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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ 1991-06-27 Minutes MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS JUNE 27, 1991 - 7:30 P. M. CALL TO ORDER Chairman James Brock called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Chairman Vice Chairman Secretary Members Dir. Community Dev. Building Official p & Z Coordinator James Brock David Barfield Don Bowen Ron Lueck Don Collins Pat Marin Paul Miller Barry LeBaron Steve Pence Wanda Calvert CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF MAY 23, 1991 Mr. Barfield made the motion to approve the minutes as written. This motion was seconded by Ms. Marin and the motion carried 6-0 with Mr. Bowen abstaining since he was not present at the meeting. CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF JUNE 13, 1991 Mr. Bowen made the motion to approve the minutes as written. This motion was seconded by Mr. Collins and the motion carried 5-0 with Barfield and Lueck abstaining since they were not present at the meeting. 1 . PS 91-11 Request of Bank of Commerce and James R. Harris Company for Preliminary Plat of Westridge Addition. This property is located south of Bursey Road and east of Douglas Lane. Mark Long with Long and Associates came forward to represent the applicant. Chairman Brock stated there are several problems with this plat, some have come up since the engineer's letter was sent. He said several street names need to be changed, Holiday Lane width should be changed to 70 feet for a M4U, the alignment of Holiday Lane to the north, visibility Page 2 p & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 problems with fencing on Douglas Lane and some of the lots do not meet the required depth. Mr. Jim Harris carne in and carne forward. He stated they have answered all the engineer's comments. Chairman Brock explained to Mr. Harris the problems the Commission has with the plat. He said it might be in his best interest for them to table this request and get together and work out the problems. Mr. LeBaron said this is an extensive subdivision, 245 lots, 73 acres. He said when we were doing the agenda last week, we were still receiving comments from the different departments. He said he did not feel they were major problems, but we need to get together and work them out. Mr. LeBaron said they were concerned with the extension of Holiday Lane. He said they do not want it to damage the property to the north. Mr. LeBaron said he had talked with Doug Long regarding the average depth of the lots. He said they are concerned there would be problems with 4 or 5 of these lots since the square footage of the houses are continually getting larger. Mr. Harris said they do not want to have lots that are not buildable, but they do build two story houses on some of these lots. Mr. Harris said if the lots are not the correct size, it is not intentional and they will correct them. Chairman Brock said also, there is a conflict with the naming of Douglas. Mr. Harris said they would name it whatever the city wants it named. Page 3 P & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 Mr. Barfield said he was of the opinion there is no need for two collectors that close together. He suggested leaving Douglas Lane as it is and having only one collector, Holiday Lane. Mr. Harris stated this is not the first time this property has been before the Commission for a preliminary plat. He said it was hard to plan a subdivision with two collectors, but they had to conform with what the Master Thoroughfare Plan requires. He said they would rather not have either one of those streets. Mr. Barfield said if you leave Douglas as it is shown, you are not going to be able to back out onto the street. He said they would like to study this change. Chairman Brock asked Mr. Harris if he was aware of the stipulations that were put on this property by the City Council in 1986. Mr. Harris said he was aware of them. Mr. Bowen asked since this is a preliminary plat, could these problems be worked out prior to the final plat and not have to hold up Mr. Harris. Mr. Barfield said there would be some major changes if you move Holiday Lane to the west and also if you down grade Douglas. Mr. Harris said they have the property shown on the preliminary in 3 phases. He said they plan to start with phase 1 on the west which would not be involved with Douglas or Holiday Lane. Mr. Barfield said they could approve phase 1 of the preliminary plat. Page 4 P & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 Mr. LeBaron said you could do that or we could have a workshop to work out these problems. He said they could table this until they could get this worked out. Chairman Brock asked Mr. Harris if he would have a problem with the Commission approving phase 1 tonight and then get together with him on the rest of the plat. Mr. Harris said that would be real fine. PS 91-11 APPROVED Ms. Marin made the motion to approve PS 91-11 for Phase 1 subject to the engineer's comments and the street name changes. This motion was seconded by Mr. Miller and the motion carried 7-0. 