HomeMy WebLinkAboutP&Z Minutes 2009-01-26 Special( 1
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PLANNIN.G & ZONING COMMISSION
MINUTES OF A
SPECIAL MEETING
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2009
7:00PM
·COUNCIL CHAMBERS
CITY HALL
910 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE
FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS
1.The meeting was called to order at 7:26pm with the following people in attendance:
Chairman Kevin Holland
Commissioner David O'Farrell
City Planner Mona Miller
Interim Dir of CD Morad Kabiri
Mayor and City Council
Vice Chairman Mark McLean
Commissioner Hassan Moghaddam
Dev. Coord. Aubrey Harbin
Dep. Dir. of CD Frank Manigold
City Attorney Bobby Gervais
2.Discussion with the City Council regarding the following:
a.Home Occupation regulations
Planning and Zoning made a recommendation previously to remove the restriction
that only family members are allowed to be employed by a person operating a home
occupation, in addition to the implantation of a 16 trip per day limit to regulate the
amount of traffic caused by the business.
There was some concern that if the number of employees is not limited, a business
could employ six to seven employees and still meet the 16 trips per day limit. The
issue of whether or not delivery trucks such as FedEx, UPS or other non-residential
vehicles count as trips was also raised. Another concern that was mentioned was that
small businesses with only one to two employees cannot afford to lease commercial
office space. It was also explained that the proposed 16 trips per day is equivalent to
the traffic caused by a single family residence with four drivers.
b.Amendments to the DCM for Parking Group Table
Morad Kabiri explained to City Council that staff and the Planning and Zoning
Commission have been working to fill in the To Be Dete1mined (TBD) fields that are
cunently in the parking table. The proposed numbers are national standards. In
addition, another concern was whether to move the Parking Table to the Zoning
Ordinance or leave it in the Design Criteria Manual. Commissioner O'Farrell stated
that he feels the parking ratios should be required. He stated that adequate parking is
fundamental to a City and that it is a problem that cannot be fixed after the fact.
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O'Farrell compared a parking crisis to our current market situation. The government
and people in charge left the banks to regulate themselves, but the banks took actions
that were beneficial only in the short term, not the long term, thus contributing to the
current economic recession. He said the same of developers -the City cannot rely on
developers to be self-regulating. Holbert agreed in saying that O'Farrell's analogy
made sense -people in charge not paying attention.
Several agreed that the first step is to change the TBD fields to actual numbers and
then discuss the possibility of required parking at a later date. It was also agreed that
there should be some flexibility in the requirements. There was some discussion in
regards to a couple of existing businesses as examples of inadequate parking spaces.
c.Special Exceptions for ZBOAMayor Smith explained that ZBOA is requesting some changes in the Zoning
Ordinance to allow them latitude in approving variances. Mayor Smith presented the
Commission with a written proposal from ZBOA and asked that the Commissioners
review it and make a recommendation.
3.The meeting was adjourned at 8:15pm.
These minutes submitted by:
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