective So the team knew it was going to move a lot of water, but what
surprised us was the potential for downstream impacts if we didn't have other things in consort with it
because we are sort of moving the water more efficiently Because we are lowering the water surface
elevation, more water is coming in, and it was a bit of a surprise was just how significant in modeling the
downstream impacts were if we didn't carry some things down further but it is definitely efficient Mr
Wolf noted that this is a very cost effective recommendations coming out of the report right now, however,
one must be careful not to push the problem down to the neighbors downstream if it can be avoided
Mr Wolf noted that they also looked at tunneling, and stated that it was important to keep in mind when
looking at tunneling within the context of Clear Creek that it is in a suburban developed area He further
noted that the 50% bypass, that Dr Bedient recommended would actually be very hard to construct
because that is about a channel two football fields wide and there are not many places where something
like this can be run
Mr Wolf noted that the team also looked at non structural issues property buyouts as well as bridges
and they agreed that detention in and of itself is not a solution He noted that they also looked at what has
to be done to detain the problem and the issue is that even in a 24 hour event cities completely consume
a detention facility because detention facilities are only good for 2 to 4 hour type rainfall events Mr Wolf
noted that detention has a place but they need to be in consort with other things in order to detain the
amount of water being discussed
Mr Wolf stated that the team s overarching conclusion was that there needs to be a combination of these
mitigation options in order to maximize the benefits He further noted that the full benefits of mitigation
is going to have to include local drainage system impacts so Friendswood's Storm Sewer System and
Drainage System, and League City's Drainage System, etc, will all need to fit into the overall solution
As we looked at the combination alternatives so conveyance improvements a suite of these gets us back
to the graphic the council member was talking about and then different ways to do the diversion of flow
Mr Kabiri noted that the reason it is important for the council to hear that combination solutions are the
best option moving forward and that cities can tjust do what Dr Bedient suggested and just bench terrace
the creek all the way to the bay and you'll have significant improvements" because the modeling clearly
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shows that there is a downstream impact to doing that as well as environmental concerns that will
ultimately prohibit cities from physically doingjust the terracing and just the in line detention
Mr Wolf noted that the combination mitigation conclusions identified in the study as follows
1) Conveyance improvements require downstream mitigation
2) Benefits indicated do not fully account for local drainage benefits which could be
significant
3) 50 year project window focuses benefits on high recurrence events and minimizes
mitigation benefits for large events
4) Significant residual risk exists east of 145 due to low lying structures rising sea levels and
storm surge
5) Conveyance improvements without tunnel solutions provide the highest 50 year project
window benefits and are the most cost efficient, and
6) Tunnel solutions provide greater protection for large storms (100 year and 500 year) and
can be designed to provide additional benefit to local drainage systems
Mr Wolf stated that the path forward was never intended to be the end of the work and there is still a lot
of work that has to be done to take these projects to an additional level of development This is why they
were before the council and will be before other councils it is all apart of the advocacy to continue moving
this forward, and it is something that they are committed to doing Mr Wolf noted that they are going to
be looking at different funding opportunities that deliver local matches and they are going to look at
different ways that they can put things together with more refinement for the projects
Mr Wolf stated that their final thoughts on the study are the following
1) Solutions exists to reduce flood risk in major events but they are expensive and will require
significant local investment,
2) Local drainage system benefits have the potential to increase total project benefits,
potentially opening doors to additional funding opportunities
3) Conveyance improvements upstream cannot be constructed without additional
improvements downstream to Galveston Bay
4) Regardless of the improvements, residual risk will remain, such as elevating structures and
buyouts will need to be considered and
5) The risk at Clear Lake and the surrounding area is heavily influenced by Galveston Bay
Additional riverine conveyance without a surge barrier has minimal impact on this risk
Mr Wolf answered a few questions regarding the presented information and thanked the Council for
their tine and support of this study
Mr Kabiri stated that at the end of the day the study is not done They had anticipated being done last
fall but unfortunately it's taking them longer than they would like however they have kept us abreast of
their progress throughout and none of their data has been withheld, so we will continue to work together
closely on this item now and in the future
