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HomeMy WebLinkAboutP&Z Minutes 2016-12-15 Regular PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION . Regular Meeting 1. The Regular Meeting was called to order at 7:01pm with the following people in attendance: Chairman David O’Farrell Commissioner Craig Lovell Commissioner Rhonda Neel Commissioner Rich Borghese Commissioner Tony Annan Commissioner Sally Branson Aubrey Harbin, City Planner Becky Summers, Dev. Coordinator Arnold Polanco, City Attorney Absent: Borghese 2. Communication from the public/committee liaisons (To comply with the provisions of the Open Meetings Act, the Commission may not deliberate on subjects discussed under this agenda item. However, the Commission may direct such subjects to be placed on a later regular Commission agenda for discussion and/or possible action.) None 3. Consent Agenda A. Approval of: 1) December 5, 2016 special and regular meeting minutes 2) Chateau LeBlanc Final Plat 3) Johnson Hills Final Plat Harbin said the Commission Rules of Procedure allowed for final plats to be placed on the consent agenda. She explained plat approval is an administerial duty. She stated the item could be removed from the consent agenda if it needed to be discussed. Motion to Approve only the minutes: Annan MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING HELD THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 AT 7:00 PM CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS 910 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS 2 December 15, 2016 P & Z Meeting Second: Sasson Vote: 6 to 0 (unanimous) Motion Carried Harbin explained Chateau LeBlanc was an existing lot that just needed to be platted. Motion to Approve subject to staff comments: Annan Second: Branson Vote: 6 to 0 (unanimous) Motion Carried Harbin said the lot was being divided into two lots. Motion to Approve subject to staff comments: Annan Second: Branson Vote: 6 to 0 (unanimous) Motion Carried 4. Update from the Large Retail Subcommittee Lovell presented the Subcommittee’s findings to the rest of the Commission via a slideshow presentation. He said the subcommittee had addressed the visual issues but found a problem with the noise created by large retailers. Sasson mentioned a business would not have any control over ambient noise. Annan said a residential air conditioning unit was roughly 60dB which would violate the current ordinance. Annan said it would be expensive and short-lived for a commercial property to install equipment that would be quiet enough to meet a lower sound ordinance. He also said it would be unachievable to lower basic operational noise at night. O’Farrell said he was afraid of creating unintended consequences by altering the noise ordinance. He said he would not support that part of the proposal. 5. Consideration and possible action regarding proposed changes to Zoning Ordinance Section 7.P.6. to add architectural requirements for Large Retail Uses Motion to discuss: Branson Second: Neel Harbin explained that changes had previously been presented to the Commission but since then the subcommittee had added the requirement of a noise mitigation plan and had clarified that the building projections were only applicable to the front of the building and sides facing a right-of-way. Annan said he spoke with several retailers to see how the proposed changes would affect them. He said Sprouts grocery store was not in favor because they like to use a standard building design. He explained stores are proud of their designs and know what to expect with a standard design. He suggested changing the square footage limit to 75,000 sq ft instead of 50,000 sq ft. Branson said building designs are different depending on the area they build in because of the governing body’s architectural requirements. Sasson asked if the subcommittee benchmarked other cities’ criteria to which Lovell said they did not. Sasson said he liked 3 December 15, 2016 P & Z Meeting the flexibility of the applicant having choices of architectural designs to choose from. Harbin said the item would be on Council’s agenda for workshop on January 9, 2017. O’Farrell thanked the subcommittee. 6. Consideration and possible action regarding a recommendation to change Chapter 54- 95 Maximum permissible sound levels (a)(1)b. Residential during night time hours from 58dB to 55dB Motion to approve: Branson Second: Lovell Harbin stated the Noise Ordinance was not a Planning and Zoning ordinance so the Commission would only be making a recommendation to City Council. She said there would be several other departments that would need to provide input, as well, primarily the police department. Polanco explained the change was outside the jurisdiction of the Planning and Zoning Commission. O’Farrell said a change to the noise ordinance could be a very real change for businesses such as HEB. He asked if staff had taken a night time reading of the noise coming from the outside a/c units. Harbin said staff had not. Branson suggested tabling the item until a night time reading could be obtained. O’Farrell agreed they needed readings. He said he did not want to make a change that would essentially make the entire City out of compliance. Branson asked if the change would be only for new buildings. Harbin said a change to the noise ordinance would affect the whole city, new and old. Branson withdrew her motion to approve. Motion to table: O’Farrell Second: Annan Vote: 6 to 0 (unanimous) Motion carried 7. Update from staff regarding research of Fences, Walls and Hedges including identification of number of large lots and violations potentially affected by ordinance change Harbin explained the map provided showed areas of the City that had been reviewed in the color yellow. She said Summers used Google street view to “drive” the City and look for violations. She explained over 1,250 lots were surveyed and out of those, 14 violated the current ordinance. She said the proposed change to remove hedges from the ordinance would eliminate 3 of those violations. Harbin said there was another 9 violations on lots that met the estate size frontage of 150-feet. O’Farrell said it was a great start and asked staff to continue surveying the city. 8. Consideration and possible action regarding proposed changes to Zoning Ordinance Section 15. Amendments to allow for P&Z and Council to hold separate public hearings 4 December 15, 2016 P & Z Meeting Motion to discuss: Annan Second: Branson Branson said the Joint Public Hearings confuse the applicants and citizens. She said it creates a conflict because Council is waiting on a recommendation but the citizens need time to be heard. Lovell stated when the Commission meets upstairs there is no legal counsel present. He said he feels like the meeting loses transparency since it is not video recorded, either. Lovell said the Commission also does not have a representative to report and explain their recommendations to Council. Annan said the simultaneous meetings make it so the Commissioners and residents cannot attend those Council meetings. Neel said she was in favor of separate public hearings for the same reasons the other Commissioners spoke of. Sasson asked how long separate meetings would slow down the process for applicants. Neel answered about a month. Councilman Rockey told the Commission that Mayor Holland had history on the Planning and Zoning Commission and worked hard to change and speed up the development process. O’Farrell said the Mayor was part of a larger overhaul of P&Z of which the majority of changes were beneficial. O’Farrell said this particular change is not working out very well. He said the benefits of having separate hearing outweigh the additional processing time. O’Farrell stated he had history with real estate development and that 30 days is a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. Motion to approve: Annan Second: O’Farrell Vote: 6 to 0 (unanimous) Motion carried 9. Consideration and possible action regarding future Planning and Zoning Commission meeting dates Harbin said the next regular meeting would be Thursday, January 5th but no applications had been submitted for that date. The Commission would be holding a Joint Public Hearing with City Council on January 9th. 10. Communications from the Commission Sasson said the Community and Economic Development Committee (CEDC) met and was given a history of the Friendswood panhandle area. Branson said she attended the CEDC bus tour. Neel commented that she is still amazed at how much Keep Friendswood Beautiful undertakes. 5 December 15, 2016 P & Z Meeting O’Farrell said kudos to Richard Sasson for working with the City and the power company to get unnecessary power poles removed throughout the City. 11. Reports A. Council Liaison – Rockey said he looks forward to the discussion regarding separate public hearings. He said the Large Retail information has been fascinating. Rockey said the City does not receive many noise complaints and suggested the subcommittee ask for a noise plan without changing the noise ordinance. B. Staff – None 12. The meeting was adjourned at 8:41 pm. These minutes respectfully submitted by: Becky Summers Becky Summers Development Coordinator/P&Z Secretary