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HomeMy WebLinkAboutP&Z Minutes 1973-06-28 Regular 1,el'u-o-zo-(j MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION June 28, 1973 A regular meeting of the Friendswood Planning and Zoning Commission was held on Thursday, June 28 , 1973 at the Friendswood City Hall. Chairman C. C . Bost presided. Members Present Members Absent C. C. Bost, Chairman Robert Phillips Tracy Spears , Vice-Chairman Ed Zeitler , Council Rep. Leah North, Secretary Charles Coe James B. Shore Clyde Raney Audience Included in the audience were John B. and Marsha K. Crosby, 913 Merriman Courts Jerry M. Pool , Box 382 , La Marque; Cecil Brown, Jr. , 405 Spreading Oaks ; W . B. Patton, 314 Morningside ; Ed Myers, Jr. , 906 Boundary Court; Mrs. Ledford L. Hicks, 208 West Edgewood. Others attended, but did not sign the list. 1. Minutes None available. 2. Information Reports Dow Pipeline Mr. Raney reported we are still waiting for final drawings of the proposed right-of-way. Oil Well Ordinance Motion was made by Mr. Spears, seconded by Mr. Shore, that Mr. Raney brief the ordinance and give to Council Monday night. Motion passed unanimously. Flood Insurance Ordinance - Since the copy machine was broken again, the copies of the Flood Insurance Ordinance are not available for study tonight. 3. Building_Permit. Referrals Girl Scout Bldg. Mr. Lloyd Van Horn appeared to request permission to build an 8 x 10 steel building adjacent to the water tower between the tower and the electric pump (water well) . lie said that Council said tha it was all right subject to obtaining proper approval. It will be a permanent building, being of the type of other large steel buildings, and is being donated. It will be used for storage of camping gear for five troops. The building will belong to the City, according to Mr. Van Horn, but the Girl Scouts want exclusive use of it. 2 FPZC-M-6-2b-73 After some discussion, motion was made by Coe, seconded by Spears , that the Commission recommend the approval of the permit, being a permanent 8 x 10 metal building. Motion passed four to two. For: Bost , Spears, Coe, Raney. Against: Shore, North. Reasons given for opposing the permit were appearance, (2 ) sets a questionable precedent, (3) space needed for City Hall parking. No information sheet nor building plans nor survey were presented. Therefore, nothing will be in the files of permit referrals. 4. Subdivisions Mustang Meadows Final plat not yet received from City, so no action taken. Coward Creek Mr. Jerry Pool of Gulf Coast Engineering was present to present two prints and final copy of plat and plans and specifications for Coward Creek Subdivision. City Manager Morgan, who was present for this discussion, reported that everything had been approved by the City, but nothing had been signed. He reported that Fire Chief McClure had met with City Engineer Heaney and had accepted the 6" line instead of the 8" water line he had previously recommended since the City will be installing a grid pattern of lines in that area which will make the 6" line sufficient. Since the plat indicated that it was a "metes and bounds" subdivision, Mrs. North inquired what this meant. Mr. Poole answered that each lot would be recorded individually. A discussion followed, during which Mr. Brown stated that he had no objection to its being a recorded subdivision. Mr. Raney referred to VATS Article 974a as requiring the recording. It was agreed to designate this as Coward Creek Subdivision, Section One, Lots 1 through 8 . Motion was made by Spears, seconded by Raney, that Coward Creek Section One be approved, subject to its being a recorded subdivision. Motion passed, 5-1, with North dissenting because of the 6" water line. 5. Hearing Decisions regarding Rezonings (Hearing of May 31, 1973) Hearing Minutes Since the copy machine was broken, no individual copies were available. Complete minutes of May 31 were not complete, but the section regarding the Hearing was. Mr. Shore asked if there were no positive statements regarding the rezonings . He was told that only Harold Bensen and Jim Elk made any statements favorable to the rezonings . Motion was made by Raney, seconded 3 FPZC-M-6-28-73 by Shore, that the minutes regarding the hearing be approved. Motion passed unanimously. Case 1973-11 The two Dunbar tracts were brought up for (Dunbar) discussion. Mr. Spears stated that he did not want to vote on these areas until we had all the