2 . PZ 91-16 Public Hearing for request of Jerry C. Moore to rezone Lots 23, 24, and portions of 25 & 26, Block 1, W.E. Odell Addition, from their present classification of R-3 Single Family Residential to C-1 Commercial. This property is located at the northwest corner of Davis Boulevard and Odell Street. Chairman Brock opened the Public Hearing and called for those wishing to speak in favor of this request to please come forward. Mark Hannon, Hannon Engineers, carne forward to represent Mr. Moore. He said Odell Addition was platted through Tarrant County Commissioner's Court in 1947. He said it is an area of modest homes; the homes to the west toward Smithfield Road are still in fairly good condition; the homes immediately adjacent to the highway are in bad condition; the southeast and northeast corners of this intersection are currently occupied by a junk yard. Mr. Hannon said he knows Page 5 P & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 it is not zoned for that, but he thinks they got a court ruling which says they can continue to operate that way. He said the southwest corner is zoned commercial. Mr. Hannon said they have a good piece of property that has a good view on a curve in the highway. He said it is an ideal piece of property for commercial use and it meets the area requirement for commercial use. Mr. Hannon said he requests the Commission's favorable consideration. Chairman Brock called for anyone else wishing to speak in favor of this request to please corne forward. There being no one, the Chairman called for those wishing to speak in opposition to this request to please corne forward. William Johns, 8128 Cross Drive, carne forward. He asked what they plan to do with this property. Mr. Barfield said he could have anything that is listed in the commercial zoning. Mr. LeBaron read from the zoning ordinance the list of uses in C-1 zoning. Mr. Bowen asked if you can sell gasoline in C-1. Mr. Barfield said you can, but you can't do service. Mr. Johns asked what it would do to the value of his property. Chairman Brock stated it would be difficult for the Commission to make that evaluation. He said the Public Hearing is for people to give their input and thoughts about having commercial or retail on that corner. Page 6 P & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 Chairman Brock asked Mr. Hannon what is proposed for this site. Mr. Hannon said he could not say, but it could be a convenient store or that type operation, a dry cleaner pick-up station or a Veterinarian shop. He said the ordinance requires screening and setbacks to protect the residential area from the commercial. Ms. Johns came forward. She stated they have lived there for 13 years and they are wanting to sell their property and if this goes through, they do not feel they could sell their property. Ms. Johns said it is an invasion of their privacy. She asked when they plan to develop this property. Chairman Brock said he does not think they know since they do not have a use at this time. Ms. Johns said 2 years ago they had problems with a neighbor about their fence. She said they contacted the city and was never told where their fence should be. She said if the easement is on the other side of their fence and the fence has to be moved up, it would make their property smaller. Ms. Johns said they never received an answer from the city regarding the easement. Ms. Johns asked if there was anyone living in the house on this property up for rezoning. She said it looks empty. Chairman Brock said they have no way of knowing that. Ms. Johns said they are opposed to this rezoning and there are other neighbors who could not be here tonight. Chairman Brock called for anyone else wishing to speak to please come forward. Page 7 P & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 There being no one wishing to speak, the Chairman closed the Public Hearing. Chairman Brock stated that the Planning and Zoning Commission is in the process of revising the Master Plan of the City. He said they have spent a great deal of time on it and are holding sector meetings for particular areas. Chairman Brock said Dan Boutwell has spent a lot of time on this, also. Chairman Brock said the sector which this land falls in is our next meeting. He said the Commission will not know what is proposed for this area until after this sector meeting. Mr. Barfield said the city is looking at this area as a redevelopment area. He said some of the houses in this area are in good shape and well maintained, others are beyond repair. Mr. Barfield said you have commercial encroaching all around this area. He said he feels this needs to be addressed at the sector meeting. Mr. Barfield said he would like for this to lay until after