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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ 2012-07-19 Minutes MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS JULY 19, 2012 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Randall Shiflet at 6:31 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL PRESENT Chairman Randall Shiflet Vice Chairman Bill Schopper Don Bowen Mark Haynes Ex Officio Jerry Tyner ABSENT Steven Cooper Mike Benton Kathy Luppy CITY STAFF Director of Planning & Dev. John Pitstick Senior Planner Clayton Comstock Assistant Planner Chad VanSteenberg City Engineer Caroline Waggoner Director of Economic Dev. Craig Hulse Economic Dev. Specialist Robert Lung Mgmt. Asst. Dev. Svcs. Stacey Udoni Recording Secretary Gina Pastre 3. Consideration of Minutes from the June 21, 2012 Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting. APPROVED Bill Schopper motioned to approve the minutes from June 21, 2012, seconded by Don Bowen. The motion passed unanimously (4 -0). July 19, 2012 P &Z Minutes Page 1 4. Presentation by the Economic Development Department on nrhed.com, Wayfinding Signs, and other economic development topics -Craig Hulse Craig Hulse gave presentation on the Economic Development website nrhed.com , wayfinding signs and general Economic Development updates. Craig Hulse asked if there were any questions on the wayfinding signs? Randall Shiflet asked about TXDOT approval? Craig Hulse said that TXDOT has requirements as to how many destinations are allowed on one sign. Randall Shiflet said that when the signs for Boulevard 26 were installed they didn't meet TXDOT regulations. I want to make sure that there won't be an issue with these signs. Craig Hulse said that during the interview process with the applicant organizations they felt quite confident that they would be able to locate signs along TXDOT highways. John Pitstick said that once the freeway is finished it is going to split our community up and it will be important to have the wayfinding signs to direct people when they are exiting off of the freeway. 5. General Discussion on Commercial Lighting Standards - Clayton Comstock The only regulation that we have on the books now is in section 118 -728 regarding any type of lighting. "Wooden poles should not be used" is the only lighting standard that we have. We have references to glare. The purpose of our discussion is to look at minimizing light pollution and reducing light trespass and glare spillover between properties. We would like to enhance security Crime prevention through environmental design. The type of lighting, the color temperature, the rendition. If you are out in a parking lot there is a difference between dark orange or yellow light and blue light as far as being able to identify colors. Improve Aesthetics of the community at night. Looking at regulations to make things more standard. We are looking to determine how we can eliminate light pollution and reduce light trespass and how can we regulate the lighting type which is the lighting that is supposed to hit the ground where it should be. We are also looking to discuss light poles and requiring photometric plans which are light plans for site plan reviews. July 19, 2012 P &Z Minutes Page 2 Bill Schopper said I remember when Planning & Zoning used to work on the site plans for the Huggins expansion and Five Star Ford there was all kinds of lighting things that we did so that it wouldn't shine over onto the neighbors. I thought that was something that was already in the ordinance? Clayton Comstock said no. There are a few things that mentioned in the municode for glare. It is in there as a purpose statement but it is not defined and there is not a real measurement definition. We just want to clarify the standards. Randall Shiflet asked if these lighting standards would be for commercial properties? Clayton Comstock said yes. This would be for the public realm. Randall Shiflet said that when the Ford dealership opened and I was involved from the staff side and there were issues with lighting for residents who could read a newspaper at their kitchen table at midnight. They worked through all of that and got all of the shields in place. I would think that if it is against residential area that their backyard should be dark once they are finished. Bill Schopper said that I don't know that I have a problem about the light trespass on other commercial properties. I understand when you are looking at new developments. I think we get to a certain point where we start meddling too much. This stuff is really expensive and I can see the day when we will have to change to all LED lights. I just know that the more light in a commercial establishment the better because it limits the opportunity for someone to break in. John Pitstick said that we are working with Huggins Honda right now. We aren't against light and in fact on the freeway we want it lit up. Hometown is going to have lots of lights for security and safety. Bill Schopper said that I don't want someone to be able to read a newspaper at their table. That affects quality of life. Clayton Comstock said that the real focus should be residential property lines with the light trespass and public right of way. Bill Schopper said that basically with commercial lighting and safety typically the city lighting doesn't do much for you anyway. Jerry Tyner said that a number of developers put in their own lighting system for the streets rather than the city street lights. Would this apply to them as well? Clayton Comstock said no. This will only apply to commercial developments. Lights that are on buildings and parking lots. Caroline Waggoner said that we have our thoroughfare lighting standards that were laid out in the image study. We only have those standards for our major thoroughfares or arterials. We don't have city adopted residential standards. So you will see galvanized cobra heads usually. The newer subdivisions that have come in like Liberty Village and July 19, 2012 P &Z