01/11/2007-PZ-Minutes-RegularMINUTES:
PRESENT:
ABSENT:
OTHERS
PRESENT:
PLANNING AND ZONING WORKSHOP
January 11, 2007
Jerry Jenkins, Thomas Muir, Brian Hutcheson, Gary Bilyeu, Russell
Martin
Paul Edleman
City Manger Jack Smith, Engineering Coordinator Samantha Renz,
Economic Development Director Cecile Carson, City Engineer Rob
Woods, Councilman Robert Patton
1. Chairperson Jenkins called meeting to order.
2. Workshop.
Jerry Jenkins asked why this workshop was called.
Gary Bilyeu indicated there was not enough time at the end of the meetings to
discuss the ordinances, so the Commission agreed to schedule a workshop to get
started. He indicated the first three ordinances they wanted to tackle were single
family, parks, then multi family.
Jerry Jenkins indicated if you compare Royse City's ordinances to what we have
in place; in some pages it is very similar. There are some additional things the
City of Sanger has not addressed. One of them is communication towers.
Gary Bilyeu indicated instead of taking existing ordinances they thought it would
be better to take an updated document, like Royse City's, look at it and submit it
to the City Council with their recommended updates.
Jerry Jenkins indicated he thought they should adopt the whole book and update
it.
Commission agreed it made more sense to use Royse City's ordinances.
Discussion followed regarding references in the ordinances.
Jerry Jenkins indicated that Royse City only has one Industrial category and he
felt they should keep both Industrial categories that are currently in the City of
Sanger ordinances. The current B3 that Sanger has was designed to cover the old
downtown areas.
Discussed and compared the differences in the Single Family I zoning categories
in the City of Sanger's and Royse City's ordinances.
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Jerry Jenkins indicated that the City of Sanger's Single Family 8 was designed to
cover the old area of town. He passed down his notes comparing the zoning
districts.
Jerry Jenkins indicated if we don't encourage larger homes to be built downtown
when one is replaced it's going to continue to be a run down section of town.
From Wood to Willow, 10th to 5th, there has been a lot of cleaning up and
updating. It's because they now have curb and gutter streets, people have made
an effort to clean it up.
Gary Bilyeu indicated that they all agree there are enough smaller homes in
Sanger, those don't go away unless you tear down a house and build something
else. There are a lot of houses to choose from to accommodate those people.
Jack Smith, City Manager, indicated that even though the house is not bigger if it
is tom down and re-built it has to be brick.
Jerry Jenkins indicated that is another area that to consider; Royse City has 80%
brick, the City of Sanger's is currently I 00%.
Discussion regarding the current masonry requirements.
Russell Martin indicated if the City changed to 80%, it would allow cedar
columns, etc.
Discussed there could be an allowance for Council to make an exception to
exterior fa~e.
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Thomas Muir expressed concern regarding a two story house having non-masonry
on the whole second story.
Jer,y Jenkins indicated he was in favor of the 100% masonry requirement. In
Quail Run there are some things they did that ruins the look of the homes, such as
the wood over the windows.
Gary Bilyeu also expressed the need to define the City of Sanger's zoning
categories.
Jerry Jenkins indicated that grant home regulation is not addressed. He indicated
he had a problem with them. The grant homes can be put anywhere and not meet
city requirements
City Manager indicated they are brick.
Cecile Carson mentioned that technically they should meet all city requirements
unless they get a variance.
City Manager indicated the new homes on Railroad A venue are Habitat for
Humanity homes. They got a variance on the home size.
Discussed the dwelling size for grant homes.
Discussed the grant program.
Cecile Carson indicated through the comprehensive plan we will get information
that will show where these type houses are. In Frisco everything is all on one
sheet. They have a district called the original town district. Sanger could
consider something like this as well.
Continued to discuss grant homes, and the regulations.
City Manager indicated the City could choose not to do the grant program.
Discussed a category for Original Town, and whether the homes would then be
non-conforming.
Cecile Carson indicated any home that is tom down and re-built will have to meet
the current standards.
Discussed the Single Family Zoning categories.
Cecile Carson indicated the City of Frisco has an estate category also.
Discussed Planned Developments. A lot of Sanger will be PD's from here on out
if this goes through.
Gary Bilyeu asked about town homes and possibly having something specified for
town homes or zero lot lines. In Denton there are 1300 units going in by
Walmart, there will be multi-family, single family, and zero lot line units. He
asked if Sanger should have something like that and, if so, where should it go.
Cecile Carson indicated that the City of Frisco has patio home districts, common
grass and/or garden areas; Town homes are condominiums.
Discussed zero lot line homes in other communities.
Cecile Carson indicated that there is a subdivision called South Mont in Denton,
they have zero lot lines and start at about $400,000. There is another gated
community across from it that has zero lot lines with larger homes, and the start in
the 190's.
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Jerry Jenkins indicated that to a lot of people that is the preferred way of living.
People don't want the maintenance.
Gary Bilyeu indicated that if a builder wants to do that they can come to the
Council and request it. This is just a starting point, and if people want to deviate,
they can use the system to plead their case.