The Council thanked Mr Wolf for the presentation and appreciated all the hard work put into the study
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B Receive and discuss a presentation regarding proposed updates to the Future Land Use Map
Director of Community Development Aubrey Harbin presented the item and stated that she would be
giving the Council an update on a piece of the Comprehensive Plan Ms Harbin showed the Council two
maps on the overhead screens, the one from 2008 and the draft of the map with proposed changes
Ms Harbin noted that to begin she wanted to recognize the Planning and Zoning Commission as they
have been doing a lot of hard work on this map along with the staff She noted that the Planning and
Zoning Commission has been split into two sub committees each made up of three commissioners (1) is
the Ordinance Sub committee which works on the ordinance changes and (2) is the Planning Sub
committee which works on the Comp Plan and longer range studies
Ms Harbin noted that the Future Land Use Map is a component of the City's Comprehensive Plan and it
became apparent in updating the Comp Plan that the City needed to update this map before it could really
move forward with the Comprehensive Plan She noted that this map I so important as it is also used as a
guide in the City's zoning decisions and helps with long range planning
Ms Harbin noted that the map being presented is a draft and the staff has a timeline built up for the year
which was included in the Council's packet materials, and while it is a long process, the staff feels it is
important to get everybody's input, including committees, commissions, residents, and as many other
stakeholders as possible the hope is to adopt a map by the end of the year
Ms Harbin noted that the first major change to the map was the addition of a statement in accordance
with the Local Government Code which is a notation on the map that the Comprehensive Plan does not
constitute zoning regulations or establishes zoning boundaries She noted that this is different from the
City s existing zoning that's assigned to properties She stated that this was in place to help identify that
if whatever development went away what would the city would want on the property in question so it
serves as a future plan for the city's zoning and land use
Ms Harbin stated that another major change from the 2008 map to the current map is the color scheme
She noted that the new map is using APA Land based Classification colors, so the really light yellow is
the SFR Estate zoning category which is two acres or more the darker yellow is low density areas all
the shades of yellow are all residential categories She noted that retail is identified by red blue is public
or semi public buildings, and green, of course, are parks Ms Harbin stated that anew category was added
for buyout lots in the form of cross hatched on the map She noted that all of these changes will help staff
look at the map from a high level and easily identify the main corridors the location of heavy residential
areas, retail, etc
Ms Harbin noted that back in 2007 — 2008 there was a lot of the discussion with the Commission in
regards to not knowing what to do with the special study areas on the map, and it was decided at that time
to let people bring in ideas and concepts for those areas However in doing calculations on the City s
residential versus commercial zoning classifications like getting the baseline where we are at the special
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 13 of25
study areas make that a little difficult so the staff has done away with all the special study areas and have
actually assigned a commercial or residential category to them in the proposed updates
Ms Harbin noted that another one of the other major changes in the proposed map is identifying open
space, or what was previously considered open space, floodway, and public category, these were all
lumped into one category She noted that the proposed map has four categories out of all those properties
(1) Parks (2) Buyout Lots (3) Regional Detention and (4) Public and Semi public which includes
schools, churches, and city owned facilities Ms Harbin noted that this has been made official because
they can take all of these numbers out of the calculations because this is undevelopable property, and so
it gives staff a better calculation of the City's commercial versus residential spaces
Ms Harbin stated that the strategies and plans that were utilized by the Sub committee and the Planning
Commission are the potential impacts and effects of reaching the 50 000 population point The 80%
Residential, 20% Commercial property tax base, which is different from the land use calculations that the
Vision 2020 Plan identified as 73% Residential and 23% Commercial Ms Harbin stated that the staff
group considered the best use of the land while looking at neighboring properties as well as considering
community goals She noted that the plans that they mainly used were the FM 528 Strategy Plan that was
done by CEDC in 2013, Vision 2020, and then also the referencing City of Pearland Thoroughfare Plan
and League's City Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Plan
Ms Harbin noted that there have been a lot of changes to the 2008 map and in addition to ones that have
previously been covered she went over the following chart
1* Changed Northeastern section of map that was Special Study Non Residential
with Industrial Emphasis changed to Industrial with a Retail corridor along FM