Minutes Page 3 West Hightower place they go with the decorative standards. They have options because we haven't limited what those can be. Oncor now has decorative options as well that they can choose from. Clayton Comstock said that some of those decorative options do include ones that do not permit light waste. I think that the same concept that we are talking about here might transition over into residential Planned Developments but not necessarily required in the ordinance. Bill Schopper asked about the colors of the lights. We have the bluish of the metal hi- lite versus the high pressure sodium that is more yellowish. It isn't that they like the yellow it is just a lot cheaper to operate those. We have cost considerations with that as well. Bill Schopper asked what type of lighting worked best with a video camera for identification purposes? Clayton Comstock gave slide show presentation of lighting examples. Craig Hulse asked what would prohibit the city from providing these similar recommendations to street lighting in a common area within a residential subdivision? Clayton Comstock said that I think that it could be established under a Planned Development. It has been proven that you don't need intense lighting for security and safety. I think that we could carry on the same type of philosophy into residential. However requiring it across the board as a standard for the entire city for residential would be too far. Randall Shiflet said that I have a little bit of a concern. There is a lot of gray areas as far as the lighting is concerned. I am also concerned about the cost. We don't want to price everyone out of the market to do the lights. But I also don't want light shining over on residential property. I realize that everyone that is here today would be grandfathered. We are just talking about new businesses coming in. The city has the street lights and as new developments have come in and done the new lights and brought the height down. I am very supportive of whatever we can do to get the commercial lighting and protecting the residential without pricing people out of the market. Bill Schopper said that we have a perfect opportunity with this freeway overlay zone to make that as great as it can be. The lighting like Quiktrip up and down the freeway with the LED's. The people that will be coming in are spending a lot of money and doing it right. It is going to be a high traffic area and see how that works out. If we want to move it to other parts of town and require the same standards. The things we have talked about changing are unbelievably expensive and you have got to get the lift trucks out there. Sometimes it is better to let them use their imagination and creativity and pull it together. The photometric survey that you are wanting to require could be $18,000- $20,000 on a project. That is another sheet that they have to give you multiple copies and engineer reports etc. You end up with $125,000 worth of stuff just to get approved July 19, 2012 P &Z Minutes Page 4 1 1 to get built. If they are building it and they want it right it will be nice and we can direct them with things that other people are doing. You make your point. John Pitstick said that we want to make it flexible. We want to offer them a range where they have some options. We don't want to tell them that they have to buy specific lighting. Bill Schopper said that Congress is going to outlaw the incandescent bulbs anyway. It is all going to move towards LED which is so cheap to operate. Mark Haynes said it makes sense as long as it isn't too costly. Bill Schopper said that the lighting at the new Quiktrip was really nice. The lighting stops right at the property line. John Pistick said that it makes it look expensive and it adds value with the right lighting. 6. Discussion of Retail Land Uses in the Table of Permitted Uses, Section 118-631 - Clayton Comstock Clayton Comstock said that we are continuing on our discussion on consolidating land uses to make our permitted land use table more efficient. This would also allow staff more guidance when we are determining what kind of uses comes in and where they are permitted. We hope to have a final draft by October. We will be discussing retail stores and shops. There are 26 total uses listed that we can probably consolidate on to one general definition which would be retail store and shop. Bill Schopper asked if we eliminated the sale of used items or is that still part of the retail description? Clayton Comstock said that we came through with a second hand dealer. Bill Schopper said so that won't be part of the retail shop? Clayton Comstock said no that it has a separate category. Clayton Comstock asked if everyone approves of consolidating these retail uses to retail store and shop? John Pitstick said that if there is a problem that we see then we are going to place it for SUP and list it separately. If it is just a general retail store then we are going to combine all of those into one definition. Bill Schopper asked if the definition would clarify that it is for new items only? Clayton Comstock said yes. July 19, 2012 P &Z Minutes Page 5 Randall Shiflet asked about the clock store K & B clock shop. They do repair and sell clocks in front. They are at Maplewood and Boulevard 26. He has been there a long time and does a great job and we just want to make sure that we don't do anything that would negatively impact those businesses. Clayton Comstock said that if he were to come in today with that business he might fall under the second hand dealer and would be required to get a SUP. We had to treat everyone equally with that requirement. Mark Haynes asked why department store was left off of this definition? Clayton Comstock said that department stores or big box stores are in a separate category for those larger type businesses. 7. Adjournment There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 8:06 pm. Chairman Secretary —Asle—C-1.411.i'4° / ' andal Shiflet Don Bowen July 19, 2012 P &Z Minutes Page 6