Cecile Carson indicated it would then be a request for a PD or a new zoning
classification. From an Urban Planning perspective, it's quality and amenities
that bring people in, many areas requiring landscaping for single family and park
dedication. We need to create a certain bar for an area and at the same time need
to look at desired housing types, and price ranges. We need to think about how to
deal with a range of housing, like how do you help maintain lower end homes.
Through government or charity programs?
Discussed that Royse City has a minimum of 1800 square foot homes in there
single family zoning category, any smaller homes must come in as a Planned
Development.
Cecile Carson indicated that she managed 12 Planned Development's at one point
for the City of Denton; administratively, it is very challenging. There are a lot of
files and records, and the ordinance for each development has the rules for each
individual development.
Jerry Jenkins again reiterated that they are going to -work on using the new
zoning ordinance for the City of Sanger and making those changes from front to
back, then come back with our recommendations for each of those same sections.
Discussed the City of Sanger's current single family zoning categories, agreed
that they needed to be reduced to fewer categories.
Discussed minimum and maximum lot sizes for multi-family units.
Discussed landscape credits. Discussed canopy covering, parking, etc. in multi
family zoning categories.
Gary Bilyeu indicated the City of Denton had really high square footage
minimums on their multi-family units, he felt they should be smaller.
Discussed apartment minimums in other cities.
Discussed density and issues regarding water and sewer.
Brian Hutcheson asked if the maximum coverage requirement included the
driveways.
Cecile Carson indicated it usually is the structure itself and accessory buildings.
Jerry Jenkins asked if they need to allow for a master plan?
Discussed differences in a Master Plan and a Planned Development.
Cecile Carson indicated the main difference is the financing.
Gary Bilyeu asked if that would be the Districts such as MUD's, and other utility
districts.
Cecile Carson indicated it would
Discussed retail areas, and that commercial development is needed.
Cecile Carson indicated that right now you have light industrial zoning and you
can do anything form light industrial down, one of the challenges is to put
industrial in Industrial zoning. She indicated that we don't want them getting
high zoning and dropping down to something else. From an Economic
development stand point, we want an actual Industrial Park.
Discussed being able to zone down. Lengthy discussion followed.
Thomas Muir indicated they should set zoning districts to do feathering.
Jerry Jenkins indicated that if you had a property designated as an Industrial Parle
Development, then you could put anything there that goes into Industrial Zoning
and would not have to separate into light and heavy Industrial. He noticed today
that there is a QT, then a hospital and a medical complex in another City, he asked
how they make that transition.
Cecile Carson indicated that part of that is called a node. On intersections you
can have the four comers zoned as retail or office instead of having strips, then
you have breaks at major intersections.
Discussed various zoning layouts
Discussed spot zoning.
Jerry Jenkins indicated that in 1987, they zoned F.M. 455 as business roughly
500 feet from the Right of Way, he asked if that was too deep, and asked if they
should look at the area one or two lots in. It seems they should back off and bring
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it down to 150', if they are going to change everything they might as well do it
now.
Cecile Carson indicated it was a long ways in; and this area was probably going to
be the biggest controversy. Currently, they have residential districts that can
morph themselves into business. It is existing, and to go back and try to change it
might be challenging. They really need to look at the current use. It affects the
value of the land, and the taxes could be higher because it has been changed to
commercial.
Discussed widening ofF.M.455 in the future,
Discussed overlay districts, Historic districts and downtown areas.
Discussed lighting, brick mail boxes and Parks were addressed in the subdivision
regulations, but could be addressed in the zoning ordinance as well.
Jerry Jenkins asked the City Manager what he thought about eliminating the City
of Sanger's entire ordinance, and starting with Royse City's.
City Manager indicated that is sounded like a good start. He explained the
Planned Development submitted by Brooke Hill village, told what type and what
size trees they were going to plant. It was a very detailed plan.
Discussion continued regarding the new zoning ordinance, starting with Royse
City's and looking at ordinances from other cities as well.
Thomas Muir asked Cecile Carson if she could put a chart together with what she
thinks the zoning categories should be and comparing them to other cities and
bring it back to commission and let them look at it.
Cecile Carson indicated she would.
Discussion followed regarding Planned Developments and the fact that the
development fees are higher for them than for single family developments.
Jerry Jenkins indicated that Tomlin will be tied to the zoning ordinance in effect.
Cecile Carson indicated there are laws that there has to be some expectation, and
if you are developing under a certain set of regulations, there is a certain time
frame to get it done.
Discussed building permits and expiration dates.
Jimmy Frazier asked who maintains the roads etc. in these districts.
Staff indicated it would be the District's responsibility.
Discussed that any changes or improvements can be written into the development
agreement.
Gary Bilyeu asked if they should make recommendations on this in parts or all at
once.
Consensus of the Commission to do it all at once.
Discussed it would be economically better on the City to do at same time with
Comprehensive Plan, because of notices etc.
Cecile indicated that the complicated part of the zoning is the districts, that's the
part that will require notification. She indicated theymight want to bring someone
in to talk about legal aspects of non-conforming uses.
Commission indicated staff should schedule and have meetings even if there is
nothing to act on.
Discussed that Cecile will have chart ready for next meeting.
3. Meeting Adjourned.