2351
2 Changed to Open Space land purchased by Harris County
3 Changed from Special Study Non Residential with Commercial Emphasis to
Single Family Residential
4* Changed eastern parcel (undeveloped land) that was Special Study Non
Residential with Commercial Emphasis to be Retail along FM 528 and Single
Family Residential behind, which also matches up to City of League City Future
Land Use Map
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 14 of25
5 The parcels indicated on the map have been changed to Retail one zone change
was already approved to Neighborhood Commercial (NC) and adjacent property
is also zoned Community Shopping Center (CSC)
6* Changed southern portion of map that was Special Study Non Residential with
Light Industrial Emphasis to reflect Residential and Industrial use many
development difficulties in this area including lack of utilities gun range
pipelines, etc , development of Georgetown Subdivision is in process
7 Changed from Special Study Non Residential with Light Industrial Emphasis to
Retail (frontage along FM 528 in front of future Georgetown Subdivision)
8* Created a 500 ft Retail setback along W Parkwood Ave and future Friendswood
Lakes Blvd per FM 528 Strategy Plan
9 Changed from Special Study Non Residential with Commercial Emphasis to
Single Family Residential
10 Changed from Special Study Non Residential with Commercial Emphasis to
Retail
11 Changed all tracts within the DD Boundary to Mixed Use except for the city and
school facilities and parks
12 Changed from Open Space to Industrial
13 Changed from Mixed Use to Retail, several requests to change the zoning over
the years to include a residential component has failed
14 Changed from Low Density Residential to Parks portion of Lake Friendswood
15 Changed from Low Density Residential to Retail frontage on FM 528 and in
accordance with FM 528 Strategy Plan
16* Changed from Industrial to Office, Business Park in the interest of protecting
adjacent residential property
17 Changed from Public to Low Density Residential FISD plans to sell the property
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 15 of25
18* Future Discussion do we want to plan for commercial along the future
Friendswood Lakes Blvd/Friendswood Parkway
Ms Harbin noted that as it related to the land use calculation the city is at 10 358 acres which as
previously noted, removed the undevelopable land and streets So the city is at 16% Commercial and 84%
residential, which the Vision 2020 said was 73% and 27%, so the city is an estimated 10% off of that
designation She noted that this equates to about a thousand acres of additional commercial land that they
need to identify if the city wants to get to this amount, even though, she was not sure if that's really realistic
for Friendswood, however, the good news is that the Vision 2020 Plan also had some zoning adjustments
Ms Harbin noted that when the Vision 2020 Plan was written the current acres of retail was 453 the
office was 113, and light industrial was 890, and it said that the city's adjusted acreage should be 726,
364, and 364, so the city s percentages with its current calculations right now have retail at 713, which is
really close office and business park at 248 which is closer to 364 Mixed use is not included in these
numbers, and then Industrial is 565, which 315 of the 565 is Timber Creek Golf Course, so that puts the
city really close
Ms Harbin stated that a hot topic item is always the Parkway and at this time, the city does not have the
right of way for the Parkway between FM528 and FM2351 She noted that in the past there have been
three possible routes but the one route that's shown on the Major Thoroughfare Plan is because it does
not need the right of way for the Parkway in the future Ms Harbin noted that one discussion item that
came up recently is how does the city plan for commercial uses along the Parkway between F528 and
FM2351" She noted that staff and the Commission welcome any input for that question and she was not
sure if there's room for a corridor necessarily in that space, but maybe if the city could capitalize on an
intersection possibility it could work She noted that Falling Leaf is a collector street that's identified on
the City's Major Thoroughfare Plan that was last adopted in 2017 so if more changes need to be made to
map, it will need to be a separate process, but one idea could be to capitalize on it and make another
intersection Ms Harbin noted that there are two intersections along the Parkway and most of that other
area between them is all residential but this is all a work in progress and all comments and ideas are
welcome
Mayor Foreman asked if it likely that Parkway will actually reach FM2351 while it's still within the city
limits, Ms Harbin stated that there is a gap Mayor Foreman asked if talked about the commercial at that
intersection may be moot because it won't be in Friendswood Ms Harbin responded that would be in
Pearland so Friendswood has to create its own Council Member Rockey asked if the intersection would
be in unincorporated in the county, she noted that it would be in Pearland's ETJ
Councilmember Griffon asked that at what point in time does the city need to bite the bullet and say "hey
this is the way we want our future parkway and go after those easements and has anybody ever made a
run at the Galveston County Commissioner's Courtfor roads and for assistance in that road" City Manager
Kabiri stated that the answer to that question is yes and further noted that the staff is currently pursuing a
