04/03/2017-CC-Minutes-Work SessionCITY OF SANGER, TEXAS
MINUTES: CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
April 3, 2017, 6:00 PM
502 Elm Street, Sanger, Texas
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Thomas Muir, Councilman Bill Boutwell,
Councilman Lee Allison, Councilman David Clark, Councilman Gary Bilyeu,
Councilman Allen Chick
The Mayor and All Councilmembers were present constituting a quorum.
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Mike Brice City Manager, Cheryl Price City Secretary,
Ramie Hammonds Building Official, Alina Ciocan, Director of Economic and
Development Services.
1. Call Meeting to Order.
Mayor Muir called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. Presentation on Proposed Willowood Subdivision.
Councilman Lee Allison recused himself from the meeting because his Engineering
Firm is the firm doing the Willowood Addition.
Alina Ciocan, Director of Community and Economic Development was recognized. She
advised this is the discussion of a proposed Planned Development. called Willowood
Addition located east on 5th Street south of Aster, south of First Baptist Church. It is
currently a platted addition with 126 lots. They could build homes today because it is
already final platted. The current zoning is SF-10 and SF-7 along 1st Street and Railroad.
She advised that the developer approached the city about a Planned Development (PD)
with the intent to get more lots by proposing smaller lots; however; they are willing to
build larger homes. Currently the minimum dwelling size for SF-10 is 1200 square
feet., SF-7 is 1350. They are willing to set new minimums for the addition. The
minimums and number of lots they are proposing are 70 lots at 1,600 square feet, 50 lots
at 1,800 square feet and 50 lots at 2,000 + square feet. In re-platting the subdivision
and making smaller lots they will go from 126 to 170 lots. They would also like some
variance on the setbacks. The front yard setback proposed from a 25-foot setback to a
20-foot. The side yard from an 8-foot setback to a 5-foot setback. On corners, a 15-foot
setback and a 20-foot rear yard setback. The minimum lot area would go down to 5,250
with an average of 5,500. They will include the new landscaping requirements. Garage
doors will be required to include some decorative features such as glass inserts and
decorative hardware being they do not have alleys and the garage doors are visible.
There will be a restriction on the elevations and the same house will not be able to be
built within the sixth lot and block to create some diversity in the subdivision exterior
construction will be the same masonry requirements we have today. They discussed that
they would like to see 1st street go through and not dead-end.
Bill Wait, owner of the property was recognized. He noted he has owned the property
since 2005. He said when he bought the subdivision it was final platted. There was one
out-piece along the railroad tracks that was not included in the subdivision plat when he
purchased it. He got that platted about four months after he purchased the property.
That is the reason for the different zoning along the railroad tracks. He noted that the
reason for the request is that the current plat is not economically feasible to do. He
noted that they picked up almost 70 acres of water and so in order to develop the site
they are having to install parallel sewer lines side by side because of the grade, plus a lot
of it has box culvert. He explained that with the addition lots it would create more
revenues to do the offsite improvements they need to do because of the water situation.
He noted the subdivision is basically already engineered and has the same pavement,
same number of fire hydrants, etc. The additional engineering is the additional water
lines and sewer taps, electrical items (transformers) more street lights, etc.