Case 1973-12 pieces , namely (1) the depth of the C-1 area (Dunbar) fronting on F. M. 53.8, and therefore, (2 ) the depth of the land bordering on the creek for which the request to rezone was received. Mrs. North stated that this question had been given to the City, but that the final answer had not yet been received. Mr. Raney stated that we have kept the citizens waiting long enough and that he felt we must act on the information we have. Councilman Patton, who was in the audience stated that of those people with whom he has talked, the consensu is that the Commission shoul( come up with the per cent of each zone which would best serve the community. After further discussion, the motion was made by Raney, seconded by Shore, that the Commission recommend that the request to rezone Dunbar Estates to C-1 Commercial be turned down. Motion passed unanimously. Reasons stated for the opinion were that (1) City is overloaded with strip-type commercial already, and (2 ) the citizens objected. Case 1973-13 The request to rezone approximately ten acres (Bensen adjacent to Prairie Wilde subdivision to R-2 Townhouses) was brought forth for disuesion. After discussion the motion was made by Shore, seconded by Raney, that the Commission recommends the request be disapproved. Motion passed five to one, with Coe dissenting. Coe favored the rezoning because he felt townhouses are okay if done properly. The rest of the Commission opposed the rezoning because of (1) location, (2 ) excessive multi- famil zoning already, (3) load on school system, and ( ) excessive number of people per acre, among other reasons. Case 1973-14 The request to rezone 16 acres from R-1 to (Brown Commercial was considered. After some discussion Commercial) the motion was made by Spears , seconded by Raney, the the Commission recommend the rezoning from R-1 to C-1 with the exception of townhouses being built there as per the agreement with Mr. Brown. (Mr. Brown had given his verbal agreement that tonwhouses would not be built on this land. ) Further discussion followed. Mr. Coe was concerne that this are could be considered spot zoning. He was also concerned that the Commission be sure it did not plan to rezone the property because Mr. Brown is giving land for the fire station. Mr. Raney stated that this is not strip zoning. It is large enough to put in a large building. Mr. Bost stated that he agreed. It was large enough to support that area. Mr. Spears felt that rezoning this would exclude any strip zoning requests in that area. Mrs. North asked how this would effect the request to rezone ten acres on the southwest corner of F. M. 2351 and Westfield Lane. Mr. Shore asked if this would be included when the whole zoning plan was reviewed. It was agreed that it would be. Lloyd Van Horn, former Commission member who was in the audience, stated that he felt if this were rezoned to C-1 now that it would not help later attempts to remove some of the C-1 zoning as had been discussed earlier. Mrs. North stated that she agreed with Mr. Van Horn and was also concerned about the extra traffic that would be generated at the Elementary school by shoppers driving from the Safeway Cente. to this area and, of necessity, passing the schoo: Motion passed, 5-1, with North dissenting. Case 1973-15 The request by Cecil Brown Jr. to rezone 12 . 03 (Brown acres to R-2 was then considered. After a brief Multi-family) discussion the motion was made by Raney, seconded by Shore, that the Commission recommend disapproval of the change from r-1 to r-2. Motion passed, 4-2 , with Coe and Spears dissentin, Mr. Spears stated that he felt he should have driven out and looked around (at the land) and had not, so he could not vote to disapprove. Coe restated that he saw nothing wrong with multi-family dwellings. Council Patton, who was in the audience, expresse his concern that we are tending to "snob zone." He restated his position that he does not think we can vote intelligently until we have looked at the whole picture and come up with a recommended per cent for each type of zoning. Case 1973-16 The 300' square tract of land on the southeast (Fire Sta-l.ion) corner of Sunset and Edgewood (F. M. 2351) was discussed. After discussion, motion was made by Shore, seconded by Spears, that the Commission recommend the tract be rezoned for a specific use as a City Fire Station. FPZC-M-6--28-73 Mr. Coe stated that he was so much concerned with its proximity to the Elementary School as he was with the question as to whether it was the best location. That he felt just because the land was free should not be the deciding factor. After some discussion the consensus seemed to be that the Fire Department liked it and only Mrs . North did not think it was a good location. Motion passed, 5-1, with North dissenting. 