grant through the Houston Galveston Area Council, which is referred to as UPWP, which is in partnership
with Galveston County and the City of Pearland Friendswood is submitting an application to get grant
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 16 of25
funds to finalize the right of way for Friendswood Parkway from FM528 to FM2351 and then ultimately
start working on the planning documents to secure that right of way
Councilmember Griffon noted that under note number 3 the landowner would really like to see that as
commercial or mixed use not residential Ms Harbin stated that she would note that point
Mayor Pro Tem Hanks stated that she had a question about the location of the property on number 3 is it
the one right next to Friendswood Lake? Ms Harbin noted that yes that location is a part of it and the
same property owner owns a small portion on this side of the creek and then its 22 acres on the other side
of the creek at Spring Fines and FM518
Mayor Pro Tem Hanks inquired if the note changing the Timber Creek Golf Course from open space to
industrial was in line with the zoning requires change that has been brought before the Council" Ms
Harbin stated that in the 2008 map the areas was identified as open space, which a lot of it is floodway,
but itis the golf course This was changed to industrial because it is not parkland and it was throwing the
parkland numbers way off so the note was considering the use of the land if the golf course ever went
away Mr Kabiri noted that the area and its new designation was in line with what the applicant is
requesting in the zoning change for the area, the applicant wants some commercial along the front edge
of FM2351 with industrial behind it so he will have more flexibility in uses
Mayor Pro Tem Hanks asked about item number 8 on the chart which creates a 500 feet retail setback
along West Parkwood and future Friendswood Lake is that typical Ms Harbin responded that the setback
is consistent with the City's commercial on all of the major thoroughfares where there is not residential
Councilmember Rockey asked about the process whether the Council as going to have an opportunity to
vote on each one of the proposed changes or was it going to be an all or nothing vote Ms Harbin
responded that the Council would vote on a proposed map at the time and that they were planning on
workshopping this item again probably August timeframe in order to receive more Council's feedback
Ms Harbin gave an overview of the public outreach efforts that will include different local events town
hall meetings Planning and Zoning Commission meetings etc The Planning and Zoning Commission
the Sub Committee, and the full commission, will go over this item in July, and staff will then bring back
this item to Council in August and then adopt a new map in the fall
Mr Kabiri noted that the item will not be an all or nothing proposition, and will be presented to the
Council in the form of an ordinance which the Council can change provided that there's consensus among
the members of the council
Councilmember Rockey inquired into the parkway going from FM528 to FM2351becasue the voters voted
that down pretty soundly a year or so ago, why are we still working on it? Mr Kabiri stated that ultimately,
that corridor is going to be needed in order for Friendswood to be remotely bearable for the community
to live in 20 years from now He noted that the city does not have another east west or north south
corridor, and without an alternative route, the only option would be to FM518, an elevated roadway, a
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 17 of25
limited access highway for you to get from one side of the city to the other without taking an hour and a
half Mr Kabiri further noted that they are already seeing a lot of that at FM518 and FM528 and whether
the city chooses to isolate itself as a community and not allow any further development, Lake City and
Fairland are going to develop in such a manner that there will be no other choice so while the voters
turned it down, eventually, that roadway will get built simply because it's necessary This is no different
than drainage, if it is not addressed now, it will rear its ugly head at some point in the future
Mayor Foreman stated that the roadway in question is in the city's future thoroughfare plan and has been
there for a long time, and when he saw that the voters turned down that bond, he took it to mean that they
don't approve of the city borrowing money to go forward and not that the road should not be built at all
Mayor Pro Tem Hanks asked if the staff was going to go back and change or make proposed zoning
changes to match this map on the land that's not being currently used Mr Kabiri responded that the city
would not go out and proactively rezone any property without a project
Mayor Foreman thanked the staff and members of the Planning and Zoning Commission for all their hard
work on this item Mayor Foreman recessed the May 3, 2021, City Council Regular Meeting at 7 17 P M
Mayor Foreman reconvened the May 3 2021 City Council Regular Meeting at 7 31 P M
6 PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
Mayor Foreman stated that in order to comply with the provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act the
City Council may not deliberate any item not listed on the agenda, as such, the City Council will listen to
public comment and may (i) refer the item to City Management for further action or (n) direct staff for
