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02/22/2019-CC-Minutes-Special1 CITY OF SANGER, TEXAS MINUTES: CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING – STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION Friday, February 22, 2019, 12:00 NOON 502 Elm Street, Sanger, Texas COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Thomas Muir, Mayor Pro Tem Gary Bilyeu, Councilman David Clark, Councilman Lee Allison, Councilman Bill Boutwell, Councilman Allen Chick COUNCIL CANDIDATES PRESENT: Marissa Barrett Candidate, Council Member Place 1; Dennis Dillon Candidate, Council Member Place 3. COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None, the Mayor and all five (5) Council Members were present constituting a quorum. STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: City Manager Alina Ciocan; City Secretary Cheryl Price; Director of Economic Development Shani Bradshaw; Director of Development Services Ramie Hammonds. A strategic planning session to potentially discuss issues related to public policy, City services and operations, development and infrastructure needs including capital projects, revitalization of downtown Sanger and economic development potentially discuss priorities for the upcoming year and for the long term. Mayor Muir provided an introduction to lead into the discussion. Alina Ciocan noted this is the first Planning Session. We are not making any policy decisions today, but will be bringing up some items that at staff level, there needs to be clarification from Council. She noted she is interested to see what the Council’s vision for the City is and how it relates to some of the issues that will be discussed. The goal is to come up with priorities; and then, City staff will come up with programs to support Council’s initiatives. In the future, these meetings will include the priorities established at past meetings with updates from staff on the items covered and what has been done to date. Topics of Discussion Discussion on Public Policy as it Relates to: Code enforcement: City Manager Alina Ciocan provided an introduction. She noted that there are citizens that want all ordinances to be enforced while others only want code enforcement to be enforced on a complaint basis. She summarized the processes and citations which were issued last year. Discussion ensued. 2 Potentially discuss priorities for the upcoming year and long-term: • Promote the City of Sanger Accela (cell phone application) so that residents know they can file complaints on it, along with taking pictures, etc. • Promote community image. Be proactive with code enforcement in areas where infrastructure improvements are being made, along major thoroughfares, major entrances into the City, etc. • Prioritize code enforcement violations and have further discussion on proactive versus complaint-basis approach. • Staff will do further research and have a work session presentation at a future council meeting to address the above-mentioned issues. Affordable housing: City Manager Alina Ciocan noted that in recent years we had been approached several times about different affordable housing projects. She noted that a few months ago the City was approached by the Denton Housing Authority who is interested in pursuing an interlocal agreement with the City that would allow for affordable housing projects to be expanded into the Sanger. Discussion ensued about affordable housing projects and redevelopment of blighted areas in town. Potentially discuss priorities for the upcoming year and long-term: • There was a general consensus that there should be more discussion regarding this topic. Discussion on City Services and Operations as it Relates to: Future consolidation of City offices - Also discussed in connection with Revitalizing Downtown Sanger: City Manager Alina Ciocan summarized. She discussed the idea of consolidating the City offices and its benefits in terms of efficiency and customer service. She also discussed the possibility of revitalizing Downtown should we consider consolidating City offices and move to a different location. She provided a map of the various properties owned by the City in the downtown area. She noted that we would have the potential to turn downtown Sanger into a more vibrant area. She noted that we would need a master plan for the downtown area that would assess feasibility and other issues such as parking. Discussion ensued. Potentially discuss priorities for the upcoming year and long-term: • The City property would need to be looked at and incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning for the area. • This project would need to be put together by a consultant and the cost determined. 3 Other City services/operations: City Manager Alina Ciocan brought up the Police Department pay scale and noted that we need to evaluate it to ensure that we are in line with other Police Departments of similar size. In recent years, we lost several police officers to other cities that are offering a more competitive pay. Brief discussion ensued. Discuss Development Standards and Comprehensive Plan: Lengthy discussion ensued regarding the Comprehensive Plan and what the Council wanted to see in the area. There was also discussion regarding the zoning ordinances and how they needed to be addressed. City Manager Alina Ciocan noted that this is why the Comprehensive Plan is so important. We need to make sure we are ready for growth. We need to have these conversations now and hopefully translate them into a plan soon because as opportunities arise, we want to make sure that we are able seize them if they are aligned with the plan for that particular area. There was general discussion on the zoning and the comprehensive plan. City Manager Alina Ciocan brought up development standards and provided copies of Development Standards from another city who has design guidelines for Residential and Commercial. These are presented to the developers when they come in with projects and suggested to be used as guidelines when developing their projects. Discussion ensued. An example that was discussed was the City of Sanger’s current requirement of 100 percent masonry and the possibility of allowing some other aesthetically pleasing materials Potentially discuss priorities for the upcoming year and long-term: • Staff will do research on Overlay Districts and provide an update to City Council. • Encourage diversity and maintain a theme that would translate into quality development, such as how the materials are used, i.e., an example is stone columns with wrought iron, monument signage with architectural features, etc. Discussion on Economic Development as it Relates to: Overall approach to economic development: • New development/redevelopment • 4A, 4B Corporations and alignment with the City Council’s vision City Manager Alina Ciocan summarized noting Economic Development is managed through the 4A and 4B boards and provided a brief description of past projects that were funded by both corporations. Discussion ensued about the City’s and the boards’ vision for economic development. Staff noted that the 4B corporation is focused on the expansion of Porter Park on the 4 east side of I-35. It was discussed having a joint meeting with City Council and both 4A and 4B boards. Economic Development Director Shani Bradshaw was recognized and noted she would like to sit down with her boards and discuss what their vision is. Especially, the type of industry we would like to target on the north side of the City. She would like to hear from the City Council direction as to what they want the community to look like, what is the vision for the downtown area; what kind of businesses/industries do we want to see in the City. In the downtown area they would like it to be a destination and be more eclectic and consumer eccentric. The number one item that Sanger citizens want is a new grocery store. She stated that she would like to see the Boards have a joint meeting with City Council. The idea of a joint meeting was brought up again with the 4A and 4B boards. City Manager Alina Ciocan provided a Retail Trade Area GAP/Opportunity Analysis which was updated February 2019. This is our demographic profile trade information which Economic Development Director Shani Bradshaw uses this type of information to provide to prospects, promote the city and hand out at trade shows, etc. There was a summary of the report provided and discussion ensued. Potentially discuss priorities for the upcoming year and long-term: • Provide cohesive alternatives and provide options to the boards and give and get input regarding the direction that City Council has given for the City • Have a Joint Meeting with the 4A and 4B Boards and discuss the City’s priorities and what funds can be used for and what is best for the future of the City. • Provide the City Council more frequent updates and continue to share information as we move forward. The City Council would like to be of assistance, provide feedback, and be available to answer questions and help where they can. Public Improvement Districts: City Manager Alina Ciocan noted that a few months ago we were approached regarding a Public Improvement District (PID) regarding Lane Ranch. Since then we have been approached by two other developers for two large projects. One of the projects is in town, it is 291 acres on the west side of I-35. One-third of the project is in Bolivar Water and they are including a commercial piece. They are scheduled to come to a workshop on March 4th to see what the Councils feel is on a PID. Also, another project outside of the City limits who wants to be annexed in, is also inquiring about a PID. The are looking for lower density. About 1200 homes. It was noted they do not have the CCN’s. There was general discussion about PIDs. 5 Potentially discuss priorities for the upcoming year and long-term: • It was noted that PID developments will have to fund all of the legal fees, legal counsel, studies, committees; and, there can be no burden on the City. Capital projects: City Manager Alina Ciocan noted she did not have any formal presentation on Capital Projects. She summarized Capital projects present and future noting the outflow pipeline, Cowling lift station, relocation of utilities on FM 455, reconstruction of Plum or Peach as an alternative route for FM 455 traffic, and I-35 expansion. Brief discussion ensued. Potentially discuss priorities for the upcoming year and long-term: • There will be City Council work sessions to bring forward each of these projects as staff, (Public Works and the City Engineer) assess each item. Infrastructure: Regarding the streets, staff (Public Works and City Engineer) will assess the roads and do a ranking and provide short-term plans to fix some of the roads, do maintenance as well as provide a long-range plan that includes future plans for complete street reconstruction. There was also brief discussion regarding a situation involving a private drive that poses challenges with property access and delivery of services. Staff will be researching this issue further and may bring this item forward to be discussed at a future work session. There was brief discussion regarding the outflow pipeline and it was noted there would be additional discussions with Jeff Caffey regarding this issue and City Council will be updated at future regular meetings. There being no further discussion, Mayor Muir adjourned the meeting at 5:22 PM.