5. Rezoning Request Case 1973-17 The Secretary informed the Commission that a (Montagne) request for rezoning had been received on May 10, too late to include: in the rezoning hearing just discussed. This was a request to rezone ten acres on the southwest corner of West Edgewood and Westfield Lane, made by Don Montagne, who stated that the tract was acquired with the intention of holding it for commercial development . Mr. Raney asked if we had to have a hearing if a request is made for one. Mr. Spears has felt for some time that we did not. After some more discussion the consensus appeared to be that the Commission felt a hearing on a property which we felt had no chance of winning our approval was unnecessary and a waste of time , energy, and money on everyone' s part. Motion was made by Spears, seconded by Raney, that a letter be sent to Mr. Montagne stating that as things stand now we disapprove the request and are therefore returning your $40.00. Motion passed unanimously. 6. other Busi less. Zoning Study Mr. Patton asked if the Commission would be in Committee favor of a Zoning Study Committee. Mr. Spears stated that he had told Council two or three weeks ago that the Commission would undertake a study of the zoning pciture. Mrs. North felt that the Commission could handle the study since we have completed most of the subdivis. ,ons that have come before us. Budget Needs Mr. Spears brought up the fact that the Commission needs money for such things as a specialized legal Counsel who would be on call and a "Planning type" who would also be on call which the Commission needed information. Mr. Patton agreed. Sign Ordinance Mr. Spears presented changes in the proposed sign ordinance as recommended after meeting with Mr. Coe (who is on the Chamber of Commerce Board) 6 F FGC-M-6-28--'73 and the Chamber of Commerce. He stated that lie agreed with what Mr. Coe came up with after meeting the Chamber except for the "grandfather clause" He felt that the Commission should pass it on as recommended tonight because if left in its original form it would not pass. Mrs. North questioned changing some things, particularly in permitting neon lights , solely on the basis of the Chamber of Commerce and asked Mr. Coe how many people the Chamber represented. (Mrs . North is an Associate Member of the Chamber. ) Mr. Coe answered that it represented 58 businesses. After acceptance of the changes recommended by Mr. Spears, Mr. Shore moved, seconded by Mr. Raney, that the Commission commend Mr. Spears and Mr. Coe for spending so much time to come up with a workable and satisfactory sign ordinance. Motion passed unanimously, with Coe abstaining because of his involvement with the Chamber. Mr. Coe expressed his concern with the section of the ordinance which prohibited pennants . He said that the Chamber felt that a time limit should be put on the use of pennants , such as limiting their use to two days prior to a grand opening. He was also concerned about the prohibition of chains of lights, feeling that this would eliminate Christmas lights and decorations, as well as the light strings that are typical of used car lots . No action was taken on either of these suggestion Lot Sizes The Secretary reported that Mayor Lowe would like an official statement from the Commission regarding the lot size change as agreed on in joint workshop of June 11 with the Council. Motion was made by North, seconded by Raney, that the Commission recommend that the Council. amend the lot size requirements to 90' width, 11 ,600 square foot area 6n curb and gutter streets , and 120' width, 15,600 square foot area on streets with open ditches. Motion passed 4-2 . Fort Spears , North, Shore, Raney. Against Coe, Bost. 7. Adjournment There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned A Addendum: Polly Ranch A copy of an engineering review dated June 27cc 1973, a,c,companied by a topographic map (contour mapl depicting the correct lot layout and by a plat with notations regarding number of lots , type of streets, and utilities, was given to the Secretary to return to the City for typing. This was done after the meeting.