the placement of said item on a future agenda During public comment, speakers shall refrain from any
outbursts, or interjections including but not limited to applause, disparaging noises, and remarks
Furthermore any personnel complaints against a City employee aside from the City Manager City
Attorney, or Municipal Judge, shall not be discussed and shall be referred to City Management
David Allen, Friendswood resident, addressed Council and spoke in regards the Pfizer Research Group
and the COVID 19 vaccine
7 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT
A Present an update regarding the Sprmg Sparkle clean up event
City Manager Morad Kabiri presented the item and stated that a couple of weekends ago, the City held its
Annual Spring Sparkle Event in conjunction with the Keep Friendswood Beautiful, the Parks and
Recreation Department and many amazing volunteers He noted that the event collected over 88 almost
89 tons of material that were dropped off, which is resulted in 37,000 pounds of paper being shred and a
total of $759 raised through the garage sale of donated items Mr Kabiri noted that the monies will go
back to Keep Friendswood Beautiful to continue to further its efforts Mr Kabiri gave a big thank you
to the staff the Keep Friendswood Beautiful folks and the volunteers for making that event happen
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 18 of25
B Present an update regarding the Friendswood Public Library Summer Reading Program
City Manager Morad Kabiri presented the item and stated that the Summer Library Reading Program is
being kicked off here later this month As the Council is aware the library is one of the more popular
facilities during the summer months in conjunction with the Parks Department The library is offering a
variety of different programs both in person and then some virtual ones which patrons can take advantage
of and enjoy throughout the next few months Folks that are interested in any of the many summer events
and activities can sign up through the library's Beanstack app or at the website of
ftiendswood@beanstack.org
C Present an update regarding the Keep Texas Beautiful 2021 Governor's Community
Achievement Awards
The city has been notified that the Keep Texas Beautiful Organization has been awarded the Governor's
Community Achievement Award This comes with $250,000 that will be dedicated to the beautification
effort in Friendswood along with one of the farm to market roadways Mr Kabiri noted that a few years
ago Friendswood won this same award which resulted in the beautification of FM 518 throughout the
entire city Mr Kabiri noted that this is an unbelievable accomplishment by Keep Friendswood Beautiful
and the Parks and Recreation staff because it is very rare for cities to win one of these let alone two of
those in the last six years
D Present an update regarding Hurricane Harvey
City Manager Morad Kabiri presented the item and stated that as it relates to Hurricane Harvey the staff
is getting down to the final days of its Hazard Mitigation Acquisition Program He noted that there are
two properties left to close, one of which will be closing the first part of June off of Myrtle Wood and the
last property that hasn t been finalized but is pretty close is in Oxnard in the Forest Bend Subdivision
E Present an update regarding the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID 19)
City Manager Morad Kabiri presented the item and stated that as it related to the city s Coronavirus
response the numbers continue to go down steadily although from Friday to Monday the numbers went
up by about 12 new cases however they are considerably lower than in the last few months Mr Kabiri
noted that he had a bit of good news, in thatthe City of Friendswood did receive the remaining Coronavirus
relief funds that staff had been waiting for so those monies are now in the city s coffers
Mr Kabiri also noted that the staff had not heard from Treasury Department on the remaining dollars that
are from the recent allocation, however, the staff was notified that $8 78 million will be coming to the
City of Friendswood as a part of the Stimulus / COVID response Although, staff has not been told what
those dollars can be used for just yet as soon as that information is available a presentation will be
scheduled with the council to discuss the item further
City Council Re¢ular bleehn¢ Minutes
May 3, 2021
Pace 19 of 25
8. COMMUNICATIONS FROM COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL REPORTS
A. Receive the annual report for the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee.
This item was not taken and moved to the June 7 2021, Citv Council agenda.
9 DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION
A. Discuss and take possible action reconfirming the appointment of Ms. Kathy Molinaro to the
Library Board.
A motion was made by Councilmember Rockev and seconded by Councilmember Scott to reconfinn the
appointment of Ms. Lath Molinaro to complete the unexpired teen of Bryan Corev to the Library Board
with said teen expiring in Julv 2022. The vote was the following:
_fives. Mavor Mike Foreman, Mavor Pro Tern Trish Hanks, Councilmember Steve
Rockev Councilmember Sallv Branson, Councilmember Robert J Griffon,
Councilmember John Scott, and Councilmember Brent Erenwert.
Nays. None
The item passed unanimously
B. Discuss and take possible action on the appointment of Derrick Brown and Judy Wiggins to
the Community and Economic Development Committee.