There was brief discussion and questioning by the Councilmembers. It was noted that
some of the buildings that have shown interest in building in the subdivision are DR
Horton, Impression Homes, LGI, and Highland Homes. It was reiterated that they could
build 1200 square foot homes today. There was discussion of the detention area and
they would design a pond with a slight grade in it and the water would be held there and
it will pass through the culvert that goes under the railroad tracks. The detention pond
will be small and it will be secured for the Willowood Community and included as a
feature of the subdivision possibly with sidewalks, a dog park and it will be maintained
by the Homeowners’ Association. It was noted the liability of the pond would be set up
through insurance by the Homeowners’ Association. He noted that the 2000 square foot
home would probably be over $200,000. There was concern noted about the large
culverts and children getting in them. Mr. Wait advised that they could set the culverts
up where they could not get into them. There was discussion regarding the five-foot (5’)
side yards. There was concern regarding fire going from house to house with them so
being so close to each other. It was noted that there are fire codes/building codes in
place to deter this from happening. The Fire Chief and his assistant were both at the
Development Review Committee Meeting and they addressed the issue. Building
Official Ramie Hammonds was recognized and advised that basically if you are within
five feet (5’) of your property line, anything that extends over that five-foot area has to
be blocked up and there can not be any soffit openings to prevent anything from
jumping over or to give it as much barrier as possible. There was discussion as to the
restrictive fire rated materials required in the code to prevent fire. There are some Fire
and Building Codes that deter that type of situation from happening. There was concern
regarding narrow streets and discussion ensued as to how wide the streets would be and
that it would be advantageous to have them as wide as possible. It was noted that the
current plat has a 50-foot right-of-way. They believe it would be about a 24 to 26-foot-
wide street with five foot sidewalks inside the right-of-way. City Manager Brice
advised that staff wanted to bring this to the Council tonight for discussion. The
Developer has given, the City has given, and we may have a win-win situation;
however, before we take it to the Planning and Zoning and then back to Council for
approval staff wanted to some get input. Mayor Muir noted that if anyone has real
heartburn over this, or any issues with it therein, it is better to say it now. Councilman
Bilyeu noted he appreciated the proposal, that it was palatable, with the understanding of
what they could currently do with the project right now.
3. Review of Building Permit Fees.
Alina Ciocan Director of Community and Economic Development was recognized and
advised that the Building Inspection Division is trying to streamline processes. We are
looking at new ways to better serve our customers and residents. We are actually
implementing a permitting software that is going online May 2nd. We are looking at all
of our Ordinances and Applications and part of this process is looking at our building
permit fees. We have not made any significant changes to our building fee schedule
since 2008. She noted that the residential permits will change from a flat fee to a
valuation methodology. On the Commercial side, they are looking at actually lowering
the fees. This will encourage business. Also, we have added that if we have to
outsource a project to a 3rd party it will be at actual cost plus 5%. We are changing the
re-inspection fee structure to provide for a tiered level. We have found in the past that
the builders take advantage of the building inspector to provide them a punch list and
staff sometimes has to inspect a house five or six times. Because of this, we are
proposing the tiered re-inspection fee start at $50.00, and progress to the next tiers of
$75.00, then $100.00, then $125.00 if they continued to fail. We are also increasing our
contractor registration and single trade permit fees from $50 to $75. This is inline with
what other cities are doing, some cities charge $100 and some $250.
There was discussion regarding how the fees were determined for the Building Permits
and it was noted it was the ICC International Code Council and is based on square foot
construction cost. Building Official Ramie Hammonds advised that the ICC updates it
quarterly; however, the City would use an annual update so we would not be continually
changing our permit fees. We will use the August Addition of the ICC updates each
year for the fee calculations. There was miscellaneous discussion and calculation
examples were provided to the Councilmembers. Councilman Lee Allison noted he
did some calculations and noted as soon as the valuation gets to $150,000 the permit fee
gets to about the same as that for a half million-dollar home. He felt there was
something amiss There was miscellaneous discussion it was noted that Under (1) New
Residential that the “B” calculation should be modified. There was also discussion on
(b) Permit Fees (Commercial) and it was noted that staff would take a look at the fees on
these also. Mayor Muir asked if we want to modify it in our Council meeting tonight or
have staff take another look. City Manager Brice said staff can take a look at it and
bring it back. Mayor Muir noted since it was on the Agenda tonight that they would
take no action and staff could bring it back on a future agenda. There were a few
additional questions regarding contractors and fees. With the recent storms it was noted
there was an overabundance of roof repair contractors out in the neighborhoods.
Building Official Ramie Hammonds advised there are no licences required for roofers in
the State of Texas and that Roofer’s would be considered general contractors and are
required to register.
4. Overview of Items on Regular Agenda.
None.
5. Adjourn.
There being no further items Mayor Muir adjourned the Work Session at 7:10 p.m.