this sector meeting. He said we need input from the neighbors at that sector meeting. He said maybe it would be decided for all of it to go commercial. Mr. LeBaron stated the next sector meeting is July 16th. Chairman Brock stressed the importance of the people corning to the sector meetings and giving their input. Mr. Lueck said he would have a hard time making a decision now. Mr. Bowen said the redevelopment area they are talking about is on Odell Street and southward, but the area on Cross would not be a redevelopment area, it is a newer area. Page 8 P & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 PZ 91-16 TABLED Mr. Miller made the motion to table PZ 91-16 until after the sector meeting. This motion was seconded by Ms. Marin and the motion carried 7-0. 3. PS 90-30 Public Hearing for consideration of an Amendment to Subdivision Ordinance #1579 requiring masonry screening walls along major thoroughfares. Chairman Brock stated this is a decision that will have great consequences on the city and they have not wanted to rush into it. He said letters were sent out to developers and builders in the community to get their input. Chairman Brock opened the Public Hearing and asked if there was anyone here who wished to speak regarding this ordinance. Jim Harris came forward. He said he was surprised to see this as a proposal. He said it is an unusual requirement. Mr. Harris said they build them and they build them for marketing purposes. He said 10 years ago, you did not have to, but things change, the market requires it. Mr. Harris said they also do a lot of landscaping. Mr. Harris said he has a problem with a city ordinance which requires this. He said he sometimes wonders what the city is getting itself into. Mr. Harris said maintenance on walls, landscaping, etc. is done through Homeowners Associations. He said no one likes Homeowners Associations, but you have to have them to make it work. Mr. Harris said you could take 100 different developers and 100 lawyers working with those developers and you will get 100 different Homeowner Association structures. He said there is a clause in this ordinance that deals with this, paragraph 7.3. He said it deals with what happens if a Page 9 p & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 Homeowner's Association does not function. Chairman Brock said the Commission has worked with this part of the ordinance to try to figure out how to put some teeth into it. Mr. Harris said it will get you involved in writing a lot of legal documents. He said the way he reads it, it would have to be reviewed by the city to see if it is adequate. He said he does not think that is something the city should get involved with. Mr. Harris said he does not think the city has any legal responsibility to maintain these walls, but with this clause in the ordinance, you would have that responsibility. He said he thinks that opens up a big can of worms. Chairman Brock said the Commission was trying to come up with something to take care of cases where the wall falls down after a few years. Mr. Harris said he feels you should have standards for the construction of those walls. He said he has some people who just build walls and they are required to provide a set of plans for the walls. Mr. Harris said he would provide his men with a set of section 1-07-General Construction Guidelines and they said they do all that anyway with one exception, paragraph 8 where you have required a 10 foot span. He said 20 feet is standard. Mr. Harris said he suggests a 20 foot span with a pier every 10 feet. He said those columns are expensive. Mr. Barfield said they were addressing the pre-fab walls with an open space. He said the city is concerned with drainage. Mr. Barfield said they are open to look at other designs. Page 10 P & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 Mr. Harris stated he was doing a subdivision in Southlake and Southlake is almost diametrically opposed to walls. He said they have put in berms, sprinkler system and landscaping with a wrought iron fence in front of the berms. He said it is going to look better than anything they have ever done. Mr. Harris said this ordinance would not allow this. Mr. LeBaron said they found cities that had minimum standards for walls if you planned to build a wall. Mr. Harris said he agreed with that. Mr. Harris said he thinks a C4U street is where they should go, not on a C2U. He said a C2U is just a collector street. Mr. Harris said he is opposed to the requirement, he is for standards, 10 foot span is too short, and he would hope they would allow for the use of wrought iron fencing and landscaping, which would be more decorative than just a plain old brick wall. He said also, to pay attention to the Homeowners Association situation. Mr. Lueck said he agrees that generally, the market place takes care of the fencing, but how can we guarantee that the perimeter of the subdivision will turn out to look nice. Chairman Brock said some of the developers put up fences that are not up to specs and they fall down. Mr. Harris said he felt that most of the time market place and competition will take care if it, but you need to have standards. He said he would not object to landscaping requirements, but he does not agree with the requirement for a masonry or concrete wall. Page 11 P & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 Chairman Brock called for anyone else wishing to speak to please come forward. There being no one, the Chairman closed the Public Hearing. Mr. Barfield said he would take the blame for this ordinance. He said he has been pushing for this ever since he has been on this Commission. Mr. Barfield said if you look at the City of North Richland Hills, except for a few exceptions, we have a city where fences are falling down, fences that don't blend. He said we have a hap-hazard mess through our city, and we talk about the market place dictating it; that is not good business. Mr. Barfield said the walls being build, we have very little control over them; they can corne in and do just about anything they want to. Mr. Barfield said he knows because he is a developer. He said developers corne in and put in walls and landscaping in their subdivision and hope they last long enough for him to sell most of the lots; then the walls fall down, the landscaping dies and the sprinkler system goes to pot. He said thats what we need to stop. Mr. Barfield said he did not think the city needs to be in the business of maintaining walls and landscaping, but the walls will do several things: they will control noise from the thoroughfare to the subdivision; it will provide security and privacy. Mr. Barfield said Dallas has had walls for 30 years; the homes are nice and the people like them. He said now, they even go in and tear down the old houses and build new ones behind the brick walls. Mr. Barfield said it is a proven market. Mr. Barfield said he thinks wrought iron fences are pretty, but it requires a continual maintenance, the Page 12 p & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 paint is always peeling, you have to repaint it every year. He said he thinks we should go with what will work. Mr. Barfield said he would like to see some flexibility in it, other engineering concepts, maybe have it on 20 foot centers and walls with footings if the drainage is adequate. Mr. Barfield said he likes this ordinance and recommends it be approved. Mr. Lueck requested the list of developers who were sent a letter about this meeting be listed in the minutes. They are: Highland Homes, Fox & Jacobs, D.R. Horton, Alamo Custom Builders, Inc., Bob Frank, Owen D. Long, J.B. Sandlin, Charles Owen, Alan Hamm, John Barfield, James R. Harris, and Herman Smith. Mr. Bowen asked about the construction standards. Mr. LeBaron said they will be listed in the Design Manual. Chairman Brock asked Mr. LeBaron to address paragraph 7.3. Mr. LeBaron stated that we are concerned about it, but to keep the city from having to maintain these walls, they felt they had to put this language in the ordinance. He said what they have suggested is when a final plat comes to the Commission, the developer will provide you with some alternative maintenance plan which may include a Homeowners Association. Mr. LeBaron said they are concerned that Homeowners Associations goes by the wayside after 5 or so years and then someone from the subdivision would come to the city and ask for the city to take care of their wall, but the city would have to remind them they are supposed to have a Homeowners Association to take care of that. Page 13 p & Z Minutes June 27, 1991 PS 90-30 APPROVED 4. STAFF REPORT 5. CITIZEN COMMENTS ADJOURNMENT Don Bowen, Secretary Mr. Lueck asked, if 10 years from now the fence falls down, the city doesn't like that, how can we get this taken care of. He said they no longer have a Homeowners Association; they did not like the way the Homeowners Association was run so they just pulled out; who is responsible. He said he thinks we would lose if we went to court. Mr. LeBaron said he was not sure. Mr. Lueck asked if the city could just require a maintenance bond. Mr. LeBaron said that could be an alternative maintenance plan. Mr. Barfield made the motion to approve and send to council PS 90-30, but in the manual we allow the flexibility of the developer to submit an alternative design and that the city staff consider the approval of the design, the placement of columns, whether it has footings, if it would meet with drainage requirements, etc. This motion was seconded by Mr. Bowen and the motion carried 6-1 with Mr. Lueck voting against. Mr. LeBaron reminded the P & Z and audience of the upcoming Sector meetings for the Master Plan of the City, Tuesday nights, July 16th and July 23, with the last one in August. None. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 P.M.