A motion was made by Councilmember Branson and seconded by Councilmember Scott to appoint Mr
Derrick Brown to complete the unexpired teen of Mr Mike Hickev and Ms. Judv Wiggins to complete
the unexpired teen of Ms. Meg Crowlev to the Community and Economic Development Committee, with
both teens expiring Julv 2021 The vote was the following:
_fives. Mavor Mike Foreman, Mavor Pro Tern Trish Hanks, Councilmember Steve
Rockev Councilmember Sallv Branson, Councilmember Robert J Griffon,
Councilmember John Scott, and Councilmember Brent Erenwert.
Nays. None
The item passed unanimously
Cl Discuss and take possible action on amending the Appointment Policy for Boards,
Committees, and Commissions.
A motion was made by Councilmember Griffon and seconded by Councilmember Rockev to approve the
amendment of the Citv of Friendswood _appointment Poliev for Boards. Committees and Commissions
as submitted. The vote was the following:
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 20 of 25
Ayes Mayor Mike Foreman Mayor Pro Tem Trish Hanks Councilmember Steve
Rockey, Councilmember Sally Branson, Councilmember Robert J Griffon,
Councilmember John Scott and Councilmember Brent Erenwert
Nays None
The item passed unanimously
10 RESOLUTIONS
A Discuss and take possible action regarding Resolution No 2021 11 a Resolution of the City
Council of the City of Fnendswood, Texas Galveston/Harris Counties, opposing 87 Senate
Bill (SB) 1661 requiring a governmental body to hold a general election of the city on the
November uniform election date in an even number year
Mayor Foreman noted that he asked that this item be brought before the Council as the proposed changes
noted in SB 1661 would drastically impact the operations of the organization, and if approved, would
change the City s annual May elections to every other year in November and all members of council
would be on the ballot at the same time, every two years
City Manager Morad Kabiri noted that the proposed legislation would it would change the intent of the
City Charter drastically and potentially up end long term efforts and long term projects if there were to
be a change of Council every two years
City Attorney Mary Kay Fischer noted that this proposed legislation is still in the local government
committee She stated that Senator Betancourt is the author of the bill and he is also the chairman of that
committee Ms Fischer noted that as of the date of the meeting it has not been set on the schedule to be
heard, so the hope is that it will die in committee
A motion was made by Mayor Foreman and seconded by Councilmember Rockey to approve Resolution
No 2021 11, regarding Agenda Item 10 A as submitted The vote was the following
Ayes Mayor Mike Foreman, Mayor Pro Tem Trish Hanks, Councilmember Steve
Rockey Councilmember Sally Branson Councilmember Robert J Griffon
Councilmember John Scott and Councilmember Brent Erenwert
Nays None
The item passed unanimously
B Discuss and take possible action regarding Resolution No 2021 12 a Resolution of the City
Council of the City of Friendswood, Texas finding that Texas New Mexico Power Company's
application for approval to amend its distribution cost recovery factor to increase
distribution rates within the City should be denied, authorizing the hiring of legal counsel
and consulting services, finding that the City's reasonable rate case expenses shall be
reimbursed by the company, Finding that the meeting at which this resolution is passed is
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page21 of25
open to the public as required by law, requiring notice of the resolution to the company and
legal counsel
A motion was made by Councilmember Scott and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Hanks to approve
Resolution No 2021 12, regarding Agenda Item 10 B as submitted The vote was the following
Ayes Mayor Mike Foreman, Mayor Pro Tem Trish Hanks, Councilmember Steve
Rockey Councilmember Sally Branson Councilmember Robert J Griffon
Councilmember John Scott, and Councilmember Brent Erenwert
Nays None
The item passed unanimously
11 ORDINANCES
A Consideration and possible action regarding Ordinance No T2021 12 the second and final
reading of an ordinance approving an interlocal agreement adjusting the corporate
boundary lines between the City of Friendswood, Texas, and the City of League City, Texas,
including 26.921 acres from the Avalon development, authorizing the City Manager to
execute the agreement and the City Secretary to attest, and providing an effective date
Councilmember Griffon requested that City Manager Morad Kabiri give an overview of the item and
clarify that this item is not a land swap Mr Kabiri stated that Councilmember Griffon was in fact correct
and the City of Friendswood is not giving any property to League City He noted that there have been
some rumors that Friendswood citizens taxpayer dollars are going to pay League City for this effort and
that it is simply not true
Mr Kabiri noted that the property in question within the Avalon development, has the vast majority of it
underwater i e it is in the lake itself so there are really only about six acres that are going to be developed
withinAvalon He noted that it made sense for this area to be within the corporate limits of Friendswood
since 99% of the other project is already in Friendswood and League City cannot service them Therefore
50% of the ad valorem tax revenue from that property and only that property will go to League City for
20 years to offset the fact that Friendswood does not have anything to give League City in exchange for
the property Councilmember Rockey noted that the City of Friendswood would not be spending anything
on this item as it is not building the roads He noted that the Friendswood Parkway was already going to
get built by the county and the developers and the landowners contributed a million dollars to that effort
which will include all the hookups to the utilities Councilmember Hanks also clarified that the item on
the table is separate and apart from any deals with the school district
A motion was made by Councilmember Rockey and seconded by Councilmember Branson to approve
Ordinance No T2021 12 regarding Agenda Item 11 A as submitted The vote was the following
Ayes Mayor Mike Foreman Mayor Pro Tem Trish Hanks Councilmember Steve
Rockey, Councilmember Sally Branson, Councilmember Robert J Griffon,
Councilmember John Scott and Councilmember Brent Erenwert
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page22 of25
Nays None
The item passed unanimously
B Consideration and possible action regarding Ordinance No T2021 13 the second and final
reading of an ordinance approving an interlocal agreement adjusting the corporate
boundary lines between the City of Friendswood, Texas, and the City of League City, Texas,
including 0.0576 acres for Friendswood Lakes Boulevard, authorizing the City Manager to
execute the agreement and the City Secretary to attest, and providing an effective date
A motion was made by Councilmember Scott and seconded by Councilmember Branson to approve
Ordinance No T2021 13 regarding Agenda Item 11 B as submitted The vote was the following
Ayes Mayor Mike Foreman Mayor Pro Tem Trish Hanks Councilmember Steve
Rockey, Councilmember Sally Branson, Councilmember Robert J Griffon,
Councilmember John Scott, and Councilmember Brent Erenwert
Nays None
The item passed unanimously
C Consideration and possible action regarding Ordinance No T2021 15 the first and final
reading of an ordinance amending City of Friendswood, Texas, Ordinance No 2020 35,
passed and approved September 14, 2020, same being an ordinance approving and adopting
the City's General Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 2021 by approving "Budget Amendment
VII" to the "Original General Budget of the City of Friendswood, Texas, for the Fiscal Year
2020 2021", providing for supplemental appropriation and/or transfer of certain funds,
providing for severability, and providing other matters related to the subject
A motion was made by Councilmember Branson and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Hanks to approve
Ordinance No T2021 15 regarding Agenda Item 11 C submitted The vote was the following
Ayes Mayor Mike Foreman Mayor Pro Tem Trish Hanks Councilmember Steve
Rockey, Councilmember Sally Branson, Councilmember Robert J Griffon,
Councilmember John Scott and Councilmember Brent Erenwert
Nays None
The item passed unanimously
D Consideration and possible action regarding Ordinance No T2021 16 first and final reading
of an ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of City of Friendswood, Texas, General
Obligation Improvement and Refunding Bonds, Series 2021, approving the official
statement, paying agent/registrar agreement and a deposit agreement and engaging bond
counsel, calling certain outstanding bonds for redemption prior to maturity, providing for
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 23 of 25
the pledge of tax receipts for the payment of the Bonds and agreeing to levy taxes to pay
Bonds, and enacting other provisions relating to the issuance and sale of the Bonds
John Robuck, Managing Director for BOK Financial Securities, stated that he had great news to report as
it related to the sale of the bonds Mr Robuck stated that in the sale of the bonds earlier in the day, they
were able to reduce the amount of interest costs or debt service on the new money portion by almost $2 3
million from what they projected a month ago He further noted that rates have come down a little bit,
and also with the City's double A plus rating which is just one notch below triple A investors were very
happy to buy Friendswood s bonds Mr Robuck noted that in the bond buyer index, which is an overview
of the Bond Market the current rate is at 2 27 that's 25 base points off all time lows and well off the
historical average by about 1 95%
Mr Robuck then noted that as it related to the source of the funds the City and for the refund portion they
sold $3,050,000 bonds to refund $3,290,000 of bonds, and they also took those bonds and refunded it with
a rate of 3 498% and lowered it down 0 861 % which resulted in savings of $224 000 which is a net present
value of 6477% He further noted that they sold $13,185,000 bonds and generated proceeds of
$14,100,000, a 30 year debt, and had an all cost trust rate of 2 259%, which is a lot lower than someone
would get on a mortgage rate right now for sure
Mr Robuck stated that as it related to the final debt service and savings and the refunding there was
savings of about $45,000 a year for five years, they were short bonds to be refunded, but they were able
to maximize the savings He noted that on the final debt service requirements on the new money portion
they issued $13 185 000 bonds to generate the proceeds of $14 100 000 for the projects
Lastly Mr Robuck went over the bond schedule and noted that if it all goes as planned they would close
a month from now on June 3, at which point the city would receive its funds
A motion was made by Councilmember Scott and seconded by Councilmember Griffon to approve
Ordinance No T2021 16, regarding Agenda Item 11 D as submitted The vote was the following
Ayes Mayor Mike Foreman, Mayor Pro Tem Trish Hanks, Councilmember Steve
Rockey Councilmember Sally Branson Councilmember Robert J Griffon
Councilmember John Scott, and Councilmember Brent Erenwert
Nays None
The item passed unanimously
12 COMMUNICATIONS FROM MAYOR AND COUNCIL
Mayor Pro Tem Hanks stated that City Secretary Brysch was handing out some packets of information
from the Friendswood Alliance which is a nonprofit organization that's part of Friendswood Cares She
stated that they have identified 77 families that are in need of assistance because of COVID and pandemic
related issues like loss of ajob or when they went back to the job their work they made less money but
they still have childcare when the kids have gone back to school Mayor Pro Tem Hanks stated that all
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 24 of 25
donations are 100% given to the recipients that they're working with and their overhead costs are all funded
by a grant, so she encouraged the council to consider supporting this program
In response to questions from the Councilmember Erenwert regarding the Operation Support a Veteran
program, City Manager Kabiri stated that he would reach out to Mr Leif a and ACU about moving forward
with the parking sign program in Friendswood He also noted that if there are any concerns with the
installation of these signs on private property, staff will work with the City Attorney's Office to draft a
one page agreement that allows the City to install those signs as appropriate
Council Member Rockey note a couple of things about the library First they're starting their summer
reading program but the Outdoor Storytime is being held at Centennial Park at 9 30 A.M Tuesday for
toddlers, and Wednesday for preschool kids He encouraged anybody out there with young kids to attend
as the library staff has excellent excellent storytellers Secondly the Library with the help of the Historical
Society, have purchased a scanner and they are actively scanning a lot of Friendswood artifacts from the
museum documents pictures and other neat stuff He noted that this information will all be available on
the Library's historical site
Lastly Councilmember Rockey stated that in response to the speaker with the Pfizer research and COVID
comments, he just wanted to say that a lot of the information was not accurate and as someone who has
suffered through COVID he does not approve of disseminating misinformation
13 CONSENT AGENDA
A motion was made by Councilmember Scott and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Hanks to approve Consent
Agenda, Items 13 A through 13 H as submitted The vote was the following
Ayes Mayor Mike Foreman Mayor Pro Tem Trish Hanks Councilmember Steve
Rockey, Councilmember Sally Branson, Councilmember Robert J Griffon,
Councilmember John Scott, and Councilmember Brent Erenwert
Nays None
Approved
A Consider approving two agreements with Friendswood Independent School District for
School Resource Officers and School Zone Coverage by sworn police officers
B Consider approving the disposal of a decommissioned Police Department vehicle through
Houston Auto Auction
C Consider approving an engagement letter with Gabriel, Roeder, Smith and Company for
actuarial valuations and authorize the Mayor to execute said document
D Consider authorizing the final acceptance of the Clear Creek Community Church off site
public improvements at the completion of the contractor's one year maintenance bond
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
May 2021
Page 25 of 25
E Consider authorizing the final acceptance of a waterline for the Lundy Lane Estates
subdivision at the completion of the contractor's one year maintenance period
F Consider authorizing the acceptance of the Sterling Creek, Sections 5 and 6 public paving
and utilities improvements project into the contractor's one year maintenance period
G Consider accepting the March 2021 tax report
H Consider approving the minutes of City Council Regular Meeting held on April 5, 2021
14 ADJOURNEMENT
With there being no further business to discuss Mayor Foreman adjourned the May 3 2021 City Council
Regular Meeting